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ThomasdelVasto

Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου

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joined 2025 May 20 19:37:18 UTC

Blogger, Christian convert, general strange one. https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/


				
User ID: 3709


				
				
				

			

		

	














	


		


			



	

		

			

			

				

					

						

							
						

						

							
							

								
ThomasdelVasto


								

								

								
								
								

								
							
					
 
				


				
Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου

				
				
				

				

					0 followers  

					follows 0 users  

					joined 2025 May 20 19:37:18 UTC
				


				
					

					
Blogger, Christian convert, general strange one. https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/



				

				

				

				

				

					

					

					
					
					

					
User ID: 3709


					
					
					
				

			


					

						
					



		

	

 











			
			

			
			

			




	


		

			
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	 Hot Bump Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
	



		

	






	

		
		

		
		
	

	

  







		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I love random effort posts like this. Thanks for putting in the time.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Also he didn't mention us here at the Motte or the CW thread spinoffs at all. Total Motte erasure!!!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Friday Fun Thread for April 17, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Reacting to this video explaining the different rationlist communities specifically on the post-rat section, which I'm most affiliated with at the moment.


Post-rationalism basically came out of a lot of more rigorous critiques of rationality and utilitarianism as systems for modeling the world. It essentially concluded that a huge part of the human experience cannot be legibly modeled, at least with our current understanding of the world, and that trying to do so leads to a ton of major failure modes.


For instance, he mentioned the repugnant conclusion earlier in the video, which is one of the major issues in utilitarianism, along with the idea of the utility monster. Those made a lot of people start questioning rationalism, including myself, along with other famous problematic thought experiments like the trolley problem, etc.


But of course, as he does mention, there is also a lot of meditation and drug use, especially psychedelics, in the post-rationalist community, and that definitely plays into people realizing that rationality and legible statistics have major limits when it comes to describing actual reality.


There is also a heavy overlap with the sort of evolutionary or vitalist strain of thought championed by Peterson and earlier Carl Jung, where the idea is that from an evolutionary perspective, religion has a lot of power because even if it is not strictly true in an objective or rational sense, it leads to more fitness and better outcomes. Therefore it is superior, even if under one frame of mind it is not strictly explainable or coherent.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Faith & Doubt During Holy Week
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
No rush, thanks for the heads up.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Faith & Doubt During Holy Week
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Truly He is risen!


Thanks brother. I actually love that book, a good friend lent it too me a few months back and I was obsessed with it. Definitely helped strengthen my faith.


I love Hart as well, generally a fan of his approach though the deeper theological stuff confuses me. Universalism makes a lot of sense, I must say. As for Lord of Spirits, I've tried it a couple times but hasn't clicked with me. I may go back at some point.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Faith & Doubt During Holy Week
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well said. I relate. It's a hard time to live, spiritually. Materially we're blessed, of course.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Faith & Doubt During Holy Week
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
We have an organ as well, and have a unique somewhat Westernized choir that I'm a part of. I love it, our music is beautiful. We also still have chanters and we trade off different parts of the Liturgy.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Faith & Doubt During Holy Week
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Yep. We're American Greeks baby. We do it different.


The nearby Antiochian church has chairs as well.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Faith & Doubt During Holy Week
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Hah no human is puny my friend. Glad to hear it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Faith & Doubt During Holy Week
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I don't think Christ is saying that you can't pray with others at all. The earliest Christians, even Christ and His disciples, prayed together often, sang hymns together, etc. Corporate worship as a whole is definitely never outlawed by almost any Christian sect I've ever heard of.


It sounds to me like you are overly scrupulous. I have similar tendencies. Ultimately there are many contradictions within Christ's message if you take everything literally and try to follow all of the rules. The Orthodox talk a lot about how interpreting scripture is tricky, and you have to have the right mindset or phronema to understand. That's why we tend to defer to the early Christians and Fathers of the church when it comes to interpretations.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I mean, the person I'm thinking of isn't trying to get me to sign up for anything. She has no reason to lie. She just built a course to prep for a data science exam and has sold it well since there wasn't much else in the niche. I don't see how it could be a scam, like MLM style.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
What are we doing, can you be more specific?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'd honestly say the shagbark lifestyles seems quite appealing. I really hate authority, and being an insane hippie drifter doesn't sound too bad. If I didn't already have a fiance and a dog and other commitments, I would seriously consider it.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Well, fair. I appreciate you giving me I suppose a dose of reality. I've always been frustrated with my jobs so the grass seems a lot greener on the other side, but knowing myself I'm not sure I have the temperament to run a business successfully.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Idk, I know a few people who have lifestyle businesses where they essentially sell an online course or some other low-effort offering, and after a couple years of work have set themselves up to make plenty of money and work maybe 10 hours a week.


Probably quite difficult, but it's doable!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Interesting, thanks for the response! Yeah it's easy to romanticize business, I'm sure it's quite difficult in practice. I am already engaged so the lady part isn't relevant for me necessarily, but I always do wonder if I could have more freedom/time/dignity as an entrepeneur. I don't know, seems like it really depends!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 13, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Reading a recent shagbark post about how women are attracted to men who don't have bosses over 'wagies', I found myself thinking about owning a business. As as American it's obviously glorified, but I'm wondering if it's easier to own a business now than it was in the past?


Seems to my relatively uneducated mind that over time in America owning a business has in some ways gotten harder, some ways easier. Nowadays you can do the online business, make money not doing anything physical, just using your wits and social network, basically. Forms can be filled out electronically, etc etc.


On the other hand, back in the day it seems most Americans used to be business owners, especially when more rural lifestyles were more common. Folks owned farms, or a general store, and didn't really have many forms to fill out, though of course they paid (much lower) taxes.


Anyway as a somewhat half-assed tie in to the culture war - which tribe is better for business? Red tribe nominally wants to be but... they also seem to not follow through with that a lot. Blue tribe has become more kleptocratic lately. Maybe it's a tossup?


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Amen! Don’t worry, He is big on forgiveness I hear.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Basically you download their launcher, make an account and go. It’s quite easy!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
It’s hard to demand obedience from your wife when she can divorce you, take half your assets, and take away your children based essentially on nothing other than her feeling “abused.”


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Frankly to me this has always seemed like the most likely outcome by orders of magnitude.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Lately I’m playing on turtle wow but I’m thinking of hoping on the whitemane cataclysm server when it opens hah.


I prefer private servers because, well, free, and they have boosted xp and convenience stuff. Plus blizzard banned my account from back when I was a teen for no reason I can discern and I haven’t been able to get it back, so fuckkem.


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
I'm Orthodox baby!!!!


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 12, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
;)


				

				

						

							

								
							

						


						
					

				
			


			

	


			
			
				

			
		

	






		

			
			
				Culture War Roundup for the week of April 6, 2026
			
		

	

	

	

		
			

			

				

			

		

			


				

					
Love this thank you for writing it. If you ever want to play some WoW let me know.