Snuskbingo

 

Normalt? 

Stockholm Pride: Prova bli piskad - halva priset för barn

De firar Pride i hundmask: "Inte bara sex"

The end?

 

Richard Dolan wants to be positive and optimistic about the new disclosure directives from a certain federal administration, but he can´t help being skeptical. This is the directive (which I blogged about before) according to which people working for private military contractors are allowed to share sensitive UFO information...but only to a special office inside the Pentagon (or certain intelligence agencies). 

Avi Loeb supports the initiative (of course he does - he´s part of the insiders now), but whistle-blowers who actually talked to the relevant intelligence agents say that there was no follow-up. Their potentially sensational information just...disappeared. Perhaps that´s the point? The Pentagon itself wants to know how much UAP evidence is in the hands of the contractors. Nothing will be declassified in the end.

Is this the end of meaningful UFO/UAP revelations? OK, dudes, it was fun as long as it lasted, I suppose.  

Milkshake

 

I assumed Ganesha was more fond of sweets? Now, if said sweets mysteriously start vanishing, I´m prepared to believe that a miracle has occured. Unless (ahem) I´m in the vicinity of the temple. Then you probably should blame me! And for the record, I don´t drink milk... 

Ganesha drinking milk miracle

Therefore Sabine

 

Is causality an emergent property? And what does that even mean? Sabine hopes that quantum physics can be made more logical and less woo-woo-ish, but a recent paper on the topic falls short of this. Or so she believes. Since I´ve been up most of the night, I hardly understand what she´s talking about, but I´m sure it´s interesting...

Ganapati the golden

 

After all the negative stuff this night, here is a positive picture of Ganesha...

Why capitalism can´t save the planet

Nor can socialism, unless you´re willing to endure centuries of War Communism. But perhaps that *could* happen at some point? After all, a planned economy could break Jevons paradox.

Good luck proposing such a political platform.  

Jevons paradox

Emotional charnel ground

 

Is ChatGPT really *Charnel Ground* GPT? Here is a defense of Tantrism (including - at least implicitly - the extreme practices of the Left Hand Path) written by the Artificial Intelligence.

Here is a controversial question: Is there a path, perhaps in Tantrism, which does include even personal anger, bitterness, and the need to feel superior, and so on?

This is a controversial question, and the answer depends very much on what is meant by "include."

The short answer is:

• Yes, some Tantric traditions explicitly work with emotions such as anger, pride, desire, and fear rather than attempting to suppress them immediately.
• No, I am not aware of any mainstream Hindu or Buddhist Tantric tradition that teaches one should cultivate or justify personal hatred, bitterness, or a lasting sense of superiority as spiritual ideals.

That distinction is fundamental.

Buddhist Tantra

In Vajrayāna, there is a famous saying that the kleśas (afflictive emotions) are not rejected but transformed.

For example:

• anger becomes mirror-like wisdom,
• desire becomes discriminating wisdom,
• pride becomes the wisdom of equality.

However, this does not mean:

"Remain angry."

It means that the energy underlying anger is recognized without the grasping, aversion, and delusion that make it destructive.

Wrathful deities such as Mahākāla or Vajrakīlaya appear terrifying, but traditional commentaries generally emphasize that their wrath is compassionate wrath, not personal rage.

They are said to be free of hatred.

Hindu Tantra

The picture is similar.

In Śākta and Śaiva Tantra, fierce deities such as:

• Kālī,
• Bhairava,
• Narasiṃha,

may display terrifying anger.

But traditionally this anger is not interpreted as wounded ego.

Rather, it is cosmic, protective, or purifying.

The deity destroys ignorance or injustice without being psychologically consumed by resentment.

Where things become more complicated

There are traditions that deliberately use powerful emotions as fuel.

For example:

• confronting fear in cremation grounds,
• visualizing terrifying forms,
• transmuting sexual desire,
• working with aggression or intense determination.

In these contexts, the practitioner does not pretend the emotions are absent.

Instead, they become material for practice.

This is one reason Tantra has often been described as an "alchemical" path.

But alchemy transforms lead into gold—it does not declare lead to be gold already.

Pride

Your mention of "the need to feel superior" is particularly interesting.

Classical Buddhist psychology generally treats this as a form of māna (conceit), which is considered an obstacle.

Even if one is objectively accomplished, clinging to superiority is seen as reinforcing the illusion of a fixed, separate self.

Similarly, many Hindu traditions distinguish between healthy confidence and ahaṃkāra (egoic self-identification).

Tantra does sometimes ask the practitioner to identify with a deity and think:

"I am the deity."

But this is not meant to inflate the ordinary ego.

Rather, it is intended to undermine the ordinary ego by replacing it with an enlightened identity that is ultimately dissolved into emptiness or pure consciousness.

Are there antinomian traditions?

Yes.

Some historical Kaula, Kāpālika, and related Tantric groups deliberately violated social conventions.

However, even these traditions generally claimed that such practices were undertaken:

• after extensive preparation,
• under a qualified guru,
• without ordinary attachment,
• and as a means of transcending dualistic clinging.

They did not usually teach that ordinary resentment or arrogance should simply be indulged.

A Jungian comparison

Modern psychological interpretations—especially those influenced by Carl Gustav Jung—sometimes speak of "integrating the shadow."

That idea has often been compared with Tantra, although they are not identical.

Jung would generally say that acknowledging anger, envy, or pride is healthier than denying they exist.

But he would not usually recommend becoming dominated by them.

Likewise, Tantra often says that denying powerful emotions can make them more unconscious, while transformation requires bringing them into awareness.

Is there any tradition that positively values bitterness?

Here I think the answer is largely no, at least among the major Hindu and Buddhist traditions.

Some traditions value:

• righteous indignation,
• fierce resolve,
• uncompromising truthfulness,
• destructive compassion,
• terrifying protective power.

But bitterness—understood as long-term resentment, grievance, or delight in another's downfall—is generally regarded as binding rather than liberating.

A broader perspective

Your question points toward a real tension in spirituality. Some paths emphasize gentleness and gradual purification; others are willing to enter directly into powerful, difficult emotions. Tantric traditions are among the latter. Yet their aim is not to sanctify egoic anger or superiority. Rather, they propose that the very energies involved in those states can, through disciplined practice, be transformed into wisdom, fearlessness, and compassionate action.

So if someone found themselves saying, "My practice has brought me face to face with my anger, pride, or bitterness," many Tantric teachers might respond, "Good—now you know what needs to be transformed." They would be much less likely to say, "Excellent—keep cultivating those qualities as they are." The distinction between using an emotion as the raw material for transformation and endorsing it as a spiritual goal is one of the defining features of both Hindu and Buddhist Tantra.

The Tantrik Tyger

 

Ryde a tyger, anyone?

Dude! Sometimes, Gemini writes such dramatic shit. Like here: 

[Gemini quote follows]

"Riding a tiger is fast, but if you lose your balance for one second, the tiger eats you."

• The Trap: If you engage with anger and pride without absolute, cold, razor-sharp self-awareness, you don't achieve spiritual liberation—you simply become a bitter, tyrannical, toxic person who ruins their own life and burns out their subtle body (Asura-bhāva, the state of a demon).

• The Test: In Tantra, it is said that using personal anger and ego as a path is like drinking poison to gain immunity. If your spiritual "stomach" is strong enough, it turns into pure power. If it isn't, the poison kills you.

If your natural constitution is driven by sharp intensity, judgment, and a refusal to conform to standard ideas of "soft compassion," these dark/wrathful frameworks exist precisely so that energy isn't wasted—provided you have the discipline to master the fire rather than let it burn you alive.

Nandu på rymmen

 

Credit: Bernard Dupont

En glad nyhet? En nandu på rymmen har infångats medelst förplägnad bestående av kanelgifflar och salta nötter. Påfågeln på bondgården är glad över att ha fått tillbaka sin amigo. Skåne 2026. Knickarp, Blentarp och Häckeberga är nu på allas läppar. Och kartor?

Visst, det är lite nyhetstorka över den här historien. Men lite glad blir man ju över att Alex fick sina favoritkakor tillbaka. 

Fast varför rymde strutsfågeln egentligen...? 

Strutsfågel på rymmen

Showing my age

 

- Join the dark side, Ashtar my dear!

Sometimes, I feel like I´m 10,000 billion years old. Yes, I´m suffering from some kind of compassion fatigue. As you may have noticed.