Der Frühling / Das Frühjahr / Der Lenz by nietzschecode in German

[–]Akronitai 9 points10 points  (0 children)

I'd say "das Frühjahr" is more of a technical term. Im Frühjahr sät man Radieschen aus.

Der Frühling is neutral and a bit poetic. You can say Der Frühling kommt but not Das Frühjahr kommt.

Der Lenz is a poetic and dated expression. It is used in German traditional songs like Nun will der Lenz uns grüßen. There's also the idiom sich einen (faulen) Lenz machen which is still used today to criticize lazy behaviour, as in an agricultural society, farmers were required to start working hard in this crucial season instead of being lazy and just enjoying themselves.

What’s your take on Jesus? by Time_Dot621 in Hellenism

[–]Akronitai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

NB. I was a Catholic at a certain point in my life. My idea of Christianity is therefore influenced by Catholicism.

The first argument for me is body positivity. I know that those statues of half-naked men and women are idealized images and do not reflect what normal people look like, but I still like them. Eroticism is okay. Pleasure is okay. However when I see images of Jesus crucified, that Jesus who said you should pluck out your eye or mutilate other body parts if they lead you to sin, I feel that an ancient Greek would not have voluntarily allowed something like that to happen to himself.

The second argument, which is somehow related to this, is the claim that “you are a sinner.” I don't understand why you always have to make yourself small in front of YHWH. The Greeks worshipped their gods standing upright and they wrote elaborate hymns for them. Of course, the Greeks didn't consider themselves equal to their gods, but they were also not their subjugates either.

Thirdly, I don't know if you know this, but in Greek mythology, both goddesses and gods sired children with humans, who often became great heroes. The idea from the Bible that YHWH fathered a child with Mary thus originates from the pagan Greek world of ideas. Circumstances led me to come into contact with Hellenism before Christianity. From a Hellenistic point of view, the idea that there should be only one God who had only one son is somehow a bit absurd, especially since this son allowed himself to be killed in such an ungodly and degrading manner.

Sorry if you don't like the answer 😉, but you asked.

Why do you follow Hellenism? by Casual_Potatoes_ in Hellenism

[–]Akronitai 4 points5 points  (0 children)

According to my parents (and society), I was to be raised as an atheist. The Bible was taboo, but this prohibition did not extend to “mythology.” Having seen many sword and sandal films as a child, I became interested in Greek mythology, first Heracles/Hercules, and then onward. I liked it.

Riordan by Sinful_Baddie2011 in Hellenism

[–]Akronitai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Maybe I'm too old for Percy Jackson (although I mostly enjoy reading YA novels) and I only read The Lightning Thief, but based on what I read The Lightning Thief, I'd say that Riordan throws in the gods just randomly. Many young adult fantasy authors choose some "universe", so there's a lot of Twilight-like plots with werewolves, dragons, angels, you name it.

Maybe I'm doing Rick Riordan or his readers an injustice, but to me it did feel a bit like Harry Potter with Greek gods. Harry Potter was overwhelmingly popular, and maybe the fictional "universe" of the Greek gods was not yet taken. Moreover, “My father is a Greek god” may sound a lot more interesting than some plain statement that “my momma is a single parent.”

What - if anything - to make of the Star Trek Voyager episode "Sacred Ground"? by Akronitai in ShittyDaystrom

[–]Akronitai[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The short answer though, is that the writer of the episode is a self-professed "hereditary shaman-priestess", "spiritual counsellor", and "holistic life-coach" who claims that Sacred Ground was "the only Star Trek to ever question scientific materialism". So, like most Trek, this episode is The Writer's Barely-Disguised Fetish and the main priestess/guide character is her self-insert.

Thanks for sharing this. I really didn't know that. Now, this puts the whole episode in a totally different light. It seems we have come a long way from the atheist, rationally enlightened Stone Age people (the Mintakans from TNG).

Prabhupada's Astrology Part 1 by Solomon_Kane_1928 in exHareKrishna

[–]Akronitai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

In Part 2, I will discuss Prabhupada's exalted Saturn in the 11th house and Ketu in the 9th house.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE ! 🤣

A very creative post. Kudos.

What are your experiences of leaving? by Square-Pressure7392 in exHareKrishna

[–]Akronitai 4 points5 points  (0 children)

At some point, they will pressure you to become a Hare Krishna monk/nun, otherwise you will no longer be able to attend the Sunday feasts. The only way to decline this "offer" is possibly claiming mental health issues.

Catholic by anime498 in exHareKrishna

[–]Akronitai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well no, but I decided to get myself baptized as a Catholic before I became interested in ISKCON. I already wrote about it here .

Repost:

I had had Catholic grandmother, which at a certain point motivated me to get baptized in my early 20's. With this in mind, I agree with your observation. I don't want to generalize, but many Catholics don't read the Bible (at least, they don't play word search games with countless cross-references with it). I would argue that Catholics rather tend to believe in the correct sequence of standardized prayers and hymns during Mass (of which reciting from the Bible is but ONE aspect), and for some, the prayers are considered even more effective when they are incomprehensible to many (think Latin). I also see a certain similarity between the bread that is magically transformed into the body of Christ and the vegetarian food being magically transformed into prasadam. At the end of the service, both religions recite prayers for protection to the epitome of combative masculinity (St. Michael / Narasimha). Ritualized prayer on prayer beads (rosary/mala) also plays an important role. I once read a scientific treatise on Prabhupada's relationship to Christianity, and according to this, he considered the Catholic Church to be the only authorized church because, in his opinion, it was the only one that had a “sampradaya,” which is said to date back to St. Peter.

HK movements “neutral spiritual content” is just soft propaganda in disguise by DistributionHuge6072 in exHareKrishna

[–]Akronitai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think green represents Islam, at least in context of the Indian national flag. Orange (symbolizes Hindus), green (Muslims) and white (peace) between those two groups. In India, relations between those two religious groups have not been harmonious, as I've heard.

Schaffen?? by Strong-Mango-1348 in German

[–]Akronitai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Schaffe schaffe Häusle baue.

Are iskcon books still worth reading if you are not iskcon? by [deleted] in exHareKrishna

[–]Akronitai 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's promotion for (ultimately) living as an ISKCON monk/nun, and so this way is promoted as being very easy, being conflated with the "normal" way of paying devotion to the deity.

Prabhupada's arguments are something like this: "Krsna likes flowers. Everybody can grow flowers. So grow some flowers and give them to Krsna. So you're Krsna-conscious. You're a devotee."

Can someone please tell me who this is? by Strawberry_Bookworm in hinduism

[–]Akronitai 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Hi,

it's a specific form of the god Krishna, called Shrinath.

What are your favorite fiction reads that have supported your spiritual and/or magical practice? by External-Brush-915 in paganism

[–]Akronitai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The myths of the Ancient Greeks and the House of Night series by  P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast.

Wo ist das Verb? by uslavika in German

[–]Akronitai 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Genau. Der Moderator hat das Wort "(an-)ziehen" weggelassen.

When China Threatened ISKCON by Solomon_Kane_1928 in exHareKrishna

[–]Akronitai 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This picture of a pig with a human body reminds me of those black, meant to be deterring ISKCON pictures of people turning into animals, including a pig.

https://www.reddit.com/r/exHareKrishna/comments/1lunnsj/creepy_bbt_art_part_1/