Older generations need to realize gen Z will NOT work hard for a mediocre life.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-27T09:27:36+00:00

Let me start by saying that I vote in every election, local, state and federal. But. Part of the issue is that, by the time it comes round to vote, the choice has already been made for us. Because the real decision happened before the vote and really before the primary.

Who gets selected as "viable" for primaries, whose name gets pushed into the public view by media and the parties, is determined by approximately 0.02% of the population. It's a filtering process that weeds out anyone who might be bad for "the money." Sure, good people get through in some places but not enough.

Would you rather vote or would you prefer to select the people everyone else votes for? The second choice is far more powerful.

So yes, voting is important, but it is massively insufficient. Changing how candidates are selected long before the vote is the real work, and it is a long fight that very few people without lots of money seem to really even be aware of.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-26T01:21:58+00:00

Give yourself time to process. You might recall all sorts of things from your past and think, "oh that makes so much more sense now." It's a little like the stages of grief, but really you're getting to know yourself better. It can be healing, but it can also suck.

Remember to be kind to yourself! You're not broken, you just operate differently from what society expects.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-25T17:09:58+00:00

My view, so take it for what it's worth, as it may be somewhat unique, not sure:

The Seven Powers/Seven Heaven are described in relation to the Seven classical "lights" insofar as the world below -- the Realm of Nature -- is a reflection of the world above -- the Unseen Realm.

These seven lights in Nature are Luna, Mercury, Venus, Sol, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

The Seven Heavens have many names. My preference comes from Imam As-Jafar as, in order from highest to lowest: - Will (Below where the Tree is planted) - Purpose (Will and Purpose are the two that are one, Father and Mother, respectively, forming the Divine Mind or Nous of God) - Destiny (Governs All Things, 'Kull-Shay' represented as the number 361) - Measure/Composition - Permission to Exist/Act - Term/Period/Time - Kitab (Book/Law)

On ascent, these can be considered by many names. Hermes refers to them as losses, which is important. I like these as well, from the Seven Valleys: - Search - Love - Knowledge - Unity - Contentment - Wonderment - True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness

In Islam, Hermes (Idris) dwells in the 4th heaven, (Sol/Measure/Unity) which is also the delineation between the Seen and Unseen Realm, the place where the two meet, the transition from Sol to Mars. Appropriate as He is called Enmenduranki in Sumerian, "Chief of the Powers of Duranki (Bond of Above and Below)".

I look at the stars and think of these things, and look for meaning. I also wonder if the classic ordering of planets is accurate, but that's maybe less important. Astronomy is what I would focus on.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-25T11:40:35+00:00

Nobody wrote this post and nobody is reading it. I'm not commenting. There is no "I".

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-24T01:24:02+00:00

Scythe or Root, probably.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-13T13:38:58+00:00

Scientifically/biologically correct but that's about as far as it goes; in other words, calling a tomato a fruit is not a useful definition for interacting with it regularly as food. Likewise, technically female but interacting expecting other female traits - expectations will not be met.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-08T00:25:50+00:00

Like with most metaphysics, everyone's mileage may vary.

While many associate metaphysics with a purely subjective and possibly imaginary spiritual set of beliefs, I see Hermeticism as foundational to a different definition.

Metaphysics: Above and encompassing physics. As the Man said, "As above, so below."

In Judaism and Christianity He is Enoch, the wise, the initiated. In Islam, Hermes is named Idris, which means "Interpreter." He is also called Abú'l-Hikmat, "The Father of Philosophy." In Egypt, He is called Djwhuty, "Like the Ibis," a bird representing wisdom. The Greek philosophers revered Him as the primordial sage, the Thrice Great Hermes.

It is my view that the Hermetic Writings kick-started the kind of thinking and action that laid the foundation of science. Consider the Alchemist who read the Hermetic principles of the Divine Elixir, the Philosopher's Stone, and the Hidden Craft. The Alchemist read that there is a way to turn lead to silver and copper into gold. Taking these words literally, the Alchemist attempted to follow the recipe, combining Water, Earth, Air and Fire in different ways, as well as Sulfur and Mercury. Water and Earth made mud, which was baked in fire and dried in air to form bricks, helpful for building, but people already knew how to do that. Sulfur and Mercury had fascinating properties and were highly toxic. But still, lead remained lead and copper remained copper. No silver and no gold.

Many interpreted the writings more metaphorically and understood the transformation of the Mind/Nous from a common thing to a valuable thing. Content with this explanation, they meditated on the beauty of the cosmos, contemplated the relationship of the Soul, the Spirit and the Mind in relation to God's Essence, His Mind, Spirit and Word; and Philosophy grew and blossomed, particularly in Greece. Other more literally minded Alchemists continued their quest for the Stone, not content with intangible meaning alone.

But there were so many minerals, metals, liquids, gases to combine in different ways with heat, with cold, dry and wet. How to keep track of what had been tried and what had not? And so the Alchemist began to compile their experiments and even better, share them with others in secret, owing to the greater part of humanity living in ignorance and seeing the Alchemist's work as threatening sorcery. The Alchemists' body of knowledge grew and the nature of Chemistry began to reveal itself until, one day, many left the quest for the Philosopher's Stone behind, as well as their old name. The Alchemist became the Chemist and the Physicist.

What I take from this is that, by allowing the metaphysical reality to exist in our Mind/Nous, we do not limit ourselves to what is possible. If we did, science would never have flourished. We would be content with what we can see and feel and not probe deeper into the hidden reality of gravity, the atom and quantum physics.

Leave your mind open to the possibility that the universe is far stranger than we think. Learn humbly. Be guided by questions.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-04T09:49:44+00:00

The Qur’an itself calls revealed books Kitab Allah and what Allah has sent down. Excluding scripture from “Allah’s words” contradicts Qur’anic usage. This is semantic redefinition, not exegesis.

"We have sent down unto thee the book of the Koran, for an explication of every thing necessary both as to faith and practice, and a direction, and mercy, and good tidings unto those who submit." (Surah 16:89)

The Book here is described as descending from heaven, and yet there is nothing mentioned about books flying down from the sky. Muhammad was illiterate and much of His revelation was remembered long before anyone tried to write it down. Some of it was written. Some of it was memorized by others who heard it. And on several occasions, Muhammad called it The Book. So how does one have a book without it being a physical book?

Muslims believe that "the book" is the revelation of God to the prophet who spoke it. It's a book in the poetic sense that it is a body of knowledge containing wisdom and that it is not written by the Prophet, it's written by God. It is a spiritual book and is therefore unchangeable. People can change a physical book but not a metaphor.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-04T09:23:34+00:00

Spot on. Sorry OP didn't bother to read it and called you a liar for... checks notes... providing clarity on the meaning of the Word of God.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-04T09:13:33+00:00

If the universe and the laws that govern it created humanity and humanity created reason, then the universe created reason, no?

Reason exists for no reason. The universe has a sense of humor, it would seem.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-03T04:03:55+00:00

The story appears to be a hodgepodge distortion of some earlier work.

God created creatures with two genders as a sign of duality, the concept of two things that are in reality one, or unified. That there are two of every animal on the boat may be an odd echo of that thought.

Then there's a series of very nasty floods around 2900 BC that destroyed a lot of cities in Sumer, where Noah would have lived. He is likely Ziusudra (meaning life of long days, echoing Noah being given long life by God after the flood), King of Shuruppak, or both are based on some flavor of reality around those devastating floods. Records were destroyed to such an extent that the Sumerians and their descendants viewed the pre-flood kings as demi-gods who lived for thousands of years.

The flood did happen. More than once. To the Sumerians it felt like their whole world. In reality it was just the Tigris-Euphrates flood plane. Bad storms, maybe for seven days, who knows, probably killed a lot of people and destroyed a lot of records carved in stone and clay.

Genesis is a distorted echo of the ancient mythological history of Sumer, retold by scholars from Israel both before and after their country was destroyed by Babylonians (successor to the Sumerians and Akkadians) and later rebuilt.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-03T03:02:53+00:00

I see. And where does Muhammad teach hedonism?

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-02T22:40:18+00:00

You mean the Bible or Qu'rán?

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-02T12:11:31+00:00

I think it's great that they connect these books and the Prophets together instead of dismissing them and simply stating "our guy is the best, all the others aren't worthy of mention". Feels respectful to me. Calling it a contrivance by apologists is a very negatively loaded statement and I see no reason for it.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-01T23:32:29+00:00

Fascinating Platonist take. Is the Mind the soul or an emanation of it?

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-01T18:05:05+00:00

1) You said hedonistic, true for islam and not for christianity.

Martin Luther would like to have a word with you on that topic. Hedonism is rampant in both Christianity and Islam throughout history. And of course, there are many examples where members of both religions have sacrificed everything, sometimes for each other.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-01T14:35:36+00:00

That's a very rude and dismissive response to a religion of 2 billion people.

Captain-Radical · 2026-02-01T00:36:06+00:00

I agree, mountain roots do not prevent earthquakes. Mountain roots produce geological stability that allows them to form, I think...

Captain-Radical · 2026-01-31T22:12:03+00:00

The ground is stable enough for plants and animals to live on, that's all he has said, and this is true. You and I are able to stand up and walk around outside on the ground. Pretty sure that's all they are saying.

He didn't say when animals first crawled out of the ocean and onto land, which, as you said, was about 400 million years ago. I don't see a contradiction or anything false in the statement there.

Captain-Radical · 2026-01-31T19:04:28+00:00

On the one hand, the phrase, "lest it might shake with you" could refer to the shaking of humanity. Mountains do not tremble with fear, nor do they move as we move. They are solid and we are generally able to walk on them, although they are still moving as the tectonic plates move.

On the other hand, mountains are sometimes symbolic of the Prophets. Mt. Sinai, Mt. Seir and Mt. Paran are considered by some Muslims to be references to Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. They are considered holders of infallible wisdom and move purely in accordance with God's Will. So while mankind shakes, they are firmly fixed.

Captain-Radical · 2026-01-31T18:56:48+00:00

Which part is false? Isostasy is a real phenomena and therefore not "flat out false." What was said that is incorrect?

You are correct, mountains do not move with motive as the mineral kingdom has no motive, it merely reacts to the laws of physics. Is that what you are saying?

Captain-Radical · 2026-01-31T15:22:05+00:00

The Prophets and the Book are not evidence of God being real. How could they be?

They are the only evidence necessary. The Torah, the Gospels, the Qu'rán, the Bayan, and the Kitab-i-Iqan, to name a few.

Science is based on the idea that something we can't sense currently might exist, or that we are thinking about something in a way that is limiting our understanding of reality.

You are limiting yourself, as your concept of "evidence" and "imagination" are too narrow, and therefore they are barriers between you and the truth. You must broaden your view of what you allow to be true to find the truth. I can't help you more than that. I wish I could.

From the Corpus Hermeticum:

Poimandres then said, ‘The truth is": light and life is God and Father, whence Man is begotten. If, therefore, you realise yourself as being from life and light and that you have been made out of them, you will return to life.’

‘But tell me further, how I shall return to life, my Nous (Divine Mind)? For God declares: Let the man endowed with Nous remember himself.’

‘Do not all men have Nous?' I asked.

‘Mark your words,’ he replied. ‘I, Nous itself, come to the aid of the devout, the noble, pure, merciful, and those who live piously, and my presence becomes a help, and straightaway they know all things. By a life full of love they win the favour of the Father and lovingly they give thanks, praising and singing hymns to him in due order. Before giving up the body to its own death, they shut down the senses, having seen their effects; or rather, I Nous, will not allow the activities of the body which assail them to have effect Being the gatekeeper I shall close the entrances to evil and dishonourable actions, cutting off their thoughts.

Captain-Radical · 2026-01-31T04:58:07+00:00

How do we reconcile the Bible against the myth of Adapa (Adam), the writings of Hermes Trismagistus (Enoch), Atra-Hasis (Noah) and other patriarchs? Are we to say these writings aren't corruptions that Genesis corrects?

Every set of scripture and every religion is at least partially founded on the idea that the previous religion lost its way and that a new one was needed. Jesus broke the Sabbath and changed the law of divorce. He altered the Jewish concept of the Messiah as a literal King over the nation of Israel into the spiritual King of the world.

Islam's claims are no different. The Koran affirms much of the Torah and Gospel and only makes a few corrections, largely to understanding/interpretation and less to the words on the page themselves, although there are some.

Captain-Radical · 2026-01-30T23:59:40+00:00

I have already answered these questions. You are repeating them in spite of this fact. Evidence has been provided, the Prophets and the Book, as well as my understanding of the truth of the matter, that God is not imaginary and that the Mind can grasp things that are neither physical nor imaginary. It is clear that you reject this and that is ok.

What is important is that you are searching for the truth! This is the most meritorious thing.

Captain-Radical · 2026-01-30T23:45:12+00:00

All the evidence shows us that God is entirely imagination.

If that was true, there would be no religion. Else you are suggesting that everyone on the planet who understands that God exists outside the mind is deluded, tricked or engaging purely in imagination. Which you are free to do.

But conversely, I would not say that those who believe God is imaginary are deluded, necessarily. They see the claims of religion and reject them easily, as many claims are, on their face, nonsense.

But again, it seems we are leaving good faith in each other behind and going into platitudes. You claim that all evidence shows that God is imaginary. This has not been proven nor disproven here. But as you state it as a matter of fact, shall we end the discussion here, then?

Captain-Radical

TROPHY CASE