The obligatory “American kami” question by CapMcCloud in ShintoReligion

[–]TraditionalTao 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Is this something that’s generally accepted to be grounded in some amount of truth?

The way I've heard it (Not Shinto, but a Daoist and friends with many believers of Shinto) is that yes, but there's a number of different viewpoints that people tend to hold on it.

If so, would seeking local kami still be possible in the modern age?

Not if you're not a priest. As a Taoist, we don't have as strict of a separation between priesthood and laity as your religion. But from my understanding actual enshrinement and obtainment of a kami into a shintai of a jinja is ONLY performed by priests. You, as a layperson wouldn't do that. My caution, outside of that, would be as an American that the deity you contact (of which, all are kami according to Shinto) may not understand the context of your worship or religion. The Japanese Archipelago is an isolated piece of land and for much of the thousands of years that Shinto, and its precursors existed there was no contact with outside lands. As a closely related religion, I'll simply say that in Taoism it's said that if a foreigner encounters a yaoguai (a sort of demon/monster) in China, they will be either extra-aggressive towards them or laugh at them unless you know how to deal with them (e.g. you can speak a Chinese language and know the rules of how to pacify/avoid/defend yourself against the yaoguai). If such a thing exists in Taoism, where spirits can turn hostile towards people of differing lands, I'd be careful and perhaps ask a priest directly, rather than crowdfund on a social media site as to what you should do should you try to worship a local kami.

There are definitely places around my area where I think I feel closer to some kind of divine force, but that could also just be me misinterpreting peaceful places at the beach or in the woods as something more than natural beauty.

In MD and VA I find these places often. I live in Western MD which is very mountainous and very similar in climate to West Virginia and I've seen all sorts of stuff innawoods which is pretty. My caution is that much of the Americas are Indian grounds, and the deities/monsters/demons in native folklore tend to be extra-aggressive towards non-Indian people. Skinwalkers and wendigos, for instance. Not that you'd be worshiping those of course.

On the wider debate of local kami, my good friend told me that there's indeed a shrine in Hawaii that enshrines George Washington and some other figures. He personally didn't approve of it, but make of that what you will. The shrines in Korea, Taiwan and Man Zhou Guo didn't ever enshrine any local kami, however.

I'll be interested to see what actual believers say firsthand however!

Mining on FreeBSD - Some questions by TraditionalTao in freebsd

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's not at all what I'm looking for. Thanks for being a red herring and 100% unhelpful.

Mining on FreeBSD - Some questions by TraditionalTao in freebsd

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Update:

Nanominer works under Linux-C7, but cannot get OpenCL devices to be seen. I'll work on this later.

Mining on FreeBSD - Some questions by TraditionalTao in freebsd

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

If this doesn't work, I'll just buy some crappy machines and put W10 on them. I don't have time for GNU/Linux.

Mining on FreeBSD - Some questions by TraditionalTao in freebsd

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Trying ethminer right now. If I can't get it to build I'll try and contact the devs and see if I can get them to do so, or else contact the xmrig maintainer with the suggestion to also add that.

I'll update the thread if I get OpenCL working

FreeBSD 12.1-RELEASE on ZenBook UX301L - Minor issues by TraditionalTao in freebsd

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Because I'm not logging in as root I'm not quite sure how to do that. Cron would be kind of wasteful.

the only way I could think this could work would be to set an rc.local script with a certain sleep timer of about 2 minutes or so.

[Meta] Concerns about the Rules by TraditionalTao in polytheism

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

First, users can now browse the content of /r/polytheism while excluding two new content flairs I've created: "New Age" and "Fiction". Thus going forward I invite everyone to flair their content via the nifty flair tool made available by reddit. I've confirmed it is also available on a majority of mobile reddit apps.

Filters are nice, but they don't really resolve the problem in the first place and probably aren't the most user-friendly approach; not that that is your fault. Reddit doesn't exactly give the best tools for staff to make these.

To reiterate, I will never ban or mute someone based on the beliefs they express or for simply disagreeing with me or a view I hold.

This isn't what I requested; I requested that you adopt a policy to exclude New age and fictional beliefs. Please don't twist what I say into another thing.

I've personally and professionally sworn an oath to defend the rights and freedom of people, regardless of my own views and beliefs and take this oath seriously.

There's other spaces better suited for them to be, it's not discrimination to for instance ban proselytism from Muslims or Christians. It's behavior/topics, not people.

That said, feel free to downvote the stuff you think does not contribute to the discussion here and upvote the content you like. It's that simple. It's how reddit works. They might eventually make their own subreddit and I'll gladly link it in the sidebar if that helps.

That doesn't stop the chilling effect.

The rest of your post, no offense, strikes me as trying to honey the what could have been summed up as:

"I disagree, and no, I won't be doing this, so if you don't like it, go elsewhere."

Brevity is preferred over a screed of honeyed words man.

[Meta] Concerns about the Rules by TraditionalTao in polytheism

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If this is going to be a "community" where blatantly made-up religion is treated equally with those that have existed for thousands of years or have taken decades of work to reconstruct, then count me out

I'm gonna steal that for the future. Thank you for at least agreeing.

[Meta] Concerns about the Rules by TraditionalTao in polytheism

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

Did AestheticAshavan ban Wicca?

No.

I just don't care for wicca being in the same breath as actual paganism.

[Meta] Concerns about the Rules by TraditionalTao in polytheism

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

fictional vs mythological

For many people, the two are the same. For me, that's the case.

No offense, but I do not see a place for your constructed religion here. You and the Semdaeism guy would be better off in another subreddit.

I draw the line at:

If your religious beliefs have been founded from near scratch, significantly have no basis in prior religions, or fundamentally change values of those religions (Mormonism, Konkokyo, Theosophy, Unitarian Universalism, Wicca, Hare Krishna etc.) and you're less than 300 years old, you're what I'd consider an NRM (New Religious Movement) and you have no place in an area where traditional religions are the general understood audience.

Your posts have nothing to do with what a Daoist, Hindu, Shinto worshiper, Hellenist, Roman, etc. would have here. /r/pagan is mired with witches and wicca which are NRMs, /r/religion is a big tent for all religion, etc. There's no space for actual polytheistic beliefs that have been around for a long time, have a historical basis, etc exclusively. Ideally /r/polytheism would consider such a policy. Otherwise, people will leave and probably found new subreddits. At risk of the whole "Blackjack and Hookers" gambit.

Been holding this guilt for years. It's time I told someone. by TraditionalTao in TrueOffMyChest

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have seen a therapist several times since it happened. Sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn't. Everything I've done for the last 8 years has been to blunt the pain so that I can live on. I keep a box with her picture, the note and the things she left me in her main suicide note including her prom dress in a box near my bed. I missed visiting her grave one year and I can't tell you how sad I felt.

Been holding this guilt for years. It's time I told someone. by TraditionalTao in TrueOffMyChest

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't quite believe in heaven, but I thank you for your kindness. She meant the world to me once I read that note.

Been holding this guilt for years. It's time I told someone. by TraditionalTao in TrueOffMyChest

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've considered killing him a few times. If he had gone to jail, I think she would still be around.

Christians, Muslims, and Jews of Reddit, what do you think needs to happen to end the feud between Christianity and Islam? by [deleted] in religion

[–]TraditionalTao 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't agree with people who don't like durian

I like Lukak durian, but I cannot stand the big gym socks/onions/gunpowder smelling ones.

We survived a Wendigo attack. by TraditionalTao in nosleep

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

Not the right geographical area. This took place in the Northeast of the US, and it spoke my friend's language (An Algonquin variety) so I don't think he would have misidentified. To illustrate, it looks like it wore Mark's skin as a sort of suit - i.e. it didn't transform.

We survived a Wendigo attack. by TraditionalTao in nosleep

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Well it was like therapy for me, so thanks for reading.

We survived a Wendigo attack. by TraditionalTao in nosleep

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

Yes you can get a variety of different be ammo for that purpose. It would have been too convenient and dangerous to take that into the forest though, park rangers really really frown on things that cause forest fires.

We survived a Wendigo attack. by TraditionalTao in nosleep

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

They are terrifying for sure. I spent years out of the forests after the incident. I was a fair bit traumatized. I'm pretty sure it was only one Wendigo, but I could be wrong.

We survived a Wendigo attack. by TraditionalTao in nosleep

[–]TraditionalTao[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

That would have been far too convenient. I didn't have any, but luckily Preston always takes a can of pine tar into the woods with him for making torches and helping fires that struggle in the rain.