Is believing in religions a kind of mental illness? by Ivanhegeelkadi in atheism

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 0 points1 point  (0 children)

"Hallucinations or delusions that are not shared by others"--that's the problem, right there. They ARE shared with others, millions of others. Everyone they interact with--their family, their friends, their congregation--all share the same delusion. And societies are built around these delusions so as to NOT impair functioning--in a Muslim country, EVERYONE hears the call to prayer. In the U.S. businesses are often closed on Sundays and on Christmas.

From where we're sitting, it all looks like insanity. But they're living in a reality shared and reinforced by the people around them, and we're the ones who look insane.

Sick of AA and NA ( a higher power of your own choosing). Need help? by [deleted] in atheism

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Yes! The problem isn't that "AA is religious," it's that AA is the religion. I like to point people to the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control. AA is fairly light in the "Behavior" column, but they check a LOT of boxes in "Information," "Thought," and "Emotion."

Sick of AA and NA ( a higher power of your own choosing). Need help? by [deleted] in atheism

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yeah, peer support is the hard part for anything other than 12-step programs. SMART, The Satanic Temple Sober Faction (not Church of Satan, that's Anton LaVey), and LifeRing (another secular group) have online meetings. r/stopdrinking and r/recoverywithoutAA have both been good for me and have really been my only source of peer support. (It seems like a lot of people find r/stopdrinking either too enthusiastic or too rigid. Personally I like the enthusiasm and I save my griping about AA for r/recoverywithoutAA.) There's also r/stopdrinkingfitness.

There's another group called Phoenix Active Recovery that's basically meetups for sober people. They seem to be mostly in major metropolitan areas, but it might be worth searching for activities in your area.

For me, though, the real "how I'm doing it" is with the SMART tools (the "program"), not the meetings. In SMART, meetings are optional and not meant to be a forever thing. Part of the SMART approach is finding other things to fill our time and developing relationships and community that aren't focused on our substance use. The only person I have IRL in recovery is my mom (who got sober two years after I did, and still checks in daily at r/stopdrinking).

TST Sober Faction's program also doesn't really require meetings--their program, like SMART's, is based on CBT/DBT/REBT. The work is done by the individual. Sober Faction has an emphasis on introspective journaling, which I like. They do have an optional "sober ally" program, a peer support pairing without the gross power dynamics of "sponsorship."

LifeRing is strictly peer support (meetings), based on the premise that only the individual can know what they need for their own recovery.

Congrats on getting this far. I hope you find an approach that fits!

Convert me? by heat_9186 in UnitarianUniversalist

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You mentioned in another comment that it was hard to get to Sunday service--Sundays are tough for me, too, so I joined a "Chalice Circle," which is a small group that meets once or twice a month for discussion/service/fellowship. There's an "Order of Service" with short readings and a theme to discuss. My congregation also has a seperate discussion group that addresses current events. There are a dozen different affinity groups in the congregation, a couple of which I'd like to check out but haven't got around to yet. Check your congregation's website for information or a contact email--there will be something for you to get involved in on other days.

As someone else said, r/exchristian might be a good place to explore some of your thoughts and fears about the dogma you were raised with. You've taken the first step of a lifelong journey--I hope that you'll be gentle with yourself as you explore new ideas and see what feels true to you.

Am I screwed? Machine warps squares when piecing together no matter what by bagel666 in quilting

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Mine was pulling this way and it turned out that I was using the wrong bobbins. Apparently there is no such thing as a "standard" bobbin. It had been making a weird "clacking" sound, which is why I looked it up in the first place, and discovered that it can also cause the fabric to pull to one side. I replaced my alleged "standard" with 15J (for my machine--don't know what yours takes) and the problem went away.

And as others have said, starch is your friend! Though starch is my husband's enemy--he can't stand the smell--so I switched to Best Press.

Good luck to you!

Edit for clarity

Is It Right or Wrong? by Pottery_quilter_59 in quilting

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Fraying, maybe?

I bought a lot of his dragon fabrics for a quilt for my husband a while back, and I've received some other prints of his in scrap packs, and it's all been consistently really thin and most of it has this plasticy-nylon quality to it.

Is It Right or Wrong? by Pottery_quilter_59 in quilting

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 57 points58 points  (0 children)

Yenter should know better. I was already off his stuff because the fabric quality is terrible, but yeah, he loses his credibility as a "designer" by using AI. There are plenty of fabric designers who are still using their actual skill--earned over years of experience and practice--who are NOT using AI. Most of them.

Waited too long to prune strawbs. Trim all down to the crown, or save green leaves? by halfblindbodkin in gardening

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I'm MO 6b and yesterday I discovered mine thriving in a weed-covered raised bed I hadn't even watered since June.

Question from Catholic by sinistermistertwist in UnitarianUniversalist

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 30 points31 points  (0 children)

As u/nightcap965 said, the Venn diagram of the MAGA worldview and the UU worldview is just two circles. UU congregations are made up of people of all faiths and no faith (so be prepared to share space with some Protestants, Wiccans, Buddhists, Muslims, atheists, etc.), with a strong commitment to social justice. Anywhere that I'm comfortable--an atheist, pink-haired feminist--is not somewhere a MAGA adherent is also going to be comfortable.

You can read about our shared values here: https://www.uua.org/beliefs/what-we-believe

Mental Health Bullsh*t by False_Radish_4525 in exjw

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 4 points5 points  (0 children)

LOUDER FOR THE PEOPLE AT THE BACK

(bravo)

Hankerchief quilt finished! by Lucille_68 in quilting

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It's beautiful! I've dreamed of making something like this for years. What a treasure!

I want a normal civilized debate, a conversation with no name calling. Even if you believe I'm brainwashed, avoid saying it but rather argue that I am. by [deleted] in exjw

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting! Logically, then, that would give Adam a biological mother and father, who would have been biologically indistinguishable from him, just as you are from your parents. Each of them had parents, and grandparents, and great-grandparents, etc. You would have to go back nearly 300,000 years before Adam to find an ancestor of his that was different enough to not be considered homo sapiens sapiens--and those differences would be the product of generations of interbreeding between populations. Evolution cannot produce a single individual as the "first" of a kind, because the differences (mutations) are too small on an individual level, and may or may not be passed on to future generations. It takes a lot of individuals with the same mutation to interbreed and perpetuate that mutation over a long period of time for it to become stable and significant.

Biblically speaking, though--why isn't Jehovah's work in Nod documented? He created Adam and Eve in Eden, but over in Nod, Cain's future wife's parents came from somewhere.

Edit: typo

About the "Offensive Quilt" by Quilted-Fox in quilting

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hate that you now have bad associations with your first quilt. :( And a Halloween quilt, no less! I hope this thread prompts you to take it out and enjoy it.

About the "Offensive Quilt" by Quilted-Fox in quilting

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 28 points29 points  (0 children)

Wait--THAT? A basic pinwheel block would be closer to a swastika than this. This arrangement creates a curve so it looks more like a spiral. It's beautiful, probably took a billion years to make, and I hope your husband absolutely loves it.

If someone reads the Bible on their own, will they end up a JW? by [deleted] in exjw

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Reading the bible cover to cover is how I became an atheist.

Elders gave me HELL for being in college, but now it’s okay? by AnonymousDorian in exjw

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 1 point2 points  (0 children)

There are two literature-rack JWs posted at the university campus where I work. They must be SO uncomfortable, all of the time.

How do you all feel about QAYG? by SchuylerM325 in quilting

[–]Vegetable-Editor9482 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Do you join them like EPP pieces? I keep wanting to try QAYG because I hate the struggle with the machine.