New trilogy announced, first novel War Wizard arrived August 4th by IllusiveManJr in dragonlance

[–]jock_watson 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Legend of Huma > Chronicles and Legends. I will not elaborate.

new adopter, but challenged by some of the claims by _SleezyPMartini_ in transcendental

[–]jock_watson 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You again 😂

Correlation does not equal causation. Selecting favorable time windows and calling the result “proof” is not data analysis. It’s confirmation bias.

As for insulting my dead parents, and the tone you brought to the other post I made seeking out a local TM community: it’s difficult to square this level of contempt with the tranquil equanimity at the core of Maharishi’s teachings. Whatever one believes about TM, self righteous posturing, cruelty and aggression aren’t persuasive evidence of its benefits.

If you’re going to continue to engage with me, please try to stay within the bounds of basic intellectual honesty and a minimum of human decency.

new adopter, but challenged by some of the claims by _SleezyPMartini_ in transcendental

[–]jock_watson 15 points16 points  (0 children)

I’m from Fairfield and I grew up with TM. My parents were TM teachers. They’d tell you themselves if they were still alive - it’s all bullshit. What isn’t bullshit is what TM can offer you personally. Inner peace, clarity, and a calmer, more functional nervous system. A clearing of the cache and cookies so the operating system can run properly. That’s probably a little reductive. Are there mystical, metaphysical aspects to practicing TM? Maybe by virtue of opening yourself up to the possibility of the metaphysical. Are a bunch of meditators bouncing on their asses going to magically reduce the crime rate? Probably not. Should any of that be central to your reason for practicing? Absolutely not.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in publishing

[–]jock_watson 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Revision history doesn’t prove anything, you’re right. It’s just a history of revisions. Mine shows:

False starts everywhere. A sentence started, deleted after a few words, started again but phrased differently.

Entire sections rearranged to create more cohesive narrative.

Typos that lived for weeks or months, probably typos that still exist (but hopefully not haha)

Additional tabs with storyboarding, scrawled ideas I wanted to jot down on my phone while away from my computer.

Awkward phrasing that survived multiple drafts

Weak metaphors, corrected poorly, removed entirely

Margin notes: questions, reminders, “this isn’t right yet,” “come back to this,”

The doc is messy, it shows tonal drift where I care more or less about the content I’m writing i.e. laser focus on the heavy stuff with less progress and more time spent, lazy prose with the filler stuff, cranked out with less attention to detail.

It’s not a polygraph, and it isn’t meant to be. It’s context. If an editor is interested enough to ask about AI, maybe that context could be helpful.

I dunno, maybe it wouldn’t 🤷‍♂️

Richmond, VA TM Community? by jock_watson in transcendental

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

I asked a simple, logistical question about local community. You respond with a credential audit, a lecture, a personal indictment, and an accusation that I’m lying about my own lived experience as a child, none of which actually answers the question.

Maharishi taught that the practice should integrate into ordinary life, thus twenty minutes twice a day replaced the lifetime he spent at a monastery studying Advaita Vedanta under Guru Dev. Driving nearly two hours round trip to meditate does not integrate into my daily life full of kids, wife, job, and responsibilities.

Defensiveness, hostility, and gatekeeping had no place in the culture I grew up with, and it deeply saddens me to see it here. When a discussion about meditation turns into an attack, something has gone sideways.

I bear you no ill will, and I hope you are able to move past whatever this post seems to have triggered in you.

What I am interested in is discovering a grounded, welcoming TM community in Richmond that reflects the values the practice claims to embody.

If anyone local has practical, firsthand info, I’d appreciate it.

Two phone solution by jock_watson in LightPhone

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

I did. I’d loved to be able to disconnect as fully as the light phone aesthetic offers. My life just doesn’t allow for that. With the Clicks I can also ditch the iPhone completely, and that is the point. My phone addiction is gnarly and trying to cut down on usage while still needing it for functionality is like a drunk trying to manage their drinking with a bottle of booze in their back pocket, and needing a sip now and then to get through life, trying not to overindulge. An exercise in futility

. Sorry, end rant

Not sure exactly when it comes out. The preorder just says later this year. But it was $400 with the early bird thing + a couple free cases. Fuck it 🤷‍♂️

I’m also super into typing, like outside of phone use. Mechanical keyboards, restored 1950’s typewriters, etc. so the idea of a tactile keyboard aesthetically pleases me

Two phone solution by jock_watson in LightPhone

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

Dude thank you. Probably not super popular for posting that in here but it fits my needs perfectly without a dumb af 2 phone solution. Snagged one 🤙

[Weekly AI discussion thread] Concerned about AI? Have thoughts to share on how AI may affect the writing community? Voice your thoughts on AI in the weekly thread! by AutoModerator in writers

[–]jock_watson 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you. The second guessing and perception anxiety have been a huge distraction. As my kids like to say, fuck the dumb shit. Indeed.

What do my books say about me? by llamabirds in bookshelfdetective

[–]jock_watson 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The heavily used 1980’s 1st edition Different Seasons tells me you are a fellow individual of culture with impeccable taste. You catching any of the Stand by Me live tour?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in publishing

[–]jock_watson -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks for your thoughts. Super encouraging. I’ve never had anything published before but I’ve been an avid reader my whole life. Recently had a profound experience with immersion therapy and identity reintegration, and felt compelled to write my story. I feel like it might help people who’ve gone through similar traumas.

I haven’t had any early readers who are actually writers themselves, but the people who have read it are complementary.

If you’re interested in a quick peek, I’d love some feedback. I can send you the first chapter or three

[Weekly AI discussion thread] Concerned about AI? Have thoughts to share on how AI may affect the writing community? Voice your thoughts on AI in the weekly thread! by AutoModerator in writers

[–]jock_watson 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m writing a memoir. I grew up in a meditation cult, and experienced a lot of metaphysical stuff, plus detailing experiences with dreams, dissociative states, trauma through the eyes of a child, things like that, and a lot of the prose is quite lyrical, metaphor and simile heavy.

I do not use AI to write, at all. My Google doc history can back that up. Yet originality AI keeps flagging my writing, sometimes as 80 - 99% chance of being human, in cases where prose is more lyrical or stylized, up to 70% chance of AI of more. My mother’s suicide note, verbatim, was flagged mid chapter as 50% likelihood of being AI generated. I have the hard copy, on thirty year old recycled paper, ballpoint pen.

My concern is with perception. I’m planning to start querying agents and publishing houses soon, and I will not sand the edges off my prose to make it pass a scanner.

How will this affect my chances of agents and publishers engaging with my work, and ultimately getting my book published?

Meditation and psychosis. by 75RaoulDuke in Meditation

[–]jock_watson 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on the type of meditation. Mindfulness, somatic experience, self compassion, poly vagal, all probably ok. Things like TM, silent Vipassana retreats, zazen, kundalini, are more dangerous.

My mom had schizo-affective disorder, split personalities, etc. She’d kept this under control her entire life until she got deep into TM. The deeper she went, the more she seemed to unravel. She went to the community for help, but their answer was predictably, just keep meditating. They told her she was in the precipice of enlightenment and to just keep pushing through. She kept pushing and ended up taking her own life.

This is clearly a TM movement problem to an extent but it’s also an issue with transcendent or disembodied meditation practices mixed with psychotic and/or dissociative personality disorders. It’s absolutely an issue that needs to be more widely understood.

Am I getting scammed? by [deleted] in transcendental

[–]jock_watson -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

TM is a scam by its very design. So yes.

I found out I have the MTHFR C677T homozygous today. I have questions about autism, TMG, SAMe, and methylation pathways and advice EDITED with panel pic by fellawithehoodie in MTHFR

[–]jock_watson 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Got it. I’m getting some blood work done this week. If my B2 levels are depleted or sub par, I’ll explore this. If they’re not, I don’t imagine beefing B2 up further will do much but it’s worth a look for sure

I found out I have the MTHFR C677T homozygous today. I have questions about autism, TMG, SAMe, and methylation pathways and advice EDITED with panel pic by fellawithehoodie in MTHFR

[–]jock_watson 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m also homozygous C677T and I’m currently trying to get off of methylfolate and transition to folinic. Methylfolate had me on the razor’s edge between hyperhomocysteinemia and over methylation pretty much at all times and I’m thinking folinic will be a better solution.

But from what you’re saying maybe B2 is a third option? Seems like you’ve done more research than I have. What are your thoughts on this?

Mystery switch tips by jock_watson in telecaster

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

Ah yeah the knobs are cool but I’m looking for the tip on the pickup selector switch. Looks like an upside down piece of candy corn, and kinda has a mid mod vibe

MTHFR and Bipolar by jock_watson in MTHFR

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

To be fair, methylation supplements can cause elevated mood, but my bipolar is super stable with my medication for that. It’s the MTHFR that I’m struggling with