Facebook friends and whatnot

Thanks again everyone. I have learned a bit here on how to conserve my energy and use it more wisely. I've been on the path of knowledge for many years now and it's humbleing to find out and understand that I am essentially still a novice at best. But that is what the forum is for to a certain degree. Not to pick at or needlessly criticise but rather to help sharpen. So thanks for the gentle admonishments and also for the solidarity of support. Both mean a lot to me. And hopefully others will be helped too.
Essentially I think my motives are pure which is to put information out there which is why I will continue to post things but I will do my best to be wiser with my expectations and confrontations.

Hey Captainmurphey

Just wanted to chime in and say that I understand the struggle of wanting to help people by sharing information and dealing with my self-importance getting in the way when someone questions the source or validity of the information, so you're not alone in that. :)

Bear said:

lainey said:

It might be an idea to read what Castaneda said about self importance.

Castaneda writes that self-importance is a needless piece of baggage that the warrior needs to get rid of simply because maintaining it is a needless expenditure of energy. There is no ethical value judgement on self-importance per se, it simply is superfluous and inefficient and works against the values of correct use of energy the warrior should aspire to. Energy will allow seeing and seeing can bring one to knowledge and freedom. Self-importance is a hindrance on the way.

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http://glossary.cassiopaea.com/glossary.php?id=669&lsel=
I don't believe you have to"fight" for anything. Just gently plant the seeds for others to cultivate if they choose. I would just ignore efforts at discrediting the material, some people are happy in their illusions.
I'm sure others will chime in if they don't agree.

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Hi lainey, dealing with self-importance is also what I thought about when reading Captainmurphy's post. I try to look at it this way even though it can be easier said than done. The person is attacking/judging the article or source and not you as a person, unless they come out and say something personal about you for posting the article, which may be the case since it was said the person was being negative toward Captainmurphy. Even if they do say something personal, it seems if it really affects us, then there might be some self-importance involved. I think it is good to look at it this way and not allow a reaction to the comment on the personal level where one might become defensive and have an automatic reaction of thinking or feeling the person is saying you are bad person or wrong for posting this when they comment. Although the discussion about shame vs guilt doesn't apply exactly to the situation, since Captainmurphy wasn't really doing anything wrong, this is what I was thinking about in terms of the above - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/brene-brown-shame-guilt-addiction-oprah_n_2966351.html I think it is we react most emotionally when we feel we or something we support is being shamed, especially if during our upbringing shaming was used on us.

Captainmurphy, I think you did a great job in taking hold of the emotional horses - http://glossary.cassiopaea.com/glossary.php?id=192 and being constructive about it. It would seem to have been easy to just take it personally and react poorly with your friend taking nothing away. Sounds like it can be looked at on many levels as a good example of keeping the heat of emotions below the neck and using self-observation.

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In the past I have definitely been "guilty" of an emotional reaction to discrediting posts. Luckily I managed not to let it get out on to the page. I could feel the anger well up inside of me and I deliberately held back on replying until I had mulled over my reaction which I traced back to self importance. I ended up replying that the original poster had asked a question (about being healthy enough to visit her sick brother in hospital without a risk of passing on infection) and that I simply answered that question with advice about the ketogenic diet along with a link which offered facts and references so she could make a choice based on the information given. (the ketogenic diet - an overview). The commenter then redacted his inflammatory posts and apologised stating that even though he didn't agree, he recognised that I was only trying to help. So really it wasn't about winning an argument but more about self observation in the heat of the moment and being able to strategically navigate discrediters while still offering up advise to someone who asked.

Menna said:

I sincerely want to help but it seems that most people would rather give a thousand thumbs up to a picture of a cute kitten

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Thats the level that they are at and thats perfectly fine. People are above us and below us on the learning curve the universe needs it that way it doesn't involve you personally so theres no reason for it to affect your emotions its the way the universe is. The only thing to do is recognize it and move on accordingly.

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True I think.

I try to have that attitude myself (also it is understandable that people like cute kittens, I do too)

But I do find it hard to have facebook.
It shows so well how the propaganda machine works, and it is painful to watch.
Last summer I was even accused of being a Nazi for posting against Israels massacre on Gaza (by someone I didn't know personally, but who was a facebook friend) and it actually freaked me out a bit, as I hadn't suspected that this could happen in my small circle of friends and acquaintances.

I try to share some articles to counter act all the disinformation, but not too much, as I don't want to push too much, and also I don't always have the energy of risking attacks (though most of my facebook friends are not attackers, even if they like cute kittens more than information of the state of the world)

Miss.K said:

True I think.

I try to have that attitude myself (also it is understandable that people like cute kittens, I do too)

But I do find it hard to have facebook.
It shows so well how the propaganda machine works, and it is painful to watch.
Last summer I was even accused of being a Nazi for posting against Israels massacre on Gaza (by someone I didn't know personally, but who was a facebook friend) and it actually freaked me out a bit, as I hadn't suspected that this could happen in my small circle of friends and acquaintances.

I try to share some articles to counter act all the disinformation, but not too much, as I don't want to push too much, and also I don't always have the energy of risking attacks (though most of my facebook friends are not attackers, even if they like cute kittens more than information of the state of the world)

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It can be painful to see the propaganda machine working so well to influence so many, but it's also very heart warming to see people learning from the information. The Science of the Spirit section of SOTT seems to be the most well received and needed information for the majority of people on my friend's list that aren't members of the forum.

It's definitely a fun balancing act learning how to navigate using FB for the purpose of sharing information and knowledge.

I can sympathize with a lot of people on this thread, Facebook has been very trying for me almost since the get go when I got stalked online and someone used a comment posted on someone's wall as a means to blackmail me (long story, pretty messed up, the guy concluded one of his emails with a "SEMPER FI" in all caps and acted hysterically).

Lately it's been trying for me since a large number of people I'm connected to are your stereotypical north american liberals who follow all the mainstream, huff post causes and whatever Jon Stewart tells them to think. On top of that there's a lot of the Quebec language and provincial politics which is very heated here and it's very eye opening to see the amount of ignorance, hate and vitriol that these supposedly "tolerant" and "enlightened" people can spew (it's so much that in 2012 people were openly calling for French people to be killed or sent back to France).

I've gotten some harassment over pro-palestinian posts and the ones condemning israel likely alienate people even more. One guy even pm'ed me demanding I view this youtube video and was generally aggressive and pushy, not to mention manipulative. Funny enough the same guy was tagged in a photo by some sort of B'nai Brith organization or something where the meeting topic was "How do we handle the Bernie Madoff affair?". Guess someone got sloppy.

Aside from a big argument with some people over me bashing their support for the Sochi boycott (good grief, people were really getting righteous and sanctimonious over that, it drove me nuts! And this was before I knew the boycott was all a crock!) I've tried to avoid getting entangled with facebook BS but it's been tough. As much as I would need to stop using facebook altogether I remember that in the end it's just a tool and a tool is as useful or harmful as you use it. After finding that far too many people were posting things that still would punch through my grown-thicker skin and ruin my mood, I just put people on restricted lists and remove notifications from my wall. Eventually I found something I could live with while still posting the occasional SOTT article and trying to be positive and informative. It seems to work, they are at least a handful of people who've told me they appreciate what I post. To me that's a victory anyday.

I think it's a good idea not to let other people's cat pictures frustrate you. Not everyone's going to feel your posts or share your information or worldview and that's all right. As for others who antagonize you, it can often get to a passive-aggressive back-and-fourth, so it'd be worthwhile to know who's pushing your buttons and how as well as how not to do it in response (unless they're really asking for it ;))

In the spirit of non-rivalry, here's an incredible video with a Chi Kung master demonstrating Heart Sutra. Come for the interesting philosophy and wisdom, stay for the amazing visuals of him throwing around a third-degree black belt using only energy!

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XJ_XuHlGA

I'm quite selective about who I am friends with on Facebook. Some people just aren't worth the energy. They will never change their views and can be quite aggressive when protecting them. Sometimes you just need to unfriend folk and leave them to it. That way you can focus on seeding without unnecessary attack.

Kn0w1llusions said:

In the spirit of non-rivalry, here's an incredible video with a Chi Kung master demonstrating Heart Sutra. Come for the interesting philosophy and wisdom, stay for the amazing visuals of him throwing around a third-degree black belt using only energy!

_https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98XJ_XuHlGA

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To my eyes, this is an obvious fake. Same procedure as when snake-oil salesmen preachers invoke the power of god over their susceptible congregations.

What I learned with facebook . . .

- to kick (real life) friends off in case they only make miserable and stupid remarks to what I post
- to be treated like a bad girl and survive it ;) - yipppiiiieeee!

All this took me a lot of courage so meanwhile I

- have more courage in general (because if you program yourself in virtuality it helps you [at least if you do it consciously] in "real" life, too)
- learned to stand for my opinion
- learned to speak the truth in a very simple way.

I am not so happy with the new reglement that came out in the end of february and I think I will draw back my participation a little.

naorma said:

What I learned with facebook . . .

- to kick (real life) friends off in case they only make miserable and stupid remarks to what I post
- to be treated like a bad girl and survive it ;) - yipppiiiieeee!

All this took me a lot of courage so meanwhile I

- have more courage in general (because if you program yourself in virtuality it helps you [at least if you do it consciously] in "real" life, too)
- learned to stand for my opinion
- learned to speak the truth in a very simple way.

I am not so happy with the new reglement that came out in the end of february and I think I will draw back my participation a little.

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True some people aren't worth the effort but don't kick everyone off just because they don't think the same way as us. Then you'll just be preaching to the choir. The idea is to plant the seeds of change. Some articles might touch some in a way that sets them on a quest for knowledge or challenges their beliefs. Don't be afraid of a few silly comments. We can't please all the people all of the time but we can stand in solidarity with our views, flapping our butterfly wings.
I'm glad this has given you courage. If you would like to be my facebook friend send me a PM with your details and I'll add you.
Go team! :D

it happens to me too.


Although it is interesting because even though it seems they do not read the articles, that is something that we don't know, since they browse and see their news feed and will always get at least the title to know whats happening in the world. I have friends asking me in person, the never comment online.

Not being optimistic, but it actually happens, some people's whole world news are the titles they read on Fb or tweeter or anything, and the might see an article that you posted from sott. then they go down and see the same article from a different news site from a different friend, so it really happens that they at least read the title. and those might be the butterfly wings the C's talked about.

the attacks with me happen more when i post them somewhere else, where i don't go easy on trolls, I usually take the route of posting the whole article and ask them to step out since their comments are off topic or ask them where religion was mentioned.

or cut them off, and call them out. Because even though you are arguing with this agent or friend or troll or whatever, people we don't think are looking, are in fact looking.

Iron said:

This point is something I keep coming back. A dillema: Do I just present the information and let it speak for itself, or do I speak about it more passionately (not trying to "convert" or win, but speaking of my experiences and how such information changed my life)?
To this day I still don't have a "one size fits all" answer to that. I just ponder case by case, taking in account who is receiving and what is being presented. But I'm well aware that my judgement can be wrong. There was more than one instance where people that I thought would be very interested, just gave a superficial reading, and people that I thought would reactly exctremely bad to the information actually got intrigued by it, and some even joined the forum.

I don't really know. I'll just keep on sharing things and deal with each case.

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My personal opinion is that it is more powerful and effective to post something in your own words that encapsulates the main point or some point that is important to you, or relevant to some conversation; perhaps something you learned that you want to share. And then provide the link.

When I see someone just posting a long article, I am predisposed to think they can not think for themselves, they are just parroting something that hooked them. It appears they have not done any 'work' themselves.

And then there is the issue that on Facebook, no one has really asked for anything, so what and why are you giving? An other side of this is that a SOTT article might be a good refutation to some lie or bogus 'common knowledge' that somebody posted. This case does present an invitation to share.

BHelmet said:

Iron said:

This point is something I keep coming back. A dillema: Do I just present the information and let it speak for itself, or do I speak about it more passionately (not trying to "convert" or win, but speaking of my experiences and how such information changed my life)?
To this day I still don't have a "one size fits all" answer to that. I just ponder case by case, taking in account who is receiving and what is being presented. But I'm well aware that my judgement can be wrong. There was more than one instance where people that I thought would be very interested, just gave a superficial reading, and people that I thought would reactly exctremely bad to the information actually got intrigued by it, and some even joined the forum.

I don't really know. I'll just keep on sharing things and deal with each case.

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My personal opinion is that it is more powerful and effective to post something in your own words that encapsulates the main point or some point that is important to you, or relevant to some conversation; perhaps something you learned that you want to share. And then provide the link.

When I see someone just posting a long article, I am predisposed to think they can not think for themselves, they are just parroting something that hooked them. It appears they have not done any 'work' themselves.

And then there is the issue that on Facebook, no one has really asked for anything, so what and why are you giving? An other side of this is that a SOTT article might be a good refutation to some lie or bogus 'common knowledge' that somebody posted. This case does present an invitation to share.

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I have tried both approaches. My conclusion is that people that are likely to receive well what you want to share do so, even in the abscence of a well thought text preceding the link. People that already make their minds about what you are going to say will not read. And if they do, they will inject all sorts of subjetive distortions to fit their worldview.
But I'll keep on sharing things anyway. Who knows where they need to reach?

BHelmet said:

Iron said:

My personal opinion is that it is more powerful and effective to post something in your own words that encapsulates the main point or some point that is important to you, or relevant to some conversation; perhaps something you learned that you want to share. And then provide the link.

When I see someone just posting a long article, I am predisposed to think they can not think for themselves, they are just parroting something that hooked them. It appears they have not done any 'work' themselves.

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That's what I think, too. If you describe something with your own words people will realize that you are thinking person with an own opinion. (And bytheway you learn more if you are forced to use your own words). And sometimes there is a very good discussion going on - and I still have to learn (surprise, surprise ) from this comments, too.
Sometimes when I post something I have not read before I get a good answer and see that I was wrong and the posting was nonsens. And in saying that I was wrong I become a more reliable person, I guess.

Most important thing is to be honest - as everywhere in live . . .



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lainey said:

True some people aren't worth the effort but don't kick everyone off just because they don't think the same way as us. Then you'll just be preaching to the choir. The idea is to plant the seeds of change. Some articles might touch some in a way that sets them on a quest for knowledge or challenges their beliefs. Don't be afraid of a few silly comments. We can't please all the people all of the time but we can stand in solidarity with our views, flapping our butterfly wings.
I'm glad this has given you courage. If you would like to be my facebook friend send me a PM with your details and I'll add you.
Go team! :D

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Thank you lainey for this remark: >>The idea is to plant the seeds of change<<- never thought about it this way, although I think I seem to act in that way.
But doing this more consciously makes a difference!