A list of all the ideologies (within the game files), including their descriptions. Enjoy.

Conservatism

Conservatism is a political and social philosophy promoting traditional social institutions in the context of culture and civilization. The central tenets of conservatism include tradition, human imperfection, organic society, hierarchy and authority, and property rights. Conservatives seek to preserve a range of institutions such as monarchy, religion, parliamentary government, and property rights, with the aim of emphasizing social stability and continuity.
National Conservatism National conservatism is a variant of conservatism that concentrates more on national interests and upholding cultural or ethnic identity than most other conservatives. In Europe, national conservatives are usually Eurosceptics.
Gaullism
Gaullism is a French political stance based on the thought and action of World War II French Resistance leader General Charles de Gaulle, who would become the founding President of the Fifth French Republic.
Corporatism I do not know where the description for this is. Considering corporatism doesn't exactly fit within conservatism I believe this is a mistake, but I'm including it here anyway.
Republican Party [sic]
The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States, the other being its historic rival, the Democratic Party. The party is named after republicanism, a major ideology of the American Revolution. Founded by anti-slavery activists, economic modernizers, ex-National Republicans, ex-Free Soilers and Whigs in 1854, the Republicans largely dominated politics nationally and in the majority of northern states between 1860 and 1932.
Religious Zionism Formed as a nationalist opposition and acts as the basis of the Israeli right, Revisionist Zionism envisions territorial integrity over the historical Land of Israel and supports Jewish nationalism. Revisionist Zionists believed that Jews have sovereignty over both banks of the Jordan river and its followers question the legitimacy of the Kingdom of Jordan. Currently, Revisionist Zionism is regarded as a fringe ideology but its proponents have recently began a push to make the ideology more moderate and hence more electable.
Black Conservatism Black Conservatism is a type of conservative ideology popular among Africans in both hemispheres. Individuals which would promote black conservatism would likely be advocates of free market capitalism, promotion of traditional beliefs (generally in regards to Catholic and Protestant Christianity), and Patriotism or Jingoism. Black Conservatism generally is opposed to Pan-Africanism, Socialism, and Anti-Imperialism.

Liberal Conservatism

Liberal conservatism combines conservative policies with liberal stances, especially on economic, social and ethical issues. It incorporates the classical liberal view of minimal government intervention in the economy, according to which individuals should be free to participate in the market and generate wealth without government interference. However, individuals cannot be thoroughly depended on to act responsibly in other spheres of life, therefore liberal conservatives believe that a strong state is necessary to ensure law and order and social institutions are needed to nurture a sense of duty and responsibility to the nation. They also support civil liberties, along with some social conservative positions.
Conservative Liberalism Conservative liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal values and policies with conservative stances, or simply representing the right-wing of the liberal movement. It is a more positive and less radical variant of classical liberalism.

Christian Democracy

Christian democracy is a form of conservatism and a political ideology which emerged in 19th century Europe under the influence of Catholic social teaching, as well as Neo Calvinism. It was originally conceived as a combination of traditional Catholic beliefs and modern democratic ideas, and it grew to incorporate the social teaching of other Christian denominations, such as the Lutheran Church and the Reformed Church.
Vatican [sic]
The politics of Vatican City take place in a framework of an theocratic absolute elective monarchy, in which the Pope, religiously speaking, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and Bishop of Rome, exercises ex officio supreme legislative, executive, and judicial power over the Vatican City, a rare case of non-hereditary monarchy.

Socialism

Socialism is a range of economic and social systems characterized by social ownership and workers' self-management of the means of production as well as the political theories and movements associated with them. Social ownership may refer to forms of public, collective or cooperative ownership, or to citizen ownership of equity. There are many varieties of socialism and there is no single definition encapsulating all of them, though social ownership is the common element shared by its various forms. Socialist economic systems can be divided into non-market and market forms. Non-market socialism involves the substitution of factor markets and money, with engineering and technical criteria, based on calculation performed in-kind, thereby producing an economic mechanism that functions according to different economic laws from those of capitalism. Non-market socialism aims to circumvent the inefficiencies and crises traditionally associated with capital accumulation and the profit system. By contrast, market socialism retains the use of monetary prices, factor markets and in some cases the profit motive, with respect to the operation of socially owned enterprises and the allocation of capital goods between them. Profits generated by these firms would be controlled directly by the workforce of each firm, or accrue to society at large in the form of a social dividend. The socialist calculation debate discusses the feasibility and methods of resource allocation for a socialist system.
Democratic Socialism Democratic socialism is a political philosophy that advocates political democracy alongside social ownership of the means of production, with an emphasis on self-management and democratic management of economic institutions within a market or some form of decentralized planned socialist economy.
Market Socialism Market socialism is a type of economic system involving the public, cooperative, or social ownership of the means of production in the framework of a market economy.
Royal Socialism No information in the game files. Probably a scrapped ideology, but still here for showcase purposes.
Neocommunism Ditto to above.
African Socialism African socialism is a belief in sharing economic resources in a traditional African way, as distinct from classical socialism. Common principles of African socialism are social development guided by a large public sector, incorporating the African identity and what it means to be African, and the avoidance of the development of social classes within society.
Ujamaa The Swahili word Ujamaa means 'extended family', 'brotherhood' or 'socialism'; as a political concept it asserts that a person becomes a person through the people or community. Ujamaa was a term made popular by the political philosophy applied under Julius Nyerere's social and economic development policies in Tanzania after it gained independence from Britain in 1961.
Labor Zionism (Mapai) Labor Zionism is the left-wing of the Zionist movement. For many years, it was the most significant tendency among Zionists and Zionist organizations. It saw itself as the Zionist sector of the historic Jewish labor movements of Eastern and Central Europe, eventually developing local units in most countries with sizable Jewish populations. Labor Zionists believe that a Jewish state could only be created through the efforts of the Jewish working class settling in the Land of Israel and constructing a state through the creation of a progressive Jewish society with rural kibbutzim and moshavim and an urban Jewish proletariat.
Kemalism Kemalism is the founding ideology of the Republic of Turkey. Kemalism, as it was implemented by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, was defined by sweeping political, social, cultural and religious reforms designed to separate the new Turkish state from its Ottoman predecessor and embrace a Westernized way of living, including the establishment of democracy, secularism, state support of the sciences and free education.
Oriental Personalism Oriental Personalism is the official ideology of Ngo Dinh Diem's Can-Lao Party in South Vietnam. Owing as much to the influence of his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu as Diem himself, Oriental Personalism has diverse ideological influences, including Emannuel Mournier's theory of Personalism, Marxism, and the folk traditions and religions of Vietnam. The Can-Lao manifest calls for the gradual transformation of Vietnamese society through two phase. In the first phase, the Personalist Revolution, the Social and Working Classes will tear their divisions and join as one. Then comes the Social Revolution, where all forms of capitalism and colonial influence will be swept out on a triumphant march to a utopian, socialist, and proudly Vietnamese society.

Social Democracy

Social Democracy is a political, social and economic ideology that supports economic and social interventions to promote social justice within the framework of a capitalist economy, as well as a policy regime involving a commitment to representative democracy, measures for income redistribution, and regulation of the economy in the general interest and welfare state provisions.
Democratic Party [sic]
The Democratic Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Democratic Party was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest active political party.
Labor Zionism Functionally the exact same as Labor Zionism (Mapai), with the same description. I have no clue why it's divided as such.

Social Liberalism

Social liberalism is a political ideology that believes individual liberty requires a level of social justice. Like classical liberalism, social liberalism endorses a market economy and the expansion of civil and political rights and liberties, but differs in that it believes the legitimate role of the government includes addressing economic and social issues such as poverty, health care, and education.

Progressivism

Progressivism is the support for or advocacy of improvement of society by reform. As a philosophy, it is based on the idea of progress, which asserts that advancements in science, technology, economic development and social organization are vital to the improvement of the human condition.
Green politics Green politics is a political ideology that aims to create an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, nonviolence, social justice and grassroots democracy.

Centrism

Centrism is a political outlook or specific position that involves acceptance or support of a balance of a degree of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy, while opposing political changes which would result in a significant shift of society either strongly to the left or the right.

Classical Liberalism

Democracy (yes, that is the entire description)
Libertarianism Libertarianism is a collection of political philosophies and movements that uphold liberty as a core principle. Libertarians seek to maximize political freedom and autonomy, emphasizing freedom of choice, voluntary association, and individual judgment. Libertarians share a skepticism of authority and state power, but they diverge on the scope of their opposition to existing political and economic systems.
Zionism (General Zionism) Many people and parties chose not to follow any of the distinct Zionist schools of thought and chose to stick to the core ideology of Zionism, settling in Israel and the establishment of the Jewish State. Many of the parties that stick to the 'core' of Zionism are centrist parties that don't associate themselves with either the left nor the right and tend to be economically liberal.

Marxism-Leninism

Marxism-Leninism is the ideology combining Marxist socioeconomic theory and Leninist political praxis, which is the official ideology of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and of the Communist International. The purpose of Marxism-Leninism is the revolutionary development of a capitalist state into a socialist state, effected by the leadership of a vanguard party of professional revolutionaries from the working class.
Liberal Communism I can find no reference. I presume this refers to the like of Gorbachev.
Stalinism Stalinism is the means of governing and related policies implemented from around 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. Stalinist policies and ideas as developed in the Soviet Union included rapid industrialization, the theory of socialism in one country, a totalitarian state, collectivization of agriculture, a cult of personality and subordination of the interests of foreign communist parties to those of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, deemed by Stalinism to be the leading vanguard party of communist revolution at the time.
Juche Juche is the official state ideology of North Korea, described by the government as Kim Il-sung's original, brilliant and revolutionary contribution to national and international thought. It postulates that the Korean masses are to act as the masters of the revolution and construction and that by becoming self-reliant and strong a nation can achieve true socialism.
Ho Chi Minh Thought Ho Chi Minh Thought is the official ideology of the Communist Party of Vietnam under the leadership of Chairman Ho Chi Minh. Though firmly Marxist-Leninist, Ho believes in a more nationalistic reintepretation of Marxism for the unique conditions of the Vietnamese revolution, even taking some influence from Sun Yat-Sen's "Three Principles of the People" and the American revolutionaries. Ho Chi Minh Thought is as proudly Vietnamese as it is Communist, and calls for a "national democratic revolution" -- a truly Vietnamese path to socialism where worker, peasant, soldier, and merchant will unite against inequality and imperialism in all its forms.

Revolutionary Socialism

Revolutionary socialism is the socialist doctrine that social revolution is necessary in order to bring about structural changes to society. More specifically, it is the view that revolution is a necessary precondition for a transition from capitalism to socialism.
Revolutionary Islamic Socialism Your guess is as good as mine.
Trotskyism Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Russian Leon Trotsky. Trotsky identified as an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist. He supported founding a vanguard party of the proletariat, proletarian internationalism and a dictatorship of the proletariat based on working class self-emancipation and mass democracy.
Sartre Thought No description given.
Anarcho-Communism Anarcho-communism is a theory of anarchism which advocates the abolition of the state, capitalism, wage labor and private property in favor of common ownership of the means of production, direct democracy and a horizontal network of workers' councils with production and consumption based on the guiding principle: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.
Posadism No description. Another relic.
Titoism Titoism is described as the post-World War II policies and practices associated with Josip Broz Tito during the Cold War, characterized by an opposition to the Soviet Union. It usually represents Tito's Yugoslav doctrine in Cold War international politics. It emerged with the Yugoslav Partisans' liberation of Yugoslavia independently of the Red Army, resulting in Yugoslavia being the only Eastern European country to remain socialist, but independent after World War II as well as resisting Soviet Union pressure to become a member of the Warsaw Pact.
Left-wing Military Dictatorship a Left-wing Military Dictatorship is a government which may espouse specific socialistic beliefs to gain second world support, but is however a military-controlled oppressive autocratic state. [sic]
Person Dignity Theory (Nhuism) Person Dignity Theory, also known as Spiritualistic Marxism, describes the more radical worldview of Ngo Dinh Nhu. Influenced by his involvment with French syndicalism in the 1930s and the left-wing nationalism of the Viet Minh, Nhu's views are significantly to the left of his older brother. Nhu's interpretation of \"True Marxism\" calls for a total centralization of state power in the Can Lao Party and the complete destruction of traditional society in favor of the strict regimentation of the peasants in collectivist \"Strategic Hamlets\" and the city dwellers through \"Urban Revolutionary Syndicates\". Some believe Nhu's ambitions may lie beyond Vietnam, given his calls for a worldwide crusade against \"Materialistic Capitalism\". [sic]

Maoism (Mao Zedong Thought)

Actually clumps together "anti-revisionist" ideologies, but for our purposes we'll start with Mao Zedong Thought.
Mao Zedong thought is the product of the combination of the basic principles of Marxism Leninism and the specific reality of the Chinese revolution. It is the crystallization of the collective wisdom of the Chinese Communists. It is a political, military and development theory advocated by Mao Zedong and widely practiced in the Chinese revolution in the 20th century. It is generally considered to be the development of Marxism Leninism in China.
Anti-Revisionism A Marxist-Leninist position emerging after the XXth Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. Anti-revisionist movements oppose the reforms of the Khrushchev period and uphold Stalinist and Maoist developments in Marxism.
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism The synthesis of Marxism–Leninism–Maoism did not occur during the life of Mao Zedong. From the 1960s, groups that called themselves Maoist or which upheld Maoism were not unified around a common understanding of Maoism and had instead their own particular interpretations of the political, philosophical, economical and military works of Mao; these disorganized ideological trends comprised, and still comprise, Mao Zedong Thought.
Scientific Socialism Scientific Socialism was founded by Friedrich Engels and Karl Marx, but was widely used by Deng Xiaoping of the PRC to reform Maoism. It is often Maoism, but with a few reforms that add more emphasis on science, industrialization, and overall a new focus on the economy.
Hoxhaism Hoxhaism is a variant of anti-revisionist Marxism-Leninism that developed in the late 1970s due to a split in the Maoist movement, appearing after the ideological dispute between the Communist Party of China and the Party of Labor of Albania. The ideology is named after Enver Hoxha, a notable Albanian communist leader.
Guevarism Guevarism is a theory of communist revolution and a military strategy of guerrilla warfare associated with communist revolutionary Ernesto \"Che\" Guevara. The ideology promotes exporting revolution to any country whose leader is supported by the empire (United States) and has fallen out of favor with its citizens. The ideology has three main points, namely that the people can win with proper organization against a nation's army; that the conditions that make a revolution possible can be put in place by the popular forces; and that the popular forces always have an advantage in a non urban setting. [sic]

Third Positionism

Encompassing a variety of ultra-nationalist movements, third positionism typically venerates devotion to the state and uniting the people under a strong leader. Third Positionism is presented as its own unique ideology as a third option to capitalism or communism.
Falangism An authoritarian ideology with traits of fascism and conservatism, Falangist values national and Catholic identity.
Rexism Strongly opposed to both liberal and communist ideals, Rexism is a staunchly conservative nationalist movement who advocate a corporatist economic policy. Employing increasingly populist and authoritarian rhetoric, their ideals are shifting closer to other fascist movements.
Hindu Nationalism Hindu nationalism has been collectively referred to as the expression of social and political thought, based on the native spiritual and cultural traditions of the Indian subcontinent.
Salazarism Salazarism is a nationalist authoritarian ideology focusing on 'God, Fatherland and Family' and emphasizing the social role of Catholicism - setting it apart from mainstream variations of Fascism.
Neo-Nazism Neo-Nazism consists of post-World War II militant, social or political movements seeking to revive the ideology of Nazism. It borrows elements from Nazi doctrine, including ultranationalism, racism up to xenophobia, ableism, homophobia, anti-Romanyism, antisemitism, anti-communism and initiating the Fourth Reich. Holocaust denial is a common feature, as is the incorporation of Nazi symbols and admiration of Adolf Hitler.
National Bolshevism National Bolshevism is a political movement that combines elements of nationalism and Bolshevism.
Baathism Baathism is an Arab nationalist ideology that promotes the development and creation of a unified Arab state through the leadership of a vanguard party over a progressive revolutionary government.
Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan is an American white supremacist hate group. The Klan has existed in three distinct eras at different points in time during the history of the United States. Each has advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-immigration and-especially in later iterations-Nordicism and anti-Catholicism.
Kahanism No information.
Authenticité Ditto.
Trujillism Ditto.
Peronism Ditto.

Nationalism

Encompassing a variety of ultra nationalist movements, Nationalism typically venerates devotion to the state and uniting the people under a strong leader.
National Democracy no desc.
Pan-Africanism Pan-Africanism is a worldwide movement that aims to encourage and strengthen bonds of solidarity between all people of African descent. Based on a common fate going back to the Atlantic slave trade, the movement extends beyond continental Africans, with a substantial support base among the African diaspora in the Caribbean, Latin America and the United States.
Leftwing Nationalism Leftwing Nationalism is a form of nationalism which promotes the raising of societal standards for one's own national people generally through the introduction of social equality and government nationalization. Leftwing Nationalism is often anti-imperialist and can commonly represent national liberation fronts. Generally, Leftwing Nationalism will be a response to repeated exploitation of a nation by outside factors.
Bourguibism No desc.
Nasserism Nasserism is a revolutionary ideology, inspired by the second Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser; espousing the unification of what is referred to as the Arab world. It asserts that the Arab people constitute a single nation or federation, based upon a shared language and culture, transcending Islam and Christianity. Advocates of Nasserism have often been described representing political and economic positions which are secular, socialist, nationalistic, socially progressive, and anti-imperialist.
Revisionist Zionism See above.

Monarchism

A monarchy is a form of government in which a group, generally a family representing a dynasty, embodies the country's national identity and its head, the monarch, exercises the role of sovereignty.
Islamic Monarchy Islamic monarchies are a type of Islamic state which are monarchies. They are historically known by various names, such as Mamlakah, Caliphate, Sultanate, or Emirate.
Negusa Nagast
Negusa Nagast, or king of kings, is a type of selective hereditary imperial monarchy that became the prevalent leadership of Ethiopia since Negus Zemene Mesafint ended the Age of Princes period where Ethiopia was fractured between small principalities, kindoms, and sultanates.

Reactionary (also Neutrality)

In political science, a reactionary is a person who holds political views that favor a return to the status quo ante, the previous political state of society, which he or she believes possessed characteristics that are negatively absent from the contemporary status quo of a society.
Despotism Despotism is a form of government in which a single person rules with absolute power.
Military Dictatorship A military dictatorship is a form of government wherein a military force exerts complete or substantial control over political authority.
Oligarchic Oligarchy is a form of government in which a group of people rule with absolute power.
Colonialism Colonialism is the policy of a foreign polity seeking to extend or retain its authority over other people or territories, generally with the aim of opening trade opportunities. The colonizing country seeks to benefit whilst the colonized country or land mass, as many of the colonized countries were not countries at all, modernize in terms defined by the colonizers, especially in economics, religion, and health.
Independent An independent politician is an individual politician not affiliated with any political party.
Haredi no desc.
Vennamoism Vennamolaisuus, or Vennamoism in english is name given to the ideology and political movement of Veikko Vennamo, the leader of Finnish Rural Party. It is categorized by populism, reliance on slogans and support for agriculture.

Islamism

Sunni Islam is the largest denomination of Islam. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the exemplary behavior of the Islamic prophet Muhammad
Democratic Islamism Islamic democracy is a political ideology that seeks to apply Islamic principles to public policy within a democratic framework. Islamic political theory specifies three basic features of an Islamic democracy: leaders must be elected by the people, subject to sharia and committed to practicing \"shura\", a special form of consultation practiced by Prophet Muhammad
Ibadi Imamate no desc.

Radical Shiaism

Shia is a branch of Islam which holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor (Imam).
Shia Monarchy no desc.
Houthiism
Houthiism is an armed movement stemming from a sect of Shia Islam, Zaidiism. Houthiism is almost nonexistent outside of Yemen. The Houthi movement strongly opposes Saudi Arabia, the US, and Israel and seeks to combat the 'underdevelopment and marginalization' of Yemen.

Salafism

Salafism is a reform branch or revivalist movement within Sunni Islam that developed in Egypt in the late 19th century as a response to Western European imperialism, with roots in the 18th-century Wahhabi movement that originated in the Najd region of modern day Saudi Arabia.
"Eereerhmm... where are the ideology tags?" NOWHERE! I will not add them.

I'm really interested in studying different religions, but I can't really find anything in publicly available sources of information, so I'd like to learn more about Luciferianism as a religion, not as a philosophy. it would be interesting to learn something about the essence, rules, dogmas, rituals and similar things, so it would be great if everyone would tell what they know🙏🙏🙏

I wanted to write something to spark some critical thinking about our religion. I'm going to avoid spewing my ideas about ethics and offer some of what I've learned in studying Greek philosophy without being too irrelevant to Hellenism. And hopefully not too confusing or boring.
So in Plato's work the 'Euthyphro' there is an argument between Socrates and Euthyphro on the nature of piety or holiness (τὸ ὅσιον, to hosion). In it, there is the famous Euthyphro dilemma. 'Do the gods love that which is holy because it is holy or is it holy because they love it?' This is an interesting question in a pagan (the original) context.
Now, if you pray to the gods and live life you will notice that if you pray for something it will not just happen upon your command. So why does this happen? Sometimes it's because what we want is naive or actually self-destructive and the gods just tell us no. Why, because to some degree we believe they value our well-being. But then that asks the question of 'why they value our well-being?'. Why do they care about us? Ethics, in an ancient context, was to find out what the gods wanted from us and to live according to it.
So asking what is the nature of piety is asking an interesting theological question about the nature of the gods. Are the gods the arbiters of how one should live a good life or do they just value it because it is good? Does ethics come from the gods? Is the question ultimately. But hopefully, I can illustrate why this is a good question to ask oneself. We hope to reap the rewards of this life and live with wisdom and understanding.
Many of us pray for clarity, understanding, and strength in this life. And asking how we can and where that comes from does affect our practice. We often come to this religion to grow as people, and so it's worth asking ourselves if the nature of the universe is just or if the world, the universe doesn't care. Does Zeus just control the weather or does he actually care about justice as the ancients believed? And if he does care why, and where does that come from so we can better grow as people to live a good life?
Again, I'm not going to share my opinion on this but to just pose the question for you to think about. As I hope it will generate something productive and self-reflective.

Hi guys, I've been chewing on this for a while now, I'd love to hear your thoughts on this:
Through the years I've seen countless examples of people who claim to believe in the "God of Spinoza" (not to be confused with the God of Spinach, those are just Pastafarians led astray) or the "God of Einstein". And while Spinoza arguably did most of the heavy lifting for this philosophy, it's this quote by Einstein that's probably the most famous and rather excellent summary:

"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature."

Now I'm not here to argue that Einstein was wrong, in fact I love this quote, but it does have some implications that are easily overlooked and are also applicable to Spinoza's work: There's no book, there are no commandments, there are no Sons or Prophets and there is no afterlife. Also, God ignores you. And the only knowledge available about said God is simply scientific knowledge, no more no less.
As an Atheist there's little to object to here, I think. In fact, it seems to me that a religion like that looks an awful lot like three little atheisms in a hat and a raincoat, wouldn't you think?
The context in which I most come across this particular "religion" is when a scientist, or someone who knows a little about science, is asked if they are an atheist. To me, its purpose seems to be to function as a social lubricant, it's a way of saying: "I have no meaningful religious belief whatsoever, but I'm not a nihilist and I also don't want to explain the secular basis for morality... again."
But even if they themselves fully believe that they are not Atheists because of Spinoza's God, I'm here to argue that they are and that they are in fact a rare breed of staunch and deeply committed Atheists:
As a thought experiment, let's imagine you are a Christian out to convert people to your religion. If you come across an Atheist, there's a fair chance that atheism is deeply intertwined with a rebellious attitude towards their upbringing and their surroundings. Untangle that psychological mess, separate the anger from the theology and you might have a shot at converting this person. Here's what it would take to convert someone who says they believe in the God of Spinoza:
Broad scientific consensus on the existence of God. Your specific denomination's God.
Your chance of converting this person is like the proverbial snowball in hell. They might offer you lip service, but at the end of the day, what they're really saying is: "I'm an Atheist who thinks the universe is pretty". And I mean this quite literally by the way, if you ever come across someone who claims to believe in Einstein's God, show them the colorized images from the James Webb Telescope. Watch their reaction, you'll see what I mean.
So in conclusion: My proposition is that people who call themselves Spinozian or say they believe in Einstein's God are in fact hardcore Atheists. And I'm willing to die on this hill.
Also, like I said I have no objections to the famous Einstein quote and to be honest, I think the universe is very pretty too. So if a mod made it all the way to here, can we please have a "Spinozian" flair? Pretty please?
Some relevant links: Wikipedia article on Baruch Spinoza
Wikipedia article on the religious views of Einstein
We count those.

Hey, Hope everything is going good at your side, all is well and good at my side too.
Life is getting pretty much sorted now a days, earlier understanding adulting was kind of difficult, for me, it, for now boils down to 4 Simple things and have enough money, to do good work,to have good sleep, take good care of self and spend time with good friends. It is at peace for now and wanna build some good memories to not to suffer in future and build a bank to rekindle when we look back into the past.
So yeah, kind of short philosophy for a simple and happy life.. but yeah I have higher level meaning for life...which is a secret,only the closer ones knows😁😁😁
A bit about me:
I am kind of hustler, i like to grind my mind to learn and work like hell, the adrenaline boost i get i enjoy it.
I would like to have some good companionship to talk about my day and also have a contended heart to have a special person in life and fall in their lap and hug them at the end of the day to ease out and enjoy my weekends and life. I want to know about you, be with you and support you, also in your endeavours of life and be there for eachother
I like to bike and go into nature, we could togther go out into nature on a ride, read, sketch, photograph and travel to new places, I like to stimulate my memory and build new pathways. Movies are not my cup of tea, Podcasts are ... I like to learn and apply the wisdom to improve life around myself... I am kind of romantic and serious too...
I have built myself differently, so I am Vegetarian, Got Very Health Concious, Loves to Exercise and Read, I am strictly against intoxication( so no drinking and Smoking of any kind) and I like to travel, spend time in nature, write some poetry, draw and listen to good music, read and listen some good science related or helpful, philosophical stuff.
I am 5'8" and 63Kgs, Its a good BMI, can say I am kind of Fit. Not very Religiously but into the philosophy of Sanatan Dharma and Buddhism, I respect all religions tho.. I worship Science, Art, Design & Wisdom.
Professionally, I am into Tech Sector with a Creative Role.😉, Currently a freelancer...tho
I am looking for a special person, who also share values like me and is open minded. Simple, Meaningful and Quality in Life, is what all I want.
Hope to hear from you and get to know you better.😊
In India, I am based of Hyderabad.

I had no idea how chronically online and prevalent this movement was until I started digging through some of the older posts on their subreddit and falling down the rabbithole of how this shit developed. What a lot of people don't realize is that the modern trans community is a product of Usenet, and the internet at large.
There are historical examples of trans people throughout history, but there is almost no line someone can draw between Elanor Reikner and modern trans people. These people and their history was discovered in retrospect by later writers and scholars, not built off of to our modern position. Because let's be honest, no dipshit Twitter junkie's position is informed by native american theology.
An uncomfortable amount of trans terminology and philosophy came from the internet. This nonbinary shit didn't emerge out of some prevalent psychology papers or underlying breakthroughs in human brain scans. It was a bunch of chatrooms larking about on some bullshit and from there it spread. Cisgender was literally a Usenet term that got repeated over and over until it broke into the mainstream. Cisgender - Wikipedia
This egg cracking shit started back then too, and I have no idea why I never knew this.
And these people weren't that well informed on any of the matters either. since they didn't even agree on what the fuck their condition even was. Even back then, people were fighting over this xenogender and nonbinary validity.
But somehow, these groups dominate every online community. The majority of the mods, active posters, and contributors in these communities are trans in some way. But they make up less than 1% of the population? How does this make sense?
I've seen the same threads looped on this sub over and over, and I can't even explain how Gender Dysphoria as a condition doesn't completely contradict the idea of Self-ID. Or how gender is a spectrum that can manifest in a billion different ways, but trans healthcare almost entirely revolves around passing as the opposite gender. It's also messy as hell to anyone on the outside to see this shit, because the entire concept of transness was never established coherently.
It bent and twisted as people posted to these forums and now it is so far removed from the actual psych papers that get thrown around that I wonder what the point of the label is now?
The trans issue a package deal for a lot of disaffected people looking for meaning. The same way religion was:

• A self-justifying worldview that cannot be refuted.
• A narrative of oppressors and victims
• Revolves around seeking forbidden truth/ Self Discovery
• Community that provides validation and acceptance

I think Destiny was more right than he knew when he said that Trans issues need to be more than a social media movement. Because there is a widening gap between the actual healthcare and studies, and these modern social media groups.
These are mostly my own ramblings.

Continuing on from this post, this information also comes from Helen Hardacre's book Kurozumikyō and the New Religions of Japan, Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey, 1986 - "Chapter Seven: The Unity of the New Religions" (pp. 188-193):

This study has identified a vitalist, spiritualist world view as the most fundamental factor unifying the new religions. Whereas prior studies have recognized a rather standardized list of traits as shared by a number of the new religions, this study has tried to show how those traits are unified in originating from a particular conceptualization of self in relation to other levels of existence coupled with regular patterns of thought, actuion, and meotion. The kingpin of the system is the idea that the self-cultivation of the individual determines destiny.

You can see this clearly expressed in this SGI saying:

"A great human revolution in just a single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a nation and, further, can even enable a change in the destiny of all humankind."

That's the belief, at least. We don't see SGI members having anything close to this kind of impact on society or the world at large, and they've had over 80 years to show us all, almost 65 years here in the US. Nothing.

The religious life consists of such cultivation and of repaying the benefice of deity.

Before anyone tries to say, "There's no 'god' in SGI!", remember that Ikeda HIMSELF defined the Soka Gakkai/SGI as a "monotheism". Considering that Ikeda is defined as "the world’s foremost authority on Nichiren Buddhism" and "the supreme theoretician" (with the only qualification apparently being the all-controlling leader of the Soka Gakkai/SGI), so whatever Icky says, goes.
And don't forget the SGI's emphasis on YOUR eternal gratitude.

Textual erudition, esoteric ritual, and the observance of abstinences will not serve as a basis for elevating the religious status of priests above that of the laity. The laity therefore tend to be central.

Hence the inherent tension in the relationship between the Soka Gakkai and Nichiren Shoshu, ultimately showing that the "new religions" and the "old religions" simply don't mix.

Since individual self-cultivation is the primary determiner of all affairs, fatalistic notions and ideas of pollution must be recast. Unhindered (or less hindered) by notions of pollution, women play key roles.

The "new religions" are so much better positioned to exploit this huge source of donations and free work! The Ikeda cult certainly has.

Because all problems can be traced to insufficient cultivation of the self, one cannot expect fundamental social change to occur through political action.

Even though, ironically, this attitude simply entrenches the status quo and creates no change at ALL. As explained here, this belief simply produces a conservative attitude that rejects society's efforts to collectively help those in need. How many times did you hear in SGI that such-and-so needy person didn't need actual help; they "just need to chant to change their karma!"?? The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. put it succinctly:

Now the other myth that gets around is the idea that legislation cannot really solve the problem and that it has no great role to play in this period of social change because you’ve got to change the heart and you can’t change the heart through legislation. You can’t legislate morals. The job must be done through education and religion. Well, there’s half-truth involved here. Certainly, if the problem is to be solved then in the final sense, hearts must be changed. Religion and education must play a great role in changing the heart. But we must go on to say that while it may be true that morality cannot be legislated, behavior can be regulated. It may be true that the law cannot change the heart but it can restrain the heartless. It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me but it can keep him from lynching me and I think that is pretty important, also. So there is a need for executive orders. There is a need for judicial decrees. There is a need for civil rights legislation on the local scale within states and on the national scale from the federal government. Source

And civil rights legislation has done far MORE to advance the causes of equality and justice than ANY religion ever has. For example, the SGI still clings to its anachronistic, old-fashioned "4 divisional system" based in traditional Japanese patriarchal family norms, even though this is ill-fitting and inappropriate, even offensive, in Western cultures.

Similarly, attempting to cure disease through medical therapies alone can produce only a shallow healing.

As discussed here, this kind of selling point might've flown in the 1800s, even in the early 1900s, and in the chaos of post-WWII defeated/occupied Japan, when people didn't really have access to medical treatment that worked, but now? GTFO. There are very few who will go for this, and they tend to be uneducated. You'll notice this "faith-healing" is hardly a major selling point any more.
Keeping in mind that the focus of this book is on one of the oldest of Japan's "new religions", Kurozumikyō, to illustrate how very similar ALL Japan's "new religions" are to each other, with only minor differences, and this includes Soka Gakkai:

The code of ethics seen in Kurozumikyō is not solely its own invention but is generally shared by both new and established religions. It rests in principles of family solidarity, authority of elders, and a clear-cut division of labor between the sexes.

Is it still required in Japan that female Soka Gakkai employees retire as soon as they marry?
From the March 2022 paper, "‘Genderism vs. Humanism’: The Generational Shift and Push for Implementing Gender Equality within Soka Gakkai-Japan":

This paper investigates how young Japanese women in contemporary Soka Gakkai (SG) navigate Japan’s continuous gender stratified society that remains culturally rooted in the ‘salaryman-housewife’ ideology. How are young SG members reproducing or contesting these hegemonic gender norms that few seek to emulate? While SG has long proclaimed that it stands for gender equality, its employment structure and organization in Japan until recently reflected the typical male breadwinner ideology that came to underpin the post-war Japanese nation-state and systemic gender division of labor.
As an organization that has long claimed to support an internationalist/global ‘humanist’ agenda, driven by Daisaku Ikeda’s interpretation of Nichiren Buddhism, SG in Japan also rose to prominence in a society that culturally and ‘legally’ stratified men and women through a systematic gender division of labor.
According to the global gender gap index reported by the World Economic Forum, Iceland followed by Finland stood at the top of 156 countries as the most gender equal societies in 2021; Japan was ranked at 120 as one of the most unequal societies; the closest other OECD country was Italy, ranked as number 633. Even though the rate of female employment now mirrors other OECD countries, no significant change in women’s employment status and position in Japan has occurred. Women in management positions, economic participation and opportunity ranked 117, while their educational attainment stood as number 92, and political empowerment was close to the bottom, at number 147. Why would Japan, as an affluent, post-industrial society, find it so difficult to achieve gender equity on par with other OECD countries?

The Soka Gakkai (SG) certainly is not at ALL "progressive" on this issue! Ikeda blathered endlessly about "the century of women" and "empowering women", yet the organization HE CONTROLLED completely subjugates and exploits women! There ARE no female Soka Gakkai vice presidents.

Even if SG may be one of the biggest private organizations in Japan, the core work force by comparison is much smaller than the SG organization as a whole. Core regional or national male leaders were typically employed and remain employed as core workers on the general track, while until more recently the equivalent female leaders employed by the SGHQ would retire from paid employment upon marriage, and continue ‘unpaid’ leadership positions in the local area. ... SGHQ consists of the central leadership of the organization, but as an employer was built on the model of a typical Japanese company. This meant male employees were stratified as the core labor force and female employees as periphery, disposable labor. This thinking, on the one hand, reflected assumptions about women’s role as homemakers and mothers, which meant that SG female staff upon marriage would stop paid employment. In reality, this did not mean ‘retirement’ to become homemakers, but rather that married women continued ‘working’ for SG as leaders in the local voluntary organization. The vast majority of female and male members of SG never work for the organization as employees, including most of its women leaders. The organization throughout its post-war period relied heavily on the women’s division or fujinbu 婦人部 (see also McLaughlin 2019 who translates this more narrowly to refer to married women). However, particularly those women trained through working for the SGHQ moved onto become effectively unpaid staff and leaders in local areas once they had married and were economically supported by a husband. Women in SG, both those who were employed at the SGHQ and those that were in employment in other places before marriage—a much larger number—could be said to have been and still today remain the key driving force behind SG’s development in Japan: women organize, execute and lead a range of activities that involve the majority of members in the voluntary organization.

Yes, Soka Gakkai women work hard - just without pay. It's utterly exploitative. You can imagine how utterly dependent women are within this system and how vulnerable in cases of divorce. It's NOT AT ALL "humanistic" OR consistent with any "century of women"!

This family-centered ethic is found in established Buddhism and Shrine Shintō, and no new religion denies it. Some in fact go much further than Kurozumikyō to articulate it plainly and to implement it with a vengeance. The main difference in the familistic ethic between the established religions and the new lies in the sustained attention, systematic socialization, and organizational support available to the follower in the new religions. Specifically, counseling helps followers implement the world view's patterns of thought, action, and emotion, and rewards them for doing so.

Within the SGI, this is the whole "guidance" framework buttressing the (non)discussion meetings as a consistent source of indoctrination, I mean "support".

The question why this world view of the new religions arose as a pervasive orientation at the end of the Tokugawa period (1603–1867) is quite remarkable. In large part the new religions themselves are responsible for its propagation. In addition, however, it harmonized well with social institutions and mores prevalent before 1945. ... The family system as codified in the Meiji Civil Code of 1898 embodied a familistic ethic closely resembling that of the new religions. No doubt these religions were greatly supported by the promulgation of this ethic by the pre-1945 educational system. Even when compulsory education dropped morality courses from the curriculum, the new religions continued to preach much the same content, shorn of chauvinistic rhetoric about the divinity of the emperor and the sacrality of the Japanese nation.
In all the new religions, persons over about fifty years of age occupy most positions of leadership, and the consequences of this fact are weighty.

Indeed. In 1986, when this book was published, Icky was 58 years old. While the Soka Gakkai started out as a "young" movement, the fact that Ikeda held onto power as he aged and never ever "passed the baton" to a younger successor or "turned the reins over to the youth" meant that the Soka Gakkai was doomed to become old and stale. Perhaps it was only the fact of Toda's death at this same age (58) that enabled the Soka Gakkai new religion to ever gain a reputation as a "young movement"; Toda held onto all the power and control until his own death, though it seems more a function of his leadership and less akin to Ikeda's pathological grasping, and it was a lucky break for Icky that Toda cacked it so early. Otherwise, he'd have been left like poor Harada, who only became President of the Soka Gakkai when he was already retirement age, 65 years old. Soka Gakkai is now an elderly, declining organization, and that's because Ikeda chose to gather ALL power and control to himself and KEEP it until his own death. Hardly "progressive" or "visionary"!

These individuals were educated under the prewar system, and they have received as part of their primary education a view of the family as a microcosm of the nation, of its roles as pervaded with a sacred character, paralleling a view of Japan as a divine nation. They tend to see the family in terms of the ie rather than in terms of the nuclear family, and to regard its organizational principles as sharing the quality of sacredness.

This "ie" concept is unfamiliar; in the West, it is most closely approximated by Britain's noble families, such as the "House of Windsor".

when the ie or household system dominated in Japan. According to this system, the eldest son was responsible for the social and economic well-being of everyone living under his household, including parents, spouses, children, and siblings. This was considered particularly important in the years leading up and during World War II when “the government re-emphasized the virtue of the ie system by claiming strong family unions to be the basis of a nation ruled by the emperor, the head of all families.” During this time, almost all marriages were either arranged or approved of by the head of household. Source

This is an interesting angle, because perhaps you may recall the incident, immortalized in whatever form in the original "The Human Revolution" novel series, when Toda approached Ikeda's father and asked him to "give" Ikeda to him - Ikeda's father sounded quite overjoyed to be rid of Ikeda. It was Toda who arranged Ikeda's marriage. Toda was clearly acting as "the head of household" here.
Similarly, Ikeda claimed to be "father" of everyone in the Soka Gakkai/SGI, quite possibly in preparation for replacing Japan's Emperor with himself.
Here is a bit more on the "ie" system - you'll be able to see some of the aspects of SGI that seemed odd while you were "in", I think:

Thus it is not simply efficient or proprietous to obey elders, for women to defer to men, or to maintain clear role distinctions between men and women. It is sacred; failure to uphold these principles is immoral and worthy of censure.

This mentality is behind former SGI-USA national women's leader Akemi Bailey-Haynie's statements about the "ironclad" (as she put it) four divisional system. She knew which side her bread was buttered on, so naturally she was going to lean all the way in.

the SGI’s attempts to feign social progressivism.
SGI attracts many progressive leaning people, because the teachings appear to be democratic and universal. (How many of you heard that Nichiren Buddhism was the only school of Buddhism that held women could also attain enlightenment? I did, too many times to count.) Large gatherings in my area were notably diverse - racially, socioeconomically, and country of origin. The SGI also positions itself as an egalitarian organization without an elite Priesthood class. Everyone is a Buddha - and therefore a spiritual equal. The never-ending propagation focus is inclusive - much in the way of the Borg. Prepare to be assimilated!
All of this masks an utterly authoritarian, patriarchal, Japanese-controlled, socially regressive organization that says one thing and does quite another.

It's the Ikeda way...and of course Ikeda is THE "elite", the BETTER "Buddha" than any of YOU losers. No one will ever equal the "eternal mentor", and don't even fantasize about surpassing him, because you can't. That's SGI DOCTRINE. It's Ikeda's game and no one else gets to play, even when he isn't here any more.

That the SGI would have an affinity group for LBGTQ members that simulates inclusion - and simultaneously maintain the divisional structure that is by definition exclusionary - is as dysfunctional as it gets. Source
For SGI to devise a special group for LBGTQNAA members ("Courageous Freedom", whatever THAT means) that is supposed to represent inclusion, while simultaneously maintaining a divisional structure that BY DEFINITION excludes them - proves that this show of "inclusion" is nothing more than a façade, window-dressing to promote itself and conceal its rotten core, while the "ironclad" dysfunction of the SGI remains unchanged. Source

Regarding the "ie" structure of Japan's hundreds-of-years-old family businesses:

The logic of the “ie” system can be described with the following points:

1. The primary objective of the parties in the “ie” relationship is to survive and prosper. The “ie” is neither a contractual venture whose objective is to maximize profit nor is it a venture which can be liquidated after squeezing it dry.
   
2. Ideally, the “ie” must last forever, and as the “ie” prospers so does the family. Therefore, if the “ie” does not exist, neither can the family.
   
3. It is the parents’ responsibility according to the “ie” to continue to have it prosper for the welfare of the family. In a certain sense, it is feudalistic, whereby the parents give children unconditional orders, and the children receive unconditional support.
   
4. The “ie” is an organization in which members will give their all for the benefit of the “ie” by sacrificing their own personal benefits.
   
5. Each “ie” has its specific precepts, habits, and culture. Members are brought up under the same philosophy, or religion, to create a strong team.
   

With regard to that last point, that was apparently the basis for counting all new converts as "households" - they were expected to convert everyone in their family to Soka Gakkai. The Ikeda cult took that as a given, which actually makes some sense, given the pre-war school indoctrination the leaders of the Soka Gakkai had all experienced; as stated above, it harmonized well with social institutions and mores prevalent before 1945.
Unfortunately for Ikeda and the Soka Gakkai, the appeal of this kind of structure was losing strength post-WWII; it's easy to see Toda's wisdom in declaring in the 1950s that, "If we don't achieve 𝘬𝘰̄𝘴𝘦𝘯-𝘳𝘶𝘧𝘶 within Japan within the next 25 or 26 years, it's game over." The Soka Gakkai's success in taking over Japan ("kosen-rufu") depended upon that conditioning that was no longer happening in the schools or in the family. Ikeda believed he was great enough that he'd be able to overcome the fading of that all-important cultural conditioning within the population after 1945, and somehow "win" against the odds. He didn't.

The new religions continue to think of the ie as the model for family relations. That is, the idea of a corporate body passed from generation to generation, engaged in a common means of subsistence, its eternality symbolically manifest in the cult of ancestors, continues to be the conceptual norm.
Conversion is almost entirely limited to urban areas.
Large corporations in Japan typically screen prospective employees to eliminate members of the new religions. There is an inherent conflict between these two types of organizaitions, based upon a paradoxical similarity. The company at its largest and most elaborate seeks to accommodate nearly every need of its employees until the time of retirement, with a corresponding claim upon their loyalties and to a lesser extent, those of their families. Thus individuals already committed to a creed and to an organization over which the company has no control are suspect and probably unable to commit themselves to the extent of someone who has no such commitment. But it is necessary to recall that only a small proportion of the work force is employed by large corporations. The new religions provide ladders of prestige and reward for achievement, and this is a potent source of their appeal. ... Much as a man rises through the ranks in a company, members of the new religions can win reward and recognition that might well be beyond their reach in secular society. Since secular success so often depends heavily upon education and personal connections, persons lacking these may find themselves barred from many opportunities.

And there you have it!

Jacob Boehme (or as some say Behmen) was a German mystic and spiritualist who began to write in the 17th century. In his works he inserted a picture of an angel blowing a trumpet, from which issued these words: "To all Christians, Jews, Turks and Heathens, to all the nations of the earth this Trumpet sounds for the last time." In truth it was a curious emblem, but he, the author, was a mystic, and as all experience shows, the path of the mystic is a strange one. It is, as Job says, a path which the "vulture knoweth not." Even as a bird cleaves the eternal ether, so the mystic advances on a path nor ordinarily manifest, a way which must be followed with care, because like the Great Light, which flashes forth and leaves only traces when it returns again to its centre, only indications are left for those who come after seeking the same spiritual wisdom. Yet by these "traces," for such they are called in the Kabbala, the way can be discerned, and the truth discovered.
Boehme was poor, of common birth, and totally devoid of ordinary education. He was only a shoemaker. Yet from the mind and out of the mouth of this unlettered man came mighty truths.
It would be idle to inquire into the complications of Karma which condemned him to such a life as his appeared to be. It must have been extremely curious, because though he had grasped the truth and was able to appreciate it, yet at the same time he could not give it out in its perfect form. But he performed his work, and there can be no manner of doubt about his succeeding incarnation. As Krishna says in the Bhagavad-Gita, he has been already or will shortly be "born into a family of wise devotees"; and thence "he will attain the highest walk."
His life and writings furnish another proof that the great wisdom-religion―the Secret Doctrine―has never been left without a witness. Born a Christian, he nevertheless saw the esoteric truth lying under the moss and crust of centuries, and from the Christian Bible extracted for his purblind fellows those pearls which they refused to accept. But he did not get his knowledge from the Christian Scriptures only. Before his internal eye the panorama of real knowledge passed. His interior vision being open he could see the things he had learned in a former life, and at first not knowing what they were was stimulated by them to construe his only spiritual books in the esoteric fashion. His brain took cognizance of the Book before him, but his spirit aided by his past, and perchance by the living guardians of the shining lamp of truth, could not but read them aright.
His work was called "The Dawning of the Eternal Day." In this he endeavors to outline the great philosophy. He narrates the circumstances and reasons for the angelic creation, the fall of its chief three hierarchies, and the awful effects which thereupon fell upon Eternal Nature. Mark this, not upon man―for he was not yet―but upon the eternal Nature, that is BRAHM. Then he says that these effects came about by reason of the unbalancing of the seven equipoised powers of forces of the Eternal Nature or Brahm. That is to say, that so long as the seven principles of Brahm were in perfect poise, there was no corporeal or manifested universe. So in the Bhagavad-Gita we find that Krishna tells Arjuna that "after the lapse of a thousand ages (or Night of Brahm) all objects of developed matter come forth from the non-developed principle. At the approach of that day they emanate spontaneously." (Bhagavad-Gita, Chap. 8. ) Such is the teaching of the Secret Doctrine.
And again Boehme shows the duality of the Supreme Soul. For he says in his work "Psychologia Vera cum Supplemento" that these two eternal principles of positive and negative, the yea and the nay of the outspeaking Supreme One, together constitute eternal nature,―not the dark world alone; which is termed the "root of nature,―" the two being as it were combined in perfect indissoluble union.
This is nothing else but Purush and Prakriti, or taken together, what is referred to in the Bhagavad-Gita where it is said: "But there is another invisible, eternal existence, superior to this visible one, which does not perish when all things perish. It is called invisible and indivisible. This is my Supreme Abode."
Clearly the Supreme Abode could never be in Purush alone, nor in Prakriti alone, but in both when indissolubly united.
This scheme is adhered to all through this great philosopher's works, no matter whether he is speaking of the great Universe or macrocosm, or of its antitype in man or microcosm. In "De Tribus Principiis" he treats of the three principles or worlds of Nature, describing its eternal birth, its seven properties, and the two co-eternal principles; and furthermore in "De Triplici Vita Hominis" he gives the three-fold life of man from which the seven is again deduced.
In "De Electione Gratia" he goes into a subject that often proves a stumbling block to many, and that is the inevitableness of evil as well as of good. From this it is easy to pass to a contemplation of one of the difficult points in occultism as shown in the Secret Doctrine, that nothing is evil, and that even if we admit evil or wickedness in man, it is of the nature of the quality or guna, which in the Bhagavad-Gita is denominated raja―foulness or bad action. Even this is better than the indifferent action that only leads to death. Even from wickedness may and does come forth spiritual life, but from indifferent action comes only darkness, and finally death.
Krishna says in Bhagavad-Gita, Chap. IV: "There are three kinds of action: first, that which is of the nature of Satyam, or true action; second, that which is of the nature of Raja, or bad action; third, that which is of the nature of Tamas, or indifferent action." He then says: "Although thou wert the greatest of all offenders, thou shalt be able to cross the gulf of sin in the bark of spiritual wisdom"; and a little farther on "The ignorant and man without faith, whose spirit is full of doubt, is lost and cannot enjoy either world." And in another chapter in describing Himself, he says that he is not only the Buddha, but also is the most evil of mankind or the Asura.
This is one of the most mystical parts of the whole secret doctrine. While Boehme has touched on it sufficiently to show that he had a memory of it, he did not go into the most occult details. It has to be remembered that the Bhagavad-Gita, and many other books treating on the Secret Doctrine, must be regarded from seven points of view; and that imperfect man is not able to look at it from the centre, which would give the whole seven points at once.
Boehme wrote about thirty different treatise, all of them devoted to great subjects, portions of the Secret Doctrine.
Curiously enough the first treated of the "Dawn of the Eternal Day," and the second was devoted to an elucidation of "The Three Principles of Man." In the latter is really to be found a sevenfold classification similar to that which Mr. Sinnett propounded in "Esoteric Buddhism."
He held that the greatest obstacle in the path of man is the astral or elementary power, which engenders and sustain this world.
Then he talks of "tinctures," which we may call principles. According to him there are two principles ones, the watery, and the igneous. These ought to be united in Man; and they ardently seek each other continually, in order to be identified with Sophia or Divine Wisdom. Many Theosophists will see in this a clue not only to the two principles―or tinctures―which ought to be united man, but also to a law which obtains in many of the phenomena of magic. But even if I were able, I should not speak on this more clearly.
For many inquirers the greatest interest in these works will be found in his hypothesis as to the birth of the material Universe. On the evolution of man from spirit into matter he has much more than I could hope to glance at. In nearly all of it he was outlining and illustrating the Secret Doctrine. The books indicated are well worthy of study not only by Western but also by Eastern metaphysicians.
Let us add a few sentences to support this hypothesis from Count Saint Martin, who was a devoted student of these works.
"Jacob Boehme took for granted the existence of an Universal Principle; he was persuaded that everything is connected in the immense chain of truths, and that the Eternal Nature reposed on seven principles or bases, which he sometimes calls powers, forms, spiritual wheels, sources, and fountains, and that those seven bases exist also in this disordered material nature, under constraint. His nomenclature, adopted for these fundamental relations, ran thus: The first astringency, the second gall or bitterness, the third anguish, the fourth fire, the fifth light, the sixth sound, and the seventh he called BEING or the thing itself."
The reader may have begun to think the author did not rightly comprehend the first six but his definition of the seventh shows he was right throughout, and we may conclude the real meanings are concealed under these names.
"The third principle, anguish, attenuates the astringent one, turns it into water, and allows a passage to fire, which was shut up in the astringent principle."
There are in this many suggestions and a pursuit of them will repay the student.
"Now the Divine Sophia caused a new order to take birth in the centre of our system, and there burned our sun; from that do come forth all kinds of qualities, forms and powers. This centre is the Separator." It is well known that from the sun was taken by the ancients all kinds of power; and if we mistake not, the Hindus claim that when the Fathers enter into Para-Nirvana, their accumulated goodness pours itself out on the world through the "Door of the Sun."
The Bhagavad-Gita says, that the Lord of all dwells in the region of the heart, and again that this Lord is also the Sun of the world.
"The earth is a condensation of the seven primordial principles, and by the withdrawal of eternal light this became a dark valley." It is taught in the East, that this world is a valley and that we are in it, our bodies reaching to the moon, being condensed to hardness at the point where we are on the earth thus becoming visible to the eye of man. There is a mystery in this statement, but not such an one as cannot be unravelled.
Boehme proceeds: "When the light mastered the fire at the place of the sun, the terrible shock of the battle engendered an igneous eruption by which there shot forth from the sun a stormy and frightful flash of fire―Mars. Taken captive by light it assumed a place, and there it struggles furiously, a pricking goad, whose office is to agitate all nature, producing reaction. It is the gall of nature. The gracious, amiable Light, having enchained unerupted Mars, proceeded by its own power to the bottom or end of the rigidity of Nature, when unable to proceed further it stopped, and became corporeal; remaining there it warms that place, and although a valet in Nature, it is the source of sweetness and the moderator of Mars.
"Saturn does not originate from the sun, but was produced from the severe astringent anguish of the whole body of this Universe. Above Jupiter the sun could not mitigate the horror, and out of that arose Saturn, who is the opposite of meekness, and who produces whatever of rigidity there is in creatures, including bones, and what in moral nature corresponds thereto." (This is all the highest astrology, from one who had no knowledge of it.) "As in the Sun is the heart of life, so by Saturn commenceth all corporeal nature. Thus in these two resides the power of the whole universal body, and without their power there could be no creation nor any corporification.
"Venus originates in effluvia from the Sun. She lights the unctuosity of the water of the Universe, penetrates hardness, and enkindles love."
"Mercury is the chief worker in the planetary wheel; he is sound, and wakes up the germs in everything. His origin, the triumph of Light over Astringency (in which sound was shut up silent), set free the sound by the attenuation of the astringent power."
It is certain that if this peculiar statement regarding Mercury is understood, the student will have gained a high point of knowledge. A seductive bait is here held out to those striving disciples who so earnestly desire to hold converse with the elemental world. But there is no danger, for all the avenues are very secret and only the pure can prevail in the preliminary steps.
Boehme says again: "The Mercury is impregnated and fed continually by the solar substance; that in it is found the knowledge of what was in the order above, before Light had penetrated to the solar centre."
As to the Moon, it is curious to note that he says, "she was produced from the sun itself, at the time of his becoming material, and that the moon is his spouse." Students of the story of Adam being made to sleep after his creation and before coats of skin were given, when Eve was produced from his side, will find in this a strong hint.
The above is not by any means a complete statement of Boehme's system. In order to do justice to it, a full analysis of all his works should be undertaken. However, it is sufficient if thoughtful minds who have not read Boehme, shall turn to him after reading this, or if but one earnest reader of his works, or seeker after wisdom, shall receive even a hint that may lead to a clearing up of doubts, or to the acquisition of one new idea. Count Saint Martin continually read him; and the merest glance at the "Theosophic Correspondence" or, "Man―His Nature, &.," of Saint Martin will show that from that study he learned much. How much more then will the Western mind be aided by the light shed on both by the lamp of Theosophical teachings.
"Let the desire of the pious be fulfilled."
WILLIAM Q. JUDGE
Theosophist, April, 1886.

i chose psychology, government and politics, RP (religion and philosophy) and history for my subjects going into Y12 and all of my friends are saying i'm cooked
did i make a bad choice?
update: thank you all for the replies and advice!! it means a lot and is very helpful knowing there are people who made similar choices and enjoyed themselves.
i didn't give much context in the OP, so i'll give it here; i attend a private school and we do 4 A-Levels for the first few months, then we get the choice to drop one and do an EPQ in its place, (this happens around christmas time), or we can do 4 A-Levels until the end of Year 12 and then drop one anyway. i intend on dropping history as i've looked at the topic my school covers and it personally doesn't interest me much (saves my hand the cramps!), however i'm not sure if i'll drop it at christmas time or at the end of Year 12
i've tried reading most (if not all) of your replies and i just wanna say thank you again!! i was made quite nervous by my friends and what they were saying but you all have provided me with a lot of reassurance :)
thanks again!!

I am a senior double major in psychology and philosophy and am having the hardest time deciding on a masters program. I am certain that my interests lie in Sociology, but the masters level coursework seems too advanced.
I do sociology research at my institution, so it’s not that I don’t feel capable of completing the masters coursework, the problem is that I still want to take classes that would be taught at the bachelors level. I’m in this awkward stage of knowing I want to study sociology, but not having enough experience to have definite research interests. I have of course covered related topics in my majors, but I want to do more.
I was reading through syllabi from what I thought was a masters sociology program thinking to myself, “this is exactly what I want,” and then I realized I was on the undergraduate page.
Adding another major and graduating a year later doesn’t sound like a good idea, but I have no idea what’s best for me at this point. It seems like the masters coursework is heavily research methodologies and theories, which makes sense, but I just can’t imagine not having classes like sociology of religion and what not.

The God particle

The well known Higgs field theory, called ‘God particle’, is about the elusive subatomic particle that is believed to give the universe its mass. It is like the hand collecting water from the ocean and touching the element of all living force. Quantum ripples in the comic ocean that is similar to a motion current in the oceans on planet unique.
Sitting by the dock at the bay, puts one in the seat of an observation, at this oceanic edge, and if the universe suppose to be the answer, who is asking?
The rational thinker in its calculating mind needs intuition and creative thinking to advance, which keeps the God particle in waiting.
Nature virtue is the simplicity in an all circumstances, and it is the gentle Gardner who can prune away all complications.
The question needs to be formulated from within, or learning to read the notes to the eternal melody in this famous tenancies d.
Science and its religion will come down with a formula that is always complicated, whereas the God particle makes it easy for everybody.
The actual ‘Godly particle’ is known as Soul is an eternal fragmental part of God.
I would call it the ‘Bruno Giordano’ theory, for he was lecturing about multiple universes and the spectrum of everything in God.
At the time he got burned alive for it, making him a Saint for many curios minds to appreciate his philosophies.
The whole field of modern science becomes closer and closer to the similarities within the Vedic knowledge and the field of spirituality.
Through every condition, agreeable or disagreeable, the soul will extend its way to the goal as particle in the divine field.
Faith and imagination are the wings that extend and flies in the spiritual spheres.
Only historian can change the past for one world in common, the God particle turns aside each soul into a world of his own.
The field in ones ‘continuous medium’, or as the particle of God, in its circumambient sphere, has its place and time.
The philosophies in spectrum as particle dream are the love notes for others to know.

ASAT DHARMA
Asurs call hinduism and its philosophy asat dharm. Asat Dharma describes the mainstream Hinduism as an oppressive system that represents a distorted or corrupted understanding of the universe and human nature, perpetuating ignorance, suffering, and bondage,and untruth. we asur seek to liberate individuals from these limitations and empower them . We arent a religious sect, we dont belive in religion, we are a movement . We are here to tear down your thought.
In word of asur HINDU MEANS TO HINDER Joy asur

Born into a family with communist roots, we were agnostics of sorts, a little opposed to all forms of religion, although some religious traditions remained, we were against these practices.
I quickly developed a disgust with life, finding no meaning in it, and wanting to end it not out of sadness but out of boredom. All this made me very, very turbulent, never at peace with myself. The fact that I didn't know what I was doing here, and for what purpose, made me fall into an endless whirlpool.
When I went to university, it only got worse: I was now far from my parents and completely alone.
It was in a course I found useless, entitled Human and Fundamental Questions, that I really heard about Christ.
I saw it as a very interesting philosophy, which I found hard to subscribe to, given that it was based on a relationship with something that didn't exist and was therefore nothing but utopia.
However, I couldn't understand why so many people were buying into something that wasn't true.Such a big lie couldn't satisfy the needs of so many people.
And so I began to delve deeper, studying the texts, their reliability, continuity and preservation. As well as outside the biblical texts, so historically etc. And especially the story of the apostles, who for no reason other than proclaiming what they had seen and experienced, died in very serious ways.
The arguments could only prove to me that Jesus came to earth, died and rose from the dead. It was following my choice to accept Christianity that I studied the Fathers of the Church, the Councils, that I found the truth, here in the Holy Catholic Church. I had finally found a meaning, an absolute truth when I read all the theology behind it, all the development, all the beauty, all the history and the lives of the saints who preceded us. I had finally found a reason, a way to live.
But I was always alone, even if I felt a divine presence.
I was away from my parents for years.
Everything changed in my life from the moment I met God, I found the love I was looking for, the meaning of life and an inner peace, a never-ending peace.
As a result, I've made some very good friends who are really something new for me, people I can count on, with whom I share what I love most, Christianity.
So today I have friends, people I can count on, a meaning to my life, a reason to live something that makes me fully happy, someone I can count on, who fully understands me and who walks by my side.
So I wanted to thank the priests with whom I was able to talk a lot, the friends I made by coming to mass, and all the catholic people, because it allowed me to feel God, the fact of loving someone I don't know, who loves me in return without expecting anything or even knowing me, that can only come from God.
I also thank God for having found me, because as Saint Augustine says, it's not we who find God, for we wouldn't seek him on our own, but we meet him, for it's he who has found us.

I will start this by saying that I was advised not to read this volume’s Bonus Chapter for Roxy until after I have read Volume 5, so please keep that in mind when commenting.
Following the format of the previous post I made, I will start with Rudy.
Rudeus doesn’t seem to have changed all that much in this volume, it definitely feels like Rudy’s character progression was more in regards to his abilities rather than character development. Pretty standard this early into a series. So I will maintain that I don’t like him but am interested to see how he “grows up”. Though him attempting to make a full on sexual advance on a 12 year old was gross, and I’m glad Eris kicked his ass for it.
Eris is easily my favorite character so far. The way she carries herself as though she is extremely self confident and has a superiority complex when she actually has an inferiority complex and has a slew of insecurities was just a really unexpected and intriguing twist on his arctype of character. It definitely gives me the impression that the author of Mushoku Tensei puts a lot of effort into making his characters more complex than they seem at face value. It also helps that Rudy earns all the asskickings she dishes out.
I feel Aunt Ghislaine didn’t really get as much credit as she deserved, in regards to being a mentor, in universe. Basically every time Eris or Rudy asked her a question she had a surprisingly well thought out reply, given her reputation and silly behavior. Hell, she even sacrificed her small amount of time off just to humor Rudy and teach him the Beast God Tongue. Her coming in clutch against both Almanfi and the Kidnappers was incredible and really showed off how badass she was and how relatively weak/unprepared Rudy is for high level combat in this setting, which I’m glad to see, for a minute there I thought he was going to be an example of an overpowered MC, but the fact he couldn’t even beat a single Advanced Swordsman dispelled that notion. Also, Ghislaine taking interest in Rudy’s art was really cute, I wonder what he’s going to make her, probably a figure of Eris or something. Her essentially single handedly winning a war iand starting a religion in her mindless flailing around to find Eris and Rudy was equally terrifying and adorable.
Lord Sauros is quite the character. I can definitely tell where Eris gets it from. I hesitate to call him an “adorable old man” character, but that’s essentially what he is. Right now I just really wonder what he’s going to do after Roa got “teleportation bombed”. Honestly I wouldn’t he surprised to learn he didn’t survive and James used the opportunity to seize complete control over the house and have Phillip exiled or something. Given the context of Phillip’s final conversation with Rudy.
On to Phillip. He’s really the only character that felt off-putting to me. I’d almost be willing to call him psychopathic in regards to how he interacts or communicates with people. I feel this next chapter in his life will be a difficult one, I wouldn’t be surprised if James pins blame of Roa’s “destruction” on Phillip to have him removed as a threat to James’ position.
On Hilda, it’s been a long time since my opinion of a character has shifted so earth-shatteringly dramatically in spite of only having two or three appearances in the entire volume. She earns a seat on Zenith’s “Deserves Better” boat in my opinion.
Now, for the little compilation of POVs at the end. The Dragon God just walking through a horde of Dragons mostly unmolested simply because they’re too frightened to confront him is metal as fuck. The Sword God’s was a little confusing, but I get the gist that’s unbothered and incredibly powerful, it seems he was sparing, giving a philosophy lesson, and observing the teleportation thing simultaneously. I take it this Pax fellow will be a future antagonist, but it looks like our Master Roxy is going to be entering the fray soon. Perugius sending aid to Roa was pretty on brand for a living-hero, though it would appear the man is a bit ruthless and extremely cautious considering he gave a kill on sight order without knowing the context of the events unfolding. The Demon Empress is insane but I do have some interest about her demon eyes and what their abilities are.
Okay, so… the entire city of Roa and a chunk of the Fittoa Region has been hit by a teleport spell of some sort. Kinda makes me glad Zenith and Paul skipped out on Rudy’s birthday. Though I can’t imagine any of the Buena Greyrats would see the “fortune” in Rudeus vanishing in a teleportation incident. Right now I am assuming Rudy is headed to the Demon Contient given how much focus was put on him learning to speak Demon God Tongue. I don’t really have any theories as to why it happened or who is responsible for that crystal thing yet, it will probably be explored more in the future.
We got basically nothing on what Battle Aura is in this volume. A shame, I was looking forwards to it and this would have been the perfect time to do so.
On the topic of magic, I still don’t really see it’s supposed to be difficult. Sure, there are things like mental blocks and simply having a bad memory, but it really hasn’t been explained what makes different levels of magic more difficult to preform than the ones before it or why people can’t learn silent spell casting. I get the likes of Roxy not being able to due to a reliance on incantations, but why not these two girls who have never used magic before? Maybe Ghislaine can’t because she’s an adult or because she’s mentally blocked virtually every field of magic except fire. But why not Eris? She’s only three years older than Sylphy and can use most of the schools of magic. Why couldn’t they at least learn Silent spellcasting for Fire magic?
I feel all together that this volume was a lot less dense than Volume 1 was. Less focus on things happening and characters being introduced and more on the main trio, Rudy, Ghislaine, and Eris bouncing off each other. If I had to rank them I would probably put Volume 1 above Volume 2, but it was definitely still a fun read with great characters.

Greetings, my authors and world crafters! Today, I come seeking your critiques and criticisms concerning a people group I have crafted for my story. Specifically, I am looking to see whether or not the cultural practices I have drawn and implemented from real people groups and religions as inspiration for their society comes across as respectful, and not as tokenism or appropriation.
I would also like to hear your thoughts and opinions regarding what I have developed so far, have any problems pointed out, and hear any questions you might have in the event I have left something glaringly obvious out or poorly explained.
For some context and as a reference point, this group, the Itsula’ganali (Drivers of the Ashen Herd), borrows heavily from the histories and lifestyles of Southern American Plains tribes such as the Comanche, Sioux, and Tonkawa. Particularly, that they are a nomadic tribe who follow the massive herds of a particular staple animal that provides them meat and resources to build their homes and tools. In this case, rather than bison, the Itsula’ganali hunt and drive a massive herd of mystical deer from whom they not only gather the means to thrive and survive but also receive protection from the titanic arcanely radioactive monsters that march across my world. Because when these monsters are nearby, and their radioactive ash begins to fall, the horns of the deer begin to vibrate and generate a field around them that moves them and the area around them out of phase with reality. Multiply that by a million times, and hundreds of miles will be kept safe from these titans.
So, the Itsula’ganali hold these deer in the highest regard as both the main source of their food, as well as the means for their people’s literal survival. As such, they not only protect the herd from predators, but cull weak and sickened members to keep predators from being tempted and prevent disease from spreading. But they do not maintain the herd alone. Riding with them are trained dogs that drive and isolate groups of the herd, falcons who go after the eyes of marked targets, and hawks who watch and signal for predators and straggling members. As well, they watch murders of wild ravens, crows, and vultures to see where deer have fallen, giving them an idea of what deer may be sick or where the predators in the area may be.
For religion, the Itsula’ganali practice a form of animism where they believe in a singular creator of the universe that imbued them and all things with a spirit, though humans are said to have 3 spirits or souls. The first is in the head and represents one’s mind/psyche, the second is in the liver and represents the life of the body, and the third is in the bones and represents the world/earth from which the body was sustained by and will return to. When a member of the Itsula’ganali dies, it is believed that the first soul, that of the mind, moves one to the silver plains where they can hunt and play for eternity. They are also able to stay behind, able to watch over their kin as a guardian and guide as either an animal or by inhabiting a tool or weapon. The second soul, that of the physical body, is returned to earth to serve as sustenance and nutrients for new growth and life. Lastly, the third soul, that of the bones, is likewise returned to the ground, but is used to enrich the and renew the spirit of the land itself.
To celebrate and honor both the spirits of the dead and those they hunt and hunt with, nights are treated with a sort of celebratory and religious revelry. Large feasts are held, with everyone partaking of the day’s hunt. Elderly, pregnant women, sick, wounded, and children are fed first, followed by the shaman and warrior caste. As they are eating, great dances and performances are held that are equal parts theater and mass. Great hunts are recreated with costumes made and adorned with ornaments and effects of both beast and hunter alike. Thanks are given to the hunters, the beasts who aid them in taking down their quarry, and the deer from whom they are given a chance at another eve to celebrate.
Shaman’s serve as spiritual leaders, healers, and teachers. Espousing a philosophy of balance in both body, mind, and the world around them. Teaching of attaining a mental and physical equilibrium, as well as preaching a harmony between the spirits of the tribe and those of nature. As despite having three, that spirit or soul is derived from the same source.
As such they search for signs in the birth, life, and death of all things. Smoking and imbibing plants and liquids derived from the realm of the sign. For example, a shaman might see a hawk fall from the sky. Taking this as a sign, he or she might look for a hawk’s nest, pluck materials from the tree and nest, distill it into a liquid they imbibe or set it alight so they might inhale the vapors. From there, their minds enter into the collective spiritual consciousness/flow of the region, and are able to see any abnormalities.
Aside from spiritual leadership and healing, Shamans bless their people with magic in the forms of poultices, special medicines that cure sickness, injury, and grant blessings to those who partake of them. Each poultice is derived from the physical and spiritual essence of the beasts who live alongside the Itsula’ganali:
Raven Poultice: increases intelligence and one’s ability to think more abstractly; allows for thoughts and feelings to be expressed perfectly to others
Dog Poultice: strengthens the sense of those who partake; allows one’s thoughts to better compartmentalize in order to work through problems and strengthen bonds.
Deer Poultice imbues the body with the strength and swiftness of the deer and helps to harmonize a party's thoughts and actions so that they move and act more in sync.
Hawk Poultice: Increases one's perception, giving a sense of looking beyond one’s body; allows one to slow one's thoughts down to better see and pick out details around them
Falcon Poultice: Improves aim and makes one fleeter of foot; allows for greater focus and concentration when completing tasks.
Despite their reliance on the deer, and the majority of the Itsula’ganali migrating with the herd, there do exist a spattering of permanent settlements within the plains region they drive the herd through. River posts partake of fishing and carry messages up and down the tributaries and streams crisscrossing the region using kayaks and rafts built from the bones and leather of the deer. Hill and plateau settlements serve as lookout points to gauge the direction and flow of the herd, as well as scope out any threats to the herd or tribe. Northern settlements bordering the Mist Wood construct forts and longhouses to tend to the sick and injured. Giving them and their families time to rest and recover in the event of sickness or injury on the hunt. As well, these camps serve as protection during times of aggression from other people groups and the mutated fauna that stalk the lands. Southern Settlements are the only Itsula’ganali who engage in trade with non-tribesmen. Having good relations with the peoples of the Southwest, they inhabit stone crafted fortresses and hollowed-out mesas and buttes and primarily serve as middlemen between the various settlements of the Itsula’ganali. Exchanging the water, meat, hides, bone, fish, and produce they procure along their travels for produce, metals, and weapons to both hunt more efficiently, and defend their territories from invaders from the East.
However, despite each settlement catering to a specific need of the drivers, each one offers medical care for hunters injured in the field and spiritual care for all members of the tribe. In the event of an injury, the wounded hunter and their family will be escorted to the nearest outpost, where they will swap out with a family within the settlement. They will do a symbolic exchange of goods and a ritual before the injured family takes over the home of the family who will join in driving the herd.
Gender does not have any encoded roles in Itsula’ganli culture, though there is a more male lean towards hunters and soldiers as well as a female lean towards crafting. But, should an individual display any merit or skill in any field necessary and useful for the survival of the clan, they will be welcomed to any such position. Members of the tribe are expected to be proficient in at least three different skills, one for out in the field during drives, and two for settlement life in the event of injury or if their drive tour is up. Paired tribesmen, Male/Female, Male/Male, and Female/Female, are both expected to have domestic skills for maintaining the home in the event that one or the other is called to drive. While one is hunting, the other is helping to maintain their living space, repairing equipment/clothes, prepping rations and supplies for the hunt, cleaning and preparing for the nightly feast, or taking care of any children they may have or be responsible for.
Children of the Itsula’ganli are always with their families, whether on the hunt or in the settlements. During the day, the children are either helping with the domestic duties of their families or are training with various tribal leaders to both develop skills useful for the hunt or in the camp/settlements. Skills such as tracking, hunting, and crafting are often taught through games and competitions between students, all save for prospective shamans. Apprentice healers and spiritual heads are chosen after careful observations and considerations of the children at work and at play. Typically those children more in tune with nature and with particularly strong oratory skills are selected, though certain omens at birth or in life might draw the attention of a shaman.
Games and past-times children play include hide and seek, archery competitions using stationary and thrown targets, deer breaking and riding, tracking targets hidden by their teachers/other kids, stick in the brush (shooting an arrow into the fields/forests and racing to see who can find it first). Adults are known to partake in archery competitions, deer breaking and riding, and tracking as well, however, during the nightly revelries, there will be song, poetry and dance competitions.
Thanks again for taking the time to read, critique, and comment. I am looking forward to any thoughts, questions, and criticisms you would like to share, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend.

Greetings, my fellow fantasy fans and authors! Today, I come seeking your critiques and criticisms concerning a people group I have crafted for my story. Specifically, I am looking to see whether or not the cultural practices I have drawn and implemented from real people groups and religions as inspiration for their society comes across as respectful, and not as tokenism or appropriation.
I would also like to hear your thoughts and opinions regarding what I have developed so far, have any problems pointed out, and hear any questions you might have in the event I have left something glaringly obvious out or poorly explained.
For some context and as a reference point, this group, the Itsula’ganali (Drivers of the Ashen Herd), borrows heavily from the histories and lifestyles of Southern American Plains tribes such as the Comanche, Sioux, and Tonkawa. Particularly, that they are a nomadic tribe who follow the massive herds of a particular staple animal that provides them meat and resources to build their homes and tools. In this case, rather than bison, the Itsula’ganali hunt and drive a massive herd of mystical deer from whom they not only gather the means to thrive and survive but also receive protection from the titanic arcanely radioactive monsters that march across my world. Because when these monsters are nearby, and their radioactive ash begins to fall, the horns of the deer begin to vibrate and generate a field around them that moves them and the area around them out of phase with reality. Multiply that by a million times, and hundreds of miles will be kept safe from these titans.
So, the Itsula’ganali hold these deer in the highest regard as both the main source of their food, as well as the means for their people’s literal survival. As such, they not only protect the herd from predators, but cull weak and sickened members to keep predators from being tempted and prevent disease from spreading. But they do not maintain the herd alone. Riding with them are trained dogs that drive and isolate groups of the herd, falcons who go after the eyes of marked targets, and hawks who watch and signal for predators and straggling members. As well, they watch murders of wild ravens, crows, and vultures to see where deer have fallen, giving them an idea of what deer may be sick or where the predators in the area may be.
For religion, the Itsula’ganali practice a form of animism where they believe in a singular creator of the universe that imbued them and all things with a spirit, though humans are said to have 3 spirits or souls. The first is in the head and represents one’s mind/psyche, the second is in the liver and represents the life of the body, and the third is in the bones and represents the world/earth from which the body was sustained by and will return to. When a member of the Itsula’ganali dies, it is believed that the first soul, that of the mind, moves one to the silver plains where they can hunt and play for eternity. They are also able to stay behind, able to watch over their kin as a guardian and guide as either an animal or by inhabiting a tool or weapon. The second soul, that of the physical body, is returned to earth to serve as sustenance and nutrients for new growth and life. Lastly, the third soul, that of the bones, is likewise returned to the ground, but is used to enrich the and renew the spirit of the land itself.
To celebrate and honor both the spirits of the dead and those they hunt and hunt with, nights are treated with a sort of celebratory and religious revelry. Large feasts are held, with everyone partaking of the day’s hunt. Elderly, pregnant women, sick, wounded, and children are fed first, followed by the shaman and warrior caste. As they are eating, great dances and performances are held that are equal parts theater and mass. Great hunts are recreated with costumes made and adorned with ornaments and effects of both beast and hunter alike. Thanks are given to the hunters, the beasts who aid them in taking down their quarry, and the deer from whom they are given a chance at another eve to celebrate.
Shaman’s serve as spiritual leaders, healers, and teachers. Espousing a philosophy of balance in both body, mind, and the world around them. Teaching of attaining a mental and physical equilibrium, as well as preaching a harmony between the spirits of the tribe and those of nature. As despite having three, that spirit or soul is derived from the same source.
As such they search for signs in the birth, life, and death of all things. Smoking and imbibing plants and liquids derived from the realm of the sign. For example, a shaman might see a hawk fall from the sky. Taking this as a sign, he or she might look for a hawk’s nest, pluck materials from the tree and nest, distill it into a liquid they imbibe or set it alight so they might inhale the vapors. From there, their minds enter into the collective spiritual consciousness/flow of the region, and are able to see any abnormalities.
Aside from spiritual leadership and healing, Shamans bless their people with magic in the forms of poultices, special medicines that cure sickness, injury, and grant blessings to those who partake of them. Each poultice is derived from the physical and spiritual essence of the beasts who live alongside the Itsula’ganali:
Raven Poultice: increases intelligence and one’s ability to think more abstractly; allows for thoughts and feelings to be expressed perfectly to others
Dog Poultice: strengthens the sense of those who partake; allows one’s thoughts to better compartmentalize in order to work through problems and strengthen bonds.
Deer Poultice imbues the body with the strength and swiftness of the deer and helps to harmonize a party's thoughts and actions so that they move and act more in sync.
Hawk Poultice: Increases one's perception, giving a sense of looking beyond one’s body; allows one to slow one's thoughts down to better see and pick out details around them
Falcon Poultice: Improves aim and makes one fleeter of foot; allows for greater focus and concentration when completing tasks.
Despite their reliance on the deer, and the majority of the Itsula’ganali migrating with the herd, there do exist a spattering of permanent settlements within the plains region they drive the herd through. River posts partake of fishing and carry messages up and down the tributaries and streams crisscrossing the region using kayaks and rafts built from the bones and leather of the deer. Hill and plateau settlements serve as lookout points to gauge the direction and flow of the herd, as well as scope out any threats to the herd or tribe. Northern settlements bordering the Mist Wood construct forts and longhouses to tend to the sick and injured. Giving them and their families time to rest and recover in the event of sickness or injury on the hunt. As well, these camps serve as protection during times of aggression from other people groups and the mutated fauna that stalk the lands. Southern Settlements are the only Itsula’ganali who engage in trade with non-tribesmen. Having good relations with the peoples of the Southwest, they inhabit stone crafted fortresses and hollowed-out mesas and buttes and primarily serve as middlemen between the various settlements of the Itsula’ganali. Exchanging the water, meat, hides, bone, fish, and produce they procure along their travels for produce, metals, and weapons to both hunt more efficiently, and defend their territories from invaders from the East.
However, despite each settlement catering to a specific need of the drivers, each one offers medical care for hunters injured in the field and spiritual care for all members of the tribe. In the event of an injury, the wounded hunter and their family will be escorted to the nearest outpost, where they will swap out with a family within the settlement. They will do a symbolic exchange of goods and a ritual before the injured family takes over the home of the family who will join in driving the herd.
Gender does not have any encoded roles in Itsula’ganli culture, though there is a more male lean towards hunters and soldiers as well as a female lean towards crafting. But, should an individual display any merit or skill in any field necessary and useful for the survival of the clan, they will be welcomed to any such position. Members of the tribe are expected to be proficient in at least three different skills, one for out in the field during drives, and two for settlement life in the event of injury or if their drive tour is up. Paired tribesmen, Male/Female, Male/Male, and Female/Female, are both expected to have domestic skills for maintaining the home in the event that one or the other is called to drive. While one is hunting, the other is helping to maintain their living space, repairing equipment/clothes, prepping rations and supplies for the hunt, cleaning and preparing for the nightly feast, or taking care of any children they may have or be responsible for.
Children of the Itsula’ganli are always with their families, whether on the hunt or in the settlements. During the day, the children are either helping with the domestic duties of their families or are training with various tribal leaders to both develop skills useful for the hunt or in the camp/settlements. Skills such as tracking, hunting, and crafting are often taught through games and competitions between students, all save for prospective shamans. Apprentice healers and spiritual heads are chosen after careful observations and considerations of the children at work and at play. Typically those children more in tune with nature and with particularly strong oratory skills are selected, though certain omens at birth or in life might draw the attention of a shaman.
Games and past-times children play include hide and seek, archery competitions using stationary and thrown targets, deer breaking and riding, tracking targets hidden by their teachers/other kids, stick in the brush (shooting an arrow into the fields/forests and racing to see who can find it first). Adults are known to partake in archery competitions, deer breaking and riding, and tracking as well, however, during the nightly revelries, there will be song, poetry and dance competitions.
Thanks again for taking the time to read, critique, and comment. I am looking forward to any thoughts, questions, and criticisms you would like to share, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your weekend.