Italian beautiful sayings

I just can't wrap my head around Millennials who cling to religion in this day and age. Seriously, we are the generation of information, the digital age, and the era where science and technology are advancing at breakneck speed. Yet, some Millennials still buy into ancient fairy tales and dogma? It's beyond me.
We grew up with the internet at our fingertips, access to vast amounts of knowledge, scientific discoveries, and the ability to question everything. We've seen the hypocrisy, the scandals, and the outright absurdity of organized religion. We've learned about evolution, the Big Bang, and the complex beauty of the universe through a scientific lens. But no, some of us still choose to believe in invisible sky daddies and magic books written centuries ago.
It's not just the belief itself that boggles my mind; it's the stubborn refusal to think critically. Religion demands you suspend rational thought and accept things on faith alone. Why would anyone with half a brain choose to do that? It's like willingly putting on blinders and saying, "Nah, I don't want to understand how the world actually works. I'll just go with this feel-good story instead."
Wake up, people! It's 2024, not 1024. We've got enough real-world problems without adding ancient superstitions into the mix. Let's move forward with reason, science, and empathy, not backwards with dogma and ignorance. If you're a Millennial and still religious, I challenge you to take a hard look at why you believe what you do. Spoiler alert: It probably won't hold up under scrutiny.

Hi can a native Italian speaker please help me with this last bit of my wedding vows which I want to say in Italian? I used a translator app and I just want to make sure it’s not weird and makes sense to say.
“I love you so much, babe. This love is something else, deeper and more profound than any other. I hold your heart, I hold it in mine. Forever.”
“Ti amo tantissimo, amore. Questo amore e qualcos'altro, piu profondo e piu prezioso di qualsiasi altro. Ti tengo il cuore, lo tengo nel mio. Per sempre.”
Grazie Mille!

I got a post on my feed that was recommending parents to compliment their children with “handsome/beautiful” when doing simple upkeep tasks for them, saying that it brightens them up and will help keep their self esteem in the future. I realized that my mom always did that for me, and yet it drastically failed due to being trans. In fact, it made it so that I loathed hearing compliments, and my self esteem has never been that good. I’ve gotten better now, but it always shocks me to realize all the little things that makes growing up trans so much harder than not.

Hi wine lovers,
I'm by no means a wine aficionado, although I would say I have higher wine knowledge than the average American. But definitely not a sommelier, nowhere near that type of knowledge.
Recently I've found myself very fond of Italian white wines. I love going to my local wine store and picking up random bottles of Italian white wines that I've never even heard of. Some recent ones I've tried and enjoyed:
-Erbaluce -Falanghina -Gavi -Verdicchio -Frascati
I'm looking for some recommendation on other Italian whites - what should I try next?
Thank you!

To all my explorers reading this, I just want to say a heartfelt ✨Thank you✨ for making this sub come alive with your beautiful submissions from all across the world, whether from your own city, a country or place that you have traveled to, or someplace you currently call home for as long as you might need to.
When I started this subreddit almost 10 months ago, I never thought it would manifest into something so rich, colorful and vibrant. I have no one but all of you to thank for this shared experience. Each time I come here, these stunning images and scenic views make my heart so full. It’s amazing to see how something that did not exist before, can gradually mold and blossom into something so visceral over a short period of time.
I can never fully express how happy and excited I get each time someone shares a brief moment of their travels, their time and their life with ExplorersFromPakistan.
However, I would really, really appreciate it even more if you could add a very brief context, background or even a one liner description with your submissions just to give it more of a deeper feel. It could be as simple as a caption (in the body as text) —
✨Getting coffee in Florence, Italy
🔥 having dinner with the boys in Skardu, Pakistan.
I promise it’s the smallest things that make it more meaningful, not to mention it becomes a great conversation starter, and we might even make some fantastic friends on here. Please consider this a request at most. I would still cherish your participation regardless of whether you choose to caption it or not.
I can’t wait for us to manifest our first trip together with ExplorersFromPakistan with whoever is able to join us (more details on that in the coming future in Shaa Allah)
I hope you never stop growing, never stop being curious for new sights, sounds and experiences. I hope you never ever stop exploring.
Sending love to each and everyone reading 🤍
Talk soon.
Yours always,
u/ExplorerFromPak
💌

I (17NB) have liked her (16NB), i'll give her the fake name Angela, since about October 2022, and we've known each other since middle school, mostly just as acquaintances until last year where we started to get closer and hang out more.
Because we have similar schedules and share 2 classes, we started getting lunch together every day in September, originally with a male friend but it changed to just us around January. We also started texting more then.
However, last summer, I found out that she liked someone else, and since then I've put the thought of asking her out or confessing away, until yesterday.
We were texting, and she promised to send me a photo of her earrings if i listened to a song. When she sent the photo, I don't know what came over me, I just started flirting. I'll paraphrase the conversation below.
A: (photo) it's kind of an ugly picture but i love them (the earrings)
Me: I should have just come to school
A: I know my beauty astounds
Me: also it's not an ugly photo i don't think you could do that
A: i look dead
Me: you're very photogenic
A: (basically called me a liar)
Me: i'd say it's a great photo
(replying to "i look dead" ) you would be a very cute zombie then
A: you're a sweet talker (my name) dear
(skipping a bit here)
A: Teach me your ways
Me: I'm just like this
A: I'm doomed
Me: keep walking around looking like that and you won't need it
A: Omg my heart can only take so much
I know the conversation is a little cringey but i don't know who else to ask!! She is queer and has dated women before. Should I just give it a shot? I'm nervous and I really don't want to mess it up, i'm also autistic and even though I usually mask very well it becomes very obvious in new or unexpected situations. I really like her. Help!! I'll probably delete this as soon as I get good answers. Do you think I should just go for it?

TLDR; I've adapted three personal meditation practices and I find them interesting and rewarding. I'd appreciate any feedback on them; if they are healthy or potentially impeding my practice. I call them "sphere of space", "the mollusk", and "music focus".
I've been practicing guided and silent meditation for 20 minutes a day for about five days per week for three months. Wondering how others relate to these three personal practices I've adapted.

1. Sphere of space: During the meditation opening, when there's mindful awareness of the present experience (investigative body scan, surrounding noises and sensations), I also "sense" the space around me, at least how I imagine or "feel" it to be. Usually I do about a three meter radius in all directions. The temperature, density, and movement of the air. Surrounding objects and living things.

When in a room, one interesting part of this is imagining what's below me. I feel my seat and the density of my body making contact with the cushion/floor. But then I imagine what is below that-- wood boards, crawl space, then dirt and rock, worms and roots, cold and dark. Sometimes I expand to a wider radius-- I imagine what's above me: sky, clouds, the thinning atmosphere and threshold of space. My cross-legged body just a speck stuck to the side of a beautiful celestial sphere.
Once I meditated in a mossy clearing in the woods. When investigating body sensations, I imagined I could feel down into the moss as if it was an extension of my nervous system. Then I "felt" it stretch all the way to the trees, up the trunks, to the tips of the branches-- again, as if an extension of myself. I don't believe there's any real/physical component to this, just imagination; I don't believe there's any real mechanism for the human mind to connect to other living things in this way. I am a fairly staunch scientific materialist. Still, the thought exercise felt really good. It felt like I was scratching a part of my brain I'd never felt. It was very peaceful and rewarding. I have theories on why it felt the way it did, but this post is getting too long.

1. The mollusk visualization: I've been getting better at breathwork. Now I can string together a few seconds of (what feels like) pure focus/awareness of breath, with my brain relieved of all other thought processes. Of course, this can sometimes be extremely challenging. When I have trouble concentrating, I add increasingly complex visualizations. For example, first I imagine a light in my chest growing brighter with breath-in and dimmer with breath-out. If I still have trouble, I'll imagine the light spinning faster with breath-in and slower with breath-out.

I found that instead of focusing on one point in the body like nostrils, chest, or abdomen, it helps to feel the body as a whole. Its hard to explain but it's like feeling the whole body at once, just a big blob of flesh, bones, and skin. Feeling my blood moving around, spreading to the capillaries just beneath the skin. Just an organic mass performing the simple task of respiration.
It reminded me of a mollusk, like a clam. Then I imagine the air is very dense and dark. Essentially I imagine I am a clam at the bottom of a deep ocean. My brain isn't doing much. The body is simple, anchored, in stasis. The breath-in and breath-out is all that need occur; the central nervous system is barely whispering. No thought. Just existing, stable, breathing. Then I reduce the visualization until I'm in that hyper-focused breathwork state.

1. Music focus: I'm very curious to hear what people think of this one. I LOVE music. I love music where it's actually musicians playing real instruments. I love "actively" listening to music. But when I started meditating, my active listening unlocked another level.

Seated with eyes closed, I attempt to actively listen to music. But REALLY concentrate. Focus on, say, just the guitar part. Holding that concentration on every little detail of the guitar. If my mind wanders, I gently bring it back. Then I move to other instruments. Then to the entire song as a whole. Just working on focusing my mind and not allowing any other thought processes to come in.
This may not be the formal way to practice concentration meditation. And I see it as sort of training wheels-- practicing the focus and the redirection from the wandering mind (or to allow the wandering thoughts to float away like bubbles while I stay behind). Eventually, I aim to do this with simply breath, or simply being. But can "music focus" meditation be counterproductive to my practice?
Those are my tidbits. Happy to hear any feedback and thanks for reading!

After many samples and conversations, my customer chose stained cherry cabinets. I gave my usual warning that if you're going with natural wood, especially cherry, you have to understand there will be variations in grain and color. She seemed like she understood all that at the time we contracted. Fast forward to today - I got about half the cabinets installed and they look fantastic. She peeks in and is quiet. Never a good sign.
Finally she says, 'they're so much darker than the sample'. The lighting in the room sucks and shes holding this sample up to the base cabinets in a dark corner. "and this door has so much more grain in it". Oh for fuck's sake - I distinctly remember talking to her about wood grades and gave the same spiel I give everyone - " We could spec "select" if you want to minimize any variation, but that comes at a cost. "natural' is less expensive but may have some sapwood streaks which a lot of people don't like - I think a good compromise on cost/appearance is natural no-sap so you'll get some grain and shade variation but avoid the white streaks of sapwood."
The contract explicitly states that grain and color variation are natural and not considered defects, but you hate to go pointing to the fine print in the contract. I'm just wondering what I'll walk into tomorrow - whether she'll make her peace that these are beautiful cabinets or whether she's gong to obsess about the individual wood grain on each door.

Im studying Italian on Duolingo and have to say I am extremely disappointed that the lessons stop at the end of A1. Does Babbel go beyond A1 with Italian?

Let me make something clear, it’s not the players fault that they try hard, it’s the game. The game is meant to be played how you want to play it, and that’s fine. I’m not here to propose anything or say “they shoulda done this”, this is simply a rant and that’s it.
But man having tryhards in this game absolutely blows. The environments, detail, and god damn that sound design is stunning. The different effects and little details is to die for. But that illusion comes crashing down when someone with an SMG beams me then slide-cancels away. I know people are going to say “skill issue”, but this game is too beautiful to sit down for 5-10 hours and increase my skill at. It’s absurd to say that about such a gorgeous product. I don’t want to maximize my KD, do aim training, get the best loadout, etc. I want to just sit down and enjoy the game for its beauty and not worry about a G-Fuel ridden teenager slide-cancelling towards me.
Again, this isn’t blaming the tryhards, since the game does encourage it by allowing this playstyle, it’s just upsetting to see. (And obviously cheaters are a bigger problem anyways).

I (27m) started dating my best friend (25f) about 3 months ago. We've known each other for over 2 years and had we had our first kiss 6 months ago. We hangout all the time and she's so amazing and has the most beautiful laugh. Last week I had a pretty bad accident working on my car and got a bad burn. She was there and drove me to the hospital. As she was dropping me off I almost said I love you to her. Since then all I can think about is that I wish I had asked her to stay with me. I've been bedridden since the accident and I keep thinking about her and how much she makes me happy. We hung out yesterday for the first time since the accident and I kept looking at her it just made me smile everytime. I feel like I want to tell her I love her but I'm not sure if it's too soon. We've been friends for so long but I know the relationship is still pretty new. Is it too soon to say I love you?

As the title says, I'm interested on if the west coast edition will ever be restocked; or if I should just gamble with an Ebay reseller instead to get the beauty. I know they don't restock color drops; but don't know if the WCE counts. Any info would be great, thanks!

As the title stats, my student life is coming to an end. My endsems and presentations are over. All my hostel mates are leaving and it feels so hard to say goodbye. I am overwhelmed with sadness, grief, nostalgia, happiness (that I am now an engg) all mixed in one. From losing my first year to Corona, to battling the grim market recession, now when i take a moment and look back, i realise so much has happened in these 4 years. I will be missing my beautiful college campus badly (which will now be replaced by the greyish city landscape). I will miss being a student attending classes and living carefree. Above all, the part where you know that its time to part ways with your branch friends, your hostel roommates and neighbours, your project partners and your juniors is the toughest. I can safely say i now realise the true meaning of the quote "Dont cry beacuse it is ending, smile because it happened". Adios college life.

I mean you just have to listen to Push Ups and Family Matters again (wishing you luck). I would say close to half of each song Drake has shots for so many other people. These include Ross, the weekend, ASAP etc. Why didn't he choose to direct more firepower at Kendrick? That to me is such a wasted opportunity.
I understand he had issues with these other artists but honestly nobody gives a fuck about Drakes beef with Asap Rocky or Rick Ross in a massive public diss battle with Kendrick The Boogeyman Lamar. People want to see him go at Kendrick's neck. They are the "big 3" after all. It seems to me Drake needed to fill his songs with other shit because he didn't have much to go at Dot with. This makes sense given his main point for Push ups was clowning Kenny's shoe size.
All in all, Drake had arguable two strong tracks this beef. And kendrick had four (I will fight tooth and nail if anyone tries to downplay 6:16 in LA, that shit was beautiful butchery). And in Drake's two "heavy" hitters, half that shit was flak directed at un-important targets. Kendrick back to backed drake twice with tracks aimed directly at his head.
It really makes "Say my name and I'll promise you'll see Candyman" hit different.

CAPUT I
...
Know, therefore, that the purpose of this book is to describe the four kinds of spirit-men, namely, the water people, the mountain people, the fire people and the wind people. Included among these four kinds are the giants, the melusines, the Venusberg and what is similar to them.
...
How things are in relation to us will have to be described in the following order:
First, their creation and what they are;
second, their country and habitation, where they stay and what their mode of living is;
third, how they come to us and let themselves be seen, how they mix and have intercourse with us;
fourth, how they perform some miraculous works, such as Melusine, the Venusberg and similar stories;
fifth, the birth of the giants and their origin, and also their vanishing and return.
...
CAPUT SECUNDUM
...
The flesh must be understood thus that there are two: the flesh from Adam and that which is not from Adam. The flesh from Adam is a coarse flesh, for it is earthen and is nothing else but a flesh that can be bound and grasped like wood or a stone. The other flesh which is not from Adam, is a subtile flesh and can not be bound nor grasped, for it is not made from earth. Now, the flesh from Adam is the man from Adam. He is coarse like the earth which is compact. And, therefore, man cannot go through a wall. He must make a hole to slip through, because nothing recedes before him.
But before the flesh that is not from Adam, walls recede, which means that such flesh does not require doors nor holes; it goes through intact walls and does not break anything. They are both flesh, blood, bone and so on, whatever belongs to a man, and in their whole nature they are like man’s. But they are different in that they have a double origin like two cousins; they are in equal way like a spirit and like man. The spirit goes through all walls and nothing locks him out; man, however, not, for he is locked out by the bolt or the lock.
...
With all this, they bear children, talk and eat, drink and walk—things that spirits do not. Hence, they are like the spirits in speed, like man in gestures, figure and eating, and so they are people who have the character of spirits and also that of man, and both are one in them. Although they are both spirit and man, yet they are neither one nor the other. They cannot be men, since they are spiritlike in their behaviour. They cannot be spirits, since they eat and drink, have blood and flesh. Therefore, they are a creation of their own, outside the two,... It must be understood further that although they are spirit and man, yet they are neither. Man has a soul, the spirit not. The spirit has no soul, but man has one. This creature, however, is both, but has no soul, and yet is not identical with a spirit. For, the spirit does not die, but this creature dies. And so it is not like man, it has not the soul; it is a beast, yet higher than a beast.
...
Now, they are separated from us because they are not from Adam and do not participate in the same earth from which Adam was made, but God has decreed that we may see them miraculously, which has a particular meaning, as will be discussed in the last treatise. They have children and their children are their kind, not ours. They are witty, rich, clever, poor, dumb like we who are from Adam. They resemble us in every way. Just as one says: man is the image of God, that is, he has been made after his image—in the same way one can also say: these people are the image of man and made after his image.
...
And so they are men and people, die with the beasts, walk with the spirits, eat and drink with men. That is: like the beasts they die, so that nothing is left; and neither water nor fire harms them, like the spirits, and nobody can lock them up, like the spirits, but they reproduce like men and therewith share his nature. They have man’s diseases and his health but their medicine is not from the earth from which man is made, but from the element in which they live. They die like men, but are dead like the beasts. Their flesh rots like other flesh and their bones like other men’s bones and nothing remains of it. Their customs and behaviour are human, as is their way of talking, with all virtues, better and coarser, more subtile and rougher. The same applies to their figures : they are very different, like men. In food they are like men, eat and enjoy the product of their labor, spin and weave their own clothing. They know how to make use of things, have wisdom to govern, justice to preserve and protect. For although they are beasts, they have all the reason of man, except the soul.
...
TRACTATUS II - ABOUT THEIR ABODE
...
Their abode is of four kinds, namely, according to the four elements : one in the water, one in the air, one in the earth, one in the fire. Those in the water are nymphs, those in the air are sylphs, those in the earth are pygmies, those in the fire salamanders. These are not good names, but I use them nevertheless.
...
The name of the water people is also undina, and of the air people sylvestres, and of the mountain people gnomi, and of the fire people vulcani rather than salamandri.
...
Now you must know that if their regions have to be described, they must be divided into their parts. For the water people have no intercourse with the mountain people, nor the mountain people with them, nor the salamanders.
...
The undinae have their abode in water, and the water is given to them as to us the air, and just as we are astonished that they should live in water, they are astonished about our being in the air. The same applies to the gnomi in the mountains: the earth is their air and is their chaos. For everything lives in chaos, that is: everything has its abode in chaos, walks and stands therein. Now, the earth is not more than mere chaos to the mountain manikins. For they walk through solid walls, through rocks and stones, like a spirit; this is why these things are all mere chaos to them, that is, nothing. That amounts to: as little as we are hampered by the air, as little are they hampered by the mountain, by earth and rocks.
...
Since water is the fish’s air, the fish does not drown, and so the unda does not drown either. As in the water, so in the earth: the earth is air to the gnomi; hence they do not suffocate. They do not require our air, we do not theirs. Thus also with the salamanders: fire is their air, as our air our air is. And the sylvestres are closest to us, for they too maintain themselves in our air, and they are exposed to the same kind of death as we, namely: they burn in fire, and we too; they drown in water, and we too; they suffocate in the earth, and we too. For, each remains healthy in his chaos; in the others he dies.
...
Let us philosophize further, about their food ... The sylphs are like men, nourish themselves like men in the wilderness, on herbs in the woods. To the salamanders the soil is earth, their heaven is the air, and fire their chaos. Thus food grows to them from the earth and from fire, and the constellation from air is their heaven.
...
About their clothing: they are clothed and cover their genitalia, but not in the way of our world, in their own way. For they have modesty and similar qualities, as men must have, have law and similar institutions, have their authorities, [etc.] ... To the beasts clothing is inborn by nature, but not to these people. To them nothing is inborn by nature; they must work for it like man whom they resemble. Their work, like man’s work, is in the nature and kind of their own world and earth on which they live.
...
**About their figures, know that they are different. The water people look like men, both women and men. The sylvestres do not conform, but are cruder, coarser, longer and stronger than both. The mountain people are small, of about two spans. The salamanders are long, narrow and lean. Their place and abode are in their chaos, as was mentioned before. The nymphs live in water, in running brooks, etc., so close that they grasp the people who ride through or bathe therein. The mountain people are in the mountain chaos, and there they build their houses. This is why it often happens that one finds in the earth an attic, vaults, and similar structures, of the height of about a yard. They have been build by these people for their abode and dwellings.
The water people do the same in their various places. Know also that the mountain people live in the caves of the mountains and this is why strange structures occur and are found in such places. These are their work. Know also about the fire people whose yelling, hammering and working can be heard in volcanic mountains. It can also be heard when the elements are incinerated. For all these things are the same as with us, but according to their secret quality. Those who travel through wild regions learn the reason for such beings and obtain information. There these beings are found. In the mines also, close to good ore, etc. they are found, and in waters the same also, and the vulcans near the Aetna. And there are many more marvellous things, about their coins, payments and customs, which would be too long in this connection, but will be described in their place.**
TRACTATUS III - HOW THEY COME TO US AND BECOME VISIBLE TO US
All that God has created, he reveals to man and lets come before him, so that man has and attains knowledge of all happenings of the creatures.
...
And in order that we may have a good knowledge of things, the water people have not only been truly seen by man, but have married him and have born him children. Thus also, the mountain people have not only been seen, but people saw them, and talked to them, and received money from them and blows and similar things. The same happened with the forest people, as was mentioned before, the people saw them and dealt and walked with them. Thus also, with the vulcans, who also, as mentioned before, appeared to man, and revealed themselves essentially, who they were and what had to be understood of them all.
...
The nymphs, namely, become apparent to us, but not we to them, except in what they tell about us in their world, as a pilgrim would, who had been in foreign lands. They do not need such rapture, the way the mountain people enrapture us, or the water people. For they have no power over man, and their world is not such that they could adopt us. Man is not subtile in body, but coarse in body and subtile in chaos, while it is the contrary with them. Therefore, they can well stand our chaos, but not we theirs. Their element also is in itself their chaos, which to us may not be chaos. Thus they appear to us, stay with us, marry with us, die with us, and also bear children.
...
This happens with the water people. They come out of their waters to us, make themselves known, act and deal with us, go back to their water, come again—all this to allow man the contemplation of the divine works. Now, they are men, but on the animal side alone, without the soul. From this it follows that they marry men. A water woman takes a man from Adam, and keeps house for him, and gives birth to children. Of the children, we know that they follow after the father. Because the father is a man from Adam, a soul is given to the child, and it becomes like a regular man, who has an eternal soul. ... Just as the condition of these people is, when they are in union with man, so is the condition of man, when he is in union with God.
From this it follows that they woo man, and that they seek him assiduously and in secret. ... they seek love with man, so as to be in union with men. With them all intelligence and wisdom are outside the qualities of the soul, and not the soul.
...
One must also know that not all of them may be married to us. The water people come first; they are the closest to us. Next after them come the forest people, then the mountain and earth manikins who, however, rarely marry humans and are only obliged to serve them. The vulcans never attempt to enter into union with humans, and yet are apt to serve them. Know also that two of them, namely the earth manikins and vulcans, are considered spirits and not creatures, being looked upon as a mirage only, or as ghosts. You must know, however, that just as they appear, thus they are, flesh and blood like another man, and with that, quick and fast like a spirit, as was told in the beginning. They also know all future affairs, present affairs and the past, which are not apparent but are hidden. In that they can serve man, protect, warn, guide him, and such like. For they have reason in common with man (except in regard to the soul). They have knowledge and intelligence of the spirit (except in regard to God). Thus they are highly gifted, and they know and warn, so that man may learn about such things, and see them, and believe in such creatures.
...
It is said of the nymphs, that they come to us from the water, and sit on the banks of the brooks where they have their abode, where they are seen, taken also, caught, and married, as we said before. The forest people, however, are coarser than they. They do not talk, that is, they cannot talk although they have tongues and enough of all that is needed for speech. In this point they differ from the nymphs, for the nymphs can speak in the languages of the countries; the forest people, however, cannot but they learn easily.
The mountain manikins are endowed with speech like the nymphs, and the vulcans speak nothing, yet they can speak but roughly and rarely. The nymphs appear, as was said before, in human clothing, with human features and desires. The forest people are like men, but shy and fugitive. The mountain people are like men, not tall, short; sometimes they reach about half the size of man or so, sometimes more. Thus and in the same way, the vulcans appear, fiery, and fire is all over their features and clothing.
They are the ones of whom one says: a fire man or spirit is going through the house; there goes a burning soul, etc. It often happens that such figures are seen. They also are the flames that are frequently observed as glowing lights in meadows and fields, running through each other and towards each other. These are the vulcans, but they are not found living with man, on account of their fire. They are often found with old women, however, that is, with witches, wooing them.
...
You must know, however, that there is danger with the fire people, because they are commonly possessed, and the devil thus rages in them, which causes great harm to man. Know also that he equally takes possession of the mountain people and thus makes them subservient to him, and of the forest people also. He then can be found in the forest possessing sylphs and venturing to make love to women who live in forest regions. But they all become like lepers, scabby and mangy, and there is no help for them either.
When these beings are not possessed by the devil they are human and seek union as has been mentioned. But they keep the way of spirits, in that they disappear. One who has a nymph for a wife, should not let her get close to any water, or at least should not offend her while they are on water. And one who has a mountain manikin with him, should not offend him, particularly not at places where they get lost. But they are so much obliged to man and so closely bound to him, that they cannot get away from him, unless there is a reason for it, and this happens at the place from which they come. If one has a wife, she does not get away from him, unless she is provoked while they are on water. Otherwise she will not disappear and can be held. The mountain manikins also must keep their pledges, when they are in service and have been pledged.
But obligations to them must be kept also, in all that is due to them. If duties are kept as should be, they are honest, constant, and intent on their work. And one must know that they are particularly loyal to man and much inclined to spending money. For, the mountain people have money, because they themselves coin it. This is how it must be understood. What a spirit wishes to have, he has, and their wishing and desiring is thus: when a mountain manikin wishes or desires a sum of money, if there is need for it, he has it, and it is good money. Thus they give money to many people in the galleries of mountains, to make them get away; they buy them off. All this is divine order— that they thus appear to us and that we see what is incredible to tell. Man is the most earthbound of all creatures. What he must have and wants, he must make for himself, and he obtains nothing by wishing and desiring it. But those people have what they need and desire, and man does nothing for it. They have it without work.
TRACTATUS IV
As we came to the end of the treatise, we had sufficiently discussed the necessities of these beings, and how they come to man. You must now, furthermore, know about their disappearance from man, and about their doings with us, with many such tales and stories that have happened with them, in many queer ways.
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It also happens that sirens are born. They are water women too, but live more on the water than in it. They are not split like fish, but are more like a virgin, yet their form is not quite that of a woman. They bear no children but are monsters, just as a strange human being can be born from two normal parents. I would like to put it thus: the water people reproduce themselves like humans, but when it happens that they produce a monster, these monsters are sirens that swim on the water, for they repudiate them and do not keep them. This is why they occur in many forms and figures, as it happens and is the case with all monsters.
Thus we marvel not only at the water people but also at the sirens, who have many strange features and are very different from people. Some can sing, some can whistle with reeds, some can do this and that. Monks are also born from nymphs, that is, a monster which is shaped just like a monk. This you must know, namely, that such growths that are comparable to men and are found in some places, come from men, that is, they come from water people, earth manikins and similar beings.
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To continue the discussion of these beings, know that such people also convene and assemble in one place, where they may live together and seek intercourse with man, for they love him. ... There are more women than men in such groups, few men, many women; hence they are after men whenever they have a chance. From such people a group originated that is called the Venusberg. It consists of nothing else but a kind of nymphs, thrown together in a cave and hole of their world, yet not in their own chaos, in man’s chaos, but in their regionibus. Know about them that they reach a very old age, but you cannot notice it, because their appearance remains the same from beginning to end, and they die unchanged. Venus was a nymph and undine who excelled others and reigned for a long time, but she died and the succeeding Venus was not as endowed as she had been. She died in the course of time and her kingdom vanished. There are many tales about her.
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There is a story about a different beginning. It tells of a queen who resided there and sank into the earth. It was a water woman who resided there. She went into the mountain, under the pond that was above her, in her region. There she took her abode, and for making love, she built a gallery, for her to get to the lads and they to her. Such strange things happened there that nobody was able to report about these beings, what they were or where they were from, until it came to an end. It is quite possible that this could happen again should another nymph come, equal to her.
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There is also a true story of the nymph in Staufenberg who sat on the road in all her beauty and served the lord she had chosen. ... Our nymph was a water woman. She promised herself to von Staufenberg and stayed also with him, until he married another wife, and took her for a devil. Taking her for a devil and considering her such, he married another woman and thus broke his promise to her. Therefore, at the wedding, she gave him the sign, through the ceiling, during the banquet, and three days later, he was dead.
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We must pay equally great attention to Melusine, for she was not what the theologians considered her, but a nympha. It is true, however, that she was possessed by the evil spirit, of which she would have freed herself if she had stayed with her husband to the end. For such is the devil that he transforms these beings into different shapes, as he also does with the witches, transforming them into cats and werewolves, dogs, etc. This happened to her also, for she never was free of witchcraft but had a part in it. A superstitious belief resulted, that on Saturdays she had to be a serpent. This was her pledge to the devil for his helping her in getting a man. Otherwise, she was a nympha, with flesh and blood, fertile and well built to have children. She came from the nymphs to the humans on earth and lived there. But then, as superstitio seduces and vexes all beings, she went away from her people in her superstitious belief, to the places where the seduced people come who are bewitched in superstitionibus and spell-bound. Mind you, she remained the same serpent to the end of her life, and God knows how long it lasted.
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TRACTATUS V - DE GIGANTIBUS - On Giants
You must know further that there are two more kinds that belong to the kind of nymphs and pygmies, namely, the giants and dwarfs, who are not born from Adam. Although it is a fact that Saint Christopher was a giant, yet he took birth from human seed, and hence we shall not write about him. But we shall write about the other giants, referred to in the stories of Bern, Sigenott, Hiltbrant, Dittrich, etc., also about the dwarf Laurin and others. Such stories are frequently rejected, but you must know that the same people who reject them, reject also much more important truth.
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To come to an end, know that such people, giants and dwarfs, may well make women from Adam pregnant, because same likes to meet same, and nature may permit it. Yet you must know that the monsters are not fertile, although they are monsters only so far as their strength and size is concerned; they are not misbuilt. But they have only one seed available, that is, they do not attain the third, fourth, etc. generation. Know also that when they get into man’s kind, the result is uncertain. If the child’s body takes after the mother it falls into her kind; if not, it becomes a beast like the father. It is not possible for it to become a mixed being because the seed of one of the two always prevails. It happens otherwise that both become one seed, but here not. And if it were one seed it would have to be qualified by the one partner who gives the soul. More is said about this subject in other philosophical treatises, and there is no need to tell it here. Their kind, however, has died out and they have left no descendants to replace them.
TRACTATUS VI - ON THE CAUSES OF SUCH CREATURES
Now that we must reflect in terms of natural philosophy about the causes of these creatures we must remember the facts, all the points, many of which have been discussed in the previous treatises. We need not repeat them here. Further causes that may be explored are these: namely, that God has set guardians over nature, for all things, and he left nothing unguarded.
Thus gnomes, pygmies and mami guard the treasures of the earth, the metals and similar treasures. Where they are, there are tremendous treasures, in tremendous quantities. They are guarded by such people, are kept hidden and secret so that they may not be found until the time for it has come. When they are found, people say: in times-of old there used to be mountain manikins, earth people here, but now they are gone. This means that now the time has come for the treasures to be revealed. The treasures of the earth are distributed in such a way that the metals, silver, gold, iron, etc., have been found from the beginning of the world on, and are being discovered by and by.
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[Now of] the fire people. They too are guardians, of the fireplaces, in which they live. In these places the treasures, that others guard, are forged, prepared, made ready. When the fire is extinguished, it is the earth manikins’ turn to be on guard. And after the earth manikins’ guard, the treasures are revealed. It is the same with the air people. They guard the rocks that lie on the surface, that have been made by the fire people, and put at the place where they belong, from where they get into man’s hands. They guard them so long, until the time has come. Wherever there are treasures, such people are on hand. These are hidden treasures that must not be revealed yet.
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The nymphs in the water are guardians of the great water treasures, that lie in the sea and other waters, that have also been melted and forged by the fire people. It is, therefore, commonly understood that where nymphs are, there are considerable treasures and minerals and similar matters which they guard. This is apparent in many ways.
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The cause of the sirens, giants, dwarfs, also of the will-o’the-wisps, who are monsters of the fire people, is that they predict and indicate something new. They are not on guard, but signify that misfortune is threatening people. ... when this is going to happen, signs occur. These beings are such signs, as has been said, but not they alone; there are many more. You must know that the signs change each time. They do not appear in one way, but are hidden to our eyes.
And, finally, the last cause is unknown to us. But when the end of the world will come close, then all things will be revealed, from the smallest to the largest, from the first to the last, what everything has been and is, why it stood there and left, from what causes, and what its meaning was. And everything that is in the world will be disclosed and come to light. Then the fake scholars will be exposed, those who are highly learned in name only but know nothing by experience. Then, the thorough scholars and those who are mere talkers will be recognized for what they are, those who wrote truthfully and those who traded in lies, the thorough and the shallow ones. And to each will be measured according to his diligence, earnest endeavor and truth. At that place, not everyone will be or remain a master, or even a doctor, because there the tares will be separated from the wheat and the straw from the grain. He who now cries, will be quieted, and he who now counts the pages, will have his quills taken away. And all things will be revealed before the Day of Judgment breaks, order that it be found of all scholars, from the past to that very day, who had knowledge and who not, whose writings were right and whose wrong. Now, in my time, this is still unknown. Blessed will be the people, in those days, whose intelligence will be revealed, for what they produced will be revealed to all the people as if it were written on their foreheads. For that time I also recommend my writings for judgment, asking that nothing be withheld. Thus it will be, for God makes the light manifest, that is, everyone will see how it has shone.

I will try to make this as brief as possible but when I was 17 I had the confidence to ask out a girl I thought was pretty. You are free to have your opinion but I made a mistake by asking her out on the mere basis of her beauty. I should have waited and seen if she was as good as a person as she was on the outside. Anyway, she used to tell her friends about what we were saying a lot and, as you can imagine, you’d want to keep something private, otherwise, it’s impossible to become intimate with that person. That’s why we were never able to have any kind of connection, emotionally, physically, or spiritually. We ended up breaking up. I still had some attachments to her which lead to me breaking my good nofap streak, along with other problems. These problems included lack of motivation to read like I used to, general lack of motivation, phone/scrolling addiction, isolation, self destruction by eating a lot and lifting until it felt like I was about to get a heart attack, varicocele, loss of interest in learning being a good deacon (I'm coptic orthodox,) and many other problems that I was unable to fix. So this is not to say that you should not be confident enough to ask girls out, but to help you realise that the wrong girl, no matter how pretty, will make everything worse for you. I healed by not taking the breakup personally. I also started to adapt to bad feelings instead of coping, and I always tell myself to never get discouraged. Lastly, I want to motivate whoever is reading this by saying that no matter how discouraged you may feel, there is always hope at the end if you don't give up. The benefits are real if you never stop pushing forward.

Hello, dear friends,I am currently 24 years old, female and I came here to tell you about a bizarre situation that happened to me on my 6th birthday. I was turning 6 years old, I was very excited because my mother said she would take me to the circus that was in town for just a few days and my luck was that my birthday was the day before the circus left our town, so when it was time for us to go, I got ready with a beautiful yellow dress with daisies drawn on it and went with my mother to this new "adventure" as I said. When we arrived everything seemed perfectly normal, lots of balloons, bright colors, sales of cotton candy and other snacks, everything was perfect, so we went inside the circus in the middle of the stage A clown started making several jokes and pranks until his show ended and my favorite part had arrived: going to the countless attractions available. I entered the house of mirrors, several trampolines and so on, then in the maze, for the first time without my mother, I ran everywhere there were several children with me until I separated from them when I saw a small red light on a wall and I went towards it, it was a "trail" I think I can say it in such a way, I followed the supposed trail to a door that I thought was the exit, so I went in, there were LED lights there apparently of bright red and blue colors, but even with such lights the place was still very dark, even so with curiosity, I continued walking along the corridor of lights that led to a tall figure with red skin that whispered something, I innocently asked: - Hey! Who are you? What is happening? Where am I?- The "creature" raised its head to turn to me and He bent down to face me and gave a shrill scream, I got scared, I ran to the exit, I went back to the maze and in my rush I managed to get out of there quickly, When leaving the maze, I cried on my mother's lap in total despair, if you can't understand why I was so desperate, I'll explain it more clearly, in the scream that the "creature" gave me, I could feel death itself running after me or something, it's not like I can really explain it now, but that was the situation, If you found the situation stupid, idiotic or something similar, I'm sorry, but that was the situation, I wouldn't change anything to make it more interesting, because I don't want it to be interesting, I just want share my story, if you got here, thank you for reading this far, and bye bye

Hey beautiful people,
well how to start off? I'm currently gaming, smoking some tasty hookah and writing this stuff down on my pc. Pretty rainy weather here in Germany.
I'm not looking for anything in special, just let’s see what happens, if we click well. Let’s just see where the journey will go.
You're tired of getting ghosted after just one day talking? Yeah?Well me too. You want to rant and vent about your day? Go for it. You need someone to tell the newest gossip? Damn, I'm your man! You want to talk to someone, who is really interested in your well-being? Finally hit the "message-button"!
Well, I'd say about myself I'm pretty empathetic guy with a good sense of humor and sarcasm (I guess no one who's actually funny, would write this down lol. You should find it out by yourself.)
I can be pretty smart but hella dumb in the same breath. Does that even make sense?
I'm 5'11 tall, am pretty fashionable I guess and rocking a man bun. I'm more of a stocky guy tbh.
My hobbies are pretty boring, I like video games a lot, I enjoy baking and try myself more into cooking! Of course I like to hang out with my friends as well.
I'd say about myself that I'm more into chubby/curvy women, but that doesn't matter if you're not dry in responses. I appreciate any type of women. All of you are beautiful, just the way you are. Keep that always in mind!
You shouldn't be dry in responses, be open-minded and up for someone who can talk very, very much! Even more as I'm on staycation the following week lol.
Do you appreciate my effort and you are ready for a journey? Show me and leave a message with a bit about yourself!