#cult of rationality

[deservedgrace]

one of the more frustrating aspects of ex evangelical/ex cult stuff for me personally is how hard it is to talk about. and part of that is the emotional side of it, yeah it's a shitload of cumulative and compounding trauma and trauma is hard to talk about sometimes. but it's not always hard to talk about, or at least equally hard to talk about, and the thing that's honestly more frustrating to me about that is how... extensive it is, how impossible it is to give an accurate picture of what it was like, especially succinctly. there are so many things that you need context for. there's so much that doesn't really sound that bad unless you have other information. so much was normalized to me that i have a hard time knowing what's actually "normal" and what's "yikes" to other people because i simply don't always have the context for "normal". there's so much that's normalized in society and churches that gets dismissed as "normal" when it really, really shouldn't be. there's so much i just don't remember because it slipped out of my brain the same as "normal" unimportant memories because my brain didn't process it as abuse or traumatic at the time due to that lack of context of what "normal" is; it was normal to me and just what people did and how people acted and what people said. and the thing that happens is all of this compiles into me sounding like i'm exaggerating and whining about a "normal church experience" because it's just so impossible to describe how all-encompassing being in a cult is if you don't have that experience.

[a-really-big-cat]

I feel as though I see this sentiment more, with a lot of ambiguity about whether people are taking it seriously or not, and I should urge fellow autists against it:

We are not really fae folk.

We are not really changelings.

We are not aliens either.

Like, I get it, it's a fun metaphor and thought exercise, and a fascinating look into past neurodivergent culture. I too find the idea intriguing (to an extent). But I legit get concerned that many people are taking it too far and actually trying to seriously identify as "non-human". Maybe this is (ironically enough) me being autistic and taking online jokes as being unironic statements, but it is legit concerning.

This is a dangerous narrative to lean into for autistic culture. Do you know how many eugenicists and ableists there are in the present day who would love to take advantage of a narrative that we don't count as human? Do you know how many charismatic ideologues might realize that the whole esoteric "faery child/supernatural being" aesthetic is ripe ground for starting their own abusive cults, recruiting disadvantaged and neglected autistic people who want to have a supportive community and think they're "too smart" to fall for manipulation tactics like that because they're "independent free spirits"? Do you know how many neglectful parents would love to blame supernatural entities for their child's behaviour so that they don't have to get their child a proper diagnosis and the actual help they need, or that would deflect by saying "my child doesn't need help, he/she's just a special ✨faery child✨"? We already went through the indigo children and vaccine junk, we really don't need yet another supernaturalization/pseudosciencing of autism to set us back further.

We are rational human beings like everyone else, just with unique experiences of life's various stimuli, unique ways of communicating, and unique neural anatomy, all of which means that we sometimes need some support and understanding. And that's how we ought to be treated.

[neverknoah]

he’s just so baby….i need to bite him🫠

[cpericardium]

Yes I followed the yudkowsky to worm pipeline Yes I simply stopped giving a shit about rationality in media We exist

[introspectivememories]

touch-starved bernard dowd is sooo canon to me

[thechosenanubis]

I have been thinking about Rufus and Sarah's chosen one & osirian dynamic, and how Victor Sr. said that everything went terribly wrong. And I wonder if their deteriorating friendship was caused by the Chosen One and Osirian bond?

Because from Victor Sr. words to Nina in the Senet cell, he says and i quote: " he [the osirian] will never be far behind." which implies that Rufus and Sarah (as well as Nina and Eddie) don't have any choice in the matter, and that they are connected whether they like it or not.

And I wonder if this hunger for power stems from Rufus feeling like he has no choice in the matter, that his life doesn't have any meaning, because the Universe/Fate/Gods had other plans. And it wouldn't suprise me if he started to resent Sarah for that, and he tried to become more powerful ( in his case, becoming immortal) just to feel some resemblance of control over his life, ( and to spite the universe in the process, a big fuck you if u will )

Like I don't think he woke up one day and went: " ahahah i'm evil now!" It was more of a gradual process, yk?

[unopenablebox]

i guess it's still technically possible that the person who told me that most of our uni/on leadership are members of the psl was wrong and it's actually only some of them. but also. jesus fucking christ are you kidding me

[catflowerqueen]

I wonder if the Lamb in Cult of the Lamb used to be a cultist of the Old Faith.

Like. It's pretty clear that not everyone in that world belonged to the Old Faith, and it isn't entirely clear where the Lamb even came from originally... but it would be all the more tragic of a situation if they or their family did used to worship one of the Bishops. Even more so when none of them seem to acknowledge the Lamb as anything beyond an agent of the One Who Waits--at least, not until their defeat, when the grudges become personal.

Shamura comes close, but it still isn't quite the same.

In which case the tragedy is not only that their god betrayed them, but that their god didn't even know who they were to begin with. Didn't even value their worship, or notice when it was gone.

And, sure, maybe that would have been expected--if the cult was big enough, they may have rationalized it as their god simply not being all-knowing, or themselves not yet being of a high enough status in the cult to merit any personal attention... but after spending time being the sole focus of the One Who Waits? Getting all his attention, his lessons, his acknowledgement? I'm sure it would have stung. Would have made the crusades all the more personal.

[layzeal]

sometimes i think about how my sister had a friend in highschool who was super into 1D but specifically into larry and the babygate conspiracy and one day she was at our house and talked for an hour about the whole thing and showed us pictures talking abt how the baby is obviously fake and it was all about hiding louis and harry's secret gay love. anyways she's a jehova's witness now

[buggreawlthys]

it's still before midnight so happy birthday Kaworu

[statleragainstposers]

iif ur a true ra2hunal thiinkr u cn conviince miilton tht evolu2hun ii2 real

Pft, easy.

Watch me de-program this fool like a true master.

[coockie8]

i was kinda low key wondering why chapter 2 was taking so long since youre usually pretty quick with fics youre really interested in writing but then i saw it was like almost 5000 words long and i get it now lmao

lol yea This is what I meant when I said Cult of Desire is going to be my longest by word count.

Given it relies a lot on my own original lore, there's gonna be a lot more set up in certain areas for this fic than there normally would be in other fics I've written, 'cause I can't reasonably assume you guys are gonna already know what I'm talking about, like I can in regular fics; how could you? I wrote this lore haha

There will obviously be aspects that contradict established world rules for FMA in this fic, but that should be expected, as Cosmic Horror is, by definition, the concept of contradicting the established rules of reality and the fear and madness that comes from that; given that Ed low key comes across as an annoying Redditor at times, there's gonna be quite a bit of back and forth between him and the Cult members.

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

This house is so fucking gloomy and depressing. All the time. It’s oppressive. Religious doctrine looms over it like a vengeful spirit exacting punishment on an innocent family who recently moved in; except, we’ve been like this since before I was born.

[vespvcc]

I'm having a BPD spike. I'm super triggered, and I really just wanna disappear, y'all.

[wittynameme]

THIS is what your slurp juice comes from, still thirsty???

[harperenchantrix]

Hey, I have a live ADULT Sex Education Podcast that airs every Sunday night at 11 pm Eastern (GMT +4)!

On March 24th I talked about Astrology, Synchronicity, Cults, and Dangerous Thinking. Why would I talk about that stuff on a sex ed podcast? Easy, a lot of adults get into trouble by forgetting that we're ALL vulnerable to failures of rationality and are susceptible to wooly thinking that leads straight to high control groups that offer us certainty about the future.

There's a foray into astrophysics as I discuss retrograde motion and how eclipses happen, the age of astrological practices, the most likely use of Stonehenge, and then delve into how a deeply personal experience of a Synchronicity can develop into myth, folklore, spiritual practice, and religion over time. We explore cults, and how high control groups are not simply one end of the political/social/cultural spectrum, but can occur all along the entire range of human expression!

I finish up the hour by reminding us all that we're all vulnerable to the errors of rational thought that can lead to involvement in high control groups. The cure? To pause and check yourself from time to time to make sure that you are not fully deep throating the cultic cock. You gotta pull off and breathe some non-cult air from time to time, check with rational logic, and cross check your facts before you accidentally find yourself living in a commune and signing over your life savings.

NB: a belief in some weird ass fringe stuff is perfectly fine! I studied astrology intensely for 18 months (thank you, hyperfixation, that was very edifying), and I read tarot non-ironically! Just check from time to time that your beliefs aren't leading you into behavior that harms yourself or others. It's easier than you think to wind up with some Deeply Problematic Beliefs!