#upbuilding

[philosophybits]

If one imagined a crowd of young people, each one wishing, one would find out by means of the wishes to what extent there was something deeper in the individual’s soul, because there is no mirror as accurate as the wish.

Søren Kierkegaard, Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits

[imissthembutitwasntadisaster]

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[philosophybitmaps]

[cypreus-and-willow]

Together We Can Fight!

So I gave the gang AU a title. Miu is not in highschool with them but she’s still part of them, promise.

Miu’s words of irritation still ring inside his head. She’s not a kid anymore, he knows that. But she’s still his kid sister. That won’t change even if he’s a hundred years old, she’ll still be younger than him, right?

Kaito sighs. His worn and tattered shoes scrape along the school floor; everything looks bleak. Well, except for that brightly coloured cheaply made poster. He rips the offending paper off the notice board.

“‘Bored of having nothing to do after school? Tired of getting in trouble with the teachers? Are your loved ones telling you to do something productive with your life? Then join my club! All interests welcome. Voting begins at the end of the week. Let’s find something we’ll enjoy doing together!’” Kaito flips the paper in his hand. “Is this some kind of pervert?”

Are your loved ones telling you to do something productive with your life?

Go be useful elsewhere! Help someone else!

He sighs. “Alright, I’ll bite.”

[quotessentially]

From Søren Kierkegaard’s Four Upbuilding Discourses, 1844

[bfpnola]

Myth: israel was created as penance for the Holocaust (excerpts)

Nearly 80 years before the Holocaust, a group which came to be known as the “Bilu pioneers” came to settle in Palestine. It was comprised of primarily Russian Jewish settlers who viewed their mission in Palestine as a pioneering one towards “the physical upbuilding of the land as contributing toward both a revitalization of the Jewish nation and the reemergence of Jewish masculinity and virility”. While this group predated Zionism as a political movement as we understand it today, it would not be unreasonable to call it proto-Zionist.

...

The Bilu pioneers would be followed by other groups, such as the Hibbat Zion. Some would fail and leave, others would remain. However, the shift in the quality and organization of Zionist colonialism would begin in 1897. Convened in the Swiss city of Basel, the first Zionist congress included over 200 delegates from all over Europe. The program of the congress called for establishing a Jewish state in Palestine, and to begin coordinating the settlement of Zionists there. The Zionist congress distinguished itself from previous attempts at settling Palestine by being the first to organize and marshal colonization efforts in a centralized and effective manner. All of these efforts to colonize Palestine began nearly a century before the Holocaust, and was already picking up steam after the first world war. By the end of the 1800s, Theodor Herzl -the founder of political Zionism- was sending out letters to imperialist powers all over the globe in an attempt to elicit their aid in colonizing Palestine. Perhaps the most infamous is his letter to Cecil Rhodes, arguing that Britain recognized the importance of “colonial expansion.”

...

This is the context of the establishment of Israel; it was supported by the hegemonic imperialist powers of the time, not because they suddenly grew a conscience, but because it was deemed strategic for their interests. A glimpse at the political landscape today reveals that remarkably little has changed with this arrangement. While Western countries pay lip service to the façade of a “rules based international order”, their actions betray their intentions. Human rights are only as useful as their ability to be instrumentalized to their benefit.

...

The Holocaust was undoubtedly one of the greatest tragedies of modern history, where millions of innocents were murdered in an unspeakably cruel and industrialized manner. Also true is that this was not the reason for the creation of Israel, which had its colonial seeds planted nearly a century prior. It was not remorse that motivated the colonial powers to support Israel, powers which were actively committing genocide against multiple colonized populations. Framing the creation of Israel as repentance for the Holocaust is not only historically inaccurate, but deliberately paints the legitimate rejection of its creation at the expense of the Palestinians as complicity with Nazi genocide. It transfers Europe’s guilt onto Palestinians, where they become the embodiment of everything the grandchildren of fascists claim to despise in their grand quest for (empty, symbolic) redemption. A redemption with the theatrics and loud proclamations of regret and change, but none of the substance. At the end of the day, nothing can justify the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people, who share no blame for the barbarity of Europe’s pogroms and genocides.

Palestine has always been home to countless refugee populations; Jewish people fleeing persecution and finding a safe home in Palestine was never the issue. The issue is that these ideals of coexistence were never reciprocated by the Zionist movement, who showed disdain towards Palestinians from the very beginning and sought to take over the land. It sanctioned its own settlers working with Palestinians, even calling Arab labor an “illness” and forming a segregated trade union that banned non-Jewish members. In 1928, the Palestinian leadership even voted to allow Zionist settlers equal representation in the future bodies of the state, despite them being a minority who had barely just arrived. The Zionist leadership rejected this, of course. Even after this, in 1947 the Palestinians suggested replacing the Mandate with the formation of a unitary state for all those living between the river and the sea, to no avail. These gestures were brushed aside, as they did not benefit the Zionist leadership who never intended to come to Palestine to live as equals. For decades Palestinians have been massacred, their homes stolen and destroyed, ethnically cleansed into refugee camps and denied their right of return. The notion that these colonial powers were ever concerned about Jewish safety as they fomented the conditions that made pogroms possible and denied Jewish refugees safety within their own borders is absurd.

[philosophybits]

For the cultured it is truly too little to have to deal with an individual human being, even though that human being is himself. He does not want to be disturbed when he is to be built up, does not want to be reminded of all the trifles, of individuals, of himself, because to forget all this is precisely the upbuilding.

Søren Kierkegaard, Prefaces

[soapywankenopy]

Something has been weighing on my mind since I've been reading PJO and now HOO.

The girls are not girl's girls.

Even Annabeth, I would argue, is not a girl's girl, like, as much as I want her to be, she isn't. She's jealous, and she has said rude and snippy things about other girls.

The only girl's girls that I can think of are Silena and believe it or not, Clarisse.

I'm not saying that every female character needs to be a girl's girl. I'm saying that I prefer to see women in the media I consume to be upbuilding and kind to other women.

It just rubs me the wrong way, like girls can only be out for themselves and have to be at war with every other female person.

Also, and I know for sure my view is skewed on this, but these girls seem WAYYY to focused on boys. Like maybe I just hate men but I'm always looking for opportunities to be friends with or be around girls. Boys suck (usually) and I have literally no desire to spend time with them. Why are these girls constantly thinking about boys? I definitely didn't word this in the best way but I'm tired and angry. Maybe this is a me problem but I don't like my cool young adult fantasy being adulterated so often with this nasty "romance" crap. Can we please stop talking about Jason's eyes? I need you to focus Piper. I also need you to not be so quick to judge women.

Without giving spoilers, can someone please tell me it gets better? Does Piper stop being written like this? Every chapter I have to read from her point of view is excruciating.

Also, I don't mean to be putting out any hate for Annabeth. She may not be my favorite character, but I do actually like her. Some of her traits are a little annoying, and I do feel like I don't know a lot about her, but I don't mean any hate. I think Rick just tends to be better at writing his male characters better than his female ones.

I'M NOT TRYING TO START FIGHTS, PLEASE DON'T BE ANGRY AT ME

peace and love bye

[tmarshconnors]

Scripture on Hearing God's Voice 2/2

Romans 8:16 - "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God."

James 1:5 - "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him."

Galatians 3:5 - "Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith?"

Isaiah 55:3 - "Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David."

John 14:21 - "Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him."

John 1:1 - "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Habakkuk 2:1-2 - "I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what he will say to me, and what I will answer concerning my complaint. And the Lord answered me: 'Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.'"

Psalms 29:1-11 - "Ascribe to the Lord, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength... The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord, over many waters."

Psalms 23:1-6 - "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want... Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

Psalms 85:8 - "Let me hear what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace to his people, to his saints; but let them not turn back to folly."

Proverbs 3:30-32 - "Do not contend with a man for no reason, when he has done you no harm. Do not envy a man of violence and do not choose any of his ways, for the devious person is an abomination to the Lord, but the upright are in his confidence."

Revelation 3:20 - "Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me."

1 Corinthians 14:1-5 - "Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy... The one who prophesies speaks to people for their upbuilding and encouragement and consolation."

Psalms 91:15 - "When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him."

Hebrews 2:1-3 - "Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?"

Acts 22:14 - "And he said, ‘The God of our fathers appointed you to know his will, to see the Righteous One and to hear a voice from his mouth.'"

Job 36:22 - "Behold, God is exalted in his power; who is a teacher like him?"

Hebrews 1:1-3 - "Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son... He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature."

Ezekiel 37:1-28 - "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones... Then he said to me, 'Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.'"

Job 35:10-11 - "But none says, 'Where is God my Maker, who gives songs in the night, who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the heavens?'"

Mark 9:1-50 - "And he said to them, 'Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.'"

Revelation 1:3 - "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near."

Hebrews 3:7-8 - "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion, on the day of testing in the wilderness.'"

John 14:15 - "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."

Matthew 4:1 - "Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil."

Psalms 46:10 - "Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!"

1 Samuel 9:1-27 - (The story of Saul being anointed as king and listening to God's guidance through Samuel.)

1 Samuel 3:1-10 - "Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord in the presence of Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no frequent vision... And the Lord came and stood, calling as at other times, 'Samuel! Samuel!' And Samuel said, 'Speak, for your servant hears.'"

James 1:22 - "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."

John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."

[officialyourdailyinspiration]

Sunday Prayer

O God, our Guide and Guardian, you have led us apart from the busy world into the quiet of your house. Grant us grace to worship you in Spirit and in truth, to the comfort of our souls and the upbuilding of every good purpose and holy desire. Enable us to do more perfectly the work to which you have called us, that we may not fear the coming of night, when we shall resign into your hands the tasks which you have committed to us. So may we worship you not with our lips at this hour, but in word and deed all the days of our lives; through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.

[fundielicious-simblr]

(Adalynn's POV)

Before Maggie left, she surprised Mason and I with a newborn photoshoot for baby girl, in return we were then able to surprise her with baby's name! We decided on naming her Bethany after the place in the bible; this little girl is such a blessing for our family, as are all our children. Since we announced baby girl's arrival, our church family have been so gracious in blessing us with clothes and accessories for our her. We have the basics in hand-me-down form from the boys, but it's always nice to dress up a baby girl in a cute pink outfit.

The kids usually do well whenever there's a new baby, they're always so happy to meet the sibling that they've been praying for but this time with little Bethany it just that bit more special as the boys met their little sister. The older boys have been saying that they're so thankful that they finally have a little sister, we've had to limit how much they can do when they're holding her since they want to do everything while holding her. The littles aren't 100% sure of what's happening, but love having a new baby in the house regardless.

Over the days, I've been sitting down with each of the boys to formally introduce them to their little sister. I wanted to especially work with the toddlers to get them familiar with the baby, Titus was the one who had his spot as youngest taken and I wanted to make sure there wasn't going to be overwhelming feelings of jealousy as is common with young children.

Pic 1: My mum with Zoe's daughter Cassie and my aunt Lea with her granddaughter Ember (Tabitha's daughter) // Pic 2: Macie, Zoe, Annette, Ashton, Tabitha, Tessa, and Celeste // Pic 3: My parents, my uncle Branden and aunt Lea, my aunt Claire and uncle Ryan, and my aunt Danielle and uncle Sebastian // Pic 4: my parents and sisters

Due to little Bethany's arrival, we missed out on going to camp this year. My parents and my sisters at home, Zoe and her kids, and various aunts, uncles, and cousins all made their way to Granite Falls for a great weekend of upbuilding fellowship! We love going to family camp, my parents started taking us almost every summer when I was a young child and throughout my childhood - Mason and I even met at family camp all those years ago. Hopefully we'll be able to attend some smaller conferences in the time between now and next year when we'll hopefully set off for family camp weekend next year.

[nousrose]

With every increase in the degree of consciousness, and in proportion to that increase, the intensity of despair increases: the more consciousness the more intense the despair.

The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening

Soren Kierkegaard

[beljar]

The greatest hazard of all, losing one’s self, can occur very quietly in the world, as if it were nothing at all. No other loss can occur so quietly; any other loss - an arm, a leg, five dollars, a wife, etc. - is sure to be noticed.

Søren Kierkegaard, The Sickness Unto Death: A Christian Psychological Exposition for Upbuilding and Awakening, July 30th 1849

[sororalice]

People who consider themselves Thelemites might do well to consider these words.

"If it is to be possible that a man can will only one thing then he must will the Good...To will only one thing: but will this not inevitably become a long, drawn-out talk? If one should consider this matter properly must he not first consider, one by one, each goal in life that a man could conceivably set up for himself, mentioning separately all of the many things that a man might will? And not only this; since each of these considerations readily becomes too abstract in character, is he not obliged as the next step to attempt to will, one after the other, each of these goals in order to find out what is the single thing he is to will, if it is a matter of willing only one thing? Yes, if someone should begin in this fashion, then he would never come to an end. Or more accurately, how could he ever arrive at the end, since at the outset he took the wrong way and then continued to go on further and further along this false way? It is only by a painful route that this way leads to the Good, namely, when the wanderer turns around and goes back. For as the Good is only a single thing, so all ways lead to the Good, even the false ones -- when the repentant one follows the same way back." -Søren Kierkegaard, “Upbuilding Discourses in Various Spirits: Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing"

[destinyc1020]

It’s the on purpose anon, it’s not even the comments in regards to TZs relationship that are bothering me cause that’s whatever it’s the things being said about Z by these men and the realisation that they will never stop

I hate men so much 💀

Yea, it is sad Anon....I can totally understand your frustration 😓😞 It can be so annoying and frustrating to say the least. And as long as we live in a patriarchal society, these things are unfortunately going to always occur.

But you can't let this type of stuff consume you.

You need to ignore the nonsense, and just focus on things that are upbuilding and positive for you.

And don't hate men. It only makes you bitter, and that only hurts yourself in the end. All men aren't like this. There's good and bad in EVERYONE. Nobody is all good or all bad.

Just focus on the things (or ppl) who make you feel happy 😊 ❤️

Ppl these days seem to focus way too much time and energy on things they don't like, instead of focusing on the things they DO like, and then they wonder why they feel so bad and depressed all the time. 🥴😔

[klainesheilen]

procrastinating by telling my thoughts on Daisy Jones and The Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The moment I opened the book and saw the interview writing style, I went "immediatelly no.", but now I am happy that I pushed myself through the first 10 pages, because this was such a good read!

The interviewe writing style and the introduction of so many characters at the beginning made it hard for me to find a good start, but once everything was settled, I couldn't put it down. The interview made the reading experience so good and after reading the part where an interviewer mentions they always want to talk with all member to get the full story, the writing style made much more sense. The reader needs everyones short little opinions and perspectives of what happened to understand why the band split up. But I can defitenely see why people don't like it, I've heard that for some it worked better with the audiobook. Personally, I can't say anything about the audiobook experience except that it might help you to get into the book! Like really, Reid played with my heart and emotions while I read this book. How is one able to convey all of these emotions throughout so short paragraphes? Without her writing this would only be another sex, drugs and rock'n'roll story (yea, I can't even name you one of these another sex, drugs and rok'n'roll stories but we all know what it's about)

A thing that just didn't work for me was the, idk if you can call it that, plot twist at the end when we find out to whom the band members are talking to. Yes, it makes sense, but the timinig was not the right one. We are changing between these very impactful stories just to get interrupted by this break what just threw me off. It really destroyed the upbuilded moment for me and took the 5 star rating. It's still a 4.5, but this scene still makes me mad when I have to write about it now.