Transgender Q&A

[Maddie]

10 hours ago, Salvijus said:

Illumination of the mind still exists. It's not necessary to believe in anything to understand that ignorance can be illumined. 

 

You sound like my mom when I was trying to get out of going to school as a kid LOL.

[Sanity Check]

10 hours ago, Salvijus said:

Illumination of the mind still exists. It's not necessary to believe in anything to understand that ignorance can be illumined. 

 

 

The fool can learn & eventually become wise.

 

And the wise can learn to become a fool.

 

The slippery slope of king of the mountain where we each bear our own personal sisyphus stone is no joke.

[Apech]

3 hours ago, Sanity Check said:

 

 

The fool can learn & eventually become wise.

 

And the wise can learn to become a fool.

 

The slippery slope of king of the mountain where we each bear our own personal sisyphus stone is no joke.

Did someone open the fortune cookie jar?

[EFreethought]

53 minutes ago, Apech said:

Did someone open the fortune cookie jar?

 

I think the jar fell on his head.

 

[Mark Foote]

On 5/11/2024 at 9:53 AM, surrogate corpse said:

jiujitsu is, as we all know, all about using force generated from within yourself to impose your will on another 👁️
 

Maddie may have already responded to this. 

Like any other martial art, the heart of the matter in jiu-jitsu is the heart-mind, and how the heart-mind and the force of gravity work together to allow the activity of a relaxed body to embrace the stretch of ligaments.

Given that “chin comes from the ligaments”, the essence of these arts is:
 

“t’ing chin, listening to or feeling strength”; “comprehension of chin”... 

(both quotes from “Three Levels” from “Cheng Tzu’s Thirteen Treatises on Ta’i Chi Chuan”, Cheng Man Ch’ing, trans. Benjamin Pang Jeng Lo and Martin Inn, p 77-78)

 

And one more step, after “comprehension of chin”:

 

“perfect clarity.”

(“Master Cheng’s Thirteen Chapters on T’ai-Chi Ch’uan”, Douglas Wile, p 57)

 

 

I write more about these steps in A Way of Living.  I know these things as something useful in the practice of seated meditation, not through the mastery of Tai Chi (I have a second-degree brown belt in judo, for what that's worth).

 

Yes, jiu-jitsu can be more readily transformed into an offensive art than some of the off-shoots of jiu-jitsu, like judo or aikido.  In the end, though, the heart of all the martial arts is the same, and is as expressed by the founder of Aikido Morihei Ueshiba:

 

… the spirit of aikido can only be love and harmony. Aikido was born in accordance with the principles and workings of the Universe.

(https://aikidojournal.com/2016/09/24/interview-with-morihei-ueshiba-and-kisshomaru-ueshiba/)

 

 

 

Edited May 12 by Mark Foote

[Mark Foote]

19 hours ago, surrogate corpse said:

 

yes, that's the joke ; )
 

 

 

surrogate, could you give us the lead in as well as the punch line in the future, so those of us who are a bit slow on the draw can actually realize that it's a joke?

 

 

[Mark Foote]

19 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

 

No law suit .

 

I blamed it on their cat .

 

 

That's unfair, it was clearly the dog!

 

 

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Apech said:

Did someone open the fortune cookie jar?

 

My fav Chinese fortune cookie :

 

" You and your imperialist nation  shall come to no avail. "

[Nungali]

3 hours ago, Mark Foote said:

...

… the spirit of aikido can only be love and harmony. Aikido was born in accordance with the principles and workings of the Universe.

(https://aikidojournal.com/2016/09/24/interview-with-morihei-ueshiba-and-kisshomaru-ueshiba/)

 

 

 

 

I find this amusing . Not many understand what it is .   All that love and harmony stuff ... they tried to BS me with that in my Aikido training . I showed them a picture of 'master' from my old first edition Aikido book , he has avoided a sword blow and is striking back with the metal points on the end of a fan into the attackers eyes and has a crazy screaming ('kiai') look on his face .

 

Love and harmony ....   

 

I can explain the how and why  behind the  peace and harmony  BS . Aikido WAS NOT  'born in accordance' with these principles at all .

 

It was poart of a militia cult movement that was going to be part of world domination .... it interesting how a couple of nukes can make  someone to pull their head in  .....   and for their (now) 'art' to survive  ( as a money bringing family cult ... it still is ) it had to be changed and re written  .  No martial art existed after WWII that was not turned onto a sport or some expression of 'art' (budo)  or  'love jitsu ' .

 

PS . I am not dissing the benefits of the modern art , just 'ironing out some historical BS '

Edited May 12 by Nungali

[Sanity Check]

8 hours ago, Apech said:

Did someone open the fortune cookie jar?

 

 

Its important.  

 

Especially now.

 

Cuz reasons.

 

[Salvijus]

14 hours ago, Maddie said:

 

You sound like my mom when I was trying to get out of going to school as a kid LOL.

I can live with that

Edited May 13 by Salvijus

[Trunk]

~~~ admin comment ~~~

 

This is a bit of a tricky thread to moderate as it's so unusual.

 

As a matter of courtesy,

the main point of this thread is not to explore every permutation of how things might be seen (and I get that that's *part* of the dynamic), but

the main point is to allow someone who has direct personal experience to share their point of view.

 

- Trunk

 

p.s.

I haven't had time to keep up with this thread well, so things might've sorted well already ... but I still had lingering that something like this needed to be said.

 

~~~ admin out ~~~

[Maddie]

21 minutes ago, Trunk said:

~~~ admin comment ~~~

 

This is a bit of a tricky thread to moderate as it's so unusual.

 

As a matter of courtesy,

the main point of this thread is not to explore every permutation of how things might be seen (and I get that that's *part* of the dynamic), but

the main point is to allow someone who has direct personal experience to share their point of view.

 

- Trunk

 

p.s.

I haven't had time to keep up with this thread well, so things might've sorted well already ... but I still had lingering that something like this needed to be said.

 

~~~ admin out ~~~

 

It has not been sorted and thank you!

 

I haven't actually been asked a question about my experience for quite a while. It kind of devolved into a few individuals seeming from my point of view to want to undermine my experience.

Edited May 13 by Maddie

[Maddie]

To get this post back on track allow me to reiterate that this is a question and answer about transgender issues. Questions about my (or any other transgendered person that want to share) experiences or questions about transgender issues in general are welcome as long as they are sincere. 

 

This is not however a transgendered statement post. Statements like "you'll never be a woman" or "just get enlightened instead" are not questions. 

[Tommy]

Okay, Have noticed this has devolved into a . . . I don't know what. Anyway, did anyone ask you, "Are you happy?" I mean it has got to be quite a journey. Feeling things are just not right and then moving on to how to get where one wants to go. So, are you happy?

 

When I met my wife, I fell for her. But, things wouldn't have gotten very far if I saw that she wasn't already happy. As an individual, I know that I can not be all for another person. They have to be happy first. Then, my addition to her life would compliment or add to her life. Now, that's the other end of the spectrum, if she was already set and did not need me or I could not make her life a little better then marriage would not happen. I saw she was happy with her life. But. also saw that I could help to make her life better. So, I married her. We have been married since 1996 or about 27 years.

 

I think you said before that you have no interest in marriage and having a family?? That is fine. It isn't for everyone. But, my question stands. Are you happy? Of course, I don't mean crazy happy. Just generally happy with the way things are now? Buddha might have said that life is suffering but I do not see it as suffering all the time. There has to be some calm in the midst of the storm. Some bright spot. A place to absorb the warmth of the sun and feel good about oneself.

 

Note: I guess I am no better at this topic than anyone else??

Edited May 14 by Tommy

[liminal_luke]

9 hours ago, Maddie said:

To get this post back on track allow me to reiterate that this is a question and answer about transgender issues. Questions about my (or any other transgendered person that want to share) experiences or questions about transgender issues in general are welcome as long as they are sincere. 

 

 

I just want to say -- and this might sound really stupid -- that it´s really hard for me to forego posting my opinions.  Part of me says: OK Luke, Maddie says she wants questions so if you don´t have a question, don´t post.  Obviously, given this post that doesn´t have a question, I´m not great at that kind of self-restraint.  I think a lot of people are like me; we love to opine.  In my defense, I will say that I´ve learned some things from the thread.  

 

To me, these big social issues are like coffee: a single cup is pleasantly stimulating but drink a whole pot and my nerves will be shot.  So this is me switching to decaf.  Thank you Maddie, Bes, and Surrogate Corpse for sharing a little of your world with me.  Thank you for being patient with me when I´ve said silly, uninformed shit.  Take care of yourselves.  The controversy around this topic isn´t going away anytime soon, but with every selfie things get a tiny bit better.  This I believe.

 

 

Edited May 14 by liminal_luke

[Maddie]

5 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

 

I just want to say -- and this might sound really stupid -- that it´s really hard for me to forego posting my opinions.  Part of me says: OK Luke, Maddie says she wants questions so if you don´t have a question, don´t post.  Obviously, given this post that doesn´t have a question, I´m not great at that kind of self-restraint.  I think a lot of people are like me; we love to opine.  In my defense, I will say that I´ve learned some things from the thread.  

 

To me, these big social issues are like coffee: a single cup is pleasantly stimulating but drink a whole pot and my nerves will be shot.  So this is me switching to decaf.  Thank you Maddie, Bes, and Surrogate Corpse for sharing a little of your world with me.  Thank you for being patient with me when I´ve said silly, uninformed shit.  Take care of yourselves.  The controversy around this topic isn´t going away anytime soon, but with every selfie things get a tiny bit better.  This I believe.

 

 

 

Hahaha you're allowed to have opinions and post them. The examples of things that were not questions that I posted were basically trolling. I'm not doing this to be trolled. But I don't mind if you have opinions and share them because you're clearly not a troll.

[Maddie]

6 hours ago, Tommy said:

Okay, Have noticed this has devolved into a . . . I don't know what. Anyway, did anyone ask you, "Are you happy?" I mean it has got to be quite a journey. Feeling things are just not right and then moving on to how to get where one wants to go. So, are you happy?

 

When I met my wife, I fell for her. But, things wouldn't have gotten very far if I saw that she wasn't already happy. As an individual, I know that I can not be all for another person. They have to be happy first. Then, my addition to her life would compliment or add to her life. Now, that's the other end of the spectrum, if she was already set and did not need me or I could not make her life a little better then marriage would not happen. I saw she was happy with her life. But. also saw that I could help to make her life better. So, I married her. We have been married since 1996 or about 27 years.

 

I think you said before that you have no interest in marriage and having a family?? That is fine. It isn't for everyone. But, my question stands. Are you happy? Of course, I don't mean crazy happy. Just generally happy with the way things are now? Buddha might have said that life is suffering but I do not see it as suffering all the time. There has to be some calm in the midst of the storm. Some bright spot. A place to absorb the warmth of the sun and feel good about oneself.

 

Note: I guess I am no better at this topic than anyone else??

 

That's a tricky question to answer at the moment because I've been doing tons of Zhunti mantra recently to try to save my business and that always seems to bring up every single existential crisis one can possibly have but on the other hand my business is doing better since I started doing it regularly again lol. 

 

But in general in spite of the fact that my family stopped talking to me I would say I'm more comfortable with myself that I have ever been in my life. Previously I always have this underlying inexplicable discomfort that I just assumed everybody had and then once I accepted who I was that went away.

[Maddie]

One unexpected side effect of being trans is I've learned a lot about trolls. I've noticed there's two basic kinds. 

 

There's the blatant trolls that just say things like you'll never be a woman. 

 

And then there's the subtle trolls who are kind of sneaky about it and then when you confront them about being a troll they play innocent. Like the kind that suggest maybe if you were more spiritual you wouldn't be infected with this trans disease. LOL

[Salvijus]

2 hours ago, Maddie said:

And then there's the subtle trolls who are kind of sneaky about it and then when you confront them about being a troll they play innocent. Like the kind that suggest maybe if you were more spiritual you wouldn't be infected with this trans disease. LOL

I don’t think suggesting ideas for contemplation and having an open discussion around it counts as trolling. And the biggest irony of all is that you yourself understand and agree that all identity is ultimately a false thing. You already displayed that understanding earlier. At this point you yourself are trolling yourself. 

Edited May 14 by Salvijus

[stirling]

32 minutes ago, Salvijus said:

I don’t think suggesting ideas for contemplation and having an open discussion around it counts as trolling. And the biggest irony of all is that you yourself understand and agree that all identity is ultimately a false thing. You already displayed that understanding earlier. At this point you yourself are trolling yourself. 

 

Ah... but how many times has it been suggested? One veers into troll territory when they are unable to stop continually hammering someone else in a thread, despite that persons obvious discomfort, or inability to reconcile it in context.

 

At this point you have had as much opportunity as you could possibly require to make your point. It has been heard. It would be kind and respectful to drop it now. 

[Salvijus]

22 minutes ago, stirling said:

At this point you have had as much opportunity as you could possibly require to make your point. It has been heard. It would be kind and respectful to drop it now. 

I would love this aswell. 

 

I had no intention to come back if not for the attempt to slander me. 

[Salvijus]

41 minutes ago, stirling said:

Unable to stop continuesly hammering someone else

That happened zero times for the record. Be more careful about the words you use I would suggest. Because that was not what was happening. 

 

 

Edited May 14 by Salvijus

[Maddie]

34 minutes ago, stirling said:

 

Ah... but how many times has it been suggested? One veers into troll territory when they are unable to stop continually hammering someone else in a thread, despite that persons obvious discomfort, or inability to reconcile it in context.

 

At this point you have had as much opportunity as you could possibly require to make your point. It has been heard. It would be kind and respectful to drop it now. 

 

Thank you! 

 

I'm not going to play the the troll anymore. 

Edited May 14 by Maddie

[Salvijus]

There're only two ways to end this imo. 

 

Either I get labeled a troll. 

 

Or we make peace and say we become on good terms. 

 

But if I suggest the idea of ending this on good terms to Maddie, she doesn't want that. So she goes for plan a. And that just prompts more conflict. 

 

If you guys really want this to end. Let's just come to terms all together like good friends.