The Off-Topic and Random Thoughts Thread(Anything Goes!)

[Seng Hock]

I apologize for sperging out in my post before this. But after posting that rant, the thoughts that lingered in my head and in my chest is finally gone, and now I'm at peace with myself.

Great post. Each of us have to find out our best path. I don't know if you've seen my posts but I've been making fun of how simultaneously ridiculous and magical in its thinking all of the "trust in God" stuff was when related to achieving or acquiring something in life. We should trust in God, but what went on around the forum for years was simpleton advice for mostly overzealous, and somewhat foolish novices.

This part especially comes as a bitter truth. I realized this in the events in my post above, that we absolutely must put our faith in God, but also put effort in achieving that objectives. For example an athlete besides praying to God, they must train hard like a madman to have any chance of winning, university students if they wanted to pass exams then besides praying to God they must study hard and often studying until late at night. It goes without saying that to find a spouse, besides trusting in God we must make efforts like socializing and networking, and working on ourselves to increase our SMV.

Christ said to have faith (which means prayer as well), and then act as if God has already given it to you, for the Lord is good and loves you, and you shall receive.

Thank you it means that all this time my understanding of the bible is incomplete, since my understanding comes down to "have faith and you shall receive", but somehow I was not aware of the bolded part. Although the bolded part is very important to form a complete understanding of what Christ taught.

 

[Maddox]

Was ghosting people always a thing? Was there ever a time when people made a point to get back to others, even if it was to let them know they weren't doing business, or going out with them, or anything? I feel like hardly anyone is capable of basic conflict resolution. I wish American culture had more of a negotiator mindset.

There was a time when people had the decency to get back to others when they couldn't make a date or an appointment. But dating apps ruined that. Now it's perfectly normal to ghost others, even in business like you mentioned. That's what always surprised me; that this has carried over into the business arena.

I routinely deal with others who miss appointments, don't get back to me on important matters, and think nothing of it when I raise the question of where they were or what happened to them.

It's just one more way that our society has devolved into the swamp it is now.

 

[Rational1]

Forgive me fellow CiK members for I am going to make an off-topic low quality post. I need to do this to get this lingering thoughts out of my mind once and for all.

I respected Roosh as a teacher, enlightener, and a shepherd. I have gained uncountable knowledge in almost all aspects of my life by reading/watching his works, his books, and his forum. I still cannot believe that a man who lives on the other side of the world that I never met, is having so many positive impacts in my personal development. In my eyes Roosh is the modern day incarnation of Saint Sava of Serbia.

But here is one (and only this one) complaint that I'm going to vent (the purpose of this post)....

Since the start of Roosh's turns to faith he explicitly banned talks of fornication from his forum. Not only that but many members who made threads/posts which asked about improving relationships with the opposite sex will not long after get their threads locked with the reasons being:

1. This is not a dating forum
2. Secular advice are not welcome here
3. Ask your priest

Also on many of Roosh's articles he wrote many things praising celibacy and self-denial even for layman who are not monks. I recall in one of his fictional story of Seraphim and Elena, the protagonist Seraphim in the end became a celibate and Elena married Seraphim's friend.

Because I venerated Roosh as a great teacher, I took his new outlooks on life and writings to heart. Teacher knows best and wishes the best for us, I thought. From 2020 to mid 2023 I prayed to God so that one day I can have spouse. I prayed and prayed without doing any other thing (because doing anything except praying is secular). At this time my real world effort is minimum (did not attend social events, lifting weights and doing sports at the bare minimum, did not have hobby, etc). Avoid secular things at all costs, and only trust God.

Until in June 2023 I met my friend who I did not see for a year. When we are deep in conversations, at one moment the conversation came to a topic of celibacy. My friend reminded me that our own parish's priest is married and not a celibate. He also reminded me to network with more people to increase the odds of finding a spouse, and he also said that prayer without doing any kind of work will not lead to anywhere. At this moment I realized that I've been living a life of "more Catholic than The Pope".

Since the conversations in June 2023 I started to attend more social events little by little, to meet other people (and women of course). And eventually since March 2024 I begin to ramp up my self improvement progress, and finally in May 2024 my self-improvement is at the most maximum way possible:

• In March 2024 I literally asked my priest about celibacy and finding a spouse. He said that I should not be a literal involuntary celibate, if I feel forced to be a celibate than I better not be one. My priest then directs me to pray the akathist to St. Xenia of Petersburg and then recite the prayer to find a spouse. My priest also remarked that I have to put real world effort into finding a spouse such as by attending more social events, ask someone to introduce me to a woman who is still single, through a matchmaking events, etc.
• In March 2024 until now, by looking in the Courtship subforum and the threads/posts in there, we can draw conclusion that real world effort and game is needed (at least the basic understanding). This hits like a brick to me that you can't just pray to God, meet a woman, start speaking in tongue to her and announce your intention of marriage. We need to understand game and red pill concepts, and the ability to apply it!
• The final kick was back in April and May 2024 I attended several church events. I observed that there are much more males than females in my church (and even other churches). Competition is fierce and we absolutely need game and red pill teachings to compete even in church settings. I was forced to swallow the red pill by facing this kind of reality. The term "Display of Higher Value" and "Alpha Male of Group" absolutely apply in my observations.

Just like Kyle Katarn, The Jedi Exile and Obi-Wan Kenobi who cut themselves off The Force, only to reconnect to The Force during time of great need and use their power for good, I will re-learn all the old red pill materials, /r/TheRedPill best posts, Roosh's game books (which I already bought years ago), Roissy's writings and other manosphere contents. I have also lift weights as much as my body can handle.

However I did not fully regret wasting three years from 2020 to mid 2023 doing no real world effort and no self improvement. The learning moment for me is to not blindly trust anyone (except our Lord Jesus Christ) like a sheep. I should have been able to form conclusions and make my own decisions like a man.

Now I have decided to learn all the old teachings of game and red pill materials to its maximum extent. Also to lift heavy, dress well, have a social status, earn more money, basically to be the best version of myself. Looksmaxxing and Faithmaxxing combined, the Yin and Yang of self improvement.

Fuck its good to be back.

Great post. Few comments…

First it isn’t good practice to venerate or look
up to anyone you don’t know on the internet. This is a result of the feminization of men, and the lack of fathers and strong Christian men in a community as role models. The red pill and Roosh had some interesting ideas, but they will never replace real role models in your life.

You must put action in and just praying with no action will do nothing.

On celibacy. I’m extremely skeptical that the majority of men follow the teachings regarding total celibacy before marriage. I’d estimate, and this is a total ballpark guess, but it’s 2% or less of men. The rest struggle with some sort of sins of the flesh. If you read some posters, it is clear they are in sexual relationships and not married. Very few men can be monks, especially after being introduced to the world. The number of men who have no problems with porn, self satisfaction, fornication, or lust of any kind is extremely small.

So my point is, you set the bar much too high for yourself in this regard. I’m not saying to just sin because it can’t be done, but it takes a lot of work.

 

[Maddox]

So glad somebody made a video about this. It's a serious irritation of mine.

I hate vocal fry too and I blame the Globalist twats who used Kim K and other puppets to get women to start imitating their speech patterns. As a man, it's a total turn-off to listen to girls who talk in that lower register.

What I found interesting in the video is at 20:19, he states that a breathy voice is the opposite of vocal fry. The former is how Grace Kelly used to talk, amongst other women of that time. It's much more pleasing to the ears as you can see...

 

[thinkreadwritecode]

There was a time when people had the decency to get back to others when they couldn't make a date or an appointment. But dating apps ruined that. Now it's perfectly normal to ghost others, even in business like you mentioned. That's what always surprised me; that this has carried over into the business arena.

I routinely deal with others who miss appointments, don't get back to me on important matters, and think nothing of it when I raise the question of where they were or what happened to them.

It's just one more way that our society has devolved into the swamp it is now.

Indeed. Devolved, for sure. I was bitter because my wife and I were counting on what seemed like a slam dunk for securing a commercial client and then the manager ghosted us and had a secretary make excuses. This is in a heavily Christianized Southern culture, too. I am realizing a lot of people, Christian or not, friendly or not, do not possess basic courtesy and minimum levels of communication. There is also a lot of two-facedness, where someone is friendly and gentile to your face but then there is no progress in anything outside of that.

I've done sales before and so I am a lot more used to being ghosted than my wife is, but it still feels insulting every time. I have always made a point to directly say no to people if they are trying to sell me something I can't or won't do it.

 

[Blade Runner]

It goes without saying that to find a spouse, besides trusting in God we must make efforts like socializing and networking, and working on ourselves to increase our SMV.

Yes, and even then, unlike the other events, you have to have a baseline reason to do it, or a reward, or a return on investment. That's what makes the modern dating (not courting of course) game so silly in many aspects. After you have put in a lot of work, it's not a problem that you'll perhaps have to do more (that's always the case for the man), it's just that you realize or risk assess if it's worth it. And in the west, mostly it's not. But it is a reality that if you don't do these things, you won't get anything at all. I justify giving up on the west, right or wrong, due to the excessive effort with increasingly poorer return. When women can be unmotivated, or do without, high achieving men, it says a lot.

The number of men who have no problems with porn, self satisfaction, fornication, or lust of any kind is extremely small.

Pearl Davis is the lone voice about this, but even she realizes that nothing will likely change for at least 20 years. I think it can change faster, but that might not matter at all for any man who is 30+ right now anyway. She recently said that you wouldn't have issues with incels, sex, porn, etc if women got married at young ages. I agree with this. When they don't do that it sets off a chain reaction, which we've reviewed multiple times on the forum, that results in men achieving more of course as time progresses, and women losing value, thus men not taking them seriously for any serious relationship. That's the quickest review of the modern dilemma of woman working and/or being "elevated" (like a man, as a worker, etc) in modern society.

 

[analyst_green]

I hate vocal fry too and I blame the Globalist twats who used Kim K and other puppets to get women to start imitating their speech patterns. As a man, it's a total turn-off to listen to girls who talk in that lower register.

What I found interesting in the video is at 20:19, he states that a breathy voice is the opposite of vocal fry. The former is how Grace Kelly used to talk, amongst other women of that time. It's much more pleasing to the ears as you can see...

The vocal fry sounds like nails on a chalkboard. There is a very attractive young woman at my office, but she always finishes her sentences with that and it makes me want to cringe. It sounds so hoarse, like she's about to hock something up.

In other news, yet another cool, popular sin has proven to be harmful for your health. Just like they recently showed tattoos are poisoning people's skin, it turns out it's no different for vaping. What a shocker! If you think it's hard to find an attractive woman now in the West, just wait until all the vaping skin damage shows as this next generation hits their twenties.

https://nypost.com/2024/06/02/lifestyle/gen-zs-vaping-habits-could-be-making-them-look-older-docs/

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

Just as the devil's greatest achievement was convincing the world that he does not exist, the greatest achievement of secularism is convincing the world that it is not a religion. When you see the collapse of Western nations happening in real-time, you may know that it is a religion behind it, not Christianity which is the religion responsible for their former greatness, but the religion of secularism, the spirit of the age.

Secularism posits itself as being neutral but, in truth, there is no neutrality. When they kicked God out of the schools, that is an act of hostility not neutrality. When they removed His Law as the basis of our own, that is another act of hostility. Atheism is not neutral, it is already operating on it's own beliefs no different than any other religion.

Secularism is Antichrist.

Luke 11:23 He who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me, scatters.

 

[Johnnyvee]

This was interesting...

 

[Crux]

Random thought, Muslims accept only the Quran in Arabic as sacred, in any other language it's just a translation (i.e., not the Quran). Moreover if I'm not mistaken the correct way to dispose of a genuine Quran (the Arabic one) is in fact to burn it, according to Muslim belief. So I gotta wonder... when you see these Quran burnings and the guy's holding up what's clearly a translation... the Muslims must be laughing to themselves.

 

[God's lonely asperger]

I've been visiting a park lately that's full of trees and grass. I've felt the "nature smell" for the first time in years and it's been wonderful. The city I grew up in had that a lot. Brings back good memories!

It also has dogs so that's pretty cool as well. Other park I sometimes go to has cats.

 

[Maddox]

This was interesting...

The biggest problem with these suburbs is the lack of greenery. There is barely any front yard at all with the houses set so close to the street.

The lack of trees, especially mature trees, cannot make up for this. These houses would also look much better with some bushes or flowers. But these new subdivisions have nothing but saplings, which makes the entire street look bare and desolate and frankly quite souless.




Even NYC brownstones, which are also set close to the street, have more greenery than the other street, either by trees, bushes, or plants.

 

[thinkreadwritecode]

The biggest problem with these suburbs is the lack of greenery. There is barely any front yard at all with the houses set so close to the street.

The lack of trees, especially mature trees, cannot make up for this. These houses would also look much better with some bushes or flowers. But these new subdivisions have nothing but saplings, which makes the entire street look bare and desolate and frankly quite souless.

View attachment 8882


Even NYC brownstones, which are also set close to the street, have more greenery than the other street, either by trees, bushes, or plants.

View attachment 8883

View attachment 8884

When I did some Door Dashing in the past and hung out near the restaurants there'd be almost no shade anywhere. Just a barren sea of concrete and asphalt and box stores

Also, in the past when I used to have some time to kill and I'd be in town I'd eventually sit in a parking lot somewhere. Every store had loud music to discourage idlers. No stores had any sitting places or hangouts. Parks would lack shade and comfortable seating. Libraries were often closed, or if I could get in the seating was uncomfortable and the AC made it freezing. When I was at college there were loads of places to hangout and relax and get under some shade.

It's no wonder no one goes outside or shows any interest in the outdoors unless your area is devoted to some kind of activity outdoors, but I don't always want to do an activity, I'd like to be able to relax outside and not always at my place of residence.

 

[Thomas More]

The biggest problem with these suburbs is the lack of greenery. There is barely any front yard at all with the houses set so close to the street.

The lack of trees, especially mature trees, cannot make up for this. These houses would also look much better with some bushes or flowers. But these new subdivisions have nothing but saplings, which makes the entire street look bare and desolate and frankly quite souless.

View attachment 8882


Even NYC brownstones, which are also set close to the street, have more greenery than the other street, either by trees, bushes, or plants.

View attachment 8883

View attachment 8884

I think it is always true that new subdivisions lack trees and bushes and such. However, the new owners plant trees and bushes, and in a few years things look much greener. In 20 years, the neighborhood is established, and there are mature trees.

Also, most suburban areas around big cities have grown up in the space once occupied by separate towns that were outside the city and separated by open country. Now that open country is all filled in with subdivisions, shopping centers, and warehouse parks. However, the old original small downtowns are usually developed with shopping, restaurants, bars, galleries, river walks, dog parks, and so forth. These original downtowns become walkable destinations, with a variety of town festivals in each. Often they have large condo and apartment complexes on the edge of the old downtown, and there are mass transit train lines tying them to the rest of the metro area. These places can be packed with pedestrians every evening and weekend. This has been a very widespread development pattern for 20 years or more.

In this era of BLM and increased homelessness in major city downtowns, these small suburban downtowns are often the most attractive places to get out and do things.

 

[Maddox]

When I did some Door Dashing in the past and hung out near the restaurants there'd be almost no shade anywhere. Just a barren sea of concrete and asphalt and box stores

Also, in the past when I used to have some time to kill and I'd be in town I'd eventually sit in a parking lot somewhere. Every store had loud music to discourage idlers. No stores had any sitting places or hangouts. Parks would lack shade and comfortable seating. Libraries were often closed, or if I could get in the seating was uncomfortable and the AC made it freezing. When I was at college there were loads of places to hangout and relax and get under some shade.

It's no wonder no one goes outside or shows any interest in the outdoors unless your area is devoted to some kind of activity outdoors, but I don't always want to do an activity, I'd like to be able to relax outside and not always at my place of residence.

Oh man, don't even get me started on city parks. What I see are large areas of grass without any of the other things that make a park a park. Like you said, there is no shade because there are very few trees at parks. I've seen dozens of parks like this.

There are also no longer flowers or water fountains. However, parks in Europe all have these features.

I will have to start a new thread on this subject to expand on this subject because there are some interesting differences between parks of old or European parks vs your typical park in the US.

 

[FrancisK]

I took my two younger cousins to a waterpark hotel this weekend, I really wanted to take them to Mexico but their passports haven't come in and I have free time right now so we just said screw it and went. We'll go to Mexico soon. They work their tails off for us every day after school never arguing just whatever we put in front of them or tell them to do they get it done, the kids are young teenagers they give me hope for the future.

It's down in Ohio so it's bizzarro ghetto world anyway, not a single looker in the entire hotel male or female. But the way people have started conducting themselves is disgusting, it just seems nobody has any decorum left at all. I try not to notice it and just enjoy my time with my cousins who look up to me but even they see it and comment on it.

The room next to us had a black guy screaming at the top of his lungs for 5 hours until 3am to his girlfriend about all his stupid life problems. I feel like I know the guy personally now. I knocked on his door to tell him to calm down so we could sleep and this little deformed midget answers and is visibly upset that I'm not someone he can challenge, he honestly didn't know what to do in the situation it was bizarre. Like he kept quiet when I was rationally appealing to him to stop but he was also sizing me up and was fidgety, I 100% believe if I wasn't me and was a smaller guy he would have just attacked me....I was on my front foot the whole time. His mannerisms were obvious, he was doing his best and visibly agitated that he couldn't just go into primal mode.

I'm just sad that this is the world that is presented to my little cousins, I wish we hadn't come here. I guess we should have just waited for Mexico, hopefully that goes better.

 

[Samseau]

Just as the devil's greatest achievement was convincing the world that he does not exist, the greatest achievement of secularism is convincing the world that it is not a religion. When you see the collapse of Western nations happening in real-time, you may know that it is a religion behind it, not Christianity which is the religion responsible for their former greatness, but the religion of secularism, the spirit of the age.

Secularism posits itself as being neutral but, in truth, there is no neutrality. When they kicked God out of the schools, that is an act of hostility not neutrality. When they removed His Law as the basis of our own, that is another act of hostility. Atheism is not neutral, it is already operating on it's own beliefs no different than any other religion.

Secularism is Antichrist.

The Antiochian/Russian school of Orthodox theology developed a great definition of a secular person. It comes from Alexander Schmemann, in his book For The Life Of The World.

A secular person is someone who does not worship. Secularism, therefore, is the religion of not worshipping. A secular person can therefore believe in God, or have a "religion," but they do not worship.

This ultimately means they fail the first of Christ's two greatest commandments, which is to Love God, so secularism, which is detached from God, always results in extinction.

Secularism may be a part of the Anti-Christ or simply a demonic force. But the end result is the death of worship, with it's decline in Church attendance, and the resulting devastation upon society.

I think this is the most comprehensive definition of secularism I've encountered.

 

[GodfatherPartTwo]

The Antiochian/Russian school of Orthodox theology developed a great definition of a secular person. It comes from Alexander Schmemann, in his book For The Life Of The World.

A secular person is someone who does not worship. Secularism, therefore, is the religion of not worshipping. A secular person can therefore believe in God, or have a "religion," but they do not worship.

This ultimately means they fail the first of Christ's two greatest commandments, which is to Love God, so secularism, which is detached from God, always results in extinction.

Secularism may be a part of the Anti-Christ or simply a demonic force. But the end result is the death of worship, with it's decline in Church attendance, and the resulting devastation upon society.

I think this is the most comprehensive definition of secularism I've encountered.

To the contrary, the secularist always worships something. If he's not worshiping the one true God, then he will worship any idol. Whether that's himself, sex, money, success, demons, science, etc. Worship is definitional of mankind.

 

[Samseau]

To the contrary, the secularist always worships something. If he's not worshiping the one true God, then he will worship any idol. Whether that's himself, sex, money, success, demons, science, etc. Worship is definitional of mankind.

That's what Schmemann means. Not worshipping God. And worship outside of liturgy isn't worship.

 

[ed plrbs unm]

Interesting point: