u/LostSignal1914

Throughout my life as a Christian I would sometimes get what some would call an "inspiration" or a "prompt" from the Holy Spirit to take some specific action - or at least that's what seemed to be happening to me. I guess it was a subjective feeling but felt unusually profound and was not self generated - although sometimes I know I was probably me just me stirring myself up

When I was younger I would automatically respond to these prompts but looking back it seems like some of the decisions I made were very unwise even though my intention was to follow God and I was, or felt I was, responding to his internal prompt.

Anyway, I eventually threw out the idea of these subjective prompts. But eventually I came to see that there where times when my response to these prompts brought about the most beautiful results internally and in the world and that there were striking signs that I was responding to God.

So now when I feel a prompt I am more hesitating and think about it first. But when I do this all the inspiration and love that initiated it evaporate and it's like the moment is lost.

I want to get to a place where I have the courage and trust to respond to the internal moves of the Holy Spirit but being cautious enough to know that perhaps I sometimes misinterpret things.

I don't know. Any thoughts?

I worked at a crisis helpline. We would get calls from elderly or sick people who were abandoned in their plight. The form of abuse I am interested in here is neglect.

Listening to these callers I came away with the view that despite all the advice to seek help, to call this organisation, the many phone numbers people can call for this or that, to talk to a trusted person, to talk to you doctor, etc the help is simply not there in any concrete sense.

You call a number and get referred somewhere. You get there and get passed on somewhere else. You either end up in accident and emergence or getting prescribed more pills from you doctor.

You are given pseudo help. On paper you were helped but in reality the help you actually need is not there.

I received many calls from people bedridden and broke (though no fault of their own) with no family. They don't even have the strength to even do the things needed in order to get any further help if is is there. The literally need to be rescued.

Now, I know this is not the case for everyone. But it is definitely the case for a significant number of people.

I keep hearing from these people that "nobody cares". And they speak from experience.

If you are old, don't have a lot of money, don't have family around and become sick and can't carry out the normal functions of living what happens? (This is not a rhetorical question. I want to know more).

Now I know working at a crisis helpline you will naturally get calls from desperate people so I am aware this does not represent the general population. So I'd like to get a broader view of what happens if you are old, broke, and ill without family.

Oi! I am seeking videos/channels that deal with politics/philosophy/sociology/religion/psychology/etc. However, ones where the speaking is naturally a little slower. Also, if they had subtitles rather than auto generated ones.

Obrigado :)

I know this probably varies a lot and that many people remain independent right up to the finish line. But what would seem normal? I mean is a year of dependence before death considered worse than average for example?

Just the though of being stuck in a nursing home or being bedridden somewhere for years is awful! For some it might be manageable but it depends on who you are depending on too I guess. I don't have much money and not much family.

I don't want to go into details (or I'll have a 3000 word essay) but my manager is an extreme micromanager. The result is that I, as a person who is normally quite good at my job, can not get my job done and hate coming into work. The other staff have the exact same issue with this manager.

The difficulty is, she is not harassing me and breaking any explicit rules or policies that I am aware of (although she does harass other younger staff members. Easier targets I guess).

So how do I deal with this? My complaint (micromanagement) sounds weak. Even if I name examples it sounds weak because the examples don't quite convey the broader context and the oppressive mood that emerges in the office due to her managing style.

And to save you time, forget talking to her. Tried. She is the worst communicator in Ireland. I literally can't get a sentence out of my mouth before she comes with an extended irrelevant reply and noticeably feels threatened and frantic in discussions..

I was tolerating her incompetence as a frantic micromanager. She clearly has anxiety issues, isn't cut out for the job, trying to stay above water. So I kind of felt sorry for her.

But on the other hand, she doesn't show that same tolerance for some of the other staff. And also, she chose to take this job on. She chose to be a manager. So . . .

Hi, I have CFS/ME but one of my symptoms (which I only developed in the lasy several months) is like a kind of pressure inside my head. Like what you might experience if you hung upside down (although not quite that intense). It seems to happen as a flare up. So for example, if I fail to pace myself then I will experience this along with the chronic fatigue flare up. They occur together. During this time when I feel the pressure I will feel a mild dizziness too. It eventually subsides as the flare up dies down. When I'm in bed I need to sleep with my head slightly raised (2 pillows) to reduce the feeling of pressure. Of course, I can sleep with 1 pillow but the pressure definitely is less when my head is raised. I don't smoke, have no family history of brain issues, I have a good diet. And before you ask, doctor has not idea. I did all the normal tests and all looks good.

The basic model seems to give me everything I need. I use it every day - even though I strictly don't NEED it. But it helps a lot.

I wonder if there is a big different with the upgraded model?

When you ask CT a question tell it what you already know. I will give you a more nuanced answer instead of giving you an answer that includes 80% of what you know already. It will expand on the parts you don't know instead of you needing to infer it from a long discursive answer.

I recognise that a social media ban will prevent many teens from being exposed to harmful ideas. It will also prevent them from being exposed to ideas that the mainstream forbids (good and bad).

So the only source of information students will have is their schools and teachers and mainstream media.

The mainstream media is always locked into a particular narrative and has its own agenda. This is old hat. And sometimes this agenda can be more harmful than the heretics who dare to raise legitimate questions and get denigrated and cancelled.

Schools themselves have traditionally, and still do, sometimes push messages and ideas that should be called out - or at least questioned.

Young students will now be expected to sit there, not think critically in any meaningful sense, and just wave whatever flag their school tells them too.

We can easily see the bad social media has done but it's harder to see the harm it prevented from ever occurring.

A complete ban on social media for teenagers would be a bad thing overall. Instead, we need an approach that takes its worse aspects and manages them rather than throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

I stopped studying to acquire knowledge and instead view study as a kind of thinking gym.

The primary purpose of study now is to forge thinking excellence.

The subject/topic I choose to study is simply the "gym" I decide to attend. Of course I will aim at acquiring lots of knowledge and understanding this deeply but this is the means to an end. Like in a gym you will have the goal of moving a lot of weight but the end goal is strength. In this case it is thinking ability.

What are the best subjects to study? Ones I love for a start. This will help me to focus harder and study longer and think more deeply. I will want to choose subjects/levels that challenge me but that I can realistically master with time.

This energises each study session, why? Because the study session is an end in itself. I don't relax when I understand a new concept or if I find the topic easy. The whole point of each session is to challenge myself.

And the great thing is that if I study this way then greater knowledge and understanding follow automatically.

I have found my drive again after many many years of forcing myself through study sessions without much enthusiasm.

I stopped studying to acquire knowledge and instead view study as a kind of thinking gym.

The primary purpose of study now is to forge thinking excellence.

The subject/topic I choose to study is simply the "gym" I decide to attend. Of course I will aim at acquiring lots of knowledge and understanding this deeply but this is the means to an end. Like in a gym you will have the goal of moving a lot of weight but the end goal is strength. In this case it is thinking ability.

What are the best subjects to study? Ones I love for a start. This will help me to focus harder and study longer and think more deeply. I will want to choose subjects/levels that challenge me but that I can realistically master with time.

This energises each study session, why? Because the study session is an end in itself. I don't relax when I understand a new concept or if I find the topic easy. The whole point of each session is to challenge myself.

And the great thing is that if I study this way then greater knowledge and understanding follow automatically.

I have found my drive again after many many years of forcing myself through study sessions without much enthusiasm.

Where will I end up during the final years of my life? What will the final years consist of?

Mid 50s. Single. No family - except a brother living in another country. Not many friends by choice. Work in a warehouse part time due to health problems. However, I do exercise reguarly but some things you can't control. I will retire with not much savings. I will have a basic state pension. My brother rents me his flat at a very low price - whatever I can afford and he is much younger and says I can rent it for life.

But I wonder when/if I get to say 80 and become dependent what happens to someone like me? I have enough money to live on but no one to take care of me. Will the state put me in a nursing home to die? I can't afford the doctor anymore. You can be honest, I accept that part of life is suffering, decline and death.

But I would like to remain reasonably independent until I die - because given the record of nursing homes or state care I'd rather die on the side of the street going to the shop.

When I was younger I had a passion for Christ. However, part of the reason I had this passion was because I "stirred myself up". Roused myself from my slumber. Almost like a choice to be passionate. It's didn't always work. But in general it did and could be formed into a kind of habit. Reaching out with joy to take hold of God's mercy and guidance. The experience was almost mystical. I would have strong feelings of devotion, consolation, etc that would sustain me in my commitment to Christ.

However, I learned that to depend on this is not the best foundation. I learned through the cycles of great devotion and then backsliding - often to a point of despair. I also learned that this passion can lead to a kind of spiritual pride. Passion is a kind of power and can be at tension with humility. It also let to unwise decisions as I was driven by passion.

So I went to the other extreme and became a very sensible rational Christian. But often it all felt very sterile. Box ticking.

I was recently reflecting on Titian's Ecce Homo. A famous painting by Titian of the suffering Christ, alone, in the dark, but surrounded by a holy glow. It struck me how alive Jesus was. Full of both suffering but also fully of joy. How He gave everything and yet was utterly humble.

Can we have passion, like a young child, but maintains the wisdom to see nuance and make good decisions too - not just brave but blind decisions. This is more of a rhetorical question because of course the answer I suspect will be trite - yes, you can have passion and wisdom.

But I wonder what your experience and thoughts are on living with passion as a follower (or as one attempting to follow) Christ.

Here are some other guiding questions related to my main question

Is having SOME self confidence opposed to trusting in God? Does trusting God diminish my responsibility? Is it an existential cop out? Does it simply mean to believe that God is good enough and powerful enough to bring about the good in plans in my life? Is trusting God not the easy part, the difficult part being to trust that I will consistently do my part?

I grew up in a household where to "trust in God" was construed as a cosmic cop out of sorts. My father would "trust God" that God would get him a new job - while doing no work on his resume and also not thinking about if God even had a new job planned for him. He would find some scripture verses to quote to support his wish then "believe God for it". I'm not disrespecting my father but just trying to paint a picture of the idea I received growing up.

So I think I ended up with an unthoughtful understanding of "trust God" that I am trying to undo I guess.

This is why I think theology is so important. If you have a mature faith then theology may not be important. But it becomes quite important if your head has been filled with all kinds of harmful ideas.

Thanks

I see elderly people who have lost their mobility - usually over 80. I often wondered is this slow decline not avoidable, at least to the point of maintaining functional mobility. Or is is more often not gradual. A bad accident that a person never really recovered from.

I understand some people can't workout much because of say heart problems or sever autoimmune conditions. I myself suffer health problems (not self inflicted) which limits significantly limits my ability to workout. But I always do what I can - and in the past that was only 5 min a day very light weights.

Because my ability to workout is still limited I focus my training on my knees/legs and lower back. My hope is that at least up until 3 months before my death I will be able to take care of myself with minimal assistance and get around.

Anyway, any thoughts around the topic of aging and mobility decline.

Thanks.

I have been successfully studying physics on my own for the past 8 months - just finishing mechanics now. But I never studied it formally or with other students. So how do you study physics?

For example, if we take a basic concept in physics (like circular motion), how would you approach this if you are studying it for the first time?

What's been working for me is to begin with the simple parts first. I try to imagine what is happening in the real world. This gives all the maths some context. The symbols are not just logical relations between meaningless placeholders.

So once I have a basic understanding of what is happening or what I am trying to find out I then take a look at how this is described more accurately in maths. It's almost like translating the observations and problems from English to Maths.

Once I feel I have a reasonable understanding and have imagined in it various circumstances I then do practice questions. This can be a little painful sometimes because I sometimes get stuck for up to a week on one problem.

I sometimes wonder if the theologians real job is already done within Catholicism. There is so much decided already - at least on all the major points. I mean can Catholic theologians contribute something novel to their faith without being "heretical"?

They have encyclopaedic knowledge but seem to be prevented from original or critical thinking in the deeper sense.

Like, are there not Catholic theologians working on questions that are relevant to today. For example, I don't feel the Catholic Church has offered any serious response to questions around NDEs and what them might say. It seems to explain them away rather than offer a serious answer.

This is not a rant. Again, just curious. It seems this is one example of where Catholic theologians could really do some useful work, rather than engaging in endless semantic battles.

Anyway, dispel my ignorance!

Thanks