Initially I did yeah, but eventually learned that different people use it differently. So good practice to never assume sarcasm through emojis unless you know the person well

I do suspect Qi is a useful abstract concept for focusing and activating parts of your physiology. But while it feels like a single thing (“energy”) it is more a very complex bunch of processes the same way our consciousness feels like a single thing, but is actually a very complex bunch of processes.

Ah okay, cheers for the info! I’m new to US-based sources

I grew up as a Christian. When I was around 15, someone asked me “if I hadn’t been born a Christian, would I be a Christian?” Considering it, I opened my Bible and immediately a verse popped out (in classic God fashion) saying “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have”

So then I felt called even more to really explore, based on that:

• 1. I couldn’t currently defend my faith reasonably
• 2. If God was actually real, he wouldn’t be scared of people exploring arguments against Christianity, because the faith would be based on something ultimately true.
• 3. By exploring other faiths, arguments, etc, if I returned as a Christian, I would have a much stronger faith.

The more I explored these arguments, as well as gaining a better understanding of what the Bible actually is (in a historical and literature sense), more and more of the belief system unraveled, eventually to the point I didn’t call myself a Christian anymore.

Then over the next decade I went back and forth exploring alternative denominations in Christianity, as well as other religions (Daoism, Buddhism, Judaism), especially as I still felt a “spiritual pull” / intuition in a lot of situations. So it took me a really long time to separate that intuitive sense of direction from the belief system around the Holy Spirit specifically, and learn where trusting that intuition is effective, and where it can be misleading. That’s been the most complex part of all of this.

I still enjoy exploring other belief systems, components of Christianity, and connecting with whatever that intuition is occasionally, as I do think there is a lot there for human psychological and emotional health that Western modernity sorely lacks. (I suspect this hole in our culture is why a lot of fundamental US Evangelism has flourished btw)

But that’s how I lost my faith - God gave me the push I needed :P

Might not be exactly what you have in mind, but I have a separate browser that has set as Home the following state-owned or aligned news sources from around the world to check different perspectives on current headlines:

https://www.bbc.com/ - Britain

https://www.abc.net.au/news - Australia

https://english.news.cn/ - China

https://www.foxnews.com/ - US Right-wing

https://edition.cnn.com/ - US Left-wing (@GuyFawkes recommends MSNBC over CNN here)

https://www.rt.com/ - Russia

https://english.alarabiya.net/ - Saudi Arabia

https://www.dw.com/en/top-stories/s-9097 - Germany

https://www.batimes.com.ar/ - Argentina

https://www.sabcnews.com/sabcnews/ - South Africa

https://ddnews.gov.in/en/ - India

https://www.cbc.ca/news - Canada

https://agenciabrasil.ebc.com.br/en - Brazil

https://www.straitstimes.com/global - Singapore

https://news.un.org/en/ - United Nations

https://www.sbs.com.au/news - Australia, but more multicultural perspective

Bloomberg and others are funding the Paris agreement for the US, where the government pulled out: https://www.bloomberg.org/press/un-special-envoy-michael-r-bloomberg-announces-effort-to-ensure-u-s-honors-paris-agreement-commitments/

Lol. Pythagoras - considered one of the gods to maths teachers - explicitly talked about the mathematical beauty of music. Where was this person trained?

Remember there have been worse times and you are descended mostly from people who survived them.

I love this