#belonging

[donutdrawsthings]

my most sick and twisted fantasy

[pigeon-is-blogging]

" How odd I can have all this inside me and to you it is just words "

[feral-ballad]

Mahmoud Darwish, tr. by A.M. El Messeri, from The Palestinian Wedding: A Bilingual Anthology of Contemporary Palestinian Resistance Poetry; "A Lover from Palestine"

[Text ID: “Shelter me in the warmth of your gaze.”]

[altrbody]

"The capitalist subject constantly experiences its failure to belong, which is why the recurring fantasy within capitalism is that of attaining some degree of authentic belonging (in a romantic relationship, in a group of friends, in the nation, and so on). Though capitalism spawns this type of fantasy, it constantly militates against the fantasy's realization. Capitalism offers the promise of belonging with every commodity and with the commodity as such, but the subject can never buy the perfect commodity, or enough of them, to unlock the secret of belonging. Unlike the subject of a particular culture, the capitalist subject does not have a place that offers a sense of identity. There is only a lack of place that spawns the search for a place through the process of constant enrichment, a process that serves only to augment the subject's lack of place and identity. The only identity the capitalist subject has lies in its absence of any identity."

--Todd McGowan, Capitalism and Desire: The Psychic Cost of Free Markets

[aesthetic-ds]

[unsolicited-opinions]

Hi ! I was wondering, how can you be both Jewish and atheist ? I don't have a big understanding of religion..

You can be Jewish and atheist because Judaism is not built around a test of belief.

In Christianity, belonging rests on faith in Jesus as the Son of God and savior. In Islam, it rests on accepting the shahada, that there is no God but God and Muhammad is his prophet. In both, belief is the entry point. Without it, you are outside the religion.

A Methodist minister I know once told me this is why he liked my pointed questions about Christian theology. His congregants might have the same questions, but they keep them to themselves. They're afraid that asking these would expose their embarassingly imperfect faith.

Judaism is different. It doesn't require perfect faith, and it doesn't punish tough questions.

Jewish identity is more than a crucible of belief and more than a religion. It's a people, a culture, a language, and a history. You can belong by birth or by conversion...and neither path demands constant proof that you believe the right way.

Jewish thought does not measure you by what you think or feel in private. It measures you by what you do and say.

For most of Jewish history, what mattered was how you lived among other Jews. Observing holidays, keeping the laws that marked Jewish life, joining in communal obligations, and showing up when you were needed mattered far more than private theology. Private theology is...well...private. It's between you and the divine. It's not for others to judge.

Many Jews keep kosher, light Shabbat candles, or fast on Yom Kippur without believing in God. These acts aren't empty without belief because the point has always been more than belief. These rituals are a link to the centuries behind us and to the people beside us.

Debate, doubt, and disagreement are not signs of weakness in Jewish life. They are part of how it has survived.

A Jew without belief still carries the history, the obligations, and the burdens of the Jewish people. The atheist Jew is part of the same story, whether they pray every day or not at all.

What they believe may shape how they see that story, but the story is still theirs.

[thetypewriterdaily]

gentle reminder: you’re not worthless. you just haven’t found where you belong yet. and when you do, the things that felt pointless before will become exactly what’s needed 🖍️🤍