From Wikipedia:

Polysexuality has been defined as “encompassing or characterized by many different kinds of sexuality”, and as sexual attraction to many, but not all, genders. […] Polysexuality is also considered to be another word for bisexuality however unlike bisexuals, polysexuals are not necessarily attracted to people of the same gender.

I think ‘polysexual’ fits. You like some genders (cis women, trans women, feminine-presenting people, AFAB NBs, etc.), but not all.

About philosophical topics such as free will too.

I haven’t noticed, but some people say they are feeling political tensions, and…

The year 2024 is notable for the large number of elections, with 7 of world’s 10 most populous nations (Bangladesh, India, United States, Indonesia, Pakistan, Russia, Mexico) voting; countries that are home to nearly half of the world’s people will hold elections in 2024.

From the Wikipedia complete list.

I guess everyone is just a little worried about national and international elections.

Many probably are adaptations of old jokes. I’ve heard that one in a neutral version, in my native language, and now here. But yeah, not nice to target women.

Sorry, I’m answering myself because I forgot to post my own opinion.

I clearly have problems with any metaphysical explanation, because every one of them tells us to accept this Universe as it is, which seems arbitrary and, depending on the ideology, even cruel, and because we have no good reason to prefer an idea over the others. Do I believe in a god, gods, only matter; reincarnation, ascension, definitive death; simulation, real thing…? I do not know. Why would I pick one at random? If there’s something more to this existence, I’ll perhaps know when I die, and I will fight for our right to be better than we are right now because, come on, here on Lemmy we tend to be leftists, right? We do not like bigotry, exploitation, or unhappiness. We fight in our own ways against this. Then why would I stop when I die? If the ones controlling this reality are messed up, are we to accept the status quo and thank the tyrants that, at least, we were to experience smelling flowers although children were literally bombed next door? No. If they’re tyrants, heads must roll. Let’s be fucking spiritual punks! Not yet, just if we confirm this suspicion, lol.

Oh! Reincarnation, right. If reincarnation was real and it would make us cycle at random from one life to another, without anything else (no merits, no punishments, no learning, just cycling), I guess some lives would be better than others, yeah? But then, why? Is there a purpose? If not, what happens to souls that are tired of cycling? Can we opt out? If not, who or what is holding us against our will? Can we escape? Again, many questions, lol. But I finally answered!

If that’s true, will his next life inevitably be a little worse than now? Average, perhaps? Even bad? Then it would not be about reincarnating for the better each time but a lottery, in which eventually you’ll get a relatively better life than the others, right?

Or is the best life the last one before crossing to somewhere else? Will Earth become emptier and emptier then, as we all cross? Then why the number of beings keeps increasing instead of decreasing? Who are these new souls?

Do you believe his humbleness is part of why he has those circumstances? Will he keep the good life because he deserves it? Some systems talk about merits, about reincarnating into what one deserves. Then, every orphan and every Palestinian and every pig deserve what they have suffered? If so, those systems often invite us to compassion, but is there space to absolute compassion when the Universe itself is punishing them for terrible deeds in the past? It would be similar to watching children being spanked; on one hand, you feel bad for them because they need to learn this painful lesson; on the other, you feel good because they deserve them, especially if the harm was against you, you may even feel a spark of joy from something similar to revenge. So are we supposed to feel this mix of feelings for beings who have it worse than us? Happy that they’re getting to learn, happy that they’re been punished, happy that they won’t be doing it again? Because that’s not how I feel, and I would feel sadistic to feel it based only on this theory we’re imagining. Then there’s the question: is this kind of cruel punishing the only way for souls to learn? If so, why such a primitive system? We do not even use it for our children anymore, and psychologists have found it is detrimental instead of constructive. Is this the best way the Universe can help us grow? If it is, it seems suspicious, who is behind? If it is not, then it is needlessly cruel as there would be more peaceful ways, and we should be questioning this instead of embracing it just because it is the thing we’ve been given.

On a similar line, do you believe we somehow learn virtues that we inherit for the next life? If so, are we all collectively better people than in the 19th century (because some of us would have surely learnt something)? Is humanity walking towards an utopia then? How do we explain the centuries in which we seem to devolve, in which irrationality, wars, hate, and more increased? Today, are we really that advanced and far away from Ancient Rome or Ancient Egypt?

The person you were talking with was happy you have a mind that lets you consider things from positive sides, and said that many do not have that chance. If reincarnation has a purpose in each life, how are we supposed to learn, grow, change, or whatever we are supposed to do (in case there is something to do) if we are partially limited by our brains and many other things? Why would we judge those negative thinkers as if they decided their current life?

…Unless we decide our current life, as some systems propose. Then many things we do are determined already because we knew which were our limits and which were our base characteristics (e.g. our temperament, which is innate). This contradicts a lot of the things we were thinking and makes the scenario more similar to a game than to a learning path. But it poses a lot of new questions such as who or what are we when we’re not humans but beings deciding where to be born? Why do we do this? Is it ethical to embrace an identity who has no memory of the deal and impose a life onto it full of things that identity did not consent to? Because maybe the being decided to live as a woman who would be hurt, develop PTSD and learn to live through it all. It sounds dramatic and interesting. But the woman is a new consciousness, a new identity, then is it right to make her suffer all that just because another consciousness, a previous consciousness agreed to? The same question might be asked for whatever case of reincarnation in which we reincarnate in very different identities. If it is possible and a cruel murderer reincarnates in a sweet person, why should a sweet person pay for the crimes of a cruel murderer?

So many questions still in the air that I haven’t written down… But all different variations of reincarnation seem problematic at some point already. Do you agree? Because many people who find these metaphysical problems in different postulates (not necessarily reincarnation) tend to say that we are judging high ideas with mundane ideas. How can I say it is an unfair system if whoever designed it is much wiser than us, so it knows better to be fair and good, and we cannot understand such elevated balance so we think it is unfair. Yet, at the same time, the system that they propose is full of explanations, promises, and consequences based on our human values and morality, not higher ones. The Universe gives ‘good’ things for ‘good’ deeds or ‘good’ personality, then it does work with our frames at some point, huh? Then, all our questions are indeed valid. All this paragraph to say that, if you agree that indeed there are things that seem weird, suspicious, or wrong when thinking about reincarnation (or metaphysical beliefs in general), how do we keep our belief in reincarnation?

I’m not saying it does not exist just because it does not entirely “click”. I’m asking why to believe in it when we realize this, instead of taking a more skeptical and distant approach, maybe curious, maybe excited, but cautious?

Yes. In my case, my mood disorder was causing irritability. Many disorders can cause it (e.g., MDD, BPD, IED).

OP, I’d suggest an appointment with a specialist if everything else has been ruled out; everything else includes bad sleep habits, bad eating habits, physical illnesses, etc.

In my mid twenties, I started having problems with my back, hands, elbows, etc. I stopped doing a lot of things (e.g. playing musical instruments), which helped, but the back pain persisted until I started sleeping on the floor. I was desperate, and I had heard about this solution from old anecdotes.

Since then, I’ve noticed that firm mattresses and very slim pillows (or soft enough pillows) are okay. Soft mattresses and big pillows bring back all the discomfort and pain in a matter of hours. I still sleep on the floor, but a mattress for me might be waiting somewhere.

Interesting. I was taught that “knitting” was the word for all needlework techniques.

I used to play paper Magic the Gathering; I liked the game, but it became unaffordable after a while. Magic the Gathering Arena has been a good alternative. You don’t have to spend money (nor much time) to get good things, and you can easily find players in formats that accept old and new sets, for example, Historic mode which accepts everything that has been playable in Arena, except for some banned cards.

About D&D being fun… I have played Dungeons and Dragons only a couple times in my life, but some friends invited me to Baldur’s Gate 3 and it is a great game that has a lot of the things I remember from the tabletop game. However, this is entirely subjective, so I am just sharing my experience.

My point is not to defend the Wizards of the Coast executives, as I have heard they are terrible. I guess my point is that there are still options to enjoy their games or the essence of their games (Arena, BG3) without falling into their cash grabbing.

Thank you for the recommendation!

1. Videogames. It has not been super expensive as I enjoy indie games the most, but still.

2. Pen and paper organization. This is recent. Due to a couple of mental disorders, I have problems remembering things and keeping organized. I was using a to-do list for my phone, but it was becoming less and less effective with time.

So I found a weekly planner online and I bought it telling myself that it was expensive, but it would be enough for a year and I wouldn’t need anything else.

The planner has been great, by the way. Yet, when it arrived, I liked it so much that I had this classic feeling of not wanting to ruin it with my handwriting. I needed a good mechanical pencil! Erasable, yet stylized.

Then I thought the pages looked clean, but monotone. Stickers! What about my own creations? Thermal printer with sticker rolls! And so on and so on.

I am productive …and addicted to stationery items.

It’s so silly. People around the world explain their culture and don’t assume everyone knows about it, give their location appropriately, and do not believe they are the center of the world. It’s like:

Random question posted: Why is eating octopus more and more popular?

Random user: In my region, we really don’t eat much octopus. I am from Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. We eat red meat much more. But I guess octopus is growing in popularity worldwide due to [expanation].

Another random user: Where? Here in Portugal it has always been “popular”.

Average American user: Midwestern here. I don’t see octopus much and I don’t like it. Call me stereotypical, but I love my meat and T-Ravs. Anyway, I believe the popularity is due to Biden’s administration. [Details about Biden’s changes]. …So that all America has seen this rise, especially on the East Coast."

🤷🏻‍♀️ …Why?

I am inclined to think that easy entertainment and a devaluation of the intellectual life (it is no longer admirable nor sufficiently valuable being an intellectual) can be a partial explanation. The first one leads to distractions and our time being occupied by mindless activities. The second keeps us there as people are indifferent to studying and asking questions. It has become a personal choice, a kind of hobby or trait of certain individuals, and not something that we all should be doing. And I’m not saying that everyone should be a Leonardo da Vinci excelling in philosophy, sciences, arts, etc.; but I do believe we should be thinking critically and informing ourselves to the extent possible, otherwise, our reading comprehension and many other things get affected.

I’m sorry if my grammar betrays my words, I am not a native speaker.

That said, I think these are some of our obstacles, but other times had had their own obstacles. I’m sure the average citizen from, I don’t know, Istanbul, London, Tokyo, some centuries ago was also very opinionated and ignorant of many things. It has been the constant, the rule, for millennia.