I am curious, if I told you about a path about physically changing into your anthro persona would you listen? Or call bullshit without trying?
It IS bullshit. Physical shapeshifting is not possible. And no, "opening the third eye chakra" isn't some amazing secret path to magically do so. What's being described here is a very dumbed-down, new-age interpretation of Hindu chakra theory, heavily filtered through the lens of Theosophy, which first popularized these concepts in the West. You're hardly the first person in the community to be familiar with these concepts, and they do NOT have anything to do with physical shapeshifting. That's simply false. If you claim otherwise, I invite you to post proof of your ability to do so.
Tumblr is a platform, not a source. The sources I am using as a reference, who published these essays on Tumblr, are two individuals I know personally. One has a degree in biology and is working in the medical field. The second was the author of the first book written on the subject of otherkin. As for the idea that you are hurting no one, the harm you are doing is the same as that caused by those who spread belief in young earth creationism, a flat earth, or other conspiracy theories. Because it would take a conspiracy of epic proportions to hide it if pshifting were possible. Every nation on the planet, even those at war with each other, would have to be in on it. Every scientific and academic and religious institution. Every media outlet. Because otherwise, anyone who could pshift would be famous by now, plus have claimed the one million dollar prize James Randi offered for evidence of the supernatural.
Defending a falsehood requires making the truth, and any methods of accurately finding the truth, your enemy. http://lesswrong.com/lw/uy/dark_side_epistemology/
Physically shifting is not possible. If you own a book that claims to teach you how, it's lying. http://thegreenwolf.tumblr.com/post/26638052677/why-physical-shapeshifting-is-bollocks presents a number of reasons why, without even getting into the issue of the fact that our own immune systems would attack any cells that changed their dna. This can happen even with transplanted human organs, let alone cells and organs from an entirely different species. http://biologyweeps.tumblr.com/tagged/p+shifting+right+past+the+laws+of+physics/chrono also contains a lot of solid arguments against the possibility of pshifting. There has never been any evidence of anyone successfully pshifting in the community, and no credible member of the community claims that it is possible.
Moreover, Shiro is quite correct - the United States Constitution guarantees that the government will not create laws which impose limits on free speech. It does not say that website owners are under any obligation to provide you with a platform for your speech if they disagree with it. He is within his rights to "discriminate" against you for claiming that physical shapeshifting is possible on his server.
Here we do not have a rule against making such claims, but doing so is liable to reduce your credibility with other members of the community and make them less likely to respect you. Being otherkin does not require one to abandon the use of logic and critical thinking.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's just a thread-depth thing. I'll try to keep an eye on Otherkincommunity.net, then, and update its AnOtherWiki article when they switch the site over to that placeholder message. Thanks for letting me know.
I've been pretty busy offline recently and haven't had as much of a chance to keep an eye on things here, so I apologize for the lateness in approving some comments/replies across the site. Just seeing this now. Did Clodaus say why he was shutting down the site? I was under the impression he had previously decided to hand it over to Seraphyna.
No, it wouldn't, on a number of different levels - some valid ("Wiccan" and "Wizard" as stand-ins for all the various magical and spiritual traditions on this planet, for instance), others less so. "Awakening" as a concept barely even exists anymore, it's been replaced by "identifying" for much of the community due to the spiritual connotations of the former.
No, we don't have any requirements in that respect. Welcome to the site!
It IS bullshit. Physical shapeshifting is not possible. And no, "opening the third eye chakra" isn't some amazing secret path to magically do so. What's being described here is a very dumbed-down, new-age interpretation of Hindu chakra theory, heavily filtered through the lens of Theosophy, which first popularized these concepts in the West. You're hardly the first person in the community to be familiar with these concepts, and they do NOT have anything to do with physical shapeshifting. That's simply false. If you claim otherwise, I invite you to post proof of your ability to do so.
Tumblr is a platform, not a source. The sources I am using as a reference, who published these essays on Tumblr, are two individuals I know personally. One has a degree in biology and is working in the medical field. The second was the author of the first book written on the subject of otherkin. As for the idea that you are hurting no one, the harm you are doing is the same as that caused by those who spread belief in young earth creationism, a flat earth, or other conspiracy theories. Because it would take a conspiracy of epic proportions to hide it if pshifting were possible. Every nation on the planet, even those at war with each other, would have to be in on it. Every scientific and academic and religious institution. Every media outlet. Because otherwise, anyone who could pshift would be famous by now, plus have claimed the one million dollar prize James Randi offered for evidence of the supernatural.
Defending a falsehood requires making the truth, and any methods of accurately finding the truth, your enemy. http://lesswrong.com/lw/uy/dark_side_epistemology/
Physically shifting is not possible. If you own a book that claims to teach you how, it's lying. http://thegreenwolf.tumblr.com/post/26638052677/why-physical-shapeshifting-is-bollocks presents a number of reasons why, without even getting into the issue of the fact that our own immune systems would attack any cells that changed their dna. This can happen even with transplanted human organs, let alone cells and organs from an entirely different species. http://biologyweeps.tumblr.com/tagged/p+shifting+right+past+the+laws+of+physics/chrono also contains a lot of solid arguments against the possibility of pshifting. There has never been any evidence of anyone successfully pshifting in the community, and no credible member of the community claims that it is possible.
Moreover, Shiro is quite correct - the United States Constitution guarantees that the government will not create laws which impose limits on free speech. It does not say that website owners are under any obligation to provide you with a platform for your speech if they disagree with it. He is within his rights to "discriminate" against you for claiming that physical shapeshifting is possible on his server.
Here we do not have a rule against making such claims, but doing so is liable to reduce your credibility with other members of the community and make them less likely to respect you. Being otherkin does not require one to abandon the use of logic and critical thinking.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think it's just a thread-depth thing. I'll try to keep an eye on Otherkincommunity.net, then, and update its AnOtherWiki article when they switch the site over to that placeholder message. Thanks for letting me know.
I've been pretty busy offline recently and haven't had as much of a chance to keep an eye on things here, so I apologize for the lateness in approving some comments/replies across the site. Just seeing this now. Did Clodaus say why he was shutting down the site? I was under the impression he had previously decided to hand it over to Seraphyna.
Also true, though I lean more towards that one being a valid criticism.
No, it wouldn't, on a number of different levels - some valid ("Wiccan" and "Wizard" as stand-ins for all the various magical and spiritual traditions on this planet, for instance), others less so. "Awakening" as a concept barely even exists anymore, it's been replaced by "identifying" for much of the community due to the spiritual connotations of the former.