What is the Essence of Docudharma?

In discussions on continuing “Docudharma” as a community blog, (Assange will be leaking the e-mails soon!) we have reached the point of asking how much DD can change and still be DD.

Which brings up the title question….and the additional question of what YOU like about it and why you post here. Iow what should be preserved and what can change, while still keeping it as “Docudharma.”

On one hand, the new owners should obviously be able to make changes.  On the other, if too much changes, it will no longer be the Docudharma that we love.

If it doesn’t change it may stagnate and wither, if it changes too much it may lose the elusive essence.

It is a tough question! It is tough to even know how to think about it.

But when it comes down to it, DD is not much more than the folks who post here….so PLEASE weigh in!

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  1. Photobucket

    Up in the air right now!

    • RiaD on December 6, 2010 at 22:59

    posts like edgers &npk’ve been doing….

    enlightening posts…

    little dharma chats

    stuff that makes you think further

    & to me that has been a lot of what’s been missing lately.

    i can go any number of places to get blockquoted news items

    i loved it here because it made me think

    & it was open & encouraged sharing those thoughts

  2. Daisuke conceived an overpowering passion for his step-daughter Nanami, and relentlessly pursued her until finally in despair she threw herself off a cliff into the sea and drowned. Then Daisuke bitterly regretted his behavior, but the night after her funeral Nanami came to him in his dreams and they made passionate love until morning, and likewise every night until the first anniversary of her death, when Daisuke laid a great wreath of roses and peonies on her grave and said…

    “If only I had foreseen the beauty of those dreams, I would have killed you myself!”  

    • pfiore8 on December 6, 2010 at 23:12

    grow? in numbers of people who visit? or in vision?

    i understand changing wardrobes and getting a new do… and certainly growth in terms of maturing.

    i think the key is chemistry. finding editors who have some sparks (but nothing turning into flames!) amongst themselves and with you…

    too much agreement makes the conversation fade, i think.

    new points of view. and ones still held. let the differences stand. and keep asking great questions.

    like my dad said: when you get married, you should have lots in common, but you need some tension, like he’s a yankee fan and you’re a mets fan.

    fwiw… the essence of DD has always been you.

    • rossl on December 7, 2010 at 00:02

    where you’re not afraid to voice your opinion at all, no matter what it is.

  3. I didn’t even get banned here!

    I like my tin foil, lampooning lamestream media and culture, Apocalyptic horse rides.  Should I retire and write touchy feelie stories about the grandkids.  Lasthorseman does touchie feelie?  Is that possible.

  4. like intonation, volume, rhythm etc. Sometimes it is also  difficult to pick up the intent of the writer, because the writer herself/himself is often developing an idea on the fly or leaving a thought intentionally hanging. Sometimes an assertive voice can turn passive, and sometimes an answer can expand a thought, which may often be better than an answer. Of course I believe in relevancy, but not necessarily linear thinking. I look at DD as kind of an exploratory venture, sort of like a prologue that wants the reader to be a participant in the development of the story. Sometimes I like look at language as human camouflage, so natural that even the “speaker” doesn’t know what he really wants to say.

    I often see language itself, with its rules, as a poltical tool. Does not the child constantly seek things for himself? Our civilization is a spectacle of satisfying personal wants. Sometimes not having a purpose is good. This is why I cannot answer either of the two questions.  For me, I post here because it makes sense to me. I suppose creative minds can make DD more “dynamic” and try to “grow” it, but I think that might require some young blood. At my point in life now, I’m just looking for peace of mind. I’m pretty much useless without it. Not much more to say without having to invent an answer or two.

  5. well, most of the time. heh.

    and music references, or movie references. Some of that may be generational, some of it is DFH-ness.

    And most of the people here are exceptionally tolerant of my posting style that can get very leap-frog intuitive approaching nonsensical. And not even proper English some days. 😛

    Like… I can post an essay: “Hey Im a bird…!!!” and you guys either get it, or at least you dont flame me to hell for saying it. lol.

    So, yeah, its that sense of the ‘marching to the beat of a different drum’, pretty much all my life, that can be so isolating and lonely in the real world, so its comforting to encounter others who have gone before or looking to go forth… those same paths.

    There is a genuine exchange here.

    • Diane G on December 7, 2010 at 02:13

    but I’d like to see some nice cuddly wolves too.

    • RUKind on December 7, 2010 at 02:42

    Find some new management from among the current group. Make it a mix of personalities. Homogeneity will spoil it. Don’t Ask, Just Yell!

    Hand off the site as is and let it evolve. You can even post here if you wish. I’m staying here and I’m looking forward to the new site. I plan on making both of them part of my daily intake and sharing.

    Ever heard of Gerald Heard? With Humphrey Osmond he was one of the early experimenters using LSD to treat alcoholism. Became a buddy of Bill Wilson who then became an acid head in the 50s. Gerald was a leading philosopher in the conscious development movement in the 60s. Give him a look on Wiki. He occupies a pivotal time when the seeds of collective consciousness were planted.

    I can see the new site diving a bit deeper in these directions. I’m far from the only person I know who is aware of a change coming from within.

    Here’s an introductory nugget from Wiki on Heard:

    In 1963, what some consider to be Heard’s magnum opus, a book titled The Five Ages of Man, was published. According to Heard, the prevalent developmental stage among humans in today’s well-industrialized societies (especially in the West) should be regarded as the fourth: the “humanic stage” of the “total individual,” who is mentally dominated, feeling him- or herself to be autonomous, separate from other persons. Heard writes (p. 226) this stage is characterized by “the basic humanic concept of a mankind that is completely self-seeking because it is completely individualized into separate physiques that can have direct knowledge of only their own private pain and pleasure, inferring but faintly the feelings of others. Such a race of ingenious animals, each able to see and to seek his own advantage, must be kept in combination with each other by appealing to their separate interests.”

    In modern industrial societies, a person, especially if educated, has the opportunity to begin entering the “first maturity” of the humanic “total individual” in his or her mid teens. However, according to Heard – based on his decades of studies, his intuition, and his many years of reflection – a fifth stage is in the process of emerging: a post-individual psychological phase of persons and therefore of culture. According to Heard, the second maturity can be one that lies beyond “personal success, economic mastery, and the psychophysical capacity to enjoy life” (p. 240)

    Heard termed this phase ‘Leptoid Man’ (from the Greek word lepsis: “to leap”) because humans increasingly face the opportunity to ‘take a leap’ into a considerably expanded consciousness, in which the various aspects of the psyche will be integrated, without any aspects being repressed or seeming foreign. A society that recognizes this stage of development will honor and support individuals in a “second maturity” who wish to resolve their inner conflicts and dissolve their inner blockages and become the sages of the modern world. Further, instead of simply enjoying biological and psychological health, as Freud and other important psychiatric or psychological philosophers of the “total-individual” phase conceived, Leptoid man will not only have entered a meaningful “second maturity” recognized by his or her society, but can then become a human of developed spirituality, similar to the mystics of the past; and a person of wisdom.[1]

    I’d say we’re a bit Leptoid here already. Like Dylan says, “He not busy being born is busy dying.” And like Hunter syas<” The Wheel is turning and you can’t slow down, you can’t go back and you can’t hold on, you can’t let go and you can’t stand still, if The Thunder doesn’t get you then The Lightning will. Small wheel turns by the fire and rod,  Big Wheel turns by the Grace of God. Every time that Wheel turns  ’round, bound to cover just a little more ground.”

    Take the leap.

  6. I can answer that with one word:  Socialism!

    Socialism in the sense that everyone in the community has a chance to stand up in the town square and be heard, share a stake in its success, and know that the result is for the betterment of the community rather than workin’ to get the owners more rich and powerful.  These are all terrible things, of course — a real blog should be run with an iron fist by a malevolent dictator.

    Or you could go in another direction.  If it wasn’t for a bunch of dancing hamsters way back in 1998, the ol’ internet may never have caught on.  Somethin’ to think about.    

    • Edger on December 7, 2010 at 03:40

  7. since its inception, in reality!

    It’s not to say that there have not been “kinks” here and there — there have been — but that’s life, period!

    But, largely, it is and has been a group comprised of, mostly, congeniality, wishing nothing more than to express thoughts, beliefs and “truths,” and even, unconventional thoughts — that ain’t bad — I’m not sure where all of that co-exists elsewhere, but it has and does HERE!  

    There also has been a little acknowledged factor, as well — that being, that there has been a gradual, increasingly larger group of individuals here from “elsewhere,” which I should say have been met, for the grandest part, by people, who are welcoming of spirit.  What else could you want for?

    My only concern and I, say this, tongue in cheek, because I don’t presume I have a right to impose my view on anyone, so to speak!  But here it is!  A number of us, have, from time to time, asked/pleaded for ACTION on a number of very SERIOUS issues  — and the response? — quite pathetic for the most part!

    I have little to ask of this site, as I truly appreciate it!  But, sometimes, I wonder if there is a GENUINE concern or merely a wish to expound on the realities, rather than ACT!  WE NEED BOTH in my estimation!

    Please ALL consider the goodwill with which this is meant!!!!

    Thanks, buhdy!  

  8. Wish I had something more dazzling, informative, or prescient to say.  But it really boils down to, “I like it here.”

    Thanks to buhdy, OTB and all the others who make this place so great.

    • Turkana on December 7, 2010 at 06:19

    and that includes the general rules under which it has operated. perhaps the community itself should discuss any possible tweaks, although the new owners would have to be entrusted with the latitude to try some things of their own. but if they keep the general vibe in content and cast of characters, i think dd can carry on very well.  

  9. where even the most timid dare to speak their truth.

    If that standard is scrupulously maintained, DD will be home to some of the most dynamic creative energy to be found anywhere.

  10. from Dk to here.  Green in the moonlight it was, and lively.  I followed it one weary night and found a better place.

    DailyKos has always been rough and tumble, with a fair dollop of blood sport thrown in.  Throwing barbs gets to be a habit there, very quickly and stressfully … even you dislike that aspect of it worse than cod liver oil.  And dislike yourself when you get sucked into it.  For a while, though, it was pretty much the only game in town.  The first place where those who despised the Bush regime could find each other and make enough noise to be heard in the halls of power.  Then it was completely overrun by vandals:  partisan hacks and trolls.

    I like this site much better because the people here are interesting, talented, eclectic, non-judgemental, and, above all, not afraid to speak their minds on controversial subjects like 9/11 and UFOs and other interesting (to me) subjects.  I hope that doesn’t change.

    I will miss Buhdy’s inspiring diaries, though.

     

    • Atticus on December 7, 2010 at 14:58

    Kurt Vonnegut:

    When you get to my age, if you get to my age, and if you have reproduced, you will find yourself asking your own children, who are themselves middle-aged: “What is life all about?'” I have seven kids, three of them orphaned nephews.

    I put my big question about life to my son the pediatrician. Dr Vonnegut said this to his doddering old dad: “Father, we are here to help each other get through this thing, whatever it is.”

    Extracted from A Man Without A Country: A Memoir Of Life In George W Bush’s America, (Bloomsbury).

    Kurt was 82 when he wrote that.  He welcomed change with a sense of humor.  Quality will endure.

    In DD I have found a society of gentle men and gentle women, that’s what we want to create and why I love to come here.

    • banger on December 7, 2010 at 15:56

    There is a sense here that knowledge may be a good thing. It is also a haven for people who fight at DKOS–that fight, btw, actually has had a major effect on changing the culture around there something many of us thought was impossible.  

  11. is the spirit and level of intelligence that instead of limiting your imagination or perceptions allows them to fly without fear. Creativity is another thing I find here. Right now I see a need for communication outside the bounds set by the cracking narrative of politics and reality that is shattering globally.

    I think DD is a going to be needed even more as we need to have a place that does not fear the nature or form of change and allows it to be embraced rather then controlled by the official lines based on a story which has always been nothing but a house of cards. Playing it as it lays in the here and now and in the future which is always here anyway.

    I like the down and dirty fray, it’s necessary, but here it never seems to encourage the delusions of inhumanity that are called inevitable reality. I would ask that it just stay open and allow the community to be honest and offer a counter on many levels to where the road is leading.  DD has lead me down paths I never would have found and it connects the creativity to the struggle we all are caught in.

                 

    • Eddie C on December 7, 2010 at 21:29

    Julian Assange, extremely important.

    9/11 heroes, not worth anyone’s time here.  

  12. Allow open discussion of Israel and Palestinians.

    Quit worrying about what will offend DailyKos.

    Otherwise, why bother?

    • Robyn on December 8, 2010 at 03:30

    Posting here has mostly just become a habit.  The discussion in anything I post is minimal…which seems to indicate, at least to me, lack of interest.

    But I probably have at least a couple more weeks.  Surgery isn’t until the 27th.

  13. Plus some good meta stuff is discussed.

    On the negative side, like pretty much all of the progressive blogosphere, there’s been virtually no evolution to functioning as effective activist platforms, that ultimately would synergize with local, face-to-face activism.

    Heck, there’s not even “tell a friend” features! Progressive blogs don’t even promote themselves very well! See my comments to Rayne at FDL, here.

    If Docudharma was (loosely) related to types of yoga, then I’d say that it was good on jnana yoga and bhakti yoga (though there’s been a significant level of tribalistic negativity, also), but bad on karma yoga.

    Indeed, I’d like to see all political blogs send warnings to new members that there’s scientific evidence that suggests that participation in blogs inhibits activism. (I’m extrapolating in what I believe is an obvious way, from studies of laborers whose management encouraged them to talk about their job frustrations – but never changed a thing. Remember those “suggestion boxes” which nobody ever did anything their contents? See the movie Human Resources)

    A yearly reminder/poll, asking readers to post how many hours they guesstimated they spent in activism, vs. reading blogs and arguing with people who agreed with them 90% of the time (i.e., “blogging to the choir”) would probably shock most people. And remind them to responsibly order their priorities…

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