"Scholars have long recognized that many of the Nevi'im or prophetic books in the Hebrew Bible have the Israelite god Yahweh speak his judgement over a capital city (using it as pars pro toto for the state it governs), personifying this city as a woman who has committed various sins, so that she has become a "prostitute" / "whore" and/or an "adulteress", and thus deserves various punishments, almost always including being subjected to rape.[1]: 214–235  This judgement and punishment is usually applied when the city is subjected to a siege and conquered by foreign soldiers.[1]: 214–235  Although this metaphor, in which Yahweh often addresses a city as if it were his wife or virgin daughter who has forsaken him and her own honour, is often applied to Jerusalem (and once to Samaria), it is also applied to non-Israelite cities such as Babylon and Nineveh.[1]: 214–235  Caroline Vander Stichele (2000) demonstrated that similar patterns exist in the narrative of the "Whore of Babylon" (probably a personification of Rome, and by extension the Roman Empire) in the Book of Revelation in the New Testament (the Greek Bible).[119] Gordon and Washington (1995) remarked: '[T]he city as an object of violence is always a feminine Other, reinforcing the status of the feminine as secondary, and facilitating a pornographic objectification of women by setting the female as the model victim.'[101]: 318  Scholz (2021) argued that these threats of rape and other punishments do not only serve as a warning to the Israelites and Judahites or to foreign peoples not to fall into sin lest they be judged and punished, but especially towards all women. Ezekiel 16 and 23 in particular send a double message to not just Israelite and Judahite society in general not to be unfaithful to Yahweh, but to women in those societies not to be unfaithful to their husbands (especially by having sex with foreign men); women who do, will be publicly raped, shamed, and executed by foreign soldiers to deter other women from marital infidelity." -According to Wikipedia. 

"The Buddha began his first teaching by telling his listeners to take the middle way, the middle path between extreme asceticism on one hand and sensual indulgence on the other. This exhortation to moderation underlies much of Buddhist thought through the centuries and across traditions.

The Buddha’s time was a period of great religious upheaval and experimentation. Wandering renunciates from various sects, seeking spiritual fulfillment and freedom from the suffering of life, became a common sight on the Gangetic Plain. Before he was known as the Buddha, or Awakened One, he was Siddhartha Gautama, a wealthy nobleman living in luxury. But later he left his home, renounced that lifestyle, and embraced the other extreme as an ascetic practicing mortifying austerities. Statues depicting this period of the Buddha’s life show an emaciated figure with all of his ribs visible as he sits meditating. It is said he survived on just a few grains of rice a day.

Ultimately, the Buddha realized that both indulgence and deprivation were equally useless, even detrimental to his goal of achieving awakening. Legend says that this moment of awareness occurred the day before his enlightenment. Close to death, the Buddha abandoned his austere practices and the ascetics he had been practicing with, and shortly after that he encountered a young woman named Sujata, who offered him a meal of rice and milk, restoring his energy. Having found fault with both extremes, the Buddha embraced the middle path in between. In his first sermon, he expounded this middle way along with the eightfold path and its prescriptions for right behavior."

"HOW DO YOU RESPECT YOUR PARTNER? R – Take Responsibility for your actions – they’re your choice. Ask yourself, “If I was the kind of human I’d really like to be, what would I do?” Ask them how you can communicate better, and really take it on board. Do what you can to improve things for everyone. E – Treat your partner as an Equal. They are their own person, as important as you are. You don’t need to have all the power – make decisions with them, not for them. S – Say how you feel. Share stuff, even the scary stuff. Talk about your worries and how you’d like things to turn out. Start sentences with “I feel…”. P – Listen to their Point of view. Value their views as much as you value your own. Think about what they say and take it on board. Ask questions; you’ll learn new stuff. E – Empathize with your partner. Imagine how it feels to be in their shoes, and if you can do something to make it better, then do it. C – Challenge set beliefs. Question assumptions about how humans have to act, and what media or advertising keep reinforcing. Find your own way and let each person choose how they’ll behave. T – Tell them you appreciate what they do for you. Notice how they improve your life and makes you a better person. Tell them."

"In addition to mainstream porn, I was exposed to images of some of the scions of feminist pornography including Annie Sprinkle and Nina Hartley. I watched Nina Hartley's films and felt admiration for her clear and frank way of talking about sex. I loved that she was completely present and aware of herself and her presentation. The films Nina, Annie, and others made represented a sexuality that was open, honest, and without shame; they showcased sex that was fun and consensual. They had a sexual agency that I found arousing. It was the first time that I saw sex that resonated with me and that I wanted to emulate. Even with these films though, I still had issues with the bodies: the differences between theirs and mine. I couldn't relate to the curvaceous body type of Nina Hartley or Annie Sprinkle. At 5'10" and 145 pounds, I have been athletic and sinewy for most of my adult life. My breasts are small A cups, and my look is often more androgynous than girly. Like many women, I experienced the simultaneous intrigue and revulsion that can accompany pornographic film watching [3]: of being simultaneously captivated and repulsed by the performers as they embody stereotypical female "beauty" and "perfection."

"Siddhartha is said to have learned some simple truths from which he had been shielded: we all get sick, grow old and die. He decided to abandon his previous life and devote himself to working out a way to end suffering. His initial method was to emulate the traveling monk, deny all pleasure, and follow a life of extreme asceticism. But this state of being nearly killed him. What saved him was that one day he heard someone speak about the strings on a musical instrument: if a string is too tight it will break and be ruined; if it is too loose, you cannot make beautiful music. Siddhartha applied this to his own existence and formulated the idea of the Middle Way: do not deny the physical body totally and yet do not live life to indulge the body’s every whim. Siddhartha meditated on this for some time and eventually came to an understanding of the concept of enlightenment. After this, he became known as “Buddha” or the “enlightened one.” Eventually, he started teaching his philosophy and gained a large following. After going through a life of self-denial, discipline and meditation, he is said to have attained enlightenment which resulted in the alleviation of his pain and suffering. He then embarked on a journey of teaching others the path that would liberate them from the cycle of life and death."

You’re probably familiar with this story: When a baby is born, the presence of a penis or vulva determines if said child is a boy or a girl.

Boys, on the whole, are expected to be masculine, dress a certain way, and fulfill certain roles in society, like being protectors. Girls, conversely, are expected to be feminine, dress another way, and fulfill other roles in society, like being caregivers.

This is the script we’ve been given for a long time – that our genitals, of all things, determine who we are.

A penis will make someone masculine, which means being tough, active, and strong; a vulva will make someone feminine, which means being nurturing, vulnerable, and passive. When you think about it, it does seem strange that a single body part would assign us such a specific and binary destiny.

…binary? Did I say binary?

I sure did, and you’ll hear me use that word a lot.

The gender binary is created by this script that we’re talking about: That society is made up of men and women who have distinctly different qualities based on, well, what’s going on downstairs.

Based on this binary, we’re given gender roles – kind of like being cast in a play – which tells us what kind of behaviors are acceptable for a person of that gender. It’s reinforced when boys are told not to cry, for example, or girls are encouraged to be “ladylike” and focus on their appearance.

These gender roles vary from culture to culture, and have changed throughout history.

The “gender binary” is limiting at best (is your whole destiny really set from the time you’re born?), and harmful at worst (our genitals determine who we should and should not be?).

I’d like to think people are much more complex than this. It’s far too simplistic to say that our genitals determine what kind of life we should live – or what kind of people we should be.

So why should our genitals determine what kind of gender we should have?

Think fast, I just threw you a curveball! Many of us have been told throughout our lives that being a man or a woman is simply based on our bodies. If that’s not what gender is, what the heck is gender?

I’m glad that you asked. Let’s break it down."

"Why This Kit is Necessary • Sex workers have lived on the margins of society through most of human history. Stereotypes, derogatory names, stigma and general indifference to their humanity prevail worldwide. • While the exchange of sex for money is a common practice around the world, sex workers are often treated as less than human, both in cultural attitudes and public policy. While the human rights of sex workers are routinely abused in countries around the globe, this information kit focuses on three areas: “demand” for sex work, confusing sex work and trafficking as being the same, and the U.S. administration’s anti-prostitution pledge. • The materials in this kit seek to replace those attitudes with realism, compassion and sensible policy alternatives. We will try to counter the prejudice, stereotypes and general misinformation that stand in place of accuracy about the circumstances of sex work and the people engaged in it. The rights to life, safety, free speech, political action and access to information and to basic health and education services are as important to sex workers as to anyone else. No one should lose these human rights because of the work they do. Countering Prejudice With Reality • The factors that lead people into sex work are obscured by prejudice, moral indignation and general misinformation. Poverty, gender inequality, inadequate education and lack of economically viable job options contribute to the reasons many people enter into sex work, but these conditions are rarely mentioned in the public policy debate on sex work. Instead, arguments that perpetuate harmful myths about the character, motives, needs and morals of sex workers continue to influence policy decisions, to the detriment of sex workers and all of society. • Sex work is universal and any successful effort to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS must incorporate sex workers. But bias against sex workers often means that instead of being engaged as part of the solution to the HIV/AIDS pandemic, sex workers are treated as part of the problem. They are then punished rather than enlisted to help in HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programs. • For example, the U.S. requirement tied to its HIV-prevention and anti-trafficking funding that health care and social service providers denounce prostitution has been used to deny sex workers around the world the health services they need to survive, the safe-sex education that could protect them and their communities from HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections, and the programs such as education and job training that could give them more control over their lives. • The “anti-prostitution pledge” unfairly vilifies sex workers and also forces organizations that treat vulnerable people to take sides – either to condemn the people who need their help or risk losing the funds that make their crucial work possible. • Similarly, the conflation of sex work (a commercial exchange of sexual services) with human trafficking (coercion into forced labor of all kinds) harms both the sex workers caught in the confusion and the fight against trafficking. • We oppose human trafficking in any form. We support confronting the force, deception and coercion inherent in all human trafficking. But policies aimed at assisting trafficked persons must be properly targeted to help them, not to harm sex workers through arrest, harassment, and deportation."

"The statement attributed to Jesus "I come not to bring peace, but to bring a sword" has been interpreted by some as a call to arms for Christians.[19] Mark Juergensmeyer argues that "despite its central tenets of love and peace, Christianity—like most traditions—has always had a violent side. The bloody history of the tradition has provided disturbing images and violent conflict is vividly portrayed in the Bible. This history and these biblical images have provided the raw material for theologically justifying the violence of contemporary Christian groups. For example, attacks on abortion clinics have been viewed not only as assaults on a practice that Christians regard as immoral, but also as skirmishes in a grand confrontation between forces of evil and good that has social and political implications.",[19]: 19–20  sometimes referred to as Spiritual warfare."

"J. Denny Weaver, Professor Emeritus of Religion at Bluffton University, suggests that there are numerous evolving views on violence and nonviolence throughout the history of Christian theology.[15] According to the view of many historians, the Constantinian shift turned Christianity from a persecuted into a persecuting religion.[16]

Miroslav Volf has identified the intervention of a "new creation", as in the Second Coming, as a particular aspect of Christianity that generates violence.[17] Writing about the latter, Volf says: "Beginning at least with Constantine's conversion, the followers of the Crucified have perpetrated gruesome acts of violence under the sign of the cross. Over the centuries, the seasons of Lent and Holy Week were, for the Jews, times of fear and trepidation. Muslims also associate the cross with violence; crusaders' rampages were undertaken under the sign of the cross."[18]"

"Wise or Right View

Wise or Right Intention

Wise or Right Action

Wise or Right Speech (Communication)

Wise or Right Livelihood

Wise or Right Effort

Wise or Right Mindfulness

 "Why Gratitude Matters

Olga Danylenko/ Shutterstock

Psychologists find that, over time, feeling grateful boosts happiness and fosters both physical and psychological health, even among those already struggling with mental health problems. Studies show that practicing gratitude curbs the use of words expressing negative emotions and shifts inner attention away from such negative emotions as resentment and envy, minimizing the possibility of ruminating, which is a hallmark of depression.

Gratitude is an emotion, one that makes a person feel happier. Gratefulness is also a mood as well as a personality trait. Some people are just more inclined to feel grateful as a daily habit.

Gratitude is both a temporary feeling and a dispositional trait. In both cases, gratitude involves a process of recognizing, first, that one has obtained a positive outcome and, second, that there is an external source for that good outcome.

Psychologists find that, over time, feeling grateful boosts happiness and fosters both physical and psychological health, even among those already struggling with mental health problems. Studies show that practicing gratitude curbs the use of words expressing negative emotions and shifts inner attention away from such negative emotions as resentment and envy, minimizing the possibility of ruminating, which is a hallmark of depression.

People who are grateful feel less pain, less stress, suffer insomnia less, have stronger immune systems, experience healthier relationships, and do better academically and professionally. Overall it can boost both your mental and your physical health.

Grateful people are indeed less likely to have mental health problems like depression. One study found that a gratitude intervention was successful in reducing negative affect and increasing mental resilience in a group of older adults.

One study suggests that spending only a few minutes engaging in a gratitude activity, such as writing a letter of gratitude to a loved one, can motivate you to make healthy food choices."