posted June 03, 2003 09:58 PM         

While I fully understand that all things ebb and flow with the tide of Life, I am picking up on a disturbing trend in our little community.
Where are the searching topics and lively discussions that first caught my attention? The enlightening debates and wonder of discovery that drew me (and others, I'm sure) like a moth to a flame? Have we taken a break? Or a turn...for the worse?
Please allow me to digress in order to explain my questions.
I began my journey through Lindaland, as did most of you, being one of the silent majority. Reading, learning and watching in anonymity. When I felt comfortable that HERE were people, like myS-elf, searching for...finding...willing to share the answers to Life's big questions and the world's small ones, I began to post.
Oh! the joy of finding others who spoke my language! A place to go where others asked the same questions! So many times I composed a post, only to find that someone else already said what I was thinking. Rather than frustrate me, this situation filled me with hope. Perhaps I wasn't completely off-track?! Someone, somewhere, agreed with me! Gloriosky, Batman! There really are others like me! Happy, happy, joy, joy!
Then, horror of horrors, something terrible happened! The ill winds of war blew through Lindaland. A safe haven of intellectual discussion and spiritual discovery became a minefield of personal attacks and childish name calling. Those feeling secure enough in this place of Love and Light to reveal personal secrets, found those secrets used as weapons against them! It became an uncomfortable situation for all concerned. However, it is the end result of all this that concerns me now.
Some of the more timid (or less patient) Souls, left the forum completely. Others watched in pain and prayed that the constant assurances of Love and Light would, indeed, win out. Alas, I wonder if that has been the case?
Folks, like it or not, acknowledge it or not, there seems to be a decided air of constraint in our fair Land. Don't believe it? Just look back over the topics of the last few weeks! With all that is going on in the Heavens and on our Mother Earth, we are discussing, by and large, the most mundane of subjects. Even the Solar eclipse passed with barely a peep in the Astrology forum!
Maybe I am the only one to feel this restraint. Perhaps I am overly sensitive. All I am sure of is...I DO feel it. Almost daily, I think, read or dream of something I would like another's input on. But, no, that one is a little too off the wall and this one is a little too political. Better keep it to myS-elf. Maybe, later, I'll bring it up. How sad is that? This is my feeble attempt to break that creeping paralysis!
I realize that I am relatively new here and this post might make me unpopular in some circles. That is as it must be. I beg a thousand pardons from those who take offense. I mean none. But, I am fairly certain that I am not alone in this feeling.
Do we have vastly different attitudes and outlooks on science, religion, politics and relationships? ABSOLUTELY! Does that make some of us lesser beings, intellectually or spiritually? ABSOLUTELY NOT! The diversity of opinion in Lindaland is the very thing that gives it Life!
We all came here seeking answers. We all came here to widen the circle of Light cast by the flame Linda Goodman lit for us. How can we find the answers, if we don't feel safe asking the questions? How can we spread the Light, if we must first shade it with "acceptable" thoughts?
My fervent hope is that I am TOTALLY wrong! That it is simply the pull of busy lives causing this apparent dampening of Spirit. Either way, agree or disagree, I would really like to hear what YOU think.
After all, this is just my 'onion' and there is a whole garden out there!

posted June 04, 2003 01:00 AM         

In my ONION, an online community is only as strong as its current crop of members, and their collective habits -- also known as 'ebb and flow'. Like Oxy says, the flamewars that raged in the Global Unity Forum have toned down (as far as I know. I quit going there), but I think you raise an interesting question about a trend in posts since then. Possibly Lindaland hasn't healed from that, but I know the war itself took a lot out of me personally, along with the news media, terror alerts, etc. and I have been just spending more time breathing than pushing for Nirvana.

But enlightened tone, and enlightening topics work two ways, and depend on contributors. I enjoy your posts, and invite and encourage you to forget your fears and post anything you fancy! Like they said in the neighbourhood where I grew up, "if you don't ask, you don't get!" One of my pastimes here is to read older posts-- where some very evolved people have offered great insight into issues -- and if I have more to add, or wish to re-ignite the thread because it was a good'un, then I bring it back. You'll often see moderators doing this-- and writing "To the Top!" in their reply, to bring it to peeps' attention. Plus-- as a newbie (I am too, March is still recent) it's important to appreciate that a lot of the great people you meet here may have already posted their heart out on previous threads (or been lurkers during others' great debates!). This is not to say they won't add some more, but hey... been there, done that might look to a newbie as apathy when it's not.

But to address some of the negativity vibes you discern, here's a thread from April where some of the same concerns and grief came up -- Hopeful's "Farewell" -- in case you missed it. It responds to some of what you're saying, if I understand what you're saying! http://www.linda-goodman.com/ubb/Forum8/HTML/001028.html

I've come to feel that part of the particular beauty of Lindaland is its open policy toward the content of individual posts. Sure, curse words are censored in case minors frequent the board (although there's been quite a run on writing them out in non-censorable form anyway -- ahem-- I'm not guiltless in this, either), but overall it's not "policed" by moderators. Knowflakes are encouraged to respect one another, but they are allowed to have sometimes heated exchanges, too. That's being treated like an adult, and I like that, even at the price of sometimes having arguments turn into flamewars <shrug>.

Anyhow, LoonyFish, jump on in, I'm sure you'll find the water's fine!

posted June 04, 2003 04:38 AM         

I went through the same crisis that you're obviously having, I poured my heart out in the Global Unity Forum, wondering about the same question that you're asking, and then I left it for good, but Lindaland drew me in again with its light and love. And it's like Lunargirl is saying: "... have already posted their heart out on previous threads (or been lurkers during others' great debates!). This is not to say they won't add some more, but hey... been there, done that might look to a newbie as apathy when it's not."

posted June 04, 2003 08:42 AM         

Oxy - Yes, thankfully, the flames have died, I think it is the lingering stench of the smoke that I was picking up on.

Fajita - I do too!

Lioneye, Lunargirl and Morgana - Thank you all for the confirmation I believe I was looking for! I almost included in my post that I hoped we were enjoying a retreat from the stress of the last few months. But my posts tend to get very long and I was trying to keep it as short as I could.
I do very much enjoy the older posts, they have given me some of my best ideas!
I also want to make it clear that I do NOT enjoy or condone censorship! Except, as you point out Lunar, in the case of profanity. It was a sense of implied censorship that led to my starting this topic.

In all honesty, I am afraid my ongoing battle with ol' man Saturn has colored my perception of everything. He spent a couple of years toying with my 12th House Gemini Moon (can't even get into the damage that caused!) and now he is perched over my Cancer ascendant and squaring my 29th degree Pisces Sun! AARRGHHH! I am a willing student but geeez! A little room to breathe would be nice!

Sorry I have projected my personal shadows on you all! It's much too easy to do when you k-Now it'll be understood. And forgiven.

posted June 04, 2003 09:28 AM         

Wordly issues became intense, emotions raw, and numerous posts reflect the personal challenges some knowflakes are incurring in their lives. It`s a rock time globally, personally, and I think the Knowflakes have done a wonderful job of holding it together and handling the events/emotions with the offering of the lighter side of their Elves.

Time is a wonderful healer and all will come together in the love and lite of Lindaland. As we each walk our path, we learn, share and grow toward our goals. The goal is not lost in lightness, but enhanced by lightness and being; being here, being together and being as one in the divine.

Saturn has his turn at all of us and it`s a rough go sometimes . Thats what we`re here for tho, to lend a smile and helping hand to get thru the tough times.

Sharing your concern has been insightful and I`m so glad you did Loonyfish. It gives us all a chance to see where we`re at and how life is evolving around us. Thank you!

juniperb

posted June 04, 2003 11:24 AM         

..a recurring theme in my life is Yin/Yang...it's even tattooed on my ankle. In light there is darkness, and in darkness there is light, thus is a balance created.
There are no absolutes...nothing is static...same with Lindaland.

As Bill Murray's shrink in "What About Bob?" so aptly put it once upon a time...sometimes all we can do are "baby steps."

I wasn't here for the flame wars, came in at the end, but glad I missed 'em. If life is cyclical, it'll come around again, we'll deal with it again...and so it goes. The only place here that I don't like to express myself is in Global Unity...even my own minimal sense of tolerance can be stretched there, best to leave it alone! (But I still peek in now and then!) Can't change the world or anyone else...but change your perspective, and you change the world anyway!

posted June 05, 2003 08:47 AM         

Proxi, Trillian - You guys are so right about perspective! I am trying very hard to get mine back in line after a couple of hard knocks. This depression and dis-satisfaction thing is soooo NOT me!

Juniperb - Your kind words are, as usual, wise and soothing.

Thank you all for sharing YOUR view with me! I don't feel like I can trust mine right now. Which is why I turn to the wise , old souls of Lindaland.
You guys are GREAT!!!

posted June 07, 2003 04:56 PM         

Don't like the 'low' vibes? Get in there, raise it back up! Do not waste time by hoping 'evolved' souls will come in, or return -- you ARE the evolved souls now -- do create conditions of spirituality, openness, oneness -- as like attracts like -- so that this beautiful spiritual home that others created, that attracted you, that you have made your own, remains beautiful while some are away! And so that when/if their soul journey brings them back, or attracts others operating at a higher frequency, that this will still be a beautiful place! Plant some flowers of wisdom and watch them grow!

Rise up, and bring others up with you!

posted June 09, 2003 09:00 PM         

I apologize if I'm one of the cliquey ones. I tend to "try" and reply to all that do me. I think that some, "myself" included, may not know how to approach certain other individuals.

posted June 10, 2003 11:51 AM         

..to everything there is a season, a purpose...this 'cooling down' period is likely just that, a period that will pass and allow those new things to grow, as Lunargirl aptly put it!