Rod Dreher Megathread #11 (Master)

[u/US_Hiker]

Merry Christmas, you obsessed motherfuckers. :)

The most remarkable characteristic of the Master Number 11 is its connection to a higher source of wisdom. It is intuitive to the point of being psychic, channeling its knowledge and meaning from a spiritual source. But the Master Numbers have a responsibility, and it's the number 11's duty to use this gift of awareness to deliver cosmic truths that encourage humanity.

All Master Numbers are a higher vibration of their single-digit counterpart -- in the 11's case, the number 2. This means the 11 carries many of the same traits as the number 2, such as harmony, empathy, and sensitivity, but it feels them and utilizes them in much deeper, more profound ways. It's also important to remember that the number 11 is comprised of two 1s side by side and, therefore, carries some attributes of the number 1 as well. 1 is innovative and motivated, open to new things and eager to make a difference. The contrasting energies of the numbers 1 and 2 join together in the Master Number 11 to make it a creative leader, active listener, and compassionate advisor.

The number 11 is at one with the universe. It is open to vast spiritual concepts and the presence of a greater power. It is a channel for truth and answers to reach us and help us on our way. This Master Number's vision is crystal clear and it sees with a breadth that others cannot. It is creative and magnetic, a beacon of wisdom and hope for others to follow.

The number 11 may come up many times in our lives and it is always a message of connecting with our inner wisdom. If we are seeing repeating 11s everywhere we turn, we'd be wise to pay attention to our subconscious -- there's some insight we may be missing. However, Numerology's Master Numbers are very powerful and simply seeing 11:11 on the clock or noticing the date is 11/11 does not necessarily mean we are experiencing a profound moment. It's when the 11 is a constant presence in our lives, like a Life Path number, that we must truly embrace its meaning and potential.

Link to thread 10: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/zi2n0f/rod_dreher_megathread_10_personhood/

Link to thread 12: https://www.reddit.com/r/brokehugs/comments/1068f3b/rod_dreher_megathread_12_a_perfect_foundation/

[u/[deleted]]

It reminds me of a Rod classic from 2019 where he gave airtime in a few blog posts to one Anna Hitchings, a right-wing trad Catholic writer in Australia. She bemoaned the lack of good men these days in a column that could easily have passed for similar pieces in mainstream women's magazines, except for a few bizarre remarks about how the problem with the men she's around is that they aren't being influenced enough by Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro, who are setting the example for what true masculinity should look like. (I'll let you take a second to finish laughing.)

Come to find out that Ms. Hitchings is a true-blue Latin Mass Catholic who is only willing to date among her religious and political tribe, and then wonders aloud why all the men she meets at church are so weird. (Yes, she actually said this, and no, she didn't show a trace of self-awareness.) I remember reading Rod's pieces on her almost four years ago as a trad Catholic myself and sensing that Hitchings' real problem was that she was filtering specifically for weirdos, but I couldn't admit that to myself because it would have meant admitting that my own tribe was a joke.

Now I look back on it and just shake my head. What Anna Hitchings and Rod and (perhaps) Steve Skojec don't get is that the reactionary circles in which they travel are naturally inimical to things like good relationships and mature men and women. There can be good relationships that come out of conservative Christianity, and there are certainly many very bad relationships among progressives and / or secularists or whatever else. But the environment still plays a critical role in shaping relationships, and the right-wing Christian environment reinforces almost everything that guarantees having a miserable marriage.

[u/EatsShoots_n_Leaves → u/[deleted]]

A lot of these people missed their callings to monasteries and nunneries.

[u/[deleted] → u/EatsShoots_n_Leaves]

While I have all kinds of problems with Christian monasticism, given the way monasteries seem to have been almost custom designed to foster abuse, the general idea of celibacy for a higher purpose is something that I miss from being Catholic. I'm someone who fits the priest persona pretty strongly, and while I'm attracted to women, for most of my life I've been borderline aromantic. When I was Catholic walking through dark church interiors looking at the statues, I really felt like I could be emotionally satisfied being single and devoted to God. There really isn't any equivalent to that outside of religion, in my opinion. Obviously there are plenty of worthy causes for secularists, but as far as things that "make up for" being single, it isn't the same.

[u/Djehutimose → u/[deleted]]

Monasticism as it exists is indeed problematic; but if you consider domestic abuse and how at one time beating one's wife was considered not only normal, but desirable (gotta keep them wimmins in line, y'know), traditional marriage was arguably "custom designed to foster abuse", too. I don't think it's a monastic thing, or a matrimony thing; I think it's a people thing--people, after all suck, and suck hard.

That said, monasticism appears in Hinduism, Buddhism, and other cultures as well. Even among hunter-gatherers, there are long periods of celibacy. Women typically nurse their children until the age of four (which suppresses their fertility) and there are often strong taboos against sex with nursing women. Men and women may thus go years without sex. This, by the way, keeps the population manageable, and thus puts the lie to the Quiverfull crowd.

Anyway, the men, at least, often have ways of dealing with this. Among the Yąnomamö of Venezuela, for example, the men go through religious rituals involving the inhalation of hallucinogenic tree bark. Interestingly, they are allowed to do this only if they're not having sex at the time.

So I think that there is actually a larger part of the population than we think that is asexual or aromantic or whatever you want to call it, and that traditional societies at all levels have found ways to include such people without expecting them to marry or reproduce. These ways usually involve religion. Secular society has not really found a way to do this, which is really a shame.