I do not know...
there are many theories, but none of them can be verified and confirmed

Why are we therians?

See, I know that there are a lot of people who blame their therianthropy on a past life, or for spiritual reasons, but I don't feel I fit in with either. I also don't feel that I was "born into the wrong body" so to speak.

personally, I think that the word "therian" is used simply to describe the more animal parts of us. I often wonder if we actually decide that we are therians. of course, I don't mean waking up one day and saying "hey, I think I'll identify as a wolf", but more of a subconscious decision, finding comfort in a label for some of our little quirks.

Another thing I wonder about, is do we make up our shifts? like every little slightly animalistic thing we feel, we just blame on being a therian? of course, these are just my ponderings.

I'd say that I honestly have no idea why we are what we are. I do however think that we subconsciously exaggerate what we believe. I'd love to hear your guy's theories and questions about the matter too.

Hi,

I didn't notice this post earlier.

(2021-02-27 13:41)Bubbles Wrote:  This doesn't affect me, and I don't know if anyone has voiced this concern, but what about systems? Some alters could be under 13, so should be not be allowed from the site when they're in the "driver's seat" of the host? And what about the age on the profile, what should the host say?

The rule is one account per physical body and the age (birthdate) is supposed to be of the physical body aka "the truth".

Good luck proving the mental age of your made up alter in court. So I hope that covers what they should be allowed to do.

Obviously some people are retarded and their mental age is much younger than that of their physical body... in those cases it's not ideal but there is no way to be fair to everyone and also cover such exceptions, so for now, physical age it is.

LP,
Dusty

(2022-05-07 6:45)DustWolf Wrote:  So we talked about this on Discord some time ago, but to explain what @Liatha is saying here. Eastern traditions say that what you reincarnate as, depends on your "good deeds for the community" (simplified) in your previous life. Since animals live by instinct and cannot choose to do good deeds for the community, it doesn't seem possible for an animal (below on the scale) to reincarnate as a human (above on the scale).

Other people in our conversation, like @Li-lan have argued that what "reincarnation" is (aka "being born again in another body" rather than "reincarnation" the religious concept), is not owned by any religious group and therefore what the Eastern traditions say about it does not matter.

Thinking about it now, I also find myself wondering, since I believe animals can make choices in their lives: Perhaps it's possible for animals to do "good deeds for the community" (dharma). I mean outside of pets attending religious duties with their owners. Could a dog in what she does for her family be considered to engage in dharma?

Personally I think Dharma, Karma and all other such ideas about there being some universal "good credit" is a bunch of made up BS. I think it's a staple or nearly every religion (Christian heaven vs hell, Wiccan Law of Three, etc) as a control mechanism for the populous. I (creator of the religion) want you to behave a certain way, so god, the universe, whatever higher power will reward you if you do and punish you if you don't.
Furthermore I think the idea of their being a scale where human is at the top or a "reward" for doing good things is laughable. I don't think human is "better" than being a different animal. Sounds like something humans would make up because we think we're special.
So that's why I don't attach any Eastern religious beliefs around reincarnation to the concept. I don't have an issue if people choose to practice a religion, but the way I see it there's no value in the anthropocentric ideology often taught along with reincarnation. You can believe in a concept like heaven without being a Christian either.

My personal beliefs around it is that we get to choose to incarnate and have this physical experience in these bodies. And the reason we're here is simply to be alive. I'm sure certain souls have some goal from their life. Something to learn, or maybe something to teach. It feels like humans have this sense of need for a higher purpose, some goal to chase down, so I often see a lot of other aspects of religion as fulfilling that.

But answering your question Dust, I would personally say yes. A dog, a wolf any animal. I think it's a false idea that an animal can't have free will. Just because you have stronger instructs driving you and less executive functioning doesn't mean there's not free will in your decisions. It's not like instincts don't control human decision making sometimes.
Although you have to wonder with certain animals like lizards who aren't social at all, how one would ever "move up" that hypothetical ladder towards being human.

(2022-05-07 3:15)Liatha Wrote:  Reincarnation and past lives do not fit that. Reincarnation works (according to Eastern traditions) in a certain way. It is not very likely that the animal will incarnate in humans immediately afterwards. I'm sorry I might cause doubts to someone. But just find out more about past lives.

So we talked about this on Discord some time ago, but to explain what @Liatha is saying here. Eastern traditions say that what you reincarnate as, depends on your "good deeds for the community" (simplified) in your previous life. Since animals live by instinct and cannot choose to do good deeds for the community, it doesn't seem possible for an animal (below on the scale) to reincarnate as a human (above on the scale).

Other people in our conversation, like @Li-lan have argued that what "reincarnation" is (aka "being born again in another body" rather than "reincarnation" the religious concept), is not owned by any religious group and therefore what the Eastern traditions say about it does not matter.

Thinking about it now, I also find myself wondering, since I believe animals can make choices in their lives: Perhaps it's possible for animals to do "good deeds for the community" (dharma). I mean outside of pets attending religious duties with their owners. Could a dog in what she does for her family be considered to engage in dharma?

LP,
Dusty

Reincarnation and past lives do not fit that. Reincarnation works (according to Eastern traditions) in a certain way. It is not very likely that the animal will incarnate in humans immediately afterwards. I'm sorry I might cause doubts to someone. But just find out more about past lives.

Then I still don't know why we identify as that animal when it comes to past lives. It would then blend into current life. And that sounds like a naive idea to me. I just have a lot of doubts about this theory when I think about it more. Of course I don't take it from anyone.

I'll be happy to discuss why you think it's a past life - where you take that assurance. And I'm sorry if something isn't very understandable. I used a translator

i think it's fun and a great way to connect with my theriotype!

I'm not well-versed on the idea of quadrobics. This was not a term I ever heard when I was last active in the community nearly ten years ago. I have not researched the topic at all. I'll admit that some of the videos I have heard about on various platforms, like TikTok, sound cringey, but I haven't actually seen the clips. I try to take a "live and let live" stance on most things; this is the same. Do what makes you happy, as long as you don't hurt anyone (including yourself!) in the process.

When I was growing up, I did like to run around on all fours a lot. We even did it in gym class at school sometimes as exercise; they called it "bear crawl drills." It was fun. I fancied myself one of the fastest "bear crawlers" in my class. That said, there is no way my body would take that now. The last time I tried to run on all fours, my wrists immediately screamed for me to stop. As many have mentioned here, though, I do still go up the stairs on all fours in my own home.

i find it fun!

Thanks, this was really helpful!