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looks familiar

original on youtube posted by Sedgwick County Zoo:

climate & children

Take my heart with you when you go

You probably won’t feel kama muta if you haven’t seen Westworld. But if you have, the ending of episode S02E08 will probably bring you to tears:

Interesting descriptions of what it feels like in the comments: “hit me like a brick to the stomach”, “the emotions I felt were unreal. the ending, oh my heart. i cried so many tears, i was so moved”, “unbelievably emotional … I can’t even talk about it without tearing up”, “Chills honestly wow, beautiful ending, the most human episode this season. Love.”

athletes are motivated by kama muta

The naïve assumption about athletic careers might be that they are motivated by accumulating individual prestige and basking in glory. But kama muta apparently (also) plays a big part. Here is a section of a paper written by Parker Scurria, a student in Alan Fiske’s psychological anthropology course on social emotions:

The Sacrifice For Kama Muta On The Mat

You are backstage and on deck, ready to perform a routine at nationals with your team that you have practiced for the past eleven months. You have turned down almost all plans with your friends, missed family gatherings, stayed up all night to finish the next day’s school assignments, woke up every morning with muscle aches, pains, and even sometimes injuries, all for this moment on stage. You
have endured some of the most stressful, nerve-wracking, frustrating, and glorious moments in your sports career. Six days a week and countless hours in the gym within eleven months, for a two-minute and thirty-second routine. The pressure is on as your team gets announced on stage, sets up, and waits for the music to start. The crowd is going crazy, you hear chants for your team and gym, you have adrenaline rushing through your toes, you take a deep breath, and you turn all focus into all of the hard work, sacrifice, and effort you have put into every practice to hit a zero deduction routine. The music starts, your team sharply executes each
section, and you reach the final sequence in your routine. You have zero deductions so far and a convincing possibility of taking home the national title if you hit the final pyramid section. Girls are getting tossed, doing flips, and being caught in the air, the crowd silences before the last skill, and then your team HITS! The ESPN Worldwide Sports Center arena is on their feet, screaming and clapping in excitement. The coaches in front of the mat jump in the air, create zeros with their arms, and throw their bodies up and down, hugging the other coaches knowing that your team just did it. The athletes on the mat burst with energy, happiness, and activate a spirit that the audience can feel. Through loss or win, at that exact intensified instant of hitting, the athletes on that mat had done everything in their power, have devoted unreasonable amounts of time and effort working together to experience and feel that exact moment of kama muta.

moving refugees

This thread by a scientist from Berlin is full of kama muta – felt by the Ukrainian mother who had to flee and found refuge in Berlin, felt by the host herself, and by others around her. You’ll feel it too.

Read the whole thread below:

violin in shelter

CompassionBnB

translation of the German tweet:

What is happening right now here at Berlin’s main station is deeply moving. Hundreds of people are offering places to sleep to Ukrainian refugees for free. Volunteers arrange overnight stays by megaphone every minute.

feed your enemy

What an incredible clip. Comments show a lot of kama mtua as well. Disclaimer: no way to verify authenticity.