#lao dan

[poimandresnous]

What Does Benevolence and Righteousness Mean and How Should We Practice Them?

Musing on this particular section of the Zhuangzi [13.15-13.24.6] which is a dialogue between Lao Dan (Old Master Lao Tzu or Laozi) and Confucius.

Confucius is traveling westward to deposit his writings at the Zhou court, when one of his disciples, Zilu suggests he go visit "a certain Lao Dan..." to inquire about the "twelve classics" (I'll provide a link that lists all the "classics.") which seem to be a collection of Chinese poetry, philosophy, and mythological texts. As Confucius explains these twelve classics to Lao Dan, Lao Dan scoffs and requests to just hear the essentials, exclaiming this is too tedious [13.15-13.18]. To which Confucius responds in 13.19: "The essentials consist of benevolence and righteousness." To which both Confucius and Lao Dan agree that benevolence and righteousness are innate to one's own original nature [13.20-13.21].

Lao Dan then goes on to inquire about what 'benevolence' and 'righteousness' mean. Confucius could be correct in this explanation, but in so far as what benevolence and righteousness mean to Master Zhuang & Guo Xiang, that is another story. Confucius explains that, "One should take the happiness of others sincerely to heart and should love everyone impartially, this is what 'benevolence' and 'righteousness' really mean." [13.23]. Now, Lao Dan scoffs at this, and I did too when reading that. But this is a statement I would've agreed with not that long ago probably. To show love to all people is what I thought it meant to be good and benevolent.

Why Lao Dan (and Master Zhuang, the author) scoffs at such a remark is because he believes to keep in mind that one should "love everyone" with such conscious action is to actually act partially. It's an act that is partial to one's own self-interest, the most extreme form of self-interest: having that "impartial" love reciprocated. [13.24.2] "To be impartial in this way is actually a matter of self-interest." Guo Xiang's commentary on this one line reminds us that we must rid ourselves of any human notion of "impartiality." In the Inner Chapters of the Zhuangzi, we are told to discard our preconceived notions of "what is" and "what is not" in chapter 2.10.4 of "Regarding All Things Equal 齊物論."

The idea Lao Dan is trying to convey, I think, is that instead of keeping in your mind consciously that you need to love everyone upon meeting them, rather we should, "trust freely in your virtue to act, keep in step with the Dao as you throw yourself into things, and you shall already be there." [13.24.4] meaning trust your innate principle that lies within you, and act according to what is being presented to you. Now to "act in accord with one's innate principle" is something I assume is truly brought about by participating in authentic Daoist practice, which I currently am not doing (just working on establishing a good relationship with my ancestors at the moment and philosophizing). So when we rely on "loving everyone impartially," this is an error. If a situation calls for benevolence and righteousness, and if it is in your nature to express that, then yes that is what we should do. But what about those situations where benevolence and righteousness are not called for? What then?

Online and in real life we will be faced with racists, bigots, and the like, to actively go out of your way to "love" these people is selfish because in wanting to love these kinds of people, its an act of displaying one own "uprightness" or morality. In Chapter 7 of the Zhuangzi, Fit To Be Sovereigns 應帝王, we are told, [7.26.1] "Don't play a role of befitting reputation. And again earlier in Chapter 2 "Regarding All Things Equal 齊物論," [2.14.23] "When uprightness would display its cleanliness, it won’t inspire trust."

This is a flaw Master Zhuang is trying to point out in the Confucius schools, for he says [13.24.5] "Why so energetically keep on promoting benevolence and righteousness, as if beating a drum were the way to catch a runaway?" I take this to mean that to consciously keep such "benevolence" and "righteousness" at the center of one's mind: this only drives people away from true benevolence and righteousness which is innate to everyone, as they both agreed in sections 13.20-13.21. The active and self-conscious effort to keep these things in mind and to practice them is to cause great confusion to our original nature. Our original nature calls us to act benevolent and righteous only when it is appropriate, according to Master Zhuang. To act with benevolence and righteousness when it is solely appropriate is to forget all about one's own preconceived notions of what "benevolent" and "righteousness" is, and thus acting in step with Heaven, in step with the inarticulate Dao [13.24.6].

The link to the list of the "twelve classics"

#daoism #philosophy #chinese philosophy #taoism #zhuangzi #lao dan #Lao Tzu #Confucius

[lovesinistra]

#lao Dan #confucius #lao tzu #Qi #daoist memes

[ryukang1995]

Street Kombat drawings

Some random drawings I made of an amalgam between Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat.

#mortal kombat #street fighter #ryu #liu kang #chun li #sonya blade #ken #kung lao #dan #johnny cage #fusion #amalgam #fan art #drawing

[dance-world]

Dylan Wald - Pacific Northwest Ballet - photo by Dan Lao

#dylan wald #pacific northwest ballet #dan lao photography #dan lao #ballet #dance #dancer #danseur #ballerino #bailarín #tänzer #boys of ballet #ballet men

[stuff-diary]

Reset

TV Shows/Dramas watched in 2023

Reset (2022, China)

Directors: Liu Hongyuan, Lao Suan & Sun Molong

Writers: Huang Kaiwen, Qi Daojun, Qiu Yujie & Lao Suan

Mini-review:

Full disclosure: I'm not a big fan of time loop stories. I usually end up getting tired of the repetitions and all that stuff. That's why I've put off watching Reset for so long, even though everyone and their mom was raving about it when it came out. And now I regret not watching it sooner. This is one spectacular sci-fi thriller. I just had so much fun seeing the leads put all the puzzle pieces together. I kept thinking "oh, I know what's gonna happen next", and then the drama went in a completely unexpected direction. And without sacrificing any logic whatsoever! The story moves at perfectly tight pace, and none of the loops felt boring. Every repetition brought some sort of new clue or twist that kept me on the edge of my seat. The acting is also phenomenal from start to beginning, and I loved that most of the supporting cast got a moment to shine too. So, yeah, color me surprised: I enjoyed every single second of this time loop drama.

#reset #reset 2022 #liu hongyuan #lao suan #sun molong #huang kaiwen #qi daojun #qiu yujie #bai jingting #zhao jinmai #liu yijun #liu tao #huang jue #liu dan #song jia teng #zeng ke lang #zhang xi qian #ma lan #bu yu xin #leon li #li gan #bai yufan #science fiction #sci fi #scifi #time loop #thriller #chinese drama #2023 tv shows and dramas

[dnpbeats]

(Almost Solid) Proof That Dan Ran PhilsLion

I'm convinced that Dan was the person who ran the PhilsLion twit and I have receipts.  For anyone who doesn't know, PhilsLion is a twitter account that tweeted from the POV of Lion. It's commonly thought that this account was run by Phil. Besides the fact that he would interact with the account, there are multiple tweets that seem to be about him and dan. Unfortunately there's good reason to believe it wasn't Phil running it. HOWEVER there are many reasons that lead me to believe it was Dan who was tweeting from it, some of which is evidence based and some of which makes logical sense.

DISCLAIMER: All tweets I've included that are ostensibly about dan and phil's relationship are in reference to things that are confirmed by d&p themselves (e.g. the fact that d&p were romantically involved when they first met). I will not discuss anything that is not supposed to be public knowledge.

First let's look at when the Twitter was created. (Note: I am in UTC-8 so all screenshots will be in that time zone. I will say what time it would've been in UTC+0 (d&p's time zone) for clarity.)

Dan’s twitter account was created in May 2009. The first tweet from him (assuming he did not delete any older ones) was May 15 at 1:18pm. Presumably this is the day he got twitter.

On May 16 2009 at 3:19am Phil tweeted that he uploaded “I was kidnapped.” 

In this video he mentions his own personal twitter account, and there is an annotation of Lion saying “i want a twitter” (20sec into the video)

About 3 hours after the video was posted (6:26am UTC+0), we get the first tweet from PhilsLion (presumably this was right after the account was created)

May 16th 2009 was a Saturday. We know from Dan’s video “THE POWER NAP” that he worked at ASDA on Saturdays and Sundays from 5am-10am. So he would’ve been awake shortly after Phil posted the video. Also note that Dan presumably had an iPhone at the time (he tweeted something about iPhones in June 2009 and had no previous tweets before that about getting a new phone). He specifically tweeted in Sep 2009 about tweeting from his iPhone. Based on the fact that Dan literally showed up to work drunk and took a nap, I don’t think he is above going on twitter at work.

While this is not proof that Dan created the account, we can see that it’s definitely possible for him to have created the account. We know he would’ve been awake at the time the account was created, and it was approx. a day after he created his own twitter account, so making a twitter account would've been fresh in his mind.

We do have proof that Phil did not create the account. First, he edited the description of “I was kidnapped.” to say that someone [else] created PhilsLion:

He also tweeted May 16th (10:35am UTC+0 if that matters to anyone) basically saying the same thing as the video desc, implying that someone else made the account:

Finally in “AmazingJason” (posted May 26th) he mentions, again, “someone [else]” creating the Twitter account (about 20seconds in, the timestamp is linked). He encourages everyone to follow it and links it in the description of the video:

So unless Phil was really pushing that someone else created it even though he himself made it, it wasn’t him.

If you want to skip to Proof™ scroll down to the next photo of Phil. Before that, I’d like to debunk the 11:11/different time zone thing–I think this is the biggest reason people have claimed that the account was not run by Phil or Dan but rather some other random fan. On May 30th at 4:12pm UTC+0 and June 3rd at 4:19am UTC+0, PhilsLion tweeted about making wishes at 11:11. In order for these tweets to be made at ~11:11 local time, they would need to have been made in either UTC-5 or UTC+7. UTC-5 is US Eastern Time. UTC+7 is a time zone mainly consisting of Southeast Asia. This includes parts of Indonesia, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam. I have an explanation for this, which is certainly the biggest reach of this whole thing, but it is a plausible explanation :p

It’s very possible that it was Dan who tweeted this if he was on vacation with his family at the time. We know Dan and his family have vacationed in Asia many times (at the very least they went to Thailand in 2006, India in 2010 and 2013, and Sri Lanka in 2016). So while there’s no proof (that I know of) that Dan was on vacation at this time, it’s certainly possible that he was. The location of the tweets would fit with where we know his family likes to go on holiday. Additionally, the second tweet talks about water skiing, which tends to be a fun vacation thing rather than something people do regularly (note this tweet would be at 11:19am in UTC+7)

There’s further proof that PhilsLion was not always in UTC+7. On Christmas 2009, PhilsLion tweeted “goodmorning” at 6:21am UTC+0. This would be 1:21pm in UTC+7. It makes a lot more sense for this to have been tweeted in England.

Then fast forward to January 8th 2011. PhilsLion tweets “I was up all night” at 8:05am UTC+0. This would be 3pm in UTC+7. So again, it seems that PhilsLion was not in UTC+7 at this time.

Okay, now onto much more solid evidence. First, the handwriting of PhilsLion. This is the most tangible piece of proof. On June 25th 2009 Phil posted “AmazingAlex,” where Lion can be seen behind him in one of Phil’s shoes:

Lion tweeted a photo the next day, saying “I’m on a boat :)” in reference to being in Phil’s shoe

Note that the drawing/writing does not appear in the video and therefore was done by whoever runs PhilsLion. Here is some of Dan’s writing (found in TABINOF) for comparison:

This is from the “how to draw cat whiskers” page. Notice how the As all have the crossbar quite high up, just like in the twitter picture. Additionally, the top loops in the Bs are all very skinny compared to the bottom loop. Here’s another one of Dan’s capital Bs from the blindfolded portrait page, which is similar to Lion's writing:

I’m not a handwriting analysis expert, and yes it’s different drawing on MSPaint vs. a piece of paper, but the handwriting certainly has similarities.

And now, the more circumstantial evidence, but things that seem (imo) to be too big of a coincidence to not have been written by Dan (FYI these are going to be added in order of how much of a reach they are, not chronological order, lol). First we have “I month you”:

This tweet is proposing an alternate word for “love” and ends with “I month you” (i.e. is replacing the word love with month), and was tweeted on November 19th 2009. AKA exactly a month after dan and phil met IRL for the first time.

Another one that seems very related to Dan and what we know of his situation is this tweet about “Lion’s” dad:

In Dan’s own words in BIG: “I didn’t think I could ask my family for help or share my feelings about this, mainly due to my dad. Funny guy, kind of a woke hippie who did and said a lot of things I did respect but at the same time used to walk around the house saying how he hoped someone he had a problem with at work would 'die of bum cancer.' Yep, so picked the one area to be a bigot that would further traumatize your child. Nice! This experience coming from a childhood hearing the word gay meaninglessly thrown around as an insult at home[.]” 

Note that Dan was still living at home at the time, so if this tweet was made by him, it wouldn't have meant literally “getting away.” Also, Dan was at home when this was tweeted but it was 3 days before he was going to see Phil.

Next there’s this tweet:

The “admirers” thing could be referring to anything really, but was tweeted during the time that Dan (and Phil) were in the Clipstar video contest. Also, Dan posted this dailybooth two days before this tweet, and most of the comments are just gassing him up, so lol (the pic doesn’t load but based on the comments I think it was a screenshot from his clipstar vid).

This tweet from Christmas Eve 2009. Dan and Phil were together and filming the interactive Christmas adventure:

Proof they were together if anyone needs it:

This tweet (tweeted November 26 5:45am UTC+0)

Many things to note here. The song linked is called “When I See You Again.” It’s by Dave Bullas (one of the founders of SiTC), whom d&p were/are friends with. (They had other friends who were friends with him as well. PJ has the top comment on the video.) The lyrics of the song are not really happy as they insinuate a breakup. But it’s interesting to think about them in the context of wanting to see someone who you are not able to. This tweet was 3/4 days after the “I wonder how biology…” tweet and 3 days before Dan went to see Phil.

Also, Dan just LOVES recommending music to people. He does it a lot.

(^ Proof Dan was seeing Phil on the 29th if anyone needs it)

Now a tweet exchange which doesn't technically prove anything, but I thought was curious. Phil tweeted December 29 2010 about getting a new camera:

Lion tweeted in reference to this 20 minutes later:

I find this interesting because Phil made no comment anywhere about manuals or ignoring them. So it could just be PhilsLion making schput, but a lot of the other Lion tweets are in direct reference to something Phil said/did. It would make sense if Dan ran the twitter acc and he was talking about something that he witnessed Phil do that we don’t know about. Also note “my new camera is here” vs. “phil picked up his new camera” (Lion giving more specific detail than Phil in terms of the manner in which he obtained the camera).

Some Tweets (1, 2, 3) which aren’t proof of anything but just sound like things Dan would say:

For context, this is about floods that happened in Queensland. Again, I have no way to prove Dan said this. But if you’ve ever read, like, anything Dan has said in a print interview ever or watched any of his liveshows, you know that he often tries to say stuff with superfluous/pretentious language and then ends up not making a whole lot of sense. Things that he’s said have been misconstrued so many times, or just outright don’t make sense to anyone but him. So this series of tweets checks out, if it is Dan who ran the account.

This Twitter exchange which doesn’t actually prove anything but is very sweet if it is dan who tweeted it:

The photo is a screenshot from “AmazingJason”:

Note that two weeks later (October 23) in “Life without the internet!?” Phil says the internet led to him “meeting the best friend of [his] life.” The comments all assume he is referencing Dan, but in the video he holds up Lion, so presumably that’s actually who he’s talking about. That is, unless Lion represents Dan :p

Lastly, this tweet which is a Fall Out Boy lyric, but again would be cute if it was Dan:

There's a few more tweets that are interesting to think about being from Dan but don't actually prove anything so I won't put them here lol.

So, at the end of the day, could it be some random fan* who made the twitter account? Yes. But in my opinion there isn’t really anything proving it’s not Dan. On top of that, there are enough things that fit with what we know factually about d&p now, but were not well known at the time, that make it seem much more likely that Dan ran this account vs. a random person.

*technically when the account was started, Dan himself was a random fan. So there’s that too ;)

P.S. best practice is to not interact with old tweets, so pls don't go on a retweet spree

#this has the exact limit of photos you can put in one post lmao #I spent way too much time on this so I hope u enjoy my investigative skills <3 #dan and phil #dan howell #phil lester #daniel howell #amazingphil #d&p #wordvom.txt #phan #<- lol #idk the last time I used that tag #philslion

[burnmarksofficial]

꒰꒰ ‧₊˚𝐃𝐄𝐄𝐏 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐄 ─ 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐁𝐔𝐑𝐍 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊 𝐒𝐀𝐆𝐀 ˚₊· ꒱꒱

❨ series masterlist | request | taglist ❩

𝐁𝐀𝐒𝐈𝐂𝐒 ─

★ birth name ─ jae-eun lee ★ hangul ─ 이재은 ★ nicknames ─ jae, jj, jae-bear, jennington, lilo

★ birthday ─ 5th november 2003 ★ age ─ 20 (int.) 21 (kor.) ★ zodiac ─ scorpio ★ chinese zodiac ─ sheep

★ birth place ─ seoul, south korea ★ home town ─ seoul, south korea ★ current residence ─ seoul, south korea

★ nationality ─ korean ★ ethnicity ─ korean ★ languages ─ english (100%), korean (100%), japanese (100%), french (100%), chinese (97%), spanish (97%), italian (96%), german (96%), thai (54%)

★ gender ─ cisfemale ★ pronouns ─ she/her/hers ★ sexual orientation ─ bisexual ★ romantic orientation ─ biromantic

★ height ─ 170.18 cm (5'7) ★ weight ─ 72kg ★ blood type ─ o negative ★ eye colour ─ black ★ hair colour ─ black

𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐑 ─

★ occupation ─ formula one driver

★ team ─ oracle red bull racing ★ position ─ 1st driver ★ race number ─ 13

★ sponsors ─ the hwang corporation ★ helmet ─ bell

★ podiums ─ 65 ★ grand prix entered ─ 67 ★ points ─ 1562 ★ highest race finish ─ 1 (x53) ★ highest position ─ 1 (x3) ★ world championships ─ 3

★ manger ─ jin sehun  ★ opertaions manger ─ do-yun park ★ personal assistant ─ yana rintarou  ★ trainer ─ rin hiniki  ★ press officer ─ moon dan-bi  ★ race engeriner ─ claudia lao

★ debut race ─ 2021, bahrain gp ★ debut age ─ 18 ★ first podiums ─ 2021, bahrain gp (1) ★ first points ─ 2021, bahrain gp (25) ★ debut race win ─ 2021, bahrain gp

★ fans names ─ j-nation ★ offical colours ─ black and white

★ instagram ─ jaeeunlee ★ twitter ─ jaeeunlee ★ youtube ─ jaeeunlee ★ tiktok ─ jaeeunlee ★ twitch ─ jaeeunlee ★ facebook ─ jaeeunlee ★ personal website ─ jaeeunlee.com

★ role modles ─ ha-ru lee, ayton senna, michael schumacher, kimi raikkonen, sebastian vettel, lewis hamilton

★ signature ↓

𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐎𝐍𝐀𝐋 ─

★ mbti ─ intj-a

★ strengths ─ organised, creative, well-rounded, calm, realistic, naturally gifted, smart, introvert, quiet, logical, planner, open-minded ★ weaknesses ─ perfectionist, temper, self-critical, serious, detached, guarded, cold

★ family members ↓ min-jin hwang ─ mother ha-ru lee ─ father (deceased) ari lee ─ older sister ye-jun hwang ─ younger brother dea-eun hwang ─ younger sister saja lee ─ younger brother

★ hobbies & skills ─ photography, cinematography, art, fashion, racing (formula one and others), sports, reading, music/playing instruments (specifically guitar), skateboarding, working out, traveling ★ habits and mannerisms ─ headphone tapping, order in which she wears her jewellery, lip biting, picking at her nails, rolling her eyes, resting bitch face, speaking extremely monotone

★ likes ─ family, friends, her dog loki, woking out, music, playing guitar, skateboarding, art, fashion, photography, cinematography, reading ★ dislikes ─ rude people, racists, homophobes, basically any one that doesn't stand for human rights, people that abuse their power, mclaren

★ medical history ─ depression and anxiety ★ phobias ─ atychiphobia (fear of failure)

★ favourites ↓ number ─ 13 colour ─ black animal ─ dogs emoji ─ 😭🫡✨💀🫶🏼🏎📸 season ─ summer

★ favourites food ─ pizza, kimchi, soft tofu stew, samgyeopsal, sushi, instant noodles, tteokbokki, bibimbap, naengmyeon, bulgogi, korean bbq ★ favourites desserts ─ chocolate, mochi, cheesecake, crepe, red velvet cake, basically anything sweet ★ favourites drinks ─ coke, soju, strawberry milkshake, engery drinks, tea, coffee, milk, water, red wine

★ personal playlist ─ here

#꒰꒰ ‧₊˚📁 ─ my works ˚₊· ꒱꒱ #f1 x oc #f1 x reader #formula one x reader #formula 1 x reader #lewis hamilton x reader #fernando alonso x reader #george russell x reader #max verstappen x reader #daniel ricciardo x reader #lando norris x reader #charles leclerc x reader #carlos sainz x reader #mick schumacher x reader #lance stroll x reader #f1 fic #f1 fanfic #f1 fanfiction #f1 social media au #social media #f1 #f1 imagine #formula one #formula 1 #f1 instagram au #formula 1 imagine #formula one imagine #f1 fandom #formula one x you #formula 1 fanfic

[lunathemoon1020383]

Happy new year - mini comic☃️🎊

Beginning | page 1 | the end

Who does not know who Shan Dan Laozhen is, I will explain now. This is the Chinese Santa Claus, who has several names from which I chose from them: Shan Dan Laozhen, Dong Chen Lao, Sho Hin. He rides a donkey and brings gifts, but not under the Christmas tree, since the Chinese do not put up Christmas trees when the new year comes, they just decorate the house with garlands with images of animals. As gifts, adults receive envelopes with money, and children receive a red envelope with good wishes. I hope I was able to explain to you who he is..( ཀ ʖ̯ ཀ)

#lego monkie kid #lmk macaque #lmk oc #lego monkey kid fanart #lego monkie kid oc #six eared macaque #china #happy new year #the warrior and the young moon

[transformersandturtles]

I just want to apologize in advance if you choose to read this nonsense 😭 this is based on a head canon that's been eating at my brain for the past two days about the Earthrealm Champions and their spice tolerances. Don't ask why, I don't know, but I thought it'd be silly. Anyway, this is implied Railao and Johnshi. There are a few other little head canons sprinkled in, but nothing major. This was meant for me and my friends, but I thought I'd share.

CW: Swearing, maybe spelling errors

The Earthrealm Champions had decided to go to Madame Bo's for dinner after the four had a very long day. Kung Lao was the one to recommend going, as he heard that Madame Bo had a new dish she wanted him to try the next time he came. Apparently it was supposed to be super spicy, made with peppers imported from South Carolina in the United States, the Carolina Reaper. The reason she wanted Kung Lao to try it was because she knew he practically had an iron stomach when it came to spice. He used to eat handfuls of chili peppers when him and Raiden were younger. Raiden also ate them once in a while, having a similar spice tolerance but he wasn't very fond of spicy food, preferring sweet and savory.

When the four arrived to the Teahouse, Madame Bo was happy to see the four, greeting them properly as she lead them to their usual table near the back of the teahouse, in case they had matters to discuss that the common man could not listen in on. Johnny Cage was talking on and on about something to Kenshi, holding the swordsman's hand to guide him to the table so he wouldn't bump into anything, as he didn't have Sento with him at the moment, the sword tucked away in Kung Lao and Raiden's place for now. As Johnny pulled out Kenshi's chair, Madame Bo discussed the secret menu item with Kung Lao, who seemed very eager to try the dish. Raiden on the other hand was a bit uneasy, since he wasn't sure if his wallet could afford what the Shaolin monk would eat. As the four sat down, Madame Bo left and returned with tea for the four to drink while she got the food prepared. As they waited, the four spoke about anything, nothing really specific about their duties. They were all tired from working.

"So," Johnny eventually spoke up, his sunglasses resting on the table as his eyes landed on Kung Lao who moved a stray piece of his hair out of his face. "What was that dish Madame Bo was talking about?" He asked, being genuinely curious about it.

"Oh!" Kung Lao was quick to beam, his dimples showing prominently with his smile. Raiden couldn't help but have a smitten look on his face, adoring the little indentations of the monk's features. "Madame Bo wanted me to try a new dish." Kung Lao explained, leaning back in his chair a bit. "It'll be something like Dan Dan noodles, except instead of using a chili black bean paste for the sauce, she's using imported Carolina Reapers thanks to the Shirai Ryu. She's hoping that if the dish is good and sells well, she'll try growing her own." He explained, quite excited to try the dish. This only seemed to make Raiden a bit more worried for his poor wallet, assuming the dish wouldn't be cheap since the key ingredient was imported. But his worries slowly came to an ease seeing how happy Kung Lao was to try it.

"Just be careful, please." Raiden spoke up, sipping his tea after his long silence. Kung Lao playfully rolled his eyes, grinning.

"Oh, please! You know I can handle spice like a champ!" He laughed a bit, playfully elbowing Raiden after the Champion had set down his tea cup. Kenshi smiled softly as he listened to the others speak.

"If you don't mind me taking some, I'd like to try a bit." He spoke calmly, carefully feeling around for his tea cup before drinking from it. Kung Lao grinned a bit.

"Maybe, if there's any left." He joked a bit. He could spare maybe a noddle or two for Kenshi, but he wasn't willing to share much more. Johnny Cage laughed a bit at this, shaking his head a bit.

"Oh yeah? I'll definitely have to try this dish. That doesn't sound spicy at all!" He got a little cocky, thinking he had a great spice tolerance, not exactly realizing that there was a bit of a difference between what was considered spicy or not between the Eastern and Western world. Soon enough the food was brought out, Madame Bo gave everyone their usual orders before bringing out the bowl of spicy noodles to Kung Lao and she waited patiently for his reaction. Kung Lao was eager to dig in, taking his chopsticks to mix the noodles and toppings in with the sauce before getting a decent amount of noodles between his chopsticks to shove them into his mouth. After finishing the mouthful, the Shaolin monk's eyes widened eagerly, his cheeks getting a little warm but other than that he seemed unfazed by the spice.

"Like always, Madame Bo, you know how to make the best food!" He beamed, eagerly stuffing more noodles into his mouth. Raiden carefully reached over, using his unused chopsticks to take a noodle from the bowl and carefully set it on Kenshi's plate as the blind swordsman ate quietly, preferring to eat in quiet peace unlike Johnny and Kung Lao who enjoyed talking. Madame Bo was flattered, patting Kung Lao's shoulder.

"You always know what to say. Eat as much as you want, I have more I can prepare." She hummed softly. Raiden wanted to object, a look in his eyes that begged her not to but it was too late. Kung Lao's bowl was already empty and the monk eagerly nodded for more, finishing the bite in his mouth. Madame Bo hummed and soon left to get more food for the hungry man. Raiden slouched a bit, he would never financially recover from this. He sighed softly, eating quietly, afraid he'd have to pull out a loan or something just for this one meal if Kung Lao kept eating the way he did. It was like he had a bottomless stomach sometimes.

"If you aren't careful, Kung Lao," Kenshi eventually broke his silence when he finished eating his food and the noodles given to him, his face and tongue feeling warm from the spice but he didn't have much of a reaction either. "You'll end up with heart burn and bad reflux from all the spices." He warned the monk, who only seemed to laugh at the warning.

"Oh please! I'll be fine, even when I get old! Nothing can stop The Great Kung Lao from enjoying a meal!" He joked a bit, patting his stomach until Madame Bo returned with another bowl, and just as the one before it was gone within a few minutes. Raiden just shook his head, feeling his poor wallet lighten the more food Kung Lao asked for. Johnny Cage was just laughing, watching Kung Lao for a while after he finished eating his own food, before he decided to say screw it and he asked for his own bowl of the noodles. Kenshi was quick to turn his attention to Johnny, frowning a bit.

"I advise against that, Cage. . ." He knew that the actor had pretty bad heartburn whenever he ate anything spicy. The American was just asking to perish. But nonetheless, he couldn't stop him and Madame Bo soon came with the bowl for Johnny. Kung Lao was half way through his third bowl of noodles, mid bite when Johnny mixed around the ingredients and carefully used his chopsticks to shovel a massive mouthful into his mouth. At first the actor was unbothered as he chewed, but soon the heat rose to his face, starting to sweat a bit as he swallowed down the food and he took a deep breath, his face red and his tongue feeling numb. He whistled slightly, his mouth watering in an attempt to kombat the heat.

"Man, that uh. . . That's a good kick to it, huh?" He tried to play it off, taking another bite. It was clear to see the American was in pain from the spice, and Kenshi got Madame Bo's attention to see if she had anything to help Johnny. Soon enough Johnny unknowingly had tears in his eyes, forcing himself to finish his food as to not be rude, but once all that was left was the sauce, he couldn't take it. "Holy fucking shit. . . What the hell is in that dish. . . Christ. . ." The man mumbled and whined a bit, mainly complaining to himself. Kung Lao stared at the actor, snorting in amusement at his reaction.

"You good there?" He asked with a playful tone, watching Johnny set his head down on the table, his shirt stained at his armpits from sweating and he had to unbutton the collar of his shirt, trying to combat the heat and boy was he losing.

"No. . . Shut up. . ." Johnny groaned a bit, slowly regretting his life choices as his breathing got a bit heavy. Kenshi patted his back, frowning.

"And this is why you should listen sometimes, Cage. . ." The swordsman let out a soft sigh, only to get a muffled whine from Johnny. Soon Madame Bo came over with some matcha green tea ice cream. Kung Lao took Johnny's bowl, pouring the soup into his fourth bowl before chowing down on the noodles once again, eating the food like it was nothing. Kenshi had Johnny sit up and carefully felt around for the spoon and the bowl before he started to assist the actor, carefully putting spoon full after spoon full of the green ice cream into his mouth. Johnny had to admit that he did enjoy being taken care of by the blind man, and he felt a little silly for not listening but hey he got ice cream and he wasn't complaining. Matcha wasn't his favorite flavor, but something was better than nothing against the aching pain in his mouth and chest. Raiden couldn't help but chuckle a bit, amused by the situation. He watched the three other champions carefully, fixing his hat a bit on his head before sitting up when both bills were brought out. Madame Bo handed one bill to Johnny and the other to Raiden. Johnny looked at the bill and wasn't too bothered, meanwhile Raiden was afraid to even look at the bill, but he knew he had to. When he flipped it over, his heart nearly stopped beating for a moment, staring at the triple digit number. Madame Bo was ruthless with her prices, but it was to be expected. Her Teahouse needed to make money somehow. Johnny Cage noticed the look on Raiden's face, and as Raiden reached for his wallet, the actor reached over quickly to snag the bill to pay for both bills himself, a tired grin on his still red, slightly tear stained face. A bit of the makeup he had on his face got smudged, like the foundation, showing the minor imperfections he usually hid like freckles and sunspots and acne scars. He was an actor, so of course he usually hid his face from time to time, but the imperfections also weren't noticeable unless someone was very close up to his face, like Kenshi often was. Raiden looked at the actor, giving him a bit of a look.

"Hey, give that back." The lightning wielder frowned, holding his hand out for the bill. Johnny Cage gave a playful grin.

"Not a chance, Kid Thunder!" Johnny playfully grinned at him, getting out his wallet as he took the last bite of his ice cream before getting out his money as Madame Bo came by again and he handed off both bills with the cash to her. The woman took the bills and the money and walked back off to ensure both were properly paid for. Johnny Cage had a very smug look across his rose colored lips, still gathering himself back up from the mistake of eating the spicy noodles. He ran his hand through his brown hair, getting it out of his face with a tired grunt. He grabbed his sunglasses off the table and put them over his eyes.

"You're impossible, you know that?" Raiden spoke, more so in a playful manner than actually meaning it maliciously. Johnny Cage chuckled along with him, Kenshi smiling softly while Kung Lao looked confused, having tuned everything out as he finished his final bowl and drank the last of the sauce from the bowls before leaning back in his seat to burp, making Kenshi grimace, forgetting how much Kung Lao lacked in manners at the table.

#mk1 #mortal kombat 1 #mortal Kombat #mk1 johnny cage #mk1 kenshi #mk1 johnshi #mk1 raiden #mk1 kung lao #mk1 railao #johnshi #railao #seven’s nonsense #seven's drabbles #mk1 oneshot

[fiorella-a]

Hey! I'm new here, thank you!

Honkai Star Rail boys as... "Cupid's Chokehold" lyrics (+scenarios?? Headcannons?? Mini fic?? Idk)

Info:

-Gn! Reader

-Fluff

Welt:

"Not much of a girlfriend

I never seem to get a lot"

"And I know it sounds so old

But cupid got me in a chokehold

And I'm afraid I might give in"

"And we can be on the phone for three hours

Not sayin' one word"

>> Welt's type would be: mature and patient, that is until you came along. You're reckless and if somebody talked bad about anyone you cared about, you'd be pulling out your weapon in no time. Welt could only sigh at your behavior but can't do anything about it because, well, you're you and he loves you. His soft spot is barely noticeable unless you've known Welt for a while (ehem Himeko, ehem Dan Heng, ehem March) then you'd definitely notice his presence shift and facial expressions soften. When you went to Jarilo-VI with the three youngsters, Welt would message you from time to time;

"Hi, good afternoon. As soon as you arrive at a hotel please notify me and don't call unless i say so."

"Stay safe, darling."

Sampo:

"This is gonna sound like a bad joke

But momma I fell in love again

It's safe to say I have a new girlfriend"

"She's got a smile that would make the most senile

Annoying old man bite his tongue"

"Call it dumb call it luck call it love or whatever you call it but

Everywhere I go I keep her picture in my wallet like here"

>> When Sampo first revealed it to the trio (he told them first before rubbing it into Gepard's face <33) that he has a girlfriend, they LAUGHED to the point their stomach actually started hurting and Dan Heng had to walk out. When Sampo revealed it was you, they started to side eye him like– "y/n? The person that helped us here in the underground??" "THE Y/N?!" "😲😲❓" Long story short: they approved of the relationship but if they see you upset, they immediately blame it on Sampo.

With your golden heart reputation along with the trailblazer, it's no use for other people to hide such thankful and wonderful feelings whenever you help them. Sampo would be smiling like an idiot if he sees someone who's usually in a bad mood talk to you with smiles in their faces and that's something he'll brag about.

Whenever Sampo would be involved in a fight, you bet he looks at your picture first before going in like a beast to fight, he could only wish that you'll brag about him too <3

Luocha:

"And I know you heard the last song about the girls that didn't last long

But I promise this is on a whole new plane

I can tell by the way she says my name"

>> When you first met, you pronounced is name as 'Loo-cha' instead of 'lao-cha' and you thought he was gonna make you carry the coffin he always has (💀) but he laughed it off and taught you how to pronounce his name. When you guys finally established a relationship, you'll find out that he took your phone and changed his own contact name into: "Loocha my beloved."

(Your contact name in his phone would be your name but all scrambled up with 'my beloved' at the end)

Jing Yuan:

"She's got eyes comparable to sunrise"

"She's got porcelain skin of course she's a ten"

>> This pretty 'lil General loves every part of you, especially your face. Why you might ask? Whenever he lays his head on your lap while you're eating on the floor, he can see the shine of the sun reflect into your eyes as if you're the human embodiment of the sun itself. Your skin? He loves it. Every scar, every stretch mark, every wound, every bruise, every scar, it's a ten for him. He wishes to be by your side while you heal physically and mentally.

Dan Heng and/or Imbibitor Lunae:

"She's got the cutest laugh I ever heard"

"when I start to build my future she's the main component"

>> He melts whenever you laugh, giggle or chuckle! Doesn't matter if you laugh like a horse or smth, he just finds himself smiling at you– you look so genuine and peaceful that he finds himself affected by the energy you're radiating and he's not planning on leaving.

One night, when he was about to sleep he sees you go into his room and he feels the kiss you gave onto his forehead before whispering quietly to yourself, "I'll be here, making sure you're safe and peacefully sleeping with no nightmares." He had a hard time faking to be asleep– hell even trying to sleep! All he can think about is you both together in the future, making sure each other is safe and that no harm would ruin both of your bond.

Gepard:

"I know I'm young but if I had to choose her or the sun, I'd be one nocturnal son of a gun"

>> Absolutely loves your energy and personality. His sister, Serval once said, "What if Y/n's actually the descendant of the Sun God? They makes my 'lil Geppie warm and breaks the ice surrounding him!" She'd laugh at her own statement while Gepard would think about what she said, yes, your personality does seem so energetic and your eyes radiates of what looks and seems to be innocence. But he damn well knows that he'd rather have the ice on his heart melt rather than the ice on his planet melt, call him selfish but he's a fool inlove.

Blade:

"It's gonna be a long drive home but I know as soon as I arrive home

And I open the door take off my coat and throw my bag on the floor

She'll be back into my arms once more for sure"

>> Being a stellaron hunter is tiring, he wishes he could rest for all eternity but he can't. That was his mindset before you came, now it's all 'when I come home will they be in the shower? Or will they be on the couch, waiting for me?' Of course, you're on the couch and running back into his arms you go! You can tell him that he's all bloody and sweaty but he doesn't care, as long as you're willing to hug him, he has no problem changing the way he comes home.

Arlan:

"I love it when she calls my phone

She even got her very own ringtone"

>> Arlan has a default ringtone for everyone except Asta, Herta, and you. Whenever you call all you need is a second (maximum is 3 minutes) and he'll pick it up speaking with you using his gentle voice, you can almost feel his muscles relaxing at your voice.

Asta promised Arlan that she wouldn't tell his little secret but she spilled it to you by accident saying, "OH! Do you know Arlan memorized your ringtone? That's why he picks up so quickly!" You could only giggle at what she said.

Caelus:

"she even cooks me pancakes

And Alka Seltzer when my tummy aches

If that ain't love then I don't know what love is"

>> He Loves the way you care for him. It gives him a feeling of having a childhood or a feeling of once being young. If he gets sick, he always requests you to make him pancakes before taking his medicines and always waffles when he wakes up for breakfast. While you're cooking or feeding him, he looks at you with eyes full of love!

#honkai star rail #hsr #hsr x reader #honkai star rail x reader #honkai star rail x gender neutral reader #gn reader #hsr fluff #honkai star rail welt #welt x reader #sampo koski #sampo x reader #luocha #luocha x reader #jing yuan #jing yuan x reader #dan heng #danheng x reader #gepard landau #gepard x reader #hsr blade #blade x reader #hsr arlan #arlan x reader #caelus #caelus x reader #fanfic #fluff #imbibitor lunae #imbibitor lunae x reader #honkai star rail x you

[lovelyballetandmore]

Sam Portillo | Pacific Northwest Ballet | Photo by Dan Lao

#sam portillo #pacific northwest ballet #balletphotography #balletmodel #blue tights #ballet slippers

[poimandresnous]

Why Do We Cultivate Knowledge?

Musing on chapters 14 & 16 of Master Zhuang's Outer Chapters: "The Revolving Heaven天運" & "Mending One's Original Nature or Correcting The Nature 繕性"

[16.1.1] "Once they have mended original nature with conventional wisdom, people now seek to recover its initial state."

This is to mean that when we take in accord with the vulgar "wisdom" of the world and try to use it to alter our innate nature's, we become ever estranged from the Dao.

For most of the Zhuangzi, we see a very anti-epistemological approach. A doing away with the conventional and human distinctions on "what is" and "what isn't," [Zhuangzi 2.14.11-14]. We are told to abandon the pursuit of knowledge [Dao dejing 3]. This is what Master Lao Dan (Laozi) would have Confucius do in chapter 14 天運 "The Revolving of Heaven." Master Zhuang presents us with another dialogue between the illustrious characters where Confucius had been searching high and low for the Dao for 51 years. Yet, he has not yet attained It [14.22]. Lao Dan inquires where Confucius had been seeking The Dao. Confucius says for 5 years he had sought the Dao in astronomical/astrological calculations for 5 years, yet he has still failed to acquire the inarticulate Dao. For 12 years, Confucius sought the Yin and Yang, yet he still has not attained it [14.23-27]. Lao Dan responds wonderfully to Confucius's journey, saying that,

[14.28.1] "Exactly! If the Dao could be presented, who would not present it to his sovereign! If the Dao could be offered, who would not offer it to his parents! If the Dao could be conveyed, who would not convey it to his brothers! If the Dao could be bestowed, who would not bestow it on his sons and grandsons! However, all this is impossible for no other reason than because no master exists within, so it does not linger."

According to Guo Xiang, this means Lao Dan would have Confucius do away entirely with knowledge. Confucius, as he is being presented currently, is looking outward for The Dao, yet he has no master within himself to properly use this knowledge in accord with his natural principle.

Lao Dan says this in 14.28.3-4, "If that which may emerge from within is not received without, the sage does not let it go forth. If that which may enter from without finds no master within, sageness won't abide there." 14.28.3 gives validity to the teacher-student transmission of things. For if no one is there to hear your teaching that arrives spontaneously, in step with Dao and its principles, the teachings do not go forth. And likewise, if we are not present, living radically in the moment while we are (outwardly) learning, true sageness/Dao will not abide within or out of us.

The rest of Confucius and Lao Dan's dialogue concludes that he must do away with those "classics" that I mentioned in my last post. Guo Xiang expands on this, conveying that without us being in accord with our natural principles and finding tranquility from within, everything we learn and know is fodder. It does nothing but estrange us from the speechless Dao. Although the pursuit of knowledge is indeed fulfilling, without us being radically in the moment while we are being presented with "learning" or "knowledge," how can it abide within us and, ergo, fulfill our virtue?

So now we are jumping back to chapter 16. This is quite a curious chapter, meaning it slightly shifts its perspective on knowledge. 16.1.2 tells us, "Having confused their desires with conventional wisdom, they now seek to perfect their understanding through self-conscious thought." This is too mean that we have confused our innate principle with the literal desire to attain knowledge, for knowledge's sake, self-consciously self-reflecting on said knowledge, forever refining our thinking; forever causing us to err. Master Zhuang calls these people the obstructed and obscure [16.1.3]. Guo Xiang expounds on this by suggesting only if we abandon such conventional wisdom and rid ourselves of the desire to attain such wisdom we would be so close to this ineffable Dao.

We must find that "master" within us, as suggested in Chapter 14.28.1, for knowledge to truly benefit us and aid our arsenal to cultivate the Dao. Without it, our nature is lost, and knowledge is thus agitated. This is why in 16.2.1, we are told, "In antiquity those who governed with the Dao cultivated knowledge in tranquility." And again, in 16.2.2, "They knew how to live but were free of knowing how to act with self-conscious purpose, so it may be said of them that they used knowledge to cultivate tranquility." I take this to mean, with the help of Guo Xiang, we just must spontaneously know. Knowledge is something that we must cultivate, there is no question about it. Setting aside religion and philosophy for a second and just using logic, we know that learning and knowledge are fundamental parts of the human experience. We constantly learn daily, whether we are fully aware of it or not. And that, right there, is the point, our awareness of the mass cultivation of knowledge we experience in an ever-globalized world. We are more connected and can access knowledge at the click of a button or a few strokes on a keyboard. Without us being presently aware, living radically in the moment of the knowledge we absorb, the knowledge is agitated, and our natures are obstructed.

Knowledge must nourish our souls and our innate principles. The same is said in reverse, our "master within" or our innate principle must be acted in accordance with the knowledge we receive. This knowledge "used to cultivate tranquility" sounds awfully like gnosis as described in more Western schools of thought, such as Hermeticism. But before we get into that, I must say how important it is to first become tranquil, meaning mastering our inner selves, which could mean becoming more disciplined, doing away with our self-preconceived notions of "this is" and "this is not" and thus, having a complete disregard for knowledge before we embark on any kind of "knowledge" or gnosis. Our tranquility must nourish the knowledge we receive outwardly; likewise, the knowledge we take in must nourish our inner selves.

Okay, enough redundancy. How does this "knowledge used to cultivate tranquility" compare to gnosis? Let's look at Corpus Hermeticum book IV.9: "Thus knowledge is not a beginning of the Good, but it furnishes us the beginning of the Good that will be known... For the Good has neither shape nor outline." Now, Hermeticism is big on "knowledge" or gnosis, which can be defined as the "highest" form of knowledge there is. This knowledge pertains to the Good who is God (The One) and other incorporeal entities such as the gods. It is not something that can be necessarily be "cultivated," in my opinion, but rather experienced. This is not all too different from chapter 16 from Zhuangzi's description of cultivating knowledge to nourish our tranquility and vice-versa [16.2.2]. Gnosis, knowledge, or whatever kind of "learning" is never the beginning of the Good, or of the Dao, but it does indeed furnish us to begin to know the road that leads to the Good, or the Dao.

CH IV.11 then tells us, "If your vision of it (The Good) is sharp and you understand it with the eyes of the heart, believe me, child, you shall discover the road that leads above, or rather, the image itself will show you the way. This sentiment rings back in chapter 14 of the Zhuangzi when we discussed finding "the master within" [14.28.3-4]. To "understand it with the eyes of the heart" sounds similar to having a "master exist within."

So to wrap this up, knowledge is okay to cultivate. Knowledge is okay to pursue. Knowledge is something we should strive for. If and only if, we use said knowledge to cultivate our virtue, our tranquility, and our innate principles. We must be in step with our inner selves first and foremost before any pursuit of knowledge or gnosis can have any real, practical effect in our lives. In Hermetic terms, we must use gnosis to furnish our road to The Good which belongs only to the Godhead. Any other knowledge that employs the use of logos, or speech (the conventional wisdom as mentioned above in Zhuangzi 16.1.1), will be fodder in comparison to the gnosis that is experienced and used to furnish our road and the ineffable Good, that is God.

**DISCLAIMER** Any philosophical parallels I draw between Eastern and Western schools of thought are for my own understanding. These parallels, as vague as they might seem, are not to suggest that there is any metaphysical or historical connection or of any historical transmission of ideas between said Eastern (Daoism) and Western schools (Hermeticism). I draw these parallels to remind myself that ideas and philosophical concepts can have similar sentiments, even though the cultivation of each thing (the Dao, and the Good) are gone about in different ways, practice-wise.

#philosophy #daoism #taoism #lao tzu #lao dan #zhuangzi #guo xiang #dao #dao dejing #laozi #corpus hermeticum #hermeticism #hermetic philosophy #hermetica #chinese philosophy

[anonymouscatloaf]

"You know, he's the yin to my yang. He completes me."

So the funny part about Dan repeatedly calling Perry the yin to Doof's yang (besides the fact that he can just freestyle some Greek tragedy level bullshit about Doof & Perry's relationship on the fly for Radio Disney or an episode commentary track) is that at face value you might also be like, okay but why is Doof the "yang" (light) and Perry the "yin" (dark)?

I didn't say good vs evil because that's not what yin and yang are about. As a concept it's one of those terms from another language that have variable meanings in English depending on who's using it and why, but its most enduring interpretation - with the disclaimer that I am not a philosopher, just someone who is far too invested in overthinking relationships in a kid's cartoon - is the idea that they are opposing but complementary forces of the energy that the universe operates on.

It's a balance. According to Lao-Tzu, "everything is embedded in yin and embraces yang; through [vital energy] it reaches [harmony]". Two sides of the same coin, sun and moon, my other half - you get the idea. It's not hard to see why Perry and Doof are complementary but opposite; one can't exist without the other: Perry all but gives up evil when Doof has that brief dalliance with Peter; Perry has exactly two POV songs in the entire show and both of them relate to Doof, one of which explicitly states "[his] life, it seems, is empty" without Doof's scheming and he "gave [Perry's] life heroic cause"; and he straight up has no idea what to do with his life and makes the saddest platypus sound ever when Doof bans thwarting as Tri-Governor in LDOS.

On the other hand, Doof is a lot easier to see - partly because he actually talks (though Perry is actually one of the most facially expressive characters in the show - by necessity - though I digress). He's overt about his affections and very clingy (a result of childhood trauma and abuse/neglect by his parents) because Perry's his only real friend. He all but begs Perry to thwart him in that whale episode, he became really upset when Perry seemed to be helping him in the episode with the Dull-and-Boring-inator but was just using him to fix the problem with Phineas and Ferb, and he can't bear to leave Perry behind in Road to Danville, just to list a few sillier examples off the top of my head. Really, the entire B plot could be used as evidence.

(There's also the fun dynamic of Perry being an animal that has human-level sentience, and Doof being a human that was raised by animals - ocelots - during some of his formative years.)

So they're irrevocably intertwined. One of the most important characters in each other's life, according to Dan from SDCC 2015. The LDOS ending song even puts Perry smack dab in the middle of the Doofenshmirtz family with Heinz, Vanessa, and Norm - two other characters deeply wrapped up with Perry as a result of Doof himself. I mean, look at them:

Yeah, this was an excuse to make you look at one of my favorite scenes and witness Perry's hopelessly fond smile, not sorry.

Anyway, back to yin-yang. They were originally ascribed to just "day" and "night", and eventually came to also mean "movement" (because you work during the day), and "rest" (because you sleep at night). In terms of qi, they embody heaven and earth, and in the collection of essays of the Huainanzi, "yang is generated from yin and yin is generated from yang [...] sometimes there is life, sometimes there is death, that brings the myriad things to completion". Technical details of Chinese philosophy aside (which I'm sure exactly nobody is considering when they call someone the yin to their yang - it's really just the "you complete me" part), the words themselves also have various opposing definitions: positive/negative, active/passive, sun/moon, overt/covert, etc etc etc you get the idea.

In terms of their relationship, Doof has the more active role. He's one who makes the crazy inators and plots elaborate traps and monologues everyday; Perry usually just reacts to that accordingly. Doof play-acts at a lofty, larger-than-life "evil", while Perry keeps him grounded ("you are my rock" and "having you around just makes me feel, you know, safer"). Perry isn't necessarily a wholly passive character, but also, like, a lot of his plot is just Shit Happens and Perry Has to Deal With It. Doof is overt about his "evil" schemes and can't stand even white lies. Perry spends his entire life hiding aspects of himself and keeping secrets from his loved ones, and he has a whole song in CATU about being an unrecognized hero. One of these characters is living in the "dark" more than the other...

Doof is overflowing with emotions - most of them negative, but also love: so much so that his daughter feels smothered, because a lot of that love (while borne of good intentions) is misguided, and Doof fails to actually listen to her; it takes a few rocky starts (helped along by Perry himself) before they get to the point where Vanessa considers her dad a "misunderstood genius" and convinces him to give up evil. On the other hand, Perry keeps his cards close to his chest - it's not that he doesn't know how to emote (he clearly adores his boys in ATSD and he apparently is happy to hang out with Doof as a friend outside of his job enough that he has a whole wallet of photos of them just goofing off together), he doesn't because of necessity. He's better than anyone at separating his work life (fighting evil) from his pet life (pretending to be a mindless animal) from his personal life (how much he loves his family, watching his silly dramatic soaps, having a petty streak and sassing Monogram a bit, is genuine friends with Doof).

As a result, he is full of emotions he rarely gets to express - around the Flynn-Fletchers specifically, because Doof does know he's sentient, which is another reason I think they click. Doof gets the single-minded attention he never had; Perry gets the treatment as an equal he never had. They both gain a friendship, and a new sort of family. There's a part of their life imbalanced when the other isn't present.

The yin and the yang. They complete each other.

#phineas and ferb #perry the platypus #heinz doofenshmirtz #pnf #cat talks #this is why they are the most compelling characters/relationship in the show to me #the higher stakes of the B plot are fun and all but the characters are still what really get me #this ain't about the ship but like they're very queercoded too if you wanna go there #ii just think their characters are FASCINATING how they play off each other #how important they are to each other #anyway i have several exams coming up so obviously i wrote this instead

[random-brushstrokes]

Alix Aymé - Le goûter. Dans l'atelier de l'artiste, Hanoi (ca. 1940)

Student of Maurice Denis, with whom she corresponded throughout her career, Alix Aymé conceived a passion for the Asian continent on her first trip there with her husband, when he was sent on a mission to China by the French government. She then spent over twenty years travelling in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Appointed professor at the Fine Arts School of Hanoi, she contributed to the revival of lacquer work with Inguimberty. Her works reflect the style of both the Nabis (a great influence on her) and traditional Vietnamese painting, for which she developed a deep affection. (source)

#women painters #Alix Aymé #french art #genre painting #1940s

[dance-world]

Dylan Wald - Pacific Northwest Ballet - photo by Dan Lao

#dylan wald #pacific northwest ballet #dan lao photography #dan lao #dance #ballet #dancer #danseur #ballerino #bailarín #tänzer #boys of ballet #ballet men

[nemosisworld]

La gentillesse dans les mots suscite la confiance.

La gentillesse dans la pensée crée la profondeur.

La gentillesse dans les actes engendre l'amour.

Lao-Tseu