#/ i consider the results as a reflection of his inner thoughts/beliefs

[rx-aysgl]

On Kyle's Side: My Personal Take on Cartman And Kyle's Dynamic From Kyle's Point Of View

This is a four part essay in which i explore Cartman and Kyle's relationship, focusing primarily on Kyle's perspective. As said, i have broken it down into four different parts titled:

Sense of Identity

Martyr Complex and Competitiveness

Cartman

Their Relationship

There will be an extra chapter where i will make some additional commentary.

Hope you guys enjoy.

1. Sense of Identity and Selfishness

In the show Kyle is always concerned about “doing the right thing”, at least that's what he likes to tell himself. Though in reality, he is extremely selfish when push comes to shove and the reason for that stems from his constant questioning of his own identity and his stance in things. This makes him come off as rather inconsistent in a lot of ways. As a result, Kyle feels very lost. So what does he do? He decides to base his opinions and feelings and thoughts off of his environment because his own existance overwhelms him so much (eg. the "Tooth Fairy Tats 2000" episode). This puts him into this vicious cycle where he keeps getting lost even more due to not being able to pinpoint his own frame of thought and latching onto the external world that consists of many different people who have found their own way in life who also keep changing constantly and thus leaving all kinds of contradicting impressions on him. Throughout the series we see him try to change his apparence, religion, even his personality for the sake of fitting in (this also correlates to his martyr complex which i will get to). He creates this moral code for himself that he conditions himself to stick to in order to find his own identity and feel a sense of belonging but the sheer inconsistency of said moral code causes him to come off as indecisive, sometimes as a people pleaser and sometimes a hypocrite.

His defiance of a stable frame of mind pushes him to act on instinct and his momentary emotions while his refusal of self-acceptance causes him to distance his true self from others he considers close to him (Stan), hence the selfishness. It makes sense because how could someone get close to another when he can't even make peace with his own identity?

The reason i am mentioning this is to point out that since Cartman is so extreme in his beliefs and deliberately commits so many evil and selfish deeds, Kyle is obsessively drawn to him because it is so easy to call out and oppose him. Their polarity makes Kyle feel a sense of self he doesnt allow himself to truly make peace with and sugarcoat how fucked up he can be just like all the people in South Park that have wronged him but not enough to channel these feelings into. Cartman keeps Kyle grounded. Just like basically every other kid in the show, Kyle has done terrible things but he is so concerned about being right that he has to have Cartman by his side to make him escape from his own inner conflicts by reflecting it directly onto Cartman, the one person he is actually much more similar to more than he likes to think but he can only subconsciously acknowledge it.

2. Martyr Complex and Competitiveness

Another very essential aspect we need to pay attention to is Kyle's martyr complex. Kyle feels the need to not only to do the right thing but also to “sacrifice himself” for it. He is so self righteous to the point that not only does he not acknowledge his own flaws he also thinks he has to be and is some kind of heroic figure to others (eg. "Ginger Cow"), though this is more subtle compared to the other aspects of his personality.

The martyr complex causes Cartman to be seen as an even easier target than he already is and Cartman is more than willing to exploit Kyle for it hence feeding his very own complexes. They mutually feed off of each other to the point they are obsessed with each other and need each other. I would also like to point out that Kyle often shares some of his most vulnerable moments when Cartman is by his side in a suprising way (eg. choosing to stay by Cartman's side in the "You're Getting Old" and "Ass Burgers" episodes as an escape from Stan's depression at the time, crying with Cartman in "Kenny Dies" etc.) and vice versa. Though this is hard to notice on Cartman's side because Kyle conveys his vulnerability via confusion, sadness and desparation whereas Cartman does so via anger, jealousy and revenge.

3. Cartman

Cartman chastising Kyle like this most likely stems from how he believes Kyle was the catalyst to how fucked up he turned out to be due to his constant agression and bullying towards him in the earlier seasons, where he was mostly just a spoiled brat and nowhere near as bad as he is now. His pent up fury leads Cartman to also feel an extreme amount of envy towards Kyle with the reason of Cartman being a little more capable than Kyle at recognizing how him and Kyle share many similarities (being very emotionally driven, selfishness, neuroticism, stubbornnes, a habit of denying their own mistakes) who is in full denial of it on a conscious level. Cartman does try to get closer to Kyle and also the rest of his friends and seek their validation in the earlier seasons but as time goes by he realizes more and more that Kyle does not get the same treatment as him regardless.

Therefore, Cartman blames Kyle for his suffering and takes it all out on him in various disgusting ways because he thinks that Kyle deserves all the terrbile things happening to him.

It is very important to take into consideration how abhorrent Cartman's upbringing was and how influential it is to the way he feels towards Kyle. All of his childhood; he was raised with all kinds of abuse, neglect, extensive bullying and was depraved of almost all positive emotions. The result of this is Cartman ending up percieving positive emotions in a very traumatized, distorted and disturbing way. With this gradual build-up and "Scott Tennorman Must Die" being his breaking point by spreading fear to all of South Park and feeling an overwhelming amout of attention on him that he craved so much, Cartman ultimately comes to the conclusion that he can only and only validate himself by inflicting negativity on others. Independent from being conventionally "positive" or "negative" emotions, post-Scott Tennorman Cartman correlates all of his emotions to seeking attention and asserting himself as much as he can in means of a defense mechanism and in means of validating his own existance. His real feelings are filtered through a broken perspective, of which are conveyed intensely to the people he feels strongly about like Kyle or Liane.

How this all comes back to Kyle lies in the fact that Cartman also "benefits" from the way Kyle caters to his own problems via their seemingly very polarized relationship, not only does Cartman keep Kyle grounded as mentioned but Kyle does keep Cartman grounded as well.

At this point, their individual vicious cycles have become one, a constant play of cat and mouse; with both of them unable to differentiate which one is which, ever chasing.

4. Their Relationship

Describing their feelings towards each other as solely hate wouldn’t do justice to the times they tried so hard to keep the other in their lives (eg. the "Smug Alert" and "Skank Hunt" episodes) not only for the sake of just existing in each others lives or keeping in touch etc. but also to keep each other in their individual loops they are in, of which they cannot maintain with anyone else.

As a consequence Kyle and Cartman’s mutual obsession with each other leads them to go such lengths as saving each other multiple times. However, since there is a perpetual competitiveness between them due to Cartman's evny towards Kyle and Kyle's insatiable need to prove himself to be better than Cartman, they simply cannot stand each other’s happiness, especially if it involves someone really close to them, like a partner. Cartman ruining Kyle's potential romantic relationship with Nicole in "Cartman Finds Love" and Kyle trying to ruin Cartman's relationship with Heidi in "Doubling Down" and Kyle being unable to appreciate Cartman finally changing his ways for good and having a loving relationship and family in the Post Covid specials are all examples of both of them selfishly trying to involve the other in their own issues they should be able to deal with on their own, only have they not been such self absorbed people.

Their rivalry brings out the best and the worst in each other and they both know deep down that they are just like each other and they both hate it and feel an odd sense of comfort in it. That is exactly the reason why they simply cannot stand when the one of them goes on to have a happier life than the other. Not only do they feel as if they have lost some kind of battle but they also feel abandoned when it happens.

Extra Thoughts:

I find their relationship to be extremely complex and honest to god it has my multi media overthinker ass climbing up the walls and shitting furnitures. They are my favorite characters in the show and analyzing both of them was such treat to me. Due to some things i have mentioned in this essay especially on the last chapter, you can interpret some of them in the same vein as some kind of shipping subtext, even though this essay is essentially written in means of sheerly exploring this dynamic as it is. I honestly like keeping things really ambigious without necessarily categorizing relationships as romantic or platonic but if written properly i can enjoy both renditions of this relationship.

In order to clarify some things, i can enjoy romantic kyman ONLY AND ONLY in the condition of Cartman bettering himself over the years. I know it would be really difficult and may seem impossible to most of you but i find it an interesting and challenging story to think about and create content for. I believe that Eric is forever gonna stay as an asshole and i do not expect him to become an angel in the future. However I also think of him to be a really traumatized 8 year old, who is a really fucked up product of his really fucked up environment, a child who is smart enough to learn to be a better person, especially to those he values as his friends if given the proper opportunity. I do not think that their relationship will ever be a conventionally and classically an ideal one, especially from an outsider's perspective but Kyle and Cartman (and the entirety of South Park's cast) are both very far from being ideal human beings in the first place. At the end of the day, relationships can be very complex and unhealthy in real life, they always come in different colors and shapes. It is okay to explore a relationship in fiction without thinking it is the ideal relationship or the relationship you want to have in your own lives. It is okay to explore a relationship because it is interesting and well-written. This is what media literacy is all about.

As a disclaimer before some dumbass ship discourse happens, there are ofc some lines not to cross like the romanticization of inc*st, p*dophilia, r*pe and things like ww2 aus and shit btw. That being said, if you cannot separate fiction and reality to the extent i talked about in the previous chapter, this is your stupidity. Stop making it everybody's fucking problem.

anyways im gonna be extra deadass rn if someone gave me a 100k word long collage au that is written properly i would eat that shit up like theres no tomorrow. it doesnt even have to be romantic i just want more of them they are so interesting 😭😭😭 they also funny as fuck so the 2012 yaoi becomes even funnier. what a great dynamic godzamn 😭😭😭😭

Thanks for reading!!!

#south park #south park analysis #south park meta #sp #sp analysis #sp meta #eric cartman #kyle broflovski #sp discussion #south park headcanons #analysis #kyman #cartyle #kyle and cartman #dynamic analysis #media analysis #sp kyle #sp cartman #character analysis

[drjameslongjr]

Overcoming Overthinking Biblically

Overcoming Overthinking: Transforming Fear, Perfectionism, and Shame Biblically

Overthinking, a silent and consuming companion familiar to many, is often more than a worry here and a fret there; it's a mindset rooted in the deepest fears, the desire for unattainable perfection, and a profound sense of unworthiness. In moments of quiet reflection, or in the thick of life's demands, overthinkers can find themselves tangled in a web of their thoughts—far from the peace that they crave. For the Christian community, the burden of overthinking may feel particularly stark, with theological implications related to questioning God's promises, forgetting the power of prayer, and casting doubt on His very plan. But there is hope threaded through the fabric of our faith, designed to pierce through the fog of overthinking and lead us to a more secure and peaceful existence. This guide, centered on biblical principles, aims to serve as a light in the darkness, offering a path to break free from the shackles of overthinking. Here are the skills to transform fear, perfectionism, and shame that you, as a seeker of peace and wisdom, can adopt to experience the freedom promised by the Word.

1. Recognizing the Signs of Overthinking

Before a cure can be formulated, it is essential to understand the ailment. Overthinking often begins as a response to life's uncertainties, a yearning for control that spirals into a whirlwind of incessant analysis of past choices, future outcomes, and the judgments of others. This unhealthy preoccupation can manifest in various ways: Excessive Worry: Obsessing over potential issues or the worst-case scenarios with little or no evidence. Indecisiveness: Struggling to make choices, fearing that a decision will be the wrong one. Rumination: Replaying past events, conversations, or mistakes and wishing outcomes were different. To identify if overthinking is a personal challenge, one must cultivate self-awareness, examining these patterns without judgment but with an observant eye. Here we must recall Matthew 6:34 which calls us not to worry. Each day has its own troubles, and entrusting our paths to God's hands allows room for His direction and timing.

2. Exploring the Causes of Overthinking

Fear, perfectionism, and shame are the common culprits festering beneath the surface of overthinking. Fear seeks to dictate our responses. Perfectionism sets unrealistic standards.  And shame whispers that we are our mistakes and not His grace. These ingredients create an inner environment ripe for overthinking: Fear: Unprecedented living motivated by the unknown results and outcomes of our day-to-day lives. Perfectionism: A relentless pursuit of flawless performance, often leading to self-criticism and paralyzing doubt. Shame: The belief that we are doomed, unredeemable, unable to receive love, grace, and acceptance. Drawing parallels between personal experiences and biblical stories of heroes who walked through these emotions, such as Moses's fear of failure or Peter's shame at denying Christ, can offer insight and solace. Here lies an opportunity not to despair but to learn. Remember, it's our weakness that makes room for His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9–10).

3. Gaining Biblical Insight on Overthinking

The Scriptures are a treasure trove of wisdom and solace for the overthinker. With every turn of the page, a resounding truth punctuates the air: God is in control, His plan is perfect, and His love casts out all fear. Consider the following verses as testimonies: Philippians 4:6-7: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 2 Timothy 1:7: "For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control" (sound mind). Romans 8:38–39: "For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." These verses stand as fortresses for the mind, offering an alternative perspective on life's adversities, inviting us to lay our fears before the throne of the Almighty, and declaring our undying position within the shelter of His love.

4. Overcoming Overthinking Biblically

To overcome overthinking, we must reframe our thought process, rewire our neural pathways, and root ourselves in the unshakable foundation of faith. Here are practical, faith-based strategies to achieve this transformation: Prayer and Meditation: Establish a rhythm of prayer and meditate on Scriptures daily. Pray not just for the cessation of overthinking but for a deeper revelation of God's character and promises in your life. Cognitive Restructuring: Identify the lies of fear, perfectionism, and shame and replace them with the truths of the Bible. When intrusive thoughts bombard, wield the Word as your sword to cut through the deception. Community and Mentorship: Isolate is often the soil which overthinking grows in. Engaging with supportive members of your Christian community or seeking mentorship can provide the encouragement and correction needed on the path to freedom from overthinking.

5. Developing an Action Plan

An action plan is your roadmap to transforming fear, perfectionism, and shame into faith, trust, and perseverance. It should be specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). Here's a broad structure to ensure your plan is comprehensive: Step 1: Establish Your Goal The focus here is to define what 'overcoming overthinking' means to you. It could be making more confident decisions, experiencing peace in daily life, or reducing mental clutter. Step 2: Identify Triggers What sets off your overthinking? Is it conflict, deadlines, or social gatherings? Pinpointing these triggers is paramount to addressing root causes. Step 3: Combatting Triggers Biblically How can you respond to your triggers in a manner that aligns with biblical principles? Perhaps a specific verse comes to mind in those tense moments; learn that verse and apply it as needed. Step 4: Review Progress On a set frequency, review your progress. Are you growing in trust, peace, and freedom? Celebrate the victories, learn from the stumbles, and adjust your approach as necessary.

7. Conclusion

Overthinking may be a familiar adversary, but it is not an unbeatable one. Through the insights of Scripture, prayer, community, and a proactive action plan, a life less burdened by fear, perfectionism, and shame is not only conceivable but biblically mandated. The next time your thoughts begin to spiral, remember that your Heavenly Father knows your needs before you even ask (Matthew 6:8). Stand firm in His truths, and may His peace that surpasses all understanding settle in the depths of your soul. Each moment, each decision, is a step on the path to freedom. So let's take that first step today, and trust in the Lord with all our heart (Proverbs 3:5-6). He is faithful, and He will guide us towards a life free from overthinking. Don't let your thoughts hold you back any longer. Embrace the abundant life God has promised us and live it to the fullest! Remember, we are not alone in this struggle, and together we can overcome through the power of Christ in us. Let's continue to encourage and support one another on this journey towards freedom from overthinking. So go ahead, step out in faith and trust God to lead you towards a life filled with peace, joy, and purpose. It's time to break free from overthinking and live the life God has intended for us!

Join Our Community

As we continue on our paths, constantly uplifted by faith and the freeing power of God's love, remember that you don't have to walk this journey alone. Join our monthly membership or our vibrant online group coaching program. There you will find a community of like-hearted individuals all striving towards living lives filled with faith, purpose, and joy. Together, we can support each other, learn from each other, and grow stronger in our faith and in our daily lives. Visit Lessons for Life Membership to learn more and become a part of our growing community. Your next step towards a life of freedom from overthinking and full of God's promises is just one click away. Join us, and let's rise up together in faith and victory. Read the full article

#faith #fearandworry #changedlives #habitualworry #peace

[otter1962crystalball]

Seeking What the Universe is Sending Me

This is a follow-up to my last blog called “A Shocking About Face.” I’ve been dealing with the fallout of that situation. I’ve had these rather unsettling recursive thoughts about what happened. It’s almost like I’ve been in a state of shock. Ideas about how I did everything to be authentically me and yet it still went south. Now, here is what I want to write about - The Universe has sent me a message and as a result, many questions pop into my head.

Am I attracting people like this man for a reason? Was there something that I did to cause this? Was I unconsciously attracting another broken person to me? Is the Universe still telling me that I’m broken and that I need to find a fix in order to stop attracting broken people? Why is the narcissist situation coming up again? I wasn’t involved with the narcissist, but the man I was seeing has a narcissist controlling his life. Why did I attract this man? What did I do to continue this cycle of narcissism? 

These are loaded questions and as I reflect on them, I’ve realized that the loss of this brief, yet passionate romance had a big effect on me. As a result, the loss has been magnified more than I expected.

A friend suggested that I get in touch with my inner child and ask him what he needs. I think that is a good idea so I sat and meditated on it. He’s wondering why these things keep happening over and over. He’s so very tired of experiencing sadness and loss. He wants to be loved and cared for instead of abused, ignored or dismissed. He wants to see something amazing happen to him to let him know that he is worth it and deserves to be on this Earth.

Am I attracting people like this man for a reason? My gut says that I long for someone who can give me as much love as I can give him. From all points of view, he looked like someone who was authentic as I was. The only problem is that he had a mask on and I couldn’t see under it.

Was there something that I did to cause this? I know in my heart that I truly do want to find someone who will love and respect me. Perhaps this is such a new situation about being authentic that puts me in unknown territory and don’t yet know my way.

Was I unconsciously attracting another broken person to me? There was a wish and prayer to meet someone authentic, loving, caring and able to be respectful of who I am as a person. This is where I go back to the question of why the Universe is sending this situation to me. What am I missing or not yet learned? This particular question remains unanswered. I truly have no answers at the moment.

Is the Universe still telling me that I’m broken and that I need to find a fix in order to stop attracting broken people? My God! I’ve done so much work to allow me to see that I am not broken! I had no clue that he was broken. I don’t have an extra sense to know that. Some of my friends do, but not me. Or maybe, I’ve not opened myself up to receive the messages. In my heart, I feel that I am not broken - I’m just a little heartbroken because I had three weeks of bliss, living in the belief that he really wanted to be with me.

Why is the narcissist situation coming up again? I’ve been through two major relationships with narcissists. You can refer to my other blogs for more reading. I can smell a narcissist a mile away. This time, the narcissist that got his claws into the man that I met. Without a doubt, he knew what he had to do to get the man to come back to him. What is the Universe asking me to consider in this situation? That I have to see the situation from another angle to better understand. 

Why did I attract this man? What did I do to continue this cycle of narcissism? 

This is a hard question. I’d like to think that he sensed that I was a man that would treat him with love, respect and care. If he sensed that, what did his ex-partner do to override that? It is probably due to the man’s inability to have self-love and self-esteem. I do know in my heart that it wasn’t my issue and that I was genuine and authentic. Is the Universe telling me something again? I do not know.

As I conclude, I am reflecting on the sadness that I feel. Yes, I do feel sad about my loss. He was wonderful to be with and made me very happy. I am also sad for him. As a caregiver, it is hard not to want to help someone. I know in my heart that I can’t help him and will not try. 

I would really like some feedback. What are your feelings about this? Thank you for reading my blog.

Carpe diem.

#universe #selflove #questions #carpediem

[bluejayblueskies]

Please say more abt how Martin fits the closed off trait I'm begging 👁👁

Okay, so I got a bit carried away with this and it got quite lengthy....

I've put a TLDR above the cut and the details, transcripts, and general discussion below the cut!

.

TLDR: Martin is at his core a closed-off character who keeps his vulnerable feelings hidden and close to his chest. He instead focuses on caring for others and considering their feelings above his own, particularly in the case of Jon, who he cares for (sometimes to the point of self-sacrifice) throughout the podcast. His arc with the Lonely in season four and his interactions with Jon in season five demonstrate this lack of emotional vulnerability, and it's really only during the moments he spends by himself that we get significant insight into Martin's emotional state and inner thoughts.

.

Martin, to me, is a character who is very used to hiding how he feels. He tends to care for others at the expense of himself, has low self-esteem, and has a predilection towards the Lonely, all of which go hand-in-hand with somebody who is very used to hiding their emotions--particularly the negative ones--because they either think they're not important or that they're inconvenient and inappropriate for the situation. On a textual level, that's probably due to growing up with a sick (and likely unsupportive) mother who he had to take care of, where there was 'no time' for his emotions to get in the way or for him to prioritize himself in any way, shape, or form.

Martin is self-destructive, dislikes moments of emotional vulnerability, and (I would argue) genuinely struggles when he doesn't have somebody else to prioritize over himself. (His mother at first, but as the series goes on, Jon settles comfortably into this role for him.) Additionally, the biggest way that we, the audience, know anything about Martin's emotional state is when he's alone and self-reflecting (such as in MAG 170 and 186 or when talking to the tapes) or when he's forced to talk about something vulnerable (such as when Jon confronted him about his CV).

We don't get much insight into Martin's character between seasons one and three (at least not as much as we get in four and five), but I find myself drawn to this bit in MAG 118, when Martin is talking to Elias:

MARTIN

So what? I don’t get to be angry? I don’t get to burn things? Just, just run around, making tea, while everyone else gets to actually have feelings?

I think two things are important to note here. The first is that Elias is surprised (or least intrigued) that Martin is acting in this way--specifically, acting on his emotions in such a dramatic way. (And given that Martin is doing this as a distraction, rather than actually acting out because of his own emotions, maybe he's right to be surprised.) The second is that this line very much implies that Martin doesn't talk about how he's feeling, not like 'everyone else' does. He doesn't talk about it, doesn't act on it--just 'runs around, making tea.' And when Melanie comes back in after Elias is done, Martin immediately focuses on the plan and whether it succeeded, ignoring Melanie when she asks if he's okay or not. He closes himself off, and as far as we know, doesn't talk about it at all after that.

And then Jon goes into his coma, and we reach season four.

Martin is incredibly closed-off during season four. He's self-isolating, self-sacrificial, and approaching a state of genuine emotional numbness by the time he's cast into the Lonely. There's a lot to unpack there, but I'm going to focus on a few main things, many of which can be drawn from this bit in MAG 158:

MARTIN

It’s not him! It’s not anybody. It’s just me. Always has been. I…

When I first came to you, I thought I had lost everything. Jon was dead, my mother was dead, the job I had put everything into trapped me into spreading evil and I… I really didn’t care what happened to me. I told myself I was trying to protect the others, but… honestly we didn’t even like each other. Maybe I just thought joining up with you would be a good way to get killed.

And then… Jon came back, and… and suddenly I had a reason I had to keep your attention on me. Make you feel in control so you didn’t take it out on him. And if that meant drifting further away, so what? I’d already grieved for him. And if it meant now saving him, it was worth it.

When you started talking about the Extinction, though… you had me actually, then, for a while. But then – (laughs sardonically) then, you tried to make me the hero. Tried to sell me on the idea that I was the only one who could stop it. And that I’ve never sat right with me. I mean, I mean, look – look at me, I’m not exactly a – a chosen one. But by then I was in too deep. So I played along. Waited to see what your end game was, and here we are.

Funny. Looks like I was right the first time. It’s probably still a good way to get killed?

This monologue is a big insight into Martin's thought process during this season, and I'm mostly going to focus on two parts: the self-sacrifice and the prioritization of Jon.

Self-sacrifice

There's quite a bit of discussion about Jon's self-sacrificial tendencies, but less so about Martin's, both in this season and in season five. In my opinion, Jon's self-sacrificial tendencies originate from (among other things) survivor's guilt from his traumatic childhood experience with Mr. Spider, his increasing belief that he's less than human, and the fact that he prioritizes the lives of others over his own. Martin's self-sacrificial tendencies, while very similar, come from the fact that he thinks he only has worth if he can help and care for someone else and the fact that he doesn't think he's important enough to live. (For example, he says in MAG 158 that he's 'not exactly a chosen one' and says in MAG 198 that he's 'not important enough to kill.')

It's a subtle difference between these two things, and I would argue that while Jon's tendencies are more rooted in the 'help' (ie, 'I want to help other people and I will sacrifice myself to do it'), Martin's tendencies are more rooted in the 'hurt' (ie, 'I will sacrifice myself and other people will be helped in the process'). There is, of course, overlap, and it's not a black-and-white distinction between the two, but ultimately, I think Martin is so used to prioritizing others' emotions and needs above his own that when he's left mostly alone as he is at the end of season three, with the only person left to hold onto being in a coma (possibly forever), he falls back into the same patterns of self-destruction and closed-offness, only without the 'help' to go along with the 'hurt' because there is nobody left to help (especially after his mother dies). Ultimately, he joins up with Peter because he thinks it 'would be a good way to get killed.'

Prioritization of Jon

But then Jon wakes up from his coma, and now Martin has justification for his self-sacrifice again, because he can protect Jon by continuing to work with Peter!

... Maybe.

Jon isn't harmed by Peter during season four, sure, but he does climb into the coffin and visits Ny-Ålesund and is tracked down by Julia and Trevor and struggles emotionally and morally with his own humanity and is hurt, in a way, by the distance Martin puts between them. And I hesitate to place blame for the apocalypse on anybody but Jonah, but if we're going to argue in-canon that Jon was responsible for the apocalypse (he wasn't, but that's not the point of this post), then Martin contributed to that blame and responsibility because it was his actions and decisions that ultimately drew Jon into the Lonely and resulted in him getting the 14th and final mark. (Again, I don't think Jon or Martin are at fault for the apocalypse, but if we were to blame Jon, we could blame Martin as well.) It was only after getting that mark that Jonah was able to use Jon to end the world, something that was hugely hurtful for Jon. So did Martin really protect Jon at all by staying away from him and continuing to work with Peter? Or was that just a convenient excuse to keep self-destructing?

Jon and Martin, in my opinion, had very similar arcs in season four. Martin was sinking further into the Lonely and Jon was sinking further into the Eye. We hear a lot more about Jon's emotional struggle with this given that he's the POV character, sure, but Jon also talks about this with other people. He talks about it to Helen (MAG 152):

JON

…

When does it stop?

HELEN

(impatient) What?

JON

The guilt. The misery. All the others I’ve met, they’ve been – cold, cruel. They’ve enjoyed what they do. When does the Eye (inhale) make me monstrous?

And to Daisy (MAG 136):

JON

My – (large sigh) My memories of the coma are not clear, but I know I made a choice; I made a choice to become… something else. Because I was afraid to die. But ever since then, I – I don’t know if I made the right decision; I’m stronger now, tougher, I can – (he cuts himself off) If I do die, now, or get sealed away somewhere forever? I don’t know if that’s a bad thing. And I don’t want to lose anyone else, so if I can maybe – stop that happening, and the only danger is to me, I – I’ll do it in a heartbeat; worst case scenario, the universe loses another monster.

But all we really get from Martin are the things he tells the tapes when he's alone and the monologue he gives in MAG 158. It makes sense that he wouldn't be as open, yes, given the nature of the Lonely, but I can't help but think of (MAG 154):

JON

The Lonely’s really got you, hasn’t it?

MARTIN

(no hesitation) You know, I think it always did.

Jon was always curious and hungry for knowledge; the Eye amplified it. Martin was always closed-off and isolated; the Lonely amplified that as well.

But then Jon pulls Martin out of the Lonely, they flee to the safehouse, and three weeks later, the apocalypse begins. Martin isn't as consumed by the Lonely as he was in season four, he's with Jon--the person he loves--for extended periods of time, and they're in an extremely stressful situation that's sure to be incredibly emotionally charged. There's a lot to be said about Jon's emotional vulnerability during season five and how Martin both pressures him for it and rejects it in different ways, but for the purposes of this post, I won't go too far into detail about the motivations behind how Jon is feeling and acting.

I will say, however, that in season five, Martin still continues to place a lot of focus on asking Jon how he's feeling, encouraging (or pressuring) him to share, and getting frustrated when Jon can't or doesn't (MAG 167):

MARTIN

Okay, so how exactly would you describe your current emotional state regarding all of this?

JON

I –

MARTIN

(overlapping) Go on, I’m all ears.

JON

I feel…

MARTIN

(go on) Mhm.

JON

(sigh) I feel… sad.

[Brief pause.] MARTIN

(flat) Sad.

JON

Very sad.

MARTIN

(*very* flat) Very sad.

[He sighs slightly as he says it. Their bags jangle.]

A few moments prior to this, Martin expresses displeasure that Jon is Knowing things about him, specifically pointing out his emotions (MAG 167):

MARTIN

It’s just – it’s weird knowing that you can know literally everything I think and feel. E-Especially since you’re not exactly the most open of people – emotionally, I mean.

I think Martin is making an effort to open up more to Jon. But I still think it's difficult for him to talk about how he feels so openly, and while he is completely in the right for not wanting Jon to Know things about him without his permission, I think it's interesting that the focus is on his feelings and that he brings up how Jon isn't emotionally open immediately after. It scares Martin to think that Jon could know, at any given moment, how he's feeling, and I think it's partially because he's not used to that level of vulnerability. He turns the focus on Jon, away from himself, and doesn't really make an effort to talk about how he's feeling about all of this, instead prioritizing Jon's feelings and mental state like he's grown comfortable with.

And when Martin bottles up his emotions--of which there are a lot, in such a stressful environment, they can explode out in hurtful ways:

MARTIN

(overlapping) I know! I know, okay, I just – (bracing exhale) Look, I j,just – don’t want to get burned, all right? It’s, it’s like my least favorite pain ever.

JON

Is that – a joke?

MARTIN

(a bit faster, a bit shaky) No, no, okay? I, I legitimately hate burns, alright? They’re, they’re awful, and they scar horribly, and they just – it – it just makes me sick; I, I hate it. Hate it!

I don't think Martin really thought about what he was saying when he told Jon, who has a large burn scar on his hand, that burn scars make him sick, and I don't think he meant it maliciously. But he'd spent the greater portion of the conversation talking around the fact that he didn't like burns and that was why he didn't want to go into the building, and so when it finally ended up coming out, it did so in an explosion of emotion rather than a conscious decision to share. Martin doesn't have a good handle on his emotions, and he doesn't have a good handle on sharing them.

(Is it too much for me to say that Martin was more emotionally vulnerable with himself in MAG 170 than he was with Jon when Jon finally found him?)

Throughout season five, Martin asks Jon questions, he expresses frustrations with Jon, he shows discomfort or fear at times, but for as much as Martin feels frustrated that Jon isn't talking about how he feels about their situation, Martin really isn't doing so either. The most he talks about his feelings is in MAG 170 and MAG 186, when he's by himself, and I remember MAG 186 in particular because before that, we really didn't know what Martin was thinking about for the majority of the season! And in this episode, we find out a lot of very important things about Martin's character. Like (MAG 186):

ALSO MARTIN

Look, I know what you know. Maybe I’m just a bit more… open about it.

Also-Martin acknowledges that Martin often doesn't say what he means and hides what he really feels, telling him that it's 'hard to be vulnerable,' and Martin is initially very resistant to the idea. And then, when Also-Martin suggests that Martin wants to stay so that he can be 'quietly sad,' we get (MAG 186):

MARTIN

We could talk to Jon about it.

ALSO MARTIN

We could. But we both know that loved ones make the worst therapists. They’re too wrapped up in trying to stop you hurting to actually help. But hey, we know all about that, am I right?

MARTIN

There’s nothing wrong with comforting people.

ALSO MARTIN

A cup of tea isn’t a resolution. At best it’s a… a plaster. At worst… a muzzle.

This is very interesting to me, because for all that Martin tries to help other people, he also believes that comfort doesn't always help and that you can't be your loved one's 'therapist.' I think this gives a lot of insight into why Martin doesn't share his emotions with the people he cares about, especially Jon; he doesn't want to put Jon in the position where he'll become his 'therapist,' and he doesn't necessarily think Jon can help. So instead, Martin just chooses not to be vulnerable at all, because he doesn't want to burden the people he cares about. But, when it's just him (MAG 186):

ALSO MARTIN

Don’t lie. You don’t need to. Not here. It’s just us.

He doesn't feel like he needs to pull his emotional punches. He can't accidentally hurt somebody or put them in an awkward position; it's just himself. But what's said to himself remains with himself, and (at least on tape), he doesn't discuss any of this with Jon. Not even the bit about, if it came down to it, Martin would have rather had Jon smite him than continue to rule over a domain. He goes right back to being closed-off around Jon, but now we, the audience, know what lies underneath, and how little of it reaches the surface.

In fact, the thing Martin's probably most vocal about is how Jon's feelings about himself bother him (MAG 199):

MARTIN

I guess that’s why it really bothers me, you know? I try, but I can’t actually imagine ever making a decision that I knew meant losing you.

And it… It hurts to know you can.

And I think he has a tendency to use anger and frustration to cover up hurt, shying away from the admission that something Jon's done has hurt him (an incredibly vulnerable thing) and instead relying on the less-vulnerable and more external anger to cover it. This is more speculation than true analysis, but I think that's a lot of what's happening in MAG 200, when he discovers that Jon has already assumed the position of the pupil and has, in Martin's eyes, broken his promise.

.

TLDR: Martin is at his core a closed-off character who keeps his vulnerable feelings hidden and close to his chest. He instead focuses on caring for others and considering their feelings above his own, particularly in the case of Jon, who he cares for (sometimes to the point of self-sacrifice) throughout the podcast. His arc with the Lonely in season four and his interactions with Jon in season five demonstrate this lack of emotional vulnerability, and it's really only during the moments he spends by himself that we get significant insight into Martin's emotional state and inner thoughts.

#tma #the magnus archives #martin blackwood #tma meta #jonathan sims #(because i do talk about jon a bit in this too) #i actually think martin isn't good with emotions at all #both his own and others' #i think he doesn't quite know what to do with them so he puts on a mask and defaults to things he knows will work #*thinks about the low empathy autistic martin high empathy autistic jon post with love in my heart*

[littlemisssquiggles]

What are some hobbies u think Oscar has or interest he has be sides reading

Hello again Dreamer,

Well besides reading books, this squiggly Pinehead also likes to indulge in the Pinehead headcanon that Oscar enjoys writing especially since it’s been shown that he canonically enjoys reading fairy tales.

I liked the idea of Oscar keeping a special old journal that either his aunt or some other close relative (like his former parents) gifted to him as a young boy that he’s cherished since childhood and has been using to chronicle stories of not just his own life but also the lives of the people he’s met that have influenced him in some way. Kind of like a diary but I’d imagine Oscar would be too coy or even a wee bit embarrassed to call it that.

I also liked the idea of Oscar sometimes keeping small sketches or random doodles in his journal in between his writing. While he may not consider himself an artist, I like the thought of Oscar actually being a decent sketcher while still being too shy to actually show anyone his drawings since they’re meant to be personal, very close to heart (as a reflection and depiction of his true inner thoughts) and thus private like his writing.

Another potential hobby that I pegged would be terrific for Oscar is cooking. Nothing too fancy-smancy. Just something he liked to do from time to time since it reminded him of home, not necessarily with his aunt but more so with his parents (or perhaps Oscar lived closely with only one of his parents or came from a household where he might’ve had siblings).

I’m still holding onto the theory that Oscar had actually only been living with his aunt on her farm for a short space of time and had actually been bounced around several relatives (and maybe the occasional foster home) for a full 3-4 years after his parents’ death (according to my headcanons, that is).

I’d still like to stand by the prospect that Oscar probably lost his parents a lot more recently than the RWBY series likes to give off. My hunch is that Oscar lost his folks when he was at least 10 going on 11 or so. And like many things about him, my theory is that Oscar was probably never truly given the chance to process the live-changing events in his life---either because they happened so quickly and/or as a growing child, he was often encouraged to just “not think about it; just move on” and that’s how he learned to cope with things such as trauma and pain.

Since I’d like to stand by the belief that the whole Ozpin scenario wasn’t Oscar’s first running with being placed into an uncomfortable scenario that was beyond his control; where he really had no say in the choices that came from it despite it deeply affecting him or something to that extent.

I’d like to think that Oscar’s been treated this way his entire teenage life since he lost his first family and thus his current demeanour, as we see in the show, is what’s become of him as a result of that. But that’s a headcanon for another day.

Getting back on track, bottom-line, Oscar struck me as the type of well-behaved kid who would be more than willing to help around in the kitchen. So I always figured or at least liked the concept of him being raised in a rather…I guess old-fashioned household for lack of a better term where all the family members contributed to the operations of the house and took turns doing their respective chores with cooking being one of them.

After the whole casserole incident of RWBY V6CH9, I know Pineheads alike clapped at the prospect of Oscar being able to cook (even better than Ruby since he made it all by himself while Ruby needed guidance from Ren). And while I still hate that episode with a bloody passion as a Pinehead for how Oscar was overall treated during it, I still liked that it at least gave us that little detail about him and I’d love to think that Oscar knows his way around the kitchen due to his upbringing.

So if he had to have another little hobby besides keeping a journal (or many journals), cooking would be the next one. Although, admittedly I like the journaling idea better since I think it more suits Oscar’s character in my opinion.

But anyways, that’s my headcanon for the little prince of RWBY. Hope that answers your question m’fam.

~LittleMissSquiggles (2022)

#-squiggles answers: rwby #oscar pine #rwby theories #pinehead headcanons #squiggles pinehead headcanons

[theodora3022]

Bloody Rose(Sebastian Michaelis x Vampire F!reader)

Request: Sabastian with a female vampire s/o? Can be yandere or not! You choose.

Notes: I made this in headcanons form and I’m typing on mobile during witching hours, so bear with me dear anon-

I decided to go with fluff since I am in a soft mood today~~

Warnings: Fluff, mentions of blood

To others, you were a tailor owning a small haute couture shop, a spinster who make her living by making outfits. But they won’t know you been doing this since the Georgian times.

You move from county to county, around England every decade or so, to avoid suspension. Luckily no vampire hunters has ever been on your tail: you consider yourself as a good subject to the crown despite being a blood drinker. You only consume animal blood, which made you a harmless vegetarian. Being a forever maiden is not unpleasant by any means, apart from being banished from sunlight. You miss being able to run around in the sun freely. When you do go out during a sunny day you cover yourself in fabric as much as possible, resulting you with overly pale skin.

Contrary to common belief, you slept until the afternoon, opening up the store even during the day. You had forced yourself to change your biological routine to fit in the human society. Although your bed resembles a traditional coffin in shape, it is never an actual one. The mirrors in your shop were not backed by silver, so you can still see your reflections.

You happened to be at late Victorian London when a mysterious murderer decides to drain the blood of thier victims like a vampire would, how unfortunate.

You were one of the suspects, so Sabastian and his lord were obligated to pay you a visit. Although they did not put you as priority to begin with: you never done things like this. 

You welcomed them to your store with a polite smile and warm greetings, as any good saleswoman would. 

Ever since transforming, you had not drank a drop of human blood. However, you can still smell the scent of their blood even through skin. It feels like...a natural perfume to you, to describe it at best. Some are sweeter then others, like tempting sweet delights, and you had to make sure you are well fed before going near them. 

That little lord’s blood is sweet and tempting. The butler, however, his blood just...is that even blood? You thought to yourself. It reminds you of the mighnight, danger lurking underneath the peaceful surface.This man is no ordinary human, you can sense that much. You had never delt with a demon before, therefor your knowledge is rather limited, only from books and theaters. 

Vampires are demons are cut from the same cloth, in a way right? Both can only venture in the shadows for eternity, trying to get by without being slain by those self righteous dastards. Sebastian had met some of your kind over the centuries, albiet none of them are as lovely as you are. You still act like a young human woman, if not for your overly pale skin you would be considered as normal. He wonders what made you this way, as all vampires, save a selected few, are humans before something happened. You seem like a kind lady, not one of those blood-hungry lowlifes he had seen before. 

You showed Ciel your collection, took his measurements when he demanded, never flinching away from the young lord’s cold attitude. When you went into the inner chamber to retrive more material choice, Ciel decided you are most likely not the murderer they are looking for, and Sebastian agrees. There is not a single scent of human blood on you or anywhere in sight, as demons can smell such things even one uses the finest soap to cover the traces.  Even though you are a vampire, if you are harmless to others Ciel is not intersted in fighting you(he has a demon for butler, so?).

“But she is a fine tailor, right milord? Maybe you can just make this a normal shopping trip.” What an unsual person you are, thought Sebastian. He might just take a little more time to observe you. It has been forever since he met another immortal being that does not irritates him.

“Very well. This would not be a complete waste of time then. I need a new suit for the social season anyway.” The young man tsked.

When they asks you to deliver the order yourself, you were hesitant about going outside. Your ususal customers send their servents to collect their orders, as you insisted so. You know what sunburns can do to you, but they offered you a down payment you cannot refuse. It is a risk you are willing to take. Even vampires needs gold to survive, if you do not wish to massacre humans for food.

The moment you stepped onto the estate, covered in a long hooded cloak and gloves, you can sense great calamity has occured in this location rather recently. But that is none of your concerns, the customer’s private life is nothing to pry about.

The servents...they are an odd flock, to say the least. They might seem clumsy or even impotent, but you know that butler knows better then to hire three imbeciles.  

After you made your delivery, Sebastian insists on you staying for the afternoon tea. You wanted to decline, since normal food has been tasting like wet paper ever since that awful day, but you find it hard to say keep saying no to such a comely man. He is the most goregous male you ever seen, and you say that as an immortal. The term “devilishly handsome” is like a tailor made suit for him. 

To your surprise, you can faintly taste the refreshement’s fruity flavours. When you were human yourself you have always loved food, missing it much when all you can taste is blood. So you helped yourself to quite a few tarts and biscuits, not knowing the demon had added special ingredients just for your vampire taste buds. You were so focused on your plate that you missed Sebastian’s calculating smile. 

That esclated rather quickly, soon you found yourself promising to tailor more clothes for Earl Phantomhive, therefore being on their premise more. 

Sebastian would always treat you to a plate of mouth-watering refreshments before you depart. Soon you find yourself answering his somewhat intrusive questions, as it is only fair to give him some compensation for those delicious treats.

The questions are surfaces ones at first. What is your favorite color or your preferred weather. Then to more personal territory, such as the reason behind your spinsterhood or what in a man that attracts you the most. You would blush madly, a feeling you have not felt in years fills your empty soul, and tell him your little answers.

How endearing. Compare to werewolves who behaves like canines, vampire leans closer to the feline side. You reminds Sebastian greatly of the black cat he encountered last spring. Your nonchalant and cheerful attitude are identical to the lovely creature. Oh and how he loves petting her soft fur. He wonders how your hair would feel under his hands. He initially might just be curious of how an odd vampire you are, but now the demon had found you to be quite an entertaining presence.

It has been so long since you had any friends, so you opened up to him quickly, disregarding the risks. You even revealed your identity to the man in black after he swears on his heart to not tell a soul. 

“My entire family was slaughtered by venegeful vampires. My father used to work as a vampire hunter for the mad King, therefore he made enemies of many. Ironically I survived, only to found out I turned into this. A creature who can only hide in the shadows forever. I swore I would never be like those blood suckers, I would never kill someone just to saitate my blood lust. Thank you Sabastian, for all those delicious cakes. They made me feel human agian once more. Also thank you for listening to my rambles, it has been so many years I confided in someone.” So you where a noble lady once. That is where your fine but antiquated manners originates from.

What a calamity you had suffered, yet you remain strong and lighthearted nonetheless. Moving from place to place, afraid to be burnt for your youthful appearance.You deserve to be cherished as the treasure you cleary are. No more hiding and running, not if he can help it.

You gladly accepted Lord Phantomhive’s offer to serve as the household’s tailor, the pay is generous and working for one person greatly reduce the risk of being discovered. Plus you get to spend more time with your new friend Sebastian! It is an offer you cannot turn down.

Sebastain is in a contract right now, but Ciel could only live so long. Prior to meeting you, he never thought about the future after his contract is completed. He imagined the two of you traveling across the European contient as friends, or something more, for the rest of your infinate lives. He has always been alone whenever he was not in a contract with humans, but the idea of being with someone forever is rather appealling to the demon. 

Even though he does not let his emotions discract him from his duties, you can still feel how he smiles whenever you enter the room. You would curl up your lips jovially in return, sometimes even teases him for having a charming smile. 

For now, Sebastian would be your good friend, always lend an ear to you for anything, or offer his shoudler should you need it, as long it does not get in the way of his duties to his liege. But who knows what would happen after the contract is completed? The world is yours to explore, with infinate amount of time, with him by your side.

#black butler #black butler fluff #sebastian michaelis #sebastian michealis x reader #black butler imagines

[my-bated-breath]

Do you think Aang and Katara would still end up together if Katara killed her mother’s killer? How would that affect their relationship?

Hey anon! Sorry it took me a while to answer your question, but the truth is that there is no clear trajectory regarding Kata/ang in this situation, especially when we take into account that Kata/ang in the show canon was abrupt and significantly underdeveloped. More specifically on Kata/ang, both Katara and Aang’s arcs were twisted to accommodate for their endgame romance, but while Katara’s arc reaches its culmination by the end of the Final Agni Kai, Aang’s character had become inconsistent in its direction throughout all of season 3.

As such, two conflicting outcomes can result from this hypothetical scenario — one outcome which upholds Aang’s flaws and stagnated growth, or another outcome which forces Aang into growing, accepting, and understanding, as was the original intent behind his character.

From a broader context, Aang’s entire journey since he woke up in the iceberg has been about him reconciling his airbender and Avatar identity, and by the end of season 2 when he is with the guru, Aang is on the cusp of fully accepting his Avatar responsibilities, of letting go of his selfish attachments (or in other words, his blinding biases).

Except Aang cannot let go as he hoped he would be able to. Because his attachment to Katara is selfish, but beyond that his attachment to Katara is a replacement for his attachment to the Air Nomads — and it draws him away from his duties as the Avatar, causing him to embrace an ideal he does not comprehend. After all, the Air Nomads were not perfectly pacifistic either.

Still, just as Aang refuses to recognize the complexity in the Air Nomads’ legacies, dismissing what he may deem as an act of violence, Aang refuses to recognize the complexity to Katara’s rage and compassion, to her violent and protective nature. In my meta “On Ideals and Idealization,” I elaborate on Aang’s idealization of Katara:

Aang loves Katara, yes, but he is in love with an idealized version of her. In his mind, he holds close the idea of a gentle Katara, a smiling Katara, a compassionate and all-loving Katara. Even though he has seen her darkest moments when she bloodbends Hama - arms bent in disjointed angles, fingers curled as if manipulating puppet strings -  it does not tarnish his image of her because, at this moment, she is not the persecutor, but the persecuted.

After her experience with Hama, Aang is there to comfort her and help her come to terms with the terrifying power she now possesses. With her face streaked with tears and eyes widened with horror, it is clear that this is a power that Katara does not want, that it has been thrust onto her against her own will.

The conclusion that Aang draws from this is that Katara’s inner darkness is a separate entity from her inner light, and he perceives this acquired part of her as a blemish on her inherent goodness. As such, in “the Southern Raiders,” when he witnesses how Katara’s anger and grief drive her to hunt down her mother’s killer, he equates Katara seeking closure to Katara succumbing to darkness, tainting her purity and compassion in the process.

Thus, given Aang’s reaction to Katara’s bloodbending, he may be inclined to love her in a piteous, nearly-obligatory manner. He’ll love her as the victim who lost sight and control and he’ll love her as a being of compassion and pacificity, but nothing more. Just like in the Southern Raiders, he may magnanimously grant Katara his forgiveness and his continued love even when she never asked for it. And in the end, Aang and Katara will kiss on the balcony of Iroh’s tea shop, only this time it’s not only “the hero winning the girl,” but “the bright and cheerful boy fixing the broken girl” as well.

This is the ending where Aang clings onto idealization even when it renders him a hypocrite, in the same way he is a hypocrite for shouting at his friends for pushing him to kill Ozai when it is implied he killed thousands at sea in the Siege at the North Pole.

This is the ending where he does not grow.

Note: Aang retreating into a ball of earth as a narrative parallel to the beginning of the series when he was encased in a ball of ice would have been much more powerful if only Aang entered the Avatar State through character growth rather than by the power of the Pointy Rock of Destiny (TM).

Now, let’s consider an ending where Aang’s perspective broadens rather than narrows and where Aang unroots himself from the past, pulling free from stagnance. Let’s consider a hypothetical scenario in which Aang finds out Katara killed Yon Rha. How may he react?

He may not be able to at first, too torn between his belief that Katara only uses violence as a last resort and the reality that Katara uses violence as a means of agency as well. Revenge corrupts; it is a stain that cannot be washed away. There is no reconciling Katara’s previous compassionate and loving nature with this dark path she has now chosen.

Except this is Katara he’s talking about, Katara who he loves and gave up the Avatar State for. Surely there’s a way to save her, right? Yes, just as Aang told Katara before she left, forgiveness is the answer. And while Katara may not have chosen forgiveness in the end, Aang can guide her by example.

The next day, he approaches her with the offer to exempt her from her wrongdoings.

Katara, tired and mournful, looks down at Aang.

“What was so wrong about what I did?”

Inside she is hurting. There is truth to what Aang said, that revenge is poisonous both to the victim and the perpetrator, but it is not poisonous for the reasons he thinks it is. As George Orwell writes in his essay, “revenge is an act which you want to commit when you are powerless and because you are powerless: as soon as the sense of impotence is removed, the desire evaporates also” (Revenge is Sour). There’s no doubt that Yon Rha was despicable, and there’s only a little doubt in saying that his punishment should fit his crime — the only regret Katara may have here is that killing Yon Rha is a meaningless act, for she has already gained power over him in every meaning of the word. Revenge is only a gateway to senseless violence and hatred; it is not a slope from which there is no recovery, and given Katara’s emotional intelligence, she likely has or will recognize this. Although she may feel regret, she needs no one’s forgiveness.

Aang is shocked. “But violence is never the answer,” he stands by, he pleads by. His voice grows quieter. “You know that… you knew that, didn’t you?”

Katara answers him, but it’s all a blur. She says something about agency, protection, and justice. He remembers something about that too, about the fury that burned in her eyes when she declared, “I will never, ever, turn my back on the people who need me!” Then there was the hostility simmering in her glare towards Zuko, the way she muttered that she didn’t trust him, not when he could still hurt them — hurt Aang — again. 

Because Katara’s anger and compassion do not simply split themselves into two identities. Instead, they coexist and coalesce into one. They drive each other; they feed into each other; they are two sides of the same coin.

Excerpt from my meta Rage, Compassion, and the Bridge in Between

The beloved ideal of Katara — the one that he thought was on the verge of being tainted, the one that never existed — shatters. But just because it’s broken doesn’t mean Aang doesn’t want to fix it. So in the days leading up to Sozin’s Comet, he tries to pick up the fragments to the Katara-he-knew and piece them together again, all the while avoiding Katara’s mournful (yet resolved) stare. He ignores the way Zuko and Katara share glances with a heaviness as if they were the only two people in the world, full of some significance he cannot grasp. Still, it haunts him like the way Zuko’s touch lingers on Katara’s shoulder or Katara’s hand brushes Zuko’s briefly whenever they don’t think anyone’s looking, reflecting a togetherness escaping loneliness.

But there’s no answer that arrives quick enough to save Aang from his doubt and confusion. All too soon, Sozin’s Comet is upon them, and Aang wanders to another world on the lion turtle's back — but this time when he listens to the past Avatars’ advice, his perspective undergoes a paradigm shift.

They are right. The Air Nomads that he prioritized, that blinded him to his duties — they do not exist. Their love is still there, pure and human but not all-encompassing, tucked in the corner of his heart. And Katara was the same. She was and is not all-loving or all-compassionate or all-anything, really, because she is more human than that.

This time Katara’s image shatters again. But Aang does not follow the falling pieces to the ground, desperate to find them and force them together again. No, he sees past the remains and sees Katara for who she is. For who she wants to be. For who she can be (around someone else), when she’s not compelled to take on the caretaker role just for him.

(And he thought he was so generous, offering to forgive him. But it was never his forgiveness to give in the first place.)

Aang lets go of his last attachment.

The last airbender lives on, but so does the Avatar.

#atla #atla meta #anti kataang #anti kataang meta #zutara #aang #katara #anti aang #of sorts? #my bated breath's posts #my bated breath analyzes #i kind of rewrote aang's arc in the finale in my mind and a little bit of that slipped through #anon you asked a hard question so i gave you a 1.5k+ meta in response #i hope it's everything you ever hoped it could be #anonymous ask #ask #is tumblr hiding this post from the tags again?

[mnemo-li]

Calebros: A Rant About My Favorite VTM NPC

I do love the newer Vampire: the Masquerade content, but sometimes the writing leaves a lot to be desired. A prominent example is - what in my opinion is - the butchery of Calebros’ character in Beckett's Jyhad Diary.

While I do love seeing the more brusque side of Calebros’ personality, I don’t think I’ve ever recalled him being this vulgar in the original Clan Novels. He was definitely not dropping the f-bombs left and right, and even his gruff manner had more to do with dry humor, sarcasm, and keeping up the dignified image fit for a clan leader. I do realize that this series of chat is set much after his whole ordeal as Prince of New York is over, so maybe the experience really changed him. However, the in-universe explanation of his drastic shift in personality is lacking– it is most likely the result of a change in writers which led to inconsistent writing and characterization.

Here are some examples of scenes that presents his characterization in a more nuanced light.

Scene 1: The Nictuku Accusation

“They would have eaten me, I tell you!” “I believe you, Jeremiah,” Calebros said in a forced, calm tone. He was tired of nodding politely, of reassuring his clanmate. Jeremiah could be a difficult person to like at times. This was rapidly becoming one of those times. “Don’t you humor me!” Jeremiah snapped. “I’ve been coming to you about this for weeks now.” Seems more like years, Calebros thought. “And still you’ve done nothing. Nothing!” Jeremiah paced around, gesticulating wildly. There was no second chair by Calebros’s desk, and for this very reason. He mostly didn’t like guests, didn’t want guests, didn’t want to encourage them to sit down, to take a load off and stay for a while. Most anyone who had reason or inclination to visit Calebros was irate, complaining, or tiresome. Jeremiah happened to be all three presently. “That is not true,” Calebros assured him. Jeremiah snorted in disgusted. “What, then? Tell me. What have you done?” “I have considered quite carefully your report.” “Ha! Like I said, nothing. ‘Considered my report…’” Jeremiah repeated contemptuously. “This is what I think of you and your reports—” he said, grabbing a handful of papers from the nearest stack on Calebros’s desk. Jeremiah made to fling them into the air— Instantly, Calebros’s hand shot out and latched around his visitor’s wrist. Talons pricked undead flesh ever so slightly. “Believe me,” said Calebros evenly. “You do not want to do that.” They faced each other for a moment, one monstrous creature restraining the hand of another. Jeremiah’s fingers, biting into the papers, were long and grotesquely thin, little more than needles of bone. His entire body was thin and hard and covered with knots, bulging masses of hardened tissue, like an old, gnarled swamp tree. Finally he stopped resisting Calebros and returned the reports to the desk. “I’m sorry,” Jeremiah said and resumed his pacing, just as intently if less frenetically.

This is from the Nosferatu clan novel. Here, Jeremiah is trying to get Calebros to believe that there truly are Nictukus dwelling in the sewers. Calebros is, frankly, tired of hearing the folk tale especially when he has other pressing matters to deal with. Yet, even with his patience paper thin, he does not lash out at his broodmate. He is shown to be deeply introverted, anti-social perhaps, but he does not let his own nature affect his duties. As the Nosferatu primogen - as the leader of the clan - he has to listen to the concerns of his family, no matter how absurd. He knows when to express his authority, and he never abuses it. Again, no f-bombs dropped.

Scene 2: The Salt Lake

“Geez, what am I, your mother?” Emmett asked. “No,” Calebros said. “You are my brother, my broodmate.” “Brood, litter, whatever. We were both chosen to suck the old blood tit, so who am I to ask questions?” Calebros sighed. Blood tit, indeed. “That’s not how you remember it.” Now it was Emmett’s turn to sigh. “Don’t do this. Don’t get all… You always do this, get all touchy-feely we’re-all-brothers-in-the-blood, when you soak your head, blah, blah, blah…” “Make light of it if you will—” “I will. Thank you very much. Got enough salt here?” Emmett flicked some at Calebros.

This is from the Nosferatu clan novel. Here, Calebros has just came up from his meditation within the mud hole / salt lake. He is shown to be introspective and even sentimental. In terms of character voice, his more poised speaking style and inner monologue is contrasted against Emmett’s rough, colloquial style.

Other Sources

In the Calebros graphic novel, a similar scene is shown where Calebros is depicted to be trying and failing to remember his past before he became a vampire, losing his mind as he mixes up imagination with false memories. His inner dialogue in the graphic novel shows him saying:

“Do I tell him that his prince, his... compatriot?, is losing his mind? Never.”

This very much reflects his true nature. In Vampire: the Masquerade, there is a system of nature vs demeanor. According to his character sheet, his demeanor is that of a “director” while his nature is a “martyr (penitent)”.

Director: To the Director, nothing is worse than chaos and disorder. The Director seeks to be in charge, adopting a "my way or the highway" attitude on matters of decision-making. The Director is more concerned with bringing order out of strife, however, and need not be truly "in control" of a group to guide it. Coaches, teachers, and many political figures exemplify the Director Archetype.

Martyr: The Martyr suffers for his cause, enduring his trials out of the belief that his discomfort will ultimately improve others' lot. Some Martyr simply want the attention or sympathy their ordeals engender, while others are sincere in their cause, greeting their opposition with unfaltering faith in their own beliefs. Many Inquisitors, staunch idealists, and outcasts are Martyr Archetypes.

Penitent: The Penitent exists to atone for the grave sin she commits simply by being who she is. Penitents have either low self-esteem or legitimate, traumatic past experiences, and feel compelled to "make up" for inflicting themselves upon the world. Penitent Archetypes aren't always religious in outlook; some truly want to scourge the world of the grief they bring to it. Repentant sinners, persons with low self-esteem, and remorseful criminals are examples of the Penitent Archetype.

All of these quotes, if feel, matches very much with the Calebros I knew from the clan novel saga. Below are also a set quotes detailing Calebros’ inner dialogue in his graphic novel.

“As prince, only I can save them, only I can keep them from looking where they shouldn’t. A force exists underneath this city, sleeping, and it must remain so, lest we all perish.

“Augustin, my sire, left us to investigate the Nictuku, and came back to me with this information. Could this be Gehenna? The Final Nights? When the Ancients awake to devour their errant children? Can it be stopped? Should it be stopped? Everything that is done is a hope of staving off the inevitable. Why?”

“My embrace into this world was a foregone conclusion, made for me by Augustin. It is no different for anyone else. Why then do we not welcome the coming Armageddon? Exchange one world for another. It sounds almost painless, except I would never accept such a course, neither would my fellow Nosferatu. Neither would my fellow Kindred, for that matter.”

He is incredibly contemplative, and determined too, willing to fight against the inevitable apocalypse of the vampires. As long as his clan and the Kindred as a whole does not give up, does not give in the the despair of Gehenna, he too will be willing to fight for the survival of others.

Scene 3: Against a Master Manipulator

The character of Hesha is... complex. I see him as sort of a sweet-talking, cunning, charismatic cult leader. Here is a dialogue between him and Calebros.

“No harm was done,” Hesha said softly, his voice still the slightest bit scratchy from the ordeal he’d undergone. “As you say,” said Calebros, not looking up and continuing to write furiously. “You concede without agreeing.” Hesha laughed quietly. Calebros’s head whipped up. Angry words were ready on his lips, but the Egyptian’s smile was not mocking. The Setite obviously realized the weakness of his position, physically and strategically, as well as the fragility of their alliance. “Candor is important between friends,” Hesha said. “Otherwise, perceived insults take hold and fester.” “I am quite accustomed to festering,” Calebros said curtly. “I fear that I’m growing so as well,” Hesha said, squeezing one of the boils that stood raised about one of his many open wounds until the canker popped, and frothy pus ran down his arm. He laughed quietly again. Calebros punctuated a written sentence with a particularly violent period. “Your woman willfully disobeyed her instructions.” “She exercised discretion,” Hesha countered. “She blatantly disregarded the safety of my people.” “If anything had gone wrong,” Hesha said, “it would be Pauline lying torn on the ground. Your people would have faded into the night, none the worse for wear.” Calebros fumed. Probably Hesha was correct—but the Nosferatu was not about to admit as much. “I will speak with her,” Hesha said reasonably. “She has not encountered those of your clan before. She’s not aware of how strongly your predilection for…” “Cowardice?” Calebros suggested accusingly. “Prudence, I was going to say. She’s not aware of how strongly your predilection for prudence runs.” Good choice of words, Calebros thought. But, then, Hesha always chose his words carefully, always seemed to know just the right thing to say. It was discomforting in a way, how easily the Setite could alleviate tension with just a few words. Go ahead, Eve. Take a bite of the apple. Adam might like some too. But it seemed that they needed one another—and that outweighed their natural and mutual tendencies to distrust one another. Just barely.

Hesha’s actions managed to get under Calebros’ nerves, as seen in his curt speech, his furious writing, his accusatory reply to Hesha. He is angry for the safety of his clan (which, as seen from all the other sources, is something very dear to him). He is even shown to be stubborn, refusing to admit that Hesha was correct. Even still, he keeps his head rather than loose his cool completely. He also realises Hesha’s smooth words for what they are- manipulation. He is willing to compromise and form a sort of alliance with Hesha too, despite of his distrust and personal feelings.

Calebros and Ramona

I found the strange friendship Calebros had with the Gangrel Ramona to be incredibly touching, and tragic due to the turns it took towards the end (which I won’t spoil). Below are some excerpts from the Nosferatu clan novel showing Ramona’s initial meeting with Calebros and his later assessments of her character.

Neither Pauline nor the other girl, Ramona, had been subjected to the full brunt of facing a Nosferatu. Not until now, that is, when they were brought into Calebros’s presence. He did not hide his true appearance from them. And he could read the dismay, the fear and disgust, on their faces. Of the two, Pauline made the worthier attempt, attempt, to maintain her demeanor of professional detachment—perhaps Ruhadze had taught her well. The Gangrel, unsurprisingly, was not so couth. She gawked, both at Calebros and at Hesha in his current condition, and she hid her revulsion quite poorly, if she tried at all. […] Ramona looked at Calebros again, a more measured look this time, trying to see through the deformities. Good girl, Calebros thought. Young and brash, but not stupid.

Ramona reached for a calendar on Calebros’s desk, but tossed it back when she realized it was from 1972. “That’s still a whole month, and nobody knows where Leopold was that whole time. He could have gone back to the cave.” Smart girl, Calebros thought. He was leading her along the same path of reconstructing events that he had followed.

He compliments her intelligence again and again, and seems genuinely fond of her. Which I believe is why, after he became Prince of New York, he allows her a private audience with him to which he offered her a safe passage out of town which she rejects, viewing his actions as a betrayal. Below is an excerpt from what I think is the Clan Brujah novel.

The hunched form stepped forward, leaning heavily against the seatbacks as he came. Ramona kept straining to pick out the sound of broken gasps that must accompany such labored progress, but the air did not stir. "You had requested an audience, my dear. A private audience. I have gone to some pains to secure a place where we might be alone. Privacy is such an indulgence here. All too often, I find myself unable to justify the expense of importing it. And there is always someone else jealous of such decadence. But you have not come to hear of my distractions. Sit here, next to me, and tell me why you have come.”

[…]

“Calebros chuckled low, a sound like an engine turning. "No, I don't imagine you would. I will miss your straightforward style, Ramona. I find it refreshing. But already you know that there is no longer any place for you here. In the midst of battle—against the Sabbat and later, against Leopold and the Eye—we could afford certain marriages of convenience. But these partnerships will not survive the challenges of peacetime. Your associates, Mr. Ruhadze and Mr. Ravana, they found themselves in much the same position. Each has already left New York.”

[…]

“Calebros was silent for a time, letting her wind down. "I'm sorry I couldn't help you with the Eye, Ramona. And I'm sorry you will have to leave us. Believe me, I would like nothing better than to find a place for you here. I will have sore need of people who can be relied upon in the nights ahead. But you know what you would be up against if you remained here— the posturing, the none-too-subtle snubbing, the outright backstabbing. You are a rarity among our kind, Ramona. But because you are different, you will be hated and eventually destroyed if you stay among the society of the damned. Know that I will remember our time together fondly. If I can be of any assistance to you in relocating..." "No, I understand. It's 'thanks for your help; here's your bus ticket.' Well, I don't need any of your favors. I don't like the strings attached to them. And I resent the fact that you think I'm so stupid that I'll let you screw me over and then thank you for it." "Ramona...”

Again, even during his tenure as Prince of New York he is so damn eloquent, I definitely can’t fathom the word fuck ever slipping out of his mouth. He is compassionate, helping Ramona perhaps for future gains too, but mainly I believe he genuinely wants to do something right, give her the happy ending she deserves for once.

Moreover, I have a soft spot for this quote of Calebros pondering about Ramona’s nature, why she’s always so angry at the world, why every word out of her mouth sounds like an accusation. It showcases well his world-weariness, a cynical attitude that hides his concerns for others.

What have you seen that makes you so angry, so bitter, little one? Calebros wondered. Family killed? Have you been betrayed? How many times, I wonder. You’d best get over it, if you hope to survive.

So... yeah. I’d pay money to see an accurate portrayal of Calebros in a newer media otherwise I might have to write my own fanfic pairing my OC with him

#vampire: the masquerade #new york by night #calebros #vtm

[cinearia]

I have this idea, which idk if I will develop. But I hope the context makes sense

Now, the human faced the red-haired fae in front of him, his drink untouched.

Look at that fae. Arrogance in the way he'd grown up hearing it spilling out of every pore. The representation of a god in the words of the Children of Blessed.

Akovy would say it was the closest, not the ideal result. He grew up believing that iron was lethal and a human won't make it to the center of their lands in one piece.

He could imagine these people dropping to their knees, describing the red of his hair and the mercy on his eye. Could take anyone breath away with his height, if Akovy wasn't used to being so short and slender.

But here the assumptions were proven wrong. Sword in his scabbard, far away on feeling threatened by whatever belief the fae have to bring him down. Akovy was not strong, but he was fast and agile.

Across the table, Lucien frowned at each doubt, internally enjoying the human overtures. He saw with his own eye how much some humans wanted to know what Prythian was, others who feared too much to even consider it. It was only with Jurian that he understood that, even without the Wall, things would not always be easy.

If he said that now with the feisty human, whom Vassa had informed must be brought back before he fell into less-than-gentle fae places, he wanted the pleasure of denying it.

"It was very smart of you, as foolish to come here"

Akovy suppressed the urge to shift in his seat.

"What could I do?" He looked to the side, where other fae, nymph, and other creatures he never got to see up close, not even caring for the human in the same establishment as them "That thing stole important things from me. Seems to me that no one here about the robbery in the borders that your kind provoke"

"We'd know about monsters robbing mortal travelers" Lucien fingered his glass, noting that Akovy barely took a sip of his "What would be scattered around here, if you weren't luck that I found you by chance, it's that there was an delusional mortal claiming he saw a monster" he enjoyed leaning back in his chair, from where he could analyze the mortal locked in his chair "Some fae won't be as kind as me”

A discreet, mocking smile spread across Akovy, lifting his chin to the highest level.

“The expectation is lower than I thought then” His hand circled the metallic cup. He didn't usually drink in public, let alone in place of faes.

Damn politeness, but Lucien curious look, the little curve his mouth made when sniffing out his fear, would be very good to dispel "You're all the same" Swallowed a large amount, putting the glass halfway down "I should expect that you are not my enemy?”

“I shouldn't do a lot of things. Like now, I shouldn't even be here"

"So would you be in trouble too if they knew you had a mortal with you?" Akovy nodded around the entire place, a little low so that only he could hear.

Lucien shook his head, but considered for a second.

"Depending on what area we're in, yes" Lucien looked into the bottom of his glass "You know, I should be right now following my route to the Night Court, then to Spring, and maybe stop in Summer to reflect all my decisions I made in life in peace. This beer would be the energy I would need to deal with another tedious report" Lucien omitted, to deal with the High Lord of Velaris, the High Lady and her possible discovery of his and Elain decision to break the bond, of all his unfamiliarity in Velaris to call home, that he didn't see as in the Band of Exiles mansion…

It could boil down to willpower to be in two not-so-welcome environments behind the layers. Velaris, Inner Circle, and Tamlin. He could be right now devoting his time to wondering if any of those courts saw him as an ally.

Could think why he listened the other day to Rhysand talking about something that may concern Helion and him. Could questioning why mother sent a strange letter quoting Helion name too. All forgotten for some time since he encountered the human.

“Now I'm drinking this beer in your honor, Akovy” Lucien raised his glass towards him “To the human and his sword, against all dangers of Prythian. A credit to your foolishness"

"Why don't you shove up that beer on your ass?"

Lucien choked as he processed what he heard. Akovy spoke so calmly that it could have been a compliment.

He wanted to laugh at Lucien surprised face. It was something to remember at another time, not the pretty face of the red-haired fae turned towards him, smirking as if he could charm him.

Where will your smirk end if a fist flies in your face?

"I understand now why Jurian liked you" Lucien examined his cup "It will be very long travel, Akovy"

He raised an eyebrow at the detailed pronunciation of his name.

"Don't have a meeting to go to?"

"I would never leave a poor thing like you helpless out there"

"Poor little thing? Oh, I'm glad I survived the last few days just for you to rescue me, sir Vanserra"

"Sir Vanserra…" he swiveled around in his hand, staring at a spot in the middle of nowhere "I like how sound, human. I was going to say you can call me Lucien, but you're more polite than I expected."

Akovy must have had the last of his beer, but he crossed his arms in front of him.

“You didn't answer my question, Lucien. Don't you have a meeting to go to?”

Lucien watched him over the top of his beer. He's seen men go head-to-head with faes just as bold. Akovy resembled a skittish feline thinking someone is going to jump from behind.

But Lucien really had a job to do. In a place he couldn't say he was welcomed, yet he had to act like a tool. He could count on his fingers how many situations he was used as a play. He wouldn't expect anything more from someone like Rhysand. But sometimes he found himself wondering if they even saw him as an ally or a passive treat.

"I won't abandon you, human"

Akovy rolled his eyes.

“Your faes are all the same” oh, but it will definitely end up in Lucien throat very soon.

#basically lucien and a sassy impatient dome with everything human #who want so badly to punch #c'mon i liked the idea #and lucien just likes #lucien vanserra #lucien vanserra x original human character #not being anti elucien or anything okay? i just hate mating bonds

[where-all-the-time-went]

The Character-Based Reasons Why Sara Chidouin Has the Highest Win Likelihood

So, okay. We all know Nankidai is, first and foremost, a writer. Don’t get me wrong, the art and gameplay are nice, and the music is... there, but Your Turn to Die is fantastic because of the game’s thematic consistency and incredible characters. Which is why the idea that Sara wins so often because she is so trustworthy and is a great leader always seemed like a very barebones analysis to me. Sure, it makes sense, but what would Nankidai convey through that? There’s definitely a message about trust that is implied, that trusting makes a person stronger, but Sara does not initially trust everyone, and not everyone trusts her. Every single character has plenty of people who don’t trust them and who they don’t trust. If anyone is good at working with and trusting people, it’s Reko (even despite her conflict with Alice), who becomes the big sister to this cast of characters. (BTW: this is a really long post. If you don’t want to read it all, scroll to the end and there’s a TL;DR).

So then, for what thematic reason is Sara so likely to win?

Personally, I would attribute her survival rate to another common theme throughout the game: her balance between prioritizing her own survival and that of the rest of the players. While Sara would never truly give her Sacrifice card to someone else, it’s doubtful that she would take the Sacrifice card to save anyone either. No other character has a similar inner balance, except Kanna in the Kanna Lives route (to be perfectly honest, I have not played the Shin lives route because I’m terrified of killing Kanna, so my knowledge may be lacking). Anyway, I am going to go down the list of characters and talk about why they’re not Sara, which I know everyone is just really, really, excited to hear (please don’t fall asleep). (Also not including dolls since our information on them is very limited at the moment).

I’m starting with the absolute worst person to start with: Joe Tazuna. He may not be a candidate, but he is still a character who dies and is thus worthy of an explanation. While he may have procrasinated to reveal that he was the Sacrifice, it was never truly a battle with Joe on whether to sacrifice himself. In the end, he will always prioritize everyone else’s survival. If there was a battle, it was between whether to save Sara right then and there or let everyone else survive, and although his connection to Sara is personal, this is still not self-prioritization.

Then there’s Keiji Shinogi (yes, I’m going by the Wiki order and you can’t stop me). At first, it may seem that logical, levelheaded Keiji prioritizes himself, but in Chapter 3 1-A, he readily accepts the tag if it means saving Sara. Keiji is traumatized by his own guilt, and thus does not seem to consider himself worthy of survival, unless it means being the smart one and thinking where no one else does. He may not have traded for Sara’s Sacrifice card in the Second Main Game, but it’s unclear whether he was planning to before Kanna took it herself (or rather, tried to). I theorize now that Keiji will have a say about his own death in Chapter 3 1-B, and it will depend on whether he is able to balance his own needs with the needs of everyone else.

Which brings me to Kanna Kizuchi, who I think has the most interesting arc in this regard. When the game begins, Kanna is extremely frightened, and we don’t really get to know her priorities since she is most definitely not thinking straight. As Kanna matures and developed into her own character, in spite of Sou’s suggestions to her, we learn she prioritizes other people’s surival over her own when she attempts to take Sara’s Sacrifice card. Now, this is where the disclaimer of “I Have not Played the Shin Lives Route” comes in extra handy, because I expect criticism here. Anyway, given that Sara logically wants to survive, and there are even character reasons to vote for Kanna (her being more ready for death), it seems very likely Sara would vote for Kanna, which would explain her extremely low 2.7% survival rate. This is a reflection of Kanna’s unshaking will to prioritize others’ survival over her own. However, when Shin dies, Kanna realizes she should never again attempt to sacrifice herself (particularly because he became a role model for her), and she begins, just like Sara, to find a balance, wherein she puts herself in danger only when logically necessary, while also caring for everyone else. As a result, and this is very shaky ground, I am putting forth that there are either no routes, or very few routes, from here on out, where Kanna dies. (The one thing I will say about this theory is that it partially contradicts my theory that the game cannot be a simulation because they would not simulate Gashu’s betrayal. While my argument mainly revolves around the metanarrative of prioritization of lives other than one’s own, these themes are reflected within the non-meta of the game itself, wherein Asunaro specifically tailors who receives the Sacrifice, Keymaster, and Sage cards. As a result, Kanna’s character arc revolving around surviving the Second Main Game makes no sense if she would have been the Sacrifice in the first place if not for Gashu. Although, her low win rate could be tied to the high likelihood that she would take Sara’s Sacrifice card).

Well, now that I’m off my tangent, let’s focus on Q-Taro. At the beginning of the game, Q-Taro, while not the brightest, takes a cold and logical approach. He is willing to sacrifice literal children--Kanna and Gin--because he doesn’t think they’re useful enough. However, his character flips (pun intended) when he presses the button and takes the poison for Gin. Q-Taro realizes that trust and self-sacrifice are noble traits, and he comes to prioritize them over his own survival, as he put his life on the line when he took the poison, when a lower dosage earlier would have been the more logical way to keep him and Gin alive. Q-Taro’s arc is intersting, but unlike Kanna, who becomes a reasonable person, his values flip entirely, particularly because his change was likely planned by Asunaro.

Then you have Shin. I don’t know what he does when he lives, and I have a whole theory about Shin’s 0.0% win rate, which I will possibly write some day and link in later, but I do have some stuff to say about his own character balance. It’s obvious that because of his fear of the win rates, Shin comes to prioritize his own life, despite all irrationality therein. He manipulates and lies for his own survival, mainly out of fear. When Shin realizes that Sara killed him instead of killing Kanna, as she prioritizes emotion over logic, he realizes that maybe he could have trusted her after all, and to die with as few regrets as possible, he gives her the Joe AI. This character change sounds like it contradicts my theory, but given that, at this point, Shin was pretty much already dead, it’s simply an interesting change within him that is representative of the theme of Your Turn to Die. Furthermore, I subscribe to the theory that Shin’s low win rate is a direct result of knowing he has a low win rate (fun bootstrap paradox times (Beethoven’s Fifth plays on electric guitar)), because this causes his self-preservation.

I mentioned Reko earlier, but I think this only needs a brief explanation (important note: I have only played the Reko dies route). Prior to the Death Game, while Alice was in jail, Reko learned that the “weak” do not deserve what’s coming to them. This indirectly causes her own kindness to Nao and Kanna in the Death Game. (Come to think of it, I don’t think this one’s going to be as brief as I thought). Reko enters the death game a changed woman, who already prioritizes the lives of others, and thus is entirely imbalanced. The fact that her past self kills her is beautifaly symbolic of why she died: because she could not balance her priorities, where she only cares about others now (which is why Nao saved modern Reko), and only really cared about herself in the past (because she thought that the “weak” did not deserve her help). As a result, in an act of pure selfishness, the AI, which has Reko’s past personality, kills human Reko. If modern Reko had been more balanced, perhaps she could have explained to Nao why it would make more logical sense to save the Reko AI.

And it’s perfect that Nao should come next. In general, Nao does not think for herself. Not until her suggestion that Sara should run away with her at the end of the Second Main Game did she do anything other than follow earliers or force herself into certain situations. This, of course, relates to the juxtaposition between her and Sara, who is a natural leader. However, it explains why there is not much to say about Nao other than the fact that she is so far removed from the issue of self-sacrifice vs. self-preservation.

Everything Kai did, up until his death, was to protect Sara. His job was to be her bodyguard, and Sara is the person who saved Kai from a life of murder. Kai dies because his silence in his efforts to protect Sara prevented a proper discussion over whether it was worth it to kill the Sage simply because they were the Sage.

Gin Ibushi, much like Kanna, started the game by prioritiznig the lives of others. Unlike Kanna, he did not change, particularly because there was no narrative reason for his change. Even when Gin was about to die, it was up to Q-Taro to decide between self-sacrifice and self-preservation. However, when Gin and Q-Taro were up on the targets, this was a symbolic message to Sara: you must choose between the self-preserving tendencies of Q-Taro and the self-sacrificing tendencies of Gin, who gave out his tokens for free, unaware of the consequences. While Gin has yet to die, his steadfast hold on his self-sacrificing beliefs would explain why his win rate is lower even than Kanna’s.

Gin would often cling to father figures due to his dad’s alcohol addiction, and Mishima was the first to experience this treatment. Mishima cared for Gin, but he knew Nao best, and his instruction that she vote for him would cause his death, because Mishima sacrificed himself for Nao. Mishima is interesting, because his self-sacrifice is less a result of a hope for everyone’s survival, and more about his desire for people to improve as human beings. He tells Nao to give him up when he is an AI, and instructs Reko to break his screen. Although Mishima is perhaps more self-sacrificng than Gin, his understanding of teaching others how to care about themselves is likely why his win rate is higher than both Gin’s and Kanna’s. This may also be a result of the fact that he is older and more capable, but his strange quirks also make him less trustworthy than both Gin and Kanna, which cancels his capabilities out. Thus his self-sacrificing beliefs would kill him, even if his understanding of self-preservation decreases the likelihood of his death.

Last but not least of the non-Sara characters, we have Alice Yabusame. Now, on this one, I am probably missing the most information, since I have absolutely no idea how he dies in the route where Reko survives. However, I can say that in the route where he survives, despite his understanding at the beginning of Chapter 2 that Reko had changed, he was unable to accept that the unchanged Reko was not human. This implies that Alice wants a version of Reko who both cares for others and values strength, suggesting a need for balance. I also know this is a big change from his attitude towards the beginning, where he believes that everyone should be as self-preserving as possible, and not get in anyone else’s way. The fact that Alice has to die to accept Reko’s change (I think???), it makes sense that his self-preserving tendencies would place him in the bottom half of win rates. Again, this theory is weakened by my ignorance.

Joe’s likely inevitable death contributes to Sara’s fear of the Sacrifice card, which perfectly balances her lack of desire to manipulate others with her desire to preserve herself. Sara is also often given the choice between wanting to win or escape with everyone, and the fact that character moments often hinge on her response illustrates Nankidai’s thematic goals. The choice between Shin and Kanna’s deaths, while about emotion and logic, are also about choosing between preserving oneself (voting for Kanna, who cannot contribute to Sara’s survival) and preserving others (Kanna is TOO YOUNG TO DIE). I do not mean to suggest that saving Kanna was necessarilly the “correct route.” Quite the opposite, in fact. I mean to suggest that the fact that Sara is presented this choice and that she does not have an immediate answer is exactly why she is so likely to win.

TL;DR i drone on about how sara is special and not like other characters, and how she cares about people but also about herself, so that’s the theme and stuff. there’s also a long, pretentious rant about the symbolism of reko’s death. and a doctor who reference. there’s also a weird amount of parantheses.

(credit to @sip-of-depresso for having the conversation with me which sparked this theory)

#yttd #your turn to die #yttd theory #yttd spoilers #your turn to die theory #your turn to die spoilers #can't believe my first real post is a yttd theory #promise i'm not a weeb #i'm only cringe because of doctor who #oh and himym too i guess

[healer-777-blog]

The virus begins in our consciousness

First a short introduction to the philosophical basis of the system of healing (Body-Mirror System) I work with.

Introduction made with the words of his creator Martin Brofman:

„These basis are found in a number of different belief systems and esoteric teachings. For example, the map of the body/mind interface comes from the Hindu system using the chakras. Putting it into practice while listening to your moment-to-moment inner direction is in keeping with Taoist philosophies. The ideas are simple and represent what we consider neutral spiritual truths:

1. Everything begins in our consciousness. We decide what to think and what to feel, in response to what is happening around us. When we choose to make a decision that results in stress, and the tension reaches a certain level of intensity, we create a symptom. Everything happening in our life, then, and everything happening in our body, is the result of what we are doing in our consciousness. If we want something to happen differently for us, we have to change our way of thinking. We take responsibility for our thoughts and actions, and their effects. Then, we're able to do something about it.

2. There is a way of being associated with every symptom. And thus, there is a Covid personality. If we want to release a symptom, we must release the way of being that created it. In this way we return to our natural way of being, that state of consciousness always available to us, in which we are healthy. The process of healing implies a process of transformation.

3. Tension in a particular part of the body reflects tension in a particular part of the consciousness about something in particular. This allows us to read the body as a map of the consciousness within, in order to understand the inner cause to the outer symptom. A key to understanding this map is found in the Eastern concept of the chakras, energy centers which each relate to a particular part of the body and a particular part of the consciousness.

4. We are each an energy system. Energy flows through our being and is directed by our consciousness. When we block the flow of this energy, the result is a symptom. All symptoms are just blocked energy. Because we have the ability to direct the energy, we have the ability to unblock the energy wherever it has been blocked, in ourselves or in others. When we do that, the effect is a return to the experience of wholeness.

5. For each of us, our perceptions create our reality. This is true of both the healer and the healee. Thus, the act of healing is one of co-creation, and is the result of the interaction between the two. Elements of this interaction can be quantified and optimized so that the healing has the best possibility for happening.

6. Anything can be healed “

There are a lot of points of view in the society. This point of view puts you in the driver seat in your consciousness. You stop to see yourself as a victim of your environment and if something is not functioning the way you want in your body or in your life, you are able to change something inside yourself and you can come back to a state of health and balance in your body and in your life.

It’s a point of view different from the “common” one, where the causes and effects are outside. From the medical point of view, they say that such a virus creates a certain kind of illness or such an accident creates a certain kind of injury. From our point of view, we say “Yes, it’s true that viruses cause illnesses or accidents create injuries, but only when the conditions are met in the consciousness. Viruses are everywhere. Why a person attracts the virus and the other close to them not, the difference is about what they each do in their consciousness.

Spiritual teachers tell us that the moment we change our deepest thoughts about our body, our body changes immediately. Most people do not believe in this body-mind relationship, or if they do, they feel unable to change their deepest thoughts at will and cannot see the manifestation of their thoughts in the physical world. Without this clear confirmation of an inner cause to an outer effect, most people consider this concept unfounded or beyond them.

But, when you do some research, you can see the power of thought at work. First time I heard about it was in a seminar with Martin Brofman, he was talking about people having multiple personalities and one personality had a symptom, diabetes, and when the personality was changing, immediately the diabetes disappeared. Another was nearsighted and with the change of personality, she could see straight away normally. Some had different eyes colors depending on the personality that was present. There are many books on the subject and a lot of studies by psychiatrists and psychologists.

It means these people are changing their atoms instantaneously. But most people have the program that the physical body only changes slowly and don’t allow themselves to see the cause-and-effect relationship between thought and physical change.

If there is a virus in the physical reality and triggering on people symptoms, it means the cause of the virus is inside, in their consciousness. Difficult for a lot of people to accept this point of view, most people prefer to see themselves as victims, instead of seeing themselves as creators of their own reality. But the creation doesn’t begin at a certain age and doesn’t end at a certain age. When we are a consciousness in our physical body, we create and when we leave our physical body, we are still a consciousness creating.

So, the virus is only a mirror of what is happening inside. We have a lot of viruses in our consciousness, look at the greed, the anger, the jealousy, the guilt, the pettiness, the manipulation, and so on, creating bugs and making our body sick when there are too many viruses or only one big virus creating a breakdown of all the system. The consciousness is like a computer, and in a computer, when we don’t clean the system and don’t protect it from the outer attacks, we will spend time and money to bring it back to a state of working or the computer becomes out of function.

So, time to look at what’ s happening in our consciousness creating these viruses and bugs. And first we should look at the way we treat ourselves. How we love ourselves, how we accept our past, how much we are able to live in the present, and look forward to the future with a positive sense of expectancy. How much we feel the love each day for the persons close to our heart and extending this love to others. Do we feel tensions, resistances?... time to handle them and release them. Otherwise, if we say to ourselves, I have some time, I will take care of that later, if I do that with my computer, maybe the next day, I have difficulties to start it or in the middle of an email, my computer crashes. And I feel even worse than the previous day, feeling angry about the computer and I talk to myself “If I knew, I would have cleaned it yesterday. Too late. Now I get more work to do. “

Life is about flow or resistance. With flow, things work. With resistance, things have a tendency to not work. Now we experience resistances. Resistances to go where we want without a test, a mask and most people experience fear. If you really want to change the scenario, you need to recognize the cause is inside, in your consciousness and the effects are outside, producing the actual chaos and more you are trapped emotionally in the outer scenario, more you add chaos into it.

You can choose to find the solution outside, through the respect of physical distance, wearing mask, not touching, not kissing, not hugging, not meeting your close family and get vaccinated. It implies a lot of control, look at what’s happening now, in some countries you need an authorization to go out, there is a curfew, and lockdown, you are not able to travel as you would like, in other countries, you need a vaccine to enter or a QR code to go to bars and restaurants, or a health pass. Such control can bring chaos. It’s what’s happening with someone experiencing mental breakdown. It can feel as though the world has come to an end. More they try to control, more it goes out of control until they should accept the situation as it is and move to acceptance, compassion, the level of the heart chakra.

Now, because a lot of different controls are imposed, things have a tendency to go out of control, demonstrations, rallies, people fed up with the rules, and on the other side, people accused those who don’t respect the rules to be egoist, to spread the virus and so on and it doesn’t happen in a soft way, there is anger, aggressivity and violence. Do we want to continue this way? Or do we recognize ourselves as creators and see this situation as part of our evolution? We have the choice, as always.

We are in this physical existence to learn and understand that our energy translated into beliefs, thoughts and emotions, causes all our experiences and learn how to relate to each other and learn about communication. There are no exceptions. Most people can continue to resist to the changes, it will happen anyway, one way or the other. If most people resist as now, continuing to put their attention outside, motivated by fear, living under control, controlling themselves and wanting to control the others, the change will happen in a strong way; if more and more people become conscious and make some steps for changing their way of thinking and raise their perceptions to the heart, the change will be softer, but there will be a change. The only constant in the universe is the change.

It’s very clear now that we go through a global transformation at the level of the planetary consciousness. Because this planetary consciousness is composed of all the individual consciousness, we can look at what happens in an individual consciousness during the process of evolution to understand the evolution of the group consciousness. And we can have an understanding about what is happening in the different parts of a country, different towns in relation with what is happening in the group consciousness of the country, of the town, the area, and so on.

We experience a strong solar plexus energy, and from this level of consciousness, we experience separation. We can see now two strong separated energies between people believing everything that is said and following every rule and people who are rejecting the direction given and not following the rules. It’s a co creation and the only solution is for both to raise their perceptions to the heart chakra, it’s an inevitable evolutionary process.

And some people being vaccinated have effects of the vaccination: tiredness, thrombosis, other symptoms and even death. Once again, the point of view we look at it is that everything begins in the consciousness. Why these specific persons attract this experience? We look at what was happening in their life at the time they got the effects of the vaccine and why a person's Spirit leads him or her to this or that experience. If a person is in harmony in their consciousness, they can be vaccinated and have no adverse reactions.

As Gurdjieff was saying « Everything is dependent on everything else, everything is connected, nothing is separate. Therefore, everything is going in the only way it can go. If people were different, everything would be different. They are what they are, so everything is as it is. “

Now, everybody has a choice, we can decide to put the responsibility outside ourselves and blame the people who lead the country. But it will bring only separation, aggressivity, violence and you will only spread seeds of war that will come back to you multiplied many times.

If we have this situation right now, it’s the manifestation of our long story. The tendency we have as individual to think and decide that in order to be right, the others must be wrong. It’s a limitation placed on you, and you must be aware of it and recognized it as something needing to be healed.

For example, by deciding the society you live is poor, and likely to remain so, you energize the symptom, rather than the healing. And people with this idea in their consciousness plan, poverty is maintaining as the natural state. Where attention goes, energy flows. It should bring your attention to the perceptions you choose, the words you use, the interactions you make and do what you need to do to stay in balance whatever is happening around you and stop to harm the others with your words, your judgement, and do to the others what you would like they do for you.

We have the possibility to create more easily the separation, as we look through the three first levels of our consciousness, the three first chakras, physical, emotional and mental levels. What the western psychology calls the conscious. And most people continue to move only between these three levels and, in fact, they don’t see the world as it is, they see the world as they are, they are lost in the mirroring aspects of their own being.

Through these three levels, we feel separated – me here in my space and the others outside – and to make the contact with the outer world, you need to do something, to act, it’s a Yang energy. We have come to a point where we see only through the eyes of profit: taking everything from the earth and violating the rights of people living in a specific location and so, we create more racism, more hate, more separation, all of this is energy we send outside and now it comes back multiplied to us. We destroy the biodiversity, not respecting the other species, killing billions of living beings.

Volcanos are waking up, fire is solar plexus energy and as Yogananda was saying „The good and bad karmic conditions created by man determine and influence the climate, affecting the wind and the ocean to the very structure of the Earth, sometimes causing earthquakes. All the hatred, anger, evil that we send into the world, and the anguish and violence they cause - all disrupt the magnetic field of the Earth as parasites in the Ether.”

Beside these upheavals with the virus, there are these other strong manifestations like floods in Germany, Netherlands, Belgium mainly, some places in East of France, fires in Canada since weeks, Japan with a mud tsunami and a lot of events showing that our group consciousness is out of balance, so much that it affects the physical reality more and more in a destroying way.

In India, they have experienced to be short with oxygen for hospitals and the numbers of cases is rising. We are all concerned with the element air now, more or less strongly, again depending on the group consciousness tensions at the level of the heart chakra. People getting the covid have difficulty to breath, and masks are almost everywhere mandatory, so we create more difficulty to breath, we have attracted a situation in which governments - from the physical point of view - decide we must keep distance, no touch, no hug – all of this in relation with the heart chakra -

And when we look at what was happening in India, it’s not a surprise when you see the tensions created there: pollution, extreme poverty, religious extremism, corruption, a lot of ego, a lot of judgment, hate, anger, so unconditional love is not what most people experience. Therefore, the group consciousness attracts a hard experience.

All this situation is reflecting a difficulty to raise our perceptions to the heart.

What do we need for a wake-up call? A stronger one to understand what we need to change?

Fear is the star in this scenario.

I was a train driver and there are rules to follow, if you don’t do that, you are a threat for the others and for yourself. For example, there are speed limits and lights and as train driver, you respect them scrupulously. If you don’t do that, you can create a serious situation and you are no more allowed to drive a train, you should pass again through psychological and medical tests, and if you succeed, you could be allowed again.

On the road, most people don’t respect the speed limit, now there are more and more radars, more control.

The same with the belt, it’s mandatory since some years and you trigger a sound if you don’t put it, more control.

The same with the mobile phone, because people are messaging or talking when driving, more control.

Now facial recognition is starting to be implemented, even more control.

When I was a child, I learn to ride a bicycle without a helmet, now since some years, a lot of people are biking with a helmet, it became a new habit and a business. And people are telling you, it’s dangerous if you fall on your head and also there is more traffic than before, so you should protect yourself. With our beliefs and programs based on fear, even if people think it’s for their security, we create in fact more control in our life.

Fear, guilt, anger are now the motivating forces of many individuals, governments and mainstream medias. Each one of them participates in the propagation of this type of energy and we arrive at a society of permanent control.

So, how to heal the symptom?

As a healer, you never focus on a symptom, because where your attention goes, energy flows and you would give more energy to the symptom. You focus on the place where the person is whole, experiencing integrity. And you bring this integrity again to the densest level of energy, the physical. And it’s better to stop to put a word on a symptom. In a world of energy, we speak about an energy being in a state of flow or a resistance to the flow of energy. For example, if a person is experiencing what they call a headache in the physical, they need to find an outer solution to get rid of the headache. Now in the reality of healing, we would ask the person to describe what they feel in terms of energy – „oh, I feel it as a pressure inside “– So, we can work with the pressure and remove it easily with an imaginary pressure valve. The person feels the release and what they call a headache is gone. There is no way to explain that in terms of the physical laws –chemistry, biology, physics – but we don’t work with these laws, we work in a different reality in which energy behaves differently. We don’t break the physicals laws, they exist in the physical reality, we just work with other laws, but the result is we were able to release a headache.

Any symptom is only a blocked energy or a resistance to the flow of energy. So, when we look at the situation now, it’s reflecting a blocked energy, and we need to look behind the physical, to get in touch with our inner being, to work on ourselves, to love ourselves, to feel this unity in ourselves and feel the energy of unity with everybody.

Ask yourself how much of your day you are able to spend without judging you, judging the others and if you feel you’re doing that, change and raise your perceptions again at the level of your heart chakra. Feel the love for yourself and release the resistances you have with the other, feel the compassion, accept the other as they are. They are also on their paths, learning as you do. Do not allow the temptation to argue against their beliefs or explain that they have been duped. When you do that, you reinforce in fact their beliefs. Feel the compassion and understand they feel scared, or angry, or confused.

Don’t judge. Otherwise, you give power to the energy of control and separation. We are going through a passage, it’s like an initiation, a purification ritual, moving from a level of consciousness in which we are experiencing control, lack of power, fear, separation to another level of consciousness in which we can feel our love united with the love of others, no longer me as an individual and the others outside, but a sense of belonging to the same space together, a sense of feeling included and taking care of one another. You are no more controlled by the energy of separation but you are in the energy of doing things for the benefit of humanity and a sense of building something together.

As John Lennon was saying years ago « you may say I am a dreamer but I am not the only one » and in fact we are each a dreamer, and even if more and more people start to wake up, still a lot more are dreaming unconsciously, their dreams is a nightmare where they are the oppressors or the victims and are unable to do something about the situation they experience.

Never let the fear decide your future.

« Ignorance breeds fear, fear breeds superstition, superstition leads to blind faith, blindness makes one’s conscience void. And that makes all sense void. That man is a mental slave. Be wise not ignorant. “Buddha

As human beings it’s our responsibility to water the seeds of mindfulness, compassion, acceptance that they can grow and blossom. If you continue to water the other seeds like anger, greed, jealousy, separation, the world will continue to go in the direction you give this kind of energy.

Stop to add thoughts to your thoughts, stop the thoughts from rising. Become a pool of silence. If you want to change the situation outside, awaken all of yourself. Stop to walk in a societal trance, walk consciously each moment. Be conscious of the dream you are dreaming, don’t get caught in « Maya », the illusion of the physical reality.

We are on a path where allopathic medicine and spiritual healing will meet and work together for the good of humanity. Body and mind are not separated and this interaction needs to be recognized and amplified in the approach of allopathic medicine. Acceptance of each other's point of view is the starting point for communication that will bring the best solutions to heal the symptoms that affects all living beings.

„Open your heart. Look inside. See the light. Accept your individuality and the individuality of others. Acceptance is love. And love heals. » Martin Brofman

©Philippe Hannetelle July 2021

Books:

Paramahansa Yogananda – Autobiography of a yogi

Pierre Besson – Man or God

Martin Brofman – Anything can be healed

From the teachings of Sri Yukteswar and Paramahansa Yogananda – The Yugas

Neville Godard – The power of consciousness

Michael Talbot – The universe is a hologram

Pr Roger D. Nelson – Connected: The Emergence of Global Consciousness

#brofmanfoundation energy mind spirit healing harmony unity chakra

[tawakkull]

ISLAM 101: Spirituality in Islam: Part 22

Tawakkul, Taslim, Tafwiz, and Thiqa (Reliance, Surrender, Commitment, and Confidence)

Reliance, surrender, commitment, and confidence are the four steps or stations of a spiritual journey beginning with reliance on (or trust in) God, continuing in full awareness of one’s helplessness and destitution before God, and ending in entrusting all of one’s affairs to God Almighty in order to attain absolute peace and tranquillity of heart. Reliance (tawakkul) means total confidence in God, and feeling troubled or uneasy when it occurs to one that there may be other sources of power (that one can resort to). Without such a degree of confidence, it is wrong to talk about reliance. Moreover, one cannot attain reliance so long as the doors of the heart remain open to others. Reliance means doing all that is necessary to obtain a desired or intended result, and then waiting in expectation for the Eternally-Powerful One to bring about His Will. After this comes surrender (taslim), which many friends of God have described as one’s being before God’s Power and Will like a dead body in the hands of a mortician. Then comes commitment (tafwiz), leaving or committing all things and affairs to God and expecting everything from Him.

Reliance is the start of a journey, surrender is its end, and commitment is its result. Therefore, commitment has a wider meaning and relates to those who have almost completed the journey, rather than to beginners. Commitment comes after surrender, which requires the conviction of one’s helplessness and destitution before God’s Power and Wealth, and the ability to feel in one’s heart the meaning of: There is no power and strength save with God. It also requires the utmost dependence on and the expectation of help from the heavenly treasure of: There is no power and strength save with God. In other words, commitment means that a traveler on the path to God feels warned by the point of reliance and the point of seeking help in his conscience and, in exact awareness of his or her helplessness and destitution, turns to the Unique Source of Power and Will and says: Hold me by the hand, hold me, for I cannot do without You.

If reliance means that one entrusts all worldly and otherworldly affairs to the Lord, commitment means that one is fully aware that it is actually God Who does everything, Who produces every result, and Who creates all things and deeds that many consider to be done by themselves. Reliance means that one relies on God and closes the doors of one’s heart to whatever or whoever is other than Him. It can be regarded as the outer fulfillment all duties of worship and the inner attachment to God, the Lord Who is the sole Sustainer and Administrator of all that exists. This is what Shihab expresses in the following couplets:

Rely on the All-Merciful in all your affairs; One who relies on Him is never in loss. Confide in God and be patient with His disposal of you, For you can obtain only as His favors what you expect from Him.

I think ‘Umar, the second Caliph, may God be pleased with him, drew attention to the same point in a letter he wrote to Abu Musa al-'Ash'ari: If you are able to submit to whatever or however God decrees for you [i.e. by not objecting to whatever befalls you], this is wholly good. If you are unable to do so, then endure it with patience.

From another perspective, reliance signifies reliance on and confidence in God. Surrender is the state of those who have been awakened to spiritual life. Commitment, meaning that travelers are not detained by considerations of means and causes, is a station special to those of high spiritual achievement.

Even if travelers possessing commitment seem to attach a certain importance to means and causes, this is due to the fact that they live in the material world, the sphere of means and causes, in which God has made any accomplishment dependent on certain preliminary conditions. If they give priority to means and causes, thereby disregarding the fact that God disposes of everything as He wishes, then they will become like vermin crawling on earth, despite their previous resemblance to birds flying in the highest parts of the heavens. It is related in books on the lives of saints that those saintly people who try to advance but become caught in the over-consideration of means and causes hear these words:

Give up taking precautions, for involvement in precautions causes perishing; Commit your affairs to Us, for We are more thoughtful of you than yourself.

Such a commitment is a heroism that can be achieved only by those who persevere in their relations with God while living among people.

Doing what is necessary to obtain a certain result without attributing any creative effect to them may mean different things to different travelers: reliance for everybody, submission for those awakened to realities beyond the visible dimension, and commitment and confidence for those who have attained true peace or tranquillity of heart. How fine is the following saying of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, which combines exerting effort and reliance and commitment: If you were able to rely on God as true reliance on Him requires, He would provide you as He provides birds that leave their nests hungry in the morning and return full in the evening.

This Prophetic Tradition contains different truths for people of different spiritual ranks. What it means for the typical individual is what Rumi says:

Even if reliance on God is a guide, Fulfilling preliminaries is a practice of the Prophet. He told (a Bedouin) loudly (in response to his question): First fasten your camel and then rely on God.

This meaning is what is pointed out in: On God let the reliant rely (14:12).

Those who lead their lives at the level of pure spirituality understand, in perfect awareness of their helplessness and weakness before God, that they should trust wholly in God’s Power and Strength, and become like a corpse in the hands of a mortician: In God put your trust, if you are true believers (5:23). As for those who fly around the summits of “self-annihilation in God” and “subsistence with God,” they say, like Prophet Abraham, upon him be peace, even while being thrown into fire: God is sufficient for me (39:38) and commit their affairs wholly to Him. It is enough for them that God Almighty knows their condition.

We can also see this greatest degree of commitment in God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings. When the feet of those pursuing him during his emigration to Madina were seen from the cave where he was hiding with his nearest friend Abu Bakr, may God be pleased with him, and their pursuers’ voices echoed from the cave’s walls, he relied wholly upon God and told Abu Bakr: Grieve not! Assuredly, God is with us (9:40). This is also alluded to in the verse: Whoever puts his trust in God, He will suffice him (65:3).

Commitment and confidence are the highest degrees of reliance on God. Those who have attained these degrees have entirely submitted their reason, logic, and belief, as well as their outer and inner feelings, to God’s commandments. As a result, they have become “polished mirrors” in which His Names, Attributes, and acts are reflected. Signs of these degrees are under-standing that taking precautions is included in God’s preordainment, and thereby finding peace; seeing their willpower as a dim shadow of the Divine Will, and turning to that Divine Will; and being pleased with God’s treatment, whether it be favorable or not, and agreeing with whatever happens to them.

The author of Minhaj describes this degree of commitment as follows:

I committed all my affairs to the Dear One, Whether He keeps me alive or makes me die.

The following words of Wasif of Andarun are also most appropriate: Whatever was destined will certainly happen, so Commit your affairs to God; neither be grieved nor suffer pains.

One of the most beautiful descriptions of commitment belongs to Ibrahim Haqqi, the initial verses of whose Tafwiznama (Description of Tafwiz) are as follows:

God changes evils into good; Never think that He does otherwise. One with knowledge of Him watches In admiration what He does. Let us see what our Master does; He does well whatever He does. Put your trust in God, the Truth; And commit to Him your affairs So that you may find peace. Be patient and agree (with whatever He does). Let us see what our Master does; He does well whatever He does.

#allah #god #islam #muslim #quran #revert #convert #convert islam #revert islam #reverthelp #revert help #revert help team #help #islamhelp #converthelp #prayer #salah #muslimah #reminder #pray #dua #hijab #religion #mohammad #new muslim #new revert #new convert #how to convert to islam #convert to islam #welcome to islam

[jinruihokankeikaku]

Could I get an analysis of a Sylph of Mind? I just came across your blog and it seems wonderful keep up the great work im proud of u

You got it!! And thank you!! ^^^^-^^^^ I rly appreci8 that, I certainly plan on keepin this so long as there’s still interest in it! I havve so many things to say a8out the Classpect system and Homestuck in general, so there wwill certainly 8e more to come. Noww, here’s my take on wwhat I 8elievve is our first Mind player and our first Sylph…

Title: Sylph of Mind

Title Breakdown: One who passively creates [heals, assists, allows others to make, gives, makes incipient] Mind [reason, decision-making, adaptation, strategy, dialogue]

Role in the Session: Sylphs gradually shape and improve the outlook of a session by passively carrying their Aspect with them, acting as beacons of safety and restoration in the tumult of a Session. Like most passive classes, the Sylph serves their Aspect as much as their Aspect serves them, filtering, refining, and allowing the Aspect to flow through them. In this case, the Aspect is Mind, the Associative-Personal Aspect whose domains include reason, decision-making, adaptation/improvisation, and one’s conception of the outside world through the lens of one’s experiences (as opposed to one’s intrinsic identity). A Sylph of Mind is someone who solves problems with elegance and precision, someone who serves as an island of reason and serenity in a Game so often inclined towards madness and mayhem. They’re the player the session will rely on for guidance in times of confusion, and their team should take care not to take the Sylph’s aid for granted. Indeed, this is one of the Sylph’s major struggles as a class: to assert themselves, and to avoid bottling up their resentments to the point of Inversion – which, Inversion is never a good thing, but in the case of the Sylph results in the manifestation of Actively Destructive qualities, which can be tremendously damaging to a team’s structural integrity and interpersonal relationships, as well as that team’s odds of victory in general.

The Sylph of Mind may face a Quest on their Planet in which they’re required to resolve a number of ongoing crises, to keep their cool in the face of distraction, and to direct their energies with care and precision despite the conflict around them. Their Planet may be plagued by an overabundance of Heart – perhaps there’s a society that has fallen into chaos due to a dominating attitude of rugged individualism and heedless (anti)heroics. The Sylph would be tasked with stabilizing the situation, healing the lost minds of their Consorts in much the same way that they may eventually have to heal their Team. If they work harmoniously with their Aspect, they’ll be able to do incredible work, pulling down those lost in self-aggrandization and lifting up those spiraling into a web of bad decisions. They might well benefit from having a Seer of Blood on their side, who could make clear to their team the need for solidarity and mutual support. They’d also be able to do great work with a Mage or Witch of Light, both of whom will have access to vast stores of knowledge but also lack the wisdom with which to apply it righteously.

Opposite Role: Prince of Heart. This is the canonical Aspect of Dirk Strider, a character who at various points in his character arc but especially early on ghosts Mind, manifesting the Aspect as an unhealthy level of disaffection and faux-stoicism to mask his inner turmoil and struggle to embrace his identity. Any other Prince of Heart is likely to have a similar struggle, even if it doesn’t manifest exactly the same way; a Sylph of Mind might try to correct this, to work with the Prince’s rational side, but may not realize that that side is already present in excess; this Prince is likely to perceive the Sylph’s attempts at repair or restoration as sanctimonious meddling at best and overt sabotage at worst, which could well be a source of intra-team conflict.

God-Tier Powers

We’ve got a Passive Creation Class and an Associative-Personal Aspect – their powers will draw on their inner beliefs (beliefs here meaning any conceptions, not just those taken on faith) and psychological functions as fuel, be directed towards creating and/or repairing social constructs, interpersonal or personal-social relationships, or decision-making processes, and will be most effective when used in a supporting or backing roll and/or in harmony with the flow of Mind rather than against its current. Here are some ideas…

Unity of Practice: The Sylph reaches out and becomes aware of the perspective of all those near them, and gradually, subtly melds those perspectives, focusing them within themselves before reflecting them out like a beacon. They’ll convey the ideas harmoniously, only expanding people’s awareness rather than assuming direct control over their thoughts and actions, subtly drawing the team closer together.

Dialogue/Dialectic: When in conversation with someone, the Sylph emanates an imperceptible telepathic field that assures clarity on either end, smoothing over miscommunications and allowing each participant to be aware of each other participant’s intended meaning. This will only mediate the flow of thought rather than opening up direct telepathic lines, preventing any unscrupulous participants from abusing the telepathic field to directly access another’s thoughts or ideas.

Sylvan Stratagem: The Sylph expands their focus to encompass the entirety of the team, becoming aware the actions of team members as those actions take place, and acquiring an almost instinctual understanding of how to effectively assist with or remedy the consequences of those actions. While they can’t teleport across the vast distances that might lie between individual players, they can send their advice over that distance almost instantaneously, forcing their teammates to, if nothing else, at least consider the Sylph’s strategic perspective.

Personality: Sylphs tend to be nurturing at best, and meddling at worst – they are almost always driven to “assist” people by whatever means they can, which means are usually associated with their Aspect. A Sylph of Mind specifically might be inclined towards offering “sage advice”, almost mirroring a Seer; their advice, however, will be less concerned with affairs of objective reality and more concerned with Reason and Justice in decision-making; that is to say, they won’t necessarily have the information everyone needs, but they’ll be able to advise people on just what to do about the information they have. Both Sylphs and Mind players generally tend towards a strong sense of normative right and wrong, so that particular quality might be especially manifest in our Sylph. The most important thing for them to remember is that they are valued, and they needn’t always struggle to prove their worth by intervening at every opportunity.

Songs

Let’s see…

Yoga by the Mountain Goats

Insurance Fraud #2 also by the Mountain Goats ::::p

I may come up with some more in the future.

Anyhoww, I hope you found this analysis interesting and slash or informativve; sorry 8out the delay ::::) This class isn’t a particularly flashy one, but they’re deceptively powwerful; their influence wwill 8e present in a session even if it is not immedi8ly apparent.

#Classpect #classpect analysis #sylph #mind #Homestuck #Sylph of Mind #Class #Aspect #anon #ask

[pilawforhire]

@bookofaion asked:

(( bro, I miss your HCs, give me something about Law & how he views the past, what are his big regrets, what are things he reflects on most? besides Corazon's death, what's something he would like to change? does he believe 'everything happens for a reason' or nah? ))

//Hey, Ane! Thank you so much for the ask. It really got me thinking, and I haven’t been thinking about such deeper topics in a long time. I don’t think I could express my thoughts well in this, so please excuse the rambling, if things don’t make sense, and the very disorganised everything.

Reflections:

“Death surrounds us. If there’s one thing you can count on in life, it’s the infallible, all-embracing hand of death, and the permanence and irreversibility of its fatal touch. Death is an old friend of mine, but also a teacher, a companion: lifelong, eternal.”

Given the death he’s witnessed, death lurking in every corner one turns, the ‘death’ tattooed on his fingers (a reminder, now), I think death and mortality would feature commonly in his reflections – not with pessimism, not necessarily with despair, but as a stimulus to live; reflecting on death in order to reflect on life, its impermanence (in the scope of an individual’s), its shortness of nature, ever-changing.

For instance, thoughts on: why death is generally feared, the lessons death has taught him, how he should like to die (by his own hand, ideally within his control, but not alone), what a good death would be like (facing death with courage, dying for a worthy cause; what is called a reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying), when is it time to let go, and most importantly, why he should not die yet. Especially in his adolescence and/or young adulthood, owing to the losses he survived, and their ripples of anguish, it would’ve been crucial to ask, over and over, why he should live on – and how. How should he live. With strength, courage, dignity – exactly how he envisions he would die.

Of course, there’d also be reflections on the bigger decisions he’s made in life (with regards to his goals, the crew, etc.); reflections on his past (with a yearning, and a smidgen of loneliness), on how far he’s come (with incredulity; made it, after all), on his crew and Bepo’s friendship (with gratitude, appreciation); reflections on those he failed to save (I kind of headcanon that throughout his travels, in order to gain the experience as a doctor/surgeon, he would’ve helped civilians, either those who can’t afford to be treated in hospitals, or if he encounters someone who’s ill/hurt, or in clinics in smaller towns – granted, he could practise on corpses, but I doubt he’d turn down someone who needed help if it was within his means to treat them (‘bad’ guys aside; circumstances dependent); at least once he’d have failed to save a child, and the experience would’ve been humbling).

More in his younger years, he’d likely have reflected on numerous what-if scenarios, if Corazon had survived, etc.

How he views his past:

Over time, he’d have crawled along the path towards acceptance of the people he’s lost, though the sorrow is an undying presence (and would’ve, more so in the past, manifested as anger or irritation). Yet, on the path to acceptance, it’d still be difficult to fully let go of the guilt or self-blame, considering they spur him towards his goal, and his goal of fulfilling his legacy, taking down Joker, is everything that keeps him moving forwards.

I think, for the longest time, he viewed his past with regret; when he thought of the past, he thought only of everything he lost. But I’d like to think that later along his journey, although the past is still something he cannot talk openly about, without fear of it all spilling out in an overwhelming way, he’s able to reflect on the good times as well, with gratitude. He had a good, loving family; Corazon had given him hope, and his last dying breath. Yes, they were all taken from him too soon, but there were some fonder memories, bittersweet to relive.

Eventually, he wouldn’t think of his past as a burden or something that weighs him down, but more a series of events that has strengthened and taught him a number of things: courage to scrabble his way through and drag his leaden limbs back from the pitch darkness not once but time and time again, to embrace the suffering (albeit, possibly to an unhealthy extent; without suffering, how could he appreciate pleasures), the necessity of being prepared, that everyone dies (because life comes at a price) (but that death makes life meaningful; death gives us incentive to live), to appreciate the smaller things: his crew (they are his lifeboat), the sunrise, (every breath, every pain) – still, he was willing to give it all up for his goal.

Does he believe that everything happens for a reason?

I don’t think he’d ever be able to accept that his family’s and Corazon’s deaths happened for a reason, and he’d be of the opinion that reasons or meaning are just things humans attribute to circumstances out of their control in order to make sense of things. Nothing could explain or justify their deaths. Did they all really have to die so he would learn how to cope with grief and loss, and understand what suffering was like? In his teens, he would’ve brooded about the unfairness of life taking everything from him not once but twice, though eventually he’d have tried to use his past to empower himself instead, believing that he’d survived all that, he could survive anything – though this leads to him developing a belief in his invincibility (thus the necessity later on to remind himself of his mortality), by pushing himself always to the limits, braving harsh weather/conditions, disregarding colds or ailments.

Big regrets:

Aside from accidentally running to Vergo and disclosing Corazon’s undercover identity – I’d think he’d regret more of his states of being in the past: ignorant, inadequate, helpless, and he’s extra hard on himself in attempts to avoid stumbling into such scenarios again. On some level, he’d understand certain circumstances are out of his control – when he brought Vergo that document, he’d decided it was the best course of action to take – yet he’d strive to be as prepared as possible; can’t risk complacency or carelessness.

On the whole, in his adulthood, I don’t think he’d have big regrets. He’d be of the firm belief this is the path he’s meant to take. (And if he does have regrets about decisions made in battle or involving their voyage, those would be regrets he reflects on to learn from.)

As Viktor Frankl said: “Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way” – albeit, for Law, the path he chose was one rooted in feelings of guilt and despair.

Still, even after that talk with Sengoku post-Dressrosa, even after hearing the words he’d subconsciously been desiring to hear someone say to him all the years, that he was under no obligations, that Corazon saved him not just because of the ‘D’ in his name (paraphrasing the exact words because I don’t remember), if Law were able to return to the past and choose a different path, 101 out of 101 times, he would not have chosen differently. Even if taking out Doffy did not alleviate the sense of emptiness, that goal carried him 13 years, longer than any other would’ve (he thinks).

“He gave me life; he gave me a reason to live. I made a choice of my own free-will. Who’s to say any other path or choice would’ve resulted in a ‘better’ outcome? Would I have been better off not dedicating my life to pursuing Joker? No, I’d have been worse off.”

Besides, I think he may not be able to picture himself leading an ordinary, civilian life. It would be a generally safer, more stable and secure way of living, but at the risk of succumbing to ennui? He’d crave the heart-pounding adrenaline from fights, the thrills of walking a fine line between life and death (mocking, challenging, taunting death). (Though he doesn’t take unnecessary risks, especially since assuming his responsibilities as a captain.)

Besides Corazon's death, what's something he would like to change?

In all honesty, while he would’ve, in the past, wished he could’ve gone back in time and acted differently to save Corazon’s life, in the present, at 26, I think he’d have accepted Corazon as dead for over a decade, that he wouldn’t feel strongly about changing that. Not that he doesn’t wish he could speak to or see Corazon one last time, but he’s, over time, come to accept that such wishful thinking is completely pointless. Furthermore, I think he’d have gotten used to…mourning/missing him. Having him back would be undeserving. If Corazon is back, what excuse would he have to explain his self-destructiveness – it would mean that he ought to be absolved from the guilt (but he’s not ready to let that go). It would mean that he could maybe even be happy, and that is a scary thought. ‘Happiness’: terrifying, quite so very something he’s unaccustomed to letting himself experience. Although he’s reflected on death, mortality, it would still be nagging him in the back of his mind that one day he’d have to mourn Corazon again.

As for something else he’d like to change, his hirsuteness, or lack thereof. (In all seriousness, I haven’t thought of a good answer, sorry.) I think he may aim more for inner change first – forever wanting to a better self than who he was the day before. By better, I don’t necessarily mean doing ‘good’ but…more knowledgeable, tougher, experienced. To aim to stand ready and confident to take without flinching whatever life throws at him.

Because he will persevere. Granted, his resolve wavers from time to time, being that he is only human; there are weaker and lower moments and phases, but he persists because through and through, Law is a rebel. Guiltily, I would like to think he would rebel against the ocean of greyness that threatens to engulf.

He will never surrender. He’ll die fighting, like Corazon did.

And with a smile.

Probably giving the finger too.

#bookofaion #ooc #tw death #hcs #sorry this is super long #but you know me #thank you for sending <3

[personalcoachingcenter]

Understanding The LIVES Coaching Model

New Post has been published on http://personalcoachingcenter.com/understanding-the-lives-coaching-model/

Understanding The LIVES Coaching Model

A Coaching Model Created by Bogdan Vizitiu (Leadership & Youth Coach, ROMANIA)

Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way. – Viktor Frankl.

Introduction

Coaching is “partnering with clients in a thought-provoking and creative process that inspires them to maximize their personal and professional potential (ICF, n.a.)”.

The keyword in the definition is partnering. Coaches do not act like experts – even when they have experience or education in that regard, but as thinking partners focused on helping clients use their creativity and resources to see beyond their blocking points and solve their own problems.

People need to feel seen, valued, and heard to have the desire to grow. In this space, their creativity is activated, and they are safe to explore the blocks feeling empowered.

If we are trying to be someone else, we won’t be happy with the results we get. But when we fine-tune our lives and navigate through the debris, we can recognize who we are with ease to it: like the perfect pair of jeans, or shirt, or somewhere you always wanted to live. And if we pay attention to our emotions and our body, we will recognize it when we find it.

The LIVES Coaching Model was designed like a journey to find purpose and the motivation to search for the true-self and our inner light. LIVES is a 5-step coaching process that helps the clients look and work towards their objective and reconnecting with themselves.

Lifeline:

In the first step, we look at the objective or the challenge. The client explores what is that they like to do, what is fun and meaningful for them, or what they liked the most in a situation or life in general. What did they learn from those situations and from milestones or landmarks they remember clearly that are associated with strong feelings and further in the next steps of the journey we can explore how can they use that learning in the present situation. Wheel of Life is a great tool to use here and to pair it with the results of the interest areas from the lifeline.

What do you want to achieve?

If you had seven other lives to live, what would you do in each of them?

Is there something you loved as a kid that you have stopped doing?

How can you relight that fire?

Considering the high points events in your lifeline, what activities or actions were involved?

Introspection:

Starting with the client desired outcome, invite them to explore what new actions or perspective shifts might be needed to discover possible solutions. How can new awareness help learn new things about yourself?

What is the current situation like?

What the ideal situation looks or feels like?

What do you think is the main issue here?

What prevents you from achieving your goals?

What is the root of the problem?

Values:

In this step, the coach explores the values of the client and their importance. Coaching is used to achieve any goal or change any behavior. The goals that bring them closer to their purpose will be the most satisfying. What is the foundation that the client can build upon and how are the client values connected to the objective of the session? What are his or her values and where do we start? We can start by inviting the client to engage in a value exercise, (value game, dinner exercise, DeMartini value model, VIA Strengths, etc) breathe naturally, and meditate on their purpose or visualizing it.

What is your world has the most important to you?

What is the worst-case scenario?

What are you afraid of?

What’s behind the issue?

Emotions:

In this step, the coach shares observations for the client to consider where the gap is between the current situation and the desired one. How can emotions help the client reconnect with the true self, and how can I use them as beacons or signals in the body. (when a value impinges, or the gut is trying to tell the client something.).We know that we do not respond to the present moment; we respond to what happened to us in the past.

How does this experience help you in the present?

What keeps you from finding out?

What stops you from moving forward?

What can you see?

What do you not want to see?

What do you feel? How do you feel?

How does this support you to move forward?

What other options can you think of?

Shine:

After understanding what kept them from moving forward, the client should be able to look at the situation from a different perspective. The client can reframe and give life to the opposite of what happened. When reframing we become the source of creation and we cease to be a victim becoming empowered and unafraid.

What happens when you trust yourself?

What has become clearer?

What awareness, insight, or learning happened in our session?

How will this support you moving forward?

What support can the coaching give towards committing to action?

We may not be responsible for the world that created our minds, but we can take responsibility for the mind with which we create our world. Dr. Gabor Mate

Resources:

Gabor Mate – Compassionate Inquiry

Marcia Reynolds – Coach the person, not the problem

Viktor Frankl – Man search for meaning

ICA – Values and Life Purpose

Wheel of life, de Martini, Values game, Visualization, meditation, VIA Strengths

  Learn How to Create Your Own Coaching Model

Your Coaching Model reflects your values, philosophies and beliefs and must communicate who you will coach and the problems you will solve.

Read more about creating your own coaching model

Original source: 

elink.io | See Original

#achieve all your goals #best personal development coaching #business success #coaching #coaching demonstration #executive coaching #leadership coaching #life coach #life coach for women #life coaching #life coaching 101 #life coaching questions #life coaching session #life coaching techniques #lives coaching #lives coaching model #online coaching #optimize your success #personal development #personal development coaching #personal growth #personal growth and development #secret to personal growth #success mentor #Life Coaching #Personal Coaching

[spinallyspiraling]

"Gnosticism meaning one who knows, was able to be expressed and discovered because a few individuals who expanded the know from Euclidean Mathematics. Gnosticism in it's true form still upholds the geometrical truths of nature and secretly still exalts numbers and math. Gnosticism when not diluted with ignorance teaches that geometric patterns and shapes are the initiators of man. The gnostics, although not as openly understood or spoken of, knew that metaphysical forces and properties were crafted by these shapes within and without, from the golden spiral of Fibonacci, the platonic solids of platonism, and the five elements of Euclid. The Gnostics taught that creating these shapes geometrically within and without was the causation of consciousness and thus by understanding the geometrical shapes and solids, one can craft himself the shape or solid to command his consciousness to evolve or to become devoid of higher capabilities and capacities. Alchemy in a sense is the same practice or study, only alchemy has 7 widely accepted steps or initiators, whereas Gnosticism has its 5 elements, 5 platonic solids, and sacred geometry as it's initiators."

~ SpinallySpiraling

The fifth element, i.e., the quintessence, according to Plato was identified with the dodecahedron. He says simply "God used this solid for the whole universe, embroidering figures on it". So, I suppose it's a good thing that the right triangles comprising this quintessence are incommensurate with those of the other four elements, since we certainly wouldn't want the quintessence of the universe to start transmuting into the baser substances contained within itself!

Timaeus contains a very detailed discussion of virtually all aspects of physical existence, including biology, cosmology, geography, chemistry, physics, psychological perceptions, etc., all expressed in terms of these four basic elements and their transmutations from one into another by means of the constituent triangles being broken apart and re-assembled into other forms. Overall it's a very interesting and impressive theory, and strikingly similar in its combinatorial (and numerological) aspects to some modern speculative "theories of everything", as well as expressing ideas that have obvious counterparts in the modern theory of chemistry and the period table of elements, and so on.

"And so now we may say that our account of the universe has reached its conclusion. This world of ours has received and teems with living things, mortal and immortal. A visible living thing containing visible things, and a perceptible God, the image of the intelligible Living Thing. Its grandness, goodness, beauty and perfection are unexcelled. Our one universe, indeed, the only one of its kind, has come to be."

~ Timaeus

The word “Geo-metry” comes from the Greek words Geos meaning “Earth” and Metron meaning “To measure”, which together literally translate as the “Measuring of the earth” or “Earthly measurements”, an art which was traditionally restricted to the priesthood.

The general belief behind sacred geometry is that geometry and mathematical ratios, harmonics and proportions are also found in music, light, and cosmology. It is considered foundational to building sacred structures such as temples, mosques, megaliths, monuments and churches; sacred spaces such as altars and tabernacles; meeting places such as sacred groves, village greens and holy wells and the creation of religious art, iconography and using "divine" geometry may be understood as a worldview of pattern recognition, a complex system of religious symbols and structures involving space, time and form. By studying the nature of these patterns, forms and relationships and their connections, insight may be gained into the mysteries - the laws and lore of the Universe.

The vision of God as a Great Architect has found expression through numerous sources throughout the ages. The great Christian theologian St. Augustine, who held both Pythagoras and Plato in high regard, grasped the significance of geometric form, pattern and proportion, and their representation through numerical symbolism.

"Numbers are the thoughts of God.”

~ St. Augustine

“The construction of the physical and moral world alike is based on eternal numbers.”

~ St. Augustine

"Mathematics is the alphabet with which God has written the universe.”

~ Galileo

“Geometry existed before the creation. It is co-eternal with the mind of God…Geometry provided God with a model for the Creation…”

~ Johannes Kepler

In a pre-literate world the oldest evidence of the Great Knowledge or Inner Teachings is expressed by means of geometry that has always been regarded as Sacred Geometry as it represented the Divine Law of physical manifestation. People with access to the higher dimensions see these geometric shapes where they emanate specific energies to sustain and support the physical dimension. The oldest evidence of the use of Sacred Geometry is 70,000 B.C. and originates from South Africa. By using Sacred Geometry our ancestors depicted the creation or make-up of our universe by the Divine Yin and Yang and the task of the human being therein in ever widening spirals of increasing density in the lower dimensions and thus estrangement of the Divine.

"Consciousness is obtainable and manipulatable with poetry, math, music, dance, and other higher pursuits such as astrology or astronomy, philosophy and other scholarly avenues of higher education because these higher pursuits are still mathematical and are basically mathematical equations. The higher pursuits and education was once only available to the aristocrats, oligarchs, monarchs, and artisans; give or take the far and few initiates of the ancient mystery schools due to the overreach of corruption, orthodoxy and religion in the affairs of man hindering the age of reasoning. All higher education leads to consciousness because all of the higher pursuits involve mathematics, numerical sequences, and pattern; with the iambic pentameter of poetry, the rendition or rhythm used in one's prose being a prime example of a mathematical scale creating inherant pattern. Music and dance are essentially a mathematical equation or scale, and also are outliers of pattern because math measures the notes as well as the distance between them, as does math also dictate dance due to the pattern or rhythm created by our movements in accordance or in mathematical synchronization with the scales and patterns imputed on the overall equation by the music underneath it. Mathematical correctness and symmetry is the definition of a talented musician, poet, dancer, etc; whereas mathematical inconsistencies a lack of symmetry or a misunderstanding of scales in music and math creates the foundation for a bad musician whom makes terrible music. Philosophy, a higher pursuit, because it requires empathy, wisdom, and an intelligence that can discern reality from appearence. Philosophy requires an application of our critical and reflective intelligence to understand human nature and altruism enough to seek how it is that the best in man can be unleashed. Every higher pursuit takes intellect to grasp and each transcends the mundane as these pursuits require a communion with our highest aspect of oneself, the soul, whether it be knowingly or unknowingly.

When one looks into all spiritual or metaphysical phenomena, one will discover a mathematical foundation underneath the visible or apparent reality we percieve, down to the kundalini being coiled 3 and 1/2 inches at the coccyx, the death of the same force at the base of the skull at the highest vertebra, to the rebirth that follows after in the core of man, the dot in which the radius himself will be calculated, the heart. Kundalini is mathematical, the Golden spiral being straightened into a line by it's upwards climb, the potential energy of our own matter becoming spiritualized and actuated, and this line in result turns into a weapon against the magnetism within that caused dissymetry and seperation from our highest self and consciousness. This gives life to the 5th element and the state of superfluidity; the spiritualized matter appearing as an observable weight, due to the energy of the Golden spiral - which was turned into line, threaded through the vesica pisces - the spinal medula, and faster than light, seemingly as lightning, was released; and the kinetic energy from the line created a zap of electrostatic discharge birthing the fires of shin and the zero point necessary for an introduction of aether to the biological being. This aether creates an outwards or expansive force a cool current or effect, similar to a dark energy or anti matter, this is the water of mem. As this line slowly loses energy it plummets downwards where it started, turns back into golden spiral; the sword that was stuck in the stone, and we bridge the gap between ourselves, consciousness and eternal return. Each climb gives life to a descent and every descent sets us up for another climb upwards. As above so below, the crown is in the kingdom and the kingdom is in the crown, keter overlaps malkuth and malkuth overlaps keter. Ascending, man must sow himself with friction and heat. Descending, man must take the thread connecting both poles and with the electrostatic discharge and kinetic energy, use this to free himself from the energy blockages that matter has trapped him in. In doing so man totally is transformed. The woman rediscovers her true form by reconciling the lost masculine within herself and man rediscovers his true form by reconciling with the lost feminine. This is the magnum opus, the secret of secrets, the holy of holies, the transcendence of both polarities the becoming of the Rebis, the androgynous, the God Self overlapping the physical. Greek mythology told the adepts of the mystery schools of antiquity that humans were originally created with four arms, four legs and a head with two faces. Fearing their power, Zeus split them into two separate parts, condemning them to spend their lives in search of their other halves. The keys to completion were once scattered, but Gnosticism had safely and secretly disquised these truths throughout the ages, through this spiral being raised up and converted into a line we metaphorically take the keys to the mysteries and pry open the treasure chests of the rib cage - sternum, the hips - pelvis, the crystal palace - pineal gland. This underlies the secrets of every system of belief, just as Hiram Abiff was using mathematics to design external houses of God, so we must also be like Hiram Abiff and construct the temple of God within self and become the Rebis once more. As it is with the rebis the great work is complete."

~ SpinallySpiraling