#control is an illusion

[carpethedamndiemdejavu]

"We are chained by our own control. Life is nothing more than finding the key that unlocks every part of our soul." - Shannon L. Alder

#soul #skeleton key #blue #freedom #meaning of life #vulnerable #authenticity #control is an illusion #manifestation #cosmic #shaman #pawo #mature masculine #teacher #aldebaran

[claire-de-lune-poetry]

Project & Protect:

In your comfortable walled off castle

You watch with binoculars from a safe height

For height is your advantage

Numb the feeling by belittling the ones below your stance

It's easier if you insult and mock

It's easier if you declare youre hard to reach

Harder to keep, for look at all these reasonings

Warnings or flags, matter it does not

You had already counted the loss before the start

And from this perspective we shall both learn

Well learn nothing about the other

But subjective assumptions and rumor

Disected words all to crinkle the paper

Toss it in the trash and go back to your comfort screening

Reminding yourself youre safe with this method

Safe and numb to the heart.

01/14/23

#poem #poetry #spilled ink #dead poets society #spilled poetry #spilled in poetry #poetic #creative writing #edgar allen poe #protect the precious bean #castle walls #let go of control #control is an illusion #safe distance #spiritualpath #projection #protection #keep out #warning #do you hear yourself #poe #comfortably numb #comfort zone #dreams die in the comfort zone #too risky #dont hug me im scared #heart chakra #closed heart #distance

[babylon-crashing]

What is your favorite Chaos card in the Tarot?

That would be the Tower——

In the Rider-Waite deck the building resembles the Tower of Babel, with lightening striking a structure built too high, as it crumbles back to the ground. It is a card about sudden change, cleansing fires, old-school revelations. Two figures are seen twisting in the air; whether they jumped to save themselves or were thrown as their world crumbled around them is immaterial. They will not survive the fall. After 9/11 I couldn’t use this card for a long while, the images of people falling from the Twin Towers was too much of a trigger. Yet, one does not need a literal structure to represent Chaos; for me, the Hurricane will do just as well.

The Taino, an ancient indigenous people of the Caribbean, named their supreme goddess, associated with all natural destructive forces, Guabancex. She remains the embodiment of the Hurricane, that unescapable, divine power that can level villages and whole islands with ease. Petroglyphs depict her with mouth agape, her arms curved in the same swirling pattern that the storm itself takes.

When the Tower card appears in your Tarot reading, expect the unexpected: violent change, catastrophe and anarchy. Change, as they say, is painful; but it is a necessary pain in order to grow. Guabancex represents the elements in your life that you cannot control: illnesses, accidents, financial failure, the ending of relationships. In her book of poems about Hurricane Maria’s 2017 destruction of the island of Dominicia, Celia A. Sorhaindo writes about the relief that her family felt in surviving the storm and then the horror of realizing that everything that they had, everything the island had, was gone. In the poem, “In The Air,” she writes:

After the hurricane, my grandmother, who in her basement storeroom, had hunkered down and knelt her knees raw with prayer the whole long long lashing tail of night, ascended slippery stairs hoping by holy intervention her home had been saved. She stared from ruined room to room, swaying like a punched drunk spirit, mouth and eyes wide black holes of disbelief …

This is the lesson the Tower reminds us about: we like to imagine we have control over our fate but that is an illusion. The real question is what will be your response when the gods decide to knock you to the ground?

#tarot #the tower #guabancex #celia sorhaindo #control is an illusion #in the air #poetry #my art #taino

[metaldragoon]

AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative (2022)

#AI: The Somnium Files - Nirvana Initiative #Aiba #Control is an illusion #anyways very serious game

[theyheoftheapocalypse]

thr world is so big. ho ly shit

#i went outside #there were so many people #cities are huge #control is an illusion #so is our sense of self #anyway #world #holy shit #big #thoughts #musing #rambling #crazy

[jordynbreeloa777]

STOP, THE 3D IS NOT THE ENEMY.

The 3D isn’t the bad guy. You can change your assumption about it! The 3D is a friend because it is showing you what to work on, and to go within. If it is showing you bad scenarios then go in imagination and change the story. It’s trying to HELP you not make you spiral, upset, mad , and try to force action. You have to learn not to be afraid of the 3D. Be aware that the 3D does nothing but help you. Don’t overcomplicate it, it’s just a mirror reflecting your inner, hardcore, dominant beliefs. You have the power to change the 3D. You have power over it, not the other way around. If you really have an issue with the 3D illusion, I want you to affirm this to not get discouraged. “the 3D always conforms to my desires instantly!” “the 3D is literally my simp, it always shows me what I want.” “I have full results no matter what my 3D is showing me” “Imagination is the only real reality, I already have everything I want.” So please with this being said, please stop the avoiding mirrors since if you really had results already why would you care? If your holding your faith in imagination then do so. Happy Manifesting!💝💝

#law of assumption #manifesting #neville goddard #loassumption #manifesation #loa tumblr #3D is an illusion #imagination is the only reality #affirm and persist #askfirmations #placebo affirming #robotic affirming #it’s my world #I am In control

[st-hedge]

Dark link and phantom Ganon but they are weird Pokémon trainers. Haunter and runerigus for dark link. Rookidee, lampent, and zorua (only the tiniest guys) for phantom Ganon. Don’t question my Pokémon vibe check, it simply fits. Also shiny Pokémon for shiny ganlink

#loz #legend of zelda #dark link #phantom Ganon #what if we trained ghost and dark type pokemon and we dated #shiny ganlink #I’m sorry I have no self control I said I’d do this for October but I did it the next day #I stayed up yesterday vibe checking pokemon #I wanted a water type for dink but nothing fit #so he got all ghosties #there are others I want for him #but they’d not fit on the page #someone suggested rookidee for phantom gan #and I reminded myself of what it evolves to #and it’s perfect #zorua is perfect too cuz of the illusions #lampent reminds me of the poe lanterns #no questions asked #another little guy in the ranks

[rozugold]

If your still doing request, I was thinking about your possessed Tommy doodles and was hoping you can do a doodle about someone trying to get dream out without hurting Tommy or try and talk to him while dream is still possessing him. I really like this idea and can't stop thinking about it ever since you posted about it.

A hug always fixes everything!

#rozu asks #grim ghosty #rozoodles #art reqs #distorted illusions #<- sorta #I imagine dream relinquishes his control here on purpose #like ‘oh I don’t have to do anything! Tommy knows what to do :)’

[katyspersonal]

who do you think fucked up worse…gehrman or maria?

This is an interesting question, and I kind of didn't think of it before! Time to take a closer look at their crimes I guess. Some of these will be held on the possibilities and 'safe assumptions' though and addressed for the full picture!

1) Both were involved in Fishing Hamlet massacre!

With Maria, we can conclude as much because she discarded her weapons in the well at the place specifically. Her version in the Nightmare realm, a Hunter again, is supposed to be what punishes her, and she is focused on keeping Kos/OoK away from rummaging through. Considering the nature of the Nightmare, as well as the Doll who has spiritual connection with her, it should come from her guilt and regrets rather than.. I dunno, discarding the hunt over natural 'character development' and just picking a cool place to forsaken her past!

Gehrman sleeps better according to the dialogue Doll has after you kill OoK and free it's soul, so if it tortured him so, I think it is safe to say he had to be personally involved too rather than stay back while his students did the job:

They both were involved with Byrgenwerth, following their quest for obtaining the eyes of the dwellers from their skulls, and I suppose cord of OoK?

The thing about this point is that the description is written as though it was Gehrman's curiosity which ruined Maria's "idealisation" of him, or WOULD ruin it had she learned of it! This makes me wonder whether she was really involved in Byrgenwerth all that much, or whether she was aware of the real purpose of Fishing Hamlet massacre beforehand? Her goal, within the Nightmare, is stated to mercy-kill us so we don't allow that curiousity corrupt us to the point of "rummaging through corpse" and similar things, further supported by her visceral attack being an embrace if it is lethal!

I am just saying that here the balance might slightly shift towards making Gehrman 'worse' than her. Maybe she was not aware that it all was not just killing "monsters" but also a pregnant mother with her divine baby, but "well you didn't ask :/". Maybe Gehrman deceived her to use her aid. Maybe he didn't think it would be a big deal for her seeing that Maria was also interested in evolution through talking with Great Ones, and assumed she'd be just as callous about which means to accomplish the goals with?

2) Both were grave-robbing, or at least okay with that!

This one is a little less obvious, but Tomb Prospectors were not the first to go to the Chalice Dungeons! ...It were actually Willem, Dores and Gatekeeper lol:

BUT ALSO it were Old Hunters! We can see the remnants of it by Old Hunter Vitus being one the summons in Chalice Dungeons, hear Gehrman encourage us to go into the Chalice Dungeons to become stronger as via "tradition" of the Old Hunters,

and the fact that one of the things that torture Maria (again, remember that Nightmare Realm is Hell that punishes) is a Chalice:

(A video ( x ) for a better look at the Chalice from a figure)

I'd say that it is not very nice to disturb the undead Pthumerians just struggling in remains of their civilisation! Interesting thing: we can conclude they are even staying there to protect the Great Ones or their remains!

There has been some sort of civil war between ancient great-ones-respecting Pthumerians and who late became Cainhurst nobles! Maria, ironically, fell onto the side of "entitled guys" descendants! But yes, I could see why bullying zombie guys to get more history and archeology relics from them might not seem like much for her at start. Experience in the Fishing Hamlet likely retroactively ruined this period of her life for her: delving into Chalice Dungeons was likewise 'not leaving the corpse alone'. The remaining Pthumerians were right having some honour and dignity. So, that came to haunt her in the form of Pthumeru Chalice. Gehrman is.. well he's here too I guess dfshfdhs

3) Both knew a little too much about Laurence's shady business and did nothing?

Old Hunters used to be friends with Healing Church's Hunters and even had their workshops located close to one another! Gehrman was friends with Laurence and Ludwig, who are both quite strongly involved with Moon Presence (Ludwig's sword and guidance, Laurence's affiliation being known since Byrgenwerth times), as well as the key figure in creation of Hunter's Dream:

This was most likely a bait-and-switch, seeing how the cord itself is still in the real Workshop, and not in the grasp of Moon Presence (unlike, say, Wet Nurse taking Mergo's cord)! I think the purpose of creation of the Hunter's Dream was to "buy time" for the research conceived by the scientists! Remember: Gehrman was known to have "madness of curiosity" that Maria resented, or at least would resent had she known! He might have been fully aware of what Laurence wanted to do and support it! My point here, that with such proximity, he must have known of all Laurence's crimes and agreed with them!

Maria was at least overseer of the Clocktower's Research Hall, which, again, was just beta!Choir.

This last line IS a bit confusing, because it makes it sound as though the nerds looking for the Eyes Inside and the Blood Ministers got split. Laurence and Ludwig make it weird, as Moon Presence is also an Eldrich creature and Ludwig is for sure full of eyes! What also makes it strange is that Choir, and then School of Mensis, are both upper echelons of the Healing Church, but Laurence is supposed to be above both of them.

I think this can be worked with! Let's say what if Choir formed after Laurence's death, which also happened after Maria's death, and Vicars after him were somewhat "powerless" and walked over by Choir and Mensis, only leaders in the name! But that still leaves the bit that the mentioned "division" happened after Choir was formed! Maria and Adeline, however, are locked to the existence of the Research Hall, so, the timeframe when doctors and blood ministers were 100% working together! We find the Eye Pendant that opens the access to the Research Hall in Laurence's hand, and human Skull of Laurence on the platform that hides the secret elevator to that Research Hall. Again, by the Nightmare Logic, they must be connected with Laurence's sins: he started this research, or sponsored it, or was overseeing it, and so on.

This point is not an absolute thing though, because one or both of them might be freed from guilt here. Maybe Gehrman was not as informed and agreeable as we could assume and Laurence did lead him around? Maybe Maria wanted but could not do anything being caught in the web of complicated connections, blackmail and risks for the people she cared about?

4) Both are willingly involved in questionable practices (Maria with research, Gehrman with the cycle of Dream and Hunt)

This point I feel like transcends the morality a little bit, as it touches the matter of 'it is bad if you do it, but it is also bad if you DON'T do it'. I really love Soulsborne universes for having guts to say "you can't win, just pick your poison", but I think it is still worth addressing!

It is up to interpretation in which quantity Maria is involved with the Research Hall! Nothing states whether she founded it, joined in the research later, stepped in and turned the tides (ba dum tss) of the research, or simply was a caretaker/nurse/etc of the broken mess while Research Hall was getting ready for a bit of rebranding. She can be very guilty, or she can be barely guilty but in either case if that was her "redemption arc" that was a pretty bad way to go about it. ...or was it?

Fauxsefka turns people into Celestial Emissaries so they physically can't become beasts instead, and is even stated to be a hero / heroic researcher by Miyazaki:

First, I don't do Death of the Author (in terms of interpreting media I mean, not in terms of a style of writing)! Like, nope. Never. It is just not for me. Creator's word is the final for me; Fauxsefka is the good guy in the story, apparently, and it makes sense considering the fundamentally broken place characters are in! Maria has similarities with Fauxsefka: not only both of them have Cainhurst roots, but also both of them seem to favour 'Stars' line of evolution for humans!

Whereas other patients are afraid of the horrors of the Deep Sea, a concept Miyazaki could not get over well into DS3, Adeline desires them! Other patients seems to have gotten it right, and you can see one of them also clings to Maria mentally to "not drown"; Adeline "didn't understand"! The balcony that Maria wants Adeline to go to so she can forsaken the Deep Sea and seek something "happier" holds unique kind of patients who can shoot cosmic arcane spells:

Herself, Maria is associated with these lumenflowers: their petals are all over her boss arena, and the way to her lays through a much bigger batch of flowers, where Living Failures, other 'Stars' Kin are, whose song lyrics also feature lines 'ave stellar' and 'ave Maria'!

So, how this is different from what Fauxsefka is doing, who is stated to be as much of a good person as possible within this context and with the burden of her knowledge? Fauxsefka was doing more or less rinse-and-repeat practice, with maybe a few patients not surviving the procedure but we don't know what happened: maybe that person was already at the brink of death and she tried to make them live like this.

^ This guy I mean. Maria, on the other hand, is in the time period where the doctors and scientists were only testing the waters (BA DUM TSSS) (ok I will stop) and it was not SO certain what was at the stake, what were the alternatives, what was awaiting the humanity. It is even possible that the beasts problem was not yet bad to the point of "you'll either become a beast, be eaten by a beast or become a Kin, humanity is DONE for!" ! This was an unethical research at the cost of real people! The weight of Maria's sin here really depends on the interpretation, though

As for the cycle of Dream and Hunt, this is complicated and lingers on one's interpretation of what the purpose of the Dream even IS! Its existence provides two things: 1) a hunter who is immortal for the night, thus can sustain the beasts with efficiency like no other, but also effect the continuity of the night ( x ) and 2) supposed sustenance to the Great One Flora of the Moon, who holds the hunt as a concept!

I used to be a bit more set on the idea that if beasts are not sustained and hunted, they will simply overpower those who are yet humans and eat them! It is a self-feeding cycle of people needing to self-defend from beasts, thus having to consume the blood as urgent means of healing and power-up since beasts are too strong, thus risking to become beasts themselves because the blood they consumed during that hunt corrupts them. So, the Hunter's Dream would be a good thing, as it'd help to 'buy time' during nights of the hunt in which not only beasts are more active but Great Ones too! While the Dreaming Hunter holds everything together, the greatest minds of the Healing Church can efficiently study the ways to end beasthood, or ANY problem of humanity, once and for all! It is just better to throw the hunting resources on the Dream, so the scientists don't worry about the beasts and can focus on research. However, I almost forgot that:

This implies that had there not been Mensis Ritual ongoing, people WOULD have the chance to simply 'wait away' the beasthood problem. That, since Rom is not stopping Mensis Ritual but just conceals it, what really makes the inner beast within everyone who consumed the blood inevitably come out is Mergo's cry that draws the Bloodmoon close!

So yeah, the point about Hunter's Dream being helpful for the research of evolution still stands, especially under assumption that the deal with Moon Presence helped to bring more Eldrich Arcane close for "feeding" her. The point about how if the beasts are not hunted they'll simply eat everyone, though, is vague. It is safer to assume that the Hunter's Dream and Research Hall both are both example of hubris of man even if approached differently. Attempts to draw in something dangerous and horrifying, but it is "justified risk" because if you manage to 'tame' arcane/blood, sure, humanity will prosper!

Like... yeah, sure, there IS dangerous and undesireable nature of man that ruins everything and might or might not still linger in humanoids' genes after Loran. But did humanity ASK any of you guys to keep trying to fix it with so many victims and sacrifices? Like, was it WORTH it?

This point is closely tied to 'knowing Laurence's bad antics and doing nothing', yeah. Maria didn't seem to like blood ministration very much, as she disapproved of Adeline becoming a Blood Saint, but she also didn't even approve of blood antics of her own clan! I am not sure what would be her opinion on the Hunter's Dream had she lived to the point when it was created, just that she herself is not willing to ever hunt, so I am leaving this point aside. Is this just blood ministration that she opposes but proximity with a Great One Moon Presence would be something she can see the potential of? Or would she and Gehrman have a pointless cat fight about whose methods are better when they are both hubris of man? In both versions they are 'guilty'! Besides:

In the end none of THIS matters either and everyone was fooled ( x ). The blood offering is a blood offering in any way; whether it is through spilling blood violently during the hunt, or offering the blood's 'red' with how celestial Kin all bleed red. Moon doesn't care what paints it red, in the end.

___________________________________

My conclusion is: both of these characters fucked up almost equally! I think the balance shifts just a little bit and Maria is slightly better than Gehrman since she had some limitations set on how far she was willing to go. Her motivation was not in "curiosity" but strictly in helping humanity, even if in unfair ways, which is apparently not the case for Gehrman?

I'll say this though, NOW I am hooked on the idea of Maria and Gehrman being petty "rivals" ideologically (for as long as they could before Maria's own demons caught up with her). Especially since neither approach is better than the other and they are both cringe loosers! Again, lost comedy gold over Fromsoft making Gehrman's tender and warm feelings for her before and after her death plain. What is not lost, however, is the fact that the two should just kick Laurence and go home :pensive:

#bloodborne #lady maria of the astral clocktower #gehrman the first hunter #again: blaming laurence is a solid strategy #honorable mention: even more of maria's blame might be lifted depending on how strong gehrman's influence was on her #we don't know when he started training her. maybe it was since very young age? so a lot of her actions as a hunter were unwise #again it depends because as of now she is a grown thinking woman and could have processed it BEFORE pregnant mother got killed- #-and her child stolen! #so I am on 'maria's agency' side here! #I think it is more like gehrman FEELS as though he 'ruined' her with the hunt #like you know how sometimes when we feel guilty we become illusioned about how much impact we had on another person's actions and feelings #we need to be TOLD that it was that person's choices in the end because we might feel like we 'controlled' them #and of course his guilt would be amplified and impossible to reason with considering she took her own life! #(as far as we can assume) #ask replies #bloodborne observation #bloodborne headcanons #analysis

[sonandheirofnothinginparticular]

#choice #illusion #fate #the matrix #control #life #taoism #Buddhism #stoicism

[cellray]

Have some half researched thing I know!

If you stare at the same spot for a long enough time, your retina's cones experience fatigue. Retinal fatigue makes your brain register colors in an illogical and fun way.

Stare at the center, and see how the colors start disappearing and appearing, moving and flowing. Have I animated that? Or is that just your brain playing tricks on you?

Or is all what I said just fake. And because I said it, your brain believed it. And it's just doing what I tell it to do.

#cellray #mind control #hypnokink #hypnosis #hypnotized #brainwashing #hypnodom #hypnotist #mind conditioning #spiral #optical illusion #animation

[the---hermit]

10|01|2024

This week has been delirious. I'm stressed, I'm having one existential crisis after the other, and circumstances do not help. A professor wrote an alarming email late at night the other day which made me panic, but at the end he simply wanted to know whether I'd be up to take my exam online. Which means on Monday I won't have to commute, so that's good but it wasn't worth the scare. The one positive thing of these past two days has been my dad, who as in every exam season, has been helping me review my notes, and I am so very grateful for his help.

Calm hobbit winter activities and productivity:

Read first thing in the morning

Finished my second outloud review of nites for the power practices and men theories exam

Daily Irish practice on duolingo

📖: A Day Of Fallen Night by Samantha Shannon

#the conclusion of my existential crisis is that i am considering chopping off all my hair in the hopes of having an adrenaline rush #will that give me an illusion of control? idk but i need a change to distract me from life #studyblr #studyinspo #uniblr #university #journal #journaling #studying #productivity #calm hobbit winter #notebook #knife gang #mine #the---hermit

[jellycass]

austin's wife and kids comment being set up as a running gag only to then get thrown back in showfalls face when he breaks away from them for a moment and immediately says "I don't have a stacy" in the most unsure, anxious voice before snapping back to a monotone reassurance "I have a stacy" is something I can be soooo normal about (lying)

#the implications this one scene gives us is insane #we the audience know hes gay and would be less likely to save someone who we know is lying #but this scene implies showfall is controlling EVERYONE on set #so why would they have his pleading case be he has a wife and kids unless they didnt want us to choose him #something something illusion of free choice #which also ties in to the puzzler wanting to pick sneeg instead of niki #and then all of them dying anyway but yknow #generation loss #genloss #genloss spoilers

[minothtime]

Hunter would be the nightcore kid Gus would be the vocaloid kid Amity would be the mitski girl in red kid Willow would be the eurobeat slash hozier kid Vee would be Carly Rae Jepsen 2010s music kid Luz would be the one that introduces all of them to the respective music like idk thoughts yknow

#toh #the owl house #hunter toh #willow park #gus porter #vee noceda #hunter noceda #amity blight #i know i am correct. would they enjoy select songs from e/o? yes. would they fistfight over aux control? also yes. #gus showing phony to hunter hunter showing god is a girl to willow willow showing movement to amity amity showing my love all mine to vee #and vee showing gus perfect illusion by gaga like idk man #i KNOW i am correct btw. hunter would figure out neocities in a jiffy and makw the most eyesearing website ever

[hgduo]

There is something so beautiful about how earlier that day Cellbit and Max were talking about Jaiden and Foolish working for the feds and saying that they were using their naivety, innocence, love for others- there weaknesses and strengths- all of that to manipulate them into doing tasks for them...

and then later that same night it's revealed that Cellbit had been unknowingly working for The Federation... Everything he had been doing these past weeks was helping them- That was being manipulated and used by them this entire time and didn't even know it...

#qsmp #cellbit #it reminds me of how they used him before when Felps was missing- how they lead him further and further in and once he was in the building #teased him with mysteries that were really just bait- but at least back then he was aware of that he was working alongside them #here he really thought he was alongside another faction but nope... it was still the federation this whole time #it's beautiful really... having his illusion of control and progress pulled out like a rug underneath him man #they used it all against him- his pull towards solving mysteries- his love of his family- he feverish desire to leave this place- #like he talked about the others being naive and failed to see it in himself in the end- God damn!

[trainingdummyrabbit]

hm.

ever think about how people who become demons are usually turned during a heavily vulnerable and desperate point of their life in a last ditch attempt to live on, or to have some sort of say over what happens to them, only for them to be bound to an unspoken contract where their body no longer truly belongs to them. ever think abt that.

#kny is an office comedy series ! #(<== lying) #piktalk #kny #thinks abt how demons sole worth is how useful they are; how obedient they are; how manipulatable they are. #thinks abt how they r instantly cast aside/killed the instant they stop being useful #and thus clambor over each other ruthlessly to be Worth something; to be given the illusion of more agency #agency that they never really had to begin with; nor will they ever achieve; only ever held above their heads to control them #hm. #(<== started thinking abt susamaru a lil too hard again and then spiralled off)