#do NOT have the same experiences i do with religion | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

evermoredeluxe · 2 days

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a really interesting theme i find in taylor’s work is that of being a fool or fooling someone else. love is looked at from this lens of a thing that you have to tricked into. which is really juxtaposed by her belief of “it is fate.” i think it somewhat comes from how openly and hugely she loves vs her view of herself as something that brings disaster. and also some pretty formative experiences when she was a young girl going into adulthood and how she felt used and unworthy and small. hence, all the trickery to make someone love her and trying to be in control, whether she’s the one starting it or ending it.

in cowboy like me, she talks about how she’s conned all these men, and they’ve all fallen for her. she takes what she wants from then and then she bolts. then in hits different, she sings “i use to switch out these kens, i’d just ghost // rip the bandaid off and skip town like an asshole outlaw” she meets a boy, falls in love, and when they break up, she moves on quickly and goes to another one to not feel distraught, and when this new boy makes her fake promises, she does the same thing to him and moves on with someone else. she’s in control.

and then “i think there’s been a glitch,” and with joe, she thought it was gonna be something casual and they tried that but it turned out to be one of those things that supposed to last. her con finally works. after all these tries, she’s finally masterminded her forever, and she doesn’t even feel bad because he knew. but then, she realizes that she failed yet again, it didn’t work. she didn’t con her way into a sweet forever, but rather forever conned her. fate gave her something, she tried to control it, but she failed.

she tries again. she’s been talking with this boy from her past again, and she thinks that this time, bolting will work and she will find her happy ending. what she though was fate, meant to be, all the pain of her long term relationship and her leaving was supposed to meant something, but turns out that this time the script flips, and he was the conman and he was selling her a get-love-quick scheme (loml). and she doesn’t even get to bolt! he’s the one who leaves her behind (“i’ll never leave, never mind” - loml), and she can’t even complain.

all’s not well because it doesn’t end well because she didn’t end up with anybody. instead of trying herself again, she’s just begging someone to change the prophecy. and the alchemy still implies something not in her hands being a huge factor, and who are they to fight it? they have to abide by it. and ofc she equates love to religion and sees fate as a belief system. she wants it to work out, and it hits her hard whenever it doesn’t. i’ve been thinking about this since the album release and seeing some other posts, and my unpopular opinion is that i think it’s still something she believes in despite *gestures broadly* but after last year, she doesn’t wanna control it anymore. no fooling, she doesn’t wanna mastermind and do all the work, she just want it to be easy and she wants it to be simply good to her.

#the tortured poets department #ttpd #taylor swift #arshia takes #arshia talks

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ceasarslegion · 2 days

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wait, now im really interested in the silica gel drama. how did hlrp sex ed lead to eating a gel packet?

This is going to require a novel's length of context.

To begin, I want to underline that this is not meant to be a callout post, and I will not be providing any identifying traits that could be used to single this person out. The most you will get out of that are she/her pronouns, and her age at the time this happened, which was years ago, and I will not specify what year. I genuinely do hope she got the help she needed after this, because LORD knows she needs it and didn't find it at home. This is also not meant to be a character assassination, nor should anybody who reads this post consider it to be a takedown of any sort, and if you try to find this person through me or any of our mutual friends, you will not be met with kind words. The only thing this is meant to be is a wild-ass story of some of the most off the wall experiences I personally had with this person from my specific side of the story, with a few no-username screenshots attached to prove I am not bullshitting you.

With that in mind, let's get started. This is going to be very long, so I'm throwing in a read more

Back when I was in uni, I joined a growing group of Half Life roleplay blogs. The whole idea of our group was that we each chose a character, canon or OC, and we would blog as if the pre-Black Mesa incident moment in the timeline was a workplace comedy a la The Office or Superstore. I played Barney, because I was already working night shift security at this point and thought it would be funny. Plus, it gave me something to do that wasn't staring at CCTV feeds all night tossing a ball against the wall. We played off of each other very well, yes-anding our way through funny little situations and plotlines we put together. At one point we had roleplayed enough that one of the scientist rpers created a discord server for us to talk as the actual people we are instead of through characters.

Great idea at the time. None of us saw the "Pandora's box" label on the tin before we opened it. Would I still join it if I knew what was about to transpire? Yes, because I met my boyfriend and many genuinely lovely friends through it. Would I hesitate for a second first, though, as the events that are about to transpire flashed before my eyes? Oh, abso-fucking-lutely.

We started off as many fandom servers do: chill for the most part, very loud minority of a few assholes who ruined it for the rest of us, but unlike most fandom servers, we actually won and it ended in them getting banned and the server itself surviving to this day. But the other two lunatics are not who you came here for. You want the christian lunatic.

Let's give her a nickname to make this easier. I have the Sylveon build a bear on my PC desk. Let's call her Syl.

Syl was not there for Half Life, she was there for Portal. She LOVED Portal, Half Life was just part of the same universe for her. Portal wasn't just a game for her, it was her entire personality. Which I didn't see much of an issue with at the time, because she said she was 15. Whatever, I thought; she'll learn to control her emotional attachment to things as she gets older. Syl also said that she was christian. I am a flaming atheist who doesn't even believe in the concept of a soul in comparison and I am NOT the biggest fan of christianity as an institution to put it mildly, but I'm not gonna like, be a dick to you for your personal religion if you are not a dick about my beliefs, so I didn't think much of it at the time.

It quickly became apparent that Syl looked up to me more than any of the other adults in the group the more I would talk about my life growing up as a third culture kid and moving out on my own at 19, working 2 jobs and going to a good university. She would ask me a lot about growing up and uni and moving out and yes, sex ed, and it became even more apparent that she didn't get any actual guidance from her parents or pastors or ANYBODY beyond bible studies and homeschooling, so I kinda stumbled into a mentorship role in her life. I wasn't cold, but I was aware of the age and maturity difference between us and established the appropriate boundaries with her and made it very clear that I am an internet friend, not an irl friend or an educator, but if no one else was going to give her information that wasn't actively harmful then fuck, I guess SOMEONE had to do it. I could not in good conscience watch some kid go through life with harmful inaccuracies about the world and basic human biology when I could have done something about it, y'know?

And the more things I taught her about the real world and how things actually work rather than how her republican bible-thumping rural town said they did, the more I realized she was born into a full-blown cult under the guise of a christian congregation. Oh goody, I had my work cut out for me. I will not get into the details of how messed up this group was because it will be a dead giveaway of where she lives and potentially who she is, but let's just say that one time I said that I appreciated the gesture of praying for me during a stressful week I was having but it didn't really do anything for my mental health because I was an atheist, and she sent me a bunch of bible verses begging me to start believing and said "I just don't want you to go to hell because you're so nice :((" EXCUSE ME??? Another time she said that death was only sad for non-christians because their loved ones were in hell and that proper christians deaths were a good thing because they were in heaven now. Hi, that's the most insensitive death cult shit I've ever heard in my goddamn life.

Okay, set up is done. All of these details will tie in like the world's worst reboot of Pulp Fiction, I prommy.

After a good long while learning about the world from me (which like... a uni kid working night shift security is not exactly an academic source but we take what we can get) and exposure to viewpoints outside of her in-group, Syl began that very painful journey of realizing that what the cult taught you was a lie. Except that she just wasn't grasping that unlearning things was an active process. She started to flip to the opposite side very quickly, but kept all the fundamental brainwashing of the cult that raised her. The concepts were all the same, just slapped a different label on them. This created a noticeable pull between two sides of the same personality: the cult personality, and the person beyond the cult who wanted to break free. Mix that with how fucking 15 years old every 15 year old is, and you have a LETHAL concoction just waiting to blow up at the first sign of a spark.

Remember how I said that Portal was her whole personality? Syl decided that she wanted to be a scientist, and go into an ivy league program like I was in (I was in a SOCIAL science, but sure). Problem was, she didn't have the grades or the ambition, really. I had told her that I still got into an ivy league when I failed math in high school, and she seemed to completely miss the part where I said that I also joined every extra-curricular, then worked for 2 gap years for recognized institutions, and wrote an essay about why my math grade is not relevant to my program. I did it with one bad grade, so she was justified in basically just slacking off and then excusing it with "but its haaarrrdd" when we'd tell her she needs to put the fucking work in NOW if that's what she wants to do.

It quickly derailed from here. Not only was she going to be a scientist, she was going to be like Cave Johnson. And she was going to... replace her body with robot parts so she could be like glados. I don't... think she actually knew what science is, because she would just publically fantasize about running unethical experiments on people in the name of "science," and talk about how one day she wants to basically establish aperture labs for real. All of us who were there kind of agree that we don't think she was joking based on what we knew about her and the cadence of her tone. Here's something she said at the time to give you an idea of what direction she was nosediving in:

This was after a session with her therapist where said therapist said that she definitely has some kind of personality disorder, after which she was weirdly proud of having one and treated it like a badge of honour.

Syl then made a separate group chat for all the best friends she made on the server. There was her, me, @false-pyre, and @imtheaura. She titled it "My Family," despite the fact that we were all adults and she was 15 and she only knew us over a discord half life server where one person in it stepped up to somewhat equip her for real life outside of a cult. Regardless though that GC was more the vibe of a group of friends sharing memes and chatting about the day than the wider server was at the time. The others began to also take on a sort of mentorship role towards her as well, because that's kind of inevitable when you get someone talking about teenager problems in a room full of adults who all made the same mistakes before in their own lives. Well, minus the cult.

And remember how I said that she didn't unlearn any of the cult shit? Well, there was a lot of proselytizing. She decided she wasn't christian for a spell, but still wanted us and everyone to know that jesus was the lord and savior and we had to accept him or we'd burn in hell. Usually said after we'd make some joke about satan being daddy or declaring ourselves god instead, because that is just the type of humor the others and i have with each other. She took it so personally whenever one of us would go "oh my god" "you called?" it was fucking annoying. I lost count of the amount of lectures she gave us, all of which I'd shut down and tell her to get a grip about because I have a big stupid mouth.

The others and I also like to talk about evolution, and speculate about where we're going from here. My fucking god, did she not like that. She bit our heads off about how evolution isn't real and god made everyone as we are and there's no scientific evidence or whatever the hell. Like yeah good luck getting into STEM with that mindset. Whenever we pointed out that she was objectively wrong about that, she'd have a big stupid meltdown about how much we're slandering god and how jesus died for us and we're spitting in his face or whatever. He should spit in MY face inste-*GUNSHOT*

Eventually, we were making some actual progress with her. She was still one fry short of a happy meal and going off about how much she wanted to put living subjects in test tubes in between knocking on our doors and reciting Hello from the Book of Mormon musical, but we were getting somewhere. And then she went back to in person school, and her favourite teacher got fired.

The schoolboard did not say why she got fired, but we all had our suspicions that it was because she openly supported queer rights in a cult town. She was coincidentally retired shortly after making a declaration that queer people are still welcome in god's kingdom. This teacher was the first in person adult Syl had for guidance, so that incident shook her to her core, and she fell right back into the extremism. Hook, line, and sinker, even more extreme than before.

She was WEIRD that week, man. Suddenly everything was about how great god was, how amazing jesus was. Suddenly she understood why her cult member parents "just wanted to protect her" from gay characters on disney+ originals. Suddenly no one could say "jesus christ lol" around her or she'd have a fit. I said "I hate cycle counts lmao i wanna kms" because my then-job (I had graduated at this point) made me do inventory management spontaneously and wouldn't let me go home until I had counted every product in the store, and she bit my head off accusing me of turning suicide into a joke.

It was that incident that made us tell her to knock it off already, that we understood it was a hard week for her and she was in a period of grief, but that is no excuse for how she had been acting towards everyone around her that wasnt christian, and that she was actively relapsing. I'll let the exchange speak for itself:

So uh. After years of helping Syl through this she goes and pulls this bullshit. And then has the fucking AUDACITY to act like nothing ever happened in the wider server. I am genuinely gobsmacked by the balls on her to act like it was all sunshine and rainbows in the wider server after sending this and immediately leaving the same GC SHE made and titled "My Family" just because we told her to stop acting like a goddamn Jonestown citizen after all the work we'd put in to get her out of that mentality at this point.

So I dragged her up in front of everyone and essentially said "no, nuh uh, you don't get to say that shit to the people who have lost sleep and asked for nothing in return trying to help you escape a cult over the last 2 years and then act like we're all buddy buddy to everybody else. You don't get to be that arrogant and self-righteous without any consequences. I don't give a fuck how young you are, you DON'T treat the people who have helped you this much like that, you selfish little shit. How dare you treat us like this after all we've done for you over the years."

Unfortunately, no one involved had surviving screenshots of this, but they can back me up on it if they so choose. And oh boy, DID she face the consequences of her own actions. The whole server basically turned their heads and went "what the FUCK is wrong with you, Syl??" and asked her to at least like, apologize. She proceeded to double down with the added audacity of "you guys taught me how to establish healthy boundaries, that's all I'm doing right now :(( oh woe is me :(((" like WOW, okay. Someone's really going for the persecution complex.

Here's her last goodbye to us all before the mass block fest occured:

Oh, boohoo. You're so hard done by. You spat in the faces of everyone who stayed up all night multiple times helping you through crises and spent the last 2 years teaching you about how the world really worked and then they asked you to apologize after you tried to escape accountability. You truly are god's strongest soldier, the most persecuted minority in the world. Let me play you an ode to how righteous and holy you are and how this was the most important hill to sacrifice all your outsider friendships on on the world's smallest violin.

Syl then went on to post on her roleplay blog that she "was banned because I spoke up for what was right, and they didn't like that" before deleting it. Truly no one has suffered as much as you.

Anyway, the day after that went down, I called in from work, bought this book, and read the whole thing purely out of spite:

It was greatly therapeutic. After that incident, I vowed to never sanitize my own atheistic beliefs for the benefit of others again. If they don't like them, they don't have to talk to me. But I am not changing them for other people or keeping them quiet just to spare your feelings anymore, I have as much a right to my beliefs as anyone else does, including the world's most persecuted minority here.

And well, the silica gel incident?

There was one incident, during the height of Syl's "I am the irl cave johnson and only want to get into STEM to conduct unethical experiments on people. follow jesus" era, the rest of us were joking about how silica gel packets are the ultimate forbidden snack, and said "haha would eating it make you see shrimp colours" knowing full well it can kill you.

Syl proceeded to actually eat a silica gel packet and then send in "it has a sandy texture and tastes bad" prompting the rest of us to go "WE WERE FUCKING JOKING FIND YOUR POISON CONTROL HOTLINE RIGHT NOW"

And because i didnt get this done until now, I'll tag everyone who said they wanted to read this or expressed interest: @captainjonnitkessler @formydarlingtoread @cra-zwizard @chasingnightrainbows

#ramblings #what do i even tag this

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khaire-traveler · 15 hours

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Hey. Do you maybe have some books you'd recommend? And how did you learn?

Hey, Nonny!

For books, most modern ones I am in the process of reading or I have in my "to read" list. Hellenic Polytheism: Household Worship by Labrys is one that I've mentioned a few times now. I'm still in the process of getting through it, but it's interesting so far! For another modern book, I've been told Greek Religion by Walter Burkert is good, but it's still on my "to read" list. I've also been told Hellenismos by Tony Mierzwicki is good for beginners, but apparently isn't the best if you're already pretty acquainted with Greek polytheism. It's something that is also on my "to read" list, though I'm not too interested in it after hearing it's not as good to read as an experienced practitioner. A modern book I'm really excited to start reading is Worshipping Olympus by Hester Butler! I haven't seen many people talk about it, but it's a book with various modern hymns to the Greek pantheon. I hope I can check it out soon!

Regarding ancient sources (which I love reading the most), here's what I've got. If you're interested in magic, I suggest reading the Greek Magical Papyri which has a ton of useful knowledge regarding ancient Greek magic. The ancient books I've enjoyed the most so far have been The Iliad (Homer), The Odyssey (Homer), Theogony (Hesiod), The Library of Greek Mythology (Apollodorus), and The Bacchae (Euripedes). I tend to enjoy reading ancient plays, too, although I suppose they don't technically count as books, I guess. Also, I haven't read it, but I've been told Works And Days (Hesiod) has some good devotional pieces included in it; I'm not entirely sure how accurate that is, however. Not books, but I also really enjoyed reading the Homeric and Orphic hymns to the gods! The Orphic hymns are my favorite due to their poetic phrasing.

As for how I got my education, it's mostly from four years of experience and research. I do quite a lot of research (lots done in the beginning of my practice but still doing so today) and have read many historically educational articles. I'm friends with quite a few classics and history majors as well which definitely helped lol. I mostly focused on the historical side of things (ancient resources) first and foremost when gathering information, as I find it to be more trustworthy. I've learned that the best way to avoid misinformation tends to be looking into the original sources yourself, to the best of your ability. Doing so has saved me a lot of time and headaches. I'd recommend anyone to do the same.

I'm not sure if this is what you were looking for or interested in, but I hope this helps! I know more about historical books and sources than modern ones, so I'd recommend asking @teawiththegods , who has read and discussed many modern books, if that's more your style. Hope you enjoy my recommendations anyway. c: Have a good day/night! 🧡

#anon asks #answered asks

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eponastory · 1 day

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I know you most likely already realized this, but I was just thinking about Aang as a father in LOK, and realized something. If Katara ended up with Zuko and eventually had children together, Zuko would likely end up being a better father than Aang. Aang never even met his parents, and only had instructors as parental figures. They're like parents but mostly just in the way that a school teacher would be. But Zuko understands what good parents and what bad parents look like because he knows what his own parents are like. His memories of Ursa and Iroh would be his guide to what you SHOULD do for a child, and Ozai is an example of what you should NOT do. Zuko doesn't have the pressure of repopulating firebenders because firebenders aren't virtually extinct, so there wouldn't be as much (if any) pressure to pay unfairly extra attention to one child over the other. Zuko knows what it's like to be neglected by a parent that's supposed to love because of something you can't control. Aang clearly doesn't, hence why he neglected Bumi and Kya II in the first place. Zuko also has experience with Azula, and would know to recognize any bad signs of sibling jealousy and/or hatred, and put an end to it because he knows what bad sibling dynamics look like.

I feel like he would also be a better husband to Katara. He's not as naive as Aang when it comes to marriage; Zuko has the experience of growing up with two married parents, and would know what not to do. Katara would relax better because the distribution over who watches the kids would be more fair, as Zuko would give them ALL attention. While Aang made Katara jealous from always being around the Air Acolytes (in the comics), I feel like Zuko would not give polite attention to women who are rude to Katara/flirting with him because in the show, Zuko knows exactly how hurtful it feels for a romantic partner to flirt with/give polite attention to people who are obviously pursuers. Imagine being in an alternate dimension where Zutara was the main endgame couple, and we get to see their parental dynamics in LoK. There would probably be a flashback of Katara getting worked up about one of their children, and Zuko would ease her into calming down because he sees a solution that she didn't.

Aang's issues are more than he doesn't know. He is selfish by nature. Selfish parents aren't good parents. I know this for a fact. It's an endless cycle of 'It's your fault' or 'what about how I feel' every time you try to say something. It's not fun, and it's damaging. I can totally see Aang using this behavior as a way to get what he wants. As far as him being naive... yes. He is very naive and doesn't take anything seriously.

Like the war, for instance. He was only there for the last year of it. He wasn't born into the war like Zuko, Katara, Sokka, Toph, and Suki. They aren't naive. They know what war is like. Toph is the same age as Aang, and she is much more mature than he is. He's got this idea that killing anyone is bad, but he is responsible for a lot of deaths. Honestly, he has a kill count from the Fire Nation attack on the NWT, and a lot of people overlook that for some reason. Actually, the show overlooks it because Aang is the Hero, and it's okay if he killed people. So, when all is said and done, all of the things that he does afterward is overlooked too. It's a huge writing flaw with the show. So how does this translate to him as a parent?

It makes him a hypocrite.

Plain and simple.

He's so focused on reviving the Air Nomads that he has little knowledge on what they actually believed. What we are given is a few Taoist, Hindu, and Buddhist proverbs to go off of. Then, it's completely disregarded (disrespected as well) for 'Love'. This 'Love' is actually deep infatuation fueled by jealousy and possessive behavior. Which is actually frowned upon by the three religions mentioned above. It is a 'poison' to the spirit. And disconnects you from being enlightened (I think that is what the proverbs/scriptures are eluding too, if I'm wrong, please do not hesitate to explain, I'm super interested in cultures and eastern religions) or granted a place in Heaven (or their version of it). Letting go of all earthly possessions is common place in most religions. Aang does not do this. But I digress.

So, while there is the Nature vs Nurture aspect of parenting... where Katara does most of the Nurturing because that is how her character is written post-war and LoK. Notice how is said Written. Written by two misogynistic men who stripped her of a lot of her characteristics from the original run of the show. This is the problem. And it's the same with Aang. I can't take him seriously because he doesn't take any of it seriously. Especially with his children. He's not a serious character. He acts like he's serious, but he never really left the 12 year old boy behind to mature. Probably because in his fictional relationship with Katara, she enables him to keep doing what he always does. Which is to not grow. Relationships grow sour when the two people in them do not grow. It's not really about who grew up with parents at that point because it's the current parents that are the ones that should be to blame.

Now on to Headcanon space...

Zutara is a Headcanon ship. Did it almost happen? Oh yes I believe it did because the writing supports it heavily and Bryke's actions post show also scream 'lairs'. Sorry, but I have a pretty good Bullshit metor and Bryke set it off big time by their immature behavior.

But I digress.

Zuko grew up with a Narcissistic Sociopath as a Father and a Mother who was caught in the middle of a choice she was essentially forced to make. Ursa was also forced to forget her own parents never existed after she married Ozai. This is all canon, by the way. Her life before her marriage was great, but then it was taken away so she had nothing left but her morals and beliefs. However, while she loved both of her children, her influence on Zuko is essentially what made him who he is. Ursa didn't get to influence Azula like she did Zuko. Why? Because of Ozai.

Ozai pit his children against each other. This was apparently a Fire Nation Royal Family tradition because it sounds like Azulon did this with Iroh and Ozai as well. This kind of parenting style is abusive to its core. What Ozai did to Zuko isn't neglect... it's straightforward abuse and control. How do you make a child do what you want? You hurt them, or you take something away from them. Ozai both hurt Zuko and took away his home by banishing him. If Zuko wants to go back home, he has to find and capture the Avatar. It's that simple, but at the same time, it's also near impossible.

Flash forward to Canon Zuko and we see he has one child and he is a very loving father. Actually, he's the best father in the show. His experiences with growing up as the not so favorite child has made his choice to have one child easy. Probably because he and his spouse had a less than perfect relationship. This also may have influenced him to be protective of Izumi (as we can see he's still protective over her even at 90 years old) because of the loveless relationship his parents had. It was enough to damage him deeply when it came to relationships. This is likely also why he had trouble with Mai as well.

Headcanon space now...

Zuko loving Katara is what makes the difference here. Love is giving your partner the freedom to make their own choices and support them. As long as there is good communication, trust, and honesty. Something Maiko does not have, by the way. So it stands to reason that even with Nature Vs Nurture in the way of parenting, both win here. I'll tell you why Zuko's relationship with his parents here have no effect on why he would choose to have more children with Katara.

Because if written well, it's a very good relationship between them. We already know they work well as a team. The show gives us this. We know that Zuko absolutely cares about Katara. The show also gives us that. We also know they become lifelong friends. So why do they make great parents?

Because they rely on each other.

It has nothing to do with how they were raised individually, but everything to do with how they support each other narritively. They trust each other to make good decisions together. They rely on being honest with each other. They also communicate with each other. This by itself is the building blocks for a healthy and stable relationship. With that in mind, parenting is easier. There is no need to be afraid of becoming a bad parent because they hold each other accountable. It's a deep relationship. Having multiple children is easier because it is a loving relationship. There's no conflict besides the silly little arguments over simple things that happen all the time. It's just an overall healthy dynamic.

And that is what appeals to Zutarians.

While it was almost canon, I'm glad it isn't because Bryke would definitely not get it right. They tried to make Korra and Mako happen out of spite because they believe Zutara is toxic. It's not. Their children would turn out absolutely fine because Zuko would not change a thing about Katara. It's in the show. He doesn't try to change her because that's not his job. His job in TSR is to let her find closure. He offers it to her because he cares about her. Bottom line.

Anyway, I probably forgot what you said at this point because I just tend to go on and on, but I tried my best to stay on topic... ADHD is both a blessing and a curse.

#parenting is not about the past as long as you have a good partner #a bad relationship will force a parent to make decisions to protect their child.#if Zuko was like his father his partner would be the one making the hard decisions to protect their child.#if mai is Zuko's wife then it was not a good relationship.#zutara #relationships #parenting #anti bryke #anti aang

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taikanyohou · 1 year

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ughhhh if only discovering new music could be classed as a professional hobby 😔.

#its one of my faaaave hobbies to indulge in if only i could talk about it and make it sound all professional like 'yeah i have an entire #blog dedicated to sounds i love and like and wish to encapsulate and store in one place that then becomes my happy go to place #and says so much about my personality and what i listen to and the energy it gives me and how discovering new music #has made me listen to so much of different cultures and countries and languages #that i couldnt ever do so before and even within my OWN cultures (indian and pakistani) ive LEARNT SO MUCH!!!#such as how sound changes overtime throughout history but some elements stay the same #how good folk music can be if you just pay attention to it and are willing to give it a try #how the east mix elements of the west into their music but still keep it sounding eastern #but v modern too so that its a relatable listen for a westerner but still firm to its eastern roots #how multilingual songs have become! how much that says about an artist trying to express themselves and their identities!#how stories are told how concepts are explored how religion is used as a way to devote something to someone close to you #how much you learn just by opening up yourself to new music and sounds!!!! how you can build entire playlists around fictional media #and characters based on the songs you hear and how you can make the two things crossover and overlap.#how that enhances your experience of consuming media!!! and makes the song and piece of media even more symbolic to you.'#ughhhhhhhh 😔😔😔😔😔.#faiza talks

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enslaughts · 11 months

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thinking about laura lee as lottie's first disciple. laura lee, unable to hear god's voice after her failed attempt to save them, her second plane crash, so she clings to lottie's. unable to hear the wilderness like even the rest of them learn to, but she always listens to lottie, like the little children at jesus' feet.

#mobile.#literally the more i think about it the more i KNOW she would have nothing to do with javi's death #their whole card drawing? it's borderline blasphemy to her. heresy. because lottie from her own mouth only offered up her own body #to try and choose themselves? in direct contradiction? it IS heresy and she won't participate in it #she doesn't believe in Anything out there but lottie and it is!!!! not good lol or fair to lottie :(#but it would lead to laura lee staying out of it after a weak attempt to reprimend them #and it has to be weak because. if lottie is the only thing she believes in she can't lose her #she can't #so she doesn't neither. pulls a whats his name washing his hands of the matter #she might've stopped them was she there. she would also ball her eyes out for javi #but she'll at the same time thank a god she doesn't believe in anymore that lottie's still alive #god why am i writing this here when i could be writing another post.....#religion //#anyway she will shout and scold and hate them for going against lottie's wishes and yet she will reap the benifits of their actions #she is a hypocrite to her core and it's why she experiences so much dissonence even years later #dynamic. . .⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀𝙻𝙾𝚃𝚃𝙸𝙴 𝙼𝙰𝚃𝚃𝙷𝙴𝚆𝚂⠀:⠀laura lee

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rearranging-deck-chairs · 2 years

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does a mosque feel similar on the inside as a cathedral. would that be a comparison your mind might jump to when faced with a big resonant sort of awe-inducing space or nah

#and if nah what place that yaz has been could i then use #it's not like she couldnt have been in a church as a tourist but like. would she. and would her mind go to that comparison #me writing yaz pov is playing whackamole with catholic imagery it's The Worst #i think in general my yaz pov lacks a certain something bc i think we just really dont have the same life experiences #like in the little ways #in the ways that you will make comparisons to when faced with stuff #i can relate to a lot of her feelings but i cant imagine her concrete physical mundane daily life very well #which i actually cant with anyone super well but it's most apparent with yaz #bc with timelords i feel like youve got a lot of wiggle room #you can make them have experience of anything you want or need for a simile #i would be just as bad at it with any other human i just dont really write any other human super extensively tbh #the problem is also i love catholic imagery too much #i like the symbolism of divine stuff #especially between thoschei #but then it's also like i have no idea if divine stuff works the same way in any other religion so #just dont know if it translates #it probably Doesnt #i can only do my best #it's not much and it's not very honest work but #some pictures of inside mosques do look pretty similar in shape as churches im thinking of #just a lot wider #so maybe it does kinda sound/feel the same?#but idk the vibe in there. i also dont know the vibe wrt god #like protestants are all buddy buddy and all about jesus and stuff #thats not the vibe im aiming for here #i dont think islam is like that with god but i dont know how it is with god so #im aiming for awe

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your--isgayrights · 2 years

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It’s orvuto anon again, I stalled on your pinned post again — experimental neuroscience?? :eyes:

Yesss. I'm actually an undergrad neuroscience major... Like writing and art and stuff is just for fun, I wanna be a research neuroscientist one day lol.

#That's why I practically haven't posted the past few weeks cuz I'm back in school #I'm also in a lot of east asian history classes because I'm minoring in east asian language and lit for fun #and I've been running into this barrier recently where I feel like its hard to explain to people the overlap that exists between hard #science and the needs of the individuals that science is supposed to help you know #like for me the reason being a research neuroscientist is so appealing is because if you're going to pick a job where you mostly do busy #work all day then being in a research field just means you know that whatever pointless thing you're doing or failed experiment you perform #everything you do is a piece of data that's going to contribute to this greater process that really has tangible eeffects in helping real #people who suffer from neurological disease. which I think is comforting in a world where doing a little never feels like enough #What I've been thinking about lately though is that I have an inherent belief in that system because I really believe in the ability of #people to do good in it because I'm coming from the same frame of rationalist mindset that a lot of research is based in but that in #clinical applications there are a lot of inherent biases that prevent people from knowing what illnesses they have and how to receive #treatment for them... because in my east asian history classes we've been talking about different belief systems and ways of thought #that sometimes have to do with medicine or psychology. and I always think that it's interesting to analyze practices that are mysticized in #modernity through that lense. but it's become apparent to me that it's hard to express that interest as genuine to religious people without #them feeling as though I'm dismissing their beliefs rather than trying to analyze how they interact with the physical reality that I know.#and it made me realize that the dismissiveness of western science towards religion combined with ableism in society makes it hard for peop #le who have the symptoms of things like psychosis or mood disorders that might have an associated role in a religion to feel like #psychiatric diagnosis or treatment isn't a complete insult to who they are as a person and I think that's the fault of a lack of compassion #and respect for others in clinical practice... its just like a social norm that i really wish would change. because i don't think physical #reality has to be dismissive of spiritual beliefs when acknowledged but because of some of the habits of western scientists and #certain subsects of christianity people don't think about it enough to have that conversation sometimes...#that's just what i've been thinking about lately lol.#personal #ask #anonymous

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cruelsister-moved2 · 2 years

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i dont wanna be this person but im just saying like the first thing isnt actually bad outside of the context of like a fundamentalist theocracy where they want private schools in order to like not teach about evolution or whatever.. it just kind of rubs me the wrong way seeing this as #1 for many reasons but like in a christian dominant society most secular education IS implicitly christian and like a supportive environment & education about their background etc has proven positive outcomes for religious minority children ..and if those schools are going to exist anyway then requiring them to be privately funded and thus fee-paying is like, denying the privilege to those who need it most. lots of like very normal well-adjusted people choose to send their kids to faith schools for allll kinds of reasons including stuff like, to not get bullied for being jewish or not to have to worry about accessing halal school meals. and im sure that this legislation will not be used to fund any religious minority schools any time soon so like to present this as though the concept of publicly funded faith schools is inherently as bad as denying medical care to prisoners, rather than like emphasising that its another element in the specific right wing christian information control machine, is like................ why are we doing that .........also i have to say the worst thing you can do if you want to prevent like corruption in religious schools or w/e is make them private & fee paying whereas a state religious school is required to equip its students with all the same learning and skills and experiences etc as a secular school but just from within a faith background so its like um tbh id rather the government pays to fund a school where they sing hymns in assembly sometimes than like let the mormons set up a boarding school or something. disclaimer this is coming from a UK background and our school system is kind of specific esp wrt private schools so like there might be intricacies between the US and UK systems that differ but my point is ultimately that 1. faith schools SHOULD be publicly funded and 2. painting faith schools inherently as like part of a fascist nightmarescape is a little unfair to the huge benefits they do provide to minority religious children, who are incidentally not going to benefit from this legislation i imagine

#like last week i was talking to a jewish mother who was saying she considered moving to london #to be able to send her kids to a jewish school #bc they keep getting taught that 'the jews killed jesus' at school.......................#and like as a jewish parent she has to do a lot of 'overtime' giving her kids the kind of experiences christian kids get at school without #even realising so uhm like yeah wanting to send your kids to a schoolthat observes your holidays #and teaches them about their culture and is understanding of their background etc etc like #theres nothing wrong with that unless your culture is being indane #*insane #and like a lot of other traditions dont have the same relationship with 'secular learning' that american fundamentalist christians do #bc again like those ppl are literally just a cult #and its important for cults to control the information that their members recieve #for minority religions like its so often about like firstly protecting their child in many cases #but also like giving them community and pride #also at least in the uk most faith schools arent ever like exclusively [faith] pupils #and its like a fairly tangential thing in many ways #i go past a muslim school on the bus all the time and like theres a big mix of people there #lots of people just send their kids there bc its diverse or to get away from the xtian propaganda or whatever lol like #its truly not that deep!!#also b4 anyone is weird im not saying there cant be abuse or bad education or whatever at minority religious schools either #but i am saying making them publicly funded and inspected and open is the best way of dealing w that so

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temikoangie · 1 year

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Tenko being a buddhist and keeping true to these beliefs even when it's not the logical thing is what makes Tenko my fave so while I understand why people w some types of religious trauma would dislike that part and interpret the master as a bad influence, as someone whose religious trauma was getting my religion demonized, seen as toxic and dismissed, it works for me as much better to interpret him as well meaning. I actually think I've seen way more people portraying him as toxic than anything

i wanna quickly preface this right now tht I Am Not a Buddhist Nor do i practice Buddhism so if i ever get something wrong here Please do correct me im entirely open to crticism on that part. ( i realize now i didn't end up going indepth to your religion as i expected but i am Very much open to feedback if desired)

personally if people Do interpret master as a toxic influence Solely because of the religion that he himself raised tenko in, i think theyre!! very horribly wrong ! there is nothing wrong with that at all, tenko's beliefs really do align very similarly. however my main ick with the master that tends to get overlooked is How he essentially treated the whole ''hating men'' thing.

Tenko, canonically told us themselves, that they use their neo-aikido abilities to go out every day & night, to help bring justice. Whether it's helping an elder cross the street, tracking down a thief or even sexual predators on the train !

the 4th dialogue especially concerns me, seeing there wasn't any limit on what situations tenko is essentially sent in to diffuse. and it seems like they've been doing this since they were young! ( at least young enough that it would've seem like they've been doing this for... practically their whole life) Who knows what kind of things tenko was exposed to !! and in the next FTE we pretty much get a confirmation as to why tenko hated men, and it was because their own master reinforced the idea that men shouldn't ever be touched, lest your abilities gets drained out. I get that the master is trying to shape up tenko's moral compass (hence stuff like ''No getting excited about the holidays, dont eat 3 more sweets per day, dont touch men etc etc)

(thisis also the same fte where tenko ''finds out'' that their master is a man and completely freaks out )

i get what the master is trying to do here but like... that's definitely not something you should say to your Very Impressionable Child who's already seen things they probably shouldn't have to experience at their age. there are definitely less.. traumatizing ways of doing this.

Did the master intend to do this maliciously? or did he meant it well and didn't realize the profound effect it would have on his Essentially Foster child ? who freaking knows. the game never really gives us any better hints for either side, but regardless of intention, it's still not a very smart thing to do to this traumatized person with emotional dysregulation .

now going back to the buddhism ppl who insinuate that master is a bad influence on tenko Solely because his religion is stupid and kind of weird! like idk how explain it to you but i don't like the attempts of demonization of other religions that isnt your typical Evangelical Christianity type thing. ppl who think that Is the Reason to interpret master as toxic is ! wrong ! and Should reevaluate why they see master as toxic ! and i am here Personally to tell you that Maybe master shouldve idk. taught him to redirect his energy to something else entirely ! that doesn't involve giving him a freaking savior/caretaker complex! people shouldnt use this as a chance to demonize buddhism!!!

#norse dialogue #all in all master could be interpreted as a malicious or well-meaning presence and we Honestly have no idea which is which #it does irk me that ppl see him as a good guy but it cn be interpreted either way #is master probably the guy to give your children to when they experience emotional dysregulation? probably not #is master wrong for raising tenko with the same religion he himself is raised in? definitely not #Anyways . Hope this is comphrensible part 2. open 2 Discussion as Always #actually im kind of surprised that u see more ppl making master a bad influence more than i do #bc i see people treating tenko like he's gullible for ... being traumatized?#and regard master as a positive influence Or just simply a presence #. i Hope This Looks fine btw like. rereading it now a couple times i realize the weird Tone i Probably set off #IM NOT GONNA ADD MORE TAGS THAN NEEDED BUT LIKE!! I Hope its a decent read regardless i just wanted to point out the One issue i have w Him

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