#even though their geographical references mean nothing to anyone who doesn’t live in those cities

[dfroza]

in this world we have to put up a guard

we need locks on things, including the space of the heart. we need to protect ourselves and loved ones from harm.

nations and the cities within need armed forces because of the potential harm from others. to stop and punish crime. we live in an insane and fearful world. an anxious world that has been robbed of peace. it can be a depressing place. especially for the majority trying to make ends meet, working and doing things that they may very much dislike just to make money, and mostly to make it for others who are in control.

and can you imagine how much trust we need in others to do what they do in making things and providing the services we need? but not all have integrity. some people are quite dishonest, robbing others through various deceptive means. people cheat. people lie. people take advantage of others. people hurt other people in their own lust for things. not everyone follows the God-given conscience of right v. wrong behavior. for if we live with no fear of our Creator we haven’t even begun to find True wisdom.

but some own up to their own wrongdoing, seeking forgiveness and change. and such change begins in the heart, moving outward into behavior.

many people grow up to see this world as a place ruled by money, by the power of wealth and who has control of it. and it does hold power to do things and it controls people and nations. but it can’t save anyone from death. only the power of Love (Light) can lead a person to find the real treasure that cannot be stolen away. it doesn’t fade with time or become weathered & worn like everything in this life does. wisdom in this is True wealth.

(we need to see things through eternal eyes)

A new point-of-view.

A post by John Parsons:

According to Numbers Rabbah (a medieval commentary on the Book of Numbers), even those Israelites who disagreed with the majority in the incident of the spies were decreed to die in the desert because they were unwilling to take a stand for the truth, as did Joshua and Caleb. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “Silence in the face of evil is itself evil: God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.” Or as Edmund Burke is famously reported to have said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

In most cases, the dynamic of the crowd (or mob) brings out the worst in human nature, inducing cowardly irresponsibility, appeals to selfishness, and even acts of violence. Soren Kierkegaard warned, “Going along with the crowd” weakens the individual's sense of responsibility by placing it in a "fractional" category. Personal responsibility for living out moral truth is negated by appeals to “consensus” or the “greater good” principle (or worse, by simply “going along with the crowd”). Like Pontius Pilate, most people disingenuously “wash their hands” by conceding to the mob and its lies.

"When we're less accountable we tend to behave in ways we wouldn't," he said. "If I'm among thousands of celebrating people and I were to throw a beer bottle against a brick wall, you'd have a hard time picking me out." (“Sports Riots: The Psychology of Fan Mayhem,” National Geographic magazine)

The crowd induces a “gang” mentality that appeals to the lowest common denominator of depraved human nature, preying on our weakness to feel “included,” a part of something bigger than ourselves, or to hide ourselves by becoming unseen and “anonymous.” Its seduction is based on our need for security, though its “reasoning” is inherently fallacious, since it is based on emotion rather than on our duty to truth. To the politician or other instigator, the applause or hiss of the crowd are the means of bullying human passions....

Often demagogues tell part of the truth in order to win the crowd. When the ten spies returned to deliver their evil report, they did not lie per se. When they reported that the “land eats up its inhabitants” (Num. 13:32), they referred to the high death rate they witnessed in the land. According to the sages (Sotah 35), the Canaanites had a custom not to bury their dead immediately, but would keep their dead in boxes and wait until a prominent person died to perform a large-scale funeral for the community (the prominent soul was thought to escort the others to heaven). When the spies witnessed so many dead being buried, they failed to understand that God was already at work, weakening the enemy by bringing plagues upon the land. The spies did not outright lie in this case, though they were misled because they did not understand what God was doing. Their lack of faith (fear) caused them to misinterpret the situation.

In this regard, “truth” extends far beyond the realm of the objective and factual. Not everything that is not a lie (objectively speaking) is therefore the truth. Truth is not superficial but goes beyond the realm of appearance to the realm of the possible. In other words, truth and faith go hand in hand. We “see” according to our presuppositions and underlying convictions. How we see is as important as what we see... Faith sees the promise. As Yeshua said, “According to your faith, be it done unto you” (Matt. 8:13, 9:29).

Sometimes true words and actions performed in an unloving or spiteful manner are morally blameworthy. Bonhoeffer tells the story about how a teacher once humiliated one of her students by standing him up in front of the class to ask whether his father -- notoriously known as the town drunk -- had been out drinking the night before. The little boy knew the accusation was true but bravely announced "No." When the teacher mockingly asked him again, pressing him for "the truth," the boy was adamant: "NO!" Bonhoeffer's comment was that this little boy spoke more truth by his lie than if he had merely reported the "facts" to the class -- and thereby betrayed the dignity of his father... The truth is not some objective state of affairs that can be reported dispassionately. Without love as its context, such "truth" becomes a lie. Satan keeps his own books.

The way we “see” is often determined by how we hear.... The Midrash Rabbah says that the ear (אזֶן) gives life to all the organs of the body. How so? By listening (שׁמע, shema) to the Torah. This idea is repeated in the New Testament: “Faith comes from listening to the Word of God” (Rom. 10:17). The Word of God (דְּבַר־אֱלהִים) is our very life, chaverim. Listening to other voices (regardless of how seemingly well-intended) risks cutting yourself off from the Source of life itself.... Hearing and obeying are linked, and “hearing” the messages of this corrupt world (i.e., “crowd”) can eventually make you into an enemy of God Himself (James 4:4). The world always speaks its message to members of its “crooked and twisted generation” (Deut. 32:5). How else do politicians gain their audiences?

In this connection note that the Hebrew word for falsehood (or lie) is sheker (שֶׁקֶר), which the sages note can be rearranged to spell kesher (קֶשֶׁר), meaning a band, gang, or group of people.... The power of the lie is always found in the “group” rather than in the individual, and if enough people in the group repeat something untrue, eventually the individual’s conscience will be overruled and the truth will be lost...

Following the LORD is not based on “majority rule,” much less does it have anything to do with approval from the anonymous crowd. Indeed, Yeshua was crucified because He would have nothing to do with the crowd (though He addressed himself to all). No one gets to heaven by following a crowd (or attending a church, joining a political party, etc.) but by surrendering their individual will to the reign of Yeshua. “For it is no empty word for you, but your very life, and by this word you shall live” (Deut. 32:47). Following the crowd (world) and following Yeshua are therefore entirely antithetical ways of life that will lead to collision. Guard your heart with all diligence (Prov. 4:23).

May God give us all ometz lev (courage) to stand for Him, despite the pressures of this world and its ongoing deception. Amen. [Hebrew for Christians]

6.20.22 • Facebook

for those in this world who are standing for spiritual truth we will be met with resistance because people want to live however they want to live, which is the pride of life that is a mark of humanity

yet, humanity is meant to be reborn, at first on the inside.

[eugeniedanglars]

tv shows set in los angeles are just books set in new york that happen to be tv shows set in los angeles

#in both cases the writers won’t shut the fuck up about the geography #even though their geographical references mean nothing to anyone who doesn’t live in those cities #‘he lived in pasadena oaks beach and perfectly fit the stereotype’ #‘i had to cut over from north 420th street through brookhattan heights to lower 69th boulevard to avoid that one park’ #girl i know the names of about 5 streets in my hometown #wtf makes you think i know the geography and culture of every neighborhood in your garbage city?? #i should write a novel set in various places i’ve lived and treat it like writers treat la or nyc #‘he was always careful driving to the trader joe’s because it took him past THAT bar and THAT business yknow’ #‘she went to redacted middle school and had been fighting to overcome the stereotypes ever since’ #it’s nonsense!!

[merigreenleaf]

Unexpected Inspiration Location: The Place of Shadow

Etri reached out to grab them as they ran past, catching Adair’s shoulder and Blythe’s wrist. Between the span of one breath and another, they were in the place outside of time that Etri considered a secondary, if lonely, home.

His friends were justifiably disoriented. Adair stumbled as he stepped closer to Blythe, whose eyes narrowed as she sought out the potential threat that had brought them here. In a voice barely above a whisper, but which reached Etri's ears in a place so empty, Adair asked, “Where are we?"

Etri had been equally fearful on his first trip here. It had been an accident, a touch to one of the elemental traps in his home temple that he noticed all too late. It had banished him as though he himself were a shadow and he might still be caught here if not for an unusually curious and friendly elemental leading him back. Over the years he had learned that he could cross back and forth at will, with no danger so long as he took care to leave precisely at the time he had arrived. That had taken some calculations and experimentation. His friends would be safe if they remained with him, and since the shadows hadn't noticed them yet, Etri took a moment to pull a timer from his bag. With luck, they'd be able to return before they had left and miss the guards entirely.

As the grains of sand began to fall, Etri walked over to join them. “I apologize for not first gaining your permission. I took the opportunity before anyone could see you vanish from the street.”

Adair spun around with a grin on his face. “Etch! You brought us here! I'm so glad you're here. Where is here?”

Etri glanced down at the small hourglass to hide the smile that came so easily around Adair. He used this opportunity to better calculate how much time remained before they could again cross. “To my knowledge, there is no name for it. I have only thought of it as the 'place of shadow.' Please, we must get through the city soon. We cannot stay here long.”

“Why not?” Blythe asked as they hurried through the eerily silent streets. "Not that I want to stay. What's with this place, anyway? I know there were more buildings here before. Addy dragged me into a bakery I know was on that corner."

Adair waved his arms vaguely to the left. "And over there was the greenhouse we were in for like an hour."

If the two were back to teasing each other, it meant that they felt safe. Their trust in him made Etri's head swim just as surely as his friends must have felt moments ago. “This place is but a reflection of the real world and time does not flow as we perceive it. If we are not careful, we could be caught here for a century or return into the past. As for your second question, it is because temporary objects do not exist here.”

“What, like ice sculptures?”

Adair's comment made Etri chuckle, but Blythe was less amused. “Sheesh. You've been hanging around Sol too long. Think, art-boy. He probably means like people. Plants. The traffic we're not getting run over by."

Adair recovered before Etri could further explain. "I had noticed the lack of squash, which makes this better than the hour I spent hanging out with the vegetables."

Blythe groaned. "Etch, do us a favor and get us out of here. I don't think I can deal with a century of his bad jokes."

-An excerpt from Colorweaver (book 1) switched to Etri’s POV

[Facts about the Place of Shadow below!]

-As far as Etri knows, he's the only living human who has visited, besides the friends he brings later. He's never heard anyone else talk about it or found any records of anyone else visiting. The creatures from this place that are capable of communicating with humans have never revealed that this is where they come from. For instance, the priest/esses in Montglace who summon shadow elementals know that they're coming from somewhere, but have no idea what this somewhere is. -The place of shadow isn't as creepy as you might expect, despite it being the home of ghosts and shadows. It's simply an empty and grey monochrome. Since it's only borderline real and there is no weather, the sky will always be dull, vacant grey, with no stars or planets to be seen. The air is breathable, but it's stuffy and you probably wouldn't be comfortable breathing it for long. -This is because it isn't so much a world of its own as a reflection of the main world. The only things you'll find in this place are things that have existed in the main world for an extended period of time. This means geographical features, such as hills, mountains, and caves, but nothing like trees or plant life because nothing living exists there. In Etri's experience, rivers and lakes have been empty or missing. There may be oceans, but if so, he hasn't explored far enough to know. -Towns and cities are ghost towns, but not in a dilapidated, creepy way. Only the oldest buildings and architecture echo over; these are all empty inside but otherwise solid and in new condition. The buildings are never furnished because anything that can be moved around counts as temporary. -On the flip side of this, if a building has been recently torn down in the real world, its mirror will still be standing until it eventually begins to fade away. You're also unlikely to find ruins here-- old buildings will begin to vanish rather than fall apart. -Nothing lives here because nothing native to that place is technically alive. This doesn't mean the place is unpopulated, though! One type of elemental that exists here are shades, which are echos of strong memories and emotions from the main world, vague blurs without much sentience. -Once in awhile Etri will run into a ghost, which are usually the spirits of those who possessed magic and were killed in a way that didn't fully dissipate this power. Usually, these don’t remember who they once were, and they vary in intelligence and communication skills based on how long they’ve been ghosts, how strong their magic was to start, and how they were killed/ended up as ghosts. Some can move around and cross to the human world if they choose to, but many are echoes not much stronger than the shades. -The creatures I often refer to as shadows are the most common type of elemental here. These are the ones capable of communication (via telepathy/feelings) and their intelligence level is somewhere around that of a smart dog. These can go wherever they wish but are easily controlled or summoned by certain humans. Shadows are mostly intangible when in the human world and are generally mistaken for a normal shadow if they're noticed at all. On their home world, and to any human with the magic to see them properly, they look like a plume of smoke. -Through trial and error, Etri has worked out how to calculate time passing in the main world while he's here in the place of shadow. Time doesn't flow linearly; instead it ebbs back and forth, almost like waves. Sometimes the waves are strong and will make "time" rush, meaning that you could step back outside into the far past or the far future. Sometimes it's weaker and almost no time has passed at all in the main world. Hourglasses are the only timekeeper he's found that work because gravity functions here even if time-- and watches-- do not. Between the hourglasses and carefully observing the waves, he can predict when he'll step back out again. The shadows and ghosts have less restriction than he does because Etri is human and has a chronological mindset at navigating this. The elementals can just pop out anywhen, but to be fair, they don't really understand what "now" is. Time has no meaning for them.

-------------------------

@homesteadchronicles stumped me good this week for a theme of "magic" since I used the recent "craftsmanship" theme to talk about the art magic in my series (you can find that here) and I've talked a bunch recently about the shadow and light magics that my Montglacian characters have. (Etri, Sol, Rosalie, and Camille.) Then I saw he had mentioned elemental planes and bingo! There are multiple worlds and planets in my series besides the main world, but the only one that comes up in my current trilogy is this one.

Tagging my series list! Let me know if you want on or off the list, it’s all good. And as always, please add me to any writing tag lists you have, whether you’re on my list or not. I love reading about writeblr projects. :)

@homesteadchronicles @ageekyreader @lynnafred @the-gay-hufflepuff @oceanwriter @desperatlytryingtowriteabook @muffindragon227 @theguildedtypewriter @toboldlywrite @wchwriter @dreameronthewind @shadow-maker @pen-for-sword @loopyhoopywrites @emptymanuscript @madmoonink @perringwrites @megan-cutler @elliot-orion @thatwriternamedvolk @indecentpause @writer-on-time @ravenpuffwriter @siarven @musicismymoirail @lady-redshield-writes @bluemartlet @reeseweston @worldbuildingwren @hiddswritingrefs @cay--scribbles @focusdumbass @enasroterfaden @missrobinswritings @joshuaorrizonte @zofiehelen @kainablue @kalis-scribbles @inspirited-goddess @nightmares-and-fireflies

#writing #writeblr #world building #about my world #worldbuilding #fantasy series #moodboard #moodboard monday #unexpected inspiration series #unexpected inspiration aesthetic

[bublp0pr]

UT time rant

i realised that i never actually discussed my rantings about undertale’s time vagueness, did i? Ohhhhh yessss. This is going to be a fun waste of an hour (insane and evil laughter with conveniently timed thunderstorm in the distance)

Where do i even start?

201X

Ok. How about i start with something obvious? 201X. What the hell does that even MEAN? It’s genius on Toby’s part. Having released the game in a year whose first 3 digits are 201, we can interpret it to just mean some year within the decade beginning in 2010 and ending before 2020. But if someone was dedicated enough to the game to still be playing it all those years later in say 2021, then there’s a whole plethora of choices available to you to justify how you intend on interpreting it. How about i break some of them down? 

Well, the most simple view would be to just assume that the date is still maintains that meaning - that Chara fell into Mt Ebott within the previous decade under my hypothetical example. But if we’re letting this date exist in a time other than the present then why stop there? Everything that occurs within the game to give us some sort of indication of a time reference is circumstantial because the game is set some indefinite time AFTER 201X with Chara falling. 

Now, that being said there are likely some arguments to be made for certain objects we know existed at the same time as Chara - such as a video camera. BUT- and here’s another BIG THING we need to consider here, how do you know that monsters weren’t just more technologically advanced than humans? Look at the technology introduced in the game! The ramifications of a trans-dimensional box in your PHONE! A mass geothermal power system placed directly in the CORE of everyone’s city but that is SO SAFE that no one even worries about it! Technology that literally operates in tandem with MAGIC -by which i mean THE ESSENCE MANIPULATED BY THE SOUL ITSLEF- in some circumstances! This is startlingly advanced stuff. If we assume that monsters WERE more advanced than humans, then do we really have ANY reference to what time era Chara existed in on the surface? My opinion is no. You could argue that were it the case that Chara existed in a time that significantly predated certain concepts than integration with a society who did have this stuff would be difficult but- and again, TIME STUFF TOBY! TIMEEEEE- we have no idea how long Chara stayed with the Dreemurs before they died. So things like the video camera could have been completely foreign to them BEFORE they fell and they just slowly learnt about them down in the mountain. 

‘But wait!’ I hear myself saying because i’m not presumptuous enough to assume anyone is actually going to read this and ask this question lol. ‘The 201 still needs to mean SOMETHING though right? That narrows down possible dates a little...’ Ohoho I’d be wrong. First: the date could be set in the past, in like the year 201 AD, 201 BC or any year within the decade 2020-2010 BC. OR it could be set in the past/present/future of 2010-2020 AD. Second: the X is a vague substitution that, without context can mean ANYTHING. That means it can mean more than one digit which makes the possible date as infinite as the possible values of X (i’m tempted to say more infinite because obviously there’s an AD and BC version for each value but that’s not how infinity works. Figured i’d say so for perspective anyway). Third: since when was 201X a year???? Take another look at that moment in the opening menu flashback, because i assure you that the vague number below the picture of a mountain has NO OTHER INDICATION TOWARDS ITS MEANING WHATSOEVER. 201X could be a day and month, it could be a month and year, heck 201X could just as easily be the geographical location of the mountain by some reference standard. X stand to mean ANYTHING AT ALL. It doesn’t have to be a number.

Is your mind sufficiently blown yet? Because there’s a few other possibilities i haven’t even dared to go into yet. We can’t say with 100% accuracy haha but it’s a good bet that Undertale isn’t actually the reality of our history. Which makes the game a work of FICTION within a FICTIONAL universe. With that comes creative freedom in how time works in general! How society came to agree to understand, measure and interpret time; how history uses time as a reference to the present etc. And even worse, there isn’t even enough evidence to say that it’s set in a real world setting either in terms of humanity. History could be completely different! So would having a date really mean anything to us?! Ok, ridiculous stuff aside, let’s assume that this is the real world again. So what if the date was how monsters measured time instead of us? Do they measure time the same way? Maybe they’re measuring from when they were trapped underground. How would we know?! 

Final conundrum (and this one was actually brought to my attention by a really good web comic actually) : what if the use of determination to reset time didn’t apply to the outside world? The interpretations of this piece of information alone are vast, like the underground exisiting in a closed time loop or having a separate line of time running parallel to the surface that becomes more delayed with each reload or reset. However you consider it, it makes using time from one world not relatively correct to using time in another. (We are not given evidence that Chara actually ever does use determination to alter time within their life underground but there is evidence to suggest use of resetting occurring because of the 6 souls which sufficiently messes us up if we want to use the date as any sort of reference for anything)

So basically, giving us the 4 characters 201X at the start of the game might as well mean nothing to us.

Lengths of time between events

Ok. I want to say now that 201X is the ONLY time we’re ever given any date. So the fact we can’t even use that means we have no idea exactly when anything happened. But that doesn’t matter so much right? I mean, who cares as long as you can follow the stretch of time the game actually does exist in. Right? Hahahahahahaha. 

I’m just going to list all the lengths of time we DON’T know in the game. Take a minute to think over each one.

How long was the war between humans and monsters?

How long did monsters exist underground before the first human came?

How long did Chara stay underground before they decided on the plan with Asriel?

How long after Chara made plan with Asriel did they actually go through with it? For all we know they could’ve been older when they actually carried it out. (not that OLDER means anything when we don’t know how old they were when they made the plan lol. But atleast we knew they were kids then)

How did it take after Asriel died for Toriel to leave Asgore and go to the ruins? Or, to pose a better question, how long had Toriel been in the ruins when Frisk eventually came around?

How long after Asriel’s death did the next human arrive in the underground?

What sort of lengths of time were there between each human falling underground?

How long did each human spend in the underground before Asgore eventually killed them?

How long after Asriel’s death did Alphys inject enough determination into his flower to awaken Flowey?

Depending on the answer to that last question, did Flowey actually exist as the same time as any of the humans who fell? Or was Frisk the first they met? (i’m not counting Chara obviously)

As a rough estimate, how many resets do you reckon Flowey went through before Frisk came in and messed with that?

Unless you think about one of the theories about surface time and underground time not occurring exactly simultaneously because of determination tampering with things, obviously waiting for Frisk had been the longest run Flowey had ever done. How long had he had to wait in that run before they fell? [This one i find really interesting because it gives me an idea of how long he spent playing in each run normally before he would reset too]

How long did it take for Frisk to go through the underground? Is that length of time the same between pacifist and genocide timelines? Can we use real game time as a reference or not?

How long had Napstablook been abandoned by Mettaton for when frisk fell?

How long did it take for Alphys to conduct the amalgamate research?

For how long had Alphys been keeping the amalgamates secret from their families when Frisk fell?

For how long has Papyrus been training under Undyne?

How long has Undyne been head of the Royal Guard?

Are you thoroughly concerned about how little you know about the game yet? These are all things that would give more meaning to the storyline as well. Now, on some of these points you might think, well obviously we can use lifespan as a reference. BUT WE CAN’T. Because

We don’t know a damn about monster life spans

The only info we’re given is based on boss monsters. And that conveniently tells us that THEY DON’T AGE WHEN THEY DON’T HAVE LIVING CHILDREN. And since Asriel is dead, well we have nothing to work with. What really messes me up though is that the only constants we know for sure about across the two points in time, Chara’s and Frisk falling, is Asgore, Toriel and Gerson. Asgore and Toriel teach us nothing because THEY DON’T AGE. With Gerson aswell you might think haha i’ve got this cracked until you realise you have no idea how long a monster’s life span is, how long it takes a monster to reach old age and exactly what stage of aging Gerson is at. May i point out that NONE of the other monsters were mentioned?! That means that for all we know they weren’t born yet. But we have no idea. Were most of the monsters we know alive during the war? I’d have to say probably not but at the same time i have no substantial evidence either way. Another down side of this is that we don’t know how old any monster is in the game, how old the monsters are relative to eachother (like, is sans older than papyrus for example? we don’t know) and how old monsters are relative to Frisk. Because it puts an entirely new spin on everything if the only reason Frisk was called kid and my child was because they were younger than 100, for example, which was the age bracket of a child in their eyes. But we also don’t know Frisk’s age so who the hell knows anything? 

Let’s sum this up

The point of this game is that we don’t have reference for ANYTHING so that we can fill in the details our self. It gives a fan infinite freedom to customise the experience however they want. What this has resulted in is a large community of differing opinions about everything, with everything being technically valid which some consider bad but i just consider fascinating. It’s the best of all worlds really. I hate how vague things are at times when i want a canonically pure origin point for an argument, but i really shouldn’t complain. It’s beautifully done to be honest. And if you never asked these questions you’d never even know how sneaky it is. That’s how good it is. 

So yeah. Time. Undertale seems to have an issue with it. 

#essay #undertale theory i guess? More like analysis but whatever #undertale #ranting #overthinking and overanalysing things