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allthebooksandcrannies · 4 years

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Just some thoughts on maturity...

This is going to get long so there’ll be more under the cut.

I saw a post the other day about how it can be tempting particularly for the older crowd on this website to judge or condescend those who seem to struggle with expressing or holding truly complex ideas and instead getting stuck in a binary mentality of good vs bad or us vs them. then the post went on to point out that its not really their fault considering that a major proportion of tumblr users are under 25 (according to this report, 39% of users are under 25 and 66% are under 35) and devopmentally this is really where we see the ability to hold complex feelings and accept the existence of multiple realities really start to develop and it was kind of an epiphany for me.

I don’t want to come across as condescending, after all, i’m part of that 39% myself and can admit that i’m still working on this skillset. But part of emotional maturity is being able to accept and understand that the world is a complicated or gray place and morality is, if not exactly relative, at least exists on a continuum (what is acceptable and even praise-worthy in one culture might be taboo or reprehensible in another [which is why we need to avoid judging past or foreign cultures by our own cultural norms/morals]).

Just as it is possible to do the wrong thing for the right reasons or the right thing for the wrong reasons and it be both right and wrong at the same time, there can be multiple truths and “realities” at the same time without either being more or less correct than the other. I know that might sound confusing or convoluted but let me explain. You’ve probably heard the expression that there are three truths: your truth, my truth, and the actual truth is somewhere in the middle. I agree with this to an extent. People can look at the same experience and come up with radically different narratives to explain what happened to themselves or others and generally they are both a little biased because the brain naturally works from an egocentric point of view (this isn’t necessarily the same thing as a selfish/arrogant pov, but that we tend to view things based on their relationships to ourselves even if they aren’t actually connected to us, ie a child that sees that their parent is upset about something that happened during their day but assumes that it is somehow their own fault, which gets into some theory of mind stuff that is honestly a whole other post and not really the point).

An example from my own life, is a common argument that my mother and i rehash a lot lately. Just going off of the things actually said aloud (which is only ever half the argument), my mom likes to ask for constant progress reports on things like my thesis or grad school applications or my love life and then proceeds to tell me what she thinks i should do. Sometimes i humor her and let it go, but other times i try to explain that talking about the things that i’m anxious about actually makes my anxiety related procrastination worse and that i would appreciate it if she wouldn’t ask as often. Those are the main events that lead up to it.

From what i can tell, she views her questions as good parenting. She has told me before that she felt hurt as a kid by how uninvolved her parents were in her own adolescence/early adulthood and doesn’t want to make same mistakes. She then takes my request not to ask as a rejection of her parenting, and usually responds by telling me that i should stop being bothered because she’s just trying to help and i’ll feel better if i just do what she’s suggesting (and then proceeds to say “see, aren’t you glad you have a mom who pushes you to do these things” once i finish a project.)

there really is no winning because my mother has never really learned that the things you do to be helpful can still be harmful. in her mind, she can’t be in the wrong because that would make her a bad mom and she can’t be a bad mom because she loves us. sure, she might be able to accept this idea in fiction or in the abstract, but isn’t able to put it into practice because that is a learned skill that she has never known to try to learn. i think a lot of people end up stuck there. tbh its still my first instinct a lot of the time and its only through a lot of courses geared towards developing critical thinking and empathy, a lot of fiction meta analysis, and reading about a million fanfics that each interpret the same canon event differently based on the author’s personal experiences coloring what they viewed as important.

my first instinct is to view my mother’s refusal to change her behavior as a disrespect/invalidation of my feelings. I feel guilty because i know that i should do the things she’s suggesting but that is never the issue, the issue is that i have trouble actually making myself do it. For a long time that egocentric worldview (and that instinct kids have to implicitly trust hteir gaurdians) told me that both the executive dsyfunction and the fighting were my fault. It felt like she was saying that if i was better or smarter or more mature surely i would be able to do this on my own. it felt like she was saying that if i was a better daughter i wouldn’t hurt her feelings like this.

But i’ve been learning that neither one of us were truly correct and we both were at the same time. Those feelings and concerns were real to us, even if we were both projecting our own insecurities onto the other person. Those feelings were valid and understandable but (and this is incredibly important) that did not give either one of us a free pass on how we acted on those insecurities. It didn’t make us bad people but it did mean that we were engaging in toxic behavior that just hurt both of us.

So, the question becomes “what do i do with that?” Now that i know we were both responding from a place of trauma and insecurity in the past, how do we change how we act in the future? I think we have to get to a point where we can look at a situation and truly try to understand the internal dialogue that the other side is experiencing in the moment (why they feel the way they feel, do we really have evidence that they feel what we think they feel or are we projecting, are they acting well-intentioned/malicious or are they even considering the ramifications at all/do they have any conscious intentions) and come to a point where we can truly empathize with them, not sympathize with them, not feel sorry for them, but truly see it from their side and understand where they are coming from. we should remember that we’re all a little broken. and we should be gracious and merciful.

That doesn’t mean we have to be happy about it. We don’t even need to think that they have a good point or that their pov is reasonable or forgivable (sometimes it just isn’t, and its important to understand that too). But it means not dehumanizing the enemy or oversimplifying their position into the general “bad guy” role. You can forgive without absolving and you can understand and show compassion without forgiving or accepting.

You need to set boundaries, and you need to accept that at the end of the day the way that they respond is not on you, not if you’ve acted based on that understanding we talked about earlier and treated them with at least the bare amount of dignity we are all entitled to as human beings.

Returning to the previous example, with my mother, i now make a point when we disagree of first summarizing and acknowledging the validity of what i understand her intent to be, making it clear that i appreciate that she cares and is trying to be helpful. Then i explain my point of view not as what she makes me feel (because that would come across as judgement that would prompt natural, though incredibly unhelpful defensiveness) but as to how i feel based on my interpretation of the action. I try to make this sound as nonjudgemental as possible without making it anyone’s fault, including my own (which i admit can be easier said than done). Then, i give an alternative suggestion for what would actually be helpful and then it is in her hands. It is up to her whether or not to accept the boundary i have set up.

In an ideal world she would respect my wishes and alter her behavior. after all, she is supposed to be the adult/parent in this relationship. the emotional labor isn’t supposed to be on the child, at least not the majority of it.

(side note: this goes for relationships of equals such as significant others, friends, siblings, extended families, and peers. in a healthy relationship of equals you should be splitting the emotional labor equally. if they aren’t trying as hard as you are, you probably need to have a conversation about that and based on the outcome then evaluate how much, if any, of yourself is safe/healthy to continue to pour into the relationship)

But because many people, adults and adolescents alike, have not reached this level of emotional maturity and can’t honestly/completely accept or acknowledge their own flaws and mistakes without their sense of self taking a hit, sometimes its not enough. My mother, no matter how respectfully i phrase my concerns and request, continues to insist on asking the same nagging questions that trigger a lot of my childhood emotional drama related to being good enough for my parents impossible standards. I understand why she behaves the way that she does but the fact of the matter is that she still continues to hurt me and no longer has plausible deniability in those situations. I have the right to be angry, though i do not have the right to lash out or respond in kind.

I do, however, have the right and the responsibility to myself to do what i can to protect myself from further harm. I still want a positive relationship with my mother, we have plenty of good moments and are very similar people. But i have to be willing and able to remove myself from unsafe situations. Usually that means making it clear that i won’t be answering the questions and not calling or texting with her until the point is made (even if this leaves her surly).

I had to lower my expectations for her as well. I had a high opinion of my mother because she can be very nurturing and compassionate, especially when we are in agreement. So i thought on some level that if i shared the information and the sources that prompted me to begin my own journey of self-actualization and personal growth in earnest that she would react similarly and understand why i needed her to at least try to do the same. Piece of advice, kiddos, it’s not your job to fix someone, no matter how much you love them nor how much potential they have. It needs to be on them, and they need to make that decision for themselves or it won’t work anyway.

I am trying to accept that unless she makes the decision on her own, she isn’t going to become the mother i want her to be. That’s an incredibly sad thing to realize about someone you love, but its true. If i don’t let that expectation go, our relationship will always be one of disappointment and eventually resentment. Instead, I've had to evaluate what conversations we are and are not able to have in a healthy manner, and just let things be what they will be. I know my own worth (when my brain chemistry cooperates) and i have a lot of good, healthy relationships in my life that i can turn to when i need something my mom doesn’t know how to give me.

It’s painful to grow and realize you’re leaving people behind in the process. You can offer them the tools to follow, and give them the support that they need to do so, but only if they want to.

But i promise you its worth it. When you accept your own worth with rather than despite your own flaws, when you learn to do the same with others, you realize that there’s a lot more hope for humanity than you thought. we are capable of so many great things if we are in an environment that fosters our best selves. and even when we are not, we are still capable of growing past our trauma and hurt so that we don’t have to continue the cycle of pain and misery. We can’t control everyone and everything around us, they still have a measure of personal responsibility to themselves and others that you can’t absolve them from. But you can be an example to them. You can show them through your own life and actions that things can be better, even if they weren’t aware of how much they need things to improve, or how much they deserve it. You deserve good things but you wait for someone to solve it for you. You have to fight for yourself and struggle against falling into the trap of the familiar. It is going to be scary, it is going to be confusing. there will be times when you don’t trust your own interpretations of your emotions and perceptions (especially if you weren’t taught to do so as a kid, its not your fault, but what happens next is up to you). When those times come you’re going to want to have good friends or mentors at your side or as a source of hope that things will be better and that there are people who can and will offer you the help you need along the way. No one can do it alone, and you don’t have to. For me, my college roommates were my first clue that maybe things weren’t as good with my mother as i assumed, they fostered my confidence and my self-worth and i was constantly afraid i was going to scare them away but they had my back. I didn’t think i deserved to be happy, i didn’t think i was worthy for anything outside what i could do or give for others and they showed me that i was worthy just as i was. it was creators like @goldkirk and @maychorian and @cdelphiki and @sohotthateveryonedied that taught me through their works what healthy family relationships (particularly between parent and child) should look like, what unhealthy relationships can do to you, and that families of choice are just as valuable as those of law or blood. And @goldkirk especially, i want you to know that reading your blog, be it the ups, or the downs, your knowledge of things like child development and mental health, and even the things that you find helpful and reblog have meant so much to me. I have a lot in common with your Tim and with you and you have given me so much hope and confirmation and affirmation that i’m not alone in my experiences and that i deserve to be happy, even if the road isn’t a straight line. and lately i have to say thank you to @mahpotatoequeen for just straight up deciding to be my new mom this summer. I don’t have the words for how much i appreciate you and how much it meant to me that in one of the worst crisis of my life that there was someone who saw the things i had posted just to get out of my system, things i had never said to anyone before and that came from a really broken and painful place, and reached out and stuck around rather than just continuing to scroll and go about their day.

But I digress. My point is that there are people out there that you can learn from and there are people out there who will care. And maybe we all owe it to each other to strive to become the healthiest version of ourselves, so that maybe someday we can be that for someone else. just a thought.

(I can’t find the original post i referenced earlier but if someone knows what i’m talking about plz send me the link so i can give credit where credit is due)

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linkspooky · 4 years

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top 5 jujutsu kaisen characters 🥳

1. Gojou Satoru - I Am The Strongest

The most interesting thing about Gojou is how unique and overpowering a character Gojou is. I don’t just mean in the sense that he has physical strength, but that he’s also what they call a ‘force of personality’. Gojou is incredibly up front about who he is, and what he wants. He never hides a single thought in his head, he never is discreet, compromises to other people and backs off in any way. Gojou is the most self centered character in the manga.

What makes his character unique is that Gojou’s self-centeredness is not necessarily portrayed as a bad thing. It’s neither good nor bad, Gojou is allowed to be who he is by the narrative. Gojou is a selfish prick, but he’s also self determined. He is someone who knows what he wants and does everything to the best of his abilities to work for what he wants.

Gojou is so busy looking at the infinity other people might as well not exist. He’s someone who sees himself as fundamentally above other people. However, when you look past that in his actions you see that while Gojou has so much strength, he’s using almost all of that strength not for the sake of himself but others. What Gojou wants is a better world, and he’s mature enough to realize he can’t just get it by smashing everything with his own hands even if he’s powerful enough to do that.

You get the sense that Gojou while distant from others is still trying to understand their feelings, and communicate his own feelings in his own way.

2. Getou Suguru - You will obey me, you monkeys.

Getou is so interesting because all of the traits that have driven him to extremism are traditionally heroic traits. Getou is empathic, he’s incredibly considerate of others and wants to save them, he believes in justice. Getou humanizes the people that he personally gets to know so much, cares so deeply, that when he loses them it’s like one of his own organs gets ripped out. It’s the same as losing an arm or a leg.

It shows that individuals within the system are not necessarily the problem, because the reason Getou fell so far because he wanted to be human and care about human lives in a system like the Jujutsu sorcerers system that was so uttterly dehumanizing.

Getou’s so empathic if he were to see everyone as human his brain would just break. So, he divides the world into humans, people he can save, and monkeys who he no longer cares whether they live or die. If anything, Getou would be a better person if he was a little less kind, a little less caring. Gojou is actually much more mentally healthy because he’s less selfless than Getou is.

3. Kokichi Muta

In a series where every character is trying to get strong, Kokichi already has all the power he needs and he hates it. I like how he’s allowed to be ugly and genuinely resentful for his circumstances in life.

Nobody really empathizes with Mechamaru. Even Panda who might come close to understanding it, essentially tells him to just get over it and stop causing problems for others. It’s understandable why Mechamaru was driven into enough of a corner that he betrayed sorcery high school. Kokichi just can’t swallow down his resentment. He never wanted to be born, he never wanted to be a jujutsu sorcerer, but Jujutsu society uses him anyway, he’s not a puppeteer he’s more like a doll of an inherently broken system.

Yet, there’s something genuine in Kokichi. He really wants to love his friends and be able to stand on equal terms with them. Despite how much hatred he carries in his heart, he’s genuinely touched by just the smallest amount of kindness Miwa showed to him. At the end of the day what he feels is an inferiortiy and unworthiness.. He feels like he’s not good enough to stand with others because he was born this way, and feels like he needs to be fixed. When really Miwa would have accepted him for who he was all along and wanted to see the real him.

It’s another demonstration of how much a failure of empathy an drive these characters to desperate circumstances. What Kokichi needed wasn’t to be told to stop making a fuss, it was to be accepted for who he was, the ugly, the unpleasant and to have someone notice that even though he’s technically doing bad things Kokichi is also deep down still a suffering child.

4. Maki Zenin - “I would have hated myself”

Maki is fun because she was treated like a disposable extra for her family, and rather than craving acknowledgement from that family, or a place to belong she just went ‘Neat, I’m gonna burn down the whole family tree then.”

Maki’s ambitions, her resentment towards others, her desire to pursue strength are all things that are validated about her character. She is someone who gets to choose the way she wants to live, and is fighting against her entire family for that right even if it means she has to destroy that family in the end. Maki is allowed to be as self determined as Gojou.

At the same time though, Maki’s choice to put strength above all else does not make her a person who is only ever strong and never vulnerable because she would be just as flat as a character. Maki’s choice has consequences, because by choosing to live for her own personal strength she also doesn’t choose Mai the one person who ever genuinely saw her as family.

Their conflict reminds me a lot of Gamorra and Nebula which is one of my favorite conflicts of all time, because neither of their feelings are wrong. Maki is not wrong for wanting to choose her own survival. Mai is not wrong for feeling like her sister broke their promise and abandoned her. However at the same time their choices have consequences, Maki choosing herself means she can’t choose Mai and she’s sacrficing their connection. It’s one of the most beautifully illsutrated conflicts in the manga.

5. Nanami Kento - “Growing up is the accumulation of little despairs”

I like Nanami because he’s the one reasonable adult in a world of mad people? That doesn’t sound like much saying he’s ‘the guy with common sense’ but in his arc he gets a lot of depth to his personality.

Basically he wants to help other people, but he’s also mature enough to realize that helping others is going to be a net loss. That if he tries to help everyone the same way Itadori does, he’s going to lose over and over again. What’s so interesting about Nanami is he’s not so much someone completely selfless, as someone who is too decent of a person for his own good. Which causes him to continually choose to help others, not because he’s motivated by some great quest to save the world but because he can’t look away from trouble.

Nanami’s salaryman-like serious persona becomes more and more of an act as you dwell on his character. It’s like he’s putting on a show that he’s not as mad as everybody else, that he’s still reasonable in this world. It’s done mostly for his own sake because Nanami is striving to remain a good person, in a world he’s well aware is not so good. You get the sense that deep down he’s a much kinder person, but he always forces himself to be strict because he believes he has to.

#jjk meta #jujutsu kaisen #satoru gojou #itadori yuuji #suruga getou #satoru gojo #suruga geto #maki zenin #Nanami Keito #inumaqi #spooky speaks

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americanprodygy-blog · 6 years

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The Beginning

Hello, and welcome to all. (Yes, even if you disagree with me, I welcome you.)

I made the decision to start writing this out of concern for the current state of our country. Times are stressful for many Americans, and the individual in the White House is a symptom of deep issues. He may make matters worse, but he will not control how I respond.

I plan to address topics that are, of course, important to me, and in order to be up front, I’m going to disclose a few things about myself. I’m very liberal, a registered democrat, and I know not everyone agrees with me. I’m male, and support equality for all, regardless of race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, sexual identity, socio-economic status, or any other term used to classify others. We are all human first.

In November, 2016, I was shocked when the presidential election ended the way it did. Like many others, I was horrified and angry. There was a sense of disbelief about what was happening. For about two weeks, it felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. I can only imagine the look of shock on my face as I tried to go about my daily routines.

I was not surprised by the protests or horrible interactions that followed. Something became very clear. The United States of America is an extremely divided country. It was so easy for each side to condemn the other, that I still fear such hideous behavior will become part of our country’s culture, if we don’t do something to rise above the bickering.

I know I was not alone in the anger I felt. In fact, I engaged in the back and forth exchanges that somehow always ended up with insults, and they were not productive. How did immature playground behavior become part of adult conversation?

I never walked away thinking I swayed someone’s opinion, and I never walked away having my own beliefs impacted. Instead, each side of the political spectrum just found ways to dehumanize each other. Each side dug their hills in.

Needless to say, I’m not proud of every interaction I had on social media. I’m certainly convinced changes in our behavior occur when a few sentences show up on our cell phone screens, and we can’t see the person on the other end. It makes it easy to dismiss the other person. It makes it easy to project every unpleasant quality, real or imagined, upon this individual we have never met. It made it easier to dehumanize. None of us are better off for it.

I admit, I have an extremely difficult time understanding what makes extreme right wing views palatable. I find many stances inappropriate, vial, harmful, and mean. I do know human development, and I know our experiences shape our worldview.

For instance, I feel trust is something that has to be earned. It is not something I just hand out to everyone that passes by. I feel everyone deserves to be treated with respect, and if someone is unable or unwilling to treat others with respect, I don’t want to associate with them.

I have been fortunate, and had the opportunity to travel to many states. In those travels, I never observed the cruelty, prejudice, or embrace of misinformation that appears online. All my life, I heard stories of how people out east are rude. My experience was quite the contrary. When I traveled the east coast, I was greeted with so much warmth that I can hardly wait for my next trip. Almost everyone I met treated me like a friend, and if you have never experienced autumn in New England, I strongly recommend it.

One of my favorite states to appreciate nature is South Dakota. No one asked me about my political views. I still tell stories about how everyone I passed said hello, and asked about my day with genuine interest to learn about me.

Why is it that we can be so amazing to each other in person, and so cruel to each other online?

In my opinion, this didn’t happen overnight.

Somehow, we have allowed ourselves to let our elected officials act against our best interest as a nation. We have allowed politicians to feed into fears or fuel disagreements. While they get us to argue about abortion, they make it legal for big banks to act like loan sharks. They’ll loan you money at high interest rates, and when the bubble bursts the laws benefit them more than the people they prey upon. This is part of what lead to the recession in 2008. Millions of people lost their homes, and the banks took possession. The banks had the money already paid and were able to resell the houses once the economy recovered. Many families are still struggling... too man families.

Once people experience that level of stress, it’s easy to get them to believe in a bogey man. Propaganda that appears preposterous suddenly gains an audience. People that experience hard times are preyed upon by others in a quest for wealth and power over truth and integrity. For me, one of the important things to remember is that all humans experience something when stress levels are too high. The higher the stress, the lower our rational thought process.

As citizens, we have allowed ourselves to let the pressures of the daily grind let us ignore when our elected officials favor corporations over families, or profits over healthcare. We have allowed ourselves to be tricked into thinking working 60 hours a week makes us a success, yet we accept excuses for missing opportunities to spend time with friends and family.

We allow our elected officials to dictate how we should live our lives, rather than demand our elected officials act in the best interest of the people. We allow our elected officials to go to Washington to represent us, and we let them do it without holding town halls, to find out what is really important to American families.

My conclusion is that our current situation was not caused by one camp. It was caused by all of us. Millions of eligible voters stayed home or were too busy to vote. While we allowed our employers to demand more of our time, big corporations dictate the laws being written. While we let employers get by withholding livable wages, they keep the law on their side.

For the sake of our country, we must speak up for ourselves, and each other. We must embrace differences in opinion and compromise. No one gets their own way all the time. That’s one of the first lessons parents teach their children.

We must demand our elected officials stop engaging in behavior that divides us. The more we realize we have more in common, the more we can be proud Americans. Truth matters. Decency matters. Courtesy matters. Respect matters.

After September 11, 2001 our lives changed forever. For a time, that was too short, we were a unified land. Let’s not wait for another tragedy or catastrophic loss of life. We are Americans. Let’s show the world it means something wonderful. Let’s focus on healing our nation.

#usa #politics #us politics #democrats #republicans #opinion #op ed #american #blog #theresistance #bluewave #blue wave #vote #vote2018

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spinneryesteryear · 7 years

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The KH people are now in naruto. Who does what?

I couldn’t decide whether to treat this as ‘crossover where the KH people end up in the Naruto-verse’ or as an AU along the lines of ‘where the KH people were born in the Naruto-verse’, so I’m gonna go with the second in order to make things simpler. Haha. ‘Simpler’. I must also remind myself not to drag my world-building headcanons into this...

Kairi - Easiest of all. She’s an Uzumaki! The red hair totally fits. Since she’s a Princess of Heart in KH, I’d translate her as an Uzumaki princess, as Mito and Kushina are commonly assumed to have been. She’d have Adamantine Sealing Chains made out of pure light/chakra. Plus, my understanding of the Uzumaki is that they have a great deal of Yang chakra, which is associated with light. *imagines Kairi with chakra chains and seals* Good stuff. Plus, maybe she could be a chakra sensor, like Karin? Chains, seals, sensing - those are some good abilities there.

Riku - Lol, my first thought is that he would be a successful Uchiha, despite the totally wrong coloring. Bear out with me on this. In KH, he’s goaded into opening the door to darkness and destroying his world, and then into capturing the Princesses of Heart in a deluded quest to save Kairi - does this sound like an Uchiha tantrum or what? You could even argue that Kairi’s ‘loss of her heart’ could have qualified him for a Mangekyou if he had blamed himself. However, Riku actually takes responsibility for his actions and does his best to fix things; he at least never became an international terrorist, and his life change is sincere. In the end, he’d be more like... what the Uchiha should be, if they didn’t all go power-crazy. (*waits for an Uchiha stan to jump on me for saying this*) Anyway. I’d definitely associate Riku with some kind of Yin Release (because darkness!) - genjutsu/illusions? Combined with kenjutsu, it reminds me a little of Shisui’s skillset - another point in the ‘Uchiha Riku’ column. Then again, he doesn’t have to be an Uchiha to be great at genjutsu. Hmm... what if he is, like, actually Xehanort’s grandson in this AU? Depending on the timeline, he might be expected by his family to carry on Xehanort’s master plan. Or, if Xehanort’s shenanigans have become common knowledge and he has fled the village like Orochimaru, Riku might be suspected as a flight risk. Like Sasuke running away to Sound, Riku might initially run away to Xehanort/Akatsuki. Unlike Sasuke, Riku comes back.

Sora - A kenjutsu user, like Riku, with ninjutsu of various elements under his belt and no real talent at genjutsu. Perhaps he also works hard on taijutsu for when he doesn’t have his sword? He’s not from any big ninja clan and doesn’t have a fancy bloodline; he’s dragged himself to where he is now by following the Rock Lee school of hard work. I’m imagining Sora, Riku, and Kairi on a genin team together; they’ve been friends since they met in the Academy and showed an aptitude for teamwork that practically guaranteed they’d be placed on the same team. If we want to follow the Team 7 format, Riku would be the Rookie of the Year, Kairi would be the Top Kunoichi, and Sora would be the Dead Last (I’m sorry, Sora). However, they’d work together and actually pull that team formation off. Sora would also have issues, much like Naruto, with the school of thought that ninja need to be emotionless dehumanized tools for their village’s purpose. Would he also have epic powers of converting his enemies to his side? Possibly.

Donald Duck - Okay, if we’re leaving him as a duck, then presumably he’s a summons animal of some sort. A duck summons. With ninjutsu. Water Release, Ice Release? IDK, in KH he has a lot more different types of magic than are common for ninja and animals in the Naruto-verse. As a summons animal, he could be anywhere from the size of a normal duck to person-sized to larger than person-sized. He wouldn’t be a boss summon, though. He’d still get to wear his blue jacket and hat, though, and talk in his squeaky voice. With his aquatic nature and Water Release, it makes me think of Kiri or Uzushio. Perhaps the duck summoning contract was salvaged from Uzushio? Does that mean Kairi is a duck summoner?

Goofy - Okay, he could be a nin-dog - like, an actual dog, and not the anthropomorphized dog he is in KH. Perhaps he could be Sora’s dog partner, like Kiba and Akamaru? We could have ninja!Sora riding a dog into battle! Inuzuka Sora is... actually a pretty cool idea? If we don’t go that route, Goofy could be some sort of dog summons (was it ever explained whether Kakashi’s dogs were normal dogs he just summoned or summons animals???) and could then have an excuse for being anthropomorphized, walking on two field, and wielding shields or other weapons. I like the idea of Inuzuka Sora and his faithful battle dog more, though.

Mickey - Do I want to keep him as an anthropomorphized mouse or do I make a human AU out of this? If I do a human AU, he could be the jounin sensei of Sora, Kairi, and Riku - an elite jounin, a kenjutsu and ninjutsu expert, an S-rank shinobi who’s considered a viable kage candidate if they could keep him in his office long enough to actually do his paperwork. He probably doesn’t even do his paperwork as it is, always running off on missions. He doesn’t really strike me as former ANBU material, although it remains a possibility. Maybe he could have mouse summons for communication (or giant mouse summons for combat?) if we want to keep the rodent theme going on here. Perhaps his wife, Minnie, is high up in their village’s government, actually running things. She could be the head of T&I or something.

Yen Sid - Old ninja. Highly respected in his day, and still commands a reputation throughout the Elemental Nations. Possibly known as ‘the Professor’. Mickey’s jounin sensei. Genin teammate of Eraqus and Xehanort. He could be the kage of his village and complete the parallels with Sarutobi Hiruzen/Sandaime Hokage (Yen Sid may not have done much of anything so far and may have hidden information from the main characters, but his only pupil turned out successfully so he’s still ahead of Hiruzen). He strikes me as a sealing master and very knowledgeable about chakra and jutsu theory in general.

Eraqus - Old ninja, kenjutsu master, possibly with a side of ninjutsu. Genin teammate of Yen Side and Xehanort. Had a bit of a falling out with his genin teammates years ago, Yen Sid for his inaction and Xehanort for his creepiness, but they’ve mended some bridges by now. Aqua and Terra are a little too old to still be genin; possibly they are his chuunin apprentices in kenjutsu or something? Huge angst potential here with the idea that Eraqus was their jounin sensei and their third genin teammate died in a mission gone wrong or something. Aqua and Terra made genin and then chuunin nevertheless, but all three of them were affected by the loss and Eraqus became doubly determined not to lose any of his kids by ensuring as well as he can that they’re prepared for the shinobi lifestyle and that they won’t go down a similar path as Xehanort. Extra heartwrenchingly, Ventus comes along as a boy so similar to the genin student he lost and Xehanort possibly gives him to Eraqus to train/raise knowing that. Guilt trip, any one?

Terra - Okay, so I started off this laughing to myself at the thought of Terra in the Tsuchikage hat, but then I had a better idea. Terra’s darkness/evil power inside him that he struggles to keep at bay - this translates really well to him being a jinchuuriki. Terra being the container for an ‘evil’ tailed beast and shunned by society for it would explain some of his self-esteem issues and his desperate need for validation/approval from his teacher. It might also explain his need to get stronger; he has to, in order to control the tailed beast within him for the sake of his entire village, and so he won’t lose anyone else like his dead genin teammate. Eraqus’s light-is-good/darkness-is-evil mentality would play into things here with him preaching to Terra that he has to keep the tailed beast in check, suppress his emotions, and become a good dehumanized tool for the village. Xehanort, on the other hand, would tell Terra that it’s okay to be human, that the tailed beast’s power can be channeled, that the villagers should view him as a hero for his difficult duty - emotionally manipulating him by giving him the validation he craves in order to gain a jinchuuriki and the awesome power of a tailed beast under his control.

...Yikes. That is genuinely frightening.

No, I do NOT need another fic on my plate no matter how much Xehanort gathering the neglected jinchuuriki and manipulating them into causing the apocalypse so he can revive the Juubi for his own agenda would make an interesting and horrifying fic...

Aqua - The only one out of the ‘kids’ to have it together. She’s probably already made jounin; she holds her own with kenjutsu and ninjutsu. She’s been tasked with watching Terra by Eraqus/the village leaders because they’re afraid that his tailed beast’s seal is weakening/he’s giving into the tailed beast/he’s going to go rogue and leave his village, etc. (When all he actually needs here is some support, dang it.) She’ll have to confront the ‘ninja are tools of their village’ mentality. I’d like to see her on a retrieval mission alongside Sora/Riku/Kairi to bring back Sasuke defecting to Sound Riku leaving for Maleficent/Xehanort or having to deal with a tailed beast rampage and tearfully having to decide whether to try to talk down a possessed Terra or to kill her best friend in order to save the village. Because I enjoy pain.

Ventus - OH MY GOSH Ventus is Tenzou/Yamato. Possibly stolen from his family at a young age? Check. Experimented on by a crazy madman in hopes of reviving a legendary power? Check. Experiment apparently fails and he’s abandoned/the only survivor of said experiments? Check. He ultimately proves able to use/create said legendary power? Check. Ventus, however, lucks out in that he’s taken in by Eraqus and doesn’t fall into the clutches of Danzou and become even more messed up. So, in this Naruto AU, Ventus has the mokuton (magical tree-growing ability). Thus, it would make incredible sense for him to be put with Terra, as the wood-controlling powers of the mokuton suppress tailed beast chakra. Ventus has thus been (unknowingly) trained to be the one to fight and possibly put down his big brother figure if he ever succumbs to the tailed beast within him. Or - what if Ventus knows this might one day be his duty and desperately hopes to avoid it? That might lend an extra flavor of panic to his insistence that Terra isn’t losing himself to the darkness/tailed beast - it can’t be true, because if it’s true Ventus has to fight him and possibly kill him. And Ventus can’t do that, not to one of the few people who’s treated him as a person, as something more than a (failed) science experiment or a fairy tale figure. Thus, in this AU, it wouldn’t be Eraqus threatening to kill Terra. It’d be Eraqus threatening Ventus in order to get Ventus to kill Terra and/or trying to kill Terra himself. D:

Namine - Possibly another one of Orochimaru’s Xehanort’s science experiments who survived? She has the same cartoons-come-to-life jutsu as Sai. Xehanort and his crew may have used her for villainous purposes (to capture the tailed beasts/their containers?) but Sora acknowledged her as a person and she’s decided to join his fight in the ‘ninja are people not emotionless tools to be used to whatever horrible end by their village’ struggle. Possibly, she and Kairi team up (sealing via drawings + magical chains) to put an end to the tailed beast rampage and save Terra from Xehanort and his minions?

Vanitas - IDK can anyone think of any reason why he would NOT be an Uchiha whom Xehanort is manipulating for his own ends in this AU? If his association with Sora is kept, perhaps he was Sora’s adopted older brother whom Danzou Xehanort stole to become his minion like poor Aburame Torune.

Xehanort - Is basically Orochimaru. Without the snakes. He was the genin teammate of Yen Side and Eraqus and got away with a lot of stuff while they weren’t looking/were unwilling to look. He experimented on Ventus in order to revive the legendary mokuton ability. He may have exploited Namine for her unique drawings-come-to-life ability. He would totally have stolen Vanitas for his abilities and/or experimented on him to give him said abilities. He’s been creeping on Terra and emotionally manipulating or just capturing the other jinchuuriki for their tailed beasts. Unlike most Naruto villains, he has no motivations of wanting to change the world for peace, blah, blah, blah. He just wants to combine the tailed beast into the Juubi monstrosity and potentially cause the apocalypse just to see what will happen. Due to Yen Sid’s passivity and his guilt-tripping of Eraqus, he gets away with a lot of it. By the time Terra goes berserk and the village is at risk of destruction by the tailed beast he carries, Xehanort can sit back and watch Eraqus do his work for him in delivering said tailed beast right to him.

Organization XIII - Are the Akatsuki, I guess? Xehanort has assembled a team of S-rank shinobi, either missing nin or ones he just stole (*cough Ienzo, Lea, Isa, Roxas, Xion cough*) and raised to work for him without questioning his goals. They even have a uniform! His goal of Norting them all can be carried over by Xehanort killing them and using their corpses in his version of the Six Paths of Pain - the Thirteen Paths of Xehanort, or something like that. Yikes. That is also terrifying. Eventually, all the ninja nations unite against him and he starts the zombie apocalypse to keep them busy while he grabs the last few jinchuuriki and begins the real apocalypse.

IDK where I’m going with this anymore. The Sora = Inuzuka, Terra = jinchuuriki, and Ventus = mokuton bits are the real genius elements here.

#KH #Naruto #epic crossover #Spinner talks Naruto #sort of #ask and you shall receive #Sora #Riku #Kairi #Mickey Mouse #Yen Sid #Eraqus #Terra #Aqua #Ventus #Vanitas #Namine #Xehanort #haveievermentioned

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bentonpena · 5 years

Text

Can Music and AI Coexist? Predictions from 8 Mutek Artists

Can Music and AI Coexist? Predictions from 8 Mutek Artists http://bit.ly/30rqdvt

Music has always been linked with emerging technologies. But AI is something new. AI has the power to completely transform how we make and experience music. AI is already changing the world.

We spoke to 8 artists from MUTEK Montreal 2019 to discuss their wildest predictions for the future of music, AI, and their own workflow.

404.zero

We do not see any future as we expect humanity to destroy the entire planet before AI reaches a certain complexity level to be useful in music creation.

More about 404.zero

Kaleema

I think there’s great potential for AI development in musical creation. But the first thing that comes to mind is who owns the rights of the composition—software creators or the AI?

If an AI is trained to create, it needs to work on pre-existing music… So another question arises: is the AI the author, or is it just a copy from the music that the AI used as a reference?

Is there any possible originality in AI at all? I guess it’s still an early stage to answer all these questions as it’s unknown territory.

My music trajectory is very much related to classic instruments. I play violin and piano since I was a kid and had the opportunity to play in orchestras. It was a collective artistic experience of sharing that I consider of great value.

I think each musician can provide a different touch through his original interpretation to make an art-piece come to life, something that is beyond technicality and virtuosity.

It’s an invisible variable, more of a personality and sensibility thing… In this sense I have certain doubts about how an AI can detach from “data” and algorithmic training in order to provide musicality to a creation, as interpretant or author.

I’d be interested in working with AI as long as the situation doesn’t become a music dialogue where the algorithm behaves the same as me and takes me back to the same point.

If the AI can’t create on its own, rather than just copy artists styles, I wouldn’t be interested to add it to my creative process as I feel I wouldn’t be adding anything new.

More about Kaleema

Adam Basanta

From my perspective, AI is one of many algorithmic approaches that could be useful for making new work. Based on the task at hand, it could be the most appropriate or inappropriate tool.

It certainly offers some exciting new potentials for less than thrilling preparation tasks. For instance, the ability to speed up sophisticated similarity-recognition processes could be very useful when using large sample banks, whether in studio practice or a live application.

In terms of using AI for generating musical structures (such as phrases, rhythms, etc) it’s important to recognize that the result is more dependant on the data it is trained on than on the particularities of the algorithm itself.

The use of such generative tools would involve tailoring of datasets, as well as multiple custom macro-compositional levels which would ensure that the generative material retains a character which is not easily achievable by just training the AI.

I feel that despite the exciting specific possibilities of AI in music, the quality of the music will still much more dependent on one’s ears and imagination rather than on any specific algorithm or application.

More about Adam Basanta

Aquaventure

I would like to see how AI can work with non-copyrighted material. I know there are algorithms out there that can take an input and find something that sounds at least partially similar to it. But what if the search results came exclusively from databases of public domain, free-access sounds?

For example, let’s say I want to add something in a track that I know I can sing, but I don’t want to use my voice; such an algorithm could come in very handy. I can only imagine the exciting, unpredictable material it could take me to—fragments of speeches, videos, field recordings, and so on.

Now, what if we included literally every sound online that isn’t copyrighted? Add to your results every instance of home video on YouTube where people are just hanging out, doing their thing. That would be a tool I’d love to experiment with.

I hear AI technologies are already capable of making full pieces of music based on pre-existing, copyrighted material, but that really doesn’t interest me.

I would rather support projects that expand our possibilities as human creators, instead of gradually dehumanizing the process, stealing our jobs away from us, and banking in on our talent, time and effort. I really hope there are leading AI developers out there with this kind of vision in mind.

More about Aquaventure

Huges Clement

I see AI just as another significant advance in this never ending, exponential quest of pushing and questioning technology’s potential and boundaries in this prehistoric digital age.

Democratization of AI is, in my mind, highly connected to the democratization of art practice in our society.

More than ever now, powerful, complex, human brain/mind inspired and—I am tempted to say—organic, is now accessible for people to get their creative vision out of their head, without being musically trained or know anything about computers or programming.

But Just like any creative technology, adapted to music creation or not, I’m interested in what a creative mind can do with those tools, not the opposite.

More about Hugues Clement

Akiko Nakayama

I am a painter. And I use music as a “clear paint” for my audiovisual performance.

AI will be a good entrance guide to people whose main expression technique was not Music. They will help us in shaping that inspiration. Or it will create unexpected chaos luckily.

From the age of ‘tools used by humans’, I have hope in the age of tools that walk with humans.

More about Akiko Nakayama

TM404

I’m very interested in this subject and I read as much as I can about this.

The human brain and ear will always come up with more interesting and ”better” results than any AI could ever do, I’m sure of that.

There’s this famous example of Daddy’s Car which always pops up when people are speaking about artificial intelligence and music making.

The story of a track that was written by AI. But if you actually care to check, the track wasn’t done by AI really. It was arranged and produced by a human being. Also, the track isn’t even interesting.

For me personally, making music is the most thing I know and I love spending hours and hours in the studio just trying out new things.

I know a lot of people who more or less try to skip certain steps in the process of making music. For instance, saying that no-one who listens to a certain techno tune can hear if it’s a sample of a 909 drum machine or if it’s actually the vintage Roland instrument that is playing.

Well, again I love the moments when I make music and for me it’s more fun to use the hardware drummer instead of browsing tons of samples of the 909. Meaning the end result is not all that counts.

Having fun is the most important thing for me and the reason I make music to begin with. Experiencing with various algorithms and generative sequencers is super enjoyable for me but it will never replace actually coming up with melodies and drum patterns myself.

Having said that, I’m a huge fan of not having full control.

The sole reason I think the TB-303 is the most fun sequencer ever is that I still cannot master it, even after all these years. There’s always a certain degree of randomness in the basses and melodies I write due to the fact that the 303 sequencer is almost impossible to master. Ghost in the machine.

More about TM404

Chloe Alexandra Thompson

I see AI being used as a blanket term that may serve as a means to explore automation through machine learning, as well as creating instruments and applications which allow us to work with our trained applications to explore means of interactivity with data, objects, and human collaborators.

I will be working as a spatial sound designer for an artist named James Sprang later this year who is using an AI speech interpretation software as a means to explore legibility, experience and identity. While I will not directly be using this in my own personal work, I am excited to be working with this AI as it is being trained through the work of many recorded voices of poets we will be playing back and running through it in a spatial audio array.

How I see this fitting into music creation as a whole is having trained and intuitive FX chains that are run through automation. Presently it seems that AI programs are being trained to work with composers to take parts of the composition they may or may not typically focus on and expand those through following the users typical choice patterns.

In my own practice I see machine learning potentials being the integration of smart panning protocols which allow me to have the panning automation I construct through code, and also manually play be mapped out by a program rather than the individual panning protocols I apply to each instrument or movement of a work.

I would like to work with an AI that could translate selected frequencies into poetic text, spoken messages, or “lyrics” based on the writings of many critical theorists and poets who’s work I often reference in my praxis.

As an artist who focuses on abstractions rather than in a more discernible sung lyric song structure direct messages do not make it into my compositions and this could be a way to apply those abstracted principles and find new avenues of entry to this realm of personal interest.

More about Chloe Alexandra Thompson

Written in collaboration with Mutek Montreal 2019. Learn more about Mutek and their ongoing series of global events.

The post Can Music and AI Coexist? Predictions from 8 Mutek Artists appeared first on LANDR Blog.

Music via LANDR Blog http://bit.ly/2ZnKIfa August 21, 2019 at 03:13PM

#IFTTT #Feedly

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jessicakmatt · 5 years

Text

Can Music and AI Coexist? Predictions from 8 Mutek Artists

Can Music and AI Coexist? Predictions from 8 Mutek Artists: via LANDR Blog

Music has always been linked with emerging technologies. But AI is something new. AI has the power to completely transform how we make and experience music. AI is already changing the world.

We spoke to 8 artists from MUTEK Montreal 2019 to discuss their wildest predictions for the future of music, AI, and their own workflow.

404.zero

We do not see any future as we expect humanity to destroy the entire planet before AI reaches a certain complexity level to be useful in music creation.

More about 404.zero

Kaleema

I think there’s great potential for AI development in musical creation. But the first thing that comes to mind is who owns the rights of the composition—software creators or the AI?

If an AI is trained to create, it needs to work on pre-existing music… So another question arises: is the AI the author, or is it just a copy from the music that the AI used as a reference?

Is there any possible originality in AI at all? I guess it’s still an early stage to answer all these questions as it’s unknown territory.

I think each musician can provide a different touch through his original interpretation to make an art-piece come to life, something that is beyond technicality and virtuosity.

I’d be interested in working with AI as long as the situation doesn’t become a music dialogue where the algorithm behaves the same as me and takes me back to the same point.

If the AI can’t create on its own, rather than just copy artists styles, I wouldn’t be interested to add it to my creative process as I feel I wouldn’t be adding anything new.

More about Kaleema

Adam Basanta

From my perspective, AI is one of many algorithmic approaches that could be useful for making new work. Based on the task at hand, it could be the most appropriate or inappropriate tool.

More about Adam Basanta

Aquaventure

I hear AI technologies are already capable of making full pieces of music based on pre-existing, copyrighted material, but that really doesn’t interest me.

More about Aquaventure

Huges Clement

I see AI just as another significant advance in this never ending, exponential quest of pushing and questioning technology’s potential and boundaries in this prehistoric digital age.

Democratization of AI is, in my mind, highly connected to the democratization of art practice in our society.

But Just like any creative technology, adapted to music creation or not, I’m interested in what a creative mind can do with those tools, not the opposite.

More about Hugues Clement

Akiko Nakayama

I am a painter. And I use music as a “clear paint” for my audiovisual performance.

AI will be a good entrance guide to people whose main expression technique was not Music. They will help us in shaping that inspiration. Or it will create unexpected chaos luckily.

From the age of ‘tools used by humans’, I have hope in the age of tools that walk with humans.

More about Akiko Nakayama

TM404

I’m very interested in this subject and I read as much as I can about this.

The human brain and ear will always come up with more interesting and ”better” results than any AI could ever do, I’m sure of that.

There’s this famous example of Daddy’s Car which always pops up when people are speaking about artificial intelligence and music making.

For me personally, making music is the most thing I know and I love spending hours and hours in the studio just trying out new things.

Well, again I love the moments when I make music and for me it’s more fun to use the hardware drummer instead of browsing tons of samples of the 909. Meaning the end result is not all that counts.

Having said that, I’m a huge fan of not having full control.

More about TM404

Chloe Alexandra Thompson

More about Chloe Alexandra Thompson

Written in collaboration with Mutek Montreal 2019. Learn more about Mutek and their ongoing series of global events.

The post Can Music and AI Coexist? Predictions from 8 Mutek Artists appeared first on LANDR Blog.

from LANDR Blog https://blog.landr.com/music-ai-coexist-mutek-2019/ via https://www.youtube.com/user/corporatethief/playlists from Steve Hart https://stevehartcom.tumblr.com/post/187170313209

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the-record-columns · 7 years

Text

Oct. 25, 2025: Columns

Del Monte coffee?

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

Some time ago, I wrote a piece about the seemingly endless variety of patent medicine remedies manufactured and sold nationally during the early 1900’s by the Brame Drug Store. It is truly fun and fascinating to read the labels of these various medicines with names like Vapomentha Salve, which competed head to head for years with Vick’s Vapo Rub. Others included, Brame’s Pain Knocker; Lime Water, an antacid; Fematone, the great regulator for girls and women; Rheuma-Lax for aches, pains and rheumatic fever; the ever popular Castor Oil; and my personal favorite,Brame’s Laxative Cold Tablets.

Since spending all those days in the attic and the cellar of the old Brame building on Main Street, I have found myself looking more and more at old jars and bottles, particularly those with paper labels. Most are common and far less than unusual, but I want to share a couple of what I consider “finds” today. Now, my definition of a find may differ from yours, but to me it is something I have not seen before, or have developed a whole new interest in for whatever reason.

Today, I want to talk about coffee jars.

First off, I can barely remember ground coffee being in jars at all, but I do. We all know about Maxwell House, Choice, Eight O’Clock, Nescafe, Starbucks, J F G, and, my current early a. m. choice, Folger’s, of which I sip a cup every morning, patiently waiting for the day they call me to do a commercial. The jars I found, however, are for a coffee I never knew existed, Del Monte.

Now, clearly I understand that there is a really big book that can be written about things I have never heard of, but in the 30 years or so I have actively pursued things old and unusual, I had never seen a jar of Del Monte coffee until I found them in the upstairs of the old Payne building on Main Street here in North Wilkesboro. Since then, I have shown them to practically everyone who has stopped to visit at my office at The Record, as well as tried to contact Del Monte for information.

So far, no one has ever seen Del Monte coffee before, and the Del Monte company hasn’t seen fit to respond to our inquiries. Also, since the Del Monte coffee “find” I have looked in numerous stores and junk holes looking for another, also to no avail.

Next, I want to move on to an old bottle of Clorox Liquid Cleaning and Washing Compound. I found this beauty in the same place, the Payne building, and the 1942 copyright date on the label places it in the 60 plus year old category. You will notice I didn’t use the word bleach—it was only mentioned incidentally along with numerous other uses, which included removing stains, scorch marks, and mildew. This quart glass bottle of Clorox also proclaimed that it was Ultra-refined R and could be used as a disinfectant, deodorizer, and germicide. Above a clothes line filled with laundry, it proudly proclaimed, “The White Line is the Clorox Line.”

All this was in bold on the front, but that was just the beginning. On the back, the label continues in earnest, with Clorox being touted as good for cleaning, among other things, basins, bows, bathtubs, bottles, chopping blocks, coffee pots, crockery, cuspidors, and various other items throughout the alphabet.

But there’s more. After laundry instructions, the label moves onto pets, poultry and livestock uses, including directions for “…an antiseptic, deodorizing bath” for cats and dogs. Last, but not least, is the list of personal uses, which include: making drinking water safe, cleaning dental plates, instructions for the use of Clorox to treat insect bites, scratches and burns. From there it moves on to poison oak, ivy, sumac, ringworm and, of course, athlete’s foot. The back label even offers help with, ahem, feminine needs.

The more I read, the more I was amazed—all this from a bottle of Clorox.

As ever, it has made me all the more curious. If any of you want to look at these bottles, and for that matter, any of the other assorted memorabilia that decorates the offices of The Record, feel free to stop by. We love the company. If you have any old product labels you are willing to share, or any information on Del Monte coffee, I especially would like to hear from you.

Now, if Folger’s will just call…

Rewire your brain

By LAURA WELBORN

Rewiring your brain takes hard work.

More and more studies are showing that mindfulness and focused breathing techniques show a reduction in anxiety and depression. Learning to witness and monitor depressed and anxious thoughts can help you manage them and be less prone to push the panic button.

Mindfulness can actually reduce the activity of the genes that produce inflammation in the body. Inflammation is how the body deals with pain and stress. When we can't control our reaction to pain or stress we can cause inflammation which affects our health. Mindfulness on areas of loving kindness and compassion for others can redirect and rewire our brains to better health.

My own experiences of exposure to people who essentially transmit loving kindness and compassion are a personal testimony towards how much better I feel when I see them- it "makes my day." Some of the things I must remind myself of so I can be that person who gives off loving kindness and compassion are:

"Sometimes you subconsciously dehumanize people you disagree with. Be careful. In our self-righteousness, we can easily become the very things we dislike in others. Ultimately, the way we treat people we disagree with is a report card on what we’ve learned about love and compassion. Every single person you meet is afraid of something, loves something, and has lost something. Know this. Respect this. And be extra kind

Your response is always more powerful than your circumstance. A tiny part of your life is decided by completely uncontrollable circumstances, while the vast majority of your life is decided by your responses. Where you ultimately end up is heavily dependent on how you play the hands you’ve been dealt

Everything gets a bit uncomfortable when it’s time to change. That’s just a part of the growth process. Things will get better. Be patient.

Patience is not about waiting. Patience is the ability to keep a positive, focused attitude while working hard to move your life forward.

New, good habits don’t form overnight. It takes roughly 66 days to form a habit. So, for the next nine weeks, look at the bright side of your life, and you will rewire your brain.

Old patterns are hard to break. Be aware. Act consciously and consistently. Don’t fall back into your old patterns. Toxic habits and behaviors always try to sneak back in when you’re doing better. Stay focused.

Sometimes it’s better to let go without closure. Actions and behavior speak volumes. Trust the signs you were given and gracefully press on.

If you always play the victim, you will always be treated like one. Life isn’t fair. But you don’t have to let the past define your future. Try to take life day by day and be grateful for the little things. Don’t get caught up in what you can’t control." Marc and Angel Hack life blog inserts.

I miss the breakfast club that met at Woodhaven restaurant- Ted Brown, Gerald Lankford, Jim Swofford, to name a few. They were my fix on loving kindness and compassion, now I can just hope to run into them and get a hug of kindness.

Laura Welborn, Mediator and Counselor. [email protected]

Part II: The Plague of Islamic Ideology—World Stability is at Stake

By EARL COX

Special for The Record

The Iran nuclear deal is once again making news. Iran's leaders have carefully crafted their plan for worldwide domination in which the nuclear deal fit nicely. A quick look at the basic tenets of Islam and relatively recent history reveals some interesting information and chilling parrallels with rogue regimes of the past.

Iran’s nuclear and missile programs, militant proxies (Hezbollah and others), and quest for expansion “from Tehran to the sea” through Lebanon, Iraq and Syria threaten not just Israel and America, but the world. Iran’s insidious ideology animates these threats.

Iranian mullahs have devised a peculiar brand of jihadist and sharia-rule—with a twist. Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1970 book Velayat-e Faqih (Governance of the Jurist) endows a Shiite faqih (Islamic scholar) with full political and religious powers, including rule over Shiites worldwide—and ultimately, global dominance. Khomeini conveniently granted himself the title “Imam,” and declared himself a stand-in for the 12th Imam (Mahdi—a messiah figure). His doctrine, now enshrined in the 1989 constitution, sanctions state-sponsored violent jihad, and “mandates global export of the same Islamic Revolution that brought the mullahs to power,” said Lt. Col. James G. Zumwalt, USMC (Ret.) The constitution’s preamble concludes with “the hope this century will witness the establishment of a universal holy government and the downfall of all others,” said security expert Richard Horowitz.

Shiites believe their Supreme Leader has power only until their Mahdi returns, an event that must be “triggered by world chaos,” followed by global Islamic rule, Zumwalt said. In a deviation from traditional Shiism, Iran’s mullahs believe man can be a catalyst of the chaos required for the Mahdi’s return, citing Israel’s destruction as the trigger. Iran’s nuclear program is a means to these ends.

If history offers any lessons, then the parallels between Iran’s (and radical Islam’s) ideology, and Japanese State Shinto in World War II deserve consideration. The deadly assaults of Japan’s crazed banzai troops and kamikaze suicide pilots—most younger than 24—have significant parallels to radical Islamic “martyrs.” Kamikaze means “divine wind,” referring to a typhoon that wrecked an invading Mongolian fleet—attributed to the gods answering the Japanese emperor’s prayers, according to War History Online. Japan considered its emperor a sacred descendent of the ancient sun goddess Amaterasu–whose red-sun symbol is emblazoned on the Japanese flag.

“The idea of the sacred imperial line descended from the sun goddess became a political dogma about 500 years ago,” said Ian Buruma, for The New York Times. The fertility cult Shinto was also cast as the national religion, with Amaterasu as its principal female deity, to “enforce unification and national identity.” State Shinto is a “contrived version of Japanese culture … turned into a religious cult for political reasons,” Buruma said. An example was Japan’s notoriously militant propaganda. Striking a similar tone, both Iranian and Palestinian leaders use religion to foment anti-Israel fervor under the banner of the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” campaign.

As Amaterasu’s descendant, the emperor was Shinto’s high priest, giving him “a divine right to rule not only Japan, but the world,” the BBC said. It also became official doctrine that since the Japanese descended from the gods, they were superior to all other races—chillingly familiar concepts in Nazism.

As head of the allied occupation, Gen. Douglas McArthur targeted State Shinto—the militaristic religious ideology that fueled Japanese aggression—but he allowed non-politicized “Shrine Shinto” to stand. According to the BBC, he attempted to deconstruct State Shinto by reforms, which, among others, severed religion and state; and implemented freedom of religion—which is protected by Israel, but rejected in Gaza and The West Bank. He also restructured Japan’s education system, including teaching manuals and textbooks—like calls for similar initiatives in Palestinian schools, which distort history and foment violence against Israel. MacArthur’s directives also rededicated Japanese national life to peace and democracy.

Without addressing the long-term effectiveness of MacArthur’s reforms, his is an encouraging example of a leader who understood the central role that despotic religious ideology plays in conflict resolution, and who did something about it when given the chance. The Allies’ military superiority doubtless provided the leverage for positive change.

Since the concluding sentence of Iran’s constitution says its theocracy and ideological basis are “unalterable,” leverage and intervention are required. Rescinding and revising the nuclear deal is our best first step. World stability is at stake.

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