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moltengoldveins · 6 months

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so it’s been about a year and a half since Technoblade’s passing. I’m not ready to talk about it, but let’s be real. I’m never going to be. We have what we have when we have it, then it’s gone. I didn’t talk enough about him while he was here, so I’m doing it now.

I was really active in the MCYT fandom when I was younger, ages six to twelve or so. Then again for about three years before Techno’s passing, joining early 2019 as far as I remember. Techno was the first online figure I’d encountered with even a passing resemblance to my own sense of humor and philosophy on life. I respected him a lot, and grew to love the community because of the environment he cultivated. He was also a big figure in my journey towards realizing I was ace. I’m not about to speculate on him or his tastes, but he didn’t base his humor around sex or romance. He never really brought it up. He avoided the topic when other people did, and he was Still Funny. He was still loved and valued by his fans and community. That was really big for me. That someone could ignore all that stuff and still be loved. That Will and Tommy and such never made him feel lesser for being uninterested.

His character kept me invested in the DSMP. His humor helped me through the worst parts of Covid. I’d already read The Art of War, but his love for it made me appreciate it and the rest of the classics so much more. The stories and art, the music and headcanons, all of it irrevocably altered the way I tell stories and the way I view the world. He helped me articulate a lot of my moral code, and concretely understand a lot of my beliefs. His relationship with Philza, both in character and out, also helped me. I had no idea friendships could be that intimate without being romance, and my friendship with my best friend is significantly closer now. My family has lost a lot to cancer. At the time of Techno’s announcement, I’d recently lost a grandfather to lung cancer, my other granddad had just barely fought it off, and my aunt had dealt with blood cancer as a kid, leaving her incapable of having kids. I’ll admit: I panicked. I hated cancer with a passion and I still do: I couldn’t fathom loosing another person to it, public figure or otherwise. I was never allowed to interact much with the internet while I was a minor. By the time I wasn’t one anymore, watching fandoms from the sidelines had already become habit. I never stepped in, never commented, never sent any messages in chat. I think I did it to maintain emotional distance. I was there for years, every stream, every video, cheering and screaming and chanting with the best of them, but entirely silent. I only really got close to breaking out of that weird sort of limbo once. It was some random stream, late in his illness, when a timer went off for his meds. He ignored it, cracked a joke, and even though I was at work I spent the next ten minutes thinking about it. “Just go take your meds, idiot.” I kept muttering to myself. I think I scared a coworker. I had the chat open and my fingers on my phone when he noticed the rest of chat yelling at him and took them, so I didn’t say anything. I never did. I regret that immensely now. I wasn’t any further removed emotionally because of my distance. I just felt like I’d never done anything of value when I could have.

I don’t think I really… processed it. When he died. I wasn’t in a very safe environment anyway, as my family had no idea I watched his content, much less cared so much, so I couldn’t emote much externally. What was I gonna say anyway? “Oh, some random guy on the internet died of cancer and won’t be making stuff anymore, darn, what a shame.”

So I didn’t process it. I went on as normal. I didn’t engage with any media made after his passing and I let the hurt fester. Everything was ✨fine✨… and then a few months later, I got a call while at college, “Grandad has cancer again. He’s probably not going to make it this time.”

Yeah. Yeah that. That hurt. A lot. That semester became a painful mess of travel and sickness and missed classes and hard conversations with a dying man I still love more than anything. I was kicked out of my apartment without warning the day I got the call about his death. When I got the chance to breathe, it finally hit me, and I just sort of broke down. And the person I was grieving? Techno. Not my grandpa. Not at first. It was like I’d blocked the pipe up, and the first stuff to come out was the stuff that’d gotten stuck first. i sat down and cried about it. I reread Passerine for the first time since he’d announced the cancer. I started writing again on things I hadn’t had the heart to touch. I found Grandpa’s old dog tags and I haven’t taken them off since. It was… ok. I guess. But I still wouldn’t watch his videos. I couldn’t watch any of the other DSMP creators, especially not Phil. To be frank, I was also dealing with a lot of doubt in my faith at the time. Techno was the first person I’d ever known who died without being a professing Christian. I still don’t know what’s happened to him, and at the time I didn’t know what to do with that. I couldn’t tolerate the idea that, according to everyone around me, someone so funny and noble and kind and strong willed would end up parted from God or lost or whatever you think the afterlife might be for people who don’t ‘get everything right.’ And most of the people in my church circle are painfully callous when it comes to people who aren’t ‘in the right,’ who don’t die ‘correctly.’ I still don’t really know what to do with that, except for the fact that I hate it, and I don’t think it’s Christlike. I don’t think I’m going to find peace on that for a long while. I might wait until I die and see what happens. So I figured it was done and over. I’d been sad, I’d come to terms with it, I’d moved on. But I wasn’t… really acknowledging how much it mattered? And I wasn’t reengaging with the fandom at all. I assumed I never would. But recently, I made a friend. We’ll call her Jamie for privacy’s sake. Jamie’s really similar to me, but she’d never really interacted with the DSMP fandom. She was asking for fic recs and before I even thought about it I’d recommended Passerine. Then Bones in the Ocean. She loved them, then started asking who Techno was, so I mentioned the Potato Wars videos, and before I’d had the chance to flinch I was watching them with her, laughing and rolling my eyes and trying my hardest not to cry in front of someone who hasn’t the slightest idea why I’d be so emotional. But I watched them. And that evening I put a Philza stream on. I’m not done mourning Techno, the stuff he stood for, and the community he built around him. But I’m done hiding it. I’m sharing the art and the half-finished fics and the stuff I still laugh at years later. I’m gonna find time somehow to join Phil’s streams, and actually talk to people instead of watching from a distance. I’m gonna talk about it with people. I’m gonna buy merch. Because I loved him, in that same weird friend-brother-online-stranger way he seemed to love us right back, and I still do. He’s still here, in a weird way, making us laugh and cry and fight every battle with flawless confidence and our heads held high. It’s not easy, but he’s not dead until we let him stop. He’s not gone until we all decide he doesn’t matter anymore. And we’re Chat for crying out loud, that’s never gonna happen. Technoblade never dies.

#technoblade #long post #introspection #??? I guess #Again #i hope y’all are doing ok #Grieving properly #And living well 💜

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queencoldart · 2 months

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Who are the dragon gods? What's their lore? I notice they seem to be the ones from DnD.

They share names with DnD dragon gods and they take after them appearance-wise. They are not the same gods, however. They may share a few similarities here and there, but they are basically OCs.

Before I go into the details about the Gods, I need to clarify how dragons see them. To dragons, the Gods are higher beings but they do not possess the omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence or morality that Judeo‑Christian‑Islamic peoples associate with the term "God". They are more fallible and more vulnerable. They are mortal, too. If anything, they're much more like eldritch beings than divine beings. The relationship dragons have with them is very metaphorical and transactional in nature. Many dragons do not believe in their existence, or they believe they were powerful dragons who lived once and were deified for the impact they had on dragon history. Assigning patron god status to creatures and objects is still done by dragons today. Dragons who beseech the Gods definitely do not expect these deities to manifest themselves before them or actually aid them in any real way. It's more akin to an insect drawing a circle in the sand for a human to see. A human may notice the circle and become interested.

Living gods:

Io is the great creator of all dragonkind.

Bahamut is the God of enlightened justice and the good of dragonkind. He is also the God of self-cultivation.

Tiamat is the Goddess of vengeance, spite and the general evil of dragonkind.

Astilabor was originally the goddess of acquisitiveness and wealth, but is now associated with greed growth (greed-induced bigness), bad omens and vice due to the catastrophic effects of greed growth.

Task is the God of healthy greed.

Garyx is the God of fire, destruction, and renewal. He is closely associated with lava, fertility and the indiscriminate nature of the universe.

Hlal is the Goddess of humor, inventiveness, and pleasure. She is the messenger of Io and can be a bit of a trickster.

Kereska is the Goddess of dragon magic. Since it has become forbidden knowledge that all dragons possess ability to practice magic, she is associated with the the blood stone scepter instead.

Kuyutha is a demigod who served Bahamut.

Lendys is the God of harsh justice. Despite the moral implications of this title, Lendys is completely neutral. He is pure rage and will smite anyone for causing a disturbance.

Chronepsis is the God of death.

Falazure is the God of pestilence, undeath and decay.

Tamara is the forgotten Goddess of mercy and healing.

Zorquan is the God of dragonkind. To be specific, he represents the non-gem dragons who dominate the lands and skies of the western half of the world.

Sardior is the God of gem dragons.

Leviathan is the God of sea dragons.

Deceased gods:

Lernaea was the God who created hydras. It is said that when Tiamat killed him, hydras lost their ability to reason with other creatures.

Azharul was the first deity killed by Tiamat. He was a master of magic.

Kalzareinad was a demigod of magic who practiced the arts in exceedingly self-serving ways.

Odassa was the dragon God of protection of hatchlings, and of the wrath against those who harm them.

Honorable mention: the creatures who were posthumously conferred patron god status.

#mlp:fim #lore

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unforth · 1 year

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I posted 1,378 times in 2022

363 posts created (26%)

1,015 posts reblogged (74%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@unforth

@subtlybrilliant

@ltleflrt

@foxofninetales

@fangrui

I tagged 1,376 of my posts in 2022

#art - 435 posts

#unforth rambles - 374 posts

#spn - 122 posts

#tgcf - 104 posts

#cql - 87 posts

#meme - 84 posts

#dmbj - 82 posts

#random - 81 posts

#destiel - 70 posts

#svsss - 57 posts

Longest Tag: 132 characters

#dear tumblr thank you for treating me like a fucking adult and letting me call bullshit and swear like the new york city native i am

My Top Posts in 2022:

My five year old just said "don't they know lava is good? It makes new islands" while watching Moana and with a single sentence completely changed how I see a movie I've watched about a billion times.

450 notes - Posted February 10, 2022

Every time I see a "Wei Wuxian isn't morally gray!" post I kinda want to interpret it as "He's morally black!" Because the alternative is to believe that so fucking many of you read "Wei Wuxian forced Wen Chao to self-cannibalize his legs" and went "this is a morally white action because I like Wei Wuxian and I don't like Wen Chao and also Wen Chao was mean first" and like literally drive me to despair that I share a fandom with so many people who think that's completely okay because Wen Chao was a bad guy so any level of harm to him is justifiable.

589 notes - Posted June 18, 2022

Heyo Danmei Fans and Twitter Refugees!

Do you love danmei? Do you love fanart?

WELL HAVE I GOT THE SIDEBLOGS FOR YOU!

Hi, I'm unforth, and I also love danmei and fanart, and I wanted to just make a huge gorgeous pile of art and roll around in it so I've made and run for years eight, yes eight, side blogs of danmei art, all with the kind of organization and searchability that twitter can only dream of.

So, if you want to flood your dash with fanart (or if you're an artist and want a little assist getting more eyes on your work now that you're posting here - you can DM me or @/me), why not consider giving a follow to...

Mo Dao Zu Shi/Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation/The Untamed: @mdzsartreblogs

Tian Guan Ci Fu/Heaven Official's Blessing/Eternal Faith: @tgcfartreblogs

Ren Zha Fanpai Zijiu Xitong/Scum Villain's Self-Saving System/Scumbag System: @svsssartreblogs

Erha he Ta de Bai Mao Shizun/The Husky and His White Cat Shizun/Hao Yi Xing and Yuwu/Stains of Filth: @erhaartreblogs

Daomu Biji/The Graverobber's Chronicles/The Lost Tomb/Too Many Other Names to List: @dmbjartreblogs

Zhenhun/Guardian: @zhenhunartreblogs

Tian Ya Ke/Faraway Wanderers/Word of Honor and Qiye/Lord Seventh: @tykartreblogs

Literally Everything Else I Can Find (especially works by Meng Xi Shi, works by Priest, manhua on Bilibili, books by Fei Tian Ye Xiang, books by Please Don't Laugh (so yes, baihe too!), and so much more): @cnovelartreblogs

All blogs run on a queue; I post at a "the queue will last for 7 days" rate that changes more-or-less every day and varies from 30 to 40 posts a day (mdzsartreblogs) down to 1 to 2 posts a day (zhenhunreblogs) and everything in between.

Note that these spaces are all ship and let ship, don't like don't interact, and pro-kink. (I won't reblog everything, but I do reblog almost everything, and even if I'm personally too uncomfortable with something to reblog it - I SUPPORT YOU.) I tag extensively - you can check the pinned post on each blog for currently used trigger warnings (they're consistent across all the blogs) and many of the other tags I use for characters, ships, etc., and I strongly encourage you to use the tags to find That Rare Thing You Love, and also to blacklist anything that's not your thing. Antis kindly fuck off challenge.

Welcome to Tumblr (or welcome back, as the case may be), don't be a stranger, like and reblog works to support artists, and have fun!

(help signal boosting much appreciated. <3 )

668 notes - Posted November 7, 2022

Saw a pic that reminded me of my favorite head-canon-i-forget-isnt-canon for TGCF.

Hua Cheng chose the San Lang form because that's how he wishes he looked when he first met Xie Lian. Like, Xie Lian is 17, a prince, an amazing martial artist, dressed in the finest robes in the kingdom of Xianle which specifically esteems luxe stuff. And fucking Hua Cheng has to meet him as a ratty little bandaged boy who just fell off a building. Way to fuck up the meet cute huh?

So when he gets a second third fourth look ive lost count okay chance to meet his idol he's had 800 years to imagine how he wishes it could have gone. And he ends up having two competing fantasies:

Fantasy 1: the suave mysterious stranger who sweeps Xie Lian off his feet and leaves him wanting more.

Fantasy 2: the sweet good-looking boy next door, about the same age, knowledgeable enough to impress this prince who's strengths are physical and social.

And Hua Cheng, being the extra ghost king he is, decides - ¿porque no los dos? - and enacts BOTH those fantasies.

(Something something not all eggs in one basket?)

And that's why San Lang Looks Like That.

905 notes - Posted August 14, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Sometimes I think this is the darkest timeline and then I see the New York Times literally sharing Goncharov fanart

(art is credited to Elena Asofsky, no idea what their Tumblr name is, sorry. Article is here.)

...and I realize that the timeline can always get darker. (but it will never be as dark as the end of Goncharov, wtf was up with that?)

3,224 notes - Posted November 23, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

#tumblr2022 #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #your tumblr year in review #finally remembered to do this #unforth rambles #fine tumblr i'll use your tags too

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parlerenfleurs · 1 year

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J'ai publié 1 910 fois en 2022

C'est 1 200 billets de plus qu'en 2021 !

289 billets créés (15%)

1 621 billets reblogués (85%)

Les blogs que j'ai le plus reblogués :

@yevrosima-the-third

@layzeal

@parlerenfleurs

@tradebabybluetomorrows

@unpretty

J'ai étiqueté 1 804 billets en 2022

Seulement 6% de mes billets ne comportaient pas de tag

#bloom talks - 193 billets

#mdzs - 189 billets

#svsss - 139 billets

#art gallery tag - 122 billets

#wangxian - 96 billets

#tgcf - 73 billets

#rote - 68 billets

#wei wuxian - 53 billets

#mdzs fanart - 49 billets

#feel good tag - 47 billets

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#(i still haven't finished 2ha and since it is licenced now i have no idea if things turn out better after the goodnight mo ran moment ahhhah

Mes billets vedette en 2022 :

n°5

Big fan of how Tianlang-Jun thinks his son and nephew are getting it on with the same guy at the same time and is like: This is fine :) I'm totally accepting and full of tolerance. I love humans! :)

And he means it.

678 notes - publié le 7 août 2022

n°4

I don't know if I'm reaching with that one, but it is established rather quickly that Lan WangJi is determined to mirror Wei WuXian's actions in his first life back at him when he has the means (for instance, the carrying on his back thing, or teasing him with "I do not know" as a call back to the "whatever" moment).

And just as it was a mystery to me why Wei WuXian, during the Yiling date, would entice A-Yuan with toys only to not buy him any, setting him up for disappointment, but I came to understand that it was actually a setup for Lan WangJi to buy it so that A-Yuan would like him (!!!), there is a kinda similar situation that crops up in the present, that was puzzling me but became clear to me on this re-read.

When they come out of Yi City, Wei WuXian is quite depressed and despondent. He has just witnessed Xiao XingChen's sad unlucky fate, and it reminded him very strongly of his own. And the juniors are all sad too, and want to burn paper money, and, sure, HanGuang-Jun is lenient and will let them express their emotions, but he's not that lenient, to let them do something improper/impolite like doing this in front of someone's house, when it is considered unlucky.

Yet, he does nothing, until Wei WuXian snaps out of his state and asks him if he's not going to do anything about it, to which Lan WangJi responds why don't you do it yourself.

And I think it was purposeful. Normally he would probably have told them - look at Lan SiZhui, that boy wasn't left to this own devices, someone taught him was what socially acceptable and didn't let him blunder through needlessly offending people until he figured it out himself.

But he saw the state Wei WuXian was in, and sought to distract him from it, by letting him notice and then handle the juniors' actions.

Clever HanGuang-Jun! He learned all of Wei WuXian's subtle tricks and is using them too!

773 notes - publié le 11 septembre 2022

n°3

In a way, in MDZS, Lan Sizhui is the key and answers to the big moral questions in the story: was it all worth it? Was it all worth it when Wei WuXian lost so much, even his life, when the Wens almost all died anyway, when there was so much collateral damage?

The narrative says: yes, it was worth it, because one child survived, and thrived. Look at that lovely, loveable young man! He is the reason all this was not for naught.

But what I find interesting is, Lan Sizhui is not even that exceptional, he doesn't make a big difference in the world, does he? He's still young, but despite his really good character and keen mind and aptitudes, he's not a genius, he's not renowned, he's not a Hanguang-Jun or a Yilling Laozu. He's just a kind, good-mannered, well brought up young man. Anyone would be happy to claim him as a son or a disciple or a son-in-law. But he's not some big game changer. Even though being a cultivator sets him apart from a good chunk of the normal population already, in his habitual context he's a normal kid. He makes friends, acts silly sometimes, hasn't slayed any Shuanwu of slaughter, got easily led into a trap by a trail of beheaded cats. A normal kid.

And that's important, because this reward is as the sacrifice Wei WuXian made. He didn't make some grand gesture for important people. He did what was right in his view, no more, no less. It wasn't for some greater good, even less for fame. It was simply what was right. And if you do what's right you're not really adding up and subtracting the wins and losses as in a giant thought experiment of the trolley problem. There probably would have been ultimately less death and suffering had Wei WuXian let the Wens to their misery and death quietly. There wouldn't have been a Lan Sizhui, but there would have been a Jiang YanLi, a Jin ZiXuan, and many people that got killed when they attacked him would have lived. But it wouldn't have been right, and so Wei WuXian doesn't think about it that way, and the narrative doesn't either. It tells you life is complicated, and sowing violence reaps more violence, and you can't always "win". But if you do your best, if you keep doing what's right, even if you are only human, and make mistakes, and everyone is against you, it still counts.

It counts. Not for the greater good, not for fame, it counts. Because the whole point is Lan Sizhui gets to live, and grow up, and be a normal kid and have a good life, and that's enough. He doesn't need to be or do anything "more" than that.

1 282 notes - publié le 25 mars 2022

n°2

It is lovely in MDZS how Wei WuXian essentially has the “male” role, in that he is the one pulling on Lan WangJi’s figurative pigtails, the one to give him flowers repeatedly, the one to say he’s pretty out loud and in his head all the time, and the one trying to get him to pay attention to him.

Lan WangJi, meanwhile, gets teased, looks pretty, receives flowers, gets embarassed, defaults to ignoring his crush to appear aloof and keep control, his chaste modesty is being scandalously transgressed via super-meaningful Lan ribbon and cold pond shenanigans, and he secretly keeps all the tokens of Wei WuXian’s affections

And also kisses him forcefully against a tree (but even then in the text and Wei WuXian's view, he's a "shy maiden") and fantasizes about shutting him up in a very specific way

Socially also, Lan WangJi is the pure and treasured daughter niece/sister, thematically, while Wei WuXian is the handsome devilish rake who "corrupts him"

And I find it hilarious how they both subvert everything I've mentioned above (by virtue of being extremely well-written characters who aren't confined to one stereotype but feel like real, complex, subtle people instead), especially after Wei WuXian's resurrection when their dynamic changes to become extremely funny more balanced

1 690 notes - publié le 16 août 2022

Mon billet n°1 en 2022

The power dynamic between Bingqiu is so complex and unhinged.

On the one hand, Shen Qingqiu is the Shizun, and Luo Binghe the disciple. He still pretty much serves and defers to him as such. Shen Qingqiu is the master, the elder, the superior, in a way that can never change in a culture so steeped in respect for such hierarchies, and where reversal or equalization is simply not a thing. Shen Qingqiu himself still refers to himself as "this master" for most of the story (even post canon? I can't remember), and the one quality he appreciates in Luo Binghe (at least that he says aloud) is his obedience. In both their minds, he's very firmly the one who raised and trained Luo Binghe - though with very different connotations depending on who you ask.

On the other hand... well... Luo Binghe plays the obedient puppy-ish disciple, but he pretty much cute/pathetic-bullies his way into anything he wants, because Shen Qingqiu is weak to him and can't say no. So Luo Binghe plays submissive, cries a little, then gets to top Shen Qingqiu into next Sunday in the most unfillial way imaginable lol. Also, and I cannot stress this enough, he's the most powerful person in the world, he doesn't have to serve anyone in a humble cottage. He literally has an empire and is a ruler, but he plays housewife and meek disciple to this one spoiled guy who gave him the correct manual once and head-patted him with abandon.

Also let's not forget that, to Luo Binghe, Shen Jiu and Shen Yuan are pretty seamlessly the same person. This serial head-patter is also the guy who poured hot tea on him and would string him up to beat him and made him sleep in the woodshed like a particularly miserable Cinderella. To him, one day, his cruel master deemed him worthy of his love after he made him go through many trials, and then slam-dunked him into the abyss, and then self-destructed to save him and then turned out to be alive and avoiding him like the plague and then sulked because Luo Binghe did not properly ask his hand in marriage. Luo Binghe may be the most powerful man in the world and have Shen Qingqiu wrapped around his manipulative golden little finger, BUT the grip and ascendant Shen Qingqiu possesses over Luo Binghe's psyche is unparalleled.

BUT the other side of this equation is that Shen Qingqiu feels so guilty, and loves Luo Binghe so much, he can't bear to make him unhappy and folds like a wet paper towel any time there is the merest hint of tears - which is a conscious strategy on Luo Binghe's part! Shang Qinghua told him acting pathetic works, and it does, and so he milks it! Who knows how much of it is real? Not me. Not Shen Qingqiu either, who also does not care that he's being manipulated. He knows he's being manipulated! But it works anyway!

Because what are you going to do when a cute puppy makes sad eyes at you?? Not give him the bit of meat???

You're his master but he owns your heart so that's your fate, now. He's huge and could maul you but he loves you too much and prefers to act spoiled. He sits when you say sit, comes when you say come. You tell him no but he climbs into your lap anyway and you are helpless to stop him so you pet him. It's messy, full of pathos, possibly unhealthy. You're both living your best life.

That's Bingqiu.

1 736 notes - publié le 18 octobre 2022

Obtenez votre année 2022 en revue sur Tumblr →

#année en revue #mon année tumblr 2022 en revue #year in review #my 2022 tumblr year in review #lol at my own blog being in the top five of reblogs #see I thought I talked way more about Scum Villain lately but apparently mdzs still steals the crown #though my number one post is the one about bingqiu #Also I talk way more about personnal stuff than I expected #also also just noticed this is in french but it's fine the template is the same for everyone you all will understand

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subconsciousmysteries · 1 year

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My experience on what it means for 9s to embrace their 6 Inner Child

I am a 9. Well, I type as 8w9 in my description as of writing this post, but I actually switch between 8w9 and 9w8 all the time because I truly can't decide (spoken like a true 9, mmhm). I am an 8-9 liner.

Anyway, I dropped out of college because the whole system is a corrupt mess. It did sadden me. Because I'm not some lazy fucktard who didn't want to do work, despite what everybody thinks.

All I have EVER WANTED is to work hard for a good cause, actually.

This is what nobody understands about 9s.

I want so desperately to work hard. But my 9 -> 6 scrutinizes the rightness and the goodness and the usefulness and the blah blah blah of everything I try to do, so harshly. So I can never find a good cause to pour all my energy and effort into, because as it turns out, everything sucks. Grrr. *Cue bitter nihilistic 8-9 worldview and pathological Laziness.*

Because I dropped out of college, and because I wasn't even doing the History / Art degree that I wanted to do to begin with, I never got to engage in that 6-ish truth-seeking environment which I crave. That environment which would allow me to sit in a circle with other truth-seeking thinkers, air out all my Doubt, refine my worldview to be something I can have more Faith in... and therefore perhaps, give me some clarity on what Right Action is. This is the 9 embracing its 6 inner child. This is 9 -> 6, but conscious and healthy.

I figured out how much I crave a 6-ish environment, thank God. I gave up on this dream because for a long time I thought it was a lost cause... a lost dream of the past back when academia wasn't overrun by corporatists and sensitive crybabies. Personally it has helped me a lot to commit to recreating that truth-seeking college environment which was lost to government corruption and my own refusal to participate in it. The system is not repairable, take it from Jordan Peterson. We have to go off and create new truth-seeking institutions to replace the old ones which are inevitably going to collapse soon. So I've put myself on the line and began the public exploration of my views. Making book clubs. Cultivating intellectual environments where we can commit to seeking the truth about the nature of reality and the nature of morality. That sort of thing.

9s (AND 8S) are seriously helped by acknowledging their need for philosophy and moral framework. 8 and 9 go through life pretending they are immune to fake abstract constructs like philosophy and morality. 1s struggle more with... like... they very much acknowledge the need for philosophy and frameworks of morality, but then they find it hard to handle the ambiguity and broadness that true philosophy demands (that's why so many 1s are inferior Ne or Se, and they integrate to 7).

#musings #enneagram #typology #8w9 #9w8 #9w1 #1w9 #enneagram 8 #enneagram 9 #enneagram 1 #type 8 #type 9 #type 1

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businesssupertalk · 20 days

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The Power of a Hobby in Crafting a Balanced Work-Life Equation

In the relentless hum of the modern workplace, a harmonious work-life balance remains the golden fleece of employee well-being. For HR professionals and managers, unlocking the secrets to recharging the collective spirit of the workforce is akin to the alchemical pursuit of turning base metals into gold. But what if I told you that the key to this equilibrium lies within the colourful palette of personal hobbies? This is more than an anecdotal parable – it’s a burgeoning school of thought in organisational psychology and well-being that is making inroads into the hallowed domains of HR strategies.

Work-Life Balance Unshackled

Before we launch into the enriching realm of hobbies, it's crucial to understand work-life balance and its pervasive significance. Traditionally, it referred to a neat separation of our professional and personal spheres, a utopia that even the most abstract cubism struggles to replicate. Yet, the essence is more profound – it's about fostering an environment where the commitments of work fit harmoniously with the demands of life beyond the office cubicle.

This balance is the fulcrum of employee well-being, resilience, and productivity. An employee teetering in the shadows of an all-consuming job runs the gauntlet of burnout, health complications, and a marked decline in work performance. But when they are empowered to manage their time and prioritise personal and familial obligations alongside work duties, the outcomes are transcendental. Employees exude higher levels of job satisfaction, dedication, and innovation when they're not teetering on the brink of a meltdown.

The Harsh Winters of Imbalance

In the wilderness of excessive workload, employees who have lost their way towards balance may exhibit a myriad of red flags. Increased working hours, strings of unclaimed vacation days, and a persistent sense of dread on Sunday evenings are just the tip of the iceberg. The pernicious effects seep into the company's foundations, eroding employee morale, and chiselling away at the bedrock of productivity.

When work becomes a voracious black hole that devours the hours better spent cultivating relationships, pursuing interests, and resting, the scales of mental and emotional health tip towards instability. Employees become lesser versions of their whole selves, mere spectres of potential and talent deeply impacted by the lack of balance.

Strategies to Sculpt Equilibrium

Thankfully, solutions are not as mythical as the challenges. Tactics such as adopting flexible work arrangements, practising the art of 'time-off,' and honing the skill of setting boundaries can cast a mellowing light on the work-life dichotomy. Remote work, compressed schedules, and wellness-oriented benefits such as gym memberships are like the modern horizon, always expanding and brimming with new possibilities for balance.

The role of the employer in supporting these strategies is paramount. It’s about painting a culture where taking time for oneself is not a frowned-upon watercolour but a celebrated masterpiece. Policies that buttress work-life integration, such as unlimited paid time off or the freedom to work outside traditional hours, are the pigments that colour this culture. Launching 'disconnection' campaigns, apps that nudge employees to seize a break or digital sabbaticals, are the brushstrokes that finish the picture.

The Canvas of Hobbies

And now, the crescendo – the role of hobbies in this symphony of balance. Hobbies are to the soul what rest is to the body – non-negotiable, restorative, and life-affirming. They are not mere pastimes but portals to a world where stress doesn’t hold sway, and creativity can dance with abandon. Hobbies have the innate ability to dissolve the day's tension, infuse energy into an otherwise weary soul, and enhance one’s life outside the constructs of employment.

By venturing into the landscape of hobbies, employees wander into the vast theatre of personal discovery. Whether it's gardening, painting, or playing a musical instrument, these activities stoke the fires of passion and purpose, which often wane in the strictly-scheduled world of work. And the beauty is that these myriad interests can have a domino effect in the professional sphere. The patience cultivated from knitting can diffuse the explosive deadlines, the discipline from daily yoga can fortify resilience, and the empathy from community service can enrich team dynamics.

The Journey of Integration

Like learning a new language, integrating hobbies into the cacophony of career demands patience and practice. Employers play a crucial role in catalysing this transformation. By recognising and celebrating the diverse talents of their workforce, organisations can sow the seeds of support and affirmation that hobbies need to bloom. Offerings like on-site classes, subsidised courses, and regular showcases of employees' extracurricular pursuits are the rite of passage to a hobby-inclusive work culture.

But this isn't a one-time performance. For employees to truly magnify the benefits of their hobbies, they need a sustained environment that echoes the rhythm of their personal lives. Employers and HR professionals, therefore, wield a palette that requires constant mixing and matching of policies, benefits, and practices that keep the canvas fresh and vibrant.

The Triumphs of Diligent Brushes

This is not idle speculation; it’s an emerging trend with tangible results. There are those who have picked up the brush and celebrated the cascade of benefits that hobbies bring. Companies who have embraced the natural symbiosis between personal passions and professional prowess have seen an uptick in engagement, retention, and innovation. Where hobbies are not relegated to the 'afterthought' category but are actively nurtured and woven into the fabric of the workplace, the dividends are as inspiring as the masterpieces created.

A Brush with a Healthier Balance

This is our call to action - to blur the lines between ‘work’ and ‘life’ to create a richer tapestry. It’s about time we pick up the brush and indulge in the art of balance, for our employees, our organisations, and our collective future. In this brushstroke, the pursuit of a hobby is not just beneficial but essential in our whirlwind world of work.

We invite you to join this movement, to support your employees in carving out their havens of balance with hobbies, and to watch as the balance of life colours not just the employee's world, but the canvas of your company’s success.

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eyeoftheheart · 3 months

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“The old Oriental idea is to be lost in the Infinite. The new Occidental ideal is to be in tune with the Infinite. Neither the psychoanalyst nor even the religionist seeks that full purification and total transformation of the human being which philosophy alone seeks and alone achieves. All other paths--including the mystical ones--seek to effect a particular purpose or a partial one: only this is informed enough and willing enough to fulfill the complete purpose for which man has been put on earth by the World-Mind and surrender absolutely to it. If the philosopher has any desire at all, it is to know, understand, and co-operate with the infinitely intelligent and perfectly efficient World-Idea.

(...)

The philosophic attitude seeks a balanced wisdom, a removal of negative, ignoble, sensualist, narrow-minded, unpractical, and fanatical traits from character and action. Beyond that it welcomes the fine flowering of human culture, the refinement of human living, and the enchantment of human quality. There are two sets of critics who match themselves against philosophy. There are the hard materialists, on the one hand, and the imperfect mystics, on the other. The first are guided by reason but limited to sense-experience; the second are guided by intuition but limited to meditation-experience. Both are incomplete. Both are opposed to each other as well as to philosophy, which understands, appreciates, and accepts both as expressing necessary but partial views which should be included in a fuller and more integral view. Philosophy overcomes the mystic's fear of worldly life and the worldling's fear of mystical life by bringing them together and reconciling their demands under the transforming light of a new synthesis. Ours is a complete synthesis of mysticism, metaphysics, science, religion, ethics, and action. It offers a higher and wider objective than the earlier yogas. Because its concepts are not merely the productions of a mechanical logic but the inspirations of a living soul, they are powerfully creative, and dynamically stimulative. In philosophy, art consummates itself.

(...)

Philosophy offers a manner of living which is a natural part of, and outgrowth from, its cosmically derived principles.The practice of philosophy is an essential part of it and consists not only in applying its principles and its wisdom to everyday active living, but also in realizing the divine presence deep, deep within the heart where it abides in tremendous stillness.

(...)

It is perhaps the amplitude and symmetry of the philosophic approach which make it so completely satisfying. For this is the only approach which honours reason and appreciates beauty, cultivates intuition and respects mystical experience, fosters reverence and teaches true prayer, enjoins action and promotes morality. It is the spiritual life fully grown. The esoteric meaning of the star* is "Philosophic Man," that is, one who has travelled the complete fivefold path and brought its results into proper balance. This path consists of religious veneration, mystical meditation, rational reflection, moral re-education, and altruistic service. The esoteric meaning of the circle, when situated within the very centre of the star, is the Divine Overself-atom within the human heart.”

― Notebooks of Paul Brunton > Category 20: What Is Philosophy? > Chapter 1: Toward Defining Philosophy

*The Pentacle or Pentagram is the five-pointed star, a very ancient symbol used by many cultures. Paul Brunton interprets this symbol as a reference to the fivefold path of complete human development. The result is the Philosophic Man, the fully awakened and enlightened human being. I have deliberately included the image of Plato and Aristotle here (from the School of Athens by Raphael): firstly because it represents philosophy, but also because the perfect human being is a kind of harmonious synthesis of Plato and Aristotle, the unity of science and spirituality, heaven and earth, divine transcendence and immanence. Plato is portrayed pointing upwards to the heavens with one finger (symbolizing the One), while Aristotle is pointing with his whole hand towards the earth (symbolizing the Many). The One and the Many! The philosophical quest is the seeking of the harmonious Unity and Divine Synthesis of both. A possible symbolic representation of the unity of heaven and earth is the cross.

#Philosophy #Perennial Philosophy #Notebooks of Paul Brunton #Soulmaking #The Art of Living #Integral Yoga #Synthesis #The Philosophic Man #the amplitude and symmetry of the philosophic approach #the spiritual life fully grown #The Perfect Human Being

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agape-philo-sophia · 4 months

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➝ You will always ultimately pay the price for trying to abdicate the responsibility and not act in alignment with natural law. 🔑

Natural Law is not a “belief system”. It is an art and it is a science. The effects of natural law can be demonstrated using the scientific method, but most importantly, the very laws of logic literally rely on it. Natural Law explains all the reasons for suffering in the world and it shows us HOW to correct those problems. Natural Law is literally the Universe’s way of governing the free-will choices of conscious beings. It exists to facilitate the growth (through learning from mistakes) and therefore the expansion (or becoming) of consciousness. Through our free-will decisions, natural law is literally the parameters that keep us in check and tell us “what we can and can not do”. It is an art because we can learn to master ourselves by obeying the dictates of natural law. The problem is that hardly anybody has any common sense. Because to master oneself, one has to take ownership of their every action and stop playing the victim card. The truth is that we create our reality. We do not do this by our thoughts alone, we do this by our ACTIONS we take in the world. Owning up to our mistakes is imperative if we ever expect to be free and that involves taking personal responsibility. People are too easily in the habit of giving away their Rights. They do this because they don’t want the personal responsibility of having to answer for themselves if something goes wrong so they abdicate personal responsibility and say, “Here, you do this for me. I don’t want the burden of being responsible for that”. But the truth is, you are always responsible because you can’t really abdicate that responsibility. You will always ultimately pay the price for trying to abdicate the responsibility, like Franklin states: Those who give up their rights (liberty) for safety will lose both. This is the consequence for buying an illusion. You get nothing in return, but you lost you hard earned dough “believing” there was substance. This is natural law! Many “claim” to have common sense. Common sense is conscience. Conscience is following your intuition, cultivating it, and obeying it. It is the inherent knowledge of the difference between Right and wrong. The majority of people on this planet do not know the difference. And this is so because the very conditions of our society, as a whole, demand we obey the dictates of dogma over our own inherent moral compass. People say that they want freedom, liberty, peace, all virtuous things. But if we really want these things, our conscience MUST be listened to. And these days, we are not listening. The foundation of Natural Law rests on knowing your Rights; what you have a Right to do. Simply put, so long as you intend no harm in your action, you have a Right to do ANYTHING. The Founding Fathers KNEW this. This is why they decorated the Constitution and Declaration of Independence in the LANGUAGE of Natural law. This Country was founded on Natural law principles but these principles, like a fresh seed were not watered and they were overgrown by weeds. The weeds naturally grew up in the place of Liberty and our Government kept declaring that these weeds were actually what they were not and the people were skeptical but persuaded through coercion, violence, and intimidation. So we do not have the Government of our founders. We have the Illusion of a supposedly “free” Country based on self-government but this is an illusion. What we have is Feudalism. It’s not that natural law is difficult to understand, a 6 year old kid could literally understand this very easily. The problem is that it is not widely known. And that’s because nobody is teaching it. Yet, all the symbols of all the mystery schools of the ancient world detail the allegorical story of the result of both obeying natural law and violating it’s dictates. The symbols are staring us directly in the face yet we are completely nescient to their hidden translation. We find these on the seal of the united states of America, the street layout of the City Map of Washington D.C., and the Architecture, monuments, and murals within this nation’s Capitol.

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elisaenglish · 1 year

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Something Read in the Pages of a Book

“People without hope not only don’t write novels, but what is more to the point, they don’t read them. They don’t take long looks at anything, because they lack the courage. The way to despair is to refuse to have any kind of experience, and the novel, of course, is a way to have experience.”

-Flannery O’Connor, The Naure and Aim of Fiction-

I was fifteen when I first wrote a novel. It wasn’t very good, but that’s never the point of an inaugural march through the process. Instead of pretty, I found myself with 90,000 words of proof. Which is fine; I can shine most things—though I didn’t. Because, again, not the point. But still, I knew I could dislodge an idea and articulate it into being. And of course, I’m partial to a stylistic meander, but also I’m a plotter when I prose. I story like a stranger come to make in me a home. I heal from it.

So... you ask, why is it that I’m scared so much of love?

I can devote myself to the “incarnational art” Flannery O’Connor declared tantamount to impossible; I can stem a tide as much as I can raise one under the auspices of education. I am a lover. I am a gifter. I am unafraid of almost anything but this. Then again, as O’Connor writes:

“The kind of vision the fiction writer needs to have, or to develop, in order to increase the meaning of his story is called anagogical vision, and that is the kind of vision that is able to see different levels of reality in one image or one situation. The medieval commentators on Scripture found three kinds of meaning in the literal level of the sacred text: one they called allegorical, in which one fact pointed to another; one they called tropological, or moral, which had to do with what should be done; and one they called anagogical, which had to do with the Divine life and our participation in it. Although this was a method applied to biblical exegesis, it was also an attitude toward all of creation, and a way of reading nature which included most possibilities, and I think it is this enlarged view of the human scene that the fiction writer has to cultivate if he is ever going to write stories that have any chance of becoming a permanent part of our literature. It seems to be a paradox that the larger and more complex the personal view, the easier it is to compress it into fiction.”

If I’m honest, it’s what I lost with him—and it took me years to recover. As for now? Imagination comprehends itself; I’m steel-spined and voiced forever. The meaning is the whole. That’s the point of fiction O’Connor asserts; “it’s an experience, not an abstraction.” And to be mine, for me to be yours, I have to trust you feel the same, that our minds exist for a reason not just as arbitrary extensions of self or, God forbid, hollow, gutless things unworthy of creation.

So it is. You wonder, I wonder. But for O’Connor it all stands clear enough:

“Conrad said that his aim as a fiction writer was to render the highest possible justice to the visible universe. That sounds very grand, but it is really very humble. It means that he subjected himself at all times to the limitations that reality imposed, but that reality for him was not simply coextensive with the visible. He was interested in rendering justice to the visible universe because it suggested an invisible one, and he explained his own intentions as a novelist in this way:

‘...and if the [artist's] conscience is clear, his answer to those who in the fullness of a wisdom which looks for immediate profit, demand specifically to be edified, consoled, amused; who demand to be promptly improved, or encouraged, or frightened, or shocked or charmed, must run thus: My task which I am trying to achieve is, by the power of the written word, to make you hear, to make you feel it is, before all, to make you see. That and no more, and it is everything. If I succeed, you shall find there, according to your deserts, encouragement, consolation, fear, charm, all you demand and, perhaps, also that glimpse of truth for which you have forgotten to ask.’”

Thus is the spirit that makes me myself—in me, of me. So I ask, what do you say to assuage such a heart? What do we make of the candour?

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yellowbg · 2 years

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ROME REVISITED

The citizen of the future will live in a City, through which silver streams will flow, in which the air will be spotless of soot, when water will bubble forth in fountains and reservoirs at every corner, where gardens, promenades, open squares, flowers, green lawns, porticos, and noble monuments will abound; the air and water as fresh as at Bern, with gardens, statues as plentiful as they are in Paris, and more beautiful in art. At Rome, the citizen was reminded at every turn of his country’s history by some monument, shrine, bust, or statue. There is but one city of the modern world — the French capital, where any attempt is made to develop this noble instrument of city life.

Museums, statues, galleries, colleges, schools, and public halls will no longer be concentrated in overgrown capitals; they will be universal in every moderate town. No town would be worth living in, if it does not offer a free library, a good art-gallery, lecture and music halls, baths, and gymnasia — free to all and within reach of all. To use all these, we shall need a day of rest in the week, as well as a day of worship on Sunday. Every citizen will be free of all the resources needed to cultivate his body, his mind, his heart: — his enjoyment of life, health, skill, and grace, his sense of beauty, his desire for society, his thirst for knowledge. If he does not use these resources, the fault will be his.

These things are not to be had by Acts of Parliament, nor by multiplying Inspectors, nor perhaps by any single machinery whatever. Ideals are realised slowly, by long efforts, after many failures and constant mistakes. To reach ideals we have to reach a higher social morality, an enlarged conception of human life, a more humane type of religious duty coastal bulgaria holidays.

ROME REVISITED

He who revisits Rome to-day in these busy times of King Umberto, having known the Eternal City of the last generation in the torpid reign of Pio Nono, cannot stifle the poignant sense of having lost one of the most rare visions that this earth had ever to present. The Colosseum, it is true, the Forum, the Vatican, and St. Peter’s are there still; the antiquarians make constant new discoveries — fresh sites, statues, palaces, tombs, and museums are year by year revealed to the eager tourist; and many a cloister and chapel, once hermetically closed, is now a public show. But the light and poetry have gone out of Rome for ever. Vast historic convents are cold and silent as the grave, and the Papal city is like a mediaeval town under interdict. French boulevards are being driven through the embattled strongholds of Colonnas and Orsinis, and omnibus and tram-car roll through the Forum of Trajan, and by the Golden House of Nero. The yellow Tiber now peacefully flows between granite quays, but the mouldering palaces and the festooned arches that Piranesi loved have been improved away.

One who is neither codino, ultramontane, nor pessimist may still utter one groan of regret for the halo that once enveloped Rome. We may know that it was inevitable, that it was the price of a nation’s life, and yet feel the sorrow which is due to the passing away of some majestic thing that the world can never see again. It is now twenty years since the late Professor Freeman, then visiting Rome for the first time, wrote as his forecast that if Rome, as the capital of Italy, should grow and flourish, a great part of its unique charm would be lost, and the havoc to be wrought in its antiquities would be frightful. The havoc is wrought; the charm is gone, in spite of startling discoveries and whole museums full of new antiquities. It had to be.

#ROME REVISITED

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terezabg · 2 years

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