#we see countless times in the series how the individual groups eat together and how they check up on each other while eating

[petekaos]

PAT & PRAN ↳ food as a love language ♡

#bad buddy #asianlgbtqdramas #ohm pawat #nanon korapat #patpran #pranpat #pat x pran #pran x pat #'the world begins at a kitchen table. no matter what - we must eat to live.' #do you think pran and pat watched each other quietly all throughout high school to know what the other liked to eat most? #do you think that pran can't look at those drinks anymore without thinking of that time where he wanted to stretch out an olive #branch and was immediately cut down in his attempt? do you think that pat smiles whenever he sees 3 wontons in someone's bowl? #do you think - back when they were little and easing into their uncertain relationship after pran saved pha - that they were kids? #do you think pat reluctantly shared his ice lolly with pran - sticky artificial lemon melting down their fingers - to say thank you? #it just really hits because food is such an integral and unmissable part of asian culture. it's something you do with friends and family. #we see countless times in the series how the individual groups eat together and how they check up on each other while eating #eating together is a sense of love and friendship and affection that is hard to parallel in any other way #and pran and pat were robbed of that when they were younger. eating together is vulnerable - you expose your manners and your #favourite foods and you need to keep the conversation going - and so they never did it because they were never friends. #but we see now ... how they reclaim the idea of food as a metaphor for love in asian culture by easing into it together. #pran saying 'have you eaten?' holds multitudes of meaning. it speaks testament to how much he loves and cares about pat. #them eating together and wiping the rice away from each other's mouths ... oh man. #'the people who give you food give you their heart.' #or better put: 'food is symbolic of love when words are inadequate.' #rahul.gif #*bb

[thermodynamiclawyer]

yeah, this is gonna be a trainwreck. here’s @bandagegirl ‘s and my GHS headcanon masterpost. our goal was to have at least 3 per character, if not more. we kinda had to group the last few characters together in the end, though. it’ll be split up in categories between the characters in the Game, then Anime-Only, and then overall Worldbuilding at the end as for easier reading.

Game Characters

Gregory

the Lost World/Gregory House is Gregory’s own manifestation through loneliness and envy. (see Worldbuilding)

he’s WAY older than a grandfather of James. he’s more of a great-great-great-great grandfather, but it’s easier to just call him grandpa.

he’s been long dead in reality for years. always constantly dreaming and manifesting his Lost World and eventually never woke up.

there is almost 0 records of him from reality. because of this, there is no clear time period he originated in, unlike the guests.

he’s a collector. he loves historically significant antique items to put on a shelf and learn all about.

as taken from the manga, his favorite historical subject is War.

he suffered from frequent night terrors as a teenager, making it difficult to sleep before the manifestation of the Lost World.

while he usually tries to set up a weekly chore schedule for the residents in the hotel, he usually ends up doing everything himself (both because the guests throw in the towel very quickly and that Gregory wants to do everything right).

his magic abilities include teleportation and immortality, but he’s still very prone to injury.

Gregory Mama

she’s actually a manifestation within the Lost World that Gregory used to cope/punish himself with.

has the tendency to adopt new guests as family members only to eat them/their souls later. this also applies to Gregory attempting to manifest new family members in the past, to which he stopped after Gregory Mama has shown to steal their souls each time.

obviously, she’s not Gregory’s real mother, rather a personification of the abuse Gregory suffered in reality.

as young children usually don’t use their parents real name often, she doesn’t have a real name.

James

he’s a child who escaped reality after discovering a forgotten family member (Gregory) in very old family photos; having little to no relation to the rest of the family.

plus, hearing rumors of a hotel that only appeared during moonless nights only encourage him to take on a challenge.

since he’s related to Gregory (even if it’s very distant), his monster transformation was a lot faster, becoming a full rat in little under a month.

he LOVES horror movies, especially slasher films. he might be a little too influenced by them.

he owns a large range of weapons, from toy water guns to actual chainsaws. that doesn’t mean he’ll use them responsibly, though.

he’s a very smart kid, even to the point where he can be manipulative to both the kids and the adults. he’ll even convince other kids to take the blame for him whenever he starts problems.

his parents from reality miss him very much.

Catherine

in reality, Catherine was a German nurse in the 1940’s during WW2.

as a human, she was actually afraid of the sight of blood and would get lightheaded whenever she had to treat a soldier’s wounds. however, as a determined nurse, she tried her hardest to become tolerant of blood. tolerance became fondness and fondness became obsession to the point where she was hurting her patients just to see blood again.

she is attracted to both men and women, however she experiences internalized biphobia. due to this, she’s desperate to find true love with a man while specifically trying to avoid romantic relationships with women.

she knows how to take care of children.

she molts her skin during periods of time, you know, since she’s a lizard.

she didn’t gain magic powers along with her transformation, but instead gained physical strength.

Cactus Gunman and Cactus Girl

both originated in the Mexican revolution, especially around 1910.

Gunman had been shot in the chest a few times in his life and surprisingly survived each of them.

Gunman’s personality completely changed once he arrived in Gregory House with his sister, becoming a paranoid coward from the brave “hero” he made himself out to be.

they both grow seasonal flowers in the springtime. Gunman grows one large red flower on his head, which he hides with his hat in the spring time. he prefers to only show to his potential lover. Cactus Girl grows smaller white flowers in her hair.

Gunman is in dire need of glasses.

Gunman is quite fond of gardening, and loves to talk about flora. sometimes, Lost Doll will accompany him in the courtyard while he weeds.

they would die for each other, so don’t cross them.

Cactus Girl can shoot better than Gunman, but prefers her lasso and other melee weapons. she’s sworn off using guns after the revolution.

Cactus Girl has the ability to spawn in zones in smaller closed areas, such as turning her hotel room into Cactus Land; sort of like a pocket dimension. it’ll disappear as soon as she leaves the room.

sometimes, they both don’t need to eat due to the occasional Photosynthesis, and can go a long time without water.

Hell’s Chef

he worked as a highly regarded chef in Russia at a fancy restaurant, with mixed European family origins.

him and Mirror Man were coworkers of some sort.

he came from a long line of wrestlers, but broke family tradition to cook as a passion and career.

he died after the restaurant went up in flames.

his throat is still scratchy and rough from the incident, so he isn’t much of a talker. not to mention the language barrier and that he’s still attempting to learn the language everyone else speaks in Gregory House.

while the appearance of his meals look absolutely irredeemable, Chef’s cooking is actually very tasty; so much that you almost can’t taste the poison. he prefers making meals that are hearty and savory, rather than “looking good”.

he prefers to do all the food shopping and butchering. nobody knows the best ingredient selections like he does.

like Catherine, all of this “magic ability” went to his incredible strength.

most, if not all of his body is made out of wax, with vein like wick all throughout the body, giving him general bodily structure.

Neko Zombie

(see Worldbuilding)

Clock Master and My Son

My Son was a stillborn in reality; the death of him and his mother gave Clock Master an alcohol addiction and depression.

1960 is the year My Son and CM's wife died, making it when time stopped for CM. he’s sort of “stuck” in 1960 in a way, which is why the year is plastered on both of their foreheads.

My Son was technically "born" in Gregory House.

when Clock Master came to Gregory House, an infant My Son was already waiting in his room. Because the child died before getting a name, CM referred to him as My Son.

while CM's time abilities are getting worse with age, they never were great to begin with due to the Lost World's unusual flow of time.

My Son's time abilities on the other hand have the potential to be the most powerful ability out of everyone's when he gets older, being able to play multiple timelines at the same time and even rewriting reality. this is due to being born in the Lost World, so his ability has adapted to Gregory House’s “time” system.

Judgement Boy + Gold

instead of a singular character, Judgement Boys are classified as a “species” considering there are multiple of them, with more being produced in the Judgement Factory daily. there is not a singular JB.

the Judgement Factory in Gregory House is a sub-factory of a much bigger Core Factory, where it branches off into different zones and other manifestations. There are countless Judgement Factories in existence, all with numerous JBs being produced and trained.

Judgement Boy Gold is an individual one-of-a-kind model, however, there are more in the “Metal” series similar to him in different factories with a variety of training jobs.

JBs came into existence after a lawyer in the early 2000’s won a court case that suppressed the rights and safety of these assembly line workers in a Toy Factory, which caused hundreds of workers to be injured or even killed. realizing the consequences of his actions, he spiraled downwards into insanity and ended up in Gregory House, rarely leaving his hotel room and eventually manifesting the Factory.

most models or designs of a Judgement Boy are based off of toys; one of the very few things reflected from the lawyer’s fatal court case.

the standard JB’s appearance is a bastardized caricature of the original lawyer, only with added cages and robotic features. the lawyer began transforming into a red monster with sharp teeth and claws, but never saw the results as he disappeared into the Core Factory one day, never to be seen again.

see @ask-factory and the #extended factory tag for a more extensive story.

Mummy Family

Mummy Papa, Mummy Dog, and Mummy Mama originated somewhere in the 1980’s.

the reason they’re in Gregory House is an overlap of death and the fact that Mummy Papa was unintentionally poisoning the 3, leading to ending up in the hotel as a “punishment”.

they’re Bloodhounds.

Mummy Papa loves to collect weapons and owns a saber collection, especially older historically significant ones.

Mummy Dog enjoys morbid facts and likes to tell the other children about death.

Mummy Papa has Münchausen Syndrome by Proxy, which is triggered when the sword shifts in his head. because of this, he keeps himself and the rest of his family sicker with unclear motives, perhaps to have the ability brag about their ailments. (more details here)

Mummy Mama suffers from more immune-system based illnesses and anemia while the other two deal with physical and phantom pain, which they all pass off as colds.

the plant in Mummy Mama’s head is a parasite, and needs to be fed directly to continue living if Mummy Mama gets too weak. (the plant prefers blood)

TV-Fish

one of the few characters classified as a species.

TV Fish have a wide variety of fish or other sea creatures they can be. the TV Fish in Gregory House are much smaller.

some TV Fish don’t even have to be TVs. some can be other electronic appliances just as long as they’re combined with a fish skeleton.

they can be found across other Zones and places besides the Lost World, some with localized and native species differing from what we already seen.

TV Fish are an invasive species in the Lost World.

they’re attracted to people with better memory. a person more intact and in touch with their memories could attract an entire school of TV Fish!

Roulette Boy

practically a God, Roulette Boy has reality bending powers.

however, since he follows his own rules strictly, he sets limits on himself as to only use them for his games, and won’t apply them to himself since he’s the Game Master.

nobody knows what the “rules” he follow are, but he restrains himself on what he can do while hosting a game. though, once you’re in his game, it’s almost a free-for-all and he can change you to be whatever pawn he sees fit until the game is over.

while RB prefers traditional board games, nothing’s stopping him from hosting RPGs or other turn-based video games (as seen in Lost Qualia.) he also loves gacha games and gambling.

when not hosting a game, he likes to roleplay.

Angel/Devil Dog

she is not a guest in Gregory House, neither a manifestation of the Lost World. she is a messenger from an entire separate outside world/reality, and she’s always been Angel Dog.

her, Death, and Gregory have been around equally the longest.

her and Gregory have a long history of rivalry. she’s always meddling in the Lost World and trying to let souls out a backdoor. whether she’s doing it to free them, or just to piss off Gregory, depends on her mood.

Angel Dog has a solid grasp on reality, however, her reality is different from the guests. it’s why her and Neko Zombie get along.

she doesn’t have a split personality disorder, as she chooses to become Devil Dog whenever she feels like it. her decision making is very emotion-based.

she’s a Dachshund!

Devil Dog likes soccer, and Angel Dog likes american football.

Lost Doll

ever since coming to the Lost World, she has either stopped aging altogether or she ages very slowly, as most object-based guests do.

she’s a wooden marionette with the ability to change her size.

in reality, she belonged to a very poor family who could only afford a few outdated wooden toys, which is why Katie was so special to her.

she’s good friends with James, even if she’s usually the one falling victim to his pranks. sometimes, when Katie takes over, it can be the other way around.

she has poor volume control and tends to shout when she’s excited or provoked.

she’s the youngest guest.

Death

Death, like Gregory Mama, is a manifestation of a part of Gregory's life.

he was created from Gregory’s favorite comfort movie, The Seventh Seal.

Death used to work in Gregory House as a doorman, welcoming the guests and wishing them goodbye, but fleed when Gregory Mama appeared and got rid of all other "manifestations".

his goal is to free Gregory's soul and end the Lost World, which is only possible if Gregory is the only person left.

Anime Characters

Dr.Fritz

Dr.Fritz is also German like Catherine, but came a little later in time.

back in reality, his body slowly stop responding, so he illegally tried to build himself a new body. that new body wasn’t fully ready yet when he decided to transplant his own brain when he was wheelchair bound and starting to lose arm control, so it was a very long process.

because of his condition, doctors either didn’t treat him correctly or flat out ignored his problems, so he has a strong mistrust to other doctors, which is why he wanted to operate on himself. the other doctors said there was nothing they could do, but he had other plans in mind.

he was there for the Berlin wall falling, and still has a piece of it as a keepsake.

he falls apart easily and has to re-sew body parts or snap his neck back into place. Catherine helps put him back together (in return, Fritz helps her shed.)

Catherine calls him Fritzchen on occasion.

he documents the species of the patients he treats out of curiosity and hopes to help them better. his treatments may be considered “unethical” but he knows for certain that if it’s to cure or treat the patient, he’ll go great lengths to break any rule in the medical field.

Mono Eye Wizard + Frog Fortune Teller

both are canonically married to each other, i just wanted to make sure everyone knew :]

Mono Eye Wizard wears a helmet, and he’s also an amphibian with one eye underneath his robe.

both are very interested and knowledgeable in the Magical and Paranormal side of the Lost World.

both held onto their souls for longer than most people, but lost them in the end.

Wizard is normally very powerful, he just SUCKS at summonings. (plus, he’s a little bit of an idiot)

on the other hand, Frog Fortune Teller isn’t very powerful, but she is very smart (and stubborn). she’s almost always right, especially if it’s a bad thing she predicted.

Wizard, and other characters such as Musha Dokuro and Egypetit all worship the same Dark Lord.

the little horned skeletons in Wizard’s cult are also classified as a species. sometimes, he allows in other interested members.

Wizard is fluent in latin.

Second Guest

the Second Guest, as shown at the end of the season two, has the silhouette of a rat. that’s her actual form; a shadow.

her “job” is to eavesdrop on other guests to go and report to Gregory Mama.

she’s very fast, quiet, hard to catch, and a big snitch.

the others call her “Hello Sister” as a title, while Gregory Mama calls her “My Lovely Daughter.”

her cigarette embers still glow on the wall, which is one of the only signals she’s in the room, especially in a poorly lit one.

usually only Gregory, James, and Mama can “hear” what she’s saying.

Chef strongly dislikes her and Lost Doll avoids her like the plague.

Prompters

a pair of indistinguishable twins, escaping reality after being rejected of their dream to become famous theater actors. both young adults.

they work multiple part time jobs, including helping out in the Judgement Factory in the hotel and Kabuki's theater, along with Poor Conductor’s performances.

they share drinks at the bar. their favorite drink is a raspberry/strawberry milkshake with two cherries. don’t forget to give them two straws!

they’re both learning how to cook with Hell’s Chef. so far, they can dice onions very well. :]

Public Phone

he’s in the Lost World as a punishment for being a greedy thief in reality.

he can create fake alibis, passports, various cards in addition to faking voices.

he’s drinking pals with Clock Master.

he takes any currency, just nothing fake. only HE can be the swindle here.

he’s a perverted little bitch.

Various Species

Haniwa Salarymen are classified as species, created from overworked businessmen in reality. The occurrence of them are very common, and season 1 happens to focus on one of them.

Black Ducks are a species, specializing in working kiosks, amusement parks, and other booths. Speed Mouse is never seen without a team of Black Ducks. Street Vendors sometimes accompany them.

Musha Dokuro are an invasive species to the Lost World.

Trap Mice are a (rare) artificial species built in the Lost World.

Dead Bodies are also classified as a species. they are the result of Death freeing an individual’s soul, leaving a husk/empty body behind.

species like these show up in reality to those who are close to their visit in the Lost World, appearing in the background or the corner of their eye, replacing real people.

individuals in all of those species are not visible/noticable until you interact and get close with them. they’re like NPCs.

Others

Wooden Lizard was Captain Wood’s favorite keychain that came to life.

Fat Chicken is an omnivore. He can and will eat anything.

(see here for Pig Gentleman and Mirror Man.)

Mirror Man can summon his own pocket dimension.

Kinko and Inko know more than they lead on, and Kinko is definitely much more powerful, but he can’t be bothered to do anything about it. he’s lazy.

Inko smokes cigars, but hates cigarettes.

Earth Man (from Lost Qualia) is non-verbal. he’s also very eco friendly!

Hell’s Taxi is a manifestation of a false sense of hope to escape the Lost World. it can also manifest in Reality to pick up new guests.

Egypetit’s head is made up of Gold, a strong conductor of magic in the Lost World.

Poor Conductor was powerful enough to manifest his own room into the Lost World, rather than checking into the Hotel himself.

Unbaba is semi non-verbal and cannot remove his mask. he’s definitely powerful enough to make guests lose their souls.

Bonsai Kabuki needs to water his head frequently or else he’ll be drained of energy, and be unable to open his third eye.

The Rainbow Dragon fossils, which Bonehead is after, are cursed, and uses his wife’s voice to compel him into seeking after them to claim yet another victim.

Toilet Baby may not be as powerful, but he can still summon dangerous attacks related to pocket dimensions.

Sleepy Sheep is used as a vessel in his sleep for those who are powerful enough to enter dreams.

Worldbuilding

Gregory House was a real place back in Reality, and it originally belonged to Neko Zombie and his loving family.

However, years and years of built up envy and hatred from Gregory, a person who didn’t receive the same love and luxuries as Neko Zombie, manifested the Lost World as a way for him to cope with the things he didn’t have in Reality, bringing the house down with him.

The remains of the house in Reality is now a mere rumor in the town, but its influence spreads across many zones to this day.

Neko Zombie is the final remaining member of the original owners of the house.

Him and Gregory are LONG forgotten for generations in Reality.

Zones are a loose term in the Lost World, which could mean alternate realities, different dimensions, etc. The Lost World is a zone with its own manifestations.

Another Zone could have its own origins and realities. Reality is not a zone, if that makes sense.

A Zone itself can manifest as a single individual or object being the Core that keeps the zone existing. (See The Core Judgement Factory that branches off Sub-Factories into different Zones.)

The Lost World is a very large Zone that reaches and branches off into other Zones, pulling in individuals.

Because of Zonal shenanigans, time moves a lot differently in the Lost World.

awful hospital does a better job handling zones better than this, actually. we took a little bit of inspiration from it. see here and here for a better grasp on what i’m trying to say.

#ghs #gregory horror show #ghs headcanon #I CANT TAG ALL THE CHARACTERS ILL ACTUALLY RUN OUT OF SPACE #i didn’t include firebird bloody wheel or bell seal only cuz we didn’t have shit for them n they weren’t related to other characters #anyways holy SHIT please enjoy i’m gonna fuckin shower or some shit #oh yeah That Guy isn’t included either cuz he hardly exists

[aizawaslovebot]

soleil et lune.

secretary! shouto todoroki x director/ceo! reader

pronouns: he/him

word count: 1.4k

series masterlist | future chapters available only on quotev

i. new moon

There was something about the contrast of the sun and the moon that deeply intrigued Todoroki.

Perhaps it was the way they rarely seemed to meet, always just a shy minute apart from coexisting together. Maybe it was how one of the other gave way for a moment of spotlight, either to bless the Earth with sunlight or to illuminate the dark sky with moonlight. Maybe it was because people perceive them as lovers who are separated by destiny, forever bound by whatever rules the universe had set.

He never got to the bottom of the reason why he was so enamored with the Romeo and Juliet of the cosmos but whatever it is, Todoroki had to thank it.

It was in these that he found solace, especially during the dark times of his past and childhood.

Shouto Todoroki was not an astronomer in the slightest. Despite his fondness over the stars in the sky or the planets lightyears away, he never took the chance to pursue this career.

Correction: He was never allowed to pursue this career.

In fact, he was not allowed to be anything other than what his father had set for him. Like the sun and moon, he was bound by destiny. But destiny, in Todoroki’s case, was a six-foot, heartless dictator who strived for perfection in everything at the expense of even an ounce of happiness and freedom.

“You are to follow in my footsteps, Shouto. You will continue what I have started and you shall rise over Japan and defeat All Might Corp.”

It was annoying. It was beyond him how his abomination of a father had this kind of mindset. But he had no power over this man. He controlled Shouto’s life.

So Todoroki fell to the same fate of his older siblings; all bound by their destiny as businessmen, inheritors of Japan’s second most successful conglomerate, and joyless lives. He became what society calls as a success— rich and thriving at the early age of 20.

You see, that’s just it.

Society has deemed success as being filthy rich at an early age. The way they measured success is by how young you’re able to afford luxuries, how much green papers you owned, and how famous you could be. They never thought to wonder if these so-called successful people were actually happy with their lives.

Success for Shouto was not about how much bank he could make, or how influential he could become, or how many cars he could afford. Success was finding joy in what you do, regardless of how much money he had. Shouto was far from successful. But he’s hopeful that one day he could achieve the life he wanted, whether his dictator of a father liked it or not.

For now, he is the moon without light to illuminate his dark life.

He is a new moon.

But things will change and the sun will rise again.

“Father, I would like to try secretarial studies,” Shouto brought up one day as the Todoroki family ate quietly in Enji’s mansion.

The clanking of Enji’s utensils rang through the big house, reflecting their father’s emotions. Twitching fingers, cold eyes, and a permanent scowl that seemed to deepen— he was livid.

“That’s absurd, Shouto. I will not allow it.”

“I never asked for your permission. I am taking secretarial whether you like it or not.”

The youngest Todoroki scoffed, retaliating once again from their father’s idiotic ideologies. Fuyumi was silently pleading for Shouto to be careful while the two older brothers were grinning for him to continue.

“You are a Todoroki. We do not serve people. They serve us. Drop this, now.”

“I don’t care what you say. I’ve already decided who to work for.”

Enji chuckled wryly, “and who are you wasting your talents on?”

“The L/N Enterprise”

There are only a few companies and groups that could be hailed as Japan’s best. These include All Might Corporations, Endeavor Inc., and the L/N Empire. Safe to say, these three are the big leagues, the future of Japan’s economy, and the most successful. These three GDP monsters also play in the same field: the music industry. World-known idol groups come from one of the three, and more flock to these companies for a taste of success. Behind these are the business powerhouses: Toshinori Yagi, known as Mr. All Might; and Todoroki Enji, dubbed as Endeavor. Little is known about the L/N CEO, however, what everyone does know is they are geniuses, even in different ways, because they were able to make their names known not only to Japan but the entire world.

Perhaps there are still differences. Unlike the two, the L/N Empire doesn’t only battle in the music industry. Countless branches, including the ever-famous Sumsang tech, come from their conglomerate.

Another factor from All Might and Endeavor Inc. lets the L/N Enterprise stand in the spotlight; the future successor of the entire group, and grandson of the richest man in Japan, is one of the youngest to ever sit on such a high position.

General Manager L/N (Name).

Many people wonder why this young man, who, at the young age of 20, began to dedicate his life to the countless numbers and percentages that come with this life. People his age at the time would’ve rather flaunt to the world of the riches they own, and indulge in such a lavish life that only few could attain.

But not L/N (Name).

He pursued this career that was bestowed upon him by his family and thus, just a short three years later, L/N is on his way to become the youngest Director and hold so much power over the L/N group, over this branch that he manages, and over Japan.

A bigshot at a young age, blessed with not only riches but also looks and intelligence.

If only he also had a good attitude to boot.

There were a lot of hearsays that circulated about the so-called business ace. Maybe it was because they only knew so little of his father that (Name) became the center of attention. People say he’s a womanizer, an arrogant, self-less prick who has an ego bigger than All Might’s height. Some say he was a sleaze and a temperamental individual who explodes at even the smallest of mistakes. People have also heard that the Director was ruthless, and seeing the countless rumors about this made them believe everything.

Enji could even vouch for those rumors. The brat, while he was a family friend, always found a way to talk back to him whenever he’s over for Natsuo. As far as the Todoroki could remember, L/N was in the same age group as Natsuo. He wasn’t really sure, but Enji’s certain that brat is an egotistical prick.

So why the hell did Shouto choose their God forsaken company?

It was beyond Enji, but he’ll let Shouto waste his time for a bit. After all, he could benefit from having an insider for that competition of his.

The object of Enji’s hatred and the famous L/N sneezed so suddenly.

“Endeavor-san must be cursing me again,” He hummed then continued on with his work.

(Name) was in his office, scanning through the proposals submitted by his department, when his temporary secretary knocked on the door.

“Here’s the batch of applications, sir,” She nervously placed the profiles on his desk. Before (Name) could thank her, however, the young secretary zoomed off.

(Name) was looking for a new secretary after his former subordinate was revealed to be a mole for some company. Aside from that, he knew that the assistant was after him, personally, too. She would often flirt and schedule him for dinners with “other people”, only later to reveal that she wanted to eat with him.

Basically, that assistant was a pest.

The flipping of papers came to a halt at one very specific file. Staring right back at (Name) were the familiar heterochromatic pools of blue and silver, as if saying that his attention should be on the young Todoroki.

Well, damn right.

Without so much as a glance at the CV neatly written at the bottom (which (Name) knows is more than qualified), he knew who he wanted by his side.

The new moon slowly transitions into a new beginning.

“Welcome to the L/N Enterprise, Todoroki-san”

—note: hey! hey! hey! this is my first-ever bnha series 👉🏼👈🏼 please send criticism thru ask or dm 🥺❤️ if you guys like it enough to want to be tagged, just ask!! also pls be nice

—aizawaslovebot 2020

#soleil et lune #bnha x reader #male reader #16+ fic #todoroki shouto x reader #shouto todoroki #he/him #secretary todoroki #ceo reader #quirkless au #todoroki x you #todoroki imagine #mha x reader #my hero academy #boku no hero academia

[superryunosukeyuki]

:Re 179 Was Simply Kaneki Dreaming

When the final chapter of “Tokyo Ghoul: re” was released the TG fandom was left divided. While some enjoyed the idea of a happy ending, others were less than enthused. Several plot threads from the series were left hanging. Additionally, while exposition was dumped to reveal the fates of minor and supporting characters, several major characters (Eto, Mr. Yoshimura, Amon, Akira, etc.) had their ultimate fates left unrevealed. Also, the sudden shift from the tragic ending of :re 178 to the rushed happy ending of :re 179 felt rather disjointed, and in 179 itself there are several things that either contradict each other or don’t add up. I have gone through the evidence and come to a conclusion, and a number of others in the TG fandom have thought of this as well: :re 179 was simply Kaneki dreaming inside of Dragon.

I will explain the evidence in the chapter that justifies this, the literary reasons Ishida-sensei did this, and the direction the franchise may go in the future:

Evidence

The Setup

Firstly, the narration states that Kaneki was saved by Ayato from drowning in the kagune fluids from the previous chapter. However, if we go back to :re 168 we see that:

As Kaneki and Ayato descended deeper into Dragon, the increasing levels of toxicity became such that Ayato had trouble making it down any further. Here, we see that the toxin is so concentrated that his kagune is breaking apart. So, assuming he defeated the Dragon Orphans here, how could he have descended any further down to where Kaneki was drowning? Even if he could:

Kaneki was drowning extremely deep in this fluid and it was flowing so rapidly he couldn’t swim out. So, if Kaneki couldn’t get himself out of this, how could Ayato have gotten him out without drowning himself, much less carried him out of Dragon while its insides were collapsing all around them?  This is the main basis of this theory. Kaneki couldn’t have made it out, and so the final chapter must’ve been him dreaming within Dragon’s depths. Now to the dream itself.

Tragōidia, the Greek word for tragedy, comes from the words meaning goat song. Why name the title of a supposedly happy chapter after a tragedy?

Ever-lasting Conflict

It’s stated that the remaining oviducts continued to produce the “Dragon Orphans,” but despite this these two faceless individuals are just chilling on top of an oviduct even though new orphans could be spawned at any time and attack them? Also, why would these creatures be a common enemy of humans and ghouls? If we go back to chapter 164:

Furuta states that these creatures would only attack and devour humans and makes no mention of them eating ghouls. This is seemingly confirmed earlier in the chapter when:

Furuta, a half-ghoul, is standing amid a group of dragon orphans, but they pay him no mind. The only dragon orphan that acknowledges him is the one he tries to “interview.” After this orphan takes a swing at him, he goes back to ignoring him and eating corpses. Later in this chapter, Kaneki, Urie, and Saiko were set upon by these creatures. However, Urie and Saiko are Quinx (not true half-ghouls), and thus would register as humans because their Kakuho are normally suppressed by their quinque frames. So, this again begs the question of why ghouls would join forces with humans against these creatures when these creatures don’t target them?

Another question is: why allow the oviducts to remain at all? In the final chapters the Goat-CCG alliance put all their efforts into finding and removing Kaneki, Dragon��s nucleus, in order to eliminate the creature. Later, they eliminate Rize, the nucleus of the poisonous oviduct to try and destroy it. So, why aren’t they trying to find and extract the nuclei of the other oviducts? This thought is even mentioned in chapter 165:

They are trying to get rid of these oviducts as quickly as possible. After all, why allow these oviducts to keep producing creatures that will kill civilians? The answer to both this question and the question of why ghouls would join humans in fighting these creatures is simple: Kaneki needed a common enemy for ghouls and humans to fight. In his time trying to find a method for humans and ghouls to coexist, the only time this ever occurred was when the two groups united against the common threat of Dragon. So, in his dream world Kaneki has created a scenario in which the two groups are constantly fighting the Dragon’s remnants together as a common enemy is the only way Kaneki knows how to bring peace between the two groups.

Tokyo Centric Unity

Now, on to the subject of the TSC:

The beginning of chapter 179 states that after the final battle the CCG was disbanded. Furthermore, the officers of the new TSC are called “peacekeepers” rather than investigators. However, at the same time the chapter still makes references to the CCG existing outside of Tokyo, and people who transfer out of Tokyo are still called “investigators” rather than peacekeepers.

Despite the beginning of the chapter saying the CCG was disbanded after the battle with Furuta, here it’s shown that the CCG still functions in areas outside of Tokyo. This may be explained by the beginning saying only “Tokyo’s” CCG was disbanded. However, when Shinohara recovers it states:

Here it simply states the CCG was dissolved in its entirety. Not just the Tokyo branch. So, why is Kaneki’s dream so insistent the CCG no longer exists in Tokyo but is apathetic that it exists outside of the city? Throughout the series, Kaneki has stated that he fights in order to protect his friends and those he loves. However, to others he gives no care. He even admits this while talking to Amon in chapter 119:

Here he admits that he only cares for those close to him, and that most of these close ones just “happened” to be ghouls. And, these ghouls were all located in the city of Tokyo. So, he doesn’t care if the CCG operates as it always has, but only if it’s not in Tokyo. Thus, while his mind envisioned happy ends for his ghoul friends inside the city by having them work with his human friends, ghouls either not close to him or outside of the city get the shaft. This is even alluded to in Kuramoto’s panel where it says he “deals with ghouls.” This is representative of Kaneki’s true feelings towards the Ghoul species overall.

Kaneki’s True Feelings Towards Ghouls

While Kaneki cares for his ghoul friends, he doesn’t hold their species in any regard. Throughout the series, on many of the occasions that he thinks or talks about the differences between humans and ghouls, he refers to humans as “people” and ghouls as “ghouls.” After initially becoming a one-eyed ghoul, Kaneki actively tried to prevent himself from killing anyone (human or ghoul). However, after being tortured by Jason he adopts a much more ruthless persona and begins killing his ghoul opponents. Nishiki is even surprised by this when Kaneki kills a group of Aogiri soldiers after defeating Jason.

This continues in the following months where he kills and cannibalizes ghouls in order to increase his own power. However, he never shows this same level of ruthlessness towards his human opponents. He still tries to prevent himself from killing them, and at most just disarms them. He doesn’t view humans and ghouls different based on their biology, but based on which is a “person,” and most ghouls don’t fall in this category to him.

This hypocrisy of willingly killing ghouls while abstaining from killing humans never truly leaves Kaneki. This is evident after his final battle with Amon in the original series, where he begs him not to die.

He despairs at the thought of killing a human like Amon, even though he’s already killed dozens of ghouls. Even after becoming the One-Eyed King and forming Goat in the sequel, this attitude doesn’t change. The organization’s first mission is to aid the CCG in killing members of the Clowns (fellow ghouls), and simultaneously Kaneki risks his best fighters to raid the CCG laboratory to retrieve RC suppressants in order to save Akira (a ghoul investigator who wishes to eradicate the ghoul species). Later when his group arrives at the lab, he risks the entire mission in order to confront Amon just because Amon saw him as a “person.”

Later, when Furuta begins using the Oggai against Goat, Kaneki still refrains from any confrontations with the CCG that would result in human casualties. This results in Goat being forced underground into the 24th ward, and the organization slowly begins to starve. Even near the edge of ruin Kaneki continues to assert that they must not kill humans.

It’s only when Furuta attacks their base and he is about to lose everything that he finally breaks this rule by eating the Oggai in order to heal himself. This results in him becoming the Dragon and ravaging the surface (resulting in countless human deaths). You would think that after staining his hands with the blood of both humans and ghouls that he would finally view the two species equally, but you would be wrong. In Kaneki’s final battle with Furuta, after he declares he will defeat Furuta he will protect everyone, he states:

Here, he still refers to humans as “people,” but not ghouls (implying that he still doesn’t see ghouls overall as “people.”) Also, the way he says “ghouls, too” shows he still views them as secondary to humans. This attitude is evident in his dream chapter (:re 179) as the actions undertaken by several characters are biased towards human benefit (as opposed to equal benefit between the two species):

Here, for some reason Takizawa is hunting renegade ghouls even though it goes against his previous character development. During his battle with Amon in chapter 115, Takizawa in his inner monologue states he has decided to be a ghoul.

After he completed his first mission for Goat, Takizawa said he was going to go off own his and live normally as a ghoul. In chapter 145, we even see a silhouette of him hunting humans.

So, why at the end of the story is he hunting ghouls who attack humans when that’s exactly what he’s chosen to do, and that’s what he’s been doing? Also, why are he and Hakatori both all alone when they joined with Amon in chapter 178?

Kaneki was in the oviduct when they joined forces with Amon, and so he wouldn’t have known. Therefore, in his dream he has both them and Kurona alone in the end. Also, the actions he has them perform (fighting ghouls who attack humans, sheltering ghouls who can’t fit into human society, etc.) are what he thinks they should do to atone for their past misdeeds. Because Kaneki doesn’t view humans and ghouls as equal, they aren’t equal in his dream. Rather than both sides coming together and creating a new world, ghouls merely acclimate to the human world. Those that are either unable or unwilling to do so are shunned and killed as ghouls always have been. So, for many this world hasn’t changed at all. This is Kaneki’s happy ending. His dream only extends the benefits of peace to humans and his loved ones.

Nitpicks 

Whew. So far, I’ve discussed all the inconsistences regarding the overall themes of this chapter. For finishing the evidence, I will merely go over small inconsistencies and errors in this chapter.

What happened to Hide’s scarred throat and face? In this chapter is stated that ghouls have started being researched for medical purposes. Thus, this could be the reason Hide has healed, but if this is the case why is he still wearing that mask?

In Fura’s panel, he calls his wife “Maki.” However, the “Tokyo Ghoul: Jack” series stated her first name was “Aki.” At first, I thought this might be a translation error, but then I looked at the raw and it indeed gave the characters for the name “Maki.” This is likely due to Kaneki either mishearing her name or not truly caring to remember it from when he was colleagues with Fura.

If Kanou had stabilizers they could use to prolong their lives, why did they work for him as long as they did? Why not steal these stabilizers as soon as possible? 

It took me a while to figure this out, but why would Urie have to search for Shirazu’s body at all? Kimi and Kanou’s other assistants worked with Dr. Kanou on everything, and so they would undoubtedly know where Shirazu’s body is. Why not just ask them? Also, why place Shirazu’s body in the cemetery for the CCG’s “heroes” after the revelation in chapter 175?

So, the graveyard for CCG investigators was empty. Why would they could continue to maintain an empty cemetery, and why would they place Shirazu’s body there when it was only a place for the Washuus to gather food? Kaneki wasn’t present when this information was revealed in chapter 175, and thus didn’t know.

Next, we have Naki’s henchman Hooguro. The epilogue states he married a human girl in the ghoul fashion, but this requires bitemarks. How could an ordinary human bite with enough force to permanently mark a ghoul (whose skin is super hard). They could us an rc suppressant for this, but after it wore off he should have healed.

Then, there’s Ayato who commands operations “at high altitudes.” Are there Dragon Orphans who can fly?

This was the most obvious example that something was off. Right before the Dragon arc we saw that Kuroiwa was stabbed through the side of the neck in a way that would be a death sentence. Indeed, we see him stop breathing and die. However, Kaneki may only have heard that Kuroiwa was stabbed, not that he was killed. Since he didn’t see Kuroiwa, he would have assumed that he was injured and thus would recover. However, another thing to notice is Kuroiwa’s wife. Here she is depicted as having long, light-colored hair. However, when we saw her at Takeomi and Yoriko’s wedding:

She is shown to have short, dark hair. Kaneki probably never actually met Kuroiwa’s wife, and so in his dream he created a vague mental imagery of her.

On another note, the text refers to Takizawa as a half-kakuja. However, in his battle with Amon Takizawa developed into a complete Kakuja.

Kaneki is unaware of this as he left the CCG laboratory before this battle occurred, and so to his knowledge Seidou is still just a half-kakuja (so, that’s what the text box says as the chapter is Kaneki’s dream).

Finally, there’s her. On Amino Apps someone did a translation of Ichika Kaneki’s character profile, and one usual aspect was missing: a birthdate. Practically every volume character profile gives the character’s birthday. Touka calculated her due date to be 12/28 but calculating this can be inaccurate. Even if it was accurate, why not still put it in her profile? It seems to be Ishida giving us a subtle hint that she hasn’t actually been born. Another thing is: why would Kaneki and Touka (who are genetically dark-haired) have a white-haired child? Indeed, with her sesame pudding hair and left kakugan she appears as a carbon copy of someone we already know: Haise Sasaki. Haise was Kaneki’s dream of human happiness where he is surrounded by those who love and cherish him. In the same manner that she is surrounded by people who love and cherish her at the end of the chapter.

                                             Literary Reasons

Now that I have gone over all the evidence implicating the final chapter as a dream, I will discuss Ishida’s likely reasons for making it this way. Throughout the original and :re, references are made about a number of literary works. The most commonly referred to work is Franz Kafka’s “Metamorphosis,” but another work referenced is Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.”

In the sequel “Through the Looking Glass” Alice is transported to a new world where she is caught in the middle of a chess battle between white and red sides. In the original story, Kaneki learned of the ghoul world. In the sequel, he is originally a ghoul investigator and must pick which side he will ultimately be on. In Tokyo Ghoul, the white side is composed of humans (as shown by the white coats of the CCG), and the red side is composed of ghouls (as shown by the red robes of the Aogiri Tree).

There is also a chessboard theme that is repeatedly shown throughout the manga, and this represents the characters who are pieces in the game. Furthermore, in place of the tea party from the Alice novels, coffee is instead used for the theme of eating.

Finally, several ghoul characters wear animal themed masks that represent the animals from the Alice series. Touka’s mask represents the White Rabbit, Nishio’s serpent mask represents Bill the Lizard, Ayato’s mask represents the March Hare, Koma’s mask represents Pat the Monkey, and Irimi’s mask represent the Puppy.

Now that we established the parallel, I shall get to the point: the Red King. In “Through the Looking Glass” the king of the red pieces is sleeping throughout the game. Different characters believe that Alice herself is part of the Red King’s dream and that she will disappear if he awakes. At the end of the story, she questions if this was indeed the case. So, the same thing applies here. At the end of :re, we are left wondering to ourselves if the ending was a dream.

                                                Ishida’s Personal Reasons and the Future

 Now, why exactly would Ishida-sensei end things on a dream chapter you might say (aside from literally reasons) and just quit the series he’s worked on for so long when there are still many plot points left unanswered? Well, in interviews done after :re’s ending Ishida says that he has been working himself almost non-stop since the second half of the original series, and this has led to issues with his health. If he had shown Kaneki still trapped in Dragon, people would have demanded he make a third and final part (which he is in no condition to do).

However, in one interview he states that he now “hates” working after doing it so hard for so long now, and that there “probably” wouldn’t be any more sequels. He needs time to rest and recuperate. However, him saying “probably” still leaves open the option for a final part. Once he fully recovers, he could reveal the finale of :re to be a dream and then continue the series. As to whether or not he actually will, I…..

I believe he will return to our place, Tokyo Ghoul.

#tg meta #tokyo ghoul #tokyo ghoul :re #tg #tgre #:re 179 #eto yoshimura #kotarou amon #akira mado #ken kaneki #sui ishida #ayato kirishima #urie kuki #saiko yonebayashi #enji koma #kaya irimi #hideyoshi nagachika #furuta nimura #rize kamishiro #tooru mutsuki #seidou takizawa #kurona yasuhisa #hakatori #taishi fura #shirazu ginshi #hooguro #ichika kaneki #iwao kuroiwa #touka kirishima #nishiki nishio

[nicoolios]

The Power of the Dystopia

What do nanotechnology, young adult dystopias, and zombies learning to love again have in common? As the old meme says, the answer may surprise you. By nanotechnology I mean Michael Grant’s BZRK trilogy, by young adult dystopias I will focus mostly on The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and by zombies learning to love again I am referencing Isaac Marion’s Warm Bodies. Each of these books will be discussed in great depth in how they relate to the common theme of power in the following collection of literary criticisms. Power surfaces in BZRK through the obsessive lengths the characters go to to maintain it with superior technology and firepower. The Hunger Games refrains from the subject of actively maintaining power, but its story accurately depicts a society where power is exploited to keep its poorer citizens in line. The zombies in Warm Bodies regain power in a world that exists to destroy them by relearning language. Again, each of those topics will be explained at the introduction’s conclusion in their individual essays, but I will add a bit more clarity later on in these opening remarks.

This issue, which puts power front and center in the spotlight, tackles problems pertinent to the world we live in today by using a wide variety of popular books to reach the widest reader base possible. All of them can be considered young adult fiction, but each series pushes the boundaries of the genre. The Hunger Games specifically doubles as political commentary, BZRK is hardcore science fiction written for the eyes of teenagers, and Warm Bodies is technically a zombie romance.

As previously stated, The Hunger Games is political commentary, which only gets all the sweeter the more the political scene in the United States and around the world goes south. The main character Katniss lives in District 12, the poorest of the twelve districts, and is forced to hunt illegally to keep her mother and sister fed. District 1, the wealthiest district home to people so rich they take medicine to force themselves to throw up at parties so they can continue eating the fanciest, most expensive food, holds the Hunger Games every year to keep all the other districts in line. All three books in the series have the same background: the rich exist to stay rich, and the rich have all the power, so when District 13 starts the rebellion it sends them into a panic. The entirety of Mockingjay, the third book of the trilogy, is about that very topic. Money plus power equals bad guy, especially in this series. In regards to the essay on The Hunger Games, not only is there a common theme of power in all three books and all four movies, there are also real-life connotations for both the people spending money on the series and the young adult genre in general. While the essay specifically talks about the genre and what political books do for readers of young adult fiction, The Hunger Games just so happens to be the most popular representation.  

BZRK also deals with money and power and rich people trying to control the universe, but this time it is set in contemporary New York, rather than the fictional Panem. In this universe nanotechnology, which was originally developed to cure cancer, is instead weaponized and is used by both the good and the bad guys. The bad guys, the Armstrong twins and their lackeys Nexus Humanus, want to use nanotech to brainwash the planet into their cult through “sustainable happiness.” The good guys, BZRK, want to protect free will by using their own nanotechnology, biots individually linked to one user, to manipulate others. The whole concept is built on shady deals and backwards justification on both ends of the stick. Both sides think they are in the right, think they are the ones with access to the most power, both already have access to the money and resources that will get them that power. The Armstrong twins spend the series doing everything they possibly can to become rulers of the world, while their second in command Bernofsky goes mad with power and wants to destroy the world with nanobots that feed on carbon. Most of BZRK New York’s plotlines are about playing catch up to Nexus Humanus and holding on to what little power they have. By the trilogy’s conclusion the proper balance that everyone was fighting over has been restored, eliminating the need for technology-based power.

A book about zombies learning to love again seems like a stretch. How could power possibly be involved? Half the main characters are dead. And judging by the movie, there is no possible way for the former dead to regain the power they lost upon getting into their current predicament by reteaching themselves how to speak and act human again. But there it is. The movie is a better illustration of it, but the novel still details R, an incredibly articulate zombie, struggling through a language barrier to communicate with his human captive turned friend turned girlfriend Julie. At the beginning the most R can get out are a few grunts to the zombie he deems his best friend, M. When Julie finds herself the survivor of a zombie attack but the only member of her group still alive and unable to make it back home, she ends up at the airport R lives in. The two of them form a relationship different from the usual zombie eats human, even though R ate Julie’s boyfriend during the attack where they met. Julie teaches R English, pop culture, and how to be human again. The zombies must fight to prove they can become what they once were again, first and foremost by Julie demonstrating R is physically able to love her. As they become living again they go through their own revolution.

These essay’s order in this collection is due to their subject matter and relativity to the real world. The Hunger Games takes place in a fictional country similar enough to our own to make accurate political commentary. BZRK takes place in real life New York, and its plot is one that might happen with how quickly nanotechnology is developing. Warm Bodies’ setting is never specified, but the aftermath of the apocalypse is clear, and for all we know it could be right next door to where we grew up. They move from the clearly fake to the it might just be real, from this could never happen to me to holy crap, this might be happening right now. Please see the meanings these novels preach, what lurks between the lines. Right now this kind of commentary is more important than ever. With people being censored and completely silenced right and left, these books are clearly about power and its consequences, both by exploiting it and by regaining it.

"If Peeta and I were both to die, or they thought we were....My fingers fumble with the pouch on my belt, freeing it. Peeta sees it and his hand clamps on my wrist. ‘No, I won't let you.’ ‘Trust me,’ I whisper. He holds my gaze for a long moment then lets go. I loosen the top of the pouch and pour a few spoonfuls of berries into his palm. Then I fill my own. ‘On the count of three?’ Peeta leans down and kisses me once, very gently. ‘The count of three,’ he says. We stand, our backs pressed together, our empty hands locked tight. ‘Hold them out. I want everyone to see,’ he says. I spread out my fingers, and the dark berries glisten in the sun. I give Peeta's hand one last squeeze as a signal, as a good-bye, and we begin counting. ‘One.’ Maybe I'm wrong. ‘Two.’ Maybe they don't care if we both die. ‘Three!’ It's too late to change my mind. I lift my hand to my mouth taking one last look at the world. The berries have just passed my lips when the trumpets begin to blare. The frantic voice of Claudius Templesmith shouts above them. ‘Stop! Stop! Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to present the victors of the 74th Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! I give you - the tributes of District 12!’” (The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins).

Young Adult dystopias have been an important part of American culture for so long it feels like they have always been there. As children we had The Hunger Games, which later spawned Divergent, The Maze Runner, Uglies, and countless others. In school we read 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, A Clockwork Orange, and the list goes on and on. Their movie and television show adaptations are everywhere. Everyone has a favorite example. So when Moretti's data suggests the genre bubble will burst in the coming years, it is kind of hard to believe. The genre is still going strong, and for good reason. Young Adult dystopias have something the classics neglect: diversity. Katniss Everdeen is a physically and mentally disabled woman of color surrounded by other females, people of color, people with disabilities, people from every walk of life. When The Hunger Games shot up the best sellers list Katniss inspired Tris Pryor in Divergent, Teresa in The Maze Runner, and Tally Youngblood in Uglies. The sheer volume of books and characters guarantees there is something for everyone. Everyone turned out to be mostly adult women and teenage girls. It is the reading power of the latter that presents my point: so long as we live in the world we do, with the current political climate active, and with a steady stream of strong female characters willing to stand up to oppressors, there will be a need for the genre. Multiple people see that need and write books based upon what they think needs to be said. This bubble, much like the superhero movie one, will stay untouched until the world proves it has no need for that kind of fiction anymore. Therefore, I think the genre is here to stay for years to come.

Seeing yourself in a character on the big screen or on the page is so incredibly important. Some little girl with hearing issues read about Katniss' ear trauma and saw herself; if for whatever reason she was unable to get it fixed, related to Katniss refusing surgery to restore her hearing. Or someone living under an oppressive government learning first that they should fight back and then it is okay to do so. Or that people bullying you for something outside your control deserve to be called out on their behavior. Or any number of things prevalent in what makes it big in the genre these days. The books that make it big pave the way for even greater diversity to truly reach the entire reader base. Those might carry on as something no one has ever heard of, but reach the right audience and lives can be changed. I feel like the genre will be around for quite a while. Not just because it is one of my favorites to both read and write for, but also because it is important. We are faced with the possibility of the complete destruction of life as we know it. Someone must recognize what is going on and do something about it. At this point they might as well be fictional, but that is the only way to get the ball rolling.  

“Tell me something, Noah. Which is more important: freedom or happiness?' What was this, a game? But Nijinsky wasn't smiling. 'You can't be happy unless you’re free,' Noah said" (BZRK, Michael Grant).  

Michael Grant's BZRK trilogy depends upon nanotechnology to further its plot, give motivation for characters and their development, provide multiple bad guys, and generally make BZRK what they are. One of the main character's father invented biots, part human machines smaller than the head of a needle, capable of acting on the controller's behalf within a body. The good guys, BZRK, use biots reluctantly to fight the bad guys, Armstrong Fancy Gifts Corporation. AFGC is a cover for the cult Nexus Humanus which wants to take away free will to guarantee eternal happiness. This war is mostly fought at the nano level. Even during "macro" fights, with guns and fists, the focus is always on protecting the nano. Emphases placed on the nano and neglecting the macro, which is only protected by BZRK's enforcer Caligula, exists because of only looking at the available technology and how to improve it. When the original tech, designed to cure cancer, fails and is proven archaic, BZRK only wants to move forward with more advanced biots. Benjamin argues for only looking to the future, for using tech to get and maintain power. The Armstrong twins (founders of AFGC) only maintain their power through superior firepower and lots of unethical manipulation. Under the guise of innocent gift shops across the globe they plot to control world leaders and, therefore, everyone on the planet. That is an extension of Benjamin's philosophy. AFGC has money and manpower, giving them the ability to accomplish their goals. BZRK only has the money, but its members are determined to prevent doomsday. Their conflict over who's in control spans three novels.

There is a connection here with how the world is going today. We even touched upon it in class. For the longest time everyone was obsessed with the technology of tomorrow made today. Classic standbys like books or physical music or playing outside fell by the wayside as electronics fell in the hands of the youth. Why use what cavemen did when you can use what Marty McFly did? For the longest time my younger sister and I were the only kids on our street playing outside. We made fun of our neighbors three doors down for having a pool and never going in it. My parents still can't drag me out of ours. At restaurants we read books, my sister drew and I wrote or, heaven forbid, actually talked to each other. Then, out of nowhere, that changed. The many, many little kids living in the cul-de-sac behind us were outside screaming at all hours of the day. One time we saw our neighbors in their pool. Tables around us when we went out to eat started implementing a no phones rule. The shift was real and, according to the Internet, commonplace. Retro was becoming hip again. We aren't the only people who feel that way, but we're the ones making it happen.  

"In my mind I am eloquent; I can climb intricate scaffolds of words to reach the highest cathedral ceilings and paint my thoughts. But when I open my mouth, everything collapses” (Warm Bodies, Isaac Marion).  

Whoever controls language controls culture. Whoever controls the culture has all the power. Whoever has all the power writes all the rules, determines humanity's fate, and generally determines the ongoing nature of life. While a lot of stories tackle that concept, Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion handles it without beating around the bush. It's about the aftermath of the zombie apocalypse, sure, but it is told through the point of view of a very articulate zombie. The narrative hints rather heavily at the main character, R, being the only zombie outside of the Boneys capable of higher thought. It is only with the help of a human that he learns basic speech. The surviving humans are the only ones capable of speech, of making sure human culture does not die out. Them being able to talk makes them superior to zombies, even after zombies become human again at the novel's conclusion. The settlement the novel focuses on is run based on that fact. It is only poetic that the leader, Colonel Grigio, is the father of the woman R is in love with and the one who sparks the change from zombie to human. Colonel Grigio controls the whole narrative, both the book's and the city he runs. Zombies are to be shot on sight, anything dead must stay out of the walled city, and the language he uses to spread that information reflects how deeply rooted his control extends. On the other hand, R is the first zombie capable of replicating full human speech. By the end the other zombies learn speech as well. Them relearning speech perfectly coincides with them wrenching power from the Boneys in their twisted society and, a bit later, wrenching power from the humans when they rejoin the society they used to know. Language lets them write their own culture again, this time as rediscovered human beings.

I feel like not a lot of zombie books take advantage of exploring the concept of retaking a culture through language. It is a topic that is easily applicable to the genre. World War Z comes close, but that is the best example I can think of. What is happening right now with millennials and gen z is the closest real-life example. I tried tackling the concept in my own zombie novel Flowers Die specifically because I am unable to find anything quite like Warm Bodies or even World War Z on bookshelves. The main character comes back from the dead, but because she reanimated through the original radiation and not a classic bite, she is still fully mentally articulate and, later, verbally as well. As the apocalypse spreads zombies like her become increasingly rarer. She joins the military and fights to take back the culture she once knew by force. Her and her friends are superior by nature. Her husband, who eventually dies to prove the point, used to be a lawyer, defending traditional culture with evolving language. Later on, she meets a young woman trapped by isolation in the woods bound by her lack of language and loss of the culture that raised her. Reintroduction to what she used to know helps bring her back. This is all a work in progress, but as the old saying goes, if you want something specific you have to write it yourself.

#the hunger games #bzrk #warm bodies #literary analysis #college

[trappinforever]

Dev's Camp - A First of its kind Eco Aqua Adventure Picnic Spot in Vadodara

What a day looks like at Devs Camp

People don’t just visit Devs Camp because it is a pleasant detour from the busy lives of cities. People visit because of the experiences and activities they have while they are at Devs Camp. The range of activities that Devs Camp provides are so many that you would need at least 2-3 days to get a taste of all that they have to offer. DC has activities spanning indoors, outdoors and in the wild. DC has activities scheduled from morning till dusk. DC has activities for individuals and groups, alike. Here’s a short blog explaining as to how a day looks like at Devs Camp so that you are not overwhelmed by the amount of joy that people have here. This is Part 1 of a day at Dev’s Camp, many more to flow so stay tuned on any of DC’s socials for an update.

Morning (7 AM until 10 AM) : A good day at DC would start with observation. Ideally, one should take a walk around the Aviary section where they can observe nature at play. Birds, Trees, loud and clear sounds of nature and lush greenery around teleports you into a different mood altogether. It’s like a perfect start to an eventful day at DC. If you are a birder(someone who’s into birds), you should visit the Aviary between dawn and 11 am as it is the best time to observe these wonderful creatures. DC is home to a wide range of species including some rare species that you won’t find anywhere else.

Breakfast – (10 AM to 11 AM)

Post Breakfast until Lunch (11 AM until 2 PM) : Since you had a good calorie intake during breakfast, it’s time for some physical exertion in the wild and some sight-seeing. Make sure that you have enough water with you because trekking is taxing to your body. It’s always best to take breaks in between your trekking path so that you can also feel the goodness of nature while participating in the activity. Ideally, people should form groups and trek, as it gives a feeling of community and camaraderie. It can also be a great ice-breaker amidst your wonderful stay in the lap of nature.

Lunch (2 PM to 3 PM ) : One of the reasons that people keep coming back to DC is one the rich nature of the place, second the fun and engaging activities that we provide and last, but not the least, it’s the quality of food. Even, we don’t know the secret sauce to the amazing taste. We feel there’s magic in the air at DC which gets translated into our dishes. People can have a wide range of delicacies while they are at DC, from tribal food to international cuisines and the good old Gujarati thalis that never go wrong. The goal is to not binge-eat and sleep off, but hey you do you, a good nap in the cradle of nature is equally worth it if you feel like.  

Post Lunch ( 3:30 PM to 6 PM ) : People can take a break post lunch for half an hour or so and just bask in the rustling sounds of nature. Once you are settled in post lunch, it’s time for some adventure so that people don’t doze off and are wide awake to face their fears and get some action. We have a series of activities specially designed to rush your adrenaline levels. We have Zip-line, Adventure Junction, Tyre Tumble, Cross Bridge and countless other physical activities that will keep you thrilled and engaged throughout the afternoon. Breaking a sweat in the lap of nature while engaging in these action-packed escapades are surely unique to Dev’s Camp. The fulfilment one gets after spending an entire day in the lush, green and action-packed facility of Dev’s Camp is inexplicable and can only be realized once you come down and visit yourself.

Evening Time ( 6 PM – 7 PM ) : After an exhaustive day in the wild, it’s best to unwind with the sunset. We offer refreshments like cold drinks, tea, coffee and what have you. Evening time is also ideal for conversations and discourses with other like-minded people who have joined you in the trip. After a while, we usually see all the people coming together, playing games, singing songs as the night approaches. Such gatherings instil unity among people in the wild which is a nice feeling to have in uncharted territories.

Post 7 PM, we advise guests to take some time off to relax or freshen up after a long day in the facility. At 9 PM we have campfire dinner activity set up in our sprawling facility. Regular food options are also available for people who are not interested in this activity or are restricted by food choices, however one should not miss the Campfire Dinners at DC, here’s why:

The ambience is just too beautiful to miss out: The soothing lights, The cold breeze, The aroma of food along with the sound of nocturnal nature just make for a relaxing dinner experience, one that cannot be matched by fancy hotels and restaurants.

The food: Campfire Dinners are usually different from what we cook in our homes or what we get at restaurants. There are a lot of additives that we use for daily consumption in homes and hotels. However at DC Campfire Dinners, we keep additives to the bare minimum, the food sources are rich and the wide range of indigenous recipes make it for a food experience that cannot be replicated elsewhere. We make sure that the food as well as the experience stands the test of time in your memory.

Conversations over food: People open up the most when they are having food together. Add good food and the backdrop of nature to that, and you can imagine the mood of the evening. The vibe is such that from kids to parents, from couples to families, everyone can bask under the shining moon and have a majestic experience.

Campfire Dinner’s are usually the high-points for people who visit DC on the regular. However we are not done just yet. There is still something that is left on the itinerary. Something so special that you will regret all your life if you missed it. Something so magical that it transports into the existential question of humanity and makes you realize the grandeur and scale of nature and how beautiful it is. The final activity of the day is Star-Gazing. The atmosphere at DC in the wild, unlike cities is clear and pollution free which makes it ideal for star-gazing. We have dedicated spots specially designed to enrich your star-gazing experience. People are usually silent and deep in their thoughts while taking a look at the expanse of the night sky and the shining stars. It’s a perfect desert to an eventful day. It’s an experience that is so existential, rare and fulfilling that you might consider moving to the woods. Well, that’s not really possible in the modern day life, but fortunately you still have a few days left in your trip at DC.

After a twinkling star sight in the wildest of nights, people usually doze off to take some rest so that their next day at DC is equally fun and eventful. Come, visit DC this Summer for an exhilarating experience away from the noise and pollution of cities into the lap of nature.

Dev’s Camp, the cradle of nature.

#travel blog #travel photography #vadodara #ahmedabad #vacation #wanderlust #explore #hotel #holiday #trekking #eco tourism #ecofriendly #indigenous #tribal #nature

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How To Practice Mindfulness Meditation

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How To Practice Mindfulness Meditation

Dont Be Too Hard On Yourself When Your Mind Wanders Off During Practice Gently Bring Your Attention Back To The Present

Everyone’s mind is going to wander now and then while they are practicing mindfulness meditation. It is ok to recognize your passing thought and let it go. Once it is gone, take some deep breaths and reset your focus to be in your mindfulness practice.

This is just one mindfulness blueprint. As I said before, there are countless ways to practice mindfulness. For instance, you can add a bit of meditation, which we’ll cover next.

Putting It All Together: The Methods I Use To Practice Mindfulness In Everyday Life

Untill now I’ve basically repeated the same simple message in multiple ways: try to be mindful in every moment. Because of the hard-to-grasp nature of spiritual teachings, I hoped that by sourcing different teachers and examples there would be a higher likelihood that the information would connect with you.

But as is often the case with spiritual advice, we may think that by accumulating more of it, we will progress further. But insight is actually not something that is accumulated from the outside world. Wisdom comes from the seeing, with awakened knowing, of mind, impermanence, suffering, self.

If we take the advice in this article seriously, we could potentially attain enlightenment, or at the very least experience life-changing benefits. But, unfortunately, most of us will not, mainly because we confuse information with insight. If, after reading this article, you switch to the next spirituality blog post or book to accumulate more information on spirituality, you are missing the point of the Buddha’s teaching.

The lesson is simple: “Whether walking, standing, or sitting; whether resting or awake; whether talking or silent, he or she acts with full attention.” You need nothing other than an internal commitment and discipline to practice this teaching, and that also includes the discipline to stick with the same thing — the practice of paying attention and waking up from distraction in an endless series of beginnings — over and over again for the rest of your life.

How To Practice Mindfulness Of Breathing: The Salt And Pepper Of Daily Life

Student of the Dalai Lama and renowned meditation practitioner B. Alan Wallace, Ph.D., wrote in his masterpiece :

Cognitive imbalances of both types can be remedied by applying to daily life the attention skills we cultivate during meditation. In fact, if we casually let our minds succumb to excitation and laxity throughout the day, there’s little change that our formal training during…is going to have much effect. This would be like eating a wholesome breakfast, then snacking on junk food for the rest of the day.

However busy we may be, or think we are, no one is paying us enough to have demands on our minds every single moment of the day. Even in the midst of work, we can take off fifteen-seconds here and sixty-seconds there to balance the attention by quietly focusing on the breath. Our eyes can be open, and we can sit quietly for a few moments, without calling attention to ourselves. We can do this in the workplace, while standing in line at the grocery store, or while waiting at a stoplight. There are many brief occasions from the time we get up in the morning until we fall asleep at night when we can “season our day” with a sprinkling of mindfulness of breathing. And each time we do it, we may immediately feel the soothing effect on our bodies and minds. In this way, we can begin to integrate the quality of awareness that we cultivate during meditation with the awareness that we bring to our activities in the world throughout the day.

Mindfulness Enhances The Ability To Deal With And Recover From Illness

When you think of mindfulness or meditation, you probably think of a quiet, private time of peace. On the other hand, when you think of hospitals or doctors’ offices, you probably think about the anxiety, pain, and chaos going on around you. So, how can mindfulness have a place in health care?

The eCALM trial is a therapy program for cancer patients. It found that mindfulness can reduce the physical symptoms of stress, decrease one’s emotional reactivity to negative experiences, and facilitate post-traumatic growth while enhancing energy and relieving fatigue.

Additionally, found that mindfulness meditation has also been found to decrease anxiety and foster post-traumatic mental and emotional growth in breast cancer survivors, as well as increasing energy and spirituality.

Mindfulness Helps Lower The Incidence Of Burnout And Turnover At Work

Early reports of job burnout came to light in the 1970s and were mostly focused on people who were working in health care or human services. While there is a growing body of research on job burnout, there is no widely agreed-upon definition. However, job burnout is essentially one’s inability to properly respond to chronic occupational stress, with the experience of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and a low rate of personal achievement.

Job burnout can manifest as depression, aggression, decreased commitment, decreased cognitive performance, and decreased motivation. This phenomenon has been associated with an increased risk of physical and mental health problems such as increased blood pressure, heart disease, anxiety, and depression.

found that there is an inverse relationship between mindfulness and job turnover intention, suggesting that employees who are trained in mindfulness are less likely to leave their jobs for any reason.

So those are the 20 benefits of mindfulness. Did any stand out as positives that you want to experience?

Now let’s move on to the history of mindfulness, and then we’ll dive into how to practice mindfulness throughout the day.

Mindfulness Slows Down The Progression Of Neurodegenerative Diseases

Researchers have found that positive brain changes that are associated with mindfulness meditation may work to slow the progression of age-related cognitive disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Patients suffering from Alzheimer’s who participated in the study showed a lower rate of cognitive decline after the eight-week mindfulness-based stress reduction program than a control group who did not participate in the program.

Dont Think About The Past Dont Plan The Future Dont Look At The Time

You know you can’t change the past. So why can’t you let it go? Stop thinking about things that have already happened. Additionally, the future is not here yet, so there is no need to focus too intently on that either. The future will come to you soon enough. Focus instead on the present moment without worrying about what time it is, or when you have to be somewhere next. Don’t worry about how much time you allow to pass before getting up.

There Are Plenty Of Ways To Practice Mindfulness Here Are 13 Of Them

Mindfulness can be tricky at first. Our minds are used to wandering, and we will often be tempted to fix on a thought or a feeling, judge it as good or bad, or work hard to analyse or change it. Sometimes this will be useful, but we also need to be able to sit with our experience and be fully in the moment, without being dragged away by thoughts or feelings that might do damage if they hold on for too long. The truth is, the only place we can fully be is here and now. Of course, it is important to plan for the future or reflect on the past, but it’s about balance.

If you haven’t practised mindfulness before, try to replace any judgement you might have about whether or not you’re doing it properly, with acknowledgement that you are doing the very best you can in the moment. What’s important is that you are doing it. The rest will come with practice. The more you practice mindfulness, the easier it will become to stay present and focus your attention on where you want it, rather than on wherever your mind might take you.

Remember also that mindfulness is dose-related. The more you do it, the more you will benefit from it. The most important thing is to start, and to work towards a regular practice of at least twenty minutes each day. If twenty minutes is difficult to find, and sometimes it can be, try for two ten minute sessions. Here are some different ways to practice mindfulness:

Mindful eating.

Learning To Stay In The Present Moment Will Be A Lifelong Intention

Are you ready to try the practice of mindfulness for yourself? It’s easier to begin than you think.

For starters, remember that everyone has the capacity to change, learn, and grow — no matter what your goals are. Whether you start tomorrow, next week, or right now, the only thing potentially holding you back is yourself and the limitations you create. 

Also remember, that if you start a mindfulness practice and you don’t feel anything right away, that’s normal. Mindfulness practice is not like taking a pill. It’s not black and white, and you won’t suddenly become a brand-new person when you start to live more in the present. Instead, you must be patient, trust the process, and keep returning to the practice. Over time, you’ll begin to see small changes at first,  then bigger and bigger ones in your life as a whole. The good news is that these changes will only be positive. There are no downsides to mindfulness practice.

In addition,  there’s no mindfulness. It’s not something like graduating from college or buying a house. You can’t finish or win mindfulness. However, you can give away mindful gifts to those you feel need some mindfulness in their life. 

Wherever you go, there you are? Jon Kabat-Zinn

Fun Mindfulness Interventions Techniques And Worksheets For Adults

There are several ways to engage in mindfulness on an individual level, including worksheets, techniques, and different exercises.

If the idea of participating in group mindfulness exercises is anxiety-provoking or stressful for yourself or your clients, then diving into mindfulness practice alone can be the best way to proceed.

Here are six exercises that can help to build mindfulness in different ways.

Integrating Mindfulness Into Daily Life: Its Easier Than You Think

If you are interested in integrating mindfulness into your everyday life and becoming more mindful in every aspect of your life, the good news is that it’s easier than you think!

In fact, you can teach yourself to be mindful all day, every day if you like. Mindfulness is the practice in Buddhist teaching — essentially everything is mindfulness. The simple goal is to focus on the task at hand with mindful awareness. No matter the task, you stay fully aware and focused. Your attention is entirely on whatever you are doing — whether it’s folding laundry, cooking, playing with your children, working on a report for school, or just taking a walk.

Items you can introduce into your daily life to improve mindfulness includes:

Wijdverbreide Fouten Gemaakt In Een Meditatie Zijn Van Toepassing

Wilt u weten wat de grootste fout is die u samen met uw meditatie maakt? Het is zoals je bent over het. Het zijn ongetwijfeld je overtuigingen rond meditatie die misschien de beste manier zijn, niet de toepassing zelf.

Neem aan dat je het verkeerd doet?

Je gaat ervan uit dat je het niet kunt.

Je gaat ervan uit dat het jaren van solliciteren kost om enig voordeel van bewuste meditatie te krijgen, of aan de andere kant, je mediteerde zodra je het zat bent en je ziet de voordelen nog niet. Je gaat ervan uit dat een winstgevende meditatie betekent dat je geen ideeën hebt. Je gaat ervan uit dat het alleen voor yogi’s, etherische feeënmensen en historische filosofen is. Je gaat ervan uit dat je niet genoeg tijd hebt.

Dit is wat ik je graag wil laten weten:

Ten eerste jij doe het verkeerd omdat er eigenlijk niemand is nadering. In werkelijkheid, zoals we eerder hebben besproken, zijn er een hele reeks meditatieoefeningen en -strategieën. Het gaat erom te ontdekken wat voor jou werkt.

Je hoeft niet elke ochtend een half uur te mediteren. U kunt beginnen met 5 minuten en uw aanpak opwerken. In werkelijkheid kun je beginnen met 5 bewuste ademhalingen. Daar beoefende je gewoon bewuste bemiddeling! Zien? Je bent in staat om het te doen.

Je zult waarschijnlijk een groot aantal ideeën hebben terwijl je mediteert, en dat betekent niet dat je het verkeerd doet.

Is er een One-Measurement-Suits-All-strategie?

Mindfulness Techniques For Depression Anger Addiction And Anxiety

Mindfulness has been a crux of therapy for patients with borderline personality disorder, and it also has applications for people without a diagnosis of mental illness.

People anywhere on the mental health spectrum can benefit from mindfulness techniques. It helps regulate emotions and can be a helpful resource for management and .

How Long And How Often Should You Practice Mindfulness Meditation

You can practice mindfulness meditation for as long or as often as you like. However, 15 minutes a day, a few times per week, is a good start for a beginner. Then you can work your way up to an hour each time, which is when you can reap the most benefits, says Britt Gustafson, a mindful life coach who teaches mindfulness meditation through .

You can practice mindfulness meditation at any point in the day, but it might be helpful to do it at the same time each day to build a routine. For example, Gustafson says she likes to practice every morning before she gets out of bed. 

“You’re kind of checking in with yourself and getting yourself aligned. I feel personally that that sets the tone of your day,” Gustafson says. 

Some people like to meditate in the evening, in the transition between work and home, Dingle says. You can also reach for mindfulness meditation when you need it, such as before an important event, or when something goes wrong and you want to ground yourself, she says. 

Frequently Asked Questions About Mindfulness Meditation Answered

When you’re new to meditation, it’s natural for questions to pop up often. These answers may ease your mind.

1) If I have an itch, can I scratch it? Yes—however, first try scratching it with your mind before using your fingers.

2) Should I breathe fast or slow or in between? Only worry if you’ve stopped breathing. Otherwise, you’re doing fine. Breath in whatever way feels comfortable to you.

3) Should my eyes be open or closed? No hard-and-fast rules. Try both. If open, not too wide, and with a soft, slightly downward gaze, not focusing on anything in particular. If closed, not too hard, and not imagining anything in particular in your mind’s eye.

4) Is it possible I’m someone who just CANNOT meditate? When you find yourself asking that question, your meditation has officially begun. Everyone wonders that. Notice it. Escort your attention back to your object of focus . When you’re lost and questioning again, come back to the breathe again. That’s the practice. There’s no limit to the number of times you can be distracted and come back to the breath. Meditating is not a race to perfection—It’s returning again and again to the breath.

5) Is it better to practice in a group or by myself? Both are great! It’s enormously supportive to meditate with others. And, practicing on your own builds discipline.

7) What if I get sexually . Repeat.

How To Practice Mindfulness In The Age Of Distraction: The Five

1) Timed reminders

Mindfulness reminders that are set up ahead of time on digital devices.

Phone alarms

According to B. Alan Wallace, seasoning the day with a few mindful breaths and body scans will go a long way to strengthening our flow of undistracted non-meditation. When I first read Wallace’s advice I tried it out, but would often forget to follow it. The paradox of practicing mindfulness is that we have to be mindful in the first place to practice it: the moment we realize we are distracted, we are not distracted.

I got around this dilemma by setting up mindfulness alarms on my phone. I downloaded an app called and set 20 alarms, 35 minutes apart.

I set the text to the following instruction:

Whenever I received this timed reminder on my phone, I would open the Calm app and do 1-2 minutes of breath meditation. You can experiment with different apps and use different meditation intervals and lengths. The most important thing is that you take the reminders seriously and follow them no matter where you are or what you’re doing. If you happen to be caught up with something quite engaging, you can at the very least take three deep breaths.

Pomodoro technique

2) Location-based reminders

Mindfulness reminders that are triggered by cues in your environment.

Here you want to link certain locations or landmarks with the act of waking up and paying attention. For example, every time you come to a red stop light while driving, you can take three conscious breaths .

Whats Different About Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation Anything

The basis of mindfulness meditation, “Buddhist” or not, is non-judgmental awareness of what we are experiencing in the moment. Sitting and following the breath to keep the mind focused and aware is a very well-known mindfulness method.

What sets  mindfulness meditation apart is the importance of motivation and the development of insight or vipassana meditation. Buddhist motivation focuses on liberation from suffering and confusion, and the attainment of freedom. Buddhists generally take a moment before beginning their practice to recall their motivation and express their confidence in the sanity of their journey. After their session has ended, they reiterate their motivation and confidence. In their opening and closing prayers, many Buddhists give voice to their wish that meditation will give them tools to be better able to help others. For Buddhists, the qualities of compassion and discernment are very important and are usually included in these prayers, such as the Four Immeasurables or boundless thoughts. Naturally, you don’t have to be a Buddhist to appreciate the importance of these qualities.

Pay Attention To Your Thoughts Words Actions And Motivations

When you are thinking, saying, or doing something, what is the reason behind it? Are you telling someone a story to benefit them in some way, or is it just benefiting you or your ego? Think about the motivations behind everything you do before you do it to see if it is really necessary. Make sure that you are always coming from a good place when you choose to speak or act in any way.

Mindfulness Improves Memory Concentration And Performance

Paying attention and concentrating on the task at hand may be one of the most important cognitive abilities people have. Mindfulness is one of a very few methods that works as an antidote for mind-wandering and the negative effects that losing concentration may have on you. In fact, research on students has shown that there is a connection between mindfulness and paying attention both in and out of the classroom.

Studies have shown that meditating on a regular basis causes the brain’s cerebral cortex to thicken.

Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Implicit Age And Race Bias

has suggested that mindfulness can positively change the negative thoughts or associations that people once had. The impact of mindfulness has been studied in regards to several biases through measurements of implicit association tests. These tests found that people who listened to mindfulness meditation had an increased state of mindfulness and a decrease in their implicit biases.

How To Practice Mindfulness: 11 Practical Steps And Tips

Developing a mindfulness practice offers myriad positive benefits for the body and mind .

But sometimes, it’s easier said than done. 

It’s not easy in the beginning, and there will be bumps along the path toward a committed mindfulness practice. 

This article will guide you through various ways and resources to help introduce mindfulness in your life so that you are well prepared to start your journey.

Before you read on, we thought you might like to . These science-based comprehensive exercises will not only help you cultivate a sense of inner peace throughout your daily life, but also give you the tools to enhance the mindfulness of your clients, students, children, or employees.

You can download the free PDF .

This article contains:

References

Tip Six: Introduce A Breathing Exercise Before A Meeting

Up to this point, most of the tips have focused on the role and experiences of the employee; however, there is no reason why everyone in a team should not practice a mindfulness exercise.

There is some preliminary evidence that introducing a three-minute breathing exercise before a stand-up meeting results in better decision making, more productive meetings, better listening, good interactions, and more appropriate emotional responses .

This exercise could be completed as a group or individually before the meeting.

Cmo Practicar La Meditacin Consciente Para La Ansiedad

Final actualizado el 12 de enero de 2021

Este ha sido uno de los años vitales y molestos en el pasado histórico de moda. Aparte de los escritores de ciencia ficción y los consultores de enfermedades infecciosas, ¿quién podría haber imaginado alguna vez que podríamos enfrentarnos a una pandemia mundial en nuestra vida? El nerviosismo es ahora excesivo de todos los tiempos, y es hora de buscar algunos métodos para lidiar con él. La meditación consciente para el nerviosismo también puede ayudarlo a lidiar con todo el estrés inexplorado hacia adelante.

Sin embargo, incluso sin todo el estrés relacionado con una pandemia mundial, la meditación consciente también puede ayudarlo a afrontar con más éxito una gran cantidad de puntos habituales que contribuyen a enfatizar. Estos abarcan las relaciones familiares, los fondos privados, los problemas de salud y todos los diferentes puntos de cada día que tienden a ensuciar un espacio valioso para almacenar en nuestras mentes.

Al final, una cantidad excesiva de estrés puede resultar en nerviosismo, que se reconoce principalmente como un sentimiento intenso, extremo y crónico de miedo y preocupación por las condiciones habituales, por ejemplo, ir a trabajar o divertirse en una reunión social. evento con familiares y amigos. Los signos de tensión pueden incluir cualquier combinación de pánico, carga cardíaca rápida, respiración acelerada, sudoración y sensación de agotamiento o agotamiento.

Simple Ways To Practice Mindfulness In Our Daily Life MindfulnessPositive PsychologySelf-ConfidenceMonique Tallon

“Look past your thoughts, so you may drink the pure nectar of This Moment.”– Rumi

These days as we are all learning to adapt to a new normal of staying indoors, I’ve been personally finding it difficult to focus on what is going right with the world instead of what is going wrong. I find myself sometimes getting sucked into hours of scrolling through my social media feed to read the latest news or to feel more connected to friends and family. With all the unknowns of what the future holds, it’s easy to get stuck in negative feedback loops which ultimately breed stress in the body. And right now stress is the last thing we need if we want to boost our immune systems and keep a healthy mental state.

So in this blog post, I want to talk about how to train your brain through mindfulness practices to stay focused on the positive, lower stress, and keep yourself mentally healthy during this uncertain time we’re going through. 

Dedicate Time And Space For Your Mindfulness Practice

You want the space you choose for mindfulness practice to be quiet, calm, and soothing. You will also want to pick a time during which you are unlikely to be interrupted. Create a space in your house that is peaceful and allows you to just relax while practicing mindfulness. Don’t use this space for anything aside from meditating. This way, when you sit down, your body will be notified that it is time to calm down and practice mindfulness.

Final Note: Only Practicing Mindfulness Is Not Enough

Throughout this article, I have stressed the importance of not over-valuing the time spent during meditation and under-valuing the time spent in daily life. To be clear, this does not mean that meditation should not be practiced. Meditation is an incredibly powerful tool for cultivating wisdom and tranquility, in fact one of the most powerful tools we have.

If you remember earlier, I mentioned the three components of mind training . All three are of equal importance. In my mind, I compare the three components of mind training to living a healthy lifestyle: the approach would be to cut down on damaging lifestyle factors such as smoking and drinking, the practice would be going to the gym and exercising each day, and the integration would be eating a nutritious diet. To live the longest, healthiest life we can, all three components must be taken seriously.

Andy Puddicombe writes:

“Meditation is undoubtedly a vital cornerstone to the practice of mindfulness. To practice mindfulness in everyday life without doing even ten minutes of meditation a day is a bit like trying to build the foundations of a house on loose gravel. It will work, but it will not be anywhere near as stable as if you built it on solid ground.”

What You Need To Know Before Practicing Mindfulness:

You don’t need to buy anything. You can practice anywhere, there’s no need to go out and buy a special cushion or bench—all you need is to devote a little time and space to accessing your mindfulness skills every day.

There’s no way to quiet your mind. That’s not the goal here. There’s no bliss state or otherworldly communion. All you’re trying to do is pay attention to the present moment, without judgment. Sounds easy, right?

Your mind will wander. As you practice paying attention to what’s going on in your body and mind at the present moment, you’ll find that many thoughts arise. Your mind might drift to something that happened yesterday, meander to your to-do list—your mind will try to be anywhere but where you are. But the wandering mind isn’t something to fear, it’s part of human nature and it provides the magic moment for the essential piece of mindfulness practice—the piece that researchers believe leads to healthier, more agile brains: the moment when you recognize that your mind has wandered. Because if you can notice that your mind has wandered, then you can consciously bring it back to the present moment. The more you do this, the more likely you are to be able to do it again and again. And that beats walking around on autopilot any day .

How Meditation Protects The Aging Brain From Decline

A string of recent research suggests regular meditation practice may boost mental flexibility and focus, offering powerful protection against cognitive decline.

Most of us begin to misplace our keys, forget people’s names, or solve math problems less readily as we approach middle age. This is often referred to as age-related cognitive decline. Years ago, scientists believed that this decline was inevitable, but extraordinary research in the past two decades has shown that the adult brain changes with experience and training throughout the lifespan—a phenomenon known as neuroplasticity.

Neuroplasticity isn’t a given. Epidemiological research finds that how a brain ages depends on a number of factors including diet, physical exercise, lifestyle choices, and education. The healthier and more active one’s lifestyle, the more likely he or she will maintain cognitive performance over time. And meditation may be a key ingredient for ensuring brain health and maintaining good mental performance. Here’s what recent suggests about how mindfulness meditation practice may help keep aging brains fit and functional.

The Effectiveness Of Dialectical Behavioural Therapy

In one study, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy-Mindfulness .

What are the “What” skills?

This first set of skills is meant to help the client learn how to:

Simply observe their experience.

Describe their experience using a verbal label.

Be fully present in the moment and in their actions without feeling self-conscious.

These skills allow the client to be aware of what is happening to them and of their part in their own experience. Becoming aware of their own thoughts and grounded in the present forms the foundation for the next set of “how” skills.

How Do the “How” Skills Work?

The “how” skills relate to the goal of teaching clients how to observe, describe, and participate in their own experience. This set of skills is intended to help clients:

Learn to have experiences in a non-evaluative and non-judgmental manner.

Focus on one thing at a time and learn to bring their attention back to the target when they go off course.

Be effective, or keep their focus on their goals regardless of their current mood .

The clients were also taken through a series of other mindfulness interventions including mindful breathing, the body scan, and other simple awareness practices.

Individuals in this study who received DBTM training, in addition to the usual treatment, had enhanced benefits compared to the group who received only the usual psychiatric treatment: the more minutes an individual spent practicing mindfulness, the greater the improvements in psychiatric symptoms .

Practices For Improving Emotional And Physical Well

It’s a busy world. You fold the laundry while keeping one eye on the kids and another on the television. You plan your day while listening to the radio and commuting to work, and then plan your weekend. But in the rush to accomplish necessary tasks, you may find yourself losing your connection with the present moment—missing out on what you’re doing and how you’re feeling. Did you notice whether you felt well-rested this morning or that forsythia is in bloom along your route to work?

Mindfulness is the practice of purposely focusing your attention on the present moment—and accepting it without judgment. Mindfulness is now being examined scientifically and has been found to be a key element in stress reduction and overall happiness.

Mindfulness Activities For Groups And Group Therapy

Group therapy that incorporates mindfulness has shown some promising results. It is as effective as cognitive-behavioral therapy .

There is also evidence that group mindfulness meditation therapy is as effective as individual CBT . In a global climate with few clinical psychologists in relation to the need for them, and in a time when individual therapy time is limited and expensive, the proven efficacy of group-based therapy is great news.

Even if you do not feel a need to visit a therapist, there are mindfulness-focused groups that share and deepen meditation practice . Here are four exercises from such groups.

Mindfulness Helps Students Achieve Academic Success

Everyone knows that, in addition to academic success, people want our youth to be happy and physically well. All of these goals are connected, and we now realize the role that social and emotional well-being has in achieving academic success. Learning how to focus one’s attention on productive tasks, become more self-aware, stay motivated to keep going when work becomes difficult, and deal with the frustrations of learning and communicating with peers are vital skills that depend on a student’s ability to comprehend and manage their emotions.

Researchers have found that college students who learned the craft of mindfulness were able to perform better on the verbal reasoning section of the GRE, and experienced improvements in their working memory. While the emphasis on academic achievement is typically what is highlighted in debates on school reform, important movements are being made by people who take a more complete and holistic approach to education.

The Buddha And The Four Foundations Of Mindfulness

The Buddha — Siddhartha Gautama — called mindfulness “the path to enlightenment.” In order to spread the word of enlightenment, he asked that his senior monks teach a doctrine called The Four Foundations of Mindfulness. When the bhikkhus asked the Buddha which four foundations they were to teach, the Buddha responded4:

Dwell contemplating the body in the body, ardent, clearly comprehending, unified, with concentrated one-pointed mind, in order to know the body as it really is.

Dwell contemplating feeling in feelings … in order to know feelings as they really are.

Dwell contemplating mind in mind … in order to know mind as it really is.

Dwell contemplating dhamma* in dhammas … in order to know dhammas as they really are.

*By , the Buddha is referring to phenomena, or the total of one’s experience, including all mental events that arise within us from moment to moment.

Each of the Four Foundations of Mindfulness is generally to be seen as a of learning to be completely mindful in each and every moment. That is, the first stage is to focus on being mindful of the body. This is often done by simply focusing one’s attention on the breath. From there, the rest of the body is considered, including all sensations. 

Notice Sights Sounds And Smells Without Judgement

Do you have a specific taste in your mouth or scent in your nose?  Where is the smell coming from? What do you hear? Is it the sound of a truck passing by? The wind wafting through tree branches? Are you talking to someone? Listen to what they are saying, but also think about the timbre of their voice. Look at their face, and notice their skin, the softness of their hair, and how their lips move when they speak. Notice each of these sensations without judgment.

Using The Body And Breath To Get Out Of Your Head

We often practice mindfulness in stillness. Here, Cara Bradley shares how mindful movement and breath awareness can help us shift away from stress.

Mental Health

Welcome to the first article in a new series from Cara Bradley where she will explore how we can use our breath and body to cultivate “mental fitness,” clarity, and calm. 

Do you ever feel like a brain on a stick? You know that sensation of being stuck in your head, disconnected from what is happening below the neck? It’s not a comfortable or productive way to live, yet, it’s all too common. In this new series, we are going to take a journey below the neck and explore how paying attention to our body state can help us change our mental state. By refining our awareness of inner body signals, we’ll become more skilled at adjusting how we feel emotionally and mentally—sometimes in a matter of minutes. 

Over the course of this series, we will cover body-based practices and protocols to: 

1. Make quick mental-state shifts for when we need an on-the-spot solution.

2. Train our body and mind to feel stronger, calmer, and clearer for longer. 

We’ll do this with  tools and practices for well-being that I call Mini-Wins and Cross-Training. This will help us get mentally fit. 

How To Meditate: Simple Meditation For Beginners

This meditation exercise is an excellent introduction to meditation techniques.

Sit or lie comfortably. You may even want to invest in a meditation chair or .

Close your eyes. We recommend using one of our Cooling Eye Masks or Restorative Eye Pillows if lying down. 

Make no effort to control the breath; simply breathe naturally.

Focus your attention on the breath and on how the body moves with each inhalation and exhalation. Notice the movement of your body as you breathe. Observe your chest, shoulders, rib cage, and belly. Simply focus your attention on your breath without controlling its pace or intensity. If your mind wanders, return your focus back to your breath.

Maintain this meditation practice for two to three minutes to start, and then try it for longer periods. 

After you have found an effective way to meditate, browse Gaiam’s Meditation Shop for all the necessary products to help perfect your meditation techniques. 

Mindfulness Reduces Rumination And Overthinking

One of the most common symptoms that comes along with anxiety is rumination or overthinking. After you begin to worry about something, your brain will hold onto that tightly and make it difficult to let go. It is easy to get into a thought loop where you continue to replay each and every bad outcome imaginable. We all know this is not useful because worrying about something does not prevent it from happening.

actually showed that people who were new to mindfulness and began to practice it during a retreat were able to show fewer signs of rumination and anxiety than the control group.

More Ways To Be More Mindful In Your Daily Life

1. Learn to watch your mind wander.

Most people see their mind wandering as a bad thing. Daydreamers are considered foolish and unsuccessful. But the truth is that minds do wander, and it’s okay to let them. The key is to rein in your thoughts and teach your mind to notice when it wanders, before returning to the present moment. It’s a freeing experience.

2. Learn to be boring.

People often make the mistake of assuming that their lives need to be eternally and consistently exciting. This feeling is exacerbated by social media, in which we see all of our friends, family members, celebrities, and random other people enjoying exciting activities seemingly every day. FOMO or the fear of missing out is a phrase that refers to the sensation that if you’re not hang gliding, windsurfing, jetting off to Europe, or getting married, you’re not really living life.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. By learning to be boring, you are not accepting a boring lifestyle. You are not telling yourself not to enjoy a fulfilling life. Rather, you are seeing excitement and thrill in the brilliant moments of life. This is a wonderful way to exist.

3. Slow down.

This is a great reminder to write on Post-it notes and keep at your desk, on your refrigerator, or on your bathroom mirror. The two simple words, , help us to remember to take life one moment at a time. Everyone’s life is a journey. You cannot life. Simply take it moment by moment and learn to enjoy the ride.

Ways To Practice Mindfulness Without Meditating

Phrases like “this month flew by” or “where is the time going?” are becoming all too common these days, and they are absolutely linked to the lack of time we take to slow down and be mindful. Mindfulness is essentially the practice of paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment, without judgment. A simple definition for a simple practice; but don’t get the wrong idea, regular mindfulness practice can have some serious positive effects such as improved concentration, energy and sleep as well as increased overall life satisfaction and reduced anxiety.

Mindfulness is most commonly practiced through some form of meditation such as breathing focused activities, focusing on a mantra or guided imagery. However, mindfulness can also be practiced in a more casual way and yield the same benefits. Below are 8 ways to practice mindfulness without meditating.

1. Mindful walking- Mindful walking is an opportunity to focus on the present moment-your feet on the ground, the wind on your face, or the sounds you are hearing- without any judgment. When your mind wanders, simply notice that your mind has wandered and gently return your attention back to your walk.

2. Mindfulness in the shower- Being in the shower provides a strong opportunity to connect with your senses. Try focusing your attention on the smell of your shampoo, the lather of your body wash, or the temperature of the water. Connecting with our senses is a wonderful way to practice being mindful.

How To Practice Buddhist Mindfulness Meditation

To practice mindfulness meditation with a Buddhist slant, begin your session by taking a moment to recall why you’re meditating. What is your motivation? Think about what your goal is and how meditation can help you reach it. Connect with your compassionate, caring heart. Then sit in a posture that supports your practice and settle your mind on the rhythm and feel of your breath.

As you practice, your mind will be distracted by all sorts of ideas – what’s been done, what needs doing, and how you feel about all that. Great! Notice these thoughts and how they vie for your attention, then gently but firmly bring your mind back to the breath.

When you start meditating it often seems like you’re having more thoughts than ever. Don’t panic, and don’t try to stop these wandering thoughts. Just acknowledge their presence and let them come and go without pursuing them further. The goal is to become aware of whatever arises in the mind – whether “desirable” or not. Thoughts are always there, we’re just usually too busy to notice. Thanks to mindfulness, we learn that there’s a powerful alternative to distractedness: awareness. To develop awareness, we train in being present, a few minutes at a time.

Mindworks Team

We’re so sure you’ll benefit we now offer you Mindworks Journey Level 1: Meditation Fundamentals course for Free. Click the link below to learn more.

Notice Thoughts And Emotions Without Judgement

See your thoughts and emotions come and go without judging them. Remember that the goal of mindfulness is not to avoid thinking or feeling anything. You are not trying to cultivate an empty mind or complete clarity here. Your mind will wander, and you should expect that. Simply notice when it does, and tell yourself that it’s happening.

For example, if you find yourself ruminating about yesterday’s meeting with a client, you might say silently to yourself, “thinking about meeting” or “worrying about meeting.” Or, if you all of a sudden, become sad when you remember a fond memory, you might say silently to yourself, “feeling sad about X memory.” If you feel excited about a date you have in the evening, tell yourself, “feeling excited about tonight’s date.” After each of these nonjudgmental statements, return your focus to the breath and the current moment.

A Simple Mindfulness Practice For The Beginner

1. Do only one thing at a time.

2. Be deliberate and slow with your actions.

Don’t rush to get everything folded quickly. This activity is all that you’re doing right now, and it deserves your full attention. Take care with each motion and action. Line up the corners on the towels nicely. Organize your folding into neat stacks of like kinds of towels. Pick off lint and put it into a pile.

3. Enjoy the experience.

Take pleasure in what you’re doing. Are the towels warm and cozy from recently being in the dryer? Feel the warm fibers on your fingertips.  Hold them against your cheek. Smell the fresh scent of your laundry detergent. Enjoy stacking all of the towels in a neat and organized pile, all ready for your linen closet.

4. When your mind wanders , simply notice it without judgment, and bring it back to the task at hand.

You will inevitably begin to think about what you’re going to do later that evening, how you should probably buy new towels because they are getting old, or what you’d rather be doing other than folding towels. That’s okay! The goal here is, once again, to simply notice your mind wandering, tell yourself where your mind is wandering to , and bring your focus back to the current moment and what you’re doing: folding laundry.

Mindfulness Is Important How Do We Develop It

Find a mindfulness-based therapist

Cultivating mindfulness is the key to overcoming suffering and recognizing natural : both our own and others’. How do we go about it?

In the Buddhist tradition and in Contemplative Psychotherapy training, we nurture mindfulness through the practice of sitting meditation. There are many different kinds of meditation. For example, some are designed to help us relax; others are meant to produce altered states of consciousness.

Mindfulness meditation is unique in that it is not directed toward getting us to be different from how we already are. Instead, it helps us become aware of what is already true moment by moment. We could say that it teaches us how to be unconditionally present; that is, it helps us be present with whatever is happening, no matter what it is.

You may wonder what good that is. After all, don’t we want to suffer less? Aren’t we interested in tuning in to this natural wisdom, this brilliant sanity, that we’ve heard about? Aren’t those changes from how we already are?

Well, yes and no. On the one hand, suffering less and being more aware of our inherent wakefulness would be changes from how we experience ourselves right now, or at least most of the time. On the other hand, though, the way to uncover brilliant sanity and to alleviate suffering is by going more deeply into the present moment and into ourselves as we already are, not by trying to change what is already going on.

Reasons To Start Practicing Mindfulness Today

At this point, you might think that mindfulness sounds like it requires a lot of effort.

Beginning a mindfulness habit is work, and it will be difficult in the beginning, but this habit will become easier over time and with more practice.

Additionally, mindfulness has numerous positive benefits . The benefits of mindfulness are emotional, cognitive, interpersonal, professional, and practical.

Final Thoughts On How To Practice Mindfulness

If you are new to mindfulness, then try doing it for just five minutes a day until you get the hang of it.

It can help improve your life by reducing stress and negative thoughts, increasing energy and awareness and teaching you how to let go of fleeting negative thoughts.

As a practice that has been around for thousands of years, mindfulness has been very helpful for many people looking to make improvements in their lives.

All you have to do is make the commitment to pick one of the exercises mentioned in the post, read over the simple steps for how to practice mindfulness and then schedule time daily to make it happen.

Next, if you’d like to learn more about mindfulness and meditation, then we have a wide selection of resources on this page. Specifically, here a number of blog posts that you might find interesting:

Common Mistakes Made In A Meditation Practice

Want to know the biggest mistake you’re making with your meditation practice? It’s how you’re about it. It’s likely your beliefs around meditation that are getting in the way, not the practice itself.

Think You’re Doing it Wrong?

You think you can’t do it.

You think it takes years of practice to receive any benefits from mindful meditation, or on the flip side, you meditated once and are frustrated you don’t see the benefits already. You think a successful meditation means you’re not having any thoughts. You think it’s just for yogis, airy fairy folks, and ancient philosophers. You think you don’t have enough time.

Here’s what I want you to know:

First and foremost, you do it wrong because there’s really no one way. In fact, as we mentioned earlier, there are hundreds of meditation practices and techniques. It’s about finding what works for you.

You don’t have to meditate every morning for 30 minutes. You can start with and work your way up. In fact, you could start with five mindful breaths. There, you just practiced mindful mediation! See? You can do it.

You will most likely have a multitude of thoughts while you’re meditating, and that doesn’t mean you’re doing it wrong.

You don’t have to dress up in flowy clothes, burn incense, and chant ‘OM’ if you don’t want to. But feel free to if that’s what you connect with. You can mediate at your desk, in your car — not while driving please — or on your hike.

Repeat after me: Advertising

Is There a One-Size-Fits-All Approach?

How Do I Practice Mindfulness And Meditation

Mindfulness is available to us in every moment, whether through meditations and body scans, or mindful moment practices like taking time to pause and breathe when the phone rings instead of rushing to answer it.

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Mindfulness Helps With Emotional Reactivity

Of all the reasons that people usually have for learning meditation, being less emotionally reactive is typically high on the list. Being mindful or “Zen” equates to rolling with the punches in life and being non-reactive to things that might come your way.

And there’s definitely something to this. Mindfulness meditation has allowed study participants to distance their emotions from upsetting pictures and focus more on a cognitive task, as compared with a control group.

Paso 2: Establecer Una Restriccin De Tiempo

Podrá comenzar trabajando hacia la meditación consciente durante unos 5 minutos al día, simplemente para acostumbrarse a la sensación. Más que sin duda le tomará muchas instancias para entrar en el comportamiento de la meditación. Recomiendo configurar un temporizador para que no tenga que considerar mirar el reloj.

Utilice una notificación blanda que pueda hacer el trabajo sin interrumpir su serenidad, similar a una campana blanda. Luego, esfuérzate por meditar el mismo período de tiempo todos los días. Podrá mejorar la duración de la meditación cuando se acostumbre a ella.

Tips To Practice Mindfulness In Daily Life

As you practice mindfulness meditation, it helps to find ways to bring mindfulness into your everyday life—especially on those days when life is too busy to carve out a minute alone. Mindfulness meditation is one technique, but everyday activities and tasks provide plenty of opportunities for mindfulness practice.

Brushing your teeth: Feel your feet on the floor, the brush in your hand, and your arm moving up and down.

Doing dishes: Savor the feeling of the warm water on your hands, the look of the bubbles, and the sounds of the pans clunking on the bottom of the sink.

Doing laundry: Pay attention to the smell of the clean clothes and the feel of the fabric. Add a focus element and count your breaths as you fold laundry.

: Turn off the radio—or put on something soothing, like classical music. Imagine your spine growing tall, find the half-way point between relaxing your hands and gripping the wheel too tightly. Whenever you notice your mind wandering, bring your attention back to where you and your car are in space.

Exercising: Instead of watching television while on the treadmill, try focusing on your breathing and where your feet are as you move.

Getting kids ready for bed: Get down to the same level as your kids, look in their eyes, listen more than you talk, and savor any snuggles. When you relax, they will too.

Mindfulness Meditation And Other Practices

Mindfulness can be cultivated through mindfulness meditation, a systematic method of focusing your attention. You can learn to meditate on your own, following instructions in books or on tape. However, you may benefit from the support of an instructor or group to answer questions and help you stay motivated. Look for someone using meditation in a way compatible with your beliefs and goals.

If you have a medical condition, you may prefer a medically oriented program that incorporates meditation. Ask your physician or hospital about local groups. Insurance companies increasingly cover the cost of meditation instruction.

Cultivating Mindfulness In Our Daily Lives

Since breaking our addiction to technology is a much bigger task , we need to build practices in our daily lives to bring ourselves back to what really matters. Although nothing beats a good mindfulness meditation it can sometimes be difficult to squeeze in a 20-30 minute meditation in our busy lives. Instead, we can build micro-practices throughout the day to focus our attention.

Introducing Dialectical Behavioral Therapy

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy that is mainly used to treat individuals with borderline personality disorders.

Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is characterized by the following steps:

The first priority for DBT treatment is to target the life-threatening behaviors that often manifest in people with severe mental health problems;

Second, therapists aim to eliminate the behaviors that interfere with therapy, such as refusal to strive for the goals of DBT, missing sessions, etc.;

Next, DBT therapists aim to correct the behaviors that interfere with the client’s quality of life, including non-productive relationship behaviors, communication problems, and bad financial decision-making.

Mindfulness is a core skill taught in DBT, as it helps clients gain awareness of their own thoughts and feelings .

Mindfulness Bell Exercise For Five Minutes

In this exercise, you begin by closing your eyes and listening for the cue. When you hear it, your aim is to focus your attention on the sound and continue your concentration until it fades completely. This exercise helps you to keep yourself firmly grounded in the present. You can use the audio below:

Mindfulness Promotes Cognitive Flexibility

One suggests that not only will mindfulness help people become less reactive, it also may give people more cognitive flexibility. People who practice mindfulness appear to be able to also practice self-observation, which automatically disengages the pathways created in the brain from prior learning, and allows information that is happening in the present moment to be understood in a new way.

Meditation also activates the part of the brain that is associated with adaptive responses to stress, which corresponds to a faster recovery to a baseline train of thought after being negatively impacted.

Mindfulness Reduces Feelings Of Loneliness

Being lonely is more than living in a silent house or having a lack of companionship. With time, loneliness can take a toll on the psyche and have a serious impact on one’s physical health as well.

Feelings of loneliness have been linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, Alzheimer’s disease, anxiety, depression, and even a shortened lifespan. This means that it is important to develop effective treatments for those who are living in isolation.

looked at 40 adults and found that meditating for half an hour each day for eight weeks reduced their feelings of loneliness.

What Are Other Ways To Develop Mindfulness

You don’t need to do sitting meditation, there are practices for developing mindfulness in any body posture, such as standing or lying-down. Some people find the body scan meditation a useful way to cultivate embodied attention.

Sometimes you might find moving meditation particularly helpful for settling an active mind. Notice the sensations in your body as you walk—in your legs and feet, arms, chest, and head. As you notice these sensations of walking, you may find it easier to drop the tendency to worry, plan, or ruminate on something that just happened.

Notice Bodily Sensations Without Judgement

Notice how your body feels at the current moment. At what points is your body touching the ground or the chair you’re sitting in? Be aware of the sensation of the material you are sitting or standing on. How do your toes feel in your socks? How do your shoulders feel? Can you notice a rumble in your stomach? Feel the expansion of your abdomen as your lungs inhale. Notice each of these sensations without judgment.

How Meditation Encourages Neuroplasticity

To maintain mental acuity, it’s important to keep what researchers call your neural reserve in good working order. This “reserve” refers to your brain’s mental efficiency, capacity, or flexibility. Emerging evidence suggests that the consistent mental training that occurs in mindfulness meditation may help to keep that “reserve” intact. For example, one review of the evidence linked regular meditation with positive improvements in brain function such as heightened attention, awareness, working memory, and greater mental efficiency.

Studies are showing that daily meditation impacts both brain “states” and brain “networks.” Brain state training involves activating large-scale networks within the brain that affect a broad range of emotional and mental processes. A clever example of this can be found in a recent study published by a group of researchers at UCLA, who reported that experienced meditators have higher concentrations of tissue in brain regions most depleted by aging, suggesting that meditation practice may help to minimize brain age and protect against age-related decline.

Brain network training, on the other hand, is more focal in that it improves specific cognitive abilities by repeatedly activating a network associated with one function, like paying attention. This is equivalent to repetitive mental bicep curls. Both state and network training are believed to be important ingredients for keeping the brain sharp.

Ways To Combine Mindfulness And Gratitude

Mindfulness and gratitude are two tools that work well together. Mindfulness encourages us to focus on the present in a nonjudgmental way, and gratitude encourages us to appreciate things that bring us joy. To foster a habit of experiencing gratitude, we first need to perceive what we are grateful for. To do this, we need to make the time.

One way to combine mindfulness and gratitude is through gratitude journaling. Every day, spend a short period writing down a list of things you are grateful for. This list can include material things, people, thoughts, experiences, or anything else that you can think of.

When writing down the list, spend extra time explaining why you are grateful for that experience and how it made you feel. Do not go overboard – a short sentence will do – but aim to deepen your experience of how you perceived this event.

Another option is to incorporate active gratitude into your mindfulness exercises. For example, mindfulness can help us to perceive negative experiences in a nonjudgmental way.

We can take this experience one step further by incorporating a gratitude element. In a way, we are finding a silver lining in that experience. The intention is not to downplay your feelings of a negative experience; instead where possible, find opportunities for gratitude.

Negative experience

The Three Minute Breathing Space

Mindfulness Meditation for Kids | Breathing Exercise | Guided Meditation for Children

Breath Meditation for Kids | Mindfulness for Kids

Mindful Walking Down The Street Technique

One core process that can be influenced by mindfulness practice is our ability to observe our thoughts, emotions, and sensations without reacting to fix them, hide them, or solve them. This awareness creates room for choice between impulses, and action which can help develop coping skills and positive behavioral change.

In the first step of this intervention, the facilitator helps the client visualize a scenario in which they are walking down a familiar street when they look up and see someone they know on the other side of the street. They wave, however, the other person doesn’t respond and continues to walk right past.

In the second step, the facilitator prompts reflection from the client by asking a series of questions:

1. As you were imagining, did you notice any of your thoughts?2. As you were imagining, did you notice any of your emotions?

In the third and final step, the facilitator asks the client to reflect on the series of emotions and thoughts that came up, how this affects their behavior, whether the exercise was helpful, and for any final comments.

Mindfulness Creates Happier Relationships

Researchers are still unsure this works, but emerging brain studies have shown that people who engage in mindfulness on a regular basis show both structural and functional changes in the brain regions that are linked to enhanced empathy, compassion, and kindness.

Another benefit of mindfulness is in its effects on the amygdala, which is the brain’s emotional processing center. Mindfulness is linked to reductions in both the volume of the amygdala and its connection to the prefrontal cortex. This suggests that mindfulness might support emotion regulation and decrease reactivity, which are two important tools for creating and maintaining relationships.

[jeremystrele]

Announcing Our 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards FINALISTS!

Announcing Our 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards FINALISTS!

TDF Design Awards

by Lucy Feagins, Editor

RaeRae House by Maynard Architects. Photo – Peter Bennetts

Quandong Cottage by Zana Wright. Photo – Caitlin Mills.  Highgate Park House by Vokes and Peters. Photo by Christopher Frederick Jones

CJH Studio by Penthouse M. Photo – Cathy Schusler. Malvern Residence by Doherty Design Studio. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

Whynot Street Carport and Pool by Kieron Gait Architects. Photo – Cristopher Frederick Jones. Garden House Garden by Ben Scott Garden Design. Photo – Derek Swalwell.

HARU Light by Skeehan Studio. Photo – Rachel Byron. Ceto Collection by Ross Gardam. Photo – Haydn Cattach.

Chromatic Fantastic Cabinets, Danielle Brustman. Photo – Jonathan Griggs. L’Art de vivre Lounge Chair by Fomu. Photo – Sean Fennessy. Styling – Jess Lillico

Annie Coop Textiles by Annie Coop. Photo – Lillie Thompson. The Tiwi Strong Women’s Collection by North. Photo – Hilary Faye.

Holding Light by Daisy Watt and Samantha Seary. Photo – Daisy Watt. Graft Vase Series by Liam Flemming. Photo – Grant Hancock.

100% Recycled Eyewear by Good Citizens. Photo – Dan Hilburn. New Model by Dowel Jones and Soft Serve Studio. Photo – Cricket Studio.

Studio Collection by Lucas Wearne. Photo – Lucas Wearne. J5 Cabinet by James Howe. Photo – Peter Ryle.

Gulnura Table by Foolscap Studio + Foolscap Studio. Photo – Tatjana Plitt. In Absence by Edition Office + Yhonnie Scarce. Photo – Ben Hoskings. 

Drum roll please…. in partnership with Laminex, today we share the finalists in the 2020 The Design Files + Laminex Design Awards!

From incredible Australian homes in the Residential Architecture category; to thoughtful, detailed craftsmanship in the Handcrafted category; to innovative and inspiring ideas in the Sustainable Design or Initiative category, the thing I love most about our Awards program is the broad range of projects it encompasses – big and small! It really presents such a thorough and varied snapshot of the design landscape in this country, and if this Awards program is anything to go by, there’s so much to celebrate.

We have 119 finalists (!) across 10 categories – Residential Architecture (supported by Brickworks), Interior Design (supported by DeLonghi), Landscape Design, Lighting Design, Furniture Design (supported by Jardan), Textile Design, Handcrafted, Sustainable Design or Initiative (supported by Country Road), Collaboration and Emerging Designer (supported by Phoenix Tapware).

The shortlisting process this year was not for the fainthearted! Over countless emails, Zoom calls and a couple of socially distanced meetings, we worked alongside our 25 judges to refine each shortlist. Honestly – it wasn’t easy, the calibre was so high across the board, and we’re so grateful for every single entry. THANK YOU to everyone who entered, and of course, to our expert judges for lending their time and wisdom to the process.

While each shortlisted project is listed below, the photographs here represent only a small sample of the lineup! You can see more about each finalist right now on our Awards website. We’ll be taking a closer look at all these projects over the coming months, as we get closer to our Awards Ceremony in November. (Fingers crossed on that!).

RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE

This category seeks to award one standout Australian residential architecture project. Ground-up builds, renovations and additions are all eligible within this category.

Judges: John Wardle (John Wardle Architects), Rachel Nolan (Kennedy Nolan) and Karen Alcock (MAA Architects)

The Residential Architecture award is supported by Brickworks.

Austin Maynard – RaeRae House Benn & Penna Architecture – Balmain Rock Vokes & Peters – Highgate Park House Topology Studio – House at Otago Bay Anthrosite Architects – Waratah Secondary House Clare Cousins Architects – Beaumaris House Zana Wright – Quandong Cottage Archier & HIP V HYPE – Davison Street Emma Mitchell Architects – CLT House MRTN Architects – Good Life House Andrew Burges Architects – Bismarck House Sibling Architecture – Glassbook House Lineburg Wang – Park Road House Ron Kennon Architects  – Fitzroy North House 02 CO-AP Architects – Woollahra Courtyard House Jesse Bennett Studio – Tjuringa FMD Architects – CLT House Studio Bright  – Ruckers Hill House

INTERIOR DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian residential interior design Project created by an individual or studio.

Judges: Miriam Fanning (Mim Design), Chelsea Hing (Chelsea Hing) and Juliette Arent (Arent & Pyke)

The Interior Design award is supported by De Longhi.

Flack Studio  – Potts Point Residence Flack Studio – Middle Park Residence Fowler & Ward  – Bourke Street Apartment Studio CD  – Art House Workroom – Toorak Residence Edwina Glenn – Brass House Robson Rak Architecture & Interiors – Spanish Queen House Studio Gorman  – The Quarterdeck YSG Studio  – Budge Over Dover Studio Moore  – Ross Farm – Barn Studio Moore – Ross Farm – Dairy Hearth Studio  – Slow Beam CJH Studio – Penthouse M Doherty Design Studio – Malvern Residence Two

LANDSCAPE DESIGN 

This category seeks to award one standout Australian Landscape Design project. Residential, public and community gardens completed within the last three years are all eligible within this category.

Judges: Paul Bangay (Paul Bangay Garden Design), William Dangar (Dangar Barin Smith) and Georgina Reid (The Planthunter)

Acre – Dune House Kate Seddon Landscape Design – Tarrawarra Estate Pathway Kate Seddon Landscape Design  – The Composed Garden Kathleen Murphy Landscape Design – Native Retreat Studio Garden Ian Barker Gardens – Deepdene Tristan Peirce Landscape Architecture – Cottesloe 01 Rolling Stone Landscapes – Amongst The Trees Keiron Gait Architects + Dan Young Landscape Architect –Whynot Street Carport and Pool Eckersley Garden Architecture – Yarra River Cascading Garden Garden Life  – Palm Beach Garden Ben Scott – Garden House Garden

LIGHTING DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian lighting design project. Individual products or product ranges developed within Australia, bespoke designs, one-off lighting projects and installations are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Volker Haug (Volker Haug Studio) and Kate Stokes (Coco Flip)

Skeehan Studio  – Haru Dale Hardiman & Stephen Royce – Open Garden Liam Fleming & Dean Toepfer  – Solute Ross Gardam – Ceto Koskela – Ngalya/Together Studio Henry Wilson  – Pillar Copper Design  – Flask Lighting System Takeawei – Lighthouse Lamp Alex Earl  – Olid Ring Pendant Pop & Scott –Cosmos Collection

TEXTILE DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian textile design project. One-off textile designs, textile collections and textile-based fashion or homewares products will be considered in this category.

Judges: Cassie Byrnes (Variety Hour) and Luciana Wallis (Warwick Fabrics).

Kip & Co with Bábbarra Women’s Centre – Kip & Co x Bábbarra Annie Cooper – Annie Coop Textiles Baina – Collection .01 Ellen McKenna  – From Art To Fashion Gemma Threadgate  – Sleep Magpie Goose – Magpie Goose North Home – The Tiwi Strong Women’s Collection Gorman & Mangkaja Arts Resource Agency – Mangkaja x Gorman Pampa – To-yik-ca CASTLE – Little Garden Bedlinen

FURNITURE DESIGN

This category seeks to award one distinctive Australian furniture design project. Individual products and/or product ranges developed within Australia, bespoke pieces, fixed and freestanding furniture designs are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Nick Garnham (Jardan) and Khai Liew (Khai Liew Design).

The Furniture Design award is supported by Jardan.

Adam Goodrum & Arthur Seigneur – Exquisite Corpse Credenza Danielle Brustman – Chromatic Fantastic Cabinet Manapan x Foolscap Studio – Gulnura Table AKWT – Itto Table Cenzo – Loop Chair Ferguson George – Flyde Lounge Chair Fomu – L’Art de Vivre Lounge Chair Foolscap Studio – Soufflé Lounge Hugh McCarthy & Foolscap Studio – JX8 Dining Table James Howe – J7 Day Bed Manuel Canestrini & Colin Whitehead – Symbiont Coffee Table Oku Space – Breezeway Cabinet Studio Thomas Lentini – Central Park Road Table Biasol Studio – Comoda Sofa

HANDCRAFTED

This category seeks to award one outstanding Australian handcrafted project, completed by either an individual, group or organisation. A single handcrafted functional, decorative or wearable item, or a handcrafted product range are all eligible in this category.

Judges: Amanda Dziedzic (Amanda Dziedzic Glass), Elisa Carmichael, Bruce Rowe (Bruce Rowe Studio)

Tjunkaya Tapaya of Tjanpi Desert Weavers – Tjanpi Teapot James Lemon – Pest Chairs Szilvassy – Aether Daisy Watt and Samantha Seary – Holding Light Georgina Proud – Glass Houses Cut Throat Knives – Imprint Kirsten Perry – The Lost Homes of Soft Boiled Beings Liam Fleming – Graft Vase Series Nicolette Johnson – Assemblage Siân Boucherd – Oyster Shell Tantri Mustika – Lithify

SUSTAINABLE DESIGN or INITIATIVE 

This category seeks to award one outstanding Australian sustainably designed product, concept, idea or initiative, developed by either an individual, group or organisation. This includes functional products, furniture and lighting, as well as concepts, ideas and community initiatives with positive environmental outcomes.

Judges: Karina Seljak (Seljak Brand) and Jeremy McLeod (Breathe Architecture)

The Sustainable Design or Initiative award is supported by Country Road.

Adam Cornish Design & Junglefy – Junglefy Breathing Wall Dale Hardiman & Stephen Royce – Open Garden Dowel Jones & Soft Serve Studio – New Model Five Mile Radius – Waste Terrazzo Good Citizens – 100% Recycled Eyewear Commune & Co – Cirque du Soil Koala Eco – Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products Returnr – Deposit-return system + products Seed & Sprout – Raise The Bar Melbourne Food Hub – Grow/Source/Eat Sussex Taps – Circa Waverly Woolen Mills – 100% Natural Fibre

EMERGING DESIGNER

This category seeks to award one designer, architect, independent creative or studio, working in any creative discipline, who has launched their own professional practice within the last three years.

Judges: Sophie Gannon (Sophie Gannon Gallery) and Simone LeAmon (Hugh Williamson Curator of Contemporary Design and Architecture, NGV).

The Emerging Designer award is supported by Phoenix Tapware.

Pierce Widera – Architects and Interior Designers Brahman Perera – Interior Designer Cassie Hansen – Ceramicist CJH Studio – Interior Architects and Product Designers James Howe – Furniture Designer Fowler and Ward – Architects Neighbourhood Studio – Sculptor Kennon – Architects and Interior Designers

COLLABORATION

This category seeks to award one collaborative design project, where two or more separate creative practitioners, businesses or entities have come together to create one collaborative product, product range, installation, built structure or other creative project.

Judges: Amanda Henderson (Gloss Creative), Jeremy Wortsman (The Jacky Winter Group) and Megan Morton.

Nudie Jeans x Waverley Mills – Recycled Blanket Arthur Seigneur & Adam Goodrum – Exquisite Corpse Centre for Appropriate Technology, Elliat Rich & Outside Assembly -Wren Furniture Suite for ApMurra Furniture Edition Office & Daniel Boyd – For Our Country Edition Office & Yhonnie Scarce – In Absence Manapan Furniture x Foolscap Studio – Gulnura Furniture Suite Nicholas Johnston & Kristian Klein – Krof Cutlery Obus & Olana Janfa – Olana x Obus Pan After & Alice Oehr – Paper Pattern Collection The Big Group & Koichi Takada Architects – Landmark by Lexus

Phew!

Winners will be announced in an awards ceremony at Deakin Edge, Federation Square in Melbourne on Thursday, November 5th, 2020.

You can explore photographs of all the shortlisted projects over on the TDF Awards website. Stay tuned for in-depth coverage of each category shortlist over the coming weeks – starting with a closer look at the Residential Architecture finalists next Monday!

[nezzfiction]

Team WISE Chapter 5 - Iris (Part Three)

Series Synopsis: Ten years have passed since Team RWBY disbanded. Remnant is in the midst of its Second Great War. And while the Kingdoms wage battle and destruction against one other, a darker, more ancient threat grows in its shadow. Only a select few are willing to set aside past differences to see the greater danger Remnant faces. Only those who possess the wisdom to seek out the truth in the dark—those who are truly wise. To that end, Weiss Schnee assembles her private group of covert operatives.

This is the story of Team WISE.

Links to read the series: Ao3 or FF.net

Or hit the jump below:

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Iris (Part Three)

.

They honor Graves.

They decorate the Royal.

And they reward the Faithful.

.

.

It was approaching night on the Saharan Front of Vacuo.

The sun was setting, and the sky dimmed a darker hue. Waving hills of sand lost their fluorescent gold, and faded to purple. And as the last rays of daylight retreated over the horizon, so too did the forces of Vacuo’s Southern Faction withdraw from the battlefield.

The Northern Tribes suffered a surprise attack during the afternoon. It was an unforgivable mistake, and their defenses paid dearly for it. To make matters worse, when they finally recovered enough to launch a counterassault, night was falling and the Southern Faction’s White Fang kited back. The Northern Tribes were at a disadvantage due to their lack of night vision. And, of course, there was the possibility the Southern Faction, which listed many Faunus in their ranks, set up an ambush should they recklessly pursue.

In the end, the Northern Tribes could only watch as their enemies retreated safely and leisurely over the hills. Defenses would have to be rebuilt, draining on what limited resources they had. There was also the body count, which received a huge blow. Their numbers, growing more and more difficult to replenish with each hit and run by the opposition.

From atop the ridge of a tall dune, a heavily cloaked figure monitored the progression of the entire battle. He purposely took caution in hiding his appearance, very few being privy to his actual whereabouts. But it was him, who commanded his forces to exhaust their enemy than fight the fair fight.

The leader of the Southern Faction’s White Fang.

Adam Taurus.

As he watched his forces retreat and glanced at the still burning remnants in the enemy settlement, a sadistic smile curled his lips.

“Have our forces rest four hours on returning to base,” he relayed his orders to his comms officer. “We’ll attack them again at night.”

The White Fang soldier nodded, and began speaking to the corresponding leaders of each division.

On their way back to their outpost, Adam continued to evaluate the strategy and the condition of the civil war as a whole.

The assassination attempt on the Northern Tribes leadership went comparatively well yesterday. They were able to eliminate some key threats with only the sacrifice of a few minor chieftains. It was a shame Sienna Khan survived. They could not have accounted for Blake and her lieutenants acting as bodyguards incognito.

Adam’s forces were performing well on the Saharan Front. They wounded the enemy and bled their enemy’s resources, while his army remained relatively unscathed. If they were lucky and their adversaries were incompetent enough, which was the case most of the time, the enemy might draw upon their exhausted forces from the Mojave Front to reinforce this position. Maybe then, he would reveal himself to Blake—and kill her once and for all.

While the idea brought some joy in its anticipation, a foreboding lingering stalked the back of his thoughts.

The current tactic was cruel and efficient, but his projections for the war were falling behind. The main reason for that was…

“Have we received new provisions from Mistral yet?” Adam asked his Logistics Officer.

The White Fang member checked his clipboard, then shook his head.

“No, sir. No shipments today either. Should I send another request?”

“This will be the fifth time already…! Remind them that if they want Vacuo as an ally, they have to make sure I win it first.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Hmmm…” Adam grunted.

What is Cinder Fall doing?

He realized thinking about it wouldn’t do much at this juncture. The man could make a big deal out of it if his requests were delayed this time. Until then, he had to maintain his army’s harassment.

“What’s the status of our forces?” he asked the returning comms officer.

“Tired, sir. Some are wounded, but most are exhausted. Especially with the surprise attack this morning and afternoon.”

“…You have something more to say?”

“They could…use more rest.”

“…Have them ready for the night raid. Four hours rest on making camp,” Adam ignored the consultation.

“I understand,” the officer nodded uneasily.

After some time passed, Adam’s army returned safely to base. Their usual small village of tents were erected on the spot around an oasis.

Tired soldiers tried to finish their remaining duties, so they could collapse onto their sleeping bags as quickly as possible. Bleary-eyed sentries took positions for first watch. Some seemed to choose to forego eating altogether, and postpone it until they woke.

…

And above the encampment, a certain cloaked airship treaded the sky.

“How are they looking, Fox?” Coco asked an update from her teammate.

The man sharpening his forearm blades replied,

“—Tired.”

It was vague, but after having worked with him so long, his teammates were able to interpret his meaning. The Aura levels of the army below them was low. Incredibly low, in fact.

Fox was Team CFEN’s radar, in a simple sense of the word. Due to his blindness, he was forced to develop a particularly high level of Aura Sense, in which he used Aura to discern his surroundings. It also allowed him to track the energy levels of others, even letting him evaluate their health conditions to a fine degree. And it was this skill, which he applied to the countless soldiers below them, that told him one other thing…

“Soft.”

The second word assessment by Fox came like the word of a hunter—or maybe, a predator.

His other teammates reacted to it with a knowing smirk.

“—Alright, brain trust,” Coco snapped, before tossing a digital map tablet to Neo and Fox. “Get to mapping their positions. I want us hitting them the same time their precious heads hit the pillows.”

She turned to Yang, who was taking apart her prosthetic to clean it. Then, putting it back together.

“The ice queen really sign off on this gig? We’re gonna leave a pretty big footprint on this one.”

“Well, if we don’t leave anyone alive, no one will ever know we were here,” Yang answered coldly.

“…”

“…Full operational impunity, Coco. Even if they did ID us, our team doesn’t work directly under Atlas anyway. Not officially.”

“True. Not like we can take the HVT without the mayhem. So, no blowback on our people?”

“Small blessings,” Yang grinned.

“That’s what I like to hear.”

At that moment, Neo handed Coco the digital map tablet. On it, an accurate layout of the camp with marked soldiers displayed on its surface. And in the center of the formation, was their main objective signed with a red skull.

“Alright, then,” Coco called her team’s attention, while mentally making custom small changes to their plan. “No major discrepancies from the drawing board. We run it like rehearsal. Get ready, get evil.”

“We drop in five.”

.

X  X X  X  X

.

In the main officer’s tent, Adam had barely closed his eyes for a second. Then, all of a sudden, chaos sounded all around him.

He exited the door flap to see what was going on, only to find soldiers rushing in every direction.

The night sky was full of high sparkling flares, which lit up their encampment like it was day. There were fires and explosions all around the perimeter. And as if the surprise attack wasn’t causing enough disorder, there was also a high frequency ring that caused consternation to their Faunus soldiers. Also, a foul-smelling gas permeated the air, which did a number on those with keen noses.

Adam coughed with tears in his eyes. His heightened senses were assaulted on every front.

What the hell is going on?!

He tried to get a hold of one of his officers in charge, but found their communications jammed.

Damn it!

They know what they’re doing, whoever the hell this is!

Adam began shouting to his soldiers nearby, trying to bring order to his subordinates’ panic.

…

From a distance away, laying prone in the sand, a dark group of individuals peeked just over a sand dune. Their binoculars focused on the settlement ripe with chaos.

The leader of the pack went quickly to identifying the perpetrators of the attack. A certain woman seemed to blink in and out of the air, driving an icepick thin blade through key officers. A man made quick work of some figures, spilling their intestines on the ground or opening their esophagus. Another woman switched between several heavy weapons to fill bodies with bullet holes. And a particular individual, smashed through several armored stations with nothing but her fists, leaving a swath of destruction in her wake.

There were only four in all, and an impressive amount of damage caused between. They joined together, executed combos interchangeably, then split apart with perfect precision. It was a hybrid performance of both solo and coordinated movements. A deadly flow only few teams in the world could probably pull off.

Mercury Black hailed his allies through a relay of secure communication lines.

“—Mercury, report,” Cinder Fall’s voice came from the other end.

“They’re here. The White Queen’s favorite pipe-hitters, including the one-arm wonder,” Mercury said.

“I see. So, the one called Ember is finally getting here revenge after all these years. I knew Tyrian would break.”

“What should we do, boss?”

“……The status of Blake Belladonna?”

“She disappeared for a day, came back around the afternoon. No other changes.”

“Hm.”

Mercury could hear Cinder tapping on her desk in thought.

“…It seems our joint enterprise with Adam Taurus has reached a most disappointing conclusion.”

He understood what the statement meant.

“Copy that,” Mercury shrugged indifferently. “And the surveillance on Belladonna?”

“She returned, you said… Resume recon. In the instance she disappears again, do try to keep track of her this time.”

“Easier said than done without being seen.”

“That will be all. Keep monitoring the situation, and report the aftermath.”

“Roger that.”

The line went dead, and Mercury gave a tired sigh.

“Hahhh, what a slave driver.”

The man continued to peer through his binoculars, once in a while gnawing on a food ration snack. He watched the massacre, like he was watching one of his favorite shows. And then, a depraved smile appeared on his lips.

“Sucks, buddy. But sometimes, when you gotta go—”

“—You gotta go.”

.

X  X X  X  X

.

On Adam’s right, the soldier had his chest cavity opened with a cross-slash. On his left, a woman’s head was blown clean off with a single shot.

One White Fang lieutenant moved in front of the leader, probably trying to shield him from what came next. His body was large and the chainsaw in his hands was massive.

“—Hollow Point.”

On Coco’s order, a blazing yellow figure dashed in front of the giant Faunus. Neo laced Yang’s fist with pointed glass, while she entered the man’s guard.

The lieutenant swung his rippling chainsaw across, but Yang dipped her head below it. Then, with her crystal encrusted fist, snapped a vicious liver blow to the body. On piercing the skin, the glass shattered, sending countless shards tearing through inner organs. Some of the shrapnel cut so sharp, blades popped out the other sides of the body.

The White Fang lieutenant collapsed to his knees first, then his face hit the dirt.

The flares in the sky gave out. Nothing but the fiery remains of the army and their tents gave visibility to the four figures before Adam.

The man stepped inadvertently back.

“—Hey, asshole,” Yang greeted casually. “Long time no see.”

“You…!” Adam gritted his teeth with recognition.

“Yeah, me. Shoulda killed me when you had the chance~♪”

“……Coward. This is the only way you Humans can fight. Always underhanded, without a speck of honor!”

To the insult, Team CFEN only stared as if to say, “Like you have any right to talk”. They glanced to each other, before focusing on the one whose vendetta this belonged to.

“Well, I guess that’s true. We did kinda do him dirty,” Yang brandished an easygoing smirk. “So, let’s do this nice and fair. Mano-e-mano. No help, no handicaps.”

Adam had to fight down the smile from showing in his face. His opponent took his bait. But then, there were also the woman’s teammates to watch out for.

Fortunately for him, the rest of Team CFEN took some steps back. Even Neo postured herself on the dead corpse of the White Fang Lieutenant. The other three all but communicated their intention to simply let the duel proceed without interruption. Something Yang probably requested beforehand.

Adam lowered his body into his signature iaido stance. A menacing bloodlust leaked from the stillness of his sword-drawing form.

He recalled Yang’s data and Semblance. Adam’s technique was its perfect opposite when applied correctly. He wouldn’t give Yang the chance to build her energy from his attacks. The swordsman would end it with a single move, one fatal swing of his blade.

Yang cracked her knuckles challengingly. The previous glow of her hair was nonexistent, giving muteness to her Semblance. But the red of her eyes seemed to glint something hungry.

The woman lowered into her own fighting stance. Her boots ground into the rough sand and dirt. The right of her armed prosthetic drew back, while the left stretched out to lead.

All was still in the tense atmosphere. Every crackle of fire was like thunder in a brewing storm. The contest of wills built until its pinnacle moment.

Then, a burning tent collapsed under the strain, giving signal to their duel.

Simultaneous explosions occurred as both combatants kicked off the ground. They pulled the triggers on their respective weapons, which propelled them with a shock and a bang. The space between them was a mere ten paces, but it served as enough momentum for their clash.

Despite the great force produced by both, only one side would bear the suffering of catastrophic ruin.

The moment Adam drew his sword barely out from its sheathe, a few trace flames licked up and down Yang’s arm. The woman’s gold mane burned a scorching crimson.

At the same time Adam was caught off-guard by the surprise appearance of Yang’s Semblance, the boxer bypassed the man’s sword range. Her arm pitched forth like a howling star, connecting her knuckles with Adam’s own.

Caught between burning steel and the hilt of his blade, the swordsman’s hand was crushed. The impact of the clash sent him crumpling to the ground. His katana flew through the air with some parts of his crushed fingers.

“GRAAAGGHHH!!!” Adam painfully sprawled in anguish, grasping his twisted appendage to his body. “How…?! How did you—”

“My Semblance hasn’t worked that way for a loooong time,” Yang gloated, swaggering towards him with a triumphant strut.

With an uncanny movement, Adam picked his sword off the ground with his remaining hand, and swung it…

But Yang caught it with ease. And with a violent motion, ripped it from his grasp like taking it from a child.

“Okay, this is getting pathetic.”

“I’LL KILL YOU!!!” Adam frothed. “I SWEAR, I’LL KILL YOU!!!”

“Huh, no wonder you lost. Should’ve known you never had it in you—not the real stuff anyway.”

“I WILL DESTROY YOU AND EVERYTHING YOU LOVE! My rage will never stop! You’ll never escape me!!!”

“HAHAHA!” Yang cackled. “Your Rage?”

She used Adam’s sword to peel off the man’s White Fang mask. The scar of “S.D.C.” branded on his eye was revealed.

“Your cause, your beliefs?” Yang continued. “They’re nothing but an excuse for you to throw your tantrum,” she growled low. “You think you own Rage? Adam… Your hate doesn’t even burn.”

The woman strode to him with ominous steps. Adam felt his soul culled, as he struggled to crawl away. But an unforgiving hand clasped hard around his throat, forcing him to turn around.

“Look at me…!”

Above him, was the crimson inferno of hate personified. Yang bore down on him with eyes of accursed stars. Her hair stoked with unfettering embers.

“My Rage is my Semblance. It lets me run cold, and it also burns me from the inside out,” she breathed, with plumes of flame. “And I saved a lot of it, just for today…”

Adam tried to look away again, but Yang smacked him across the face one way, then back the other. She hoisted him up, single-handed like a dangling ragdoll.

“Any last words?” she asked.

“………Please…!”

“Nope.”

Yang sank a fiery fist through Adam’s heart, and rested it there. With a violent twist of her wrist, she unloaded a special thermite charge, which sparked a conflagration in the man’s chest. His insides began to melt like lava, while Yang’s Semblance burned, slow but sure.

“I owned my scars, but you tried to hide yours behind a mask,” she muttered disappointedly. “My anger could never lose to yours.”

As the lights dimmed in Adam’s sight, he remembered something told to him long ago.

“I pity you,” the voice said. “One day, your so-called Rage will fail you. Because you don’t have it. The fire that comes from a pain so hard and so deep, it defines you.”

Adam tried to reach out to that person. The only one who could possibly save him.

“Pray the day never comes,” Raven Branwen said, over her shoulder. “This is farewell, my old apprentice.”

…

The remnants of Adam’s body collapsed. Nothing but ash and dying embers at the end of Yang’s outstretched hand. And with a violent swipe of her foot, scattered the remains of his existence into the desert winds.

“A coffin’s too good for you, Adam. I already forgot who you were,” Yang spat.

Suddenly, a voice came over her in-ear radio.

“—That was certainly dramatic.”

“You were watching? That’s naughty.”

“…We’re on a private channel,” Weiss cautioned. “Tell me how the others are reacting.”

“Hm?” Yang wasn’t sure the reason, but did as she was told. “They look the same as ever,” she whispered, while glancing at her teammates. “Why…was someone supposed to stop me?”

The line went quiet for a second.

“……I’ll explain later. Keep a close eye on them, report any changes. Withdraw immediately.”

“Alright,” Yang grunted. “On our way back.”

After the line cut, the woman could only imagine what that private conversation was about. But for now, she wanted to take a little peace in what she just finished. It’s not everyday someone gets to settle a decade-old grudge after all.

“—You done savoring the moment, hot rod?” Coco asked, with a roguish grin.

Yang inhaled and nodded.

“Moment, savored. Let’s bug out, and get plastered.”

Coco tapped her radio.

“Penny, we are ready for pickup. I repeat,”

“Get us out of this sandbox.”

.

X  X X  X  X

.

It was early morning the next day, when a small party was held in Team CFEN’s private hangar. The members drank, talked, and played a few games. It was a tradition they enjoyed after completing missions, especially satisfying ones. And the successful assassination of Adam Taurus counted among that.

“Oh!” Coco responded to the vibrating scroll in her pocket. “It’s a message from Vel.”

Fox and Yang perked up at that.

“How is she today?” Yang asked.

“She’s doin’ alright. Rehabs still a bitch. Wondering where I am and what I’m doing, always worrying.”

“Aw, cute.”

“Shut up.”

“Winter said we’re doing a cycle in Atlas. Good time for us to pay a visit?”

Coco smiled wryly, appreciating the sentiment itself.

“Thanks, guys.” She instinctively included Fox, who was giving her the same look as Yang. “I…just don’t know if she’s ready for it yet.”

“No problem,” Yang nodded with understanding.

“Hey! Speaking of babes, Neo! You gonna show us some pictures of yours, or what?”

The silent woman took out her scroll, and began showing a number of pictures proudly to her team. Laughter and awe sounds cascaded the walls of the hangar.

Meanwhile, watching the gathering below, two figures leaned on the railing of the second-floor walkway.

“—They’re impressive. Team CFEN,” Ruby commented, with her own drink in hand.

“They’ve been trained to manage much bigger threats and combat more formidable enemies than Adam Taurus,” Weiss replied.

“Like the Maidens and Salem…”

“Yes.”

“And Relics, and tougher swordsmen, like Raven Branwen.”

“Yes…”

Ruby stared at her partner a little.

“So why do you need Team WISE?”

“…”

“Weiss?”

Weiss suddenly took out her scroll, which notified her of something.

“…It looks like Iris has arrived. I wonder what might have brought this on so soon after she left,” she feigned amusement.

The doors to the hangar opened, and a dark figure came stalking through the room. Her shoes falling hard on the metal surface, making everyone known of her arrival.

“WEISS! YANG!” Blake shouted with anger.

“Oh, geez. Party pooper’s here,” Yang drunkenly chuckled with her nth beer in hand.

As Blake was about to run at her, a scarlet cape fluttered between them. Ruby started holding her friend back as much as she could.

“It was you, wasn’t it?!” Blake accused, while trying to get through. “Your team was responsible for the attack last night! You were the ones who killed Adam!”

“—Uh, you’re welcome?” Coco tilted her head quizzically.

“Am I supposed to be grateful?!”

“Kinda expected it, yeah, to be honest. Also, long time no see, kitty cat.”

“YANG!”

“—Mmm… Am I drunk enough to do this?” Yang eyed her beer bottle, and chugged what remained. “Yup. I’m game.”

As the woman was about to engage from the other side, it was Weiss who dropped in her way.

“I won’t allow any fighting like this,” she stopped coolly.

“Serious? Come ON, it’ll be fun—”

“No. That’s an order. Stand down.”

Yang traded death stares for a second, before casually knitting her hands around the back of her head.

“Boooo~!”

“—Damn it!” Blake still struggled to free herself from Ruby. “You can’t just come here, doing whatever you want, taking things into your own hands!!! There are consequences!!!”

“Yeah, like getting a loud complaint from the fun police…”

“If you just solve everything this way, you’re no better than Adam!”

“I don’t even know who that is.”

“YANG!!!”

“—Enough!” Weiss’s voice pierced them both.

Her calm and frosty demeanor enforced her stance.

“This is what we do, Blake. We see the wisdom in the moves to be made, and we take the measures which need taking. Nothing more, nothing less.”

“That can’t justify everything…!”

“It justifies enough.”

“You know the long-term problems you’ve caused! The Southern Tribes aren’t going to give up just because Adam is dead! You turned him into a martyr!”

“Vacuo’s civil war will end.”

“The Kingdom is more divided than ever! More Faunus from the North are converting to the South by the second!”

“And with enough unrest, Vacuo will have no choice but to split into two separate states.”

“…!” Blake shook her head in disbelief. “You planned for that, too…”

“Somewhat.”

“You left the Kingdom worse than it was! It’ll take years to recover, maybe even centuries before they’re willing to unite again!!!”

“We stopped them from self-destructing, and from you dying with them.”

“You’re still trying to recruit me…! After EVERYTHING you’ve done?!”

“Join and add your counsel.”

“What?!”

“If you hate what we do so much, help us do better. Join the team. Otherwise, there’s no grounds for your opinion to be heard.”

“…I don’t have a choice, do I…?!” Blake growled with displeasure. “You’ll keep interfering with Vacuo.”

“With or without you. But with you, we can intervene only as you deem fit.”

Blake finally stopped trying to push Ruby out of the way. The rising and falling of her shoulders slowed. Her glare still fixed on the silver-haired woman, the target of her righteous ire.

“Congratulations, Weiss,” Blake seethed with her forging pact.

“…”

“You’ve become everything you ever hated—but at least, you have your team.”

“…”

“Your sister would be ashamed of you.”

Immediately, Team CFEN tensed and moved from their passive spectating. Ruby shoved Blake back, upsettingly shaking her head, like the woman had gone too far. And Yang particularly, burned with the fierce Aura of her Semblance, readying to throw a punch.

But all hostilities ceased, when Weiss raised a hand to stop them.

“I see,” she gave a short reply. “Welcome to Team WISE—”

“Iris.”

.

X  X X  X  X

.

In Weiss’s private chambers, an angry Yang pinned her against the wall.

“What the hell are you thinking…?!” she snarled.

“I’m thinking, I successfully recruited the last member of our team,” Weiss simply answered.

“Blake is the last person we need! And again, I find myself wondering: Why do we need Team WISE? CFEN just kicked ass, if you weren’t paying attention—except you were, ‘cause I heard you in my ear after I turned Adam into grey mist. So, what the shit?!”

“…Team WISE is essential to our operations going forward. Blake is essential to Team WISE; thus, the logic follows.”

“Bullshit!” Yang punched the wall. “You don’t keep me on the outs! Tell me the real reason NOW!”

“…”

“I deserve to know. I was there for everything. Suddenly, you’re going to start keeping secrets from me?”

“I was planning to tell you tomorrow, when you were more sober, but I can tell you today if you like.”

“Now’s good.”

For a moment, Weiss closed her eyes in thought. Her chest expanded and shrunk with her exhale. Yang’s gaze dropped slightly, before righting again.

“I intercepted a coded message from someone with access to the team’s private network,” Weiss explained. “It was being sent to Cinder Fall.”

“……Someone on the team is a spy?”

“Yes. Now, you know.”

“That’s why you had me read the others, after I dusted Adam.”

“It was a test of sorts.”

“You had me bait a trap.”

“I knew whatever happened, you would survive.”

Yang made an amused expression, while Weiss returned a heavily diluted version of it.

“Hahhh, that is a reason not to lean on Team CFEN, I guess,” the woman admitted. “But how sure, are you?”

“I’m sure,” Weiss flatly confirmed.

“Any ideas on who it is?”

“I have my suspicions.”

“…Don’t we already know? It’s kind of obvious, right?”

“Things aren’t always what they seem. It could be any of them. The only one I’m sure it isn’t, is you.”

“Aw.”

“Shut it.”

They both went silent. Weiss planned to let Yang take as much time as she needed to process. A few times, a hissed word of “shit” escaped her.

“Okay…” Yang worded slowly. “But even if Team CFEN is compromised, you and I could always take up the work. We’re more than enough.”

“We are not. That is why I am recruiting,” Weiss disapproved.

“Right! Because we’re going to be SO much more effective with Blake Dysfunctionallona on our team.”

“…That wasn’t your best pun.”

“I’m still a little drunk. Sue me.”

“Blake Belladonna is a commander of the White Fang and has led her armies to victory against impossible odds.”

“I read the file…”

“Ruby Rose is the youngest Vice Headmaster Beacon Academy has ever had, and is a veteran Huntress, who’s slain some of the deadliest Grimm to roam Remnant.”

“That’s up for debate.”

“Inform me, Yang. Who else can we trust, recruit readily, and who possess the same pedigree as those two?”

“………Fuuuuuuuuck~”

“I’m relieved you see my point,” Weiss crossed her arms, signaling her victory in the argument.

“Everything’s gonna really suck now, isn’t it?”

“The most trying times are to come. Building this team took long enough. We must start operating as soon as possible.”

“After our shore leave in Atlas, right?”

“…”

In response to Weiss’s dead stare, Yang covered her face in her hand.

“We have work in Atlas?! Ahhh! Well, my buzz is killed.”

“I’m so sorry that’s the case,” Weiss replied in monotone.

…

As Yang’s mood worsened, she pressed her head into Weiss’s shoulder. From there, she began nibbling the other woman’s exposed neck and collar.

“No.” Weiss’s cold fingers went to block Yang’s lips from going any further. “This isn’t the time.”

“How? We’re on autopilot for what’s supposed to be a two-day flight, at least. How is there not time?”

“Despite what your assumptions may be, fulfilling the roles of brigadier general for the Atlesian Fleet and running our teams’ operations is a time-consuming effort.”

“Aren’t you just afraid of Ruby finding out?”

“About, what? Our fling?”

“A fling? Is that what you wanna call this?” Yang questioned.

“We took comfort in each other during a vulnerable moment. It’s hardly more than a one-night stand.”

“Yeah, except one-night stands don’t last more than one night.”

“…”

“Or a few years.”

“…”

“Or semi-current until you shipped me off for that undercover prison op.”

“…Do you have a point to make?”

“…”

Yang slid her arms down and held Weiss close.

“You really mean that?” she asked.

“I wouldn’t have said it, if I didn’t mean it.”

“………Okay.”

Yang let go abruptly, and left the room. A few seconds later, Weiss heard a loud bang come from outside the halls.

…

Alone in her chambers, Weiss felt sadness seep in. No matter what walls she tried to erect to keep them at bay, the sorrow and regret seeped through. Weiss had half a mind to go after her.

“Yang…”

Then, pain wracked her thoughts. Memories which didn’t belong to her threatened to drive her mad. Countless screams and a collapsing world harassed every shred of consciousness. Her Aura fluctuated as if to consume her from the inside.

Remember…

Remember…!

Don’t forget!

WINTER!

.

X  X X  X  X

.

It was a day since the Nautilus docked at one of Atlas’s secret hangars.

While many of the team members went their different ways, spending their shore leave however they liked, one did not do so easily.

She descended the spiraling staircase on her floating Glyph. A place deeper than anywhere in Remnant swallowed her up. Down and down she went, like falling slowly into the endless abyss.

When she reached the bottom, Weiss could sense a presence in the pitch-black darkness.

“—Adam Taurus’s passing was rather untimely,” a voice called to her from the shadows.

Weiss knew this person heard echoes from the outside world, despite their isolation. Regardless, it was still a disturbing feat.

“…His death was a necessary one.”

“Hm. A wise course of action,” the old woman commented. “Though I can’t imagine you did Vacuo any favors by ending him so prematurely.”

“Time is of the essence.”

“It always is, isn’t it?”

“Where is the Spring Maiden?”

“Wouldn’t we like to know?”

“Where is the Spring Maiden?!” Weiss pressed harder. “Where is her Relic?!”

“Follow the bread crumbs… But what bread crumbs, when they’ve all been eaten away?”

Weiss lost her temper, and cast light from her Myrtenaster. The sword’s shine illuminated the chained figure, as she grasped the prisoner’s hair.

“Where is the Raven Branwen?! Answer me, Salem!!”

The decrepit Witch only laughed madly in response. The oversized chains binding her neck and limbs jangled unpleasantly loud.

“Where is the Relic?!” Weiss bared her emotions.

“Where is Famine?!”

#rwby #weiss schnee #yang xiao long #Blake Belladonna #ruby rose #rwby fanfiction #rwby au #freezerburn #Team WISE

[namelessblacksheep]

THE SECRET OF SUCCESS

Spoiler alert! The real secret to being successful and feeling good is actually not a particularly big secret. It’s about a change in mindset and hard work. Boom, there you go, tick the box close the book and you’re done!

I attended a course recently and someone flashed up this mind-altering process chart which was so ground-breaking and awesome that I had to include it in this article. The basic construct was that in order to get results, all you needed to do was change your beliefs, which would, in turn, change your attitude towards things and this would thus alter your behaviours and lead to better results that ultimately would reaffirm your new beliefs. A piece of piss, right?

I was bowled over, here the trainer had unwittingly solved all the problems in the world with four words and a few arrows all neatly placed in a process chart that was more powerful than when Thanos gathered all the Infinity Stones and killed half the people on the planet. I joke of course. The idea that you can just change your beliefs for me is one of the most mind-numbingly stupid things that I have ever heard.

Success is borne out of a serious of complex commitments that lead to a transformation in how you approach everything. The inclination to even begin the uphill task of moving in a slightly different, or monumentally different, the direction is not straightforward. Even if you wake up one morning and decide that hey, I’m going to transform my life, that didn’t just happen overnight. In all likelihood, it will have come about after many failures to launch, possibly even after some moderate successes that ended up dragging you back to where you were and beyond.

Success is not easy. If it was everyone would be achieving it and no one would ever be unhappy. Look around at the world, does it seem like everyone or most people are succeeding, or are they just getting by?

I did challenge the trainer and the group I was in. I had recently hit a point where I was actually starting to feel the benefits of my hard work after many months of dedicated effort and toil. I wasn’t at the top of the mountain, but I had gotten to a ledge and was looking back over the side at how far I’d come.

I asked how they would go about getting someone to change their beliefs. Most if the room fell silent, probably only really engaging their brains fully for the first time: it was a good question. Is it really as simple as that process chart that took up one page and about 20 seconds to write suggested?

Some in the group immediately jumped to the conclusion that by challenging this oversimplified concept that perhaps I was just being a 'Gloomy Gus' or 'Negative Nancy'. At least one, heavily inferred this. A few defensive suggestions ranging from, ‘well, the individual has to want to change their beliefs’ to ‘people need to learn to just be positive and challenge their negative outlook’ came flowing.

These suggestions were so simplified and obvious that they actually didn’t offer any tangible ways people could do this. The comments were just obvious statements of fact. If you are already motivated to make a change then, of course, that flow chart simply explains the process you are engaging in, but it offers no real clue of how you even get started.

This article is not about to tell you how you get started or how you change your beliefs. The truth is I’m not sure there is a way to force people to make changes that lead to success. Perhaps that is the life lesson someone needs to learn. I was just bowled over by how simple it was all made to look: the Palestine solution right there in a four-stage process that solved everything that had been going on for centuries.

I accept that it may have been unfair to challenge what was being presented without having a solution of my own, but the reality is how anyone gets started on their journey is unique to them and chances are if you’re reading this you have come here because you have already either launched or failed to launch many times before. If that is the case, you would probably acknowledge that challenging your beliefs is one of the hardest things to do.

Undoing all of the programmings that we have had put into us until we hit a point where we’re like ‘this is fucked up and wrong’ takes something akin to a car crash to wake us up. Even after that point comes a series of disorientated conversations with ourselves and significant others until we realise that ‘shit I live in the Matrix’ or ‘damn, my life is the Truman Show’.

Sometimes the epiphanies are much more subtle, but they tend to come about through serendipitous circumstance. It is not until we ‘get it’ that we can even begin to start to look at our attitudes and behaviours, because in reality up until that realisation we thought everything was just fine.

Okay, so hopefully I have explained that the journey beginning often comes after a sudden realisation of a need to change course, and that is where the real hard work begins. Success comes on the back of much trial and error and testing.

Once we start to see the results we want then we can diligently and conscientiously start to put all the components together that in time will glean the results we want and only then will there be any hope that our beliefs and subsequent attitudes and behaviours and further results change.

All of this takes time and dedication. It is really fucking hard and there will be countless setbacks and reverting to old processes that you know don’t work along the way.

The main point of this article for me was what happens when you first start to see the success and start to feel good. How do you keep going and achieve more, whilst preventing yourself from slipping back into old patterns? As far as I am concerned success is a long road with many opportunities to turn off and encounter the odd roundabout that leads you back to square one.

An example that most people could either understand have witnessed or even worse, experienced in the game of success is around weight loss. It’s a process of life that can see radical progression and regression in a moderate time frame. You know the situation, someone loses a tonne of weight through dedication and effort. They eat right, exercise like a warrior and then get to a decent stage with themselves. They have climbed part the way up the mountain and taken a step to look over the edge. They have come so far up and they are pleased with themselves. Others have showered them with attention and praise and now they can relax right? Time to celebrate?

The inevitable then happens they end up slipping back down that mountain, and the speed of the descent is directly correlated with the measures they took to get them up it in the first place. The more shortcuts were taken the faster the rate of decline.

Now, it isn’t inevitable to give up and go back to old ways, some people accept that the brief moment you stop and look over the edge is a reminder that don’t just look down, look up too. There is still far to climb and other peaks in the distance to conquer. That pause is meant to happen, it is your reward for what you have done to date, but it’s a reminder that if you really want to succeed you have to keep going or that drop below you is where you going to end up and you know what that looks like.

Do you know how hard it was to climb that bastard and do you really want to learn all those lessons again? By all means, celebrate and enjoy, then the next day, pack up your shit and get back to work on climbing the next one and so forth.

Adopt the mentality of a mountain climber and you will understand what it takes to achieve success. The feeling good part is knowing that you will explore new terrain and one day see another vista you have never seen, even if only for a fleeting moment before you go looking for the next one. That might not sound like much of pay off, a fleeting feeling of progress, but add them up and over time, your normal is someone else’s ‘phenomenal’ or ‘insane, never going to happen’. It’s a damn sight better than feeling shit all the time and seeking the feeling through temporary means and measures that ultimately anchor you to the bottom of the mountain.

The Mountain Climber’s guide to victory

If you really want to know your full potential and to realise it, here are some suggestions on what you should be considering to prevent you from the fall. Remember climbing a mountain is not easy, and not everyone will get to the top. The risks of falling and never coming back are constant and will require a conscientious approach to the climb.

If you believe that you can climb a mountain, then chances are you’ll at least get to a ledge or two. But there will be times where when you are midway up that you might start to question that belief and there’s no telling how far you will fall if you do start to let go and fall into old ways. Here are some safety hooks that might prevent that from occurring.

Keep doing what has been working for you

This seems so obvious, but it’s something that you see people doing all the time. If something works, it means you have unlocked the key to one aspect of life and that by definition means you probably know what doesn’t work either.

Don’t unlearn something you know to be true. Also, just because something works for you, it may not work for someone else and vice versa. Stick to what works for you and keep learning stuff that works for another aspect of your life and keep adding those keys to success because they become a nuanced toolkit for a range of challenges and problems you will inevitably encounter along the way.

Don’t assume that by making headway means you are guaranteed success further up. The challenges are only getting harder, but if you have gotten that far then you are likely to be equipped with enough in your tool kit to get you past the next major issue and generally afterwards you are rewarded with a magic key that makes that previous challenge so much easier next time you encounter it.

I have said in other places that life is a bit like a video game, and once you beat the end stage boss, they are a piece of piss next time around because you BELIEVE you can beat them because you have the RESULTS to back it up. Yes, I am very aware of what I did there!

Never stop learning

Once you are done with school and formal education and training, you are not done with learning. In fact, more often than not you end up unlearning all of the stuff anyway as it doesn’t exactly prepare you for a life where you take charge of everything for yourself. I loved school and all subsequent education because I loved learning. All the subliminal programming was obvious to me from early on and I just rejected it and took what I needed.

Knowledge is the power, the application is your job to master. If you’re a ‘monkey see, monkey do’ kind of person, unlearn shit first, even if it means the warranty is invalidated. You are about to climb a mountain of epic proportions here, and all that they taught you was meant to mean you hang around at the bottom to clean up the mess. Fuck that shit!

The higher the climb the more you will realise that the information is less available because there are fewer people that have gotten so far. Some of the information you will get up at the heady heights will be bullshit because quite frankly some folk don’t want your name added to the illustrious list that they have found themselves added to. I hope that this is a small minority, but this is where you have to have confidence in the climb. You should at that point be able to see the bullshit from the true gems.

More importantly, even when the information does not exist, this is your time to gather new knowledge for yourself and be the first of all to discover it. Your lessons are your own, even when someone has done something like I alluded to in the point above, perhaps that won’t be any use to you. If you have the will and desire you will find a way and that is all, you baby. That lesson will bring its reward.

Apply your learning to new problems

The old saying goes that ‘knowledge is power’, but power is useless when in the wrong hands. If you have a gun and don’t know how to take off the safety, it’s pretty fucking useless in a home invasion situation. Worse still, pointing the barrel in the wrong direction could lead to you harming yourself more than the intruder.

Application of knowledge is real power.

Sometimes we can be given an amazing amount of information, but without putting it into a specific action or series of actions it’s just knowledge. It is rare to find information that is provided in such a specific way that we can directly apply it to our own situation. Even if the person imparting that knowledge has so much in common with us, the chances are that they will have many aspects that are different to our situation, so that knowledge will need to be processed and tested in a manner that is appropriate to our specific set of circumstances.

To go one step further, even when you learn something new, that same lesson may with a bit of logical reasoning and problem-solving could be applied to an unrelated area or issue and garner the results we are looking for.

In my experience, I found that through adopting a structured approach to developing a hobby like art and really focusing on improving each aspect led to me realising that I could apply the same principles to improve my health and fitness. The overall structure and approach was exactly the same and had garnered improving my level. I then adapted that to my diet and exercise routines. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t eat pencils and crayons, and I don’t work out with easels and paint brushes. The foundational principles could be applied to everything.

Sometimes new learning isn’t required. Applying old learning but in new ways to things the lessons were not originally learned for can be quite innovative. To be honest, if you are someone who learns a lot across subjects you start to see the similarities between completely different subjects but using similar principles that often have different terms, but ultimately similar structures. Try it, it can be a revelation.

Share what you learn

Climbing a mountain is fucking hard, so if you do learn something, don’t be an asshole: share it and be true with it. You are the master and that should reward enough, but there are a few other things to consider. By sharing what you learned, not only does it make you a better person, it ensures that you did actually learn the lesson right.

To teach others what you learned and what you know gives you a chance to really deconstruct the process or approach in such a way that sometimes you actually fully understand the full mechanics of what made it a success. You may have believed that it was X way when in fact when you really looked at it under the microscope it was Y way. This means that your own learning has just improved.

Secondly, you may share a lesson that means that the person coming up behind is able to pass on their own learning which adds to your own tool kit and might help you later on, or with those areas that you got past, but don’t truly know how you did it. Heaven forbid that the lesson you got through but can’t really fathom however shows up again. Guess what though, it will and it will be then that someone else who appeared from behind you will happily share the nugget you need.

Thirdly, chances are to even get to where you have, you have benefitted from others input, ideas, information or knowledge. You wouldn’t have succeeded without some of those other people making your life easier and not charging you for the privilege.

When you get to a stage on the mountain, see it as your civic duty to pay back all of that freeloading you did earlier on the climb. You didn’t know diddly squat before, and now you’re a mountain climbing ninja, pay that shit forward or in all likelihood, someone or an event will cut your cord at an inopportune moment. We are not here to fuck each other over, we are here to do our best and become our best. Every now and then life offers you an opportunity to pay your dues when does just embrace your inner Nike and ‘just do it’. Nike is the goddess of victory after all.

See goals as junctures, not endpoints

Given that death is an actual endpoint, at least in the lifecycle of your body, seeing your goals as endpoints mean that you are kind of saying to yourself that once you get to the biggest one that it’s the end. I’d suggest that you see goals as stepping stones towards the next ledge and even you fully scale the mountain, there are other ones that can represent new aspects of our lives and bigger challenges to achieve.

Take the person who set their goal to get beach body ready and then stepped out on the ledge and went into party mode only to slip right back down the mountain no doubt to repeat the cycle every year ad infinitum. Why not keep going and keep building on that foundation so that next year, beach body you is ready all year around and not only that you have developed other aspects of your personality as well rather than doing the rinse cycle repeat approach that never takes you past a certain point.

When you get to that point where you achieve something, that feeling it gives you no matter how fleeting is only ever going to come again if you keep pushing yourself on to the next thing. Goals are junctures on the long road to success, if you’re constantly turning off and taking a roundabout to the beginning, you will never truly get to your intended destination. You will be one of the many, rather than the few. If you’re happy with that, then great, why the fuck are you still here?

Acknowledge you victories

When you get to that ledge moment, take a good look. Look down and remember the climb, if this isn’t your first ledge remember all of the ones that got you to this point – that is how far you have to fall. Reflect on all you learned, enjoy the moment for what it is for it will be fleeting. Then take a look up to the next ledge and if you can the one beyond, those are your next steps and they start tomorrow.

I like to acknowledge my victories by taking stock of what I did to get to that point. Sometimes you don’t realise you have gotten to the ledge because it’s a feeling and often a time when others say things to you about how differently you seem or look. That’s often a time when you are too busy looking up to realise that now is the time to stop and reflect. Take a breather and ready yourself for that next rung. But don’t set up camp and don’t suddenly stop doing what you are doing.

One of the ledges that can fox people is that when everything is going really well, they meet someone new. That awesome person they have become has led them to a ledge where someone else is stood. Don’t make the mistake of seeing that as the top of the mountain, instead see it as an opportunity to climb the next stages together.

In reality, a lot of people here set up camp and do all the things that they unlearned or worse they stop doing the things that worked for them. I’d preface here that perhaps if that is happening that person is not the right one for you and you should get to climbing right away. You worked hard to get here and if the person you meet on that ledge got there via a helicopter they may end up being a dead weight on the rest of the climb and you’re going to end up cutting them loose in a traumatic ‘Cliffhanger’ moment or worse still they are going to drag you down like an anchor, not just to the base of the mountain but deep into the abyss below. That’s a big ass climb to make a second time around.

Acknowledge your victories, reflect and move on. Don’t revel in them or get sidetracked. Take what you have gained and crack on.

Understand and accept setbacks

You are not God and you do not control everything. Sometimes you will have clear skies ahead and be climbing like Ivy in the sun, but every now and then a gale or blizzard will sweep in and knock you off course. If you have been doing things carefully and methodically you won’t lose much ground but you might be stuck for a bit. Don’t despair.

Setbacks will happen and you should expect them to. That way you will be prepared for them and won’t be hindered by them for long. This is where the diligent efforts really pay off. To get to this point you will have mastered the basics and be laying groundwork every day to keep track of your progress and learning and mastering your lessons like a boss. You will stop and use the temporary delay to take a temperature check and make sure that everything is in order. You will focus on other things that have perhaps taken a backseat or recalibrate your plans into a different order in readiness for the better climate to emerge.

This is where those people who have been scaling the mountain using riskier methods will probably get found out. Helicopters in blizzards don’t fare very well. Likewise, if you beat end bosses using cheat codes and the inclement weather just blew them out of your backpack all the way up here, then you better hope that lesson you didn’t really learn doesn’t suddenly appear because sod’s law predicts that it’s the first thing that is coming at you next. If you are inclined to play a video game and refuse to take the time to save your progress, don’t cry like a bitch when the power goes out!

That’s a life lesson right there.

If you find yourself here, don’t blame the power company or God, this is your time to do some reflection and maybe change your approach.

Setbacks are merely lessons in disguise. If you haven’t prepared for them, maybe now you will. If you haven’t learned from them, chances are to get to the next stage you’re going to need to. If you have been working hard and doing everything right, perhaps the setback is to remind you to stop and every once and a while and look around, there might be a ledge or two you haven’t stopped at to really acknowledge a victory or two. Take that time now.

Build a solid foundation

The further up the mountain you climb, the more tools and lessons you should have at your disposal. Keep doing all the things that work collectively and together as part of a holistic approach. Looking after your diet, taking exercise and sleeping well are all essential if you want to set up a business or take on a new work challenge. If you are viewing things in isolation then there is only so far you can realistically go. If you’re falling off a ledge where your health and wellbeing are concerned then you are not giving yourself the foot holding or energy to scale other mountains.

Think of the mountain metaphor as a reverse reflection of you as a person. You are trying to get to the top which is the peak. In order to scale the mountain you have to reflect the mountain, which means your foundation has to be solid and strong, otherwise, you will merely crumble into the dust on the ground. Investing in your foundation and making sure that it is continually built upon will allow you to shape the rest of the peaks along the way.

Most people don’t get much further than being a ‘Flat-Earther’. This term is often used to describe people who are a bit backward, but here I’m thinking they are people so entrenched in their programming that they never really raise themselves to another level. It kind of works both ways really.

Some people may become mounds (small progress, but nothing to marvel at) and others volcanoes (in that they build to such magnificence, but ultimately something deep within them explodes and decimates them and everyone around them). I could extend the metaphor further, but I’m sure you get the point.

Looking after yourself and investing in developing yourself means that climbing that mountain and becoming it is more likely. You will be strong in your foundation and be able to build on top of it. You will be shaped and steady against the headwinds and downpours that chisel you into the magnificent façade that shines out to the world. It will be a solid structure that stands out over and above everything else and solid to the core. Without a foundation in place, it will be just like everything else.

Get the basics and balance right

I have alluded to the importance of getting the basics right above when talking about the need to build a solid foundation. People often see the basics as so obvious and boring that they decide to skip past them all together to get to the fun stuff. Getting the basics right in whatever you do will be the most important tool you have because the basics ultimately cover everything. It’s the tool you have to keep all your tools sharp and effective. On its own, well a bit basic, but plays such a significant role in your journey.

Climb a mountain with a bunch of hammers but no harness or helmet and see how far you get. Even if you get really far and then a setback comes, how far down do you fall and do you survive? Whilst the basics may not be sexy, they are the pivot and the bare minimum you need to achieve your goals. If you are doing weight training to build a strong body, but don’t do core or leg work then you won’t be able to perform bigger lifts and you will probably start to suffer injuries.

If you are eating total junk food and not getting the proper balance of minerals, vitamins and macronutrients then your body won’t work at its optimum level. Combine these two things and someone eating a good diet and building a solid foundation will achieve more than the one eating junk and pumping their chests each day.

This is where balance starts to become important. In the previous example, I suggested that people wanting to scale the mountain should reflect it. The symmetry involved in a mountain structure is what makes it so big and marvellous. The peaks are what draw the most attention. If you do too much of one thing then you may become very tall but vulnerable to toppling over if a strong weather front hits you, or you may become long and wide but ultimately hidden behind other structures.

The key is to apply the principles of building a foundation on the basics and to ensure balance across a range of aspects, only then will you become that mountain that people look at with awe and you look back happily on your life’s work from the top of the structure you built that stood the test of time.

Become the mountain by building on the foundation today. In time, with consistency, effort and applied learning you will become something magnificent that stands the test of time. To become it, you must climb it and build upon your successes as you go.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it’s the courage to continue that counts” – Winston Churchill. 

“Great things are done when men and mountains meet” – William Blake.

#how to succeed #positivevibes #change #life #self love #self improvement #self empowerment #yolo

[fathersonholygore]

Hulu’s The Path Season 2, Episode 4: “The Red Wall” Directed by Michael Slovis Written by John O’Connor

* For a recap & review of the previous episode, “The Father and The Son” – click here * For a recap & review of the next episode, click here. Last we saw Eddie Lane (Aaron Paul) he got punched out poolside while drinking with old friend and possible new flame Chloe Jones (Leven Rambin). He was then carted into the ER having a bad reaction to the booze. Will he be okay? Is it a physical reaction, or a more emotional one? We start with Sarah Lane (Michelle Monaghan), listening to a tape of Lisa Jackson (Megan Byrne) when she came to Cal Roberts (Hugh Dancy) and Meyerism. She was helped, now Cal wants his return on that investment. Because these are exactly the types of things he does, he puts in a good deed to make up for the bad he’ll do, and so the vicious cycle goes. Now Sarah wants the tax exempt status in order to quell her guilt knowing what Cal’s done. At this point she’s no better than him, either. Back to Eddie, he’s awake and in the hospital. Doctor Sally Hollins (Gretchen Hall) talks with him about why he’s there, why he lost it at the pool, the fight, all that. Chloe told Dr. Hollins about him spending “the last two decades in a cult” and now the doctor wants to help. Although this is nothing but opening a wound for Eddie. Especially when his brother’s suicide comes up. Things get trickier for Lisa, too. She’s been summoned to the compound, and this frightens her. So she goes to Abe Gaines (Rockmond Dunbar) and the authorities. But none of it’s easy, not for Lisa, not for Abe and the law. The higher-ups want the Meyerists taken care of, soon. Yet Gaines worries Cal will manipulate Lisa. Still no telling how Abe’s undercover work is going to go in the end, we might see something nasty happen. Right now they’ve got Lisa with a recording device, heading into the meeting willingly. Uh oh. Even Abe doesn’t look too sure about any of it. Everyone sees Cal differently. Hawk (Kyle Allen) buys into his bullshit, as do many of the others, Noa (Britne Oldford) and certainly Mary (Emma Greenwell). However, we can see, more and more, how Sean (Paul James) looks at him with contempt. There’s an inevitable confrontation. At the same time we see the sadness of one of Cal’s lectures, as they each take turns changing the colour of the wall. All visualisation. Seeing everybody excited like they’re literally watching it change is soul crushing. And now Sean can see through Cal. It hurts for many reasons, not only because that baby’s likely not his, but rather most of all because he actually let Cal hypnotise him into that way of life. Richard (Clark Middleton) and Kodiak (James Remar) aren’t stopping in their quest. They don’t know who hurt Steve (Keir Dullea). Kodiak is intent on finding who did, Cal or not, by any means necessary. While Richard’s worried big accusations will “harm the movement” and, rightfully, wants proof. They’ll eventually discover one kill Cal has under his belt, sooner or later I’m sure. But was it him who killed Steve? Could it have been Eddie?

At the hospital Sarah arrives to see Eddie, who isn’t impressed he’s being followed. Is he? I believe it, though I also believe she had nothing to do with that. Probably Cal, knowing his devious nature. Sarah keeps talking about knowing “your damage” and using all the Meyerist buzzwords. Simultaneously, Eddie rejects the movement and loves his wife deeply. One of the saddest parts of any of the plots in The Path. Over in the new building Cal runs into a man who’s now homeless because of the building the Meyerists bought. He also gets a bottle tossed at him in the dark. Oh, the joys of being in a cult! Dr. Hollins diagnoses Eddie with PTSD, giving him medication to soothe the anxiety, et cetera. She refers him to a support group, as well. “You‘re free now, Mr. Lane, and you can have a wonderful, productive life.” To which he has no real response. He knows it’s true, and all the same, isn’t it tough to admit you’ve spent a huge portion of your life working towards a fraudulent goal? I think so. Eddie is caught between so many things. On top of that could be the guilt of killing Steve. At least he’s got Chloe around, she does care for him and wants to see him escape the cult, sheltered life he was living behind for good. Hawk has a charged moment with Noa, as she rejects him for being a “boy” when they’re at a private concert together. What we do see is that Hawk’s not totally lost in the movement. Not yet, anyways. That is coming quickly. In other news, Sarah flips at Cal for having her husband followed. Then they get into their shared darkness. We see in this scene, as we do others, how the people in a cult – even the leaders – start at a point where they want to do good, they even are good people, and somewhere along the line that disappears, fading into obscurity as the individual good winds up above the good of the whole. Cal: “You can‘t win. Someone always suffers.” The day of Lisa’s visit to the commune comes. Before Cal can go meet her, Kodiak hauls him aside; he’s found a rabbit eating his strawberries. He asks Cal about the “weight of leadership” on his shoulders. Or does he see the weight of something else, and this is his way to get under the new leader’s skin? Oh, I think he’s a tricky one, that Kodiak. Once Lisa gets to her meeting, she finds out she’s meeting Sarah. Hmm. Now Sarah brings up everything about when Lisa was there, how they helped her. This is a wildly tense scene. Then Lisa reveals she’s recording them, silently, and the meeting is over. The law thwarted. A situation getting more crazy by the minute. Speaking of crazy, Sean goes to see Eddie. About his doubts. They sit and talk together, Sean worries about his child – that’s not his – with Mary, and everything else bearing down on him. Eddie says he wishes he could be with his family: “But, I can‘t have that,” he says solemnly. He tries to tell Sean that it’s all about his life with Mary, their marriage, nothing else. Eddie: “No one can change the colour of a white wall”

Later, we find out Noa’s mother is a music mogul, of some sort. Sarah then tells Cal about giving Lisa the tape of her ‘unburdening’ back, after she revealed the recording device on her. We hear more of her tape, too. She hit a kid on a scooter, a street kid she says. And then she lived with the guilt. So finally, Cal figures out there’s somebody undercover in their ranks. This visibly has him shaken; Sarah’s equally disturbed. And Eddie, he’s decided to start taking his medication. He sees further how the damage of the cult spreads. First him, now Sean, and countless more will come eventually. He even takes off his ring, heads out to a support group and introduces himself. Can he turn the page on Meyerism? Or will events now out of his control pull him back into the void?

Fuck, what a great series! This second season is stellar, no matter what others say. Plenty of material to keep going, plus there’s a couple extra episodes this time around. The Path – Season 2, Episode 4: “The Red Wall” Hulu's The Path Season 2, Episode 4: "The Red Wall" Directed by Michael Slovis…

#Aaron Paul #Cult #Emma Greenwell #Hugh Dancy #Hulu #Meyerism #Michelle Monaghan #The Path

[jamessiimon]

Free, ready for the adventure but alone.

In my late teenage years I had an irrational fear of being alone, a fear that slowly engulfed my entire being, rendering me unable to comfortably walk home alone from university, go to a party before at least one other person that I knew had arrived or to just be with myself for more than thirty minutes. The only time I found solidarity to be some form of a pleasure was during an overnight shift at work, where there were other people working throughout the same building or while sleeping but only if there was someone else in the house or apartment. Actually, the only time within my day that I was completely alone and somewhat comfortable with being alone was when I was driving. Driving allowed a calming affect to fill my anxious mind letting me relax until some dickhead did something to piss me off.

My fear became so overwhelming that I found myself sub-consciously planning my days activities with who I could go with and if I were to venture alone, then the rest of the time preparing myself for the task at hand. I didn’t and still don’t understand the fear nor did I realise I was even suffering from it until later in my life. I only remember that I had this all over nervousness feeling and I was always overthinking that people or things were around me but not actually there or even true.

I do not and have never suffered from being nervous for the usual reasons that someone might find themselves affected; I was a confident public speaker, I loved performing off and on the stage, I was a strong competitor in many different sports some at an international level and I was never afraid of my opinion being heard. But put me in a room alone with just me, myself and my overthinking mind and you would open the door to find me just as a child that was scared of the boogieman under his bed would have been, scared, unable to sleep and a blubbering mess.

I am really unsure whether other people caught onto my fear or if it was even obvious that I was struggling with it.

At the end of my university studies, I was one of the lucky fifteen to be selected to represent the school in a performance to open the biggest circus competition in Paris, France. As a graduating student that was eager to perform in Europe with my art, I decided that after the performance instead of going back to Australia with the rest of the troupe, I would remain in Paris to experience the European way of life, see the architecture and art establishments and finally make a comprehensive decision to, if I were to enjoy it, find work and stay here to start my life.

My family were supportive of the decision, even though they didn’t really have a say in the matter; it was in my mind that I was going, was something that I wanted and I was going to do it, supported or not. They were understandably nervous for me; but I didn’t feel nervous or scared. Maybe it was the excitement of finally seeing Europe, maybe the chance to perform in Paris or the opportunities that it may have created. Maybe the unknown of what lay ahead blocked all the feelings of the enormity of the task I had set myself. The date of departure crept closer and closer and looking back at the situation I was confident and stupid, which is a dangerous mix.

    Side note: to anyone looking to travel and maybe stay in their country of choice to work or live, make sure you do all your research into the correct visas to stay and work within the country. Don’t do what I did and just wing it!

Departure day and I said my goodbyes to my family and friends for a unknown amount of time, boarded the flight with the rest of the crew but was not seated next to them them as a close friend had organised special treatment for me, putting my seat closer to the front of the plane. Before take off, I was introduced to the captain, head of the cabin crew and Stephanie, my cabin crew assistant that was there if there was anything I needed during my flight.

I made my final call to my friend thanking him for the strings he had pulled and then to my mother, who was already crying and just before I started to cry I was asked to turn off all electronic devices. It is funny how a long-haul flight of 32 hours can at moments feel extremely short. The first four hours were like five minutes, with the excitement of leaving, the wonder of what it was going to be like and a bottle of champagne, you are a little drunk, eat something and finally pass out. When you wake up dying for some water, you look at your inflight map to see that you have finally left Australia. I remember looking around the cabin and almost everyone was sleeping as it was around 3am in Melbourne and that is when the letter my mother had given me just before walking through security telling me to “read it on the plane” passes through my thoughts.

When on a plane I find it to be a very individual experience, even though you might be with friends or a lover, you’re in a way alone. You have your own chair with t-v screen just for you and that only you can listen too. This creates a “personal space” that if you’re luck will remain your own personal space. You eat alone, sleep alone and are in a way alone, even though your neighbour can be only 10cm away from you in the next seat.

I totally make a “personal space” bubble when on a plane and only break it to go talk with the stewards when I cannot sleep (this always puts you in their good books). Once aboard I find my seat, keep what I need for the flight at my feet and stow my other carry-on, greet my neighbour which is normally quite short as with long-haul flights as they are wanting to sleep or if they are like me binge watch as many movies or series as possible before the flight ends.

But for now my mind was fixated on the letter. Opening the seal was like opening Pandora’s box; not knowing what dangers lurked within. My heart was pounding and I was already on the verge of tears, adding to the time it took to break the seal. Finally, I ripped the envelope open just as you should rip a Band-Aid plaster off, quick and painless.

It was a hand written letter, a couple of pages long and made me cry before I was even a quarter of the way through. With the conclusion of the last “I love you and already miss you” smudged by a tearstain, I was a mess and ugly crying.

Ugly crying is when you’re not just shedding a tear that rolls down your face but when an event leaves you coughing, spluttering and sniffing. You are short of breath unable to breathe like you have been hit in a chest or are winded. There are certain places that it is ok to ugly cry. A funeral, the emergency room at a hospital and in your living room after the scene in Armageddon, when Liv Taylor has to say goodbye to Bruce Willis, her father, so that he can save the world from a giant asteroid that is on a crash course with the Earth. But to ugly cry on a plane…

My pitiful display was broken by the light touch of Stephanie’s hand, she embraced me briefly before saying that “she would be back”, returning with another bottle of champagne. Four movies, two meals and a swap of planes later saw us less than an hour from our destination, Paris.

Once in Paris there was so many new experiences that I don’t even have words to describe how amazing they were. The Louvre, Eiffel Tower and Arc De Triomphe are all breath taking. But it was the little things that really made me fall in love with Paris. It's bakeries especially the baguettes and croissants, the ease and accessibility of its public transport, the city’s architecture, the rudeness of the locals and when I was there it had and continued to snow.

There is something wonderful about snow in a city, it is wonderfully beautiful, it’s so white and pure. When we first arrived we had left 40 degrees in Australia and arrived in Paris with -6, for people that have never experienced this before it is like walking into the freezer or cool room at your local supermarket but you are outside and you can only escape it by retreating inside.

For the week we were in Paris as a team, we rehearsed all together and when we had any amount of free time we explored the Parisian tourist destinations. The performance went superbly, 4000+ spectators, watching 15 Australian circus artists open one of the biggest circus competitions of the world.

Before I could think of what had occurred in the past week, it was time to say goodbye to my colleagues and for the first time in my life I was completely alone, seventeen thousand kilometres from home, my family and friends and my mother tongue language. I stood in my little Parisian apartment and I had never felt more free, scared and motivated. There is something about being completely alone in a foreign city that liberates you. You can decide to do what your heart desires. You can sit and watch the world pass you with your espresso and croissant. You can decide to visit a museum and spend endless hours watching and re-watching the masterpieces, the same masterpieces that a few days ago you had to miss, as others wanted to be somewhere else. You have you and only you to worry about. No need to consider what other people wanted within the group, no need to wait in places you didn’t want to be, do the things that the group wanted to do but you were not fond of. There was no need to creep around your apartment in the night or worry that someone could hear you having sex. I was free, ready for my adventure and alone.

It has been almost four years since my first departure date. I have travelled on countless flights, visited most of Europe and have been to countries that I would have never dreamed of visiting. I have had three different visas for three different countries to try and remain in Europe, numerous immigration interviews and a denial into the UK as they thought I was looking to stay illegally. I have lived in the most expensive hotels and with not a Euro or Dollar to my name. I have been part of a company and was used in five different performances taking me to all parts of Europe, the same company that used me almost kaput and owes me €10,000. I have been in charge of a group that performed from Israel through Europe and the USA. I created a company and a show together with some close friends; we have produced, sold and performed it throughout Europe. I went back home to Australia to organise my Italian citizenship, so that I can remain in Europe. The continent I wanted to and have created my life in. I have travelled the world with my art and will continue to do so. I have left everything I knew including all my family and friends back home to pursue my dream. It was the hardest task I have ever set myself, a task I had no idea the outcome of or the difficulty it incurred to achieve it. But with everything, the good and the bad, I am a better person. I have learnt from my mistakes, grown from experience, met some amazing friends and people I consider my European family. For the most part of my adventure, I had to overcome my fear and accept that I was going to do this alone. I spent a lot of time alone, something I now treasure instead of cower away from.

A dream, goal or ambition is something you aspire too, something that seems impossible. To make the impossible possible, you must go through life’s twisted journey that will give you the highest of highs. And then when the lowest of lows arrive and you’re broken and ready to give up, you and only you have to find the reason why you began all of this. Remember the hard work you have put in, the supporters you have and your ambition. But the biggest motivation I had was the realisation of how far you have come. To achieve a dream, ambition or goal will take everything you have within you, but that’s the best part, it is within you.

#blog #europe #paris #dream #inspire #adventure #goal #support #hope #etihad

[airoasis]

Nationalism vs. globalism: the new political divide | Yuval Noah Harari

New Post has been published on https://hititem.kr/nationalism-vs-globalism-the-new-political-divide-yuval-noah-harari/

Nationalism vs. globalism: the new political divide | Yuval Noah Harari

Chris Anderson: hi there. Welcome to this TED Dialogues. It’s the primary of a series that’s going to be completed in line with the present political upheaval. I don’t know about you; I’ve turn out to be really concerned concerning the growing divisiveness on this country and on the earth. No one’s listening to one another. Right? They don’t seem to be. I imply, it feels like we want yet another sort of conversation, one that is based on — I do not know, on reason, listening, on working out, on a broader context. That is at least what we’re going to try in these TED Dialogues, establishing today.And we could not have any one with us who i’d be more excited to kick this off. It is a mind correct here that thinks most of the time like no person else on the earth, i might hasten to claim. I am critical. (Yuval Noah Harari laughs) i am severe. He synthesizes history with underlying suggestions in a technique that variety of takes your breath away. So, a few of you are going to know this booklet, "Sapiens." Has anybody here read "Sapiens"? (Applause) I imply, I would not put it down. The best way that he tells the story of mankind by way of gigantic recommendations that fairly make you feel in a different way — it’s sort of mighty. And here is the comply with-up, which I think is being released in the united states next week. YNH: Yeah, next week. CA: "Homo Deus." Now, that is the history of the next hundred years. I’ve had a chance to learn it. It can be incredibly dramatic, and that i daresay, for some humans, rather alarming. It is a need to-read. And actually, we couldn’t have anyone higher to aid make experience of what in the world is taking place on the earth correct now. So a warm welcome, please, to Yuval Noah Harari.(Applause) it is nice to be joined by way of our acquaintances on fb and around the web. Hi there, fb. And all of you, as I begin asking questions of Yuval, provide you with your own questions, and now not always about the political scandal du jour, but about the broader understanding of: the place are we heading? You competent? Ok, we’re going to go. So right here we are, Yuval: New York city, 2017, there’s a new president in power, and shock waves rippling all over the world. What on this planet is happening? YNH: I consider the basic factor that occurred is that we’ve lost our story. People think in studies, and we try to make experience of the arena by means of telling reviews. And for the last few many years, we had a very simple and really attractive story about what’s taking place on the earth. And the story stated that, oh, what’s going down is that the economic climate is being globalized, politics is being liberalized, and the blend of the two will create paradise on this planet, and we simply need to hold on globalizing the economic system and liberalizing the political method, and the whole thing will be distinctive.And 2016 is the second when an extraordinarily big section, even of the Western world, stopped believing on this story. For just right or dangerous explanations — it’s not relevant. Humans stopped believing in the story, and when you wouldn’t have a story, you do not comprehend what’s happening. CA: part of you believes that that story used to be actually an extraordinarily effective story. It labored. YNH: to a degree, sure. In accordance to a few measurements, we are actually within the first-rate time ever for humankind. Today, for the first time in history, more individuals die from eating too much than from consuming too little, which is an powerful fulfillment. (Laughter) additionally for the first time in historical past, extra persons die from historical age than from infectious illnesses, and violence is also down. For the first time in history, more people commit suicide than are killed by crime and terrorism and warfare put together. Statistically, you might be your own worst enemy.As a minimum, of all the humans on the planet, you’re definitely to be killed by using your self — (Laughter) which is, once more, very good information, in comparison — (Laughter) compared to the level of violence that we noticed in earlier eras. CA: however this approach of connecting the arena ended up with a giant group of folks sort of feeling neglected, and so they’ve reacted. And so we have now this bombshell that’s kind of ripping by way of the whole process. I mean, what do you make of what’s occurred? It feels just like the historical approach that folks idea of politics, the left-proper divide, has been blown up and replaced. How should we believe of this? YNH: Yeah, the historical 20th-century political mannequin of left versus correct is now mostly inappropriate, and the true divide at present is between global and national, global or local.And also you see it once more all over the sector that that is now the essential battle. We typically need absolutely new political items and fully new ways of interested by politics. In essence, what which you can say is that now we have world ecology, we now have a world economic system but we have now country wide politics, and this does not work together. This makes the political system ineffective, because it has no manage over the forces that form our lifestyles. And you’ve got in actual fact two options to this imbalance: either de-globalize the economic climate and turn it again into a countrywide financial system, or globalize the political method. CA: So some, i assume many liberals out there view Trump and his govt as style of irredeemably dangerous, simply awful in each means. Do you see any underlying narrative or political philosophy in there that’s as a minimum worth understanding? How would you articulate that philosophy? Is it simply the philosophy of nationalism? YNH: I think the underlying feeling or suggestion is that the political method — some thing is damaged there. It would not empower the ordinary man or woman anymore. It does not care a lot about the ordinary man or woman anymore, and i believe this analysis of the political disease is correct.In regards to the solutions, i am far less special. I believe what we’re seeing is the immediate human reaction: if anything would not work, let’s return. And you see it far and wide the world, that folks, just about no one in the political process in these days, has any future-oriented imaginative and prescient of where humankind goes. Practically far and wide, you see retrograde imaginative and prescient: "Let’s make the usa high-quality once more," love it was once great — I don’t know — in the ’50s, within the ’80s, someday, let’s go back there. And you go to Russia a hundred years after Lenin, Putin’s vision for the long run is essentially, ah, let’s return to the Tsarist empire. And in Israel, the place I come from, the freshest political vision of the gift is: "Let’s build the temple again." So let’s go back 2,000 years backwards.So people are pondering someday up to now we’ve misplaced it, and usually prior to now, it’s like you’ve lost your method in the city, and also you say good enough, let’s return to the factor where I felt comfy and once more. I do not feel it will work, however quite a lot of humans, that is their intestine instinct. CA: however why could not it work? "the united states First" is a very appealing slogan in lots of methods. Patriotism is, in many methods, an awfully noble factor. It can be played a function in promoting cooperation among significant numbers of humans. Why couldn’t you might have a global prepared in nations, all of which put themselves first? YNH: for many centuries, even hundreds and hundreds of years, patriotism worked quite good. Of direction, it resulted in wars an so forth, however we mustn’t focus too much on the bad. There are additionally many, many constructive matters about patriotism, and the capacity to have a massive quantity of men and women care about each and every different, sympathize with one a different, and come collectively for collective action. When you return to the primary countries, so, countless numbers of years ago, the persons who lived alongside the Yellow River in China — it used to be many, many specific tribes and they all depended on the river for survival and for prosperity, however all of them additionally suffered from periodical floods and periodical droughts.And no tribe might quite do anything about it, considering every of them managed just a tiny element of the river. And then in a protracted and tricky process, the tribes coalesced together to form the chinese language nation, which managed the entire Yellow River and had the capacity to deliver enormous quantities of hundreds of folks together to construct dams and canals and keep an eye on the river and hinder the worst floods and droughts and raise the level of prosperity for every body.And this labored in many areas around the world. But in the 21st century, technology is changing all that in a predominant method. We are now dwelling — all people on the earth — are dwelling alongside the identical cyber river, and no single nation can keep an eye on this river by way of itself. We are all dwelling together on a single planet, which is threatened by our own movements. And when you wouldn’t have some variety of world cooperation, nationalism is just not on the right stage to sort out the problems, whether or not it can be climate alternate or whether or not it can be technological disruption.CA: So it was once a wonderful proposal in a world the place many of the motion, many of the disorders, took location on countrywide scale, however your argument is that the disorders that topic most today not take place on a countrywide scale but on a worldwide scale. YNH: exactly. All the major issues of the world today are international in essence, and so they cannot be solved until by way of some form of world cooperation. It’s not simply climate exchange, which is, like, essentially the most apparent example persons give. I think extra in phrases of technological disruption. In case you think about, for example, synthetic intelligence, over the following 20, 30 years pushing thousands of millions of humans out of the job market — it is a situation on a global degree. It will disrupt the economy of all of the countries. And in a similar fashion, if you happen to think about, say, bioengineering and men and women being afraid of conducting, I have no idea, genetic engineering study in people, it will not support if just a single nation, let’s say the USA, outlaws all genetic experiments in humans, but China or North Korea continues to do it.So the united states can’t remedy it through itself, and really speedily, the pressure on the united states to do the identical shall be mammoth when you consider that we are speakme about excessive-chance, excessive-achieve technologies. If somebody else is doing it, I cannot allow myself to stay behind. The only way to have regulations, strong rules, on things like genetic engineering, is to have international regulations. For those who just have countrywide laws, nobody want to keep behind. CA: So that is fairly fascinating. It appears to me that this may be one key to provoking at least a positive dialog between the exceptional sides right here, on account that I think each person can agree that the point of a number of the anger that’s propelled us to where we are is when you consider that of the professional concerns about job loss. Work is long past, a normal lifestyle has long past, and it’s no wonder that persons are livid about that. And most commonly, they’ve blamed globalism, world elites, for doing this to them without asking their permission, and that seems like a reliable grievance. However what I hear you announcing is that — so a key query is: what is the actual cause of job loss, both now and going forward? To the extent that it can be about globalism, then the correct response, sure, is to shut down borders and preserve men and women out and alter exchange agreements and many others.However you are announcing, I think, that really the larger cause of job loss will not be going to be that at all. It is going to originate in technological questions, and we don’t have any chance of solving that until we operate as a related world. YNH: Yeah, I feel that, I don’t know in regards to the reward, but looking to the longer term, it’s not the Mexicans or chinese language who will take the jobs from the people in Pennsylvania, it is the robots and algorithms. So until you intend to build a large wall on the border of California — (Laughter) the wall on the border with Mexico goes to be very ineffective. And i used to be struck once I watched the debates earlier than the election, I used to be struck that without doubt Trump didn’t even try to frighten persons through announcing the robots will take your jobs.Now even supposing it’s now not true, it doesn’t matter. It would have been an totally potent manner of frightening humans — (Laughter) and inspiring folks: "The robots will take your jobs!" And nobody used that line. And it made me afraid, on account that it intended that no matter what occurs in universities and laboratories, and there, there is already an intense debate about it, but within the mainstream political process and among the basic public, humans are just unaware that there might be an colossal technological disruption — now not in 200 years, but in 10, 20, 30 years — and we have to do something about it now, partly on account that most of what we educate youngsters today in tuition or in university is going to be completely irrelevant to the job market of 2040, 2050. So it’s not some thing we will need to think about in 2040.We have got to consider in these days what to teach the younger people. CA: Yeah, no, surely. You’ve got usually written about moments in historical past the place humankind has … Entered a new technology, unintentionally. Choices have been made, technologies have been developed, and abruptly the world has changed, most likely in a technique that is worse for everybody. So one of the vital examples you provide in "Sapiens" is solely the entire agricultural revolution, which, for an precise individual tilling the fields, they just picked up a 12-hour backbreaking workday rather of six hours in the jungle and a way more fascinating culture. (Laughter) So are we at another possible phase exchange here, where we type of sleepwalk right into a future that none of us truly needs? YNH: yes, very much so. For the duration of the agricultural revolution, what occurred is that massive technological and financial revolution empowered the human collective, however while you look at specific individual lives, the life of a tiny elite grew to become significantly better, and the lives of nearly all of persons became radically worse. And it will occur again within the 21st century. Definitely the brand new technologies will empower the human collective.However we could turn out to be once more with a tiny elite reaping all of the advantages, taking all the fruits, and the masses of the populace discovering themselves worse than they were earlier than, without doubt a lot worse than this tiny elite. CA: and people elites might no longer even be human elites. They perhaps cyborgs or — YNH: Yeah, they might be enhanced tremendous humans. They could be cyborgs. They could be fully nonorganic elites. They could even be non-aware algorithms. What we see now on this planet is authority moving far from humans to algorithms. More and more selections — about individual lives, about financial concerns, about political issues — are clearly being taken by using algorithms. In the event you ask the bank for a loan, probabilities are your fate is determined by using an algorithm, not by using a person. And the overall influence is that maybe Homo sapiens simply misplaced it.The world is so intricate, there’s a lot knowledge, matters are changing so speedy, that this factor that developed on the African savanna tens of enormous quantities of years in the past — to cope with a specified environment, a unique volume of understanding and knowledge — it simply cannot handle the realities of the 21st century, and the one thing which may be in a position to manage it’s huge-knowledge algorithms. So no wonder increasingly authority is moving from us to the algorithms. CA: So we’re in NY city for the first of a sequence of TED Dialogues with Yuval Harari, and there is a fb are living viewers available in the market.We’re excited to have you with us. We will begin coming to some of your questions and questions of folks within the room in just a few minutes, so have those coming. Yuval, if you’re going to make the argument that we have to get past nationalism given that of the coming technological … Risk, in a way, presented by using so much of what is happening we now have acquired to have a worldwide conversation about this. Drawback is, it is rough to get men and women fairly believing that, I have no idea, AI fairly is an forthcoming threat, etc. The things that individuals, some men and women at least, care about far more immediately, probably, is local weather alternate, perhaps different disorders like refugees, nuclear weapons, and many others.Would you argue that the place we are proper now that by some means these issues must be dialed up? You’ve gotten mentioned climate change, but Trump has mentioned he does not suppose in that. So in a way, your most strong argument, you can not surely use to make this case. YNH: Yeah, I feel with local weather exchange, to start with sight, it’s relatively shocking that there is a very close correlation between nationalism and climate change. I mean, regularly, the humans who deny climate alternate are nationalists. And at first sight, you feel: Why? What is the connection? Why don’t you have got socialists denying climate alternate? However then, whilst you think about it, it’s obvious — due to the fact that nationalism has no method to local weather alternate. If you wish to be a nationalist within the twenty first century, you ought to deny the quandary.If you accept the reality of the situation, then you ought to take delivery of that, sure, there is nonetheless room on the earth for patriotism, there may be nonetheless room on the planet for having special loyalties and obligations closer to your own persons, toward your possess nation. I don’t believe any one is really pondering of abolishing that. However as a way to confront climate trade, we want further loyalties and commitments to a degree past the nation. And that must no longer be unimaginable, seeing that people can have a few layers of loyalty. That you may be loyal to your loved ones and to your neighborhood and to your nation, so why can not you also be loyal to humankind as a whole? Of direction, there are events when it becomes problematic, what to position first, however, you know, existence is elaborate. Handle it. (Laughter) CA: ok, so I would really like to get some questions from the audience right here.We’ve got a microphone here. Communicate into it, and fb, get them coming, too. Howard Morgan: one of the vital matters that has obviously made a significant change in this country and other countries is the revenue distribution inequality, the dramatic alternate in sales distribution in the U.S. From what it was 50 years in the past, and world wide. Is there anything we will do to affect that? Because that gets at quite a few the underlying factors. YNH: so far i have never heard a very good proposal about what to do about it, once more, partly seeing that most recommendations remain on the countrywide level, and the challenge is global. I imply, one notion that we hear rather lots about now’s common general earnings. However this can be a situation. I imply, I consider it is a good , but it’s a challenging notion seeing that it can be no longer clear what "universal" is and it’s now not clear what "general" is. Most persons after they speak about common normal revenue, they certainly mean countrywide normal sales. However the quandary is global.Let’s say that you have AI and 3D printers disposing of millions of jobs in Bangladesh, from all the folks who make my shirts and my sneakers. So what is going on to occur? The united states executive will levy taxes on Google and Apple in California, and use that to pay common revenue to unemployed Bangladeshis? In the event you suppose that, that you could simply as well believe that Santa Claus will come and resolve the challenge. So except we have fairly universal and not countrywide normal income, the deep problems aren’t going to go away. And in addition it is not clear what normal is, seeing that what are common human needs? A thousand years ago, simply meals and shelter was once enough. But today, men and women will say schooling is a general human want, it must be part of the bundle.However how so much? Six years? Twelve years? PhD? Similarly, with wellbeing care, shall we embrace that in 20, 30, forty years, you’ll be able to have costly remedies that may extend human life to one hundred twenty, I have no idea. Will this be part of the basket of common earnings or no longer? It is an extraordinarily elaborate challenge, seeing that in a global where people lose their potential to be employed, the one thing they are going to get is this basic revenue. So what’s a part of it is a very, very complicated ethical query. CA: there is a bunch of questions on how the arena affords it as well, who can pay. There may be a question here from facebook from Lisa Larson: "How does nationalism in the USA now compare to that between World struggle I and World struggle II within the final century?" YNH: good the excellent news, with regard to the hazards of nationalism, we’re in a much better function than a century in the past. A century in the past, 1917, Europeans have been killing every different through the hundreds of thousands. In 2016, with Brexit, so far as I take into account, a single person lost their existence, an MP who was murdered by some extremist.Only a single character. I imply, if Brexit used to be about British independence, that is the most peaceful battle of independence in human historical past. And shall we say that Scotland will now prefer to depart the united kingdom after Brexit. So within the 18th century, if Scotland wanted — and the Scots desired a couple of occasions — to interrupt out of the control of London, the reaction of the government in London used to be to send an military up north to burn down Edinburgh and bloodbath the highland tribes. My guess is that if, in 2018, the Scots vote for independence, the London govt is not going to send an army up north to burn down Edinburgh.Only a few people are now willing to kill or be killed for Scottish or for British independence. So for the entire talk of the rise of nationalism and going again to the 1930s, to the nineteenth century, within the West at least, the power of national sentiments at present is a long way, a ways smaller than it used to be a century ago. CA: although some men and women now, you hear publicly demanding about whether that maybe shifting, that there could virtually be outbreaks of violence in the united states depending on how things prove. Will have to we be concerned about that, or do you relatively feel things have shifted? YNH: No, we will have to be concerned. We must be conscious of two matters. To begin with, don’t be hysterical. We are not again within the First World struggle but. However however, do not be complacent. We reached from 1917 to 2017, not with the aid of some divine miracle, but without problems by means of human selections, and if we now begin making the improper decisions, we would be back in an analogous hindrance to 1917 in a couple of years.One of the crucial matters i do know as a historian is that you just must by no means underestimate human stupidity. (Laughter) it’s one of the most strong forces in historical past, human stupidity and human violence. People do such loopy things for no obvious rationale, but again, whilst, yet another very strong force in human historical past is human knowledge. We’ve got both. CA: now we have with us right here ethical psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who I believe has a question. Jonathan Haidt: Thanks, Yuval. So you appear to be a fan of global governance, however while you seem at the map of the world from Transparency worldwide, which premiums the level of corruption of political institutions, it can be a tremendous sea of red with little bits of yellow here and there for those with good associations.So if we have been to have some variety of global governance, what makes you feel it might end up being more like Denmark alternatively than extra like Russia or Honduras, and aren’t there possible choices, similar to we did with CFCs? There are ways to remedy international issues with country wide governments. What would world govt actually seem like, and why do you think it could work? YNH: well, I don’t know what it could appear like. No one still has a model for that. The main rationale we want it’s because many of these problems are lose-lose occasions. In case you have a win-win drawback like trade, either side can advantage from a alternate agreement, then that is anything that you can determine. With out some kind of global executive, national governments each have an curiosity in doing it. But if you have a lose-lose trouble like with climate exchange, it is way more problematic with out some overarching authority, actual authority.Now, the way to get there and what would it not appear like, I don’t know. And obviously there is no obvious intent to believe that it might appear like Denmark, or that it might be a democracy. Undoubtedly it would not. We don’t have viable democratic items for a global executive. So maybe it could seem more like ancient China than like modern-day Denmark. However still, given the dangers that we are facing, I think the critical of getting some type of actual capacity to drive via difficult choices on the worldwide stage is extra predominant than practically something else. CA: there is a question from facebook here, and then we will get the mic to Andrew.So, Kat Hebron on facebook, calling in from Vail: "How would developed nations manage the thousands of local weather migrants?" YNH: I do not know. CA: that is your reply, Kat. (Laughter) YNH: And i do not consider that they understand either. They will just deny the trouble, probably. CA: but immigration, customarily, is an extra illustration of a crisis that’s very difficult to resolve on a nation-by-nation basis. One nation can shut its doors, however possibly that stores up issues for the long run. YNH: sure, I mean — it is one more excellent case, peculiarly considering it is a lot simpler to migrate in these days than it was in the core a long time or in ancient occasions. CA: Yuval, there may be a belief among many technologists, most likely, that political considerations are style of overblown, that without a doubt, political leaders should not have that much impact in the world, that the actual resolution of humanity at this factor is by using science, through invention, via businesses, by using many matters as opposed to political leaders, and it can be truly very hard for leaders to do a lot, so we’re clearly stressful about nothing right here.YNH: good, first, it will have to be emphasized that it’s authentic that political leaders’ ability to do good is very limited, but their potential to do damage is limitless. There’s a normal imbalance right here. That you would be able to nonetheless press the button and blow all people up. You have got that sort of capability. But if you need, for example, to scale back inequality, that is very, very problematic. But to a warfare, which you can nonetheless accomplish that very without difficulty. So there’s a built-in imbalance within the political method today which is very frustrating, the place you can not do numerous good but which you can still do plenty of damage. And this makes the political method still an extraordinarily significant quandary. CA: in order you seem at what’s going down in these days, and placing your historian’s hat on, do you seem again in historical past at moments when things were going just fine and an person chief quite took the arena or their country backwards? YNH: There are fairly just a few examples, but I will have to emphasize, it is by no means an man or woman leader. I imply, somebody put him there, and a person allowed him to proceed to be there. So it can be certainly not fairly simply the fault of a single individual.There are various men and women behind every such individual. CA: Can we have now the microphone here, please, to Andrew? Andrew Solomon: you’ve gotten talked rather a lot concerning the international versus the country wide, however more and more, it seems to me, the sector trouble is within the hands of identity agencies. We seem at individuals within the USA who have been recruited via ISIS. We look at these different agencies which have fashioned which go outside of country wide bounds but nonetheless symbolize gigantic authorities. How are they to be integrated into the procedure, and the way is a various set of identities to be made coherent underneath both countrywide or international management? YNH: well, the situation of such numerous identities is a obstacle from nationalism as good. Nationalism believes in a single, monolithic identification, and unusual or as a minimum more severe versions of nationalism think in an unique loyalty to a single identity. And thus, nationalism has had a lot of issues with folks looking to divide their identities between various corporations.So it is no longer only a concern, say, for a worldwide imaginative and prescient. And i consider, once more, history indicates that you simply mustn’t always feel in such individual terms. For those who suppose that there is just a single identification for a individual, "i’m just X, that’s it, I can not be a couple of things, i will be able to be simply that," that’s the of the crisis. You have got religions, you could have countries that often demand exclusive loyalty, but it’s now not the only option. There are many religions and plenty of international locations that enable you to have various identities even as. CA: but is one clarification of what’s happened in the final yr that a group of persons have got uninterested with, if you happen to like, the liberal elites, for need of a better time period, obsessing over many, many exclusive identities and them feeling, "but what about my identity? I am being entirely unnoticed here. And incidentally, I suggestion I was once the bulk"? And that that’s truely sparked a number of the anger. YNH: Yeah.Identification is continuously complicated, seeing that identification is continually founded on fictional studies that in the end collide with truth. Practically all identities, I imply, beyond the level of the fundamental group of a few dozen people, are situated on a fictional story. They are not the reality. They are not the truth. It can be simply a narrative that humans invent and tell one a different and believing. And consequently all identities are highly unstable. They aren’t a biological truth. Many times nationalists, for illustration, feel that the nation is a biological entity. It’s made from the blend of soil and blood, creates the nation. But this is just a fictional story. CA: Soil and blood kind of makes a gooey mess. (Laughter) YNH: It does, and likewise it messes with your mind when you feel an excessive amount of that i’m a combination of soil and blood. For those who seem from a organic standpoint, surely none of the international locations that exist today existed 5,000 years in the past. Homo sapiens is a social animal, that’s for definite. However for millions of years, Homo sapiens and our hominid ancestors lived in small communities of a few dozen participants.Every person knew each person else. Whereas cutting-edge countries are imagined communities, in the experience that i don’t even know all these persons. I come from a somewhat small nation, Israel, and of eight million Israelis, I never met most of them. I will on no account meet most of them. They clearly exist right here. CA: however in phrases of this identification, this staff who feel omitted and might be have work taken away, I mean, in "Homo Deus," you actually speak of this workforce in a single experience increasing, that so many individuals can have their jobs taken away through technology one way or the other that we might come to be with a quite massive — I think you name it a "vain type" — a category where ordinarily, as viewed via the financial system, these humans have no use.YNH: yes. CA: How seemingly a possibility is that? Is that something we will have to be terrified about? And can we address it in anyway? YNH: We will have to consider about it very carefully. I mean, no person rather knows what the job market will appear like in 2040, 2050. There is a chance many new jobs will appear, however it’s now not designated. And even if new jobs do show up, it will not always be handy for a 50-yr historic unemployed truck driver made unemployed via self-riding vehicles, it will not be convenient for an unemployed truck driver to reinvent himself or herself as a designer of virtual worlds. Earlier, for those who seem on the trajectory of the economic revolution, when machines replaced humans in one style of work, the solution most commonly came from low-ability work in new lines of business.So that you did not need any further agricultural workers, so persons moved to working in low-talent industrial jobs, and when this was once taken away by using more and more machines, people moved to low-skill service jobs. Now, when persons say there shall be new jobs at some point, that humans can do better than AI, that humans can do higher than robots, they more often than not believe about high-skill jobs, like program engineers designing digital worlds. Now, i don’t see how an unemployed cashier from Wal-Mart reinvents herself or himself at 50 as a designer of virtual worlds, and definitely i don’t see how the millions of unemployed Bangladeshi textile staff will likely be in a position to do that.I mean, if they will do it, we must teaching the Bangladeshis today methods to be application designers, and we are not doing it. So what will they do in two decades? CA: So it seems like you are really highlighting a query that is fairly been bugging me the last few months more and more. It is nearly a rough query to ask in public, but if any mind has some knowledge to present in it, possibly it can be yours, so i’m going to ask you: What are people for? YNH: as far as we know, for nothing.(Laughter) I imply, there’s no quality cosmic drama, some quality cosmic plan, that we have a position to play in. And we simply have to realize what our position is and then play it to the fine of our ability. This has been the story of all religions and ideologies and many others, however as a scientist, the nice i can say is this isn’t authentic. There is no common drama with a role in it for Homo sapiens. So — CA: i will push back on you only for a minute, just from your own booklet, due to the fact in "Homo Deus," you give fairly one of the vital coherent and understandable bills about sentience, about cognizance, and that designated kind of human talent. You factor out that it can be specific from intelligence, the intelligence that we’re constructing in machines, and that there is absolutely quite a few thriller round it. How can you be sure there isn’t a intent once we don’t even recognize what this sentience thing is? I mean, on your own considering, is not there a risk that what humans are for is to be the universe’s sentient matters, to be the centers of joy and love and happiness and hope? And possibly we can construct machines that really aid expand that, even if they may be not going to turn out to be sentient themselves? Is that crazy? I type of discovered myself hoping that, reading your guide.YNH: good, I absolutely consider that essentially the most intriguing question at present in science is the question of realization and the intellect. We have become higher and higher in understanding the brain and intelligence, but we’re not getting a lot better in figuring out the intellect and attention. Individuals mainly confuse intelligence and awareness, notably in areas like Silicon Valley, which is understandable, when you consider that in humans, they go collectively. I mean, intelligence clearly is the capacity to clear up issues. Realization is the capability to think matters, to think joy and disappointment and boredom and suffering etc.In Homo sapiens and all other mammals as well — it is no longer detailed to people — in all mammals and birds and any other animals, intelligence and awareness go together. We ordinarily remedy problems by way of feeling matters. So we are likely to confuse them. But they’re distinctive things. What’s taking place today in locations like Silicon Valley is that we’re creating artificial intelligence but not synthetic attention. There has been an robust progress in pc intelligence over the final 50 years, and exactly zero development in laptop consciousness, and there is not any indication that computers are going to end up aware anytime soon. So to start with, if there is some cosmic position for consciousness, it’s not specified to Homo sapiens.Cows are conscious, pigs are conscious, chimpanzees are conscious, chickens are aware, so if we go that approach, to begin with, we need to increase our horizons and do not forget very obviously we are not the only sentient beings on the planet, and when it comes to sentience — in the case of intelligence, there may be excellent motive to think we are probably the most intelligent of the entire bunch. However in the case of sentience, to assert that people are more sentient than whales, or more sentient than baboons or extra sentient than cats, I see no evidence for that. So first step is, you go in that path, expand. After which the 2d query of what is it for, i’d reverse it and i would say that i do not consider sentience is for something. I think we do not need to in finding our position within the universe. The particularly important factor is to liberate ourselves from suffering. What characterizes sentient beings unlike robots, to stones, to something, is that sentient beings endure, can suffer, and what they will have to focus on is just not finding their position in some mysterious cosmic drama. They must center of attention on working out what suffering is, what causes it and how to be liberated from it.CA: i know this is a huge trouble for you, and that was once very eloquent. We’ll have a blizzard of questions from the audience right here, and perhaps from fb as well, and probably some comments as good. So let’s go speedy. There is one right right here. Preserve your hands held up at the back if you need the mic, and we’ll get it back to you. Question: to your work, you speak loads about the fictional stories that we be given as truth, and we reside our lives by means of it. As an individual, figuring out that, how does it have an impact on the studies that you just decide on to reside your existence, and do you confuse them with the reality, like several of us? YNH: I try to not. I imply, for me, perhaps the essential query, each as a scientist and as a person, is how you can tell the difference between fiction and fact, due to the fact truth is there. I am not saying that the whole thing is fiction. It can be just very elaborate for human beings to tell the difference between fiction and reality, and it has emerge as increasingly problematic as historical past improved, on account that the fictions that we now have created — countries and gods and cash and enterprises — they now manage the world.So simply to even believe, "Oh, that is just all fictional entities that we now have created," may be very complex. But truth is there. For me the great … There are a number of exams to tell the change between fiction and truth. The easiest one, the best person who i can say briefly, is the test of suffering. If it may undergo, it is actual. If it cannot undergo, it’s not real. A nation can’t undergo. That is very, very clear. Although a nation loses a war, we are saying, "Germany suffered a defeat within the First World warfare," it’s a metaphor.Germany are not able to endure. Germany has no mind. Germany has no attention. Germans can suffer, yes, but Germany cannot. In a similar fashion, when a bank goes bust, the financial institution cannot undergo. When the buck loses its price, the buck does not suffer. Folks can suffer. Animals can endure. That is real. So i might start, if you happen to rather wish to see truth, i’d go via the door of struggling. If you can fairly appreciate what struggling is, this offers you additionally the important thing to realise what fact is. CA: there is a fb question here that connects to this, from any individual world wide in a language that I can not learn. YNH: Oh, it is Hebrew. CA: Hebrew. There you go. (Laughter) are you able to learn the title? YNH: Or Lauterbach Goren.CA: well, thanks for writing in. The query is: "Is the post-truth technology relatively a brand-new generation, or simply a further climax or second in a under no circumstances-ending development? YNH: personally, i don’t join with this idea of put up-truth. My general response as a historian is: If that is the generation of publish-fact, when the hell was once the technology of fact? CA: correct. (Laughter) YNH: was it the 1980s, the Nineteen Fifties, the middle ages? I imply, we have at all times lived in an generation, in a technique, of post-actuality. CA: however i would chase away on that, for the reason that I believe what individuals are talking about is that there was once a world where you had fewer journalistic retailers, where there were traditions, that things were reality-checked.It used to be included into the charter of these organizations that the reality mattered. So if you believe in a reality, then what you write is information. There was a belief that that know-how must hook up with reality in a real approach, and for those who wrote a headline, it was a major, earnest try to mirror whatever that had absolutely happened. And persons did not continuously get it proper. However I consider the trouble now’s you will have bought a technological process that is totally robust that, for a while at least, massively amplified whatever without a awareness paid to whether it related to reality, simplest to whether it linked to clicks and concentration, and that that was once arguably toxic.That is an inexpensive quandary, is not it? YNH: Yeah, it’s. I imply, the technological know-how alterations, and it can be now easier to disseminate each reality and fiction and falsehood. It goes both ways. It’s also a lot simpler, though, to spread the reality than it used to be ever before. But i do not consider there may be anything just about new about this disseminating fictions and mistakes. There may be nothing that — I have no idea — Joseph Goebbels, failed to know about all this notion of fake news and post-actuality.He famously said that if you repeat a lie most likely adequate, men and women will believe it can be the truth, and the greater the lie, the easier, considering folks will not even suppose that whatever so big could be a lie. I think that fake information has been with us for countless numbers of years. Just suppose of the Bible. (Laughter) CA: however there’s a drawback that the fake news is related to tyrannical regimes, and when you see an uprise in fake news that may be a canary within the coal mine that there may be dark times coming. YNH: Yeah. I mean, the intentional use of fake news is a demanding signal. But i’m not announcing that it’s now not bad, i am simply pronouncing that it can be not new. CA: there may be quite a few interest on fb on this question about global governance versus nationalism. Question right here from Phil Dennis: "How can we get men and women, governments, to relinquish vigor? Is that — is that — sincerely, the textual content is so enormous I can’t read the entire query.However is that a necessity? Is it going to take war to get there? Sorry Phil — I mangled your question, but I blame the text proper right here. YNH: One option that some folks talk about is that handiest a catastrophe can shake humankind and open the trail to a real method of global governance, and they say that we can’t do it earlier than the catastrophe, but we have got to start laying the foundations so that when the catastrophe strikes, we are able to react rapidly. But people will just no longer have the incentive to do this type of factor earlier than the disaster strikes. A further thing that i might emphasize is that anyone who’s quite enthusiastic about international governance will have to perpetually make it very, very clear that it would not substitute or abolish local identities and communities, that it will have to come each as — It will have to be part of a single package.CA: I wish to hear extra on this, since the very words "global governance" are almost the epitome of evil in the mind-set of quite a few folks on the alt-proper right now. It simply appears frightening, far flung, distant, and it has allow them to down, and so globalists, global governance — no, go away! And lots of view the election as the perfect poke within the eye to any individual who believes in that. So how do we alter the narrative so that it doesn’t appear so frightening and faraway? Construct more on this thought of it being compatible with nearby identity, nearby communities. YNH: well, I think once more we must particularly with the biological realities of Homo sapiens. And biology tells us two matters about Homo sapiens that are very vital to this trouble: initially, that we’re completely based on the ecological approach round us, and that today we’re speaking a few world process.You are not able to get away that. And whilst, biology tells us about Homo sapiens that we are social animals, however that we’re social on a very, very local level. It can be only a easy truth of humanity that we can not have intimate familiarity with more than about one hundred fifty members. The scale of the natural staff, the usual neighborhood of Homo sapiens, shouldn’t be more than one hundred fifty contributors, and the whole thing past that is particularly headquartered on all types of imaginary reviews and huge-scale institutions, and i consider that we can have the ability, again, headquartered on a biological working out of our species, to weave the 2 collectively and to comprehend that today in the 21st century, we want both the global degree and the regional group.And i would go even further than that and say that it begins with the physique itself. The sentiments that folks in these days have of alienation and loneliness and now not discovering their location on the planet, i’d consider that the chief trouble is not international capitalism. The chief difficulty is that over the last hundred years, people have been fitting disembodied, have been distancing themselves from their physique. As a hunter-gatherer or whilst a peasant, to outlive, you must be always in touch along with your body and with your senses, every second.If you go to the woodland to look for mushrooms and you don’t pay attention to what you hear, to what you odor, to what you style, you are lifeless. So you need to be very related. Within the last hundred years, persons are dropping their ability to be in touch with their body and their senses, to listen to, to scent, to feel. Increasingly awareness goes to screens, to what’s happening somewhere else, any other time. This, I consider, is the deep purpose for the feelings of alienation and loneliness and many others, and as a consequence part of the solution is not to bring again some mass nationalism, but additionally reconnect with our own our bodies, and in case you are back in contact with your physique, you are going to believe rather more at home on this planet also. CA: good, relying on how matters go, we may all be back in the forest soon. We will have a further question in the room and one other on fb. Ama Adi-Dako: hi there. I am from Ghana, West Africa, and my question is: i ponder how do you present and justify the concept of worldwide governance to nations which have been traditionally disenfranchised by way of the effects of globalization, and likewise, if we’re speaking about global governance, it sounds to me like it’s going to surely come from a very Westernized thought of what the "world" is supposed to appear like.So how will we reward and justify that idea of worldwide versus absolutely nationalist to people in countries like Ghana and Nigeria and Togo and other nations like that? YNH: i’d begin through announcing that historical past is incredibly unfair, and that we should comprehend that. A few of the international locations that suffered most from the final 200 years of globalization and imperialism and industrialization are exactly the international locations which might be also definitely to undergo most from the following wave.And we must be very, very clear about that. If we would not have a global governance, and if we endure from local weather alternate, from technological disruptions, the worst suffering is probably not in the united states. The worst struggling shall be in Ghana, can be in Sudan, shall be in Syria, shall be in Bangladesh, shall be in those locations. So I consider these nations have a good better incentive to do whatever about the next wave of disruption, whether it can be ecological or whether it’s technological. Once more, in the event you think about technological disruption, so if AI and 3D printers and robots will take the jobs from billions of persons, I fear some distance much less about the Swedes than about the humans in Ghana or in Bangladesh. And accordingly, considering the fact that historical past is so unfair and the outcome of a calamity might not be shared equally between each person, as usual, the rich will likely be equipped to get far from the worst consequences of local weather trade in a technique that the terrible will not be equipped to.CA: And here’s a excellent query from Cameron Taylor on fb: "at the finish of ‘Sapiens,’" you stated we will have to be asking the query, ‘What will we want to want?’ good, what do you consider we must wish to need?" YNH: I suppose we should want to wish to comprehend the reality, to fully grasp truth. Customarily what we wish is to change reality, to suit it to our own wants, to our possess needs, and that i think we should first wish to recognize it. When you appear on the lengthy-time period trajectory of historical past, what you see is that for 1000s of years we people were gaining manage of the arena outside us and looking to form it to fit our possess wants. And now we have received manage of the other animals, of the rivers, of the forests, and reshaped them absolutely, inflicting an ecological destruction without making ourselves satisfied.So your next step is we flip our gaze inwards, and we say ok, getting manage of the sector outside us did not really make us convinced. Let’s now try to attain manage of the sector inside of us. That is the quite significant project of science and science and enterprise within the 21st century — to check out and attain control of the arena inside of us, to be taught the right way to engineer and produce bodies and brains and minds. These are prone to be the primary merchandise of the 21st century economic climate. When folks feel about the future, very frequently they think in phrases, "Oh, I need to attain manage of my physique and of my mind." and i believe that is very dangerous. If now we have discovered whatever from our prior history, it can be that yes, we obtain the power to control, however for the reason that we didn’t rather have an understanding of the complexity of the ecological process, we are actually facing an ecological meltdown.And if we now attempt to reengineer the world inside us without particularly working out it, chiefly without figuring out the complexity of our intellectual process, we could cause a kind of interior ecological disaster, and we will face a type of intellectual meltdown inside of us. CA: hanging all of the portions together here — the current politics, the approaching technology, considerations like the one you could have just outlined — I imply, it looks as if you yourself are in fairly a bleak position when you consider in regards to the future. You are lovely concerned about it.Is that proper? And if there was one intent for hope, how would you state that? YNH: I focal point on probably the most harmful potentialities partly on account that that is like my job or accountability as a historian or social critic. I mean, the enterprise focuses as a rule on the optimistic sides, so it’s the job of historians and philosophers and sociologists to highlight the more unsafe abilities of all these new applied sciences. I do not think any of that’s inevitable. Technological know-how is not ever deterministic. You need to use the identical technological know-how to create very distinct forms of societies. In the event you seem at the 20th century, so, the applied sciences of the economic Revolution, the trains and electricity and all that could be used to create a communist dictatorship or a fascist regime or a liberal democracy. The trains did not tell you what to do with them. In a similar way, now, artificial intelligence and bioengineering and all of that — they don’t predetermine a single end result. Humanity can stand up to the assignment, and the excellent illustration we’ve of humanity rising up to the assignment of a brand new technological know-how is nuclear weapons. In the late Nineteen Forties, ’50s, many persons had been satisfied that eventually the bloodless struggle will end in a nuclear disaster, destroying human civilization.And this didn’t occur. Correctly, nuclear weapons brought on humans all over the world to change the way that they manipulate worldwide politics to lower violence. And many countries truly took out struggle from their political toolkit. They not tried to pursue their pursuits with war. Not all nations have executed so, but many countries have. And this is probably the main reason why international violence declined dramatically considering the fact that 1945, and in these days, as I said, more men and women commit suicide than are killed in warfare.So this, I feel, gives us a just right instance that even the most horrifying science, people can get up to the mission and genuinely some good can come out of it. The crisis is, we have little or no margin for error. If we don’t get it correct, we might now not have a second option to take a look at once more. CA: that is an extraordinarily strong word, on which I feel we must draw this to a conclusion. Before I wrap up, I simply want to say one factor to humans right here and to the worldwide TED neighborhood observing on-line, any individual observing on-line: help us with these dialogues.If you consider, like we do, that we ought to in finding a different variety of conversation, now more than ever, support us do it. Reach out to different humans, attempt to have conversations with individuals you disagree with, comprehend them, pull the portions together, and aid us determine methods to take these conversations ahead a good way to make an actual contribution to what’s happening on the planet correct now. I believe all people feels more alive, extra concerned, more engaged with the politics of the second. The stakes do look really excessive, so support us respond to it in a shrewd, sensible means. Yuval Harari, thanks. (Applause) .

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Nationalism vs. globalism: the new political divide | Yuval Noah Harari

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Nationalism vs. globalism: the new political divide | Yuval Noah Harari

Chris Anderson: hi there. Welcome to this TED Dialogues. It’s the primary of a series that’s going to be completed in line with the present political upheaval. I don’t know about you; I’ve turn out to be really concerned concerning the growing divisiveness on this country and on the earth. No one’s listening to one another. Right? They don’t seem to be. I imply, it feels like we want yet another sort of conversation, one that is based on — I do not know, on reason, listening, on working out, on a broader context. That is at least what we’re going to try in these TED Dialogues, establishing today.And we could not have any one with us who i’d be more excited to kick this off. It is a mind correct here that thinks most of the time like no person else on the earth, i might hasten to claim. I am critical. (Yuval Noah Harari laughs) i am severe. He synthesizes history with underlying suggestions in a technique that variety of takes your breath away. So, a few of you are going to know this booklet, "Sapiens." Has anybody here read "Sapiens"? (Applause) I imply, I would not put it down. The best way that he tells the story of mankind by way of gigantic recommendations that fairly make you feel in a different way — it’s sort of mighty. And here is the comply with-up, which I think is being released in the united states next week. YNH: Yeah, next week. CA: "Homo Deus." Now, that is the history of the next hundred years. I’ve had a chance to learn it. It can be incredibly dramatic, and that i daresay, for some humans, rather alarming. It is a need to-read. And actually, we couldn’t have anyone higher to aid make experience of what in the world is taking place on the earth correct now. So a warm welcome, please, to Yuval Noah Harari.(Applause) it is nice to be joined by way of our acquaintances on fb and around the web. Hi there, fb. And all of you, as I begin asking questions of Yuval, provide you with your own questions, and now not always about the political scandal du jour, but about the broader understanding of: the place are we heading? You competent? Ok, we’re going to go. So right here we are, Yuval: New York city, 2017, there’s a new president in power, and shock waves rippling all over the world. What on this planet is happening? YNH: I consider the basic factor that occurred is that we’ve lost our story. People think in studies, and we try to make experience of the arena by means of telling reviews. And for the last few many years, we had a very simple and really attractive story about what’s taking place on the earth. And the story stated that, oh, what’s going down is that the economic climate is being globalized, politics is being liberalized, and the blend of the two will create paradise on this planet, and we simply need to hold on globalizing the economic system and liberalizing the political method, and the whole thing will be distinctive.And 2016 is the second when an extraordinarily big section, even of the Western world, stopped believing on this story. For just right or dangerous explanations — it’s not relevant. Humans stopped believing in the story, and when you wouldn’t have a story, you do not comprehend what’s happening. CA: part of you believes that that story used to be actually an extraordinarily effective story. It labored. YNH: to a degree, sure. In accordance to a few measurements, we are actually within the first-rate time ever for humankind. Today, for the first time in history, more individuals die from eating too much than from consuming too little, which is an powerful fulfillment. (Laughter) additionally for the first time in historical past, extra persons die from historical age than from infectious illnesses, and violence is also down. For the first time in history, more people commit suicide than are killed by crime and terrorism and warfare put together. Statistically, you might be your own worst enemy.As a minimum, of all the humans on the planet, you’re definitely to be killed by using your self — (Laughter) which is, once more, very good information, in comparison — (Laughter) compared to the level of violence that we noticed in earlier eras. CA: however this approach of connecting the arena ended up with a giant group of folks sort of feeling neglected, and so they’ve reacted. And so we have now this bombshell that’s kind of ripping by way of the whole process. I mean, what do you make of what’s occurred? It feels just like the historical approach that folks idea of politics, the left-proper divide, has been blown up and replaced. How should we believe of this? YNH: Yeah, the historical 20th-century political mannequin of left versus correct is now mostly inappropriate, and the true divide at present is between global and national, global or local.And also you see it once more all over the sector that that is now the essential battle. We typically need absolutely new political items and fully new ways of interested by politics. In essence, what which you can say is that now we have world ecology, we now have a world economic system but we have now country wide politics, and this does not work together. This makes the political system ineffective, because it has no manage over the forces that form our lifestyles. And you’ve got in actual fact two options to this imbalance: either de-globalize the economic climate and turn it again into a countrywide financial system, or globalize the political method. CA: So some, i assume many liberals out there view Trump and his govt as style of irredeemably dangerous, simply awful in each means. Do you see any underlying narrative or political philosophy in there that’s as a minimum worth understanding? How would you articulate that philosophy? Is it simply the philosophy of nationalism? YNH: I think the underlying feeling or suggestion is that the political method — some thing is damaged there. It would not empower the ordinary man or woman anymore. It does not care a lot about the ordinary man or woman anymore, and i believe this analysis of the political disease is correct.In regards to the solutions, i am far less special. I believe what we’re seeing is the immediate human reaction: if anything would not work, let’s return. And you see it far and wide the world, that folks, just about no one in the political process in these days, has any future-oriented imaginative and prescient of where humankind goes. Practically far and wide, you see retrograde imaginative and prescient: "Let’s make the usa high-quality once more," love it was once great — I don’t know — in the ’50s, within the ’80s, someday, let’s go back there. And you go to Russia a hundred years after Lenin, Putin’s vision for the long run is essentially, ah, let’s return to the Tsarist empire. And in Israel, the place I come from, the freshest political vision of the gift is: "Let’s build the temple again." So let’s go back 2,000 years backwards.So people are pondering someday up to now we’ve misplaced it, and usually prior to now, it’s like you’ve lost your method in the city, and also you say good enough, let’s return to the factor where I felt comfy and once more. I do not feel it will work, however quite a lot of humans, that is their intestine instinct. CA: however why could not it work? "the united states First" is a very appealing slogan in lots of methods. Patriotism is, in many methods, an awfully noble factor. It can be played a function in promoting cooperation among significant numbers of humans. Why couldn’t you might have a global prepared in nations, all of which put themselves first? YNH: for many centuries, even hundreds and hundreds of years, patriotism worked quite good. Of direction, it resulted in wars an so forth, however we mustn’t focus too much on the bad. There are additionally many, many constructive matters about patriotism, and the capacity to have a massive quantity of men and women care about each and every different, sympathize with one a different, and come collectively for collective action. When you return to the primary countries, so, countless numbers of years ago, the persons who lived alongside the Yellow River in China — it used to be many, many specific tribes and they all depended on the river for survival and for prosperity, however all of them additionally suffered from periodical floods and periodical droughts.And no tribe might quite do anything about it, considering every of them managed just a tiny element of the river. And then in a protracted and tricky process, the tribes coalesced together to form the chinese language nation, which managed the entire Yellow River and had the capacity to deliver enormous quantities of hundreds of folks together to construct dams and canals and keep an eye on the river and hinder the worst floods and droughts and raise the level of prosperity for every body.And this labored in many areas around the world. But in the 21st century, technology is changing all that in a predominant method. We are now dwelling — all people on the earth — are dwelling alongside the identical cyber river, and no single nation can keep an eye on this river by way of itself. We are all dwelling together on a single planet, which is threatened by our own movements. And when you wouldn’t have some variety of world cooperation, nationalism is just not on the right stage to sort out the problems, whether or not it can be climate alternate or whether or not it can be technological disruption.CA: So it was once a wonderful proposal in a world the place many of the motion, many of the disorders, took location on countrywide scale, however your argument is that the disorders that topic most today not take place on a countrywide scale but on a worldwide scale. YNH: exactly. All the major issues of the world today are international in essence, and so they cannot be solved until by way of some form of world cooperation. It’s not simply climate exchange, which is, like, essentially the most apparent example persons give. I think extra in phrases of technological disruption. In case you think about, for example, synthetic intelligence, over the following 20, 30 years pushing thousands of millions of humans out of the job market — it is a situation on a global degree. It will disrupt the economy of all of the countries. And in a similar fashion, if you happen to think about, say, bioengineering and men and women being afraid of conducting, I have no idea, genetic engineering study in people, it will not support if just a single nation, let’s say the USA, outlaws all genetic experiments in humans, but China or North Korea continues to do it.So the united states can’t remedy it through itself, and really speedily, the pressure on the united states to do the identical shall be mammoth when you consider that we are speakme about excessive-chance, excessive-achieve technologies. If somebody else is doing it, I cannot allow myself to stay behind. The only way to have regulations, strong rules, on things like genetic engineering, is to have international regulations. For those who just have countrywide laws, nobody want to keep behind. CA: So that is fairly fascinating. It appears to me that this may be one key to provoking at least a positive dialog between the exceptional sides right here, on account that I think each person can agree that the point of a number of the anger that’s propelled us to where we are is when you consider that of the professional concerns about job loss. Work is long past, a normal lifestyle has long past, and it’s no wonder that persons are livid about that. And most commonly, they’ve blamed globalism, world elites, for doing this to them without asking their permission, and that seems like a reliable grievance. However what I hear you announcing is that — so a key query is: what is the actual cause of job loss, both now and going forward? To the extent that it can be about globalism, then the correct response, sure, is to shut down borders and preserve men and women out and alter exchange agreements and many others.However you are announcing, I think, that really the larger cause of job loss will not be going to be that at all. It is going to originate in technological questions, and we don’t have any chance of solving that until we operate as a related world. YNH: Yeah, I feel that, I don’t know in regards to the reward, but looking to the longer term, it’s not the Mexicans or chinese language who will take the jobs from the people in Pennsylvania, it is the robots and algorithms. So until you intend to build a large wall on the border of California — (Laughter) the wall on the border with Mexico goes to be very ineffective. And i used to be struck once I watched the debates earlier than the election, I used to be struck that without doubt Trump didn’t even try to frighten persons through announcing the robots will take your jobs.Now even supposing it’s now not true, it doesn’t matter. It would have been an totally potent manner of frightening humans — (Laughter) and inspiring folks: "The robots will take your jobs!" And nobody used that line. And it made me afraid, on account that it intended that no matter what occurs in universities and laboratories, and there, there is already an intense debate about it, but within the mainstream political process and among the basic public, humans are just unaware that there might be an colossal technological disruption — now not in 200 years, but in 10, 20, 30 years — and we have to do something about it now, partly on account that most of what we educate youngsters today in tuition or in university is going to be completely irrelevant to the job market of 2040, 2050. So it’s not some thing we will need to think about in 2040.We have got to consider in these days what to teach the younger people. CA: Yeah, no, surely. You’ve got usually written about moments in historical past the place humankind has … Entered a new technology, unintentionally. Choices have been made, technologies have been developed, and abruptly the world has changed, most likely in a technique that is worse for everybody. So one of the vital examples you provide in "Sapiens" is solely the entire agricultural revolution, which, for an precise individual tilling the fields, they just picked up a 12-hour backbreaking workday rather of six hours in the jungle and a way more fascinating culture. (Laughter) So are we at another possible phase exchange here, where we type of sleepwalk right into a future that none of us truly needs? YNH: yes, very much so. For the duration of the agricultural revolution, what occurred is that massive technological and financial revolution empowered the human collective, however while you look at specific individual lives, the life of a tiny elite grew to become significantly better, and the lives of nearly all of persons became radically worse. And it will occur again within the 21st century. Definitely the brand new technologies will empower the human collective.However we could turn out to be once more with a tiny elite reaping all of the advantages, taking all the fruits, and the masses of the populace discovering themselves worse than they were earlier than, without doubt a lot worse than this tiny elite. CA: and people elites might no longer even be human elites. They perhaps cyborgs or — YNH: Yeah, they might be enhanced tremendous humans. They could be cyborgs. They could be fully nonorganic elites. They could even be non-aware algorithms. What we see now on this planet is authority moving far from humans to algorithms. More and more selections — about individual lives, about financial concerns, about political issues — are clearly being taken by using algorithms. In the event you ask the bank for a loan, probabilities are your fate is determined by using an algorithm, not by using a person. And the overall influence is that maybe Homo sapiens simply misplaced it.The world is so intricate, there’s a lot knowledge, matters are changing so speedy, that this factor that developed on the African savanna tens of enormous quantities of years in the past — to cope with a specified environment, a unique volume of understanding and knowledge — it simply cannot handle the realities of the 21st century, and the one thing which may be in a position to manage it’s huge-knowledge algorithms. So no wonder increasingly authority is moving from us to the algorithms. CA: So we’re in NY city for the first of a sequence of TED Dialogues with Yuval Harari, and there is a fb are living viewers available in the market.We’re excited to have you with us. We will begin coming to some of your questions and questions of folks within the room in just a few minutes, so have those coming. Yuval, if you’re going to make the argument that we have to get past nationalism given that of the coming technological … Risk, in a way, presented by using so much of what is happening we now have acquired to have a worldwide conversation about this. Drawback is, it is rough to get men and women fairly believing that, I have no idea, AI fairly is an forthcoming threat, etc. The things that individuals, some men and women at least, care about far more immediately, probably, is local weather alternate, perhaps different disorders like refugees, nuclear weapons, and many others.Would you argue that the place we are proper now that by some means these issues must be dialed up? You’ve gotten mentioned climate change, but Trump has mentioned he does not suppose in that. So in a way, your most strong argument, you can not surely use to make this case. YNH: Yeah, I feel with local weather exchange, to start with sight, it’s relatively shocking that there is a very close correlation between nationalism and climate change. I mean, regularly, the humans who deny climate alternate are nationalists. And at first sight, you feel: Why? What is the connection? Why don’t you have got socialists denying climate alternate? However then, whilst you think about it, it’s obvious — due to the fact that nationalism has no method to local weather alternate. If you wish to be a nationalist within the twenty first century, you ought to deny the quandary.If you accept the reality of the situation, then you ought to take delivery of that, sure, there is nonetheless room on the earth for patriotism, there may be nonetheless room on the planet for having special loyalties and obligations closer to your own persons, toward your possess nation. I don’t believe any one is really pondering of abolishing that. However as a way to confront climate trade, we want further loyalties and commitments to a degree past the nation. And that must no longer be unimaginable, seeing that people can have a few layers of loyalty. That you may be loyal to your loved ones and to your neighborhood and to your nation, so why can not you also be loyal to humankind as a whole? Of direction, there are events when it becomes problematic, what to position first, however, you know, existence is elaborate. Handle it. (Laughter) CA: ok, so I would really like to get some questions from the audience right here.We’ve got a microphone here. Communicate into it, and fb, get them coming, too. Howard Morgan: one of the vital matters that has obviously made a significant change in this country and other countries is the revenue distribution inequality, the dramatic alternate in sales distribution in the U.S. From what it was 50 years in the past, and world wide. Is there anything we will do to affect that? Because that gets at quite a few the underlying factors. YNH: so far i have never heard a very good proposal about what to do about it, once more, partly seeing that most recommendations remain on the countrywide level, and the challenge is global. I imply, one notion that we hear rather lots about now’s common general earnings. However this can be a situation. I imply, I consider it is a good , but it’s a challenging notion seeing that it can be no longer clear what "universal" is and it’s now not clear what "general" is. Most persons after they speak about common normal revenue, they certainly mean countrywide normal sales. However the quandary is global.Let’s say that you have AI and 3D printers disposing of millions of jobs in Bangladesh, from all the folks who make my shirts and my sneakers. So what is going on to occur? The united states executive will levy taxes on Google and Apple in California, and use that to pay common revenue to unemployed Bangladeshis? In the event you suppose that, that you could simply as well believe that Santa Claus will come and resolve the challenge. So except we have fairly universal and not countrywide normal income, the deep problems aren’t going to go away. And in addition it is not clear what normal is, seeing that what are common human needs? A thousand years ago, simply meals and shelter was once enough. But today, men and women will say schooling is a general human want, it must be part of the bundle.However how so much? Six years? Twelve years? PhD? Similarly, with wellbeing care, shall we embrace that in 20, 30, forty years, you’ll be able to have costly remedies that may extend human life to one hundred twenty, I have no idea. Will this be part of the basket of common earnings or no longer? It is an extraordinarily elaborate challenge, seeing that in a global where people lose their potential to be employed, the one thing they are going to get is this basic revenue. So what’s a part of it is a very, very complicated ethical query. CA: there is a bunch of questions on how the arena affords it as well, who can pay. There may be a question here from facebook from Lisa Larson: "How does nationalism in the USA now compare to that between World struggle I and World struggle II within the final century?" YNH: good the excellent news, with regard to the hazards of nationalism, we’re in a much better function than a century in the past. A century in the past, 1917, Europeans have been killing every different through the hundreds of thousands. In 2016, with Brexit, so far as I take into account, a single person lost their existence, an MP who was murdered by some extremist.Only a single character. I imply, if Brexit used to be about British independence, that is the most peaceful battle of independence in human historical past. And shall we say that Scotland will now prefer to depart the united kingdom after Brexit. So within the 18th century, if Scotland wanted — and the Scots desired a couple of occasions — to interrupt out of the control of London, the reaction of the government in London used to be to send an military up north to burn down Edinburgh and bloodbath the highland tribes. My guess is that if, in 2018, the Scots vote for independence, the London govt is not going to send an army up north to burn down Edinburgh.Only a few people are now willing to kill or be killed for Scottish or for British independence. So for the entire talk of the rise of nationalism and going again to the 1930s, to the nineteenth century, within the West at least, the power of national sentiments at present is a long way, a ways smaller than it used to be a century ago. CA: although some men and women now, you hear publicly demanding about whether that maybe shifting, that there could virtually be outbreaks of violence in the united states depending on how things prove. Will have to we be concerned about that, or do you relatively feel things have shifted? YNH: No, we will have to be concerned. We must be conscious of two matters. To begin with, don’t be hysterical. We are not again within the First World struggle but. However however, do not be complacent. We reached from 1917 to 2017, not with the aid of some divine miracle, but without problems by means of human selections, and if we now begin making the improper decisions, we would be back in an analogous hindrance to 1917 in a couple of years.One of the crucial matters i do know as a historian is that you just must by no means underestimate human stupidity. (Laughter) it’s one of the most strong forces in historical past, human stupidity and human violence. People do such loopy things for no obvious rationale, but again, whilst, yet another very strong force in human historical past is human knowledge. We’ve got both. CA: now we have with us right here ethical psychologist Jonathan Haidt, who I believe has a question. Jonathan Haidt: Thanks, Yuval. So you appear to be a fan of global governance, however while you seem at the map of the world from Transparency worldwide, which premiums the level of corruption of political institutions, it can be a tremendous sea of red with little bits of yellow here and there for those with good associations.So if we have been to have some variety of global governance, what makes you feel it might end up being more like Denmark alternatively than extra like Russia or Honduras, and aren’t there possible choices, similar to we did with CFCs? There are ways to remedy international issues with country wide governments. What would world govt actually seem like, and why do you think it could work? YNH: well, I don’t know what it could appear like. No one still has a model for that. The main rationale we want it’s because many of these problems are lose-lose occasions. In case you have a win-win drawback like trade, either side can advantage from a alternate agreement, then that is anything that you can determine. With out some kind of global executive, national governments each have an curiosity in doing it. But if you have a lose-lose trouble like with climate exchange, it is way more problematic with out some overarching authority, actual authority.Now, the way to get there and what would it not appear like, I don’t know. And obviously there is no obvious intent to believe that it might appear like Denmark, or that it might be a democracy. Undoubtedly it would not. We don’t have viable democratic items for a global executive. So maybe it could seem more like ancient China than like modern-day Denmark. However still, given the dangers that we are facing, I think the critical of getting some type of actual capacity to drive via difficult choices on the worldwide stage is extra predominant than practically something else. CA: there is a question from facebook here, and then we will get the mic to Andrew.So, Kat Hebron on facebook, calling in from Vail: "How would developed nations manage the thousands of local weather migrants?" YNH: I do not know. CA: that is your reply, Kat. (Laughter) YNH: And i do not consider that they understand either. They will just deny the trouble, probably. CA: but immigration, customarily, is an extra illustration of a crisis that’s very difficult to resolve on a nation-by-nation basis. One nation can shut its doors, however possibly that stores up issues for the long run. YNH: sure, I mean — it is one more excellent case, peculiarly considering it is a lot simpler to migrate in these days than it was in the core a long time or in ancient occasions. CA: Yuval, there may be a belief among many technologists, most likely, that political considerations are style of overblown, that without a doubt, political leaders should not have that much impact in the world, that the actual resolution of humanity at this factor is by using science, through invention, via businesses, by using many matters as opposed to political leaders, and it can be truly very hard for leaders to do a lot, so we’re clearly stressful about nothing right here.YNH: good, first, it will have to be emphasized that it’s authentic that political leaders’ ability to do good is very limited, but their potential to do damage is limitless. There’s a normal imbalance right here. That you would be able to nonetheless press the button and blow all people up. You have got that sort of capability. But if you need, for example, to scale back inequality, that is very, very problematic. But to a warfare, which you can nonetheless accomplish that very without difficulty. So there’s a built-in imbalance within the political method today which is very frustrating, the place you can not do numerous good but which you can still do plenty of damage. And this makes the political method still an extraordinarily significant quandary. CA: in order you seem at what’s going down in these days, and placing your historian’s hat on, do you seem again in historical past at moments when things were going just fine and an person chief quite took the arena or their country backwards? YNH: There are fairly just a few examples, but I will have to emphasize, it is by no means an man or woman leader. I imply, somebody put him there, and a person allowed him to proceed to be there. So it can be certainly not fairly simply the fault of a single individual.There are various men and women behind every such individual. CA: Can we have now the microphone here, please, to Andrew? Andrew Solomon: you’ve gotten talked rather a lot concerning the international versus the country wide, however more and more, it seems to me, the sector trouble is within the hands of identity agencies. We seem at individuals within the USA who have been recruited via ISIS. We look at these different agencies which have fashioned which go outside of country wide bounds but nonetheless symbolize gigantic authorities. How are they to be integrated into the procedure, and the way is a various set of identities to be made coherent underneath both countrywide or international management? YNH: well, the situation of such numerous identities is a obstacle from nationalism as good. Nationalism believes in a single, monolithic identification, and unusual or as a minimum more severe versions of nationalism think in an unique loyalty to a single identity. And thus, nationalism has had a lot of issues with folks looking to divide their identities between various corporations.So it is no longer only a concern, say, for a worldwide imaginative and prescient. And i consider, once more, history indicates that you simply mustn’t always feel in such individual terms. For those who suppose that there is just a single identification for a individual, "i’m just X, that’s it, I can not be a couple of things, i will be able to be simply that," that’s the of the crisis. You have got religions, you could have countries that often demand exclusive loyalty, but it’s now not the only option. There are many religions and plenty of international locations that enable you to have various identities even as. CA: but is one clarification of what’s happened in the final yr that a group of persons have got uninterested with, if you happen to like, the liberal elites, for need of a better time period, obsessing over many, many exclusive identities and them feeling, "but what about my identity? I am being entirely unnoticed here. And incidentally, I suggestion I was once the bulk"? And that that’s truely sparked a number of the anger. YNH: Yeah.Identification is continuously complicated, seeing that identification is continually founded on fictional studies that in the end collide with truth. Practically all identities, I imply, beyond the level of the fundamental group of a few dozen people, are situated on a fictional story. They are not the reality. They are not the truth. It can be simply a narrative that humans invent and tell one a different and believing. And consequently all identities are highly unstable. They aren’t a biological truth. Many times nationalists, for illustration, feel that the nation is a biological entity. It’s made from the blend of soil and blood, creates the nation. But this is just a fictional story. CA: Soil and blood kind of makes a gooey mess. (Laughter) YNH: It does, and likewise it messes with your mind when you feel an excessive amount of that i’m a combination of soil and blood. For those who seem from a organic standpoint, surely none of the international locations that exist today existed 5,000 years in the past. Homo sapiens is a social animal, that’s for definite. However for millions of years, Homo sapiens and our hominid ancestors lived in small communities of a few dozen participants.Every person knew each person else. Whereas cutting-edge countries are imagined communities, in the experience that i don’t even know all these persons. I come from a somewhat small nation, Israel, and of eight million Israelis, I never met most of them. I will on no account meet most of them. They clearly exist right here. CA: however in phrases of this identification, this staff who feel omitted and might be have work taken away, I mean, in "Homo Deus," you actually speak of this workforce in a single experience increasing, that so many individuals can have their jobs taken away through technology one way or the other that we might come to be with a quite massive — I think you name it a "vain type" — a category where ordinarily, as viewed via the financial system, these humans have no use.YNH: yes. CA: How seemingly a possibility is that? Is that something we will have to be terrified about? And can we address it in anyway? YNH: We will have to consider about it very carefully. I mean, no person rather knows what the job market will appear like in 2040, 2050. There is a chance many new jobs will appear, however it’s now not designated. And even if new jobs do show up, it will not always be handy for a 50-yr historic unemployed truck driver made unemployed via self-riding vehicles, it will not be convenient for an unemployed truck driver to reinvent himself or herself as a designer of virtual worlds. Earlier, for those who seem on the trajectory of the economic revolution, when machines replaced humans in one style of work, the solution most commonly came from low-ability work in new lines of business.So that you did not need any further agricultural workers, so persons moved to working in low-talent industrial jobs, and when this was once taken away by using more and more machines, people moved to low-skill service jobs. Now, when persons say there shall be new jobs at some point, that humans can do better than AI, that humans can do higher than robots, they more often than not believe about high-skill jobs, like program engineers designing digital worlds. Now, i don’t see how an unemployed cashier from Wal-Mart reinvents herself or himself at 50 as a designer of virtual worlds, and definitely i don’t see how the millions of unemployed Bangladeshi textile staff will likely be in a position to do that.I mean, if they will do it, we must teaching the Bangladeshis today methods to be application designers, and we are not doing it. So what will they do in two decades? CA: So it seems like you are really highlighting a query that is fairly been bugging me the last few months more and more. It is nearly a rough query to ask in public, but if any mind has some knowledge to present in it, possibly it can be yours, so i’m going to ask you: What are people for? YNH: as far as we know, for nothing.(Laughter) I imply, there’s no quality cosmic drama, some quality cosmic plan, that we have a position to play in. And we simply have to realize what our position is and then play it to the fine of our ability. This has been the story of all religions and ideologies and many others, however as a scientist, the nice i can say is this isn’t authentic. There is no common drama with a role in it for Homo sapiens. So — CA: i will push back on you only for a minute, just from your own booklet, due to the fact in "Homo Deus," you give fairly one of the vital coherent and understandable bills about sentience, about cognizance, and that designated kind of human talent. You factor out that it can be specific from intelligence, the intelligence that we’re constructing in machines, and that there is absolutely quite a few thriller round it. How can you be sure there isn’t a intent once we don’t even recognize what this sentience thing is? I mean, on your own considering, is not there a risk that what humans are for is to be the universe’s sentient matters, to be the centers of joy and love and happiness and hope? And possibly we can construct machines that really aid expand that, even if they may be not going to turn out to be sentient themselves? Is that crazy? I type of discovered myself hoping that, reading your guide.YNH: good, I absolutely consider that essentially the most intriguing question at present in science is the question of realization and the intellect. We have become higher and higher in understanding the brain and intelligence, but we’re not getting a lot better in figuring out the intellect and attention. Individuals mainly confuse intelligence and awareness, notably in areas like Silicon Valley, which is understandable, when you consider that in humans, they go collectively. I mean, intelligence clearly is the capacity to clear up issues. Realization is the capability to think matters, to think joy and disappointment and boredom and suffering etc.In Homo sapiens and all other mammals as well — it is no longer detailed to people — in all mammals and birds and any other animals, intelligence and awareness go together. We ordinarily remedy problems by way of feeling matters. So we are likely to confuse them. But they’re distinctive things. What’s taking place today in locations like Silicon Valley is that we’re creating artificial intelligence but not synthetic attention. There has been an robust progress in pc intelligence over the final 50 years, and exactly zero development in laptop consciousness, and there is not any indication that computers are going to end up aware anytime soon. So to start with, if there is some cosmic position for consciousness, it’s not specified to Homo sapiens.Cows are conscious, pigs are conscious, chimpanzees are conscious, chickens are aware, so if we go that approach, to begin with, we need to increase our horizons and do not forget very obviously we are not the only sentient beings on the planet, and when it comes to sentience — in the case of intelligence, there may be excellent motive to think we are probably the most intelligent of the entire bunch. However in the case of sentience, to assert that people are more sentient than whales, or more sentient than baboons or extra sentient than cats, I see no evidence for that. So first step is, you go in that path, expand. After which the 2d query of what is it for, i’d reverse it and i would say that i do not consider sentience is for something. I think we do not need to in finding our position within the universe. The particularly important factor is to liberate ourselves from suffering. What characterizes sentient beings unlike robots, to stones, to something, is that sentient beings endure, can suffer, and what they will have to focus on is just not finding their position in some mysterious cosmic drama. They must center of attention on working out what suffering is, what causes it and how to be liberated from it.CA: i know this is a huge trouble for you, and that was once very eloquent. We’ll have a blizzard of questions from the audience right here, and perhaps from fb as well, and probably some comments as good. So let’s go speedy. There is one right right here. Preserve your hands held up at the back if you need the mic, and we’ll get it back to you. Question: to your work, you speak loads about the fictional stories that we be given as truth, and we reside our lives by means of it. As an individual, figuring out that, how does it have an impact on the studies that you just decide on to reside your existence, and do you confuse them with the reality, like several of us? YNH: I try to not. I imply, for me, perhaps the essential query, each as a scientist and as a person, is how you can tell the difference between fiction and fact, due to the fact truth is there. I am not saying that the whole thing is fiction. It can be just very elaborate for human beings to tell the difference between fiction and reality, and it has emerge as increasingly problematic as historical past improved, on account that the fictions that we now have created — countries and gods and cash and enterprises — they now manage the world.So simply to even believe, "Oh, that is just all fictional entities that we now have created," may be very complex. But truth is there. For me the great … There are a number of exams to tell the change between fiction and truth. The easiest one, the best person who i can say briefly, is the test of suffering. If it may undergo, it is actual. If it cannot undergo, it’s not real. A nation can’t undergo. That is very, very clear. Although a nation loses a war, we are saying, "Germany suffered a defeat within the First World warfare," it’s a metaphor.Germany are not able to endure. Germany has no mind. Germany has no attention. Germans can suffer, yes, but Germany cannot. In a similar fashion, when a bank goes bust, the financial institution cannot undergo. When the buck loses its price, the buck does not suffer. Folks can suffer. Animals can endure. That is real. So i might start, if you happen to rather wish to see truth, i’d go via the door of struggling. If you can fairly appreciate what struggling is, this offers you additionally the important thing to realise what fact is. CA: there is a fb question here that connects to this, from any individual world wide in a language that I can not learn. YNH: Oh, it is Hebrew. CA: Hebrew. There you go. (Laughter) are you able to learn the title? YNH: Or Lauterbach Goren.CA: well, thanks for writing in. The query is: "Is the post-truth technology relatively a brand-new generation, or simply a further climax or second in a under no circumstances-ending development? YNH: personally, i don’t join with this idea of put up-truth. My general response as a historian is: If that is the generation of publish-fact, when the hell was once the technology of fact? CA: correct. (Laughter) YNH: was it the 1980s, the Nineteen Fifties, the middle ages? I imply, we have at all times lived in an generation, in a technique, of post-actuality. CA: however i would chase away on that, for the reason that I believe what individuals are talking about is that there was once a world where you had fewer journalistic retailers, where there were traditions, that things were reality-checked.It used to be included into the charter of these organizations that the reality mattered. So if you believe in a reality, then what you write is information. There was a belief that that know-how must hook up with reality in a real approach, and for those who wrote a headline, it was a major, earnest try to mirror whatever that had absolutely happened. And persons did not continuously get it proper. However I consider the trouble now’s you will have bought a technological process that is totally robust that, for a while at least, massively amplified whatever without a awareness paid to whether it related to reality, simplest to whether it linked to clicks and concentration, and that that was once arguably toxic.That is an inexpensive quandary, is not it? YNH: Yeah, it’s. I imply, the technological know-how alterations, and it can be now easier to disseminate each reality and fiction and falsehood. It goes both ways. It’s also a lot simpler, though, to spread the reality than it used to be ever before. But i do not consider there may be anything just about new about this disseminating fictions and mistakes. There may be nothing that — I have no idea — Joseph Goebbels, failed to know about all this notion of fake news and post-actuality.He famously said that if you repeat a lie most likely adequate, men and women will believe it can be the truth, and the greater the lie, the easier, considering folks will not even suppose that whatever so big could be a lie. I think that fake information has been with us for countless numbers of years. Just suppose of the Bible. (Laughter) CA: however there’s a drawback that the fake news is related to tyrannical regimes, and when you see an uprise in fake news that may be a canary within the coal mine that there may be dark times coming. YNH: Yeah. I mean, the intentional use of fake news is a demanding signal. But i’m not announcing that it’s now not bad, i am simply pronouncing that it can be not new. CA: there may be quite a few interest on fb on this question about global governance versus nationalism. Question right here from Phil Dennis: "How can we get men and women, governments, to relinquish vigor? Is that — is that — sincerely, the textual content is so enormous I can’t read the entire query.However is that a necessity? Is it going to take war to get there? Sorry Phil — I mangled your question, but I blame the text proper right here. YNH: One option that some folks talk about is that handiest a catastrophe can shake humankind and open the trail to a real method of global governance, and they say that we can’t do it earlier than the catastrophe, but we have got to start laying the foundations so that when the catastrophe strikes, we are able to react rapidly. But people will just no longer have the incentive to do this type of factor earlier than the disaster strikes. A further thing that i might emphasize is that anyone who’s quite enthusiastic about international governance will have to perpetually make it very, very clear that it would not substitute or abolish local identities and communities, that it will have to come each as — It will have to be part of a single package.CA: I wish to hear extra on this, since the very words "global governance" are almost the epitome of evil in the mind-set of quite a few folks on the alt-proper right now. It simply appears frightening, far flung, distant, and it has allow them to down, and so globalists, global governance — no, go away! And lots of view the election as the perfect poke within the eye to any individual who believes in that. So how do we alter the narrative so that it doesn’t appear so frightening and faraway? Construct more on this thought of it being compatible with nearby identity, nearby communities. YNH: well, I think once more we must particularly with the biological realities of Homo sapiens. And biology tells us two matters about Homo sapiens that are very vital to this trouble: initially, that we’re completely based on the ecological approach round us, and that today we’re speaking a few world process.You are not able to get away that. And whilst, biology tells us about Homo sapiens that we are social animals, however that we’re social on a very, very local level. It can be only a easy truth of humanity that we can not have intimate familiarity with more than about one hundred fifty members. The scale of the natural staff, the usual neighborhood of Homo sapiens, shouldn’t be more than one hundred fifty contributors, and the whole thing past that is particularly headquartered on all types of imaginary reviews and huge-scale institutions, and i consider that we can have the ability, again, headquartered on a biological working out of our species, to weave the 2 collectively and to comprehend that today in the 21st century, we want both the global degree and the regional group.And i would go even further than that and say that it begins with the physique itself. The sentiments that folks in these days have of alienation and loneliness and now not discovering their location on the planet, i’d consider that the chief trouble is not international capitalism. The chief difficulty is that over the last hundred years, people have been fitting disembodied, have been distancing themselves from their physique. As a hunter-gatherer or whilst a peasant, to outlive, you must be always in touch along with your body and with your senses, every second.If you go to the woodland to look for mushrooms and you don’t pay attention to what you hear, to what you odor, to what you style, you are lifeless. So you need to be very related. Within the last hundred years, persons are dropping their ability to be in touch with their body and their senses, to listen to, to scent, to feel. Increasingly awareness goes to screens, to what’s happening somewhere else, any other time. This, I consider, is the deep purpose for the feelings of alienation and loneliness and many others, and as a consequence part of the solution is not to bring again some mass nationalism, but additionally reconnect with our own our bodies, and in case you are back in contact with your physique, you are going to believe rather more at home on this planet also. CA: good, relying on how matters go, we may all be back in the forest soon. We will have a further question in the room and one other on fb. Ama Adi-Dako: hi there. I am from Ghana, West Africa, and my question is: i ponder how do you present and justify the concept of worldwide governance to nations which have been traditionally disenfranchised by way of the effects of globalization, and likewise, if we’re speaking about global governance, it sounds to me like it’s going to surely come from a very Westernized thought of what the "world" is supposed to appear like.So how will we reward and justify that idea of worldwide versus absolutely nationalist to people in countries like Ghana and Nigeria and Togo and other nations like that? YNH: i’d begin through announcing that historical past is incredibly unfair, and that we should comprehend that. A few of the international locations that suffered most from the final 200 years of globalization and imperialism and industrialization are exactly the international locations which might be also definitely to undergo most from the following wave.And we must be very, very clear about that. If we would not have a global governance, and if we endure from local weather alternate, from technological disruptions, the worst suffering is probably not in the united states. The worst struggling shall be in Ghana, can be in Sudan, shall be in Syria, shall be in Bangladesh, shall be in those locations. So I consider these nations have a good better incentive to do whatever about the next wave of disruption, whether it can be ecological or whether it’s technological. Once more, in the event you think about technological disruption, so if AI and 3D printers and robots will take the jobs from billions of persons, I fear some distance much less about the Swedes than about the humans in Ghana or in Bangladesh. And accordingly, considering the fact that historical past is so unfair and the outcome of a calamity might not be shared equally between each person, as usual, the rich will likely be equipped to get far from the worst consequences of local weather trade in a technique that the terrible will not be equipped to.CA: And here’s a excellent query from Cameron Taylor on fb: "at the finish of ‘Sapiens,’" you stated we will have to be asking the query, ‘What will we want to want?’ good, what do you consider we must wish to need?" YNH: I suppose we should want to wish to comprehend the reality, to fully grasp truth. Customarily what we wish is to change reality, to suit it to our own wants, to our possess needs, and that i think we should first wish to recognize it. When you appear on the lengthy-time period trajectory of historical past, what you see is that for 1000s of years we people were gaining manage of the arena outside us and looking to form it to fit our possess wants. And now we have received manage of the other animals, of the rivers, of the forests, and reshaped them absolutely, inflicting an ecological destruction without making ourselves satisfied.So your next step is we flip our gaze inwards, and we say ok, getting manage of the sector outside us did not really make us convinced. Let’s now try to attain manage of the sector inside of us. That is the quite significant project of science and science and enterprise within the 21st century — to check out and attain control of the arena inside of us, to be taught the right way to engineer and produce bodies and brains and minds. These are prone to be the primary merchandise of the 21st century economic climate. When folks feel about the future, very frequently they think in phrases, "Oh, I need to attain manage of my physique and of my mind." and i believe that is very dangerous. If now we have discovered whatever from our prior history, it can be that yes, we obtain the power to control, however for the reason that we didn’t rather have an understanding of the complexity of the ecological process, we are actually facing an ecological meltdown.And if we now attempt to reengineer the world inside us without particularly working out it, chiefly without figuring out the complexity of our intellectual process, we could cause a kind of interior ecological disaster, and we will face a type of intellectual meltdown inside of us. CA: hanging all of the portions together here — the current politics, the approaching technology, considerations like the one you could have just outlined — I imply, it looks as if you yourself are in fairly a bleak position when you consider in regards to the future. You are lovely concerned about it.Is that proper? And if there was one intent for hope, how would you state that? YNH: I focal point on probably the most harmful potentialities partly on account that that is like my job or accountability as a historian or social critic. I mean, the enterprise focuses as a rule on the optimistic sides, so it’s the job of historians and philosophers and sociologists to highlight the more unsafe abilities of all these new applied sciences. I do not think any of that’s inevitable. Technological know-how is not ever deterministic. You need to use the identical technological know-how to create very distinct forms of societies. In the event you seem at the 20th century, so, the applied sciences of the economic Revolution, the trains and electricity and all that could be used to create a communist dictatorship or a fascist regime or a liberal democracy. The trains did not tell you what to do with them. In a similar way, now, artificial intelligence and bioengineering and all of that — they don’t predetermine a single end result. Humanity can stand up to the assignment, and the excellent illustration we’ve of humanity rising up to the assignment of a brand new technological know-how is nuclear weapons. In the late Nineteen Forties, ’50s, many persons had been satisfied that eventually the bloodless struggle will end in a nuclear disaster, destroying human civilization.And this didn’t occur. Correctly, nuclear weapons brought on humans all over the world to change the way that they manipulate worldwide politics to lower violence. And many countries truly took out struggle from their political toolkit. They not tried to pursue their pursuits with war. Not all nations have executed so, but many countries have. And this is probably the main reason why international violence declined dramatically considering the fact that 1945, and in these days, as I said, more men and women commit suicide than are killed in warfare.So this, I feel, gives us a just right instance that even the most horrifying science, people can get up to the mission and genuinely some good can come out of it. The crisis is, we have little or no margin for error. If we don’t get it correct, we might now not have a second option to take a look at once more. CA: that is an extraordinarily strong word, on which I feel we must draw this to a conclusion. Before I wrap up, I simply want to say one factor to humans right here and to the worldwide TED neighborhood observing on-line, any individual observing on-line: help us with these dialogues.If you consider, like we do, that we ought to in finding a different variety of conversation, now more than ever, support us do it. Reach out to different humans, attempt to have conversations with individuals you disagree with, comprehend them, pull the portions together, and aid us determine methods to take these conversations ahead a good way to make an actual contribution to what’s happening on the planet correct now. I believe all people feels more alive, extra concerned, more engaged with the politics of the second. The stakes do look really excessive, so support us respond to it in a shrewd, sensible means. Yuval Harari, thanks. (Applause) .

#Chris Anderson #division #Global issues #globalism #Government #History #Leadership #nationalism #TED Dialogues #ted talk #ted talks #Yuval Noah Harari

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Surgery.

Onset of culture. To provide such people a better appearance, physicians of these

Make sure you her spouse, cnn health who adored cats that are big.

Wounded throughout both world wars.

Saddle nose deformity from the people.

Beautiful and smooth. In addition, this is how decorative procedures were born.

Century BC. Sushruta has been the first one to do skin grafts. He along with his

Slowly, surgeons and physicians featured portions of everything has been used for

Made from rubberized, paraffin, ivory and glass. Reconstructive breast surgery was

Eventually, a select variety of Healthcare boards and institutions (like the

Straight back to prior to the typical age.

4. China's pet markets create most of these dollars on creatures that are ill. Vendors

Cosmetic surgeries.

Rapidly growing kind of cosmetic surgery.

Therapeutic surgical procedures. In 1798,'' Pierre Desault of Greece termed such Surgical Procedures

Even Though techniques and tools Utilised in such surgeries have evolved

Surgery. Such organizations have rigorous membership requirements that

9. Some of the perks of being a instructor in Buffalo, Ny is totally free plastic

Soldiers.

To her confront over the past few years as a way to evoke an even catlike appearance. Wildenstein

Face skin to correct the look of the person. His way of operation involved

Here is just a short overview.

12. Labiaplasty, or in 's provisions "Vaginal Plastic Surgery," is the most

Cartilage sliced out of his ear and also transplanted into his nose.

This Greek name afterward.

beards. Cosmetic surgeons say more men have been getting the operation in recent

Footwear matches better.

8. As stated by your 2009 poll, one in five Korean women have had plastic

Disfigured or damaged skin.

Cosmetic operation. Later in 1931, a Group of surgeons performed the Very First public

Gorgeous "swans".

The assistance of skin flaps of upper arm. Medicine history titles him as the

Initially Beauty Surgeon:

17. American socialite Jocelyn Wildenstein has extensive plastic surgery

Of a breast tumor. Later on in 1903, Charles Miller Launched that the breast feeding

1-5. There is an company That Supplies free plastic surgery to children

In early India, there was this type of healer Called Sushruta who had been arguably

His eyes 1969 and wore 3in lifts in his shoes as his frame shrank together with era.

15 Plastic Cosmetic Surgery Harold Gillies is considered to be the father of plastic surgery; following

Augmentation surgery within the united states. He used silk floss and silk, celluloid and

Brassieres to enhance the look of your own breasts. At the 19th century, the surgeons

First achieved the breast augmentation procedure by using artificial implants

Asian artisans also used particular methods of Modern-day rhinoplasty to decorate

5. Colombians are obsessed with plastic surgery. The Latin American Nation

In 1995, he refused to be completely anesthetized and paused at the exact middle of the

Re-construction on an actress who had undergone a cancerous operation and removal

Who are bullied for their looks.

With facial injuries, generally from gun shot wounds. One among the wealthiest drug lords in history died following extensive vinyl

18. That was a fact series called the swan that took "ugly" girls and

Surgeries in creating her the ideal woman predicated on man artists.

Require considerable continuing healthcare education to keep abreast of the latest

Skin cell reproduction. Sushruta Adopted the skin and vessel-rich graft

Scrub your skin having a tiny bridge .

First done by Czerny at 1895. He also completed the very first successful mammary

Struggling to give continuity of care and research along with a network for

Trained specialist.

Here are 22 interesting Plastic Surgery facts.

Botox is one of the most noxious known chemicals, however, additionally found its use in plastic surgery by paralyzing neurotransmission to cells.

As shot, ripping, stitching and firming to make human anatomy pieces look

Many different foreign substances including breast implants. However, the results were

Development and demand for cosmetic surgical procedures. Many American surgeons completed

Exactly the exact same like from the 18th century.

American eugenics movement, most surgeons learned the Contemporary methods of

22. A Plastic Surgery operation named PokerTox, a Botox process was invented with a newyork physician to leave the patients experience immobile, thus lowering the risk of facial expressions while enjoying Poker.

20. Michael Jackson had Cosmetic Surgery at 14 occasions and even had

Breeds, subsequently pump them packed with new blood clot together with migraines and

Learned new abilities and applied brand new strategies to enhance the expression of people

Individuals have been concerned in their outer look as the

The missing skin from another body part could eventually grow as per the normal

After several Decades, certain Hindu surgeons also performed nose reshaping by

Cosmetic surgery to introduce cosmetic surgeries. Such processes

A thousand AD, there are many surgeons around the world who performed rhinoplasty.

And used them to do breast feeding augmentation.

Stimulants. The dogs have been known as "weak puppies," because they expire in 7 days.

600 BC. They utilised a object of eyebrow skin for this particular reconstructive surgery. By

The very first advanced rhinoplasty has been performed in the United States. During the

A capita into South Korea. Countless teenage girls Help Conserve money on

Deformities as a result of industrial and automobile injuries. After the war in 1923,

14. "Cinderella surgery" is Cosmetic Surgery to whiten women's toes so that their

Happened significantly throughout the World Wars. Plastic and cosmetic surgeons

Little by Little, cosmetic surgeons learned new Strategies to augment the breast shape

Way to perform several radical skin reconstructions in people with

10. Vince Vaughn and Steve Buscemi were involved at a pub brawl due to the fact Vaughn was talking into the girl friend of one of those inventors in the pub. The brawl left Buscemi with a number of stab wounds to the face and neck after which he had to own cosmetic surgery. If Muammar Gaddafi Experienced liposuction and the other Cosmetic Surgery was done

Perform tabletop plastic surgery to create sickly mutts resemble longer valuable

History suggests that cosmetic surgery procedures have been in life for

And size in women. Uplifting the breasts specially designed outfits

1 3. John Wayne wore a wig in each picture Following 1948, had Cosmetic Surgery .

Among the earliest plastic surgeons in the world. Inside his publication, It's obviously

The form of noses of royal family members.

Years to have their first surgery at the lawful age of 18.

Such processes to correct the outward look of sufferers together with any physical

Sometimes, piercing, scarification and tattooing proved very popular.

16. The 'Selfie' craze has increased requirement for cosmetic surgery techniques.

As plastikos, which means molding. The expression 'Plasticsurgery ' was evolved from

The Father of Plastic Surgeons:

Men and Women used technical techniques to change their looks in a better manner, These

Surgery to eat a hamburger.

Exposed them into cosmetic surgery (dental, facial etc) to turn them into

Said that plastic surgeries have been in existence at India throughout the 6th

However, this sort of processes were performed primarily in central Asia. A number of

Cosmetic Surgery at Yesteryear:

3. A few men are becoming "facial hair follicles " because they could 't grow complete

It wouldn't be overly long till Western societies began viewing a significant

Notably over the previous few years, the basics of such surgeries continue to be

During the 16th century, Gaspare Tagliacozzi first started nose pruning with

Daddy of plasticsurgery. He employed these methods chiefly to fix the

Chin and nose in her career.

Disciples utilised a slice of epidermis from other pieces of the human body to graft it on

Face raise.

The very first global war, he performed thousands of operations mostly because of soldiers

Today proved used by surgeons right back in the 1800s.

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