#Changing the Paradigm

[1introvertedsage]

▪️Asked Twice▪️

Although they are only breath, words which I command are immortal.

~Sappho~

[tanglecolors]

Different but kinda the same

[riverssongs13]

How fascinating must it be for people to nonchalantly say "recently, ten year ago" as if it were such matters of unimportance. Which, granted, it is, quite decidedly. Live for 10 thousand years and you'd count your decades as if they were your days.

Not to discount the other immortal beings whom we know have lived for thousands and thousands of years. My beloved Maharet herself (and her sister Mekare) was turned by Akasha a little over 6000 years ago. Same goes for Khayman, and the other "first children" of Akasha. But I cannot remember an instance when they spoke of time as dismissively as this.

What I can distinctly remember is them trying to survive time's passing without going insane over it. The hundred years nap for some (where they bury themself for a century or so and resurface after some time, welcoming a "new" life), the blood cult in the Himalayas for Pandora's friend, and of course my dear Maharet who, instead of skipping time, decided to be heavily involved with her lineage.

Maybe the difference lies in the extra thousands more years? As Akasha was the first, in this universe the oldest vampire is only 6000+ years. The Necrolord Prime and his OG Lyctors are 10,000 years old (maybe even more. Don't judge me I'm still in the middle of reading). Maybe when Maharet et al reaches the 10k mark their perception of time would change as well?

Or could it be because Maharet and friends are within the confines of Earth? The Lyctors are quite literally all over the universe. 40 billion light years away. I can't even begin to imagine just how ✨FAR✨ that is. I don't think my brain is capable of even perceiving that amount of distance. Maybe, in the face of such utterly nauseating vastness of space AND time, everything just becomes astonishingly puny and irrelevant. Add to that the looming threat of the Resurrection Beast, the Revenants, the River and its vengeful souls, etc etc etc...

Fascinating. Maybe that's why I'm quite more drawn to the pettiness and beauty and absurdity of our beloved vampires. No matter how monstrous they deem themselves to be, they're still very, very painfully human. Beautiful, divine, unchanging marble creatures, but quite decidedly human.

[i-cast-zone-of-truth]

So something I really like is how Thich Nhat Hanh defines love in Teachings On Love (I mean, it’s Buddhism, but that comes in a lot of varieties, many of which center concepts differently than this one, etc).

Any way. Pretty much the first thing he does in the book is explain The Four Immeasurable Minds: love, compassion, joy, and equanimity. None of those are defined exactly the way i’d have thought, from a culturally Christian perspective. And in more than one of them he stresses the importance of understanding the beloved. In fact, to the point that understanding is a PREREQUISITE to being able to love someone at all well. And seeking that understanding as a skill that can be cultivated.

What I’m getting at is: the more Zhuo Yichen understood Zhao Yuanzhou, the more he loved him. Even more so, the more Li Lun understood Zhao Yuanzhou, the better he was able to love him. Zhao Yuanzhou, although he came at his new friends with a lot of benevolence, hurt them by assuming about them instead of trying to understand. And that’s really real. (Wen Xiao was miles ahead of everyone with this skill).

I’ve tended to think, ok if I love someone I’ll want to understand them. But it’s really turning out to be that understanding is necessary for love that feels like love to the other person to be possible in the first place.

[akimojo]

ok wait i'm curious to know what yalls go-to party is in ffxiii, because lightning-sazh-vanille always feels like such a no-brainer to me anytime i play and now i need to know if people think the same or not 👀

[troybarnesbabygirlconfirmed]

im back with more

[settlercolonialismisbad]

Change your brain to stop reaching for ableist language to describe your world

D*mb, st*pid, cr*zy, ins*ne, and many many more ableist words and phrases still dot our daily conversation landscape. This Disability Pride Month, show you’re listening by doing the work to use language that doesn’t perpetuate ableist culture.

This is a non-exhaustive curated list of terms and suggestions for replacing them in your vocabulary, as well as accompanying notes.

[tytoalbatross]

can people be normal about dorian pavus

[alethianightsong]

Mother Nature is no longer banging on our door with climate change. She has broken down the door and is letting climate change piss on the rug, claw the curtains, and chew our leg.

[butchnavi]

me when i default to a dramatically different handwriting for every separate subject i have but have my notes for all of them unseparated and encroaching into each other in the same notebook

[1introvertedsage]

[girl-monkey-odalys]

Five comfort characters, five tags

Thanks for the tag, @popy1ut, and I’m sorry I took so long to respond. I had to think about it for awhile 😂 

Also I know that this was a chain post and I’m supposed to reblog it 😂 but since the chain is so long I’m just going to include your response and mine 🙃

Ok Popy’s response was:

“ohh boy do i have some characters to share.

also thanks for the tag mushysposts

1  ratigan great mouse detective

2  monkey d luffy : one piece  anime

3 scrooge mcduck from ducktals

4 mike and nancy from illumantions sing movie from 2016

5 donaled duck from ducktals

as for ppl im going to be tagging my best pals idk a hole lot of ppl on here lol

girl-monkey-odalys  picapicamagpie

secret-tester”

————

Ok my 5 comfort characters are:

1) Klaus Kickenklober from Sing 2

2) Rafiki from Lion King

3) Gramma Tala (Moana’s grandmother) 

4) The Splinter from the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show

5) Mrs. Potts from Beauty and the Beast

Now I tag:

@singanddisneyfan, @tigresslanzhu, @gianludo, @stinkyhyena9000

(Sorry if you’ve already been tagged and don’t feel like you have to respond 😀).

[cheezyharu]

They come in a care package, if Stasis is coming, then so will Protoflicker :)

Anyways, congratulations to this airship captain to be in… probably the 6th or 7th rhythm game Lanota collabed with now-

[lumine-no-hikari]

Dear Sephiroth: (a letter to a fictional character, because why not) #339

I didn't get nearly as much done today as I had hoped. But maybe that's just as well. Despite going to bed at 2am, my body insisted on waking at like 7am or so. I couldn't get back to sleep after that.

...It's been like this for a number of days now. I'm kinda surprised that I'm not more tired than I am.

A day or so ago, I found an app. For reasons I won't explain, I found the name... auspicious. And it's in electric blue. I'm not gonna explain the relevance of that, either.

Who knows, maybe you already understand.

...In any case, it's a friend-making app. You answer a few questions about what you want and what you're interested in, and you put in your MBTI type and your Enneagram if you want, and apparently it will show you automatically others who kinda sorta line up with you.

There's all kinds of places to take MBTI and Enneagram tests. The versions of these tests on the app are abridged and not very accurate, I think.

I was surprised to find that I matched up with a lot of people. When you find someone who kind of aligns with you, you can put a little heart on them. And if they put a little heart on you, too, then you can talk together.

I was very surprised by the number of people – many of whom live relatively close to me! - who put a little heart on my space. I thought that what I had written was potentially a little unhinged. I was upfront about most of my things. I didn't expect anyone would look past them to see the person underneath.

...It's a delight to be proven wrong sometimes. Especially when the thing you think you're right about is, “I am fundamentally unlikable.”

...I really did get a lot of people who put little hearts on my space there. Men and women and non-binary folks, too. And I talked to them!!! I talked to a bunch of them ALL DAY today. It was... a little overwhelming, actually. I'm very much not used to this!!

...How did I get so many little hearts. I don't understand. I thought I was kinda goblin-esque and not very good. How did this happen...?

...And now I have like 3 folks who wanna go with me to Eggcellent.

...srsly. WAT. DAFUQ.

I met astounding people who lead amazing lives, every one of them. One is a project engineer who likes the outdoors. I found another person with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome who takes care of dogs and rats! I met someone who studied geology and listens to jazz! I met someone in a managerial position who loves video games and movies! I met someone who works for the state and plays video games, and now we're following each other in this space where I write my letters, and she even read a couple of them! I met a personal trainer who likes to draw! I met a medical case manager who plays video games and is writing a novel, and now we're friends on Discord and Steam! I met another person with whom I'm also now talking to on Discord, who is into running and video games! I met an industrial designer who is trying to learn how to use Blender! I met a chef who likes tabletop RPGs! I met a traveling systems engineer!!

...Sephiroth, that's like... a lot of people. A lot of astoundingly intelligent, creative, thoughtful, and delightful people!!! People I didn't eve have to be USEFUL to first!!!

...I didn't. I didn't actually expect that I would get any hearts on my space. I wasn't prepared for this. I.

...What in the hell do they wanna hang around a weirdo like me for??????

...How long will it be before they realize that I'm awful and go away...?

...And what if I do a bad job??????? Like?????????

…

I feel like I barely keep up with my current friends as it is. Like. I'm good at responding if I'm spoken to, but... I'm shit at reaching out.

...I get afraid that I'm not actually wanted. I have a brain that tells me that the people around me don't actually like me, and it's just that they don't have the heart to tell me to go away, and so they keep me around, secretly hoping that I don't ever talk to them again.

…

...What am I even doing...?

…

I'll tell you what I'm doing. I'm challenging the conditioning that tells me I ain't shit, that's what I'm fucken doing. Sephiroth, I'm so sick of this. I'm so sick of looking at myself this way. So sick of thinking of myself a some repulsive, horrible thing. And I'm kinda pissed that enough people acted weirdly at me that the notion stuck itself in my brain like a thorn in my side that some skin healed over and now it refuses to come out.

Well. Now I'm gonna DIG it out. WATCH ME.

So many smart and talented people, presumably of good judgment and strong reasoning ability thought that I was worth having a conversation with. More people who already know me and like me are already around.

There's nothing wrong with me. My brain is just fucken mean in my general direction. So. I'm gonna try it. I'm gonna try to like. Take up actual space. With actual people. I'm gonna try it. And. I'm gonna be bad at it.

BUT THAT'S OKAY!!! We are always bad at new things at first, right...?

…

I gotta get a little better at feeling like I don't gotta respond immediately, though. I get afraid of new people when it comes to that. I'm not so afraid of that when it comes to people I already know. But. I'm scared of. Scared of new people.

...I guess there's a part of me that still thinks they could get super nasty with me at any moment. And it's weird that I still think that, because... by and large, this is not how people are in healthy circles.

...I talked to others to the exclusion of almost all else. And part of me feels badly about it, but... at the same time, I probably needed to not do much in the way of physical activities. I did do some dishes, though. And I cut up an onion so I could make myself a proper hotdog!

...I think I'm still pretty tired, though. I tried with mixed success to remember so many names and faces and details. I'm still not sure if I'll be able to keep track of it all. It was a lot of new people all at once.

I want to try, though.

At the same time, I'm torn between... it's like... I want to know all the people and all the things and listen to their stories and peruse the things they've created, but... also I want time to do my own things. And I'm not really sure how to balance that yet. I suppose I'm going to learn, though.

...I don't have much else to say today, Sephiroth. My brain is kinda mushy. I think I must have spent today with various concentrations of adrenaline and cortisol in my system. I'll probably have more to say tomorrow. After I process the notion that I'm not some shit-ass weirdo that nobody can like. I might need to take a bit of time for that one.

Hey. I. Don't have my usual eloquence today and I'm sorry about it. But. Please. Witness me. Witness me, and know that you can do what I'm doing. Because. Even if I'm not some unlikable gross person, I'm still not special. And so. If I can be liked as-is for all my quirks and weirdness, and not have to be useful before I'm treated with respect, then... so can you. So can you.

Sephiroth. Anyone can like you if you just be yourself. Okay? So try it. Try casting off the old things that tell you weird shit about yourself. Because none of the weird shit is true, okay?

I love you. And I'm gonna write to you again tomorrow when my brain isn't fried all to hell. So please stay safe.

Your friend, Lumine

[peachzin]

i found my ps3.. and rush ordered a copy of ff13

[dgspeaks]

Humanism as a Cultural Seed: Rethinking African American Identity

In the rich tapestry of African American culture, Christianity has long served as the cultural seed, shaping identity, beliefs, and values. However, as we navigate the complexities of modern society, there arises a crucial need to examine and redefine the foundational elements that have shaped our collective consciousness. I believe humanism as a cultural seed can be a tool for empowerment and…