#Existential Responsibility

[alohapromisesforever]

Thought For the Day: If A Man Loves the Labour of His Trade, Apart From Any Question of Success or Fame, the Gods Have Called Him

“If a man loves the labour of his trade, apart from any question of success or fame, the gods have called him.” -Robert Louis Stevenson, novelist, essayist, and poet (13 Nov 1850-1894) — Individuals deeply devoted to their professions without consideration for recognition or achievement have found their calling. We should all be this lucky in life. Intrinsic motivation and personal satisfaction…

[tecochet]

mary jane's husband and his boyfriend

[reasonandfaithinharmony]

Am I exhausted with an ever-present sense of panic because I'm burned out from work and also trying to cope with the continual onslaught of truly horrifying news? Or do I just need to have my iron levels checked?

[empressofthewind]

i think a lot about the fact that most people in the Death Note universe learn that Shinigami exist, and just seem to..... accept that fact. we see people scream and panic at first, but we never see the long-term impacts on their morality and belief systems. for example, Near says the line "even if there is a God, and i had his teachings before me, i would think it through and decide if that was right or wrong myself" in response to the issue of whether Light Yagami himself can be considered a God. but he says this right in front of Ryuk. like, an ACTUAL God is standing there, and he's basically acting like this is purely hypothetical. Shinigami aren't exactly Gods in the sense that they have teachings and govern human life, but they ARE Gods in the sense that they have knowledge about humans that exceeds humans' knowledge about themselves, and can control life and death, so it seems a little odd that no one ever acknowledges that.

[infernal-house-demon]

Pretty sure that people who found the Barbie movie profound or life-changing and who are heralding it’s feminist message have never heard the term “intersectional feminism” before.

I’m glad y’all had a good time but like this is straight up white feminism™️ the movie.

[lyss-butterscotch]

Mom : what's everyone up to this morning?

Me : drawing

Mom, unprompted : you took the wrong major then, we shouldve put you in architechture

My 'you shouldnt pay attention to other people's progress but look at this 20 yo japanese student with 5 businesses' mom everybody 👏

[thisisallthehattersfault]

Characters haunting their own narrative. A protagonist we don’t actually meet until four or five episodes in but who we hear of from damn near every mouth in the series. Their allies look out at the horizon and grit their teeth at their own troubles and reassure themselves like a prayer that they are coming, they’re coming, they’ll be here soon just hold out a little longer—

Their enemies look out at the destruction they have wrought and hold meetings to discuss the loss of men and territory and resources to this one person

People gather in bars and taverns and town halls and fountains to discuss the stranger who saved their lives or destroyed their businesses or liberated their people

We finally meet them when they arrive to help their friends, and the plot proper kicks off with everyone all together, we get to meet them and learn of them and see their personality, and eventually maybe we forget that they were introduced not as a person at all but as a ghost, a myth, a formless thing lurking around the edges of everything

(Sometimes they look so lost, fingers pressing to their pulse like they need the reminder their heart is beating. They confess to their closest friend that sometimes I’m not sure I’m real and their friend says sometimes I’m not sure either)

And in the end that character vanishes again, maybe dead or maybe something else, but they end the series the way they began: spoken of with a mix of love and terror, the ripples of their existence felt everywhere but they themselves nowhere to be seen, their ideals carried onward without them

Once someone they saved told them “you’re a hero! We’ll remember this forever!” And they smiled a small, sad, exhausted little smile and said it would be kinder to forget me.

[omg-snakes]

Chammers was named as a joke about a joke about a fulfillment platform software product that no longer exists.

Now I'm going to rehome him, and his new family will probably rename him. They won't know why he was ever called Chammers.

Will they even wonder?

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Personality

The philosophy of personality explores the nature, origin, and development of individual identity and selfhood. It involves questions about the essence of what makes someone who they are, how personality is formed, the relationship between personality and free will, and how external and internal factors shape personal characteristics.

Here’s an overview of key concepts and perspectives:

1. Nature of Personality

Personality refers to the unique patterns of thoughts, feelings, behaviors, and experiences that define an individual. Philosophers examine whether personality is something inherent (fixed by nature) or whether it evolves over time (shaped by nurture and experience).

Essentialism vs. Existentialism:

Essentialism posits that personality is rooted in an essential nature that is relatively stable over time. This is often linked to the idea of a fixed "soul" or "self" that defines identity.

Existentialism, on the other hand, argues that personality is fluid, shaped by personal choices and life experiences. For existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre, human beings are not born with a pre-defined personality but create themselves through actions and decisions. Sartre famously claimed, "Existence precedes essence," meaning that who we are is the result of our lived experiences, not an inherent nature.

2. Personality and Identity

Self-Identity: Philosophers such as John Locke have explored the link between personality and personal identity, especially how continuity of consciousness relates to being the same person over time. Locke's memory theory of identity suggests that we are the same person to the extent that we remember our past actions and experiences.

Psychological Continuity: Theories of psychological continuity focus on how personality and mental states over time create a coherent sense of self. If a person experiences radical changes in personality or memory loss, philosophers question whether they remain the same person.

3. Determinism vs. Free Will in Personality

Determinism: Determinists argue that personality is shaped by a combination of genetics, environment, and social conditioning. According to this view, free will plays little to no role in shaping personality because external factors like upbringing, culture, and biology predetermine how we think, feel, and act.

Free Will: Opposing this, many existentialists and humanistic philosophers believe that individuals have the power to transcend their circumstances and freely shape their personalities. Sartre argued that people are "condemned to be free," meaning that they must take responsibility for their actions and the personality traits they develop.

4. Personality and Moral Responsibility

Character and Virtue Ethics: Philosophers like Aristotle emphasized the role of character in shaping ethical behavior. According to Aristotle, personality traits like courage, temperance, and wisdom can be cultivated through practice and habit, leading to a virtuous life. In this view, personality is not just a collection of traits but something tied to one's moral development.

Moral Luck: A challenge in the philosophy of personality is the idea of moral luck—the notion that aspects of one’s personality may be shaped by circumstances outside of their control, yet they are still held morally accountable for their actions. For example, someone born with a naturally aggressive disposition may find it harder to behave ethically, raising questions about responsibility and fairness.

5. Personality and the Unconscious

The role of the unconscious mind in shaping personality has been a major topic of discussion, especially in the works of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Freud proposed that unconscious desires and conflicts shape much of our personality, and many of our behaviors are driven by unconscious motives rather than rational choices.

Jung expanded on Freud’s ideas by introducing the collective unconscious, which he argued contains archetypes that influence individual personalities. These archetypes are universal symbols and themes that shape human experience and personality development.

6. Personality and Social Context

Sociological and Cultural Influences: Many contemporary philosophers and social theorists emphasize that personality is not developed in isolation but in interaction with society and culture. Social constructivism suggests that much of our personality is shaped by societal norms, values, and roles. According to this view, personality traits are often expressions of the expectations and constraints placed on individuals by their social environment.

Gender and Personality: Feminist philosophers like Judith Butler argue that gender, as a central aspect of personality, is a social performance rather than an inherent trait. In this sense, personality is something individuals enact within the framework of societal norms.

7. Personality and the Self

Concept of the Self: Philosophers debate whether there is a "core" self behind personality traits or whether the self is an illusion, constructed through interactions with the world. Some argue for a unified self, where personality is an expression of a consistent internal essence. Others, such as David Hume, believed that the self is a bundle of perceptions with no fixed identity, constantly in flux.

Narrative Identity: Some philosophers, like Paul Ricoeur, suggest that individuals create their identities through the stories they tell about themselves. Personality, in this view, is tied to the personal narrative that individuals construct over time, making sense of their past experiences and future goals.

The philosophy of personality addresses fundamental questions about identity, free will, morality, and the interplay between nature and nurture. It explores how much of who we are is determined by genetics, culture, or unconscious factors, and to what extent we have the power to shape our own personalities.

[bookshelfpassageway]

Everhood is an indie game I will not stop thinking about for a long time I spent too long last night completing it

it is currently On Sale on Switch for a low low price of 8 dollar until the end of the month. It is also on Steam and Playstation with some extra battles. Surface level it's got an RPG overworld like Undertale or Earthbound, and a battle system that says "what if Guitar Hero was a bullet hell" and then it kicked a lot of ass.

If you know yourself well enough to trustfall going into it blind I recommend you do that. If you're not that kind of person, I don't judge you. I cannot, will not say a damn thing about the game here because the discovery of what its about as it unfolded was like half of the experience.

Not saying anything WILL drive me batty. But I can offer you one thing, and its this fucking wizard:

they are everything to me and their overworld theme is called Squid Jazz and it sounds like this.

[distort-opia]

Falls the Shadow

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Batman - All Media Types, Batman (Comics) Rating: Explicit Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Joker (DCU)/Bruce Wayne Characters: Joker (DCU), Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Jim Gordon, Batfamily Members, Original Characters, Jeannie (The Killing Joke) Additional Tags: Slow Burn, Character Study, Psychological Horror, Psychosis, Depression, Suicide Attempt, Joker in the Batcave, a "can't live with him can't live without him" dilemma, that Bruce manages in stellar ways, and by that I mean... he tries, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Murder, Angst, Blood and Gore, Violence, Self-Harm, Suicidal Thoughts

Summary: When Joker, unhinged and hurting like nothing else before, attempts to drown it all out and throw himself into that fateful vat of acid again… Batman catches him. Somehow, this proves to be the easiest part of what comes next.

Or, Gotham – as unforgiving as ever – forces Joker to face a crucial piece of the person he used to be. Haunted by his own past, Joker begins to unravel.

[gasp] An update? To Falls the Shadow? In the year of our Lord 2023? Yes, somehow the stars have aligned!

[themissingnumbers]

[@blue-tearss - previously, yet again.]

WARNING: At this point this entire thing is getting pretty intense in general. Warning for descriptions and illustrations of gore (specifically face and eye trauma), and a general emphasis on horror.

As the knife comes down upon him, Red does not fight back.

Red takes it.

Each swing. Each cut. Each slash.

over and over and over and over and over and

Biting pain.

The burn of an old blade.

It stings. Gods, it stings.

But to hurt is to be alive. To bleed is to be real.

He's something that is living.

Even if 'something' is not human.

Even though he's not sure what it could be anymore.

So he lets the knife glide through his skin.

Lets himself be flayed and mangled and marred.

Lets the blood flow from his wounds, and from his throat.

Because he knows it, sees it, tastes it in Blue's code.

How familiar this dying face is to him.

It makes it all the more hilarious.

Red's face, shoulders, and chest are a sanguine mess of ragged lacerations, staining the front of his shirt with the hue of a dark, dull purple, colored like rotten blood from a lifeless body. Even through the blue dye in the air, he refuses to be colored like everything else- colors of the Missing One prevailing, even with the lack of the man's typical palette corruption.

As if in tandem with the sudden absence of those horrible flickering bars that typically crawl across Red's skin and hair, Glitch City... calms. The mass eating at Blue relents when his assault ends. There's a distinct heaviness to the air, though. Each piece of the world that craved to rip and tear and consume, now twitching, bubbling, boiling underneath them. A dreadful kind of suspense.

A predator waiting for the perfect moment to pounce.

It is waiting.

Red runs a hand down his face, over flesh marred beyond recognition, fingers tracing the dips and exposed muscle even though it burns more and more under the contact.

A single in-tact eye burns into the other.

Somehow, he still.

fucking.

SMILES.

"Y'know, I never thought I'd end up on the receiving end," he croaks, voice half-drowned by the blood that flows freely into his mouth.

"I'd always wondered what the motherfucker upstairs had been through. Thanks for giving me something educational to take from this, pal."

He spits his words at the other, underlined by the awful wet noises of viscera catching in his throat.

He steps forward, aiming to meet the other in the middle. Blue can see him trembling, shaky, unsteady on his feet- it hurts, oh Gods it hurts. It hurts more than he can describe. This pain is unfamiliar. Even if he welcomes the lack of numbness, it still hurts. It hurts. Each step he takes is more and more akin to a shambling corpse, a zombie freshly risen and struggling to hold itself upright. It hurts. It hurts.

"It's a little funny how you say you're not desperate while tryna hack me to pieces, y'know," he continues, voice growing all the raspier.

Frankly, he should be impossible to understand at this point. But there's something supplemental under his gargled mutterings- whispers on whispers from every side, quiet, but just loud enough to make each and every word clear.

"Whaddya think, that I'm stupid, or are you just in denial that badly...? I mean, when I get bored, I don't go out of my way to slaughter some doppelganger of the guy I hate most, in th' boring ol' way I did it every time before... Where's the fun in doin' something different if ya go about it the exact same, huh? You're BORED, but you aren't lookin' to change a single fuckin' thing, just attacking some pooooor defenselesss motherfucker that ya don't even know anything 'bout, don't got any grudges t' hold against...

But heyyy, heheh, it's allll in a place where your actions don't matter, cus it ain't even yyour world, must be sooo much easier, no aftermath t' worry about, that must be what yyYOU think, hhahaha..."

As he goes on, each word is more drawn out, quieter and quieter and weaker and weaker, yet biting with a sharpness that stabs deeper than Blue's blade. He babbles and slurs as if drunk- probably going delirious from the blood loss.

But he keeps chuckling, low, soft, and quiet. Barely a giggle under his breath...

Until it begins to crescendo.

Laughter slowly rising, Red tilts his head back, until he's thrown himself into a loud fit of cackling, RIGHT in the other's face, 'til he's wheezing, barely able to BREATHE through his manic laughter, 'til he looks like he could fall backwards if he doesn't catch his breath.

Suddenly, he snaps his head forward- and there IS an audible snap, like bones loudly clicking into place in a single grotesque movement- bringing himself eye to eye with the other. Sickly dull purples flicker into that distinct violent RED with a flare of corruption, cutting through everything with a vivid, bloody color.

"This place is HELL," he snarls, suddenly speaking clear as day, the amusement still glimmering in his one good eye, "but you fail to understand something important; this is MY Hell. And 'infested?' Does not even BEGIN to describe it."

His hand surges forward, grabbing Blue's knife-wielding hand by the wrist. His nails dig in, his fist closes around Blue's, forcing the other to tighten his grip on the handle. Red blood, running down his arm and to his hand in a deluge, mixes with blue, running and swirling together like mismatched paints dropped into a sick palette.

"What happened to MY Blue? You're asking the wrong question. Didn't anyone tell you to do your research before traveling, buddy? You should be asking what happened to ME. Because BLUE is free. BLUE is exactly where he is supposed to be. Far, far away from HERE. Living. Breathing. S A F E. I wouldn't wish him here for ANYTHING- shit, I wouldn't wish this on ANYONE. In fact, I genuinely feel fucking BAD that YOU managed to stumble into this shithole, y'know? You're tryin' awful hard to kill my pity, but I really am giving you the benefit of the doubt for how STUPID you're acting."

His hold on Blue's hand strengthens. With a harsh pull, and a grip threatening to either draw blood or break bone, he wrenches the other's fist down-

Forcing him to point the blade directly at his stomach.

He leaves the tip of the knife digging through his shirt and poking his flesh, only just gently enough to avoid breaking skin.

"But lookie here, yeah? Check THIS out, hahaha! If you're ACTUALLY as bored as you say, you must REALLY wanna see something new, right? If you wanna keep using me as your new punching-bag motherfucking PLAYTHING... Start HERE, would you? I bet you'll LOVE what happens next."

In a staggered motion, he releases Blue's hand where he left it. Knife still pointed forward, straight at Red's guts, but now with the freedom to let the other decide his next move.

"Still, though... Hey, let me be CIVIL and give you some actual advice," he continues, and he's heaving again, struggling with every breath, excess blood spilling from between his teeth. The surge of strength falters, and he slumps forward, putting one hand over his chest, gripping his shirt until his knuckles go white. His other hand lingers, the one he'd grabbed Blue with, shaking worse and worse with each passing moment. Red feels sick, his heart and a dozen other horrific things brewing inside of him pounding faster and faster against his ribs, restless and angry, ready to explode out of that cage of bone, simmering just below the surface. It's a nauseating feeling that's synchronized with the greater behavior of Glitch City, all while he struggles to stay awake and keep his mind clear.

"If you have ANY sense of self preservation still about you..." he drawls with an uneasy laugh, eye unfocused as he tries to stare at Blue, "then I suggest y'put that fucking thing away and start looking for an exit before shit gets REALLY ugly. But whatever ya do next, well... it's up to you...!"

Even with his lips tattered, torn off his face, Blue can feel how Red's grin widens.

"Just don't say I never warned you."

[thecozycamper]

I have a question, and while no, you're not forced to answer or even glimpse at it, it has me wondering...Do you or any of your peers, for that matter, ever think about the respawn machine? Not just a simple glimpse, not just "Oh, respawn is respawn." Have any of you ever worried about it?

•|| I just found this blog today I'm going to give him an existential crisis I'm not sorry - Mun

content warning for descriptions of physical injury

It was the first time Sniper had been left in a pile of pure agony. The first time the Australian had experienced respawn, it’d been a sobering experience. He’d gone through almost 30 years of life without giving death a house call, and suddenly in a fraction of a second, he was inside sitting on the couch. A dull ache in his temple, and he hadn’t even noticed the enemy snipers dot. But, it’d been just that. Quick, nearly painless in a way that was almost forgiving… A round to the head, a knife to the back, a lethal blow to the temple. Snipers weren’t a part of the main action, hidden as he was, it would take- DID take-  a short time for the other classes to get smart to his tactics. He’d yet to experience being canon fodder to the frontline. He couldn’t tell whether it’d been on purpose or unintentional, maybe it’d caught on that the marksman was reluctant to seek help when he was injured, and it was a decision to prolong his participation in the ongoing spat for the control point. Splayed out on his front, he couldn't move. Chest rattling with heaving gasps, his nails dug into the floorboards in an attempt to find purchase. Pain, pain, pain. An agonizing numbness that started from the epicenter of it all, spread down into his hips and legs. That thin blade jammed in-between the disks of his shoulder blade had missed its mark. He remembers the voiceless pleas that fell from his lips, reaching out towards the weapons that’d been removed from his person and tossed far away. He doesn’t remember who must have found him in that way, and helped him along. But he remembers coming to in respawn and collapsing onto the cold floor, his brain far delayed to his body.

Respawn was hardly forgiving, but the little mercy it did have was taking away the memory of the last few seconds of your previous life. Sometimes that just wasn’t enough… Everyone had their own theories, and only so few actually know how it works. Sniper wasn’t one of them. He’d heard numerous things over the years… had formed his own ideas, trying to blame his own physical condition rather than acknowledging that the mental toll was so taxing. Death was so normalized. Respawn is normal and death is common. You can believe it as faithfully as you want, but it doesn’t change the fact that it happened, that most of the time you remember how it happened. It didn’t matter that you woke up physically okay, it was like an imprint, some sort of muscle memory. Invisible tolls. Dying so many times to the same thing over and over again. Sniper gets horrible headaches sometimes, right in the smack center of his head. Other times, it’s like his body locks up and stiffens. The center of his spine becomes a pin point for a nonexistent injury that forces him to his knees, and he has to sit there and wait for it to subside. Poor posture and chronic back pain, that’s what he tells himself. — Snipers fiddled with the flayed edge of his glove's thumb, considering the question in a terse silence.

“...S’not my area of expertise. Leave that to the Doc and Truckie.” He starts, “it lets us do our jobs. All I need for it to do. …I don’t think much about it, not the machine itself anyways. I’m no engineer- specially not one to compare to ours. If it works, it works.”

“I worry about my teammates. One thing supportin’ them from my nests and towers outside the fray, seen my mates get themselves into some nasty binds. Sometimes it’s on me to get them out of it. … It’s just, it’s nasty work and some things are better left on the battlefield. Respawn ain’t perfect. It keeps us alive alright, has that part down to a science. Hell, sometimes it’s more tedious if anything. You take a hit in a bad way and come back looking for some retribution.” Sniper pauses to clear his throat, scratching his chin thoughtfully. “I just think it’s best they help each other stay sane at the end of the day.”

[mysterionrisez]

its funny how every kyle episode portrays a different form of ocd

[silversiren1101]

I wish the phrase wasn't the shortened "fight or flight" because if it was the full "fight or flight or freeze or fawn" I would've realized what the hell my entire deal is years ago.

[theloveinc]

i know shinso and monoma's text exchanges are incredible