#Path of Trascendence

[captainkurosolaire]

Sunbreak Treachery

  A dazzling-sun prospered over storm clouds, forming a beautiful sun-break. With hints written in them, one had to ponder, would these same clouds overtake skies again? A showdown between Skull-Brethren represented the same sentiment below. Dark Cloud or Sunshine, who’d prevail? “You’re makin’ a mess, o’ brother of' mine… What's th’ matter matey isn’t this what you wanted?” Sarcastically overseeing Sol clenching his chest wound, crimson ichor leaking between his fingers, barely managing to keep his balance on their fighting-grounds, atop their flagship mast. A guttural snarling foamed, clenched teeth gave forth reply, “...I don’t understand, y-you falter and fail against everyone… But not against m-me!?” Blinded through sheer hallucination, his superiority, an actual ego of genuine perfection was him, nobody could prove otherwise. History repeating itself Judas who enacted a betrayal before stabbed to Captain from behind, when this Seeker was his lowest, but he arose through maroon and ashes, bringing crushing defeat to the front. Silver-treacherous, was learning harshly this. “...Ye b’ correct. I don’t often claim victory against many, merely I survive. However, you’ve awakened something inside me… N’ unfortunately fer you, it’s not below my waist. Also I’ve a track record of one you’ve witnessed first-hand. I don’t lose t’ demons or devils, I beat th’ living shite out of ‘em. Cause there’s nothing I pity more than an existence that only thrives to suckle on teets t’ get by. What’s Voidal can never beat someone who truly Lives. It doesn’t help yer scenario I know way too much about ya’. As lil o’ street urchins; like this. I know yer fighting habits, I’ve seen you, just as much; you’ve me… Except there’s a difference. You maliciously peer jealousy - while I admired. As you’ve said, you’re my senior!” The victorious seemingly-standing pirate reigned over with a definitive message. Tugging at the conscripted ex-Garlean profoundly, overwhelming seething fury ate it. A realization he didn’t want to accept… More core side of him, somewhere harbored elsewhere, felt that genuine message, he was revered in his own-way and was enough, as himself. Yellow hues betrayed the Raen for a moment, blinding-rage fumed up before raising up from his weakened posture. Tapping a part underneath his collarbone that activated surgical augmentation to accelerate his heart rate and rhythm to give him more stamina and a bolster of aether. Unfinished with this result.

Confused, Kuro, who was about to walk off,  prepared himself back into battle-stance with a disheartening sigh. “I-I will not lose. You’re the pathetic one! Unable to rebuild anymore! The Crew won’t ever return, you’ve broken and strung by fleeting tape. You couldn’t overcome the mental torment of failure.” With Sol’s remaining good-hand he withdrew a sheathed hilt towards a clan blade hidden between his back-buckle, his own Family Heirloom. Unlike traditional Hingashi katana’s, its blade opened with a pressing switch like an instantaneous box-cutter. A foul, malevolent, aether flux shrieked out, with a howling banshee scream that nearly pierced Captain’s ear-drums. That malefic blade…Became corrupted, passed on through dynasty heirs traditionally. But Sol slaughtered his noble right’s to gain ownership turning something pure and sacred that once was prestigious held by a Samurai, to be an incarnation of evil. To bring out such blatant lengths against Captain, really showed how far he was lost. Sol by no-means had expertise in using a sword but overcame his comfort against all his dismay, out of unbound hatred. Disheartening, the Blackguard showed sympathy, frowning, and placed one of his own blades and shoved it into wood between his feet. Bringing an overabundance of confidence or wanting to play honor among thieves. A pure formed sword-clash broke out, each of them using their strengths and full bodily weight while trying to keep composure of balance, they exchanged and teetered to one-end of the Mast to the other, both drawing close. Getting minor fencing cuts and stabs. Sol’s blade even though he wasn’t a viable wielder, the weapon carried him with how much force it dealt. As a result he began winning the second-exchange tie up. Captain’s eyelids became startled, as he began suddenly seeing phantasms protruding from Sol’s accursed steel, a manifestation of malice. The form of Sol’s undoubted father in resemblance, who he somehow could even hear. <”Miserable thief… You’re UNWORTHY of carrying our last name! Our clan will be unrest until you’re taken to wretched Seven Hells!”> Raen was forming excessive sweat, that brand served against the possessor, weighing heavier continuously each swing. The malevolent spirit was actually squeezing and wrapping its incorporeal form around his wrist, searing his palm. The Scoundrel witnessing this horrifying event, with Sol seemingly only feeling effects, it brought his concentration out of guard for a moment to see a specter like this in-the-flesh. He was improperly blocked with improper form. Causing his steel to break under the pressure and snap. This made Captain stumble off the mast. Sol satisfyingly grinned but that feline rogue’s cunning tail caught his fall, third armed. Giving Captain enough time to swing with a momentum to athletically put a singular hand back on the top-mast. Traitorous Sol charged forth, aiming to deliver one strike to decapitate Captain’s peaking hand, just needing a downward slash. More malevolent family spirit’s of Sol’s murderous transgressions began tightening around his wrists, Sister, favored child although younger was selected for being Heir, his Taoist Mother, and the rampaging dishonored Father who disowned his son knowing Sol’s putrid side. His Raen’s scale protecting him was melted, now felt real agonizing pain, adrenaline couldn’t suppress it anymore. Captain wasn’t sure where or why those spirit’s could be seen, but he was engaged in battle, so took the opportunity to retrieve himself, with a swing and flip back atop from a pull-up. He ran a full dash-sprint, leapt off the hilt of his old discarded blade from earlier and round-kicked Sol’s own blade flat-blade. Which saw him tumbling backward, falling on his rump and becoming disarmed. Trying to fetch composure and stand up, but Captain awaited with his finishing new technique instinctual given birth… They started on here with rock-paper-scissors who’d rig, and it’d end this way with a killer-combination.

On Sol’s come up, Scissors came by, a double-poke gouge to eyes. That had him screaming howling, defensively blockading being hit like that again a natural response to someone untrained, and left his chin-exposed. Rock followed-through; a gnarly uppercut with Captain’s pent-up temper. That saw the Raen upchuck his saliva in disbelief, his world-rocked, unused to being physically dominated, he fought like every other pain-staking coward who hid behind range only in a battle or with explosives with attacks from stealth that often were set on always winning. Lastly was the ending blow, his heel’s teetering on the mast’s edge, tail-attempting to redistribute his weight, pleading that Raen squealed, “W-WAIT!” Before Captain ceremoniously unleashed an open-palm, Paper to his torso with a formidable shove. Spilling off, although before plummeting below into the ocean awaiting judgment for treachery, surprised mercy came with Captain grabbing his wrist. “Damn your insufferable pity, you’re saving me now!? – I hate you! I’ll kill you! Including everyone we know! Now, let me GO!” Still unbelievably, rage overtook the spiteful Raen. He kept swinging back, flailing trying to make Captain’s sailor grip-loosen. That brash pirate with warmth surrounding him gave a crooked golden beam. “...Aye. Upon land their denizen’s taught me, even though we’ve prone t’ know on sea, we herald their methods inferior, that compassion. They’ve normalized and made sibling squabbles natural, they disown each other too. …But their resolve is commendable, even if it takes time to mend through vile animosity. ‘Cause they’re solely, blood-bound they don’t give-up on another! We’re th’ last two-alive from our former Crew… Should yer path b’ Destruction. Then I’ll just become stronger than you, and provide Restoration. Ye b’ right-about many things, I did fail Crew, n’ ye, as Captain. Me not having an ambition even if out-of-reach or attainable, to have something to ascend towards; makes one aware how to grow forth. Now, I’ve a direction… I can raise higher t’ the standards you set, n’ expect. C’mon, surrender!” Sol’s resenting and resilience gave a sudden pause, irritation quelling, but it was a calming facade. “You actually think… That trivially, I’ll concede!? Your kindness will ruin you again. And when it does, mark my words, you’ll become, no-better than me, blight akin to myself. All the preaching of goodness, light you bring…  those accursed eyes… Constantly shining against darkness. Will collapse, you’ll be confronted with the forces we ran to maintain freedom! That we both know, are impossible to overcome. Irrefutable tides, power-beyond-power, none can oppose, and it’ll come for your sanctuary. When it does, either you’ll be at the forefront butchering to survive; thrive. Or die empty, as nothing! Screw your PITY!” He’d oppose it with a devastating omen. Captain felt a disturbing tingly sensation, in tone and mannerism, at this point, Sol’s characteristic traits in this manner were predictable, malicious-intent was expected. Sol in his crafty dialogue, took a stray-bullet, often his final-gambit, holstered on his pant’s leg, and curled it around his tail’s tip expertly used it to fling, with velocity at speeds, towards Captain’s visage looming over, to hold, it carried enough force, for puncturing. This gave Kuro no choice, to relent. Granting the Raen what he wanted, relief, a submersion into the waters, despite knowing he couldn’t swim. Something would’ve been expected but his other natural-state was uncaring, never wanting to learn or commit, expecting things handed, always looking for ways around thalassophobia flaws, perceiving them as his qualities. Actually, stupid-luck was his treasure, about to run dry. Struggling, splashing around like a fish-out-of-water only making his distress begin sinking him, disgruntled waves swayed against his mismanaged energy. Soon he’d join the fellow sea-bed Brethren of their Goldbrand and die. In his final-moment’s everything was becoming extinguished. Perhaps his real motive was just to create a new monster, or break Captain with his demise, or somewhere internally wanted this painstaking defeat, to empower the Seeker’s betterment it seemed, his confidence was showing again. If it wasn't noticed; it could be-said all these transpired in Sol’s fragmented madness. “FOOL!” The Seeker gave an upsetting roar. The same scar-over his eyelid reopened by the bullet shredded against flesh, blood coursing down, his Star-Sight capturing the projectile barely with a knick. Never letting his impeccable Miqo’te instinct’s be second-guessed against Sol, it saved his life this time around. But vaulting a projectile only dampened the initial impact from fatality, this still would blind Captain to use an eye-patch to recover the damage of using this technique, used rarely to overcome viscous battles. He shot the projectile out by reopening the star-gate pupil, but coldness lingering in his body with sharp spasms, something wasn’t right. Another poison ran its course, draining him. …So he was supposed to just give-up and allow this be how it ends? Despite standing a chance to rescue a Crewmate for once, to decide an outcome, act heroically and slice through fate’s string. “Fuck yer way!” He said callously before brazenly jumping off the mast, swan diving after his drowning fellow… <’Nay, matey. I’ll sail this black!’> Went in his mind, his own-daughter’s voice carrying him, <“Dying isn’t suffering or learning mistakes, like Living through them is! Knowing difficulty, repenting harshly.”> She mercilessly sentenced upon his dead-beat ass, so Sol wasn’t off-the-hook.

He swam to the bottom in pursuit to depths, Sol fading in consciousness, but the Seeker latched, grabbed and secured his arm over his broad shoulder. The moment he connected, his strength, adrenaline, everything was dampening. His vision, completely dissolved, lost obscurity. All his senses lost underwater, only touch; feel left. Mind fogging rapidly, holding his breath. He hadn’t any boundless strength to swim and lift them out of this peril, not in this condition. Instead of panicking, in the deep. Not contesting the current’s force and wasting his reservoirs, he noticed above the surface-water before his dissension below, his Tricorne floating, that catalyst way to commune. Praying to Gods, often weren’t associated with his brand of outcast pirates. But no choice, to submit, faith and fate was the only solution, Otherwise they’re hopelessly dead. With feel, to grant communion alone, his aether pulling outwardly a light-source, his soul creating noise. <Saltsong. I’ve a request. I hate to sound like I'm ushering command over you. A sea cannot be;  I need, desperately, a tide of fortune, of yours. I’m supposed to exterminate Scourges that may pollute these waters… Please understand, I cannot do it with this one, they’re the closest to an actual sibling I've ever had. But I’ll become his Order.”> A favor asked by an Oceanic Kami’s chosen, surrendering to his burdens and markings. The sea's held emotion’s bound and moved, transmuting the message throughout the great-blue, beyond vast fathom. Captain’s body laxing, nearly about to relinquish.

Silence seemed to dreadfully be answered, before panic settled-in, a reply came, miraculously waves swept up, rushing rumbling and back, with ferocious current, swinging them forth and around with gyrating whirls, before a huge tidal met them and washed the pirates forcefully onto the deck. His infamous Hat alongside them. Their old pirate’s flag they once resided under fell under the pressure. Renewal was now, Sunshine claimed this climactic fight. Upchucking water in lungs, recuperating from hitting the lower-mast hard, he sprawled on elbows and gave everything in strength, to give rough compressions and revitalize Sol, once breathing returned to his feline-hearing, the brutish Seeker collapsed on his back. “Thanks, Sea… I ow–” The poison appeared relative to a tranquilizing shot, finally claiming the scoundrel. The Worldly Finder left aimless sailing with no manning. It’d prove too dangerous unless a force gave intervention, the vessel’s direction suddenly shifted towards a storm over yonder distant one that’d brave forth with fair-wind to the nearest shore, a sensational, tide rushed outward a precursor, that voyage of Captain’s journey stirring only up. What exactly, and who he served to be was almost uncovered. Suddenly able to see-the-unseen. Ability to commune with greater-spirits, to traverse spiritual consciousness, manifest and change his soul-alignment, alongside transform, fighting styles adaptive, alike nature itself. Or drawing the abundance of various diversities into company. There was one explanation, all linked to these phenomena. Perish his other-half, spiritual guide butterfly, told him the answer lies where he untraveled, never thinking it was important, but by never applying questions, answers cannot exist, especially where your actual-self resides, placing forever  a piece of identity into limbo. His journey called out to return where it should’ve begun. With his Shadowy Father to figure out who exactly indeed, was his Mother. Sequential, learning himself. ♫Sail into the Black♫ - Reference - Last Chapter

Mention: @the-littlest-kojin​ (With their incredible, Saltsong)

[libbee]

Falling in love as a water dominant native

Inner planets (moon/sun/venus/mercury/mars) in a water house or water sign - love is different to you. You want to be with someone with whom you can be yourself and just yourself. Truly yourself. With all your feelings and vulnerabilities laid on the table, you are that safe and secure with your lover.

Water house or water sign placements make the native sensitive. Sensitive is to feel the feelings to their extreme. It is like holding a bubble in your palm, worried someone might pinch it, alert someone might blow it. You do not open yourself up to someone unless you trust their character.

Loyalty and honesty means a lot to you. You want someone as transparent as the water. You want to see through them. While other people look with their eyes, you look with your soul. Your eyes are turned inwards and constantly see the ups and downs of your emotions. Being sensitive and emotional, you are drawn to spirituality and choose your own path in life. You strive for a purpose in life. You want to know why you were born here on earth. You need a sense of mission and direction. You are a giver in love, the more you share your love, the more love there is in the world. You strive for higher principles, morals, meaning and values. You are the ones to turn the pages of philosophy books because the exterior life just does not suit your taste.

You fall in love with your soul. You meet someone and they are just the right person. Your intuition (water) tells you, this is it, you cannot reason why or how this person becomes the most prioritized person in your life. You are naturally obsessive. You are thinking of all the things you want to tell them, share with them, listen to them. Their mind, emotions and soul are your adventure place. You want to explore the depths of their mind. You want to merge your soul and identity with this person in your life.

Love is not just a word to you, it is life itself. Men with water dominant energy appear so ordinary from the outside, but oh-the right person will see the glaciers and ocean behind that mask. This ocean contains the secrets of the world. You want to self actualize with your lover. Someone who assists you in this journey. It is not just a material love to you, it is rather spiritual. You value their soul, their spirit, their essence. Love is a sacrifice to you, a noble cause, a martyr.

Perhaps, love is the language of water dominant natives. It is their religion and their philosophy. You will realize that this love trascends personality and unites with God, the eternal and the source. Nobody loves like a water dominant native, especially an evolved and mature one. They make life heaven, understand your emotional needs with their intuition, love you just the right way, be the best version of themselves, do everything to make your life better. Perhaps, nobody talks about water natives' love because very few experience it and those who experience the mature water love are too busy in self actualizing and transformation. They are too detached from self promotion and fakery.

[immediatebreakfast]

I didn't know that one of the most heartwarming stories that I would read was going to be how an intrepid monkey king receives his new name from who is going to be his master in the arts of immortality.

After ten years of leaving Flower - Fruit Mountain and his fellow monkeys behind. Of wandering and interacting with humans, Sun Wukong finally starts his path towards immortality with a new name. A name that he now has the responsibility as a disciple to maintain, and live it up to his full potential.

Sun (boy) Wukong (Wake-to-the-void), the monkey king who will shake the void.

Names represent so many things. They are our face to the world, a symbol of existance, a powerful tool on the wrong hands for some, and a heavy chain for others. It's fitting that now named Sun Wukong gets a new name to represent a new phase in his long life, a new phase to confront that barrier which prevents him (to his understanding) to be truly free in every meaning of the word.

It's just so heartwarming to read the process of choosing it. How Patriarch Subodhi asked for his name, only for Wukong to not have one, and instead of judging him the Patriarch starts to analyse everything around the monkey king to give him a full name, a good name worthy of such special disciple. Starting with a surname that represents who Sun is, but without the animal radical to indicate how he has the possibility to trascend it; then the given name that unites Wukong to both his master and his fellow disciples with a generational character.

United as companions through multiple seasons, like a family in a sense of expected companionship and support. Nothing will replace Sun Wukong's family on Flower - Fruit Mountain, but in this new path to reach immortality he will find another that will teach him in every step he takes.

No wonder Sun Wukong is so joyful at the end of the chapter, to be named with so much care must feel amazing.

[shiawasekai]

You know, I didn't choose Angel path for Nela for any Deep Reasons™️. I essentially went "i don't have any mythic path that's inherently more fitting for her, so may as well"

Thing is... retroactively? Yes, i'm very into it.

Emberkin Aasimar being the descendants of Peri, who they themselves are the descendants of Fallen Angels and gained angelhood through redemption of their tainted blood; it feels oddly fitting. Once more overcoming demonic taint despite all odds and trascending it to reach angelhood, cleansing themselves in the process.

I really like the thematic consistency of it all.

[eirinstiva]

"What a grotesque scene!"

There's a lot of racism in the first letter of "A Costume Piece" and my friend Bunny was so kind to put a list of trigger warnings at the beginning of the letter. There's a lot of those concepts I didn't undertand the first time I read it because some stereotypes didn't trascend the time and place [-dancing in the southern hemisphere-]. Also my edition don't have illustrations so it was harder to understand everything.

On the whole, however, this conversation left me less than lukewarm, and I still remember the depression which came upon me when Raffles was gone.

Bunny has separation anxiety :/

It made it no better that this was characteristic of the man and of his attitude towards me. For a month we had been, I suppose, the thickest thieves in all London, and yet our intimacy was curiously incomplete. 

Lack of communication, I see... [-takes notes-]

He was consistently mysterious about that and other details, of which it seemed to me that I had already earned the right to know everything. I could not but remember how he had led me into my first felony, by means of a trick, while yet uncertain whether he could trust me or not.

The agony of not knowing what is in Raffles' mind...

I like how Raffles studied the house carefully, even in costume to make his plan perfectly while Bunny, being so new in this path, went with his normal clothes. As I read a comment about Sherlock Holmes' stories, this is a typical Victorian problem: lack of communication. Now we have to wait to see what happens.

[esuemmanuel]

Ceniza...

Tengo el pecho hecho ceniza; polvo deshaciéndose en mis dedos, grabando cada una de mis yemas con las huellas de un fuego que hace una década dejó de arder.

Ceniza que, al roce de la brisa, se trastorna y, enloquecida, mancha la blancura de las hojas con el dolor del ahora.

"Puedo levantarme y caminar, continuar hacia otra parte, tomar otro sendero, olvidar... trascender... explorar... seguir creciendo, porque estoy creciendo, el fuego sólo purificó lo que debía transformar", me digo entre dientes, con el silencio acariciando las cenizas en mis dedos.

Hace frío... es casi invierno... ya se siente el letargo del fin de año.

"Es hora de avanzar, de colocarle una cruz al terreno en el que descansa el féretro de mi otro yo. El camposanto no es tan grande, apenas unos cuantos metros, la medida exacta de la estatura de mi ego. Cerraré la entrada al mausoleo, ya que no volveré a visitarme. Dejaré atrás lo aniquilado para entregarme al olvido y al permanente exilio que supone la inexistencia... y ya no dolerán las horas invertidas en tan gratos silencios; segundos acaecidos entre líneas ataviadas de pasión, de amores imposibles y de sueños de niño. El hombre que descansa ahí ya no existe, quizás ni siquiera fue un hombre sino un compendio de locuras, sufrimientos, anhelos e ideas que terminaron de imprimirse en el libro de su efímera existencia. Caminaré, lo haré, es una promesa para éste que aún respira, que aún siente a su corazón siendo atravesado por la emoción de la vida".

Ashes…

My chest is made of ash; dust melting in my fingers, engraving each of my fingertips with the traces of a fire that stopped burning a decade ago.

Ash that, at the brush of the breeze, is upset and, maddened, stains the whiteness of the leaves with the pain of the now.

"I can get up and walk, continue elsewhere, take another path, forget… transcend… explore… keep growing, because I am growing, the fire only purified what it was meant to transform," I mutter to myself, the silence caressing the ashes in my fingers.

It's cold… it's almost winter… the lethargy of the end of the year is already felt.

"It's time to move on, to place a cross on the ground where the coffin of my other self rests. The cemetery is not so big, just a few meters, the exact measure of the stature of my ego. I will close the entrance to the mausoleum, for I will not visit myself again. I will leave behind the annihilated to surrender myself to oblivion and to the permanent exile that non-existence implies… and the hours spent in such pleasant silences will no longer hurt; seconds spent between lines dressed with passion, impossible loves and children's dreams. The man who rests there no longer exists, perhaps he was not even a man but a compendium of follies, sufferings, longings and ideas that ended up being printed in the book of his ephemeral existence. I will walk, I will, it is a promise for this one who still breathes, who still feels his heart being pierced by the emotion of life".

— Esu Emmanuel©

[burlveneer-music]

TRYO 🇨🇱 - Suramérica - prog rock from Chile

Long awaited NEW studio album by chilean prog masters TRYO. Amazing release with keyboards and lot of surprises. TRYO has traced a particular path in its evolution. With “Suramérica”, their newest effort, the band has reached a high point in their 35-year musical career, an album that not only consecrates their presence on the scene, but also places them in a moment of creative brilliance. “Suramérica” not only exemplifies his progressive approach, but also raises the banner of Latin American progressive, a powerful fusion that illustrates the deep connection between music and the region's rich cultural heritage. Ismael Cortez A: Guitarras eléctricas y acústicas, y voz. Francisco Cortez A.: Bajos eléctricos, violonchelo acústico y eléctrico, trompe, trutruca y voz. Félix Carbone K.: Batería, Mallet Kat (vibráfono eléctrico), tumbadoras, djembe, gong, crótalos y shaker. Pablo Martínez R.: Teclados, sintetizadores y programación. Felipe Baldrich M.: Mallet Kat (vibráfono eléctrico), tambor indio, bombo legüero, cascahuillas y voz. MÚSICOS INVITADOS: Ernesto Holman G.: Bajo eléctrico fretless, en Trascender. Cecilia Cortez A.: Piano, en La Unión. Gonzalo Cortés M.: Quena y charango, en Nómades. Ignacio Carvajal G.: Voz.

[locustheologicus]

Hyperdimensionality is a Theory Worth Considering

This is a curious concept which I, as a theologian, have contemplated before. I find it interesting that at least one faith-based physicist is also giving this some thought.

Pravica believes that just as two-dimensional beings cannot perceive three-dimensional shapes, we might be unable to detect higher dimensions that exist around us. He argues that moments of heightened awareness allow our consciousness to synchronize with these hidden dimensions, providing a flood of inspiration.

So the idea is that consciousness may not be strictly bound to our 4-dimensional reality. It may be capable of transcending into a greater dimensional awareness. This excites me because I have read a theological position that contemplates a similar perspective,. This perspective was shared not by a rogue theologian but by a former pontiff of the Catholic Church who describes the Resurrection in these terms.

It is a historical event that nevertheless bursts open the dimensions of history and trascends it. Perhaps we may draw upon analogical language here, inadequate in many ways, yet still able to open a path toward understanding: as already anticipated in the first section of this chapter, we could regard the Resurrection as something akin to a radical "evolutionary leap", in which a new dimension of life emerges, a new dimenion of human existence. (Benedict XVI, pg. 274)

In his book "Jesus of Nazareth: Holy Week", Pope Benedict XVI goes on to say how this event can affect us all.

Essential, then, is the fact that Jesus' Resurrection was not just about some deceased individual coming back to life at a certain point, but that an ontological leap occurred, one that touches being as such, opening up a new dimension that affects us all, creating for all of us a new space of life, a new space of being in union with God.

Theology has already considered the language of quantum mechanics and string theory to consider what this means for certain aspects of our faith tradition that up till now we have kept in the realm of the supernatural. But with physicists being open to the ideas of hyperdimensionality then we may start considering theories that allow us to reconsider some of these traditions.

One of the theories that I explore, electromagnetic displacement, suggests that the finely tuned laws of our dimension have us perceive the electromagnetic force as defining the substance of matter, liquid, and gas. But how do we account for miraculous stories that seem to manipulate these laws (eg. Jesus walking on water or Martin de Porres ability to levitate)? How do we further account for this when physics suggests that it is possible to manipulate this based on tampering with the electromagnetic force?

In the article above you have a fellow physicist critiquing Pravica by recognizing that while mathematics seems to allude to a realm of "higher dimensions, this does not prove their existence or our ability to interact with them." Well, of course, we do not know that, not until we formulate a theory and begin to test the hypothesis.

We may fall into an easy theological or agnostic statement that dismisses our ability to further reason this line of inquiry and say that "with God nothing is impossible," or that miracles are superstitious fantasy stories. But for those of us who believe that reason and the natural law allows us to contemplate and achieve a limited and gradual comprehension of the universal laws (the mind of God as it were), then hyperdimensionality may be a factor worth considering.

If our consciousness is able to transcend this limited dimensional framework, then perhaps we can perceive ways to manipulate some of the universal laws. Miraculous stories no longer need to be dismissed. We can instead recognize them as the ability of certain humans to enter a higher dimensional plane that allows us to be flexible with the rules governing our own dimensional reality.

Perhaps we can be open to a new way of learning about God, both in parables and in parabolas.

[a-path-by-the-moon]

[leoascendente]

Astro observations pt. 2 ✨

Difficult placements edition*

🔮 Plutonian women are highly connected to the Underworld. In every case I've seen these are extremely sensitive and intuitive women with psychic gifts from childhood. Many of them can naturally hear or see spirits, some of them are natural channels from higher realms.

🔮 Air moons, specially Gemini and Aquarius are awesome in maths and sciences.

🔮 Pluto on earth houses usually have problems with authority figures. Pluto likes to feel powerful and earth houses mean assertiveness and competitiveness, but Pluto in an earth house percieve authority figures as a threat for their own power and progress

🔮 Air moons or moon in air houses tend to project their insecurities over other people, their biggest lesson is to develop their emotional intelligence.

🔮 Also Gemini and Sag moons are masters of ghosting, be patient with them if you have a love interest with these moons. They both crave unconsciously for their partner of journey in this lifetime, they are very intense when they love but their intensity scares them as well.

🔮 Moons in Pisces with Scorpio Mercuries can see evilness from afar and are highly sensitive but they are prone to create their own negative scenarios in their head and see enemies where there's no danger.

🔮 A bad aspect between the Moon and transpersonal planets cpuld perceive the Mother as emotionally unstable.

🔮 Mars in water signs are prone to emotional manipulation.

🔮 Cancer, Virgo, Capricorn and Pisces risings have a lot of karma to heal in this lifetime.

🔮 Gemini has the reputation to be 2 faced but that is not true, they are open to receive any kind of knowledge so they keep their mind open to every possibility.

🔮 Libra placements, mostly in the big 3 needs to understand the real motivations of their actions, sometimes is just other people's approval or superficialism.

🔮 It's hard to understand a Capricorn Sun temper because all of them has a different way to express themselves, they have a unique perspective of life but keeping Cap's ambition to grow and make their own place in the world. Watching their MC gives a clearer vision of their motivations.

🔮 Every planet contained in the 1st house will manifest physically, as much close to the rising the most visible characteristics in the natives. The sign contained in the 1st will say more about the physical appearence than the rising sign, both characteristics are visible but the ones in the first are easier to see.

🔮 Mercury in water signs have an special eye for understanding other people's emotions. They are natural empaths so they need to be careful of making others people's emotional complexes their own.

🔮 Our perception of religion and the image of God is visible on the 9th house. In the 12th we see how we trascend doctrines and align with spirituality. In the 9th is a philosophic concept, in the 12th is something you feel inside.

🔮 Earth Venus tend to make responsible of other people's problems. Water Venus feel attracted to people that needs to be 'saved'.

My closest people, even me are Water Venus and our biggest problem is that we attract wounded people and many times, emotionally immature.

🔮 Moons in Taurus, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Scorpio, Capricorn or Pisces are very tender people when it comes to their beloved ones, they are very protective but very possesive as well. They have some hard times channeling their emotions but if they learn how to do it they can become great healers.

🔮 Mars in fire houses don't take a no for answer, they love challenges and hardly get intimidated by obstacles in their path.

🔮 Men with prominent air placements or air dominant in their chart can be hard to deal with, they need time to think and clear up their thoughts before making a choice.

🔮 An square or opposition between the moon and a transpersonal planet means that in a past lifetime the emotional needs of their beloved ones weren't fulfilled. This karma can manifest in this lifetime through the relationship with the Mother figure.

🔮 Venus oppositions used their charms in a past life to get recognition and admirance from others. If Venus is bad aspected to Pluto or any planet in Scorpio they used their sexuality to get benefits. In this lifetime it manifest as emotionally dittached lovers or people that just want to take advantage of them.

[royalduties]

I am open to receive the best outcome and path for the growth and transcendence of my higher self 🙏🏼 #morningmeditation #meditation #open #path #growth #trascendence #higherself

[shelbycompanylimitedd]

beginning / previous / next

Father’s early letters all spoke of his work at the Royal Court serving the prince - now king - and all the luxuries that the king had been lavishing on him since he was only 15 years old. 

“I always thought i was doomed for marrying my brother’s wife. I could never have children and that curse had trascended to my poor wife, who longed for a child more than anything else in this life. Until one day someone knocked on our door in a terrible storm. Wrapped in a small blanket on top of a straw basket was a beautiful baby girl with blue eyes, the same as my wife’s. God has decided that my punishment had been paid.”

“I cannot deny my uncertainty in welcoming home an unknown baby, but her smile lights up the farm on the worst days and she looks more and more like her mother. I have no words to thank you for legitimising her as my daugther, Your Majesty, this child is without a doubt a godsend and i promise that i will educate and prepare her to follow her path. I do not know when or how i shal be able to tell her the truth, but i pray that these words will one day serve as a guide to my precious angel.”

I was never more than a discarded baby, not a gift from God yet my parents saw in someone else's rubbish a great treasure. As bitter as those words were perhaps they would bring me comfort in the moments when you most need a warm, familiar voice rattling around in your head. A new story to discover but alas not with father by my side.

[letusmeetagain]

“Love someone”

I wanted so bad that Mikasa wasn’t the one having to take him down... At the very least and as I could consider time ago, it would be more like a mercy killing. I also wanted to believe that it was already done and there wouldn’t be more major losses such as Falbi, Connie, Jean or the remaining Eldians.

However... this will be probably a really long post but I don’t care, I’ll include every panel I need... The circumstances justifies it...

In the end, it seems to be that Reiner wasn’t delusional at all.

Eren wanted indeed to be killed but not by a random person. It had to be Mikasa, as he saw.

And probably, this is related to the way she did it. Mikasa displayed whichever feeling you could imagine regading love, loyalty, compassion, dignity, pride, mercy...

Conversely, Ymir died trying to show her love and found a bitter, humiliating. The king deprived her from her status of human and attacked her dignity. This disrespect, the way she couldn’t reach his heart at least as human condemned her to serve him in paths from eternity.

Eren, who was born somehow fated by his own nature and the circumstances to this role, freed her. Maybe she doesn’t want to see Eren suffering her destiny.

On Eren’s approach of his own existence

I have tried since ch. 130 was out to explain the connection between this chapter and chs. 88/9 Eren and the baby, explaining that there was just a thematic connection related to death and birth. I still don’t know if the baby will have a more important role in the ending: I started to think that there won’t be a major meaning for the baby more than the beginning of a new era.

          [BIRTH                                                                 DEATH]

Meanwhile, Mikasa’s feelings for him represent his attatchment to this world and the importance of his existence into it.

I happened to find a philosophic discussion on existence between Arendt and Heidegger and I found interesting that Arendt criticized Heidegger’s more “pessimistic?” approach for attributing the meaning of existence out of the idea of death (thus the finitude/end of the being) and the acceptance of it.

Then, Arendt, introduced the focus on natality and birth as the main point of life when a new unique person enters the world and introduces the new into the world while being born free through their innerent capacity to act and think... thus to “begin” [events].

The latter reminded me of Carla’s words to Eren. She wanted to highlight Eren’s existence and its legitimacy based on the start of his life and the way he “touched history” (I’m quoting “The poisonwood bible”) in the sense that he his doing brought change to the lives of his friends and humanity.

To contextualize a little this discussion, the first approach was born in the middle of a period where death was the law... I’m talking about chaotic, hard times for humanity that were the period of the WWI and WWII. Arendt, a victim of the Nazi regime, built a conception that aimed to retrieve the dignity of humans not as if they were born to die but to live. She thought that focusing on death mislead and hurt the essence of human existence reducing it to its end.

(trans. yaboylevi)

On Mikasa’s love for him

What it means to love someone in Isayama’s work?

Be free. To love someone means to want them be free from pain and everything that goes against their dignity and the undeniable fact that they were born into the world.

The greatest act of love is to wish them to live proudly and free. It’s about life, a life without regrets and guilt.

It’s not power what leads someone to be free, but love. Love reaches trascendence in the memories of others as it touches their existences too.

Witnessing love was in the end something Ymir pursued during the rumbling. Some chapters ago, I couldn’t tell if Ymir was the one needing to see it or that she wanted to deliver this message of love as the path to freedom for everyone.

Freedom can be attained through love.

Meanwhile, the way to this...

It’s already explained that child Eren was crying because of the happenings he would experience in the future, the way he was cornered between being a livestock and the genocide. He cried for the first time in front of Ramzy acknowledging his reasons to cry that were that he couldn’t accept the end for Paradies.

Facing this big tragedy, the unbearable feeling of loss, Mikasa wished to go back to their home with Eren and enjoy a peaceful life together. But let’s not romaticize it too much...it has a small letter that explains why Mikasa is crying and why she chose her reality.

This... “something” (like in Lost Girls), let’s say it’s an experience which nature can and can’t be described as reality... It doesn’t really matter if it was real as it was experienced by both of them. At this rate and judging by Eren’s faces while talking to Zeke about Mikasa, he even saw this experience in his memories of the future too.

The small letter is exactly that they live a life full of regrets. They betrayed their friends and the island in order to spend Eren’s remaining time alone. In ch. 123 we see a key moment for Eren to avoid having to make a decision exaclty because he was doubting about his decisions. We indeed know that he couldn’t change the future and that Mikasa didn’t chose this answer. I also wonder if such a AU is viable as Eren never got to paths to force his father to steal the founder and thus... How did they managed to come to this point? I wonder. Still, as I said, even if it’s not viable as reality, things can be real as both of them have this memory and the interaction/communication is still real.

This long dream helped Mikasa to realize something she needed to know. She finally understood why Eren wanted to throw the scarf, why he told her that he hated her. The reason why he pushed her away without explaining her nothing.

She knew he loves her and wants her to be free from any kind of suffering related to the loss of her family. He wanted to vanish from her life. That way she could give meaning to his words to Louise about the scarf: it wasn’t lack of love what made him want to erase the proof of their bond and his promise to her, it wasn’t his will what prevented him from staying with her but his circumstances. This experience reminds us the letter Ymir sent to Historia.

The conclusion of this experience is that such a life hiding from their friends, full of regrets and just waiting for Eren’s death wasn’t the right choice for none of them. The irresponsibility of letting the world they were born into was the reason why she was crying as she knew she was letting things happen in the real world without doing anything. Contrary to Eren’s wishes, she doesn’t want to forget him. That’s the decision she made. She chose to show him that she doesn’t to let him being forgotten and this means that she won’t allow him to think his existence was a mistake.

In Trost, she decided to live to remember him. She decided to reaffirm her life and their story together. Now she reaffirms her reality and her wish to express her true feelings regarding his existence. All in all, Mikasa wished for him to be free from the pain as he did with her... thus the reason on why she decided to wear again the scarf.

One important part of Eren’s development in the last chapter will be probably with Grisha...

“Someone may see them later”.  Eren. Probably Eren. After these panels, Krüger tells him to love someone. To wish someone’s freedom in his individual story means to love someone... and this will affect humanity’s future and avoid making the same mistakes over and over again. Interestingly, the panel when Eren tells Mikasa to be free resembles the provisional last panel.

As I discussed here Mikasa could relieve Eren’s pain and she chose to kill him in order to save him from the pain of being the devil. Her determination, her refusal to regret having met him and remembering him and also her words to him... “See you later”... those words mean pride and will to see him again. Maybe a promise about meeting again. But the next development involves Eren acknowledging Mikasa’s determination and leaving his guilt and regrets behind while reaffirming his existence since his birth... until he asks her to remember him and his truth she got to know.

[sunnykeysmash]

A look at: AP BIO S3EP6, “That That That”

So this post is going to be sort of an... in-depth analysis for this episode. I hope people enjoy reading this! It’s a long one, so I apologize in advance. I hope it doesn’t feel rambly.

So the episode opens up with the janitor talking with some rats. 

We are treated to a shot from their point of view, as the man talks about the rats’ plead about how they’re “going to change”, and how they say they’re not “going anywhere”. Through this simple quick scene, the episode sets up the entire premise, both on a literal level, with the use of rat poison later on, and on a thematical level, introducing us to what’s going to become, by the end of the episode, Jack’s own point of view. Putting it like this, it’s like already the show is drawing a parallel, making us further empathize with Jack as he slowly starts feeling like a rat stuck in a maze himself.

As we’re introduced to Jack, he talks about preparing a recorded lecture for the University of Wisconsin on trascendentalism. 

Jack feels sure that what he wants is to get away from the school he’s in, that he won’t miss anything. He thinks this job is what he wants.

Now, trascendentalism is a philosophical movement that values the importance of subjective intuition, not reached through logic but through imagination. It preaches that people deep down already know what’s right for them, that the individual’s potential is limitless, and that the ego is not your true self. All themes that are slowly woven into the episode as Jack works through his subconscious while high off rat poison to come to the conclusion that he already knew deep down was right, and that he started feeling right at the start when people started questioning him.

As this process begins, he goes to talk to Lynette, his girlfriend. He brings up said lecture that he’s recording, it almost feels like he’s seeking her reassurance.

After that, we see him in the teacher lounge, kind of minding his business.

The scene starts out with the three teachers talking. In the frame, catching my eye immediately, is that fourth empty chair. It underlines that someone’s missing, someone that could be a part of what’s happening.

Eventually we cut back to Jack being in frame, except not really, because he starts out of focus, in the backgroung, listening in to the three teachers, framed like an outsider. This is to show us how he feels in the environment.

Then, as he enters the conversation, he gets into focus.

And we then cut back to the three of them.

There is a purposeful distance felt between the two parties, and it’s one that Jack is establishing by keeping himself to the side. This calls back to the themes of the episode right before this, Mr. Pistachio. They’re inviting him in, there is a place for him, but he feels like he doesn’t belong, he stays distant.

As the girls start talking to each other again, Jack is once again kept out of focus, but still clearly in the middle of the shot, which tells us we should still be paying attention to him.

And pay attention to the visual hierarchy, as well. With Jack pushed to the background, he appears small in comparison to the other figures who are big and overpowering. The full body shot, as he resists getting closer to them, almost feels revealing. Emotionally, what this communicates to us, to me personally, is a deep sense of vulnerability that Jack is feeling.

As he subconsciously starts to doubt where he truly wants to be, he feels exposed and out of place.

After this scene, Jack goes to talk to Durbin, and this is where we’re introduced to yet another small subplot that serves to reinforce the themes of the main one at hand.

Durbin is presented with an issue. He wants to tell his brother that he loves him, he has struggled with it in the past, and this is the week he is gaining the courage to do it. This plot will ultimately end up reflecting Jack’s own epiphany, but we’ll get there.

So finally, it’s late evening, school’s empty, and Jack has prepared the set up to record the lecture.

Visually we’re introduced to this duality of Jack on the screen of the ipad versus the real Jack trying to give a lecture. The perfect competent appearance that actually masks his doubts and hesitation.

Screens being often used in media to show something perfect, fake and unachievable, and this is no exception.

Jack starts its lecture:

“To achieve its perfect form, a caterpillar must withdraw and complete itself alone, in its cocoon. Likewise, for us to achieve spiritual perfection, in the view of trascendentalists like Henry David Thoreau, it is necessary to retreat from the mindless and negative influences of society.” 

This ends up being exactly what Jack does, as the rat poison induced trip lasts him an entire week, stuck alone in school, with nothing but his delusional and hallucinatory thoughts, he is forced to confront himself in complete solitude to come to the conclusion that was inside him.

He then commits a mistake, right at the end, calling Henry David Thoreau “Justin Thoreau”, the same way Mary, the teacher, did before. In a way, the school and the people in it are rubbing off on him, their presence in his mind manifests through this lapsus, effectively keeping him from completing the lecture correctly. Keeping him here.

He starts stumbling. He starts doubting himself.

“Is that right?”

He asks, the question resonating bigger than just about his current speech, feeling more like about his path in life and his actions.

A shot quickly zooms in on the camera lens, the frantic pace communicating anxiousness, but this shot in particular serves to fully immerse us in Jack’s shoes.

Feeling watched, feeling judged, scrutinized. Having to directly face his shortcomings, unable to blame anyone but himself, and having to ask himself why. The camera almost literally backing us - therefore, Jack - into a corner by coming this uncomfortably close to us.

He attempts to hype himself up and tries again. The whole thing accompanied by a background music that’s basically nothing if not ticking (like a clock) and percussion. It feels quiet and tense.

We then get another shot that’s a clean transition from the screen to the real Jack. In the screen, he appears confident, but as soon as the camera focuses on the real Jack, he loses tracks of what he was saying and once again struggles. Quietly, he turns to look at the background.

He slowly, tentatively reorganizes a single book, then positions himself back, only to turn again towards the bookshelf, still dissatisfied.

Without a single line of dialogue, this shows us precisely what he’s feeling and lets us understand his slow descent into madness. He feels that there’s something wrong, out of place, something that must not be right, but he’s not yet looking at himself to fix this problem, instead he’s looking at his surroundings, trying to gather back the control that he feels he’s rapidly losing by attempting to control what’s around him.

And so he deeply cleans the entire office, reorganizes and color codes the books behind him.

Being introduced to his struggle before the rat poison even starts to affect him lets the transition between reality and hallucination feel seamless, so much so that during a first viewing we start to doubt what’s real and what’s fake, and when.

The overall eerie tone of the episode makes it feel like a take on psychological horror, as the slow loss of control is accentuated by increasingly bizarre events that go completely unquestioned.

Attempt after attempt, we feel as though we are entering a loop with no chance of escaping. Which is exactly what Jack feels.

We then get this.

Jack is fixating on his issue, without much success in resolving it. He’s facing and confronting it over and over. Visually, it’s made bigger than himself by its oppressive presence in the frame.

The only soundtrack accompanying this is a kind of vibration, a deep and hard to hear sound that just looms in the background. This episode in general is very quiet, which helps the atmosphere feel lonely and tense.

He screams, but there’s no one who can hear him. It’s just himself.

He sees this mouse pad and once again the picture visually reinforces this sense of looping, of feeling stuck and trapped in a repeating endless cycle.

He tries to rip it in half. But he can’t.

Just as he can’t overcome what he’s struggling with, his own cycle that he’s stuck in. He wants to break free, but he’s not sure from what. Is his prison this school he says he hates so much, or is his prison his own ego, trapping him into feeling like an outcast, into isolation, into never opening up or being vulnerable. 

This is actually a theme in the entire season, Jack slowly learning to open up and be vulnerable. But this episode in particular feels like a turning point for his character, a moment of realization, of personal intuition. Trascendence. Beyond his limits, beyond his own walls. Through a trascendent experience, the hallucinations.

He falls asleep on the floor, visually representing his rock bottom.

He’s then woken up, there’s faint wind chimes sounds, and he’s surrounded by darkness in a way that feels ethereal. As he exits the room to check the source of the smell that’s almost calling to him, we see nothing but him entering light.

He’s barely visible, surrounded by fog, he can’t see where he’s going very well.

He sees a figure, and asks this:

“Are you in a caterpillar costume?”

When the figure turns to face him, Jack is frightened and runs away.

This immediate association between the very subject he was talking about, and him fleeing in terror, serves to illustrate his true feelings towards what he’s doing by recording this lecture. He’s scared of it, and he’s running away from it.

He wakes up again in the same room as he was before, only this time the light is almost blinding.

Here, Helen appears. This dialogue follows:

Jack: “Jesus, Helen, what are you doing here?” Helen: “Oh, you know I can’t stay away from Whitlock long.”

We quickly find out that this is a dream sequence that Jack is having. Thanks to this knowledge, we know that all the dialogue Jack entertains with the rest of the school workers, all his friends, is nothing more than his internal dialogue manifesting to him through them.

He’s asking himself why he’s at this highschool. The other voice, Helen, replies that it’s because they can’t stay away. They like being here.

But this realization comes with horror and shock to Jack, and so it quickly turns into a graphic, horrid description.

He once again escapes it, going immediately to try recording his lecture again, but Helen bursts into the room kicking the door. All these terrifying thoughts are tormenting him.

He runs away, camera in his hands. Gets interrupted once again.

In this attempt, we are completely unable to see him through the screen because of how out of focus he is to us in there. His attempt at a perfect facade is proving completely infructuous, all we can see is the real Jack, deeply struggling.

He gets interrupted by the three teachers again, and this dialogue happens.

Michelle: “Jack, you’re here! We thought that that video would be done by now.” Jack: “Uh, yeah, unfortunately... it’s not.”

Once again doubt seeps in as he worries about what’s taking him so long, it’s also interesting to notice how the girls use “that that” with no problem whatsoever.

They invite him to join them in playing a game, and he finds himself going along with them at first, before stopping himself, panicked.

Jack: “I don’t have time for your dumb, fun games! I gotta do this video!”

This dialogue sets an intense contrast with the scene with them at the start, in reality.

In that scene, he calls their games “terrible”, then looks at them with fondness.

Here, instead, he’s stressing that he doesn’t have time for it. He wants to participate, as is shown, but he can’t because of his own self imposed obligation.

In other words, this is exposing to him, though still through an horror lense, his realization that he’s gonna miss all these chances to hang out with his friends if he goes through with it.

He keeps running away, and ends up in his class.

His reflection in the screen appears now deeply warped.

The writing on the whiteboard is upside down, something is deeply wrong.

He’s alone, then all of a sudden he’s not, as the camera twists to the side and gets closer.

We are treated to some dutch angles.

He tries again, but the words aren’t even his. He asks if he sounds like Marcus, and the students all nod while creaking sounds can be heard as they do.

Day 2. He’s still eating the same spaghetti as before, and he accidentally gets sauce on his shirt. A stain that just won’t go away. A visible imperfection. He snaps, he covers himself in them, then puts on some makeup powder, helplessly trying to cover it all up. Of course, that does nothing. He’s trying to bury a problem that has become impossible to conceal.

Getting in front of the camera again, he says this:

Jack: “I want this job. I’m so overqualified.”

It’s like he’s trying to convince himself, since he’s not really talking to anyone but a camera lens. Then there’s the part about being overqualified. The thing is, he’s right, and he know he’s right. On a qualification and competence standpoint, he should be able to ace this, no problem. So why is he struggling? Does he want this job?

In comes Durbin.

Durbin: “Jack! ...you’re still here. Working on your video.” Jack: “Yeah uh- but everybody keeps stopping me...” Durbin: “Let’s get you back on the right track. What’s the problem?” Jack: “I got sketty on my shirt...” Durbin: “I’ve got what you need right here. Everything you need is always right in front of you, Jack. Always check the lost and found.”

Lots to unpack here. Everytime Jack encounters someone again, they always comment on how he’s still at school, he hasn’t left. He keeps getting stopped, his subconscious keeps stopping him, since we know this is all a hallucination. He’s going down the wrong path, and Durbin in this situation represents what’s right for Jack, the truth in his subconscious. “Everything you need is in front of you”.

Additionally, the way he explains the problem, speaking like a sad child, makes you feel just how lost he is, just how small he feels. Him feeling small, lost, vulnerable and scared is a huge theme in the entire episode, as you can see.

So he tries again, and this is where we first experience the transition. As Jack is enthusiastic to put on the suit Durbin gives him, we then see that his appearance in the screen is quite different. He looks ridiculous. But in his reality, as his real self, he looks spotless, happy. This is him starting to accept the concept that what he needed was always in front of him. Because whereas the screen just shows us what he wants to present himself as, his facade, the real him shows us his true feelings, how he feels towards this highschool and all his friends and the life he lives here.

By accepting his life as it is, his job at Whitlock, he knows he might end up looking ridiculous and his image may suffer, but inside he feels better, he feels good, happy, realized.

The expression he makes as he sees this suit, is the expression of a man that has found what he was looking for. This is why it emerging from a “lost ad found” box is very significant symbolically.

It’s not just himself that changes inbetween “reality” and “screen”, however, it’s the entire location. His background, everything.

He finally finishes his speech, successfully this time. But Helen comes to take the camera and tripod away.

Jack accuses her of “sabotaging him”, but we as the audience will soon come to realize that he’s sabotaging himself.

He runs after her, and as he does, the lights around him start malfunctioning once again.

He opens a door and sees his mother with a young Durbin. He’s understandably unsettled. His mom having always been something close to his heart, we can even see her as a representation of his most intense emotions and of love. He’s struggling to fully come to terms with admitting that he loves being at this school. 

He gets away, only to come closer once again once he hears more noises. He opens the door.

He gets in, softly asks for his ipad, and as he walks closer we get an overview of what’s happening. Jack, on his desk, being dissected by his students, completely torn open. 

Once again, this visual serves to show Jack’s sense of uncomfortableness with being open and totally vulnerable.

He’s being scrutinized and studied and analyzed all the way to his deepest insides. It’s scary, it’s uncomfortable and it hurts. “I think I found the heart.” “Girl, that’s his bladder.”, he’s being judged mercilessly. That’s how he feels.

“How would we know? We never learned biology.

There’s a sense of guilt for never doing what he should’ve from the very beginning. He regrets not being there for his students, teaching, he’s scared that he’ll never get the chance now that he knows he wants to. This is manifesting though Sarika.

Jack: “I have to go... why are you keeping me from leaving?” Marcus: “We’re not keeping you from anything, Mr Griffin. You’re doing all of this. Your mind has created an entire world of distractions to keep you from doing that video.” Dan: “You know, it’s almost like you don’t want to leave.” Jack: “Yes I do? ...I think I do...”

In this moment, his most open one, he’s finally confronted with his desire to stay.

And this is when he wakes up.

Now back in reality, his appearance in fact resembles the way he looked like in the screen in his mind. So to reiterate, the real him in his mind was simply how he felt, while the screen was the way people see Jack in real life. At this point in the episode, subconsciously, he has come to fully accept it.

He does try to fix up the room, but it’s too much of a mess by now.

We cut to all of his friends discussing together. In comes Helen, with her nose bandage, and she says this.

Helen: “Oh, I’m so glad to see you guys!” Mary: “Helen, what happened?” Helen: “Well, I’m starting to think that the relationship I have with that animal is not what I thought it was.”

This dialogue is meant to reflect Jack’s situation, as do all the subplots in the episode.

The dialogue continues when Helen asks Durbin how it went with his brother.

Helen: “Did you tell your brother that you loved him?” Durbin: “Oh, well, I... kinda sorta chocked on saying that exact phrase, so...” Michelle: “That’s okay Ralph, it’s hard to be vulnerable.” Stef: “Yeah, and you have to respect the fact that he may not be there yet.” Durbin: “Yeah, I just feel kinda bad because a bunch of times he said “I love you” and I said “Yeah, good good good good good”...” Helen: “Well I’m sure he knows how you feel.” Durbin: “Well, at one point he said “Do you love me? Because I can’t tell.” and I said “I don’t know” and I got into a lift and went to the airport, just full choke.”

This all reflects Jack’s own feelings. He’s not quite at a point where he can openly admit to loving his friends and Whitlock, but at the same time this dialogue shows us that they are understanding of it, they know that being vulnerable and open can be very hard, and they’re patient. They do know that Jack loves them.

Enter Dave, in a wheelchair, injured from head to toe.

Dave: “You know who else choked? Maybe the hardest of all?” Everyone: “JACK!!!”

Enters Jack. Everyone cheers his arrival.

Of course, the dialogue just quoted is a joking way to point out how Jack failed in making that recorded lecture.

He shares a cute moment with his girlfriend, and softly says:

Jack: “You were thinking about me...”

It’s like it comes as a surprise to him, that he’s loved, that other people genuinely like him and want him to stay.

He continues.

Jack: “Um, hey, I should talk to you about something. Uh, in fact, I actually have to tell all of you about something important that I realized while you were gone. I realized that-”

He’s interrupted but the janitor which he had previously punched. The guy who was doing the rat disinfestation.

In other words, he chokes, as well.

Mary: “So Jack, what did you learn?” Jack: “Uh... well, I, uh... I invented a new game.”

Instead he chooses to bring that game he hallucinated into reality, making time for it. Being enthusiastic for it.

He enters his classroom.

Jack: “Alright, everybody, shut your precious beautiful mouths. You know after spending an entire week alone in this empty school... I realized that I can’t survive without community. And I came to appreciate... all of you.”

This reflects the trascendalistic philosophical approach of Thoreau, who retreated alone in nature to find true purpose in life.

He goes to write on the whiteboard.

All his previous writing wiped but still visible. He did do all of that, but it’s gone now, it’s no longer present. It’s solved.

Jack: “And I decided that I wanted each of you to finish this year knowing more biology than any student ever has...” Sarika: “Mr Griffin? I know we’ve had our differences in the past...” Jack: “Uh, yeah,  hold that thought, Sarika, because the biggest thing that I learned is that prolonged exposure to rodent killing gas causes hallucinations and irrational ideation. And all these things that I thought I learned? Well... chemically induced illusions... caused by a dying brain”

He draws an X on top of the words “community”, “you” and “biology”.

Jack: But! Now... I got my thinker back in the pink. Everything’s back to normal...” 

He takes out a bunch of spaghetti and a box of rat poison, sprinkles them heavily with it, and takes a bite like it’s the most normal thing.

So what does it mean, is he rejecting all that he learned? No. He’s keeping up his facade, as being vulnerable is hard, but inside he’s embracing what he learned. This is communicated to us through him ingesting the poisoned spaghetti, going back into his mind, accepting the embarassment and weirdness and going back to that scary feeling of vulnerability for more. He might say that it’s all back to normal, but we clearly see it’s not, and we clearly know that he’s glad to be back and stay back, we see it through his actions. 

Ultimately this is a sort of turning point for Jack Griffin, while he might not yet be able to express his feelings, while still going back to a place of denial using the rat poison as the excuse for everything that happened in his brain, this is his first step towards accepting what his subconscious has known all along, his first step to “trascend from a caterpillar into a butterfly”.

This is... trascendentalism, as construed by AP Bio.

[siamkram]

...Although each cell of the body and brain is soaked with love, as a child grows, feelings of love are obscured and suppressed by the thinking mind. These feelings become more and more diluted by the overwhelming presence of the mind, and slowly love becomes a thought process. If love is given its full expression, then it can break through the rigidity of the mind, and wash away all the structures created by thought. Love clears the path for a sacred journey. When experienced in its wholeness, love trascends the rational mind... -Jivasu on Nada Yoga

[peacefullymindful]

Happy Vesak moon!! This full moon is the same that saw Buddah born, trascend material world and get iluminated. This moon is powerful, it’s a great opportunity to meditate on the Noble Eightfold Path and let compassion take our heart and daily actions.