#The idea of a religious debate where sometimes the god will actually show up makes non corporeal montheism kinda funny | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

ladykissingfish · 4 years ago

Text

The Akatsuki as YOUR Boyfriend/Girlfriend (Modern Day) ((Part Two))

Hidan -Energy levels off the charts; you’ll need jogging shoes to keep up with this guy -Gets bored easily so will drag you from one activity to the next -The foulest mouth you’ve ever heard; you’ll have to spend literal hours working with him on censoring himself before you can bring him around your friends/family/children/humans in general -Very handsy; likes to touch you all over (but only with your consent), even when you’re in public -Surprisingly religious, lectures at least once a week on why you should convert to his beliefs -A funny guy most of the time, but terrifying when angry. The thing that makes him angriest? Anybody hurting/saddening YOU. -Protective of you to the absolute max; will even pick you up and carry you over puddles if necessary -Tells you all the time how beautiful you are; actually blushes if you try to compliment him back -You ... don’t get much sleep when he stays over. And you’re not complaining at all. -Lived off of take-out before he met you; was actually flabbergasted to learn of the existence of many types of fruits and vegetables -Surprise animal lover, especially cats Kisame -Tall, dark, and handsome (to you, anyway) -Very calm personality -A lover of swimming, diving, fishing, and pretty much anything to do with water -Can be unintentionally rough when giving you affection; has to be constantly reminded to be more gentle -Loves giving you piggyback rides wherever you go -Has an extensive collection of swords, from many different eras; is somewhat of an amateur expert on them -Rarely calls you by your actual name; has a ton of nicknames and pet names for you -Doesn’t have much of a relationship with his own family, but gets along well with yours -His friends are ... scary. He insists they’re just rough around the edges but still, you’d rather not be left alone around them; “intimidating” doesn’t even begin to cover it. -Likes when you sit with his head in your lap and read or talk to him -Huge seafood lover; all of the staff at any seafood joint within a 20-mile radius knows you two by your first names Pein -This guy has. A LOT. Of piercings. -Always very intense and serious; it takes a lot to get him to crack a smile -Will have observed you for some time before asking you out, so already knows a little bit about your interests/likes & dislikes -Can tell how you’re feeling just by looking at your face -Refers to you as his God/Goddess -Whenever he actually calls you by your name, he says it like it’s the most beautiful word in his language -A wonderful orator; can speak to crowds of any size with ease -Has a lot of ideas for changing the world, and likes to discuss them with you all the time -You are immensely important to him; he can’t properly start his day without either seeing your face or hearing your voice -Travels to a lot of unique places, loves to take you along with him -You’re one of the few people he’ll ask (and take) advice from *Bonus: Team Taka* Sasuke -Endured a lot of personal tragedies in his life; therefore is often very closed-up -Earning his trust takes some time, but once you have it, you’ll never lose it -Thinks you’re beautiful/handsome but doesn’t know how to tell you; you catch him just staring at you a lot -Not much of a sense of humor but will always smile at your jokes -Won’t give much physical affection while you’re awake, but likes to cuddle you/stroke your hair while you sleep -Random periods of anxiety where he needs you to sit next to him and talk to him until he calms down -Travels a lot for his work; has difficulty being away from you for long periods of time but tries hard to hide this -Talks a lot about starting a family someday; makes little off-handed comments about how you’d make a great mother/father -Not much of a people person; will remain quietly beside you in social situations but rarely say anything unless asked a direct question Karin -MAJOR Tsundere alert -Extremely loyal; will be by your side no matter what craziness you suggest -Had a difficult childhood so has trouble trusting others/accepting

people’s intentions at face-value

-Highly intelligent; will debate you over literally anything (and almost always win)

-Has a very nurturing side, and will take care of you better than the finest hospital should you ever get sick or injured

-Not much of a cook so will stick with making the 2-3 dishes that she CAN prepare well

-Doesn’t think she’s attractive so will react with suspicion to any form of a compliment

-Is somewhat of a workaholic and sometimes has to be forced to rest/take a day off and relax once in a while

-Not one to give you PDA around other people, but alone is a VERY different story

Suigetsu

-You’ve literally never seen him without a water bottle nearby; even when he’s sleeping there will be 6-7 on his nightstand

-Huge fan of swimming; would spend all day in the lake or at the pool if he could

-Was isolated a lot as a child, therefore doesn’t have the best people skills and can be a little socially awkward

-Timid about showing you affection, but always likes to keep an arm around you in public as a means of protection

-Doesn’t seem like it but is actually a very skilled martial artist fighter; loves when you watch him work out and practice his moves

-His job is stressful, so when he needs to unwind he will always come straight to you

-The type to immediately notice a change in your hairstyle, or if you’re wearing a different scent

-Brings you flowers or a stuffed animal practically every other day

-Your laugh is his absolute favorite thing in the entire world, so will constantly be thinking of new jokes to keep you going

Jugo

-Gentle giant

-Seriously this man is tall enough to be a tree

-Has worked tirelessly on controlling his anger issues

-Feels more comfortable around animals than people; will spend a whole party just sitting in corner talking to the dog

-Had a difficult past and issues trusting people; takes some time for him to fully trust you

-The more he trusts you, the more he opens up to you

-Can easily pick you up and likes to do so frequently

-Uneasy sleeper; will wake up constantly to check that you’re still there/safe beside him

-A single touch from you can calm him when he’s upset, so he prefers you accompany him to things that he might find stressful

-Works out a lot; likes when you join him but constantly worried that you’ll hurt yourself

#the akatsuki #boyfriend scenarios #deidara #sasori #obito uchiha #itachi uchiha #sasuke uchiha #konan #pein #zetsu #kakuzu #hidan #kisame #karin uzumaki #jugo #suigetsu

59 notes · View notes

benjiwyatt · 4 years ago

Note

do you have any ben/leslie headcanons! i love your posts abt them so much it's great to see someone get as emotional abt them as i am asjdkajhjd

i got this message and i was like "god, i dont really know if i have any headcanons" and then i opened my notes app and started typing and didn't stop for over an hour

i'm literally putting this under a break and organizing it into categories bc it's absurdly long

here it is

A COLLECTION OF BEN AND LESLIE HEADCANONS

PRE-RELATIONSHIP/S3

basically canon but leslie definitely had a crush on a young benji wyatt and followed the story religiously for the first couple months before she started college

ben is only slightly jealous leslie had ann go out with chris to try and get more money for the parks budget rather than leslie asking him out with the same goal. he knows it’s insane, unethical, and illogical but he’s still excited that he gets to spend the night with her on a date plus two other people even if it is to accuse her of bribery.

ann realizes early on that leslie was attracted to ben and teases her mercilessly about it. she thinks it’s absolutely hilarious that leslie wants to make out with "mean ben.” after april and andy’s wedding, she realizes it's more than just attraction and she lays off.

before ben can even think rationally about what he’s doing, he’s in line at bed, bath, and beyond with a crock pot in his arms, calling stephanie to ask her to send him their family’s chicken soup recipe

ann knew ben liked her from the beginning and was totally positive when she ran into him in the hospital asking for leslie’s room number while holding jj’s waffles and a tub of homemade soup.

ben realizes he’s falling in love with leslie when he is at city hall with her until 3am one night trying to budget for the amount of cotton candy machines she wants for the harvest festival. in his exhaustion, he naively believes her when she tells him she’ll go home in a bit so he leaves. he never gets a text from saying she made it home so he stops at jj’s the next morning and brings a takeout container of waffles and a coffee complete with an outlandish amount of whipped cream and sugar to the parks department. he finds her asleep in the conference room. he starts trying to convince sweetums to donate more cotton candy machines that afternoon.

chris had to have known ben liked leslie. he’s not an idiot. in the deleted scene from their wedding, they read out emails from their “tumultuous first week in pawnee” and chris writes to ben saying, “why are you so focused on leslie knope?” ben replies saying, “i’m not. whatever. shut up.” there’s no way chris is this oblivious. ben takes her out for a beer. ben pays out of pocket for a children’s performer to help her out. ben shows up on chris and ann’s date just because he thinks leslie might be there. chris can’t be this dumb. but when they take the city manager jobs in pawnee, he knows it can’t happen so he cuts ben off when he starts to ask about dating someone in city hall. he cracks down on the rule in front of leslie after the tom incident to hammer it in. he starts setting ben up on a bunch of dates to try and head it off. he sends them to indianapolis for the little league pitch because, realistically, he knows they’re the best bet for success but makes sure to interrupt their dinner and invites them to his apartment to continue to run interference the rest of the night. after their fights in 4.06-4.08, he hopes he won’t have to worry anymore. the next work day, they come into his office looking nervous and happy and he knows he’s about to lose the partner and best friend that’s been by his side for the past decade.

april and andy knew they were secretly dating. it went unspoken aside from a few implicit teasing remarks from april and a few suggestive attempted high fives from andy but leslie assured ben they wouldn’t tell anyone despite their ostensible behavior.

BREAK UP

ben had commissioned the li’l sebastian plush for leslie after he had died but the toy shop didn’t finish it until after they broke up. he felt bad not going to pick it up so he did despite not being able to give it to her. he kept it for all those months and sometimes thought about getting rid of it but could never bring himself to do it.

when leslie made personalized copies her books for her friends with individualized annotations and notes in the bylines, she had two copies for ben. there was one that she gave him during their breakup that was very simplified and watered down where the note basically just said “i’m really glad you decided to stay in pawnee.” then there was a second copy that she kept while they were split up that was totally covered in notes and random thoughts she couldn’t say during their time apart. she gives him that copy when they get back together and it may or may not be the best gift he’s ever received.

april was much less abrasive with them during the break up because she’s a sweetheart and wants her friends to be happy.

the first time leslie admitted she was in love with him was during a long night of drinking and crying at ann’s house

ben craved the taste of sugar during their breakup because he got used to tasting the sweetness when he kissed her

ben found himself unable to sleep at night without the sound of leslie talking in her sleep to comfort him

april texted leslie the night of the halloween party to let her know that ben and andy were at the hospital after a fight and everything was fine and she didn’t need to worry. leslie was mad at andy for a few days after and he couldn’t figure out why.

the only photo in ben’s bedroom was of himself, leslie, and li’l sebastian at the harvest festival. if he got caught staring at it and crying, he would just say he missed li’l sebastian so much.

april and andy started having star wars and star trek movie nights to try and cheer ben up

DOMESTIC

ben and leslie got in the habit of having weekly game nights with april and andy during the campaign since they were all basically living together. it became a tradition that kept going as often as they could make it happen, even after the kids were born. they try to have game night at least once a month. april pretends to hate it.

one of my absolute favorite ideas about them is that she sleeps much better when he’s around to keep her grounded. after they get together for good, she starts getting closer to 5 hours of sleep a night.

another favorite involving leslie’s sleeping: ben is typically accustomed to tuning out incoherent nonsense that she babbles in her sleep but she also has some of her best ideas when she’s not busy trying to focus on a million different things. when he hears her coming up with legitimately good ideas or making speeches or having solid debate arguments, he takes out the notebook he keeps in his nightstand to record her thoughts and quotes. he revisits and revises the notes to strengthen her statements and make them more professional and less rambling but makes sure to keep her distinct voice apparent in them.

ben prefers pancakes to waffles but he will go to the grave with that secret

this isn’t a headcanon because nbc posted it but one of ben’s holidays on leslie’s calendar is watch synchronization day which is the day they celebrate syncing their watches to, as leslie puts it, “always be in harmony, like our hearts” which is just one of the sweetest fucking things in the world

leslie makes ben read and watch all the harry potters because he didn’t get into them when he first tried. ben is much more of a success than ann. she buys him a ravenclaw scarf for christmas.

their first fight as a couple was a historical debate gone awry

since ben clearly has some affinity for custom stuffed animals, he has some made for the triplets.

they’re both dog people but they adopt a cat because sonia and stephen beg for one and it does fit their busy lifestyle much better. they love the cat. they get a dog when the kids are older and life is slightly less hectic.

they both love striped shirts and sweaters so much that they have to make a conscious effort to avoid wearing them on the same day and matching

leslie makes sweets and bakes desserts while ben typically handles cooking the actual meals

BASED ON EPISODES, QUOTES, AND THROWAWAY LINES

i always loved the ann/ben dynamic in bus tour because there’s been such an obvious shift in ann’s attitude towards him in this episode. maybe it’s because she and tom just broke up and she just turned chris down again and she’s frustrated with relationships but i think it’s her realizing ben isn’t going anywhere. since the campaign is winding down, she realizes that things aren’t gonna go back to the way they were because ben is now part of this and he’s clearly in it for the long haul. ann’s definitely jealous that ben is just as important to leslie as she is and she now knows she’s never gonna get that full attention back. ann sits ben down to have a real “don’t you dare hurt her” speech after this ep and before win, lose, or draw. this is when he tells ann he wants to marry her.

they discover they both adore the princess bride after ben says “as you wish” to her one night and after that it becomes their movie.

the wildflower mural becomes a thing between them when ben says he considered that to be their first date, prompting leslie to tell him what the mural means to her.

ben puts banjo boogie bonanza on one of the mix cds he gives leslie at the beginning of their relationship

harrison ford movie nights start after they both reveal they had a crush on him as a kid. ben was obsessed with han solo and leslie was into indiana jones’ whole history teacher vibe.

they basically hate each other’s taste in music and stop exchanging mix cds once that becomes apparent that they aren’t gonna find much common ground. they both love tom petty, al green, and etta james and music in that vein though.

ben makes leslie watch game of thrones just to try to explain why he’s called her khaleesi. she gets into it, not so much because of the show itself, but because of how passionate her boyfriend is about it.

they start learning basic french during the s4 campaign because they think it will be useful to have a basic multilingual vocabulary for their political careers and because leslie confesses she has always dreamed of seeing paris. they study spanish next.

ben makes leslie watch the star wars prequels just so he can complain to her during them. he doesn’t think she’s paying attention and then he reads about midichlorians in the paper.

ann is also in on ben’s plan to sneak vegetables into leslie’s waffles.

they will sometimes jokingly refer to themselves as the “dream team” or “dynamic duo” because, despite chris’s absurdity, it’s true

i’m open to literally any origin of this because no matter what it’s perfect but i like to think that “i love you and i like you” started at some point in season 4 when, at some point, leslie went “i like you” and ben replied “you like me?” “mhm” “hm just like me?” “yes i like you. i love you and i like you. both.” “mmm i love you and i like you too”

i barely even register some of these things as headcanons since they just live so solidly in my brain

this might be my favorite ask ever thank you for loving benslie enough to ask me this and be genuinely interested

if anyone read all of this, i love you

#most of me loves you for sending this ask but i just procrastinated so much work while writing this #ben x leslie #otp: deeply ridiculously #cherubsona #mail #this is truly absurdly long no one is gonna read this

74 notes · View notes

incomingalbatross · 4 years ago

Text

Tonight’s the night for more Catholic Batfam headcanons because I say so.

As outlined in this post, in this world Bruce was raised Catholic, drifted away somewhat in adolescence, and regained his faith and active practice during his Training World Tour. Further thoughts (some of which I’ve already stated, but put together a little better, I think):

Bruce doesn’t have a regular spiritual director in Gotham. Instead he just goes to Confession to a few different parish priests he likes—taking precautions so that people don’t see Bruce Wayne in the Confession lines just to be safe—and starts every Confession with “I’m Batman” because he feels it’s necessary context. This feels logical to me but also highly entertaining.

When he moved back into Wayne Manor and started fixing it up, his first big project outside of the Cave was converting one of the ballrooms into a family chapel. (Yes, the Manor had two ballrooms. Yes, Bruce also thinks that was excessive.) It’s dedicated to St. Michael, with side niches for statues of Our Lady and St. Joseph, and other saints along the walls/in the new stained-glass windows. He can’t keep the Eucharist there, of course, but there’s a Tabernacle built into the altar just to be thorough. Mass could be said there.

He also sets up outdoor Stations of the Cross in the Manor grounds, though that comes later. There’s landscaping and a path to take you through them. He prays the Stations every Friday.

Alfred is a practicing Anglican, BTW. He and Bruce have agreed to disagree, but they don’t hesitate to share their common ground. Alfred does make use of the chapel. (I believe St. Michael is his Confirmation saint here, actually. Which Bruce knew when he designed the chapel.)

When Dick comes along, he’s very much a non-denominational Christian. He was baptized and his parents read the Bible with him and taught him to pray, but living on the road didn’t give them a lot of formal religion. They did have informal services at Haly’s on Sundays, though.

Bruce didn’t want to push him (partly because he’s oversensitive to the idea of “making a kid go against his dead parents”), so he didn’t really actively try to convert him. Dick went to church with him or Alfred, growing up, and remained a believer, but I don’t think he had a deep or a formally religious spiritual life. He does have a great deal of respect for Bruce’s, though.

Then Jason came along.

Jason is a FIERCELY Catholic little Irish-American with a battered rosary he was given for his First Communion and a strong devotion to the Holy Family (because Catherine Todd was a deeply pro-life Catholic woman and raised her boy accordingly, and I will die on this hill). I’m not sure if he’s ever had an opportunity to be an altar server but I know he WANTS it. One of the first and biggest ways he and Bruce click is through their shared Faith.

Bruce has his own chapel! Bruce talks to him about religious things, and helps him get to Mass and the Sacraments, and signed up for regular serving duty at their parish! Bruce buys him saint books and listens to his half-articulate spiritual troubles and understands.

Bruce, meanwhile, is equally blown away by this tiny street child’s vehement love for Our Lady and the Blessed Sacrament and the beauties and stories of the Catholic Church, the way he clings to Holy Mother Church all the more for the absence of an earthly family, and how hungry he is for a stronger spiritual life. Bruce wants to give him everything.

Of course, Jason is far from a perfect child—he struggles with anger, anger which is founded in his hatred of suffering and injustice but which he doesn’t always know what to do with, or how to handle. He loves God deeply, but sometimes—especially as he starts maturing, becoming more and more aware of the world beyond his own life—he finds himself angry at Him, raging against the cruelty and injustice in the world and asking how? why? Why would You allow this?

On the whole, though, Jason is doing okay. He has Bruce, and he has his Faith. He’s confirmed at thirteen, a year after meeting Bruce, and he picks St. John Bosco as his patron saint. He prays to him for help in directing his passions to help the poor and vulnerable, rather than falling into anger and ill-will.

He doesn’t mention it to Bruce, yet, but as he keeps growing up he starts to feel like... maybe... he wants to be a priest? Maybe THAT’S what he’s supposed to do with his life? He keeps thinking about it...slowly, because it’s a Big Deal and he keeps doubting himself and he IS just fifteen, still, and having struggles with his temperament and the effects of of his past. But he keeps feeling more strongly like this is the right path for him.

And then he finds out his mother, who loved him and raised him and gave him everything he has, isn’t his mother. And he goes investigating this, because he has to, he has to know who his other mother is and if he can get to know her.

And then he is murdered, betrayed and and beaten, and still trying desperately to save the woman who sold him to the Joker.

(Jason Todd died a hero’s death and this is ALSO a hill I will die on.)

I haven’t figured out what quirk of the multiverse made Jason NOT 100% dead (the Lazarus Pit can’t bring back really-quite-sincerely-dead people or it would be way too OP and also HORRIFYING), but there’s something. Bat-Mite meddling? Superboy Prime punching the universe is dumb, but it’s DEFINITELY better than Talia stealing Jason’s corpse.

Anyway.

Quite frankly, at this point, Bruce’s faith is the only thing that keeps him sane.

He has his boy buried in the family cemetery, with the funeral Mass in the chapel.

He was really hoping one of his boys would be married there, first. Or even that Jason would say a Mass there, someday.

(He didn’t know Jason had thought about that too, but a parent hopes this kind of hope anyway.)

But no. Jason is buried. Bruce struggles with his own rage, and grief, and despair. He spends a lot of time in the chapel. ...Sometimes it helps.

And then little Tim Drake shows up, INSISTING that “Batman needs a Robin!” And things change again.

Tim (since this is focusing on the religious aspects of characters) is not Catholic. I BELIEVE he’s Protestant (don’t know which type), and likes starting debates with Bruce when things are too quiet. Bruce only engages sometimes, because when it gets too earnest he can be painfully reminded of his discussions with Jason—keep in mind, Jason is the first kid he really DID discuss religion with—and his childishly wholehearted Catholicism and Tim’s cheerfully stubborn Protestant opposition can make for a jarring contrast.

It’s good, though. Bruce doesn’t have anyone to share the fullness of his faith with, again... but that’s just one of the many smaller losses involved in his loss of Jason. He adjusts.

And Tim is earnest about his own faith, even if he doesn’t talk about it much to anyone other than Bruce and Alfred (who he knows also take Christianity seriously and will treat his views with respect). He doesn’t use the chapel as much as either of them—or even Dick, who grew up with it and goes there to pray or even just think things out whenever he’s in residence—but he does use the space sometimes, when he wants guaranteed quiet and a prayerful atmosphere.

He also somehow becomes church friends with Clark Kent, who as an archetypal Midwesterner is PROBABLY Protestant here.

Do he and Clark convert Kon between them? Again, PROBABLY.

...This is very long and it’s getting late, so I will stop here for now. I’d like to do another post on Red Hood and Damian and Bruce’s “death” at some point... we will see how that goes.

EDIT: Also, I forgot! Credit to @why-bless-your-heart for Protestant Tim—all I knew about Tim was that I didn’t know what to do with him, but her take was Good and so I have adopted it. But I should give credit where credit is due.

#batfamily #jason todd #bruce wayne #catholic #catholic batfamily #dick grayson #tim drake #i feel like making the gordons catholic too #purely because i can #no detailed headcanons on them or steph or cass though #or anyone else cause i don't know the other characters like. at all #and yes i am absolutely using bruce wayne to vicariously live out my Rich Catholic dreams #long post #cw child death #(i mean it's jason)#(so if you start reading this you know where it's probably going)#(but yeah)

42 notes · View notes

holidays-events · 4 years ago

Photo

Happy 🐣Quarantine 😷 Easter 🐇

🥀 🌷 💓🥚 🐣 🐥 🐰 🌹 🍫 💖🥕 🐇 💝 😷 🌸

Beyond Ishtar: The Tradition of Eggs at Easter

Don’t believe every meme you encounter. Scientific American Krystal D’Costa

Eggs occupy a special status during Easter observances. They're symbols of rebirth and renewal—life bursts forth from this otherwise plain, inanimate object that gives no hint as to what it contains. In this regard it is a handy symbol for the resurrection of Jesus Christ, but it is is a symbol that has held this meaning long before Christianity adopted it.

There is a meme that some people have rallied around and shared as a "truth" of Easter. It proclaims:

Easter was originally the celebration of Ishtar, the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility and sex. Her symbols (like the egg and bunny) were and still are fertility and sex symbols (or did you actually think eggs and bunnies had anything to do with the resurrection?) After Constantine decided to Christianize the Empire, Easter was changed to represent Jesus. But at its roots, Easter (which is how you pronounce Ishtar) is all about celebrating fertility and sex.

Clearly, we all know that memes are the ultimate source of information—particularly when they makes a biting point about something or some group that is not particularly favorably viewed. But it is well known that under the Roman Empire, Christianity did indeed adopt the pagan rituals of conquered peoples in an effort to help convert them. It worked pretty well as a strategy as it allowed the conquered peoples to continue a semblance of their observances as they remembered, and with time the population would be replaced with those who only knew the new traditions. This is not a secret. However, there are a few things wrong with the Ishtar meme that a simple Google search will turn up:

Ishtar was the goddess of love and war and sex, as well as protection, fate, childbirth, marriage, and storms—there's some fertility in there, but as with Aphrodite, there is also an element of power. Her cult practiced sacred prostitution, where women waited at a temple and had sex with a stranger in exchange for a divine blessing (and money to feed hungry children or pay a debt).

Ishtar's symbols were the lion, the morning star, and eight or sixteen pointed stars—again, symbols of power.

The word Easter does not appear to be derived from Ishtar, but from the German Eostre, the goddess of the dawn—a bringer of light. English and German are in the minority of languages that use a form of the word Easter to mark the holiday. Elsewhere, the observance is framed in Latin pascha, which in turn is derived from the Hebrew pesach, meaning of or associated with Passover. Ishtar and Easter appear to be homophones: they may be pronounced similarly, but have different meanings.

Our helpful meme places the egg in Ishtar's domain, but Ishtar doesn't seem to be connected to eggs in any explicit way. However, there are plenty of other older traditions that involve the egg as a symbol of rebirth and feature it prominently in creation mythologies:

Ancient Egyptians believed in a primeval egg from which the sun god hatched. Alternatively, the sun was sometimes discussed as an egg itself, laid daily by the celestial goose, Seb, the god of the earth. The Phoenix is said to have emerged from this egg. The egg is also discussed in terms of a world egg, molded by Khnum from a lump of clay on his potter's wheel (1).

Hinduism makes a connection between the content of the egg and the structure of the universe: for example, the shell represents the heavens, the white the air, and the yolk the earth. The Chandogya Upanishads describes the act of creation in terms of the breaking of an egg:

The Sun is Brahma—this is the teaching. A further explanation thereof (is as follows). In the beginning this world was merely non-being. It was existent. It developed. It turned into an egg. It lay for the period of a year. It was split asunder. One of the two egg-shell parts became silver, one gold. That which was of silver is this earth. That which was of gold is the sky … Now what was born therefrom is yonder sun (1).

In the Zoroastrian religion, the creation myth tells of an ongoing struggle between the principles of good and evil. During a lengthy truce of several thousand years, evil hurls himself into an abyss and good lays an egg, which represents the universe with the earth suspended from the vault of the sky at the midway point between where good and evil reside. Evil pierces the egg and returns to earth, and the two forces continue their battle (2).

In Findland, Luonnotar, the Daughter of Nature floats on the waters of the sea, minding her own business when an eagle arrives, builds a nest on her knee, and lays several eggs. After a few days, the eggs begin to burn and Luonnotar jerks her knee away, causing the eggs to fall and break. The pieces form the world as we know it: the upper halves form the skies, the lower the earth, the yolks become the sun, and the whites become the moon (3).

In China, there are several legends that hold a cosmic egg at their center, including the idea that the first being or certain people were born of eggs. For example, the Palangs trace their ancestry to a Naga princess who laid three eggs, and the Chin will not kill the king crow because it laid the original Chin egg from which they emerged (3).

The Sun God, Ra with an egg-shaped disk over his head. Public domain. These are some of the stories that build the foundation for the tradition of eggs at Easter. Contrary to the assertion of our meme, eggs and bunnies actually do have something to do with the idea of resurrection: in these early stories, the creator often emerged from the egg itself in some form: The cosmic egg, according to the Vedic writings, has a spirit living within it which will be born, die, and be born yet again. Certain versions of the complicated Hindu mythology describe Prajapati as forming the egg and then appearing out of it himself. Brahma does likewise, and we find parallels in the ancient legends of Thoth and Ra. Egyptian pictures of Osiris, the resurrected corn god, show him returning to life once again rising up from the shell of a broken egg. The ancient legend of the Phoenix is similar. This beautiful mythical bird was said to live for hundreds of years. When its full span of life was completed it died in flames, rising again in a new form from the egg it had laid (4).

The Phoenix was adopted as a Christian symbol in the first century AD. It appears on funeral stones in early Christian art, churches, religious paintings, and stonework. The egg from which it rose has become our Easter egg. As with many symbols, the Easter egg has continued to shift. When the Lenten fast was adopted in the third and fourth centuries, observant Christians abstained from dairy products, including milk, cheese, butter, and eggs. In England, on the Saturday before Lent, it was common practice for children to go from door to door to beg for eggs—a last treat before the fast began.

Even the act of coloring eggs is tied to the idea of rebirth and resurrection. While egg decorating kits offer a vibrant means of decorating eggs today, the link between life and eggs was traditionally made by using a red coloring. Among Christians, red symbolizes the blood of Jesus. Among Macedonians, it has been a tradition to bring a red egg to Church and eat it when the priest proclaims "Christ is risen" at the Easter vigil and the Lenten fast is officially broken (5).

I love the Easter traditions at Church. The lighting of the Easter candle reminds me of my childhood Diwali celebrations and the lighting of Christmas lights as they all represent means of driving away darkness. Ishtar may well have some connection to the rites of Spring, and admittedly Easter itself is an observance of Spring, but in an age when so much wrong has been done in the name of religion, and religion is a focal point for criticism and debate, it's worth remembering that the overlap of time and history has given us richer traditions than any of us can truly be aware of—and that memes shouldn't be taken at face value.

References Newall, Venetia. (1967) "Easter Eggs," The Journal of American Folklore Vol 80 (315): 3-32. RE Hume, ed. (1931) The Thirteen Upanishads. London: 214-215

Notes: Newall: 4 Hume: 214 Newall: 7 Newall: 14 Newall: 22

Krystal D'Costa is an anthropologist working in digital media in New York City. You can follow AiP on Facebook.

The views expressed are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily those of Scientific American.

https://getpocket.com/explore/item/beyond-ishtar-the-tradition-of-eggs-at-easter?utm_source=pocket-newtab

#Easter #Tradition

6 notes · View notes

donnerpartyofone · 4 years ago

Text

A few years ago there was this moment where I got a ton of anonymous messages from some far right asshole about the usual shit--Hillary, the corrosive force of immigration, inherently evil ethnic and religious groups, etc. The messages were weird in that most of them seemed to be copied and pasted out of the middle of some article somewhere, but there was never a source mentioned, and there was never enough information for me to get the whole picture even if I really cared about all this "proof" that black and brown people should be kicked out of Sweden or whatever the point was supposed to be. Some of the messages were actually written by the sender, and they all sounded pretty stereotypically crazy: rude, vague, delirious references to conspiracies, pedophilia, brainwashing, etc on the left, or really just orbiting around Clinton. (This is totally tangential, but to this day I'm convinced that all these reactionary nutbags just want to fuck Hillary Clinton, I mean the enduring, overheated obsession with her has extended so far beyond the the sphere of her electoral campaign or any threat of her achieving greater power that there has to be a reason these freaks keep bringing her up, bringing up the fevered vision of a woman dominating them along with the entire country, a compelling reason, perhaps a BIOLOGICAL reason) I'm still embarrassed about this, but I engaged with this person, posting their inane drivel to try to vivisect it, to explain why it was so stupid and ineffectual. I wasn't that worried about giving them a platform, since the messaging was so primitive and hard to understand if you weren't already on his side, but that was exactly my point: When you make yourself sound like an escaped lunatic in a doomsday sandwich board sign, who is supposed to take anything you say seriously? How could it have any effect besides undermining whatever you're trying to support? That effect, and the strengthening of convictions held by lefties like me, who would naturally like to be as opposite of your raving inarticulate ass as possible? And besides all that, my blog had a pretty apolitical appearance at the time, so why was anon assuming I was this passionate Clinton shill? I mean, fuck him and his bigoted garbage, OF COURSE, but I couldn't figure out how he had targeted me personally for this treatment.

The point that I wish I had gotten then was, it didn't matter. It might have been the result of one of those things you hear about from time to time, about how supposedly a bunch of mean jerks from 4chan (or whatever the current iteration is) are going to conduct a "raid" on Tumblr, like they're going to seek and destroy liberal snowflakes and precious cinnamon rolls with their, uh...incredible verbal prowess I guess. Surely the point was just to get me all riled up so someone could say that they pwned me, although I don't know what the reward of this pwning was supposed to be besides the "made you look!" thrill of tricking me into talking to or about them. I'll never understand the perspective of the kind of person who thinks that you "win" something when someone blocks you online, as if blocking isn't just a way of saying "You are literally worthless." It's interesting how that line of troll thinking works, it seems to suggest something like, "Ah, you should have KNOWN that I was nothing but an insignificant piece of shit with nothing to say, but you treated me like I was worth talking to, so therefore I WIN!" I strongly suspect that all of troll culture (I mean, not LEGIT trolls who bait you with patently stupid decoy ideas, but these little garbage people who bait you with their real actual opinions) is predicated on an urge to masochism, that this kind of person is always a spineless perverted weakling who craves insults and punishment, who feels in their very bones that they deserve the worst, who is at all times secretly drooling to slurp on the delicious bootheel of Hillary Clinton, long after her rally balloons have been found deflated and dangling from the network of powerlines crisscrossing the Real America...

But that reminds me of another self-loathing lunatic of my acquaintance, my ex-boyfriend. Yes, really, but I swear to god this is going somewhere. He was an intelligent guy, a lit major who had graduated with honors from a reputable liberal arts school, an editor at a respected arts & culture publishing house who fancied himself a progressive thinker who stood up for the freedoms of others--and who, I slowly found out, used his enthusiasm for Obama and The Daily Show to mask the noxious brew of casual racism and virulent misogyny that made up his fuel for living. When we were dating, I thought that we had problems, and I thought dealing with problems was a normal part of adult relationships; I thought the opposite of constantly struggling for peace, honesty, and respect was "expecting life to be like a fairy tale", which I certainly did not want to be accused of. So I didn't get what was going on when he would choose some arbitrary trigger for an abusive episode, and I would try, and fail, to resolve whatever was bothering him. I bought in to the idea that we were both intelligent people with respect for one another's intelligence, and that it was possible for us to get at the heart of any trouble through calm and rational discussion. He often gave me plenty of breadcrumbs to follow, indicating that there were REASONS that he was angry with me, which led me to believe I could fix everything by clearing up misunderstandings, since I had never conspired to do anything to him but try to love him. (Although sometimes he wouldn't even tell me what I had supposedly done, intoning "You're a clever girl, you'll figure it out" in a sneering Joan Crawfordesque voice--I should have known then that he didn't need or even want a good reason to attack me) But, his debate style, if I can call it that, involved screaming, changing the subject, repeating whatever I said back to me in a "r*tard voice", impugning my character (or that of my family and friends) in ways that had nothing to do with the argument, and other tactics that ensured that his opportunity to hurt and terrorize me lasted for hours or days. I missed the fact that for him, the fight wasn't a resolvable interruption of our relationship, it was the entire point of the relationship.

The most brilliant thing he'd ever done--though I don't want to call it that, since this has more to do with base instincts than brains--was to use my intelligence against me. If I had placed more importance on my own feelings than I did on "being fair" and "making sense" of our conflicts, then I would have escaped before I had to develop this whole behavioral theory that I am delivering to you now. By producing "reasons" for his anger, he made me think there was a debate to be had, and that the person with the superior logic would win out. I was convinced that would be me, since I knew the Truth, and he was just confused by his inner demons (drugs and alcohol, his shitty friends who "made him" do bad things, his supposed trauma from the last relationship he deliberately destroyed, his inferior parents who made him look bad by being "visionless ant people", and whatever other excuses he surfaced whenever it benefited him to play the tragically injured good guy). What I know now is, all abuse is the same, and it doesn't need or want to justify itself. Its only aim is the free reign of violence. It has no interest in truth or justice of even the most deformed variety. Its goal is to give unfiltered vent to all forms of hatred. The fact that it disguises itself with a mask of rationality, made up of straw men, false equivalences, dubiously construed "facts" arranged into artificial patterns, and other distractingly logical-looking tactics, does not mean that what is inside operates on, or is vulnerable to, actual logic. It's all just id monster shit. Do not interact.

12 notes · View notes

whogirl42 · 5 years ago

Text

Episode 8. Oh wowee, episode 8.

Warning: I have a lot of thoughts and feelings because Marisa and Asriel finally interacted onscreen and it was glorious.

Let’s begin.

We all know Marisa has a... let's say, complicated relationship with her daemon. At his point, it’s no surprise to see Marisa abusing him in one form or the other. But we’ve never seen it like this before. Earlier times it was as a warning to behave or a slap as a form of punishment. This? This is something new. Marisa is gripping her daemon’s skin to the point of pain, a point so painful that she is closing her eyes and wincing. There’s no pretending it doesn’t hurt her too. This is self ham at its most explicit.

What has he done to deserve such treatment? What could have driven her to this? What did we see Marisa doing in the scene we saw her last?

Marisa is bracing herself for having to kill Asriel, one of the only two people in the world she cares about. Her entire self is rebelling at the very thought.

"What did he do to you?" Macphail asks, and it might have been her asking herself that question. "What power he still exerts. I knew you. An ambitious young woman with a good marriage well on her way to quite some position, and then that man came along and you melted."

That won’t happen again. Marisa is far from that stupid girl who made the worst mistake of her life over a crush. She steels herself for what she needs to do. She is sure in her convictions and no one, least not that man, will stop her.

Below, armoured bears are readying for an attack.

Lyra is probably still with the Gyptions. There's no reason to think Lyra would be down there below. Maybe the possibility of Lyra being there doesn't even cross her mind. Except Iofer is dead. After an armoured bear helped Lyra escape Bolvanger. And now there are armoured bears readying for an attack against the Magisterium. Lyra could be down there.

"Open fire," Marisa says. It's chaos down there, it's hard to see anything. But maybe she spots one bear running away. Maybe she spots a familiar red hat on its rider and sighs in relief. Maybe she berates herself for almost hurting her daughter again.

Or maybe Lyra isn't even on her radar, too consumed with thoughts of Asriel.

Marisa knew Asriel was doing something was Dust. She understands from his work that it has something to do with an energy discharge. The penny drops, and fear takes hold of Marisa.

He wouldn't. Would he? But the numbers all add up. Marisa isn't beyond hurting children and they're the same, Asriel and her, they always have been. He'd enjoy besting Marisa at something, succeeding where she couldn't. He couldn't. But who was to say how far his convictions went? Lyra shouldn't be anywhere near there. There's no reason for her to be there.

Still, Marisa is on edge. She demands Thorold tell her what Asriel is planning, even as she seems to have grasped the basics. She tries frightening him, appealing to the faith I'm surprised he'd even have after years of working for Asriel. Thorold lowers the gun but still doesn't say anything. Marisa tries a different tactic.

"Thorold, I should throw you to the wolves. But I won't. I’ll tell them that Father Macphail is staying here to analyse what we’ve found, and then I’ll take the troops to pursue Asriel and you will leave. He’s always been so reckless. He’s never treated any of us well, you included."

Did Thorold tell her anything off-screen? We don't know. There's nothing to suggest that they talk any more after this scene. Which means that Marisa - always in control - Coulter let her guard down, let herself seem vulnerable about Asriel, without any clear gain. This isn't a ploy to get something. This isn't her being emotional because Lyra's there. This is just her being emotional. For the first time in god knows how long, she's going to see Asriel again. And Thorold has been working with Asriel for years. He probably knew about the affair as it happened, one of the only people in the know. Both Thorold and Marisa know Asriel intimately, and there's a camaraderie to that.

I can't not mention Marisa's remarks about Asriel throughout the season.

"He's a failure of a man and a failure of a father." (1x02)

"He thought he could protect you. Another one of his ridiculous ideas. Couldn't protect a painting if it was drawn on the wall." (1x02)

"[About giving up Lyra] And Asriel had ideas on what was best." (1x06)

“And if there's one thing that man doesn't need, it's more toys to do damage with.” (1x06)

“He’s always been so reckless. He’s never treated any of us well.” (1x08)

And that’s probably barely scracthig the surface. We have no way of knowing how long it’s been since they last saw each other? Marisa told Lyra that she sometimes bumps into Asriel in the Arctic Institute, but there’s nothing to suggest that actually happened. For all we know, this could be the first time they speak since Asriel’s trial 12 years ago.

Marisa approaches him. He's sprouting out heresy like he always did, but she can't ignore it or roll her eyes or find better uses for his mouth. He's shattering her world, promising the end of everything she's worked for, everything she believes in.

Damn him, he has the audacity to smile.

This is the end of the Magisterium, that's what he said. The sun of another world. "Come,” he says.

She doesn't want to, but she can't help it. Whether it’s a miracle, an abomination; she is first and foremost a scholar, and this is extraordinary.

Something like peace settles between them, but Asriel is still saying things she does not want to hear. "Marisa, come with me," he says, like it's that easy.

Marisa's religious beliefs haven't been given much attention until now. She's played with the Magisterium, manipulating them to get what she wants and not giving a damn to what they say if when doesn't suit her. In the previous episode, she told Father Macphail the Magisterium has her devotion, but that didn't ring true. She cares about her experiments. That's her priority. Everything else is background noise.

Marisa fully believes that Dust in sin. She said it herself to Lyra in the Daemon Cages.

“Dust is not a good thing. Grown-ups are infected so deeply that it's too late for them. Condemned to a life of sin, guilt and regret. This is for a better future, a better life. [...] At the age that we call puberty, an age you'll come into very soon, darling, daemons bring all sorts of troublesome thoughts and feelings.”

She's trying to create a better world, one where humans aren't plagued with temptation and guilt. It's easy to blame this on the consequences of her affair with Asriel, and I do believe that fuels some of it. But to solely credit him for her motivations does her character a disservice. It took three-quarters of the season to touch on what drives her to these extremes, and I very much hope that they continue to delve into it in season 2.

Okay. This moment. This moment this moment this moment. This moment. Sorry, my brain loops and glitches whenever I see or think of this moment, because this moment.

This moment.

It's best with audio because then you can hear the way Ruth Wilson says Marisa’s faint protests. She's breathless, confused, torn, unsure. Everything she hasn't been up till now. Ruth Wilson is out queen our lord and saviour.

And Asriel, our favourite slut, is so thirsty for her, leaning in as she pulls away. It's been years and finally, he can kiss her again and he doesn't want to ever stop. His experiment just changed things forever, could change them forever. He and Marisa are the same, and he loved her years ago and he still loves her now, and if everything is changing then maybe finally they can get their happy ending.

Marisa was able to convince Macphail to let her come along because she knows Asriel better than anyone else. The same is true vice versa.

“Lie about whatever you want. Lie about the Oblation Board. The Magisterium. Lie about the girl. But do not lie about your ambition your work or who you truly are. You used to want to change the world. Then leave the Magisterium. Come with me, and we will change them all.”

He talks between small kisses, tempting her, teasing her, seducing her. Despite her snapping remark at Macphail, Marisa does in fact melt. This will work, they can be together again.

But there's the one thing Asriel didn't expect. The one thing that Marisa herself hadn't expected.

But I love Lyra. Where did this love come from? I don't know; it came to me like a thief in the night, and now I love her so much my heart is bursting with it.

Rewatching the scene, you can see the moment she makes her decision. She leans her head back just enough so she can look at Asriel.

Then leans back in and closes her eyes. Lets herself bask in the moment, lets herself feel the love and safety and rightness of being with him envelop her. When she opens her eyes, when she pulls away and speaks the words that will put them on separate paths, her resolution is clear. She's resigned to her decision and its consequences.

And Asriel could have debated theology and politics until the end of time, if that's what it took to have her again. He can't argue this.

And so she leaves. And he lets her. And the two of them are just so unexpectedly soft with each other my heart can't take it.

Where's the furious fight? The cutting remarks? The bitter resentment pushed down all these years finally showing its ugly face? Where's the dysfunctional madness?

"Ah, those two. In a fight they're lethal. Around each other, they melt." - Richelle Mead, The Golden Lily.

Part of me is disappointed we missed out on that beautiful angst, the kind we'd probably see if they spent longer together, but another part of me loves it. Because they cut through the bullshit. With others maybe they'd put on an act, but it's just them. And they know each other. They'd see through the other's presences in a heartbeat. The whole scene is so intimate, so honest, they almost convince me they could be healthy. And that's the tragedy of them, I think. They're so alike, two sides of the same coin. They understand each other on such a deep level no amount of time apart makes a difference. In another life, they would work. They should work. But this is the reality they live in.

Confession time.

I have not read the books. I have no intention of reading the books, at least not the parts I haven't seen onscreen yet. The reason is that after episode 3, I picked up the first book, caught up to where I was on the show, and realised I enjoyed the show better. I'd rather experience the twists and turns first on the platform that I prefer, without having them spoiled first on a platform that just doesn't evoke the same emotional response. Please don't pelt tomatoes at me!

I vaguely knew the plot of the Golden Compass from the movie I half saw years ago, and from general knowledge. Going forth, I'm mostly blind. I know bits and pieces from Tumblr that I can't quite escape, (I.e: the quote from the books I used above that I've seen in multiple gifsets), and unfortunately, I already know Masriel's fate. The journey getting there? No clue.

Which is exciting.

I've understood that the show is delving much more into Maria's psyche than the books, and that her revelation that she loves Lyra has come earlier. I don't know what it means going forth, if there will be changes from the books or if it will stay the same for the most part. What I do know, is that I can't wait to see what happens next.

Marisa refused Asriel because of Lyra, but Lyra left their world. Next season, I'm sure Marisa will be just as ruthless and determined to get her back, that will probably result with her aligning with the Magisterium once more.

I'd love to see her find a way to once again place the blame on Asriel, but as we've seen, her bitterness and resentment tend to fade away when faced with the man himself. Maybe it'll be easier to cling onto now the novelty of seeing him again after so long has worn off. But I honestly don't know how it will go when they next see each other. The softness of this scene took me by surprise, just as each of them always does individually. One thing's for sure, their connection isn't going anywhere.

But neither is the reality they live in. The Magisterium. It'll be interesting to see just how deep her loyalties go because the show did a great job in showing me that she'll choose Lyra over practically anything, but like I said, it hasn't talked much about her religious convictions.

See, that isn't what I'd expect to hear from the truly devout. It's part of her power-play with Macphail, yes, but it doesn't scream religious fanatic.

I want next season to explore that side of her. Ruth is a fantastic actress and would portray the inner turmoil perfectly. But I need to believe there's a chance she won't choose Lyra. I need to be convinced in her conviction, to honesty fear that she's gone off the ledge. I love that Lyra is her weak spot, I love that in her own twisted way she believes she's putting Lyra first. But she's not just a mother. She's not just a scorned lover. She is Marisa fucking Coulter, cesspit of moral filth, mother of all evil, and I need to see her go dark.

Yes, darker than smiling as she attacks the daughter she loves, darker than killing a boy with her bare hands, darker than kidnapping and experimenting on children even as they continue to die. I want her to repulse me with her actions. I want her to cross every line imaginable. I want her completely unredeemable. And then have her love for her child override all those convictions.

I have high demands. I have high expectations. I have full confidence Ruth Wilson can deliver. I'm really hoping the writers and producers do too.

66 notes · View notes

thatssonano · 5 years ago

Text

Hey, remember the research paper about why TV fails to represent female muslims? Well here it is.

Hey guys,

So I'm finally gonna try to write a real little thing about how TV fails to write muslim women. I thought about doing a real research paper and I wrote the introduction and got really anxious because it reminded of my very stressful master degree lol so this is much more simple. Anyways, let's get to it.

As a kid, I was very hungry for representation on TV. Mostly because I had no models, no one to identify with. As a very introvert and self-conscious kid, I didn't know what to be or what to do. At some point, I started looking up to my sister, very beautiful, very intelligent and very ambitious girl. So I thought "I ought to be like that, that's what a muslim girl like me should be like.”

Thing is, I wasn't as smart as she was, my grades were not as good, I wasn't as pretty or as popular at school, and there was not a single box I could fit in. I ended up being the "weird but nice little sister". But I was so invisible everyone would nickname me "Sarah 2" (my sister's name being Sarah.) And you know what? For the first time, I felt like I existed. Because I was "the little sister". Dude, how sad is that?

I was too white for them, not muslim enough, too weird for them. So obviously, it was tough to pave a way for myself when I was the only girl like me.

The first time I was finally not nicknamed was when I got into college at the age of 17. Only because we didn't choose the same college. And I understood I didn't have to be as smart or as ambitious as her, I understood that I didn't have to get the life she had when I was 22. 22, guys.

I'm turning 26 in one month. And I chose my own life. But God, how much time it took me to realize that there wasn't only one type of "the muslim girl"? 22 years.

I'm not saying that to share about my life or whatever, I just want to show the consequences of not having representation on TV. And for sure, many people don't care about representation, my sister doesn't, my brother doesn't. But I do. Maybe that's because I'm hypersensitive, maybe that's because I believe art should mirror reality. All I know is that it's necessary for many.

I met Sana Bakkoush on a random fan video about several fictional couples on youtube. I didn't know Skam then but there was this second in the video where I would see Noora and William staring at each other or whatever, and there was this beautiful hijabi girl in the back. I had to know what this show was about. So I did my research and binge-watched it. With much luck, I got to the end of the whole show before episode 3 of season 4 came out. So I learnt to grow with Sana, I fell in love with her, and I just felt like I could understand her. I was her. I finally was validated with her. Up until episode 5, all was well. And then,… it just broke? Still today, I'm trying to understand how they could let that happen and I guess there's one obvious reason. The writing staff was white. Julie Andem is white. And to me, if you're not from that community, you should not try to write about this one.

As the plot thickened, you could feel like it was unbalanced, incoherent, and that many things didn't make sense. But that's pretty normal, because if you don't live the problem, you can't understand. Now I won't curse Julie Andem for not trying, but I guess what should have been done was to hire a muslim writer. And God, people can't tell me it's too tough to find. Even if it was not Iman Meskini's job, she could have asked her. God, this girl taught more about ramadan through her ig story than Skam ever did.

Now I'm not saying she didn't do us all dirty when she gave us 9 episodes instead of ten and it all broke us on June 17th 2017 (Yep, this day is a national holiday now). And honestly, I've got not one good explanation for this except they didn't feel her story was that important. Unconsciously, I hope, because it would be too evil otherwise.

The reason, to me, that Sana was so many people's favorite character was because Iman Meskini gave her so much realness. Sana was strong yet vulnerable. Everyone, muslims like non-muslims could understand her, and I think she inspired so many people. Her life is amazing, and she's what now? 22. I really hope she gets a Nobel Prize in the future, she deserves it.

Now let's talk about the others. I think it'd be a bit faster.

Imane Bakhellal. Uhm. Well the main issue is the same, she was written by a white man. So obviously, it was 1. wrong. 2. wrong. 3. wrong. The story barely focused on her faith and whenever we'd see her pray she'd be interrupted. Look, I've been praying for 13 years and the only times I've interrupted my prayer were because I had just realized I had not done wudhu. Or I was too jet-lagged so I was praying in the wrong direction.

Thing is, Imane didn't make me feel anything. And it was even sadder, because I am a muslim living in Paris. To me, her story wasn't focused on her, it wasn't even focused on religion or her struggle living between two cultures. I didn't learn a thing. And God, that hurt. That hurt even more when the director didn't acknowledge it was poorly written and was actually proud of it. It hurt that white people get the right to write our story and we're there, not having any voice. It sucked. But I guess, she had ten episodes, right, even if the last episode was within the same day.

It didn't really bother me that she kissed him. The speech she recited did though. I got really frustrated about it. How hard would it be to find a muslim writer? Honestly, I would have been glad to join them, even as a volunteer.

I'm not actually mad at the actress, I guess it was just a reflection of her relationship with islam. And I know many people got the representation they wanted, but to me, it remains poorly written. To me, it remains hypocrite because they don't get it. Being a muslim woman of color in France sucks sometimes. But having at least her story focused on her would have been great too.

Ok, let's move on.

Amira Mahmood. I love her a little less than Sana, but I mean come on, that's understandable, right?

Amira is strong, she's beautiful, kind, smart. And her season was going well, until it wasn't anymore…. Because, well, it ended. I keep on wondering why it happened and I came with no logical answer. So maybe it was lazy writing, maybe it didn't matter to them, maybe the writers were just tired. I don't know, honestly, I don't know. But it pissed me off bad. (Honestly it was the third character I was let down on, lol, it started to be a lot to handle). Also, the other seasons were so greatly written, they had depth and understanding, it was soft and beautiful. And to me, season 4 just felt… lazy? Sure, I loved Mohammed but the Australia plot wasn't even that important it actually got fixed over text? And how hard would it be to find exciting plot for a muslim character? What? Everything should be about kissing, hair and sex? Well, no. I mean, I would have loved to see her actually working, I would have loved to see her actually bonding with her dad, I would have loved to see her at a boxing game… The summer and fall after I graduated high school was a very hard time to me, mostly because it was a time of discovery and transition. Everything was changing. God, they should have explored that more. So I don't know, I just felt detached then, and I think that's more sad, actually.

But I do believe the actress did a great job, and I wish Tua all success.

Shall I give a little paragraph on Nadia from Elite? Hell yeah I'm going to. Well, the show is focused on sex so, I mean, are we even surprised the writers did this to Nadia? Not really, but we're still mad. Again, it was written by white people; who focused on all the stereotypes people spread about muslims. The strict dad? Check. The very quiet and invisible mom at the mercy of the dad? Check. The muslim girl who does not actually know why she's religious and only follows her parents' footsteps like a sheep because islam is just way too strict so no one in their sane mind would ever venture in such a religion? Check. The hunger for having white friends and doing the same? Check. Falling for a white guy and giving up everything she ever "believed" for him? Check. I hope the writers heard about what people had to say about it.

Honestly, I know some would say "there are muslim girls like this". Well, ok. But what about us? We've been invisible to society for years and years. I grew up without having a single fucking idea about who I was and I just always felt like I was the odd one out. Too white, too Algerian, too muslim, too girly, too boyish, too into traditions, following too much her parents' rules… Well, growing up I just decided, I will never be enough of something, because I’m a little of everything. So yeah, some muslim girls do that, but some others don't. And we want to see these girls too. We want to normalize their way of life, so they can just live. And we want them to have the same screen time than the rest of the cast. And we want them to have exciting plots too.

God, I've been smothered by the fucking veil debate in France for weeks and weeks and I couldn't breathe anymore. That's why we need visibility. To be acknowledged. To erase ignorance and hate. To create a homogenous society in this globalized world where everyone is different and it is okay. Because as long as your liberty isn't in danger, then the other can live as he wills.

To finish I guess some of you would be like “if you’re so eager to criticize the work of others, just write your own story” Well I did. I actually finished one scenario in French and I have just started one in English. But how can I actually make it into reality if I don’t know anyone in the business bold enough to work with me on it?

Honestly if you've read all of that, congratulations, thank you so much, love you all, peace out.

I didn’t write everything I wanted but I believe it’s long enough already lol. Be safe, well and kind. (that’s what Bob Morley says and he’s a king).

#love #islam #muslim representation #skams #Skam #Druck #skam fr #elite #nadia shanaa #amira thalia mahmood #sana bakkoush #imane bakhellal

55 notes · View notes

witch-priestess · 5 years ago

Text

Wicca and Expanding Worship Beyond the Heteronormative*

Is Wicca a Fertility Religion or a Nature Religion?

Historically, Wicca started out heteronormative as part of the original intention by Gardener. As years progressed and Wicca developed, many of our leaders and elders and scholars came in hetero pairs, even if their sexuality was not necessarily straight. This lead to the dogmatic concept that Wicca is a fertility religion celebrating the two progenitive forms of the gods, Male and Female, God and Goddess. Many Wicca Practitioners call upon the God and Goddess, and have the symbolic Great Rite (heterosexual sex), usually done with an atheme and a chalice, during rituals. Groups and Rituals are typically led by both a cis-man and a cis-woman. A few of our holidays revolve around the fertility of the earth and the sexual union of the god and goddess. Even our rites of passage and the archetypes that we celebrate emphasize the fertility cycle i.e: Maiden-Mother-Queen-Crone for women. Youth-Hunter/Father-King-Sage for men. This focus leads to the idea that we are primarily a Fertility Religion.

When I came to Wicca 10 years ago, I was introduced to it as a poly-theistic Nature Religion, worshiping the cycles and rhythms and diversity of nature, and most often recognized a God and Goddess in ritual to represent the duality and balance within nature. These concepts of stewardship, diversity, and balance were what drew me to the path of Wicca. I liked the concept of Nature as a religion. I liked the concept of diversity and unity and that being a part of nature, which is divine, meant that I was also divine. So, I came to the path as a seeker, and hungry to learn as much as I could.

As I learned more and practiced, I was introduced to my initiating Coven. The Coven is led by a queer couple, where the word “straight” need not apply, ever. Yet the rituals we had and celebrated didn’t celebrate any of the queerness represented by them, or by some of the members. Being queer myself and not really identifying with the whole concept of fertility, and heteronormativity, a feeling of dissatisfaction began to grow with the emphasis and role that fertility held in the practice of the religion, in my readings, discussions, and rites.

My experience with Paganism and Wicca as a whole is that many of the people practicing are Queer, and they left more restrictive religions for something that represented them better. They turned to the Craft, or Wicca, searching for their own path and acceptance. The heteronormativity of the rites and practices didn’t represent the people who were actually practicing the religion. It didn’t reflect the diversity within the whole of the community. My struggles and dissatisfaction stemmed from this; though I was led by queer-folx, and our group and the greater community was made of and had lots of queer-folx, our religious rituals and expression didn’t reflect that. It didn’t feel like a Nature Religion celebrating all nature had to offer. Rather, it felt like a dogmatic fertility religion with strict gender/sex roles.My dissatisfaction intensified into frustration, and anger, and a pressing need for change.

Anger and frustration are powerful motivators, and I delved into the theories on being a queer witch with the same enthusiasm and hunger that I had as a Seeker. I took these concepts to my leaders leading to some heated debates, passionate discussions of theology, surrounding my disquiet about things as they were and the need to change. These discussions and frustrations continued over the years, and still occur. Sometimes, I felt, in these discussions that I was hitting a brick wall, especially when it came to the Maiden-Mother-Crone narrative surrounding the Mother aspect. Yes, Motherhood is a stage of life, and it is important. However, crucially, it is not the only thing women can do, nor the most important. Furthermore, there are some women who do not have the equipment for giving birth or cannot or choose not to do so, and they are still women regardless of this. I am not a mother, and will not be, for a myriad of reasons. I am cis-female but my expression of my gender and interests fall outside of the societal norms. I am also pan-sexual, and so the experience of only heterosexual sex being ritualized was disconcerting and exclusive. Disconnected and disgruntled by this I brought it up again with my leaders about the frustrations and lack of representation, I was told that “We are a fertility religion”,” Mother can be a metaphor, not just giving birth”, “Some of our members really identify with the maiden-mother-crone archetypes, do you want to say they are wrong?”. I was incensed, and ashamed. These statements led to feelings of alienation and isolation, and I took no comfort in them, because I wanted my religion to actually reflect me, to represent me, and to reflect the diversity in our community as equal parts.This focus of fertility was telling me I was less important because I was following a different pattern than the tradition. My religion was not meeting my genuine need to be represented in the practice of it.

The thing that kept niggling at my mind, and rankled was the statement “We are a Fertility Religion”. Were we though? I agonized over this. All the struggles and discussions and theories brought me to the conclusion; We worship Nature, the beautiful and diverse spectrum and the balance of that spectrum. Human nature is just as broad and has such a huge diversity on every freaking level, it didn’t seem right to only venerate the extremes! The Gods don’t care about gender or sex! Many deities presented as an opposite gender and/or sex for various reasons within their mythos. Fertility and the primary care-giver, or birth giver, in some cases is not necessarily relegated to the female in the whole of the natural world. Fertility can be applied to many aspects of life, but the metaphor breaks down and excludes so many other things. The lens is too narrow when putting Fertility first. The realization that the narrow focus and veneration of fertility was an imbalance of the spectrum resonated in my soul. Therefore, I propose an alternate lens: Wicca as the Nature Religion to which I was first called. Nature encompasses the All, not just how we procreate, not just the ability to create, but also the very real beauty of the diversity within the universe at large. Nature recognizes that fertility is a facet, but not the only facet worth venerating.

I didn’t want to throw out the fertility aspect of our religion, which is important and valuable. Rather, I wanted to expand the narrative to reflect all aspects of nature, widen the scope to see a bigger picture. I personally wanted to broaden the view of what it could be while still honoring the past and traditions. Tradition is important because it shows where we come from, it is a point from which to create and move forward. Being inclusive doesn’t mean we get rid of old ideas-- it just means that we expand them so that our practices actually reflect who we are and what we believe. For example, I like the tradition where we celebrate and lead in pairs as a way to represent balance, and I like the heteronormative great rite ritualized as the farthest ends of the spectrum meeting to have unity. I want to expand it so the duo we have to lead doesn’t have to be a hetero pair, if they can perform the office of Priest or Priestess and move or pull the energy required, it doesn’t matter their gender identity, as I saw in my own priest and priestess. The deities we welcome to our worship space don’t have to be a male-female pairing, it could be any combination of binary and non-binary deities. If we bless wine through the binary gods through the Great Rite, we can bless cakes through the non-binary deities and asexually. Excited, I explored other ways to include these ideas and concepts. The heart of this philosophy is explained thus: The balance in nature isn’t between two extremes, it is the balance of all the things in unison.

My Priest and Priestess, they heard me. Some of the traditions have changed, they now call the non-binary deities when performing rituals. They have expanded and changed the way they view the archetypes of the deities to include other forms beyond the traditional Maiden-Mother-Queen-Crone, and Hunter-Father-King-Sage, so people can move to an archetype that speaks to them in their rites of passage. They have thought about new ways to create rites of passage for Trans and Non-Binary people. They have listened to my frustrations, and they have done their best to meet me and the community. They are working on making these changes in positive ways, and they had already started taking huge strides in this direction before I came to the table.

For myself, my practice, and my students, Wicca is a Nature religion where we celebrate the bounty of all nature has to offer, and the diversity of the entirety of the universe through the balance of the spectrum of All. We will continue to expand and develop our traditions to reflect us, and our needs. I also intend to write further on how we can continue this expansion and work of inclusivity, because the “how” of change is as important as “why” of change. Wicca may have started out as a Fertility Religion, but in practice and who is practicing and the way it is evolving has changed it to be a Nature Religion. May Wicca continue to evolve, change, and expand to include those who worship and practice it. Blessed Be.

*This is the beginning of a series of blogs about inclusive Wicca, and how we can grow and change. This series will be tagged as INCLUSIVE WICCABtH.

DO NOT REMOVE TAGS!!!

#queer #pagan #naturereligion #paganism #religion #wicca #wiccan #philosophy #lgtbqia+#witchcraft #pagan witch #witch #witch community #queerwitch #queer witchcraft #craft #inclusive #trans inclusive #INCLUSIVE WICCABtH

4 notes · View notes

countryshitposts · 5 years ago

Text

Las Islas Filipinas

i decided to look through my old drafts and cringe about the whole thing, so i made something regarding something i’ve been considering doing. this is basically going all “History of the Philippines”, with some other people in it lmao.i was actually debating whether actually doing this because i “write in the sake for motivation” so if i lose motivation my story is doomed to never update lmao

but ye i gathered courage to do this

also @redffeather thanks for inspiring me uwu

1- spain monologues for three pages

Warning for: racism, colonialism, slavery? and religious themes that will be present from start to finish

yes every chapter title is going to be like that now

Staring at the vibrant blue of both the seas and skies has become Spain's new hobby, he realizes. He looks at the sky with his bored eyes, then back at the map he was drawing. It had been days, weeks, years since he had last seen dry land. He wanted to stop this trip, to go back to his land, his stomach agreeing with him. Spain regrets taking on this quest to stop everyone from believing that the earth is flat and that monsters lurk at the end of the world. But there was no waterfall, no monsters, no nothing. It was just him, his crew, and the great wide ocean.

He doesn't even know where they are now.

He mostly lets the stars and God guide them, but God has not been speaking to him lately, no matter how many times he goes to his private quarters and start praying, holding his beloved cross and muttering prayers, his prayers holy on his tongue. But there was no feeling of an embrace, nor a noble voice telling him from up above what he should do next. He can feel his heart beating even louder, his eyes darting from the cartography table, towards his crew members, then at the blue sky where God resides in.

Spain clasps the cross once again, and mutters a prayer of thanks to God for a long and safe voyage. Even though he will feel happy and content after a prayer to the Almighty, all he feels is paranoia, and a creeping sensation on his hands.

Is he not good enough to the eyes of God anymore?

Preposterous!, Spain says, tightening his grip on his cross. God cannot do that to me! Not for how many men and women I have converted to Christianity at the hands of God!

He glances at the map pertaining to America, and he smiles, feeling his chest become swollen with pride as he remembered civilizing those barbarians and taking all the gold that they are flaunting. They were stupid, uncivilized men and women, and Spain had much pleasure bringing them to the side of God. It was quite easy, molding their brains as if their muscles were soft clay to his hands, as he with one fist smashes it down to the point it has become a flattened shape. It is a saying of farewell towards their old barbaric ways, and come to the world anew, with a new hope in them. Spain had stripped them of what had made them barbaric, but he still can't help but think that they still act like ones. So Spain tries again with many of his colonies, reshaping them, molding them to make them so perfect to the point of no return, their beautiful materials, and their children and descendants are now my children and descendants because fuck it, I am in charge of this here land.

Even the mere presence of deities being present and monitoring the earth is quite debatable; perhaps they exist on another plane of reality, a dimension where they can watch him and the others, Spain will not be aware of his beloved God watching him from up above, but he knows he is nodding in approval of what he has done to the people of America. Such divinity shouldn't even grace this disgusting earth with its presence, and he understands that only God can communicate through eerie voices and winds through hallways. Sometimes as Spain takes too many glasses of wine, he can hear he of the kind souls, of virtue and respect, speaking to him with a brand new idea in mind. This idea keeps Spain awake at night, and at the morning he wakes up to start his plans.

Spain sighs as he stands up, feeling that his feet has not evolved well due to hardships encountered and the sailing taking many long years to complete. He looks at the calendar; old and gray, its paper yellowed and full of cross marks from the many evolution of the sun. It measures the way he is dying inside, as well as his crew of meaningless names and voices. There is nothing to complete other than to find out if beasts lurk in the end of the world, or if it was just a myth, like the great Greek gods and goddesses whose religion has died off, but their glory and legacy remains, for they are merciful to history's beautiful words and stories, and he would often be interested in the prospect of reading a play of Euripedes about the unfortunate tales of Medea, the son killer.

"Sir!", one of his no-name members address him, and he perks his head up.

"What is it?", he asks in a level headed voice, trying to reach into his mind to remember what this boy's name is. It's not his fault he can't remember their names- they're just going to get lost to history unlike Spain, who will rise from the ashes every time, in all his glory, as someone recounts their tales of the empire that never sets.

"Land, sir!" Spain feels a rising hope growing deep inside of him, and he looks up to see a beautiful island, surrounded in sea, beautiful and seemingly people-less. Spain smiles, and orders the ship to land on one of the rocks. Spain mutters another prayer to God, as he motions a sign of the cross.

There is land, land where Christians can live freely in a paradise that looks so much like thy kingdom come, like the angels have brought them to the Garden of Eden that was lost due to Eve's stupidity and Adam's naivety. This will become his new home, new land, and he can feel the fresh air ever so slightly tousling his hair. He smiles to himself, as he can feel a divine connection from God once again, feeling his hands touching his, and that is enough to make him proud of his achievement. He can finally show Portugal who won in this game of colonialism and who gets the most children.

Because this is God's land now, God's words is the law.

#mine #writing #Countryhumans #countryhumans spanish empire #countryhumans spain #countryhumans philippines #ch las islas filipinas #spain: i'll finally show portugal he AINT SHIT

8 notes · View notes

the-gay-cryptid · 6 years ago

Text

On Religion

As some of you know, I attend a catholic school and have done so since I was the tender, gullible, impressionable age of 5. I was also, of course, raised catholic. Which, for those of you spared the experience, should know means “I grew up catholic but hated it and I’m still not comfortable outright saying I’m not anymore because I feel guilty.”

I don’t often talk about religion here, but I’ve been rereading The Poison Wood Bible for school (fantastic book by the way, easily one of my favorites I’ve ever read) and it’s really stirs up my emotions surrounding my own religious upbringing, so here we go.

Until I was in the fifth grade, I had no idea religions outside of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim existed. I was also taught that Muslims were savage, oppressive, violent people and the all Muslims wanted to kill everyone who wasn’t Muslim. So. Just to give you perspective. I was also led to believe that Jewish people weren’t as bad, but they were just misguided and stuck in the past.

Around seventh grade, I began to suspect I was gay. Thankfully I’d become somewhat desensitized to that good old catholic guilt by having it beat into my very being since before I comprehended object permanence. But I didn’t want God to hate me, so I decided I had a crush on this boy. He was nice to me and we liked the same shows and he had a smart ass sort of attitude towards the less mature boys that I appreciated. So obviously since I enjoyed this boy’s company I must’ve liked him.

But I was still curious about my sexuality in relation to my religion. So I took every opportunity to ask about it in “religion” class. Despite the name, we only talked about The One True Religion. I got different answers depending on which teacher I asked.

Senora Baskin, our Spanish teacher who spoke shitty Spanish and was obsessed with Mexican culture and said it saved her from getting an abortion, told me that the pope said being gay wasn’t a sin, just being in a gay relationship. So I could be gay, but I could never date, get married, or even kiss a girl.

Mrs. Shaver said that gays go to hell. She also told a kid whose dog had died that all dogs go to hell because animals don’t have souls. She also told me I’d go to hell for listening to music with cuss words in it. Imagine that: a class of kids going through their edgy phase, listening to MCR and other punk bands of varying quality being told they were going to hell. I didn’t much value Mrs. Shaver’s opinions anyway.

Mr. Miller sort of stuttered a moment, then told me that he wasn’t actually allowed to talk about that. That’s when I learned catholic schools usually don’t talk about the shit the church is against. We don’t get to debate gay marriage, abortions, or the death penalty. We are not supposed to think critically or form our own opinions, because the opinions of a higher organization should replace our own feelings.

I eventually asked my mom. She told me about a gay couple she was friends with. They were married, but not in the eyes of the church. So any time they had sex, they had to go to confession and apologize for sex outside of wedlock. I didn’t like that solution either.

In eighth grade i sort of just shrugged and said “well. Guess I’m gay then.” I made an effort to bring it up in class more. Gay rights, not being gay. I’d never tell anyone, that would be horrible! I did come out to a few of my close friends, mainly because i realized I really wanted to kiss my best friend.

Freshman year, my religion problem amped itself up. The rhetoric was all the same. I was hearing the same lessons over and over and over again. I’d heard the same things since I was five, just in increasingly complex terms. I finally admitted my serious issues with my religion. My mom told me I didn’t have to be Catholic. I could be Baptist, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Jewish, even Muslim. I just couldn’t be polytheistic or Mormon. I decided that it wasn’t worth fighting about and didn’t bother telling her I wasn’t sure I believed in an anything. The only thing that would hurt her more than me not being christian, would be me being an atheist.

Religion had been important to her when she was little. She’d been bullied mercilessly, abused by her older brother, had a rocky relationship with her step father. On church retreats, she found camaraderie and comfort. It’s where she met her best friend. They’re still friends, and seeing them together they might as well still be stupid teenagers who don’t need anything but each other.

Sophomore year, I came out to my whole family as gay. It was good. I also met the best religion teacher ever: Mrs. Khouzam. She is, to this day, one of my favorite teachers I’ve ever had. There was Mrs. Rae, who lent me more mature books and encouraged my love of writing, and Mrs. Fava, who taught me that I was allowed to have any opinion I wanted, but it had to be backed by facts rather than a person’s skin or the opinions of my parents. Mrs. Khouzam loved God unconditionally. And she loved us.

She was the Mother Mary incarnate, and I loved her with my whole heart. She reminded me of the paintings of women who cradled ragged men like their children. She just exudes mother. Because of her, I began to love my religion again.

Then junior year that was ruined.

Mrs. Langomez was a short, stout woman from the Philippines who spoke too softly and disregarded our opinions with a quiet reminder of Jesus. We wrote journal reflections in her class, and I’d long since abandoned giving the vague “I love Jesus” shit for opinion questions on my work. I told her out right that I had serious issues with Catholicism and that I was gay. She only wrote on my paper that she glad my family accepted me.

Then it went to absolute shit. I sat in my desk on the front row and watched this woman I had only rolled my eyes at and joked about with my classmates give a 40 minute power point presentation on why homosexuality was a sin. She described how god designed men and women to love each other, and since gays couldn’t procreate in the normal way, they were incapable of real love. Being gay damaged one’s soul and relationship with god. She said there were special religious retreats for gay people to strengthen their relationship with god and overcome their gay urges.

I was..horrified. Humiliated. Furious. Hurt. I just sat there, staring at the board with my fists and jaw clenched. I glared at her. I ignored her as I left. My classmates snickered at how stupid she was. I joked that I wanted to punch her and we laughed. It was their quiet way of saying they didn’t agree with her.

I shook the whole way to lunch and explained what had happened to the lower class men I ate with. And like a dam breaking, I felt that horrible weight in my chest. I grabbed a friend’s water bottle, trying to drown my crying before it could rise. I shook and shuddered and bit my lip and tried everything I could to stay steady. A few classmates sat with me and held my shoulders and told me Langomez was stupid. I admitted it was the first time I’d ever faced someone who so clearly hated me on the basis of my sexuality.

I couldn’t stand to stay there, so I left for the office with my backpack and told them I needed to go home. I’d already texted my dad. The principal saw me crying and asked if something had happened. Mrs. Langomez stood at the printer, half watching this. I told the principal I was fine and just needed to go.

I cried the whole way home. My mom called the principal and told her why I’d been so upset. I sent her an email later that night, explaining in better words than I’d be able to say, that it had been gut wrenching to sit somewhere I’d thought was safe, and be told in textbook language that I was a sinner and a perversion and incapable of love. I was promised an apology from Langomez that I never got.

It’s true that there are Catholics like Mrs. Khouzam. People who love unconditionally. But there are Langomez too. Hateful people. And they don’t all yell and scream. Sometimes they’re quiet and passive aggressive and pity you for being gay. And I couldn’t let that go. I was tired of the conflicting rhetoric. I was exhausted of grappling with god.

So senior year came. Langomez had moved to Japan with her husband in the military. My current teacher is a young woman who graduated from my high school in 2013. I don’t ever hide my sexuality. The whole school knows. We don’t talk about homosexuality in her class, because senior year theology is about vocations.

But I stopped taking communion. It felt horrible to cross my arms over my chest after so many years of cupping them in front of me. I nearly had an anxiety attack as I walked down the aisle. I imagined god striking me down then and there.

I only tell people I was raised catholic now. I once told my current theology teacher that my relationship with Catholicism felt like an abusive one. I was dragged up and down. I was shamed and ridiculed. I was dismissed and ignored. I don’t give a damn if not all Catholics are like that. I’m done having to take that gamble every time I meet one.

I’m not an atheist at least, which makes my mom happy. I believe in a Something. Maybe a polytheistic Something. I’ll figure it out when I’m somewhere I can learn it outside the context of catholic propaganda.

111 notes · View notes

wisdomrays · 5 years ago

Text

Chastity of Thoughts

QUESTION: Could you please elucidate the phrases “purity of ideas” or “chastity of thoughts” which you draw upon from time to time?

ANSWER: Thought and action are the two most important dynamics that show us the way to truly exist, help us stay as ourselves in the face of fierce storms, and help us change ourselves in the progressive sense. Although thought in its general meaning comes before actions, a certain thought with its intricate and detailed meanings develops within the very process of (putting it into) action. That is, a person can concentrate on a certain subject first, give much thought to it, and try to fathom it correctly. However, only after putting the issue into real life practice will one gain further insight into it, accept and accommodate themselves to it, and found it on a sound basis. This is because implementing what one has thought about will make one face some new situations which will, in turn, lead to deeper thoughts on the issue, and thus the general ideas at the beginning will rest upon unshakable grounds. So be it in a general context or a specific one with lots of details, the most important essential we need to pursue in all of our intentions and thoughts is “purity of ideas.” In this respect, we need to remain faithful to the purity of ideas, seeing it as part of our very character, and protect it under our wings against all odds.

Sound thoughts produce sound conduct

It is possible that some people may adopt negative opinion and attitudes toward us, but others’ wrong attitudes should never lead us to reflect back a similar sort of attitude. Wherever we stand with respect to our essential values, we need to stand our ground against all odds. Otherwise, once our thoughts and feelings begin to waver according to others’ attitudes and behaviors, the wavering will continue and eventually take us off the righteous course. What we need to do, however, is not even let others distract and keep us busy—let alone taking us off course—and try to keep away from every kind of influence that might serve as a provocative factor against our course and our stream of thought. We should know that the real purpose of provocations is to avert the volunteers devoted to high ideals from their path and make them change course, not with the purpose of achieving something else but for achieving this very end.

For this reason, representatives of sound thinking should never change in the face of the inconsistent and baseless claims made by others—of course with the exception of making legal claims by appealing and refuting in order to protect one’s reputation against defamation and using their lawful right to sue them for slander and other violation of rights—and always try to keep up their purity and innocence. We need to think straight at all the times so that the actions we are to build on those thoughts are right and straight. Otherwise, if we move away to one side with every storming wind, we might lose track, fall to other trails, becoming adrift in the end.

Those who think positively take delight in their lives

The Messenger of God, peace and blessings be upon him, once stated that a believer’s silence should be reflection (tafakkur) and his speaking should be wisdom.” Taking this radiant statement into consideration, we can say that thinking, imagining, and shooting for good things will be counted as worship for a believer. Even though busying ourselves with seemingly impossible thoughts normally means wasting our energy, if a person cherishes a wish to transform the color and pattern of the world into a more beautiful and vivid one, I think even the dreams and imaginings of that person will take on a hue of worship. Thus, what befalls on believers is to become oriented to such beautiful considerations and lead their lives accordingly. In one of the epigrams at the end of The Letters, Bediüzzaman states: “Those who attend to the good side of everything contemplate the good; those who contemplate the good enjoy life.” Therefore, someone’s turning his life into a delightful melody and spending his life as if he were walking through the corridors of Paradise depends on his thinking beautifully. However, one’s thoughts also could take people to negative ways, such as hedonism and bohemianism, unless he uses it in a positive way. Also, even imaginings and conceptions that are not channeled toward goodness can make one face such negativities. For this reason, believers must continuously be preoccupied with thoughts that take root in their values, overflow with them, continuously read and think, and feed on their essential sources without leaving any voids in their life. At the same time, they must give their willpower its due to such an extent that they always remain close to the feelings and thoughts that are not granted a visa by their pure conscience. If they are prone to negative winds in spite of all their efforts, they should—as advised by the Messenger of God—try to free themselves from that atmosphere immediately. Otherwise, a person who sets sail into dreams that might corrupt the purity of his mind sometimes may go too far and not have the opportunity to return to the shore (of safety). Therefore, if one does not control the feelings of grudge, hatred, vengeance, and lust, they might break down barriers and thereby cause them to take wrong decisions and commit evil acts. One must give their willpower its due on one hand and ask protection from God on the other. Those who can achieve this will lead their lives in a greenhouse of Divine protection. But still one should never forget that even the most upright people might topple over, and thus we must never give up our vigilance. When we stumble and lose our balance, we must turn to our Lord and ardently pray like our forefather Prophet Adam did: “Our Lord! We have wronged ourselves, and if You do not forgive us and do not have mercy on us, we will surely be among those who have lost” (al-A’raf 7:23) then straighten up, and turn toward Him again.

Desires and fancies in guise of ideas

Another point to raise in terms of chastity of thoughts is that there is always the possibility of desires and fancies masquerading as ideas to misguide a person. The touchstone to distinguish desires and fancies from true ideas is the religious criteria. For example, if you feel enraged when someone’s words and attitudes bother you, you first need to determine whether there is anything that goes against the Truth. If this is not the case, it means that you are getting angry in the name of your carnal self, which shows that the angered reaction stems from personal desires and fancies. The criterion to use in the face of evil as decreed in the Qur’an is to “repel evil with what is better (or best)” (Fussilat 41:34). Accordingly, if someone does evil to you, the primary response towards him or her must be a smiling face intended to defuse the intensity of their strong dislike and malice. But if the evil in question is directly related to sacred values or public interest, as an individual, we do not have the right to forgive his or her act; one can only forgive and show tolerance towards violations against his or her personal rights. God Almighty did not assign anybody as a substitute authorized to forgive violations of His rights. No one should dare make such claims, which are clearly disrespectful of God’s rights.

Getting back to our main subject, desires and fancies with no sound base sometimes present themselves in the guise of ideas and try to misguide people, in cooperation with the devil and our carnal soul. One might commit certain wrongs in consequence. You can clearly see this on some debate programs where people try to outwit one another. As if they are fixed on controversy, they always try to say the opposite of what the people before them say, not caring whether it is right or wrong. Let us suppose that one of the people with whom such a person argues says, “Now I am going to show you, by God’s grace and permission, a way directly leading to Paradise.” If the gates of Paradise miraculously and suddenly appear wide open before him and enable him to see the wonderful blessings beyond imagination, he will still say, “No, we do not want to enter Paradise. We are trying to win here, and you are trying to stop us and push us to inactivity.” That is, such a person will try to respond with demagogy even against the most plausible words and thoughts. Such words actually stem from one’s desires and fancies and are uttered under the influence of the devil. However, people mistake all of them as stemming from their own thoughts and ideas.

Sometimes, people from among believers can also fall for this trap of the devil and carnal soul. When you ask help from such a person, he might say that he needs to stay where he is so that he can guide many others, attempting to hide his desire for spending more time with his family and enjoying worldly life under the guise of altruism. However, a sincere believer burns with a desire for reunion with God, overflows with a desire for meeting the noble Prophet, and wishes to sit at the table of the Rightly Guided Caliphs and share their atmosphere. In spite of these feelings, a sincere believer watches his step and says: “My God, I do not know whether I served my time in this world or not. Therefore, I am afraid of committing disrespect towards You.” The conscience is a very important reference point here. For this reason, one must always judge the words one utters with his or her conscience and seek its righteous counseling at every choice and decision made. If someone can achieve this, he or she will be saved from confusing fancies with guidance and carnal desires with commonsense.

2 notes · View notes

liesonthefloordramatically · 6 years ago

Text

Annotations for “What the hell is a bodhisattva?”

Wow, can’t believe I’ve written more about Buddhism for this frickin’ JJBA fic than I have in seven years of graduate school in Japanese religion. Sometimes you want to make a joke that’s simultaneously so funny and so obscure that you have to write like 20k in order for people to understand it.

I’ve tried to write annotations only for things that aren’t explained sufficiently within the fic, otherwise we’d all be here for the rest of our lives. Feel free to ask about anything that isn’t annotated or if you have further questions about things that are!

(Link to the fic if you’ve somehow managed to accidentally stumble on this post.)

OVERALL:

The Buddha, the dharma, and the sangha - the Three Jewels, in which Buddhist practitioners are supposed to take refuge. They refer to the Buddha (probably self-explanatory), the teachings of the Buddha, and the community of Buddhist practitioners respectively. You may notice some parallels in chapter content.

CHAPTER ONE:

Jizō - a bodhisattva who is commonly depicted as the guardian of travelers and also the dead, especially dead children. There are a lot of statues of him on roadsides in Japan, as well as on temple grounds. Recurring motif in my SDC-related fics for hopefully obvious reasons.

Sōka Gakkai - a Buddhist new religious movement, (in)famous in the postwar period for their aggressive proselytization and conversion tactics.

Daikokuten - one of the seven gods of good fortune. Frequently enshrined as a household deity.

Inari - a Shinto deity commonly associated with foxes. It’s not uncommon for businesses (including family businesses) to have their own small Inari shrines.

sects of Buddhism - Buddhism in Japan is divided into sects (denominations of Christianity aren’t a bad comparison point)--the basic tenets are the same from sect to sect, but specific teachings, practices, or emphases may vary. Most families in Japan are affiliated (due to complex historical factors that aren’t worth getting into here) with a particular temple (which in turn belongs to a sect), so they rely on the temple priests for any rites they may need and may have a plot for the family grave in the temple graveyard. It is not uncommon for people to not know which sect they are affiliated with until a family member dies and they suddenly have to interact with the temple (see “funeral Buddhism”). Kakyoin’s family is Shingon, which is an esoteric sect known for their complicated cosmology and rituals. Jotaro’s family is Sōtō (he guessed wrong! Sorry, Jotaro!), a Zen sect that’s much more focused on gaining enlightenment through physical practices like meditation. (“Zen” isn’t a sect in Japan--it actually refers to a group of sects that have some major teachings in common. Buddhism: it’s complicated!) Sōtō is a much later import to Japan than Shingon, and was also scoffed at a bit by established sects for being more populist and accessible. Hopefully you see the joke here.

Senkōji - this sounds like a real temple name (there are temples called Senkōji), but is also a play on the fact that senkō is the Japanese word for incense and -ji is one of the endings for temples. Kakyoin: Oh, so your family belongs to Incense Temple? Jotaro: That sounds like it could be correct.

kōan - a story, dialogue, or question used to provoke doubt in Zen practitioners and test their progress toward enlightenment. You could think of them as Buddhist riddles if you want to be really reductive. (Yes, Kakyoin tests Jotaro’s knowledge of Buddhism by bringing up a thing used to test practitioners. I warned you that these jokes were niche.) Kōan are most commonly associated with the Rinzai sect in Japan, although other sects use them as well. One of the most famous kōan, which Kakyoin references here, involves a student asking a master if the dog has a buddha-nature (more commonly referred to as the mu kōan).

“funeral Buddhism” - in Japan, the main thing people go to Buddhist temples for these days is funeral services or other rites of remembrance (grave visits, rites marking the anniversaries of the deaths of family members, etc.), which has led to Buddhism being identified pretty closely with death and mourning. Thus, Buddhism in Japan is sometimes referred to as “funeral Buddhism,” although there’s a lot of debate among scholars about how helpful that term actually is. Jotaro only associating Buddhism with funerals and death and knowing nothing about doctrine or cosmology is not unusual.

honji suijaku - a complicated medieval Buddhist theory identifying native/non-Buddhist Japanese deities with Buddhist deities by arguing that the non-Buddhist deities were actually Buddhist deities that had taken alternate forms as expedient means (see explanation of that below). All of the combinations Kakyoin names are real combinations from the medieval period. Enma is the king of hell and the judge of the dead, so Kakyoin thinks it’s a little strange for Jizō to be identified with him, since Jizō is supposed to save the dead from hell. Jotaro was right--Amaterasu is a Shinto deity (the sun goddess, to be specific). Dainichi is a celestial buddha who plays an important role in Shingon. Honji suijaku is absolutely not common knowledge for most contemporary practitioners of Japanese Buddhism, so this is the point where Kakyoin starts really trolling Jotaro with his questions and showing off his weirdly specialized knowledge (not that Jotaro can tell).

Amida - a buddha known for his vow to save anyone who sincerely calls out to him for help (usually through the phrase “namu Amida butsu” which means “hail Amida buddha”). The True Pure Land sect, which Jotaro’s neighbor, Mrs. Watanabe, belongs to, emphasizes the concept of “other power,” i.e. relying on something outside of yourself (Amida, in this case) for salvation. Kakyoin’s scorn for Amida worship is hilarious and pretentious, since his opinions parallel those of established Buddhist groups (including Shingon) in the medieval period, who trash talked Pure Land Buddhism (focused on Amida worship) for being too populist and accessible. Are you sensing a theme here? Kakyoin is a Buddhist elitist with a lot of knowledge of medieval esoteric Buddhism specifically.

buddhas are(n’t) ghosts - Jotaro’s confusion comes from the fact that one way to refer to the spirits of the dead in Japanese is “buddhas” (仏; hotoke). Additionally, although the historical Buddha (Shakyamuni) is the most famous, different sects of Buddhism imagine different numbers of buddhas--ranging from one (the historical buddha and no one else) to incalculable numbers of buddhas who have existed, do exist, and are yet to come.

Kannon - all Kannon facts offered by Kakyoin and Avdol are true! Kannon really is the bodhisattva of compassion. Avalokitesvara (Kannon’s name in Sanskrit) is male (as all bodhisattvas are), but bodhisattvas are frequently depicted as androgynous. In China, Guanyin (Avalokitesvara’s name in Chinese) started being depicted not as androgynously feminine but as female, which has led to Guanyin being primarily depicted as female and Kannon as almost always depicted as female. Kakyoin’s interpretation of Kannon makes sense/is supportable, but is definitely uncommon (people tend to focus on the compassion bit rather than the historical/social circumstances), thus Avdol’s reaction. This is a common theme in Kakyoin’s Buddhism Opinions--he tends to latch on to historical/intellectual details rather than emotive/experiential ones.

expedient means - another complicated one, but basically the idea of using methods or techniques that fit the situation (rather than ones that are 100% “true” or “correct”) to gain enlightenment or guide others to enlightenment. You could think of it as interim measures to get people farther along the path, or maybe an “ends justify the means” mentality. Kakyoin is interpreting it as a sort of social flexibility, which is not an unheard of interpretation but definitely not the most common one. Kakyoin’s interpretation comes from a number of stories in which bodhisattvas transform into/disguise themselves as different people in order to guide humans farther along the path--by becoming an old woman in need of assistance, for example, who teaches someone Buddhist values, or by manifesting as a known, geographically-specific deity who can better spread the teachings of the Buddha to suspicious locals (see honji suijaku). In this fic, expedient means is leveraged in three ways: A. Kakyoin thinks of the way he engages with people as expedient means (becoming whatever he needs to be for the situation), B. you could technically count Kakyoin’s infodumping about Buddhism at Jotaro as expedient means (in the traditional sense of getting someone farther along the path) as he does manage to get him interested in learning more about Buddhism by doing it, and C. both Jotaro and Kakyoin are using Buddhism as expedient means (an interim measure) to get closer to each other. Wow, Queenie, glad to see that you’re using your graduate education for good and not evil.

CHAPTER TWO:

Wisdom Kings - a type of guardian of the dharma (see explanation below). Please imagine a post-credits scene in which Jotaro decides that Fudō Myōō is the best Wisdom King and Kakyoin is once more disappointed by how stereotypical his boyfriend is.

combinatory worship - practices that mix together what we now call “Shinto” practices and “Buddhist” practices. The two religious strains were less distinct pre-1871. See honji suijaku. Again, this is not common knowledge for contemporary practitioners of Japanese Buddhism; Kakyoin has very clearly done a lot of reading on pre-modern Buddhism.

Kasuga Shrine - a famous shrine complex in Nara known for combinatory worship in the ancient and medieval periods. It’s now a “pure” Shinto site, but did not used to be. Here’s one of the famous Kasuga mandala, in which Buddhist deities are depicted floating in the sky over the shrine grounds (see honji suijaku). Now mainly famous as a tourist destination in a park that is populated by wild deer (who are messengers of the god of Kasuga and thus are not allowed to be harmed). The deer are a giant pain, since they’re not scared of people and will eat anything.

Four Noble Truths - extremely simplified: 1. Existence is suffering. 2. Suffering is caused by attachment. 3. However, you can escape by severing attachment. 4. You do that via Buddhist practice. On one hand, it absolutely does not make sense to have a favorite of the Four Noble Truths (Kakyoin is trolling Jotaro real hard)--on the other hand, Kakyoin would absolutely have a favorite of the Four Noble Truths. His favorite is the third, if you need a refresher. (If you haven’t already figured it out, isolation and hope are the two big themes for Kakyoin’s Buddhism Opinions.)

a biography of the Buddha cannot save you - Buddhism has transformed so much in its spread throughout Asia that different traditions may look completely different--one of the most important sacred texts in East Asian Buddhism (The Lotus Sutra) is an apocryphal text that was probably written in China, for example, so it straight up doesn’t exist in Southeast Asian Buddhism. Trying to understand Japanese Buddhism by reading a biography of the Buddha would be like trying to understand American megachurches by reading a biography of Jesus.

the six realms of existence - all facts offered by both Jotaro and Kakyoin are true! The six realms are pretty self-explanatory, I think, other than the difference between the asuras (sometimes translated “demigods”) and the gods. Jotaro isn’t wrong that the main difference between them is often summarized as the asura fighting all the time and being really mad while the gods just chill out and have a great time. Being reborn as a human is often considered the best, because it’s the easiest realm to achieve enlightenment from, since you’re not being distracted by extreme suffering or what an orgiastically pleasant time you’re having. All of the realms are still ultimately part of samsara (the cycle of death and rebirth), though, so you want to get out of them altogether, since even if you wind up being born as a god, eventually you’ll die and be reborn in another realm. And, yes, knowing things about both Buddhism and the JJBA canon should make you feel fear in your heart. (JJBA feels intensely cyclical to me in general, and samsara is a cycle by definition.)

CHAPTER THREE:

Kakyoin - Kakyoin really was the name of a Shugendō temple (located in Sendai) that was destroyed during the religious reforms in the 1870s. Kakyoin the character is named after the neighborhood of Sendai, which is in turn named after the temple. I assume that, due to geographical proximity, Kakyoin’s family is affiliated with (and Kakyoin’s great-grandfather went to work at) Jōzenji, which in real life was also destroyed in the 1870s but still exists as of 1999 in the JJBA canon. Jōzenji, by the way, was a Shingon temple. Please imagine me writing this fic with a massive conspiracy board, because that’s absolutely what happened.

Shugendō - a syncretic ascetic tradition that grew out of a combination of Buddhism, Shinto, and beliefs surrounding mountains as sacred sites. It was suppressed by the Japanese government in the 1870s, as it “inappropriately” mixed Buddhism and Shinto and was seen as superstitious and backward. Many of its temples were either destroyed (as in the case of Kakyoin) or repurposed into “pure” Shinto or Buddhist sites. Kakyoin is correct that many Shugendō priests were given the option to become either Shinto or Buddhist priests or become lay people. Shugendō has been revived in the post-war period as a religion separate from both Buddhism and Shinto (although it shares beliefs and practices with both of them).

How could Kakyoin’s great-grandfather be a Buddhist priest but also have a family? - starting in the 1870s, Buddhist clergy were officially allowed to eat meat and consume alcohol, grow their hair out, and get married. (Some secretly--or not so secretly--had families before then, but it was technically illegal in all but one sect, although inconsistently persecuted.) As a result, the majority of Buddhist clergy in contemporary Japan are not celibate (although some are), and many temples are operated by priests from the same familial lineage. Shugendō has never had a celibacy requirement for its clergy.

guardian of the dharma (dharmapala) - a type of wrathful god that defends Buddhism from dangers. They’re highly venerated in both Shingon and Shugendō, thus Kakyoin’s familiarity with them growing up. Honestly? This wasn’t a great guess on Kakyoin’s part, since the most famous of the dharmapala in Japan looks like this. He was six at the time, though, so let’s not be too mean about it.

Kūkai (also known as Kōbō Daishi) - the founder of the Shingon sect of Buddhism in Japan. Naming in Buddhism is too complicated to get into here, but the second name is a posthumous honorific name. He’s associated with a variety of sacred sites, including one of the most popular pilgrimage routes in Japan--the eighty-eight temple pilgrimage in Shikoku. May or may not be pretty strong.

Buddhist robes - for your reference, here’s a portrait of Kūkai and here’s what a contemporary Shingon monk looks like. Jotaro is picturing a Sōtō monk, who looks more like this. Also here is a recent series of memes about Buddhist robes; this has nothing to do with the fic but they did make me laugh a lot.

Tenmei - this fic brought to you by me seeing Kakyoin Tenmei and shouting, “THAT SOUNDS LIKE THE NAME OF A BUDDHIST MONK; ARAKI, WHAT THE FRICK.” Most names in Japanese are read with the kun’yomi (the “Japanese” reading) whereas Buddhist names are read with the on’yomi (the “Chinese” reading, used for compound words)--“Noriaki” is the kun’yomi of 典明 whereas “Tenmei” is the on’yomi.

shichi-go-san - a coming-of-age ritual (performed at Shinto shrines) for children age three, boys age five, and girls age seven. The name is literally “seven-five-three.”

Maitreya - all facts offered by Kakyoin are true! Maitreya (called Miroku in Japanese, but Kakyoin is being pretentious and using the Sanskrit) is the buddha to come. We are currently in the last of the three ages, with each age being worse and more degenerate than the one before as the teachings of the Buddha become harder and harder to access, achieving enlightenment becomes increasingly impossible, and the world is visited by natural disasters. By the Japanese count, the last age started in 1052 CE! But the last age is supposed to go on for 10,000 years, so we’ve still got a while to go. Maitreya is thus a figure of both great fear (his coming will be heralded by the end of the world) and great hope (he’ll bring an end to the last age and usher in a new age of prosperity), so he felt like a fitting choice for Kakyoin (and a fitting way to close out the fic).

Agyō and Ungyō - guardians of Buddhism who appear in sets of two (together they’re called the Niō), usually protecting temple gates. Their names (literally “a-form” and “un-form”) come from the shapes of their mouths, one open (a) and one closed (un). Image here. Hopefully you see the joke here.

#DON'T LOOK AT THIS UNTIL THE FRICKIN' CHAPTER GOES UP I gotta post it so I can link; you know how it is #I know I said that last time and some of you looked early but I'm DEADLY SERIOUS #anyway this entire fic was written while laughing and then being like 'oh....nobody's gonna get this one either........'#parallelism palooza #Queenie actually says something on this blog #anyway I hope that somebody out there appreciates the amount of thought I put into Kakyoin's Weird Buddhism Opinions #I can explain more on literally any point for anyone who wants that but I'm trying not to...overexplain....even though that's my impulse #N asked me about Kakyoin and Kannon this weekend and got like a 30 minute lecture lksjdfowotuosgugous #ANYWAY. regularly scheduled reminder that if you're one of my students you CAN get extra credit from me

49 notes · View notes

dailyaudiobible · 5 years ago

Text

10/29/2019 DAB Transcript

Lamentations 1:1-2:22, Philemon 1:1-25, Psalms 101:1-8, Proverbs 26:20

Today is the 29th day of October. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I'm Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we continue our journey through this week and through, of course, the month and the year and the Bible. And we have come to a day where we are making some changes into some new territory, new books, new letters in both the Old and the New Testaments today. So, obviously, we begin with the Old Testament and we’ll be beginning the book of Lamentations today. So, we can see there's an arc, there’s kind of a flow that the Bible takes us through. And, so, we reach certain books like Job or Ecclesiastes and issues of the heart that we don't normally deal with are brought up and that's what the book of Lamentations does as we move into kind of mournful territory. Again, the idea of mourning or lamenting or regret or grief, you don't usually sign up for those things. They visit us all, but we don't usually get in line for them. But the Bible leads us into all of the territory that we will experience as human beings and that…that's where were headed and it comes at a good time. As we’re preparing to move into the final push of the year. It's important that we explore this territory.

Introduction to the book of Lamentations:

The book of Lamentations is actually composed of five poems and they’re poems of lament over the fall and the destruction of Jerusalem. And it's right here that we need to just pause for second and put ourselves in the right frame of mind. We can think of the ancient fall of the Roman Empire, the ancient fall of Jerusalem and go like, “that happened thousands of years ago. Like it doesn't really affect me.” And if we were to name any modern city like, you know, lamenting over the fall of Tokyo or lamenting over the fall of New York or the fall of London, I mean even saying that snaps us to attention because we can only imagine what that would…what that would do to the world and what that would be like. So, when Jerusalem fell at the time of the writing of Lamentations it would've been like any of the major cities that we just named or any of them around the world falling. So, we can try, at least, to appreciate the magnitude of the soul wrenching emotion that these poems are coming from. Jerusalem was lost and we've been…we've been reading the prophecies and the stories of that destruction, and the exile that came as a result of it. The temple of the Almighty God had been destroyed, right? Fire consumed the city, ash was thick in the air, blood was in the streets. In Hebrew, the book of Lamentations is called “eicha”, which means “how”, “how could this happen”. And we know…like…we know that it did happen. The Babylonians finally breached the wall of Jerusalem and subsequently destroyed the wall and the city, and there's plenty of archaeological evidence of this conquest that can be seen in Jerusalem even till today. How it could happen was…was largely the topic we were covering as we read through the prophecies of Jeremiah. We just concluded that yesterday. Jeremiah warned for decades of the impending doom that would befall God's people if they didn't turn from…from the trajectory that they were on. And now, here in Lamentations the prophecies have come true. This book doesn't…doesn't explicitly name its author. So, that makes things a little bit more difficult, but the traditions of the book was written by Jeremiah, which is one of the reasons why Lamentations follows Jeremiah in the Bible. But that…that's been up for debate among biblical scholars for centuries. And there's plenty of compelling theories that are in favor of Jeremiah being the author, but there's many compelling reasons why he couldn’t be the author. But there is a general consensus on one thing, whoever wrote Lamentations was probably an eyewitness to the destruction of the holy city. The Babylonians did conquer Jerusalem and they did utterly destroy Jerusalem in 586 BC. And, so, Lamentations was probably written shortly after that today. And today in the Hebrew culture, on the ninth day of Av, Lamentations is read on a day of fasting to commemorate the fall of Jerusalem and the reading of each of the poems is a backdrop for personal lamentation, personal reflection, personalizing the story in our lives. And like we said a little bit ago, nobody signs up for that. Lamenting isn’t an easy thing. Grief is hard but…but it has a way, right? It may never ever quite leave us, but it has a way of washing us clean. It whittles us down. It strips off all of the fluff until all that's left is what is true, what is bedrock, what is real. And even though it’s intensely painful it's also freeing. When we’ve gone into the depths of sadness and we’ve reached the bottom then there's hope there for the future. And lamenting helps us to not stuff things inside, and name them and give them voice. Lamenting helps give us a language for suffering and it gives us a language that acknowledges that things have changed and may never ever be the same again and that we have to let go of how it was or how we once were, and be renewed again, begin again. And we’ll find in this book of Lamentations that sort of language and we’ll find it in our own lives as we enter into the book of Lamentations. And, so, we begin. We’re reading from the Amplified Bible this week. Lamentations chapter 1 and 2.

Introduction to the letter to Philemon:

Okay. So, now we’re moving into our New Testament portion, obviously, and we’re entering into some new territory there as well and it's another personal letter from the apostle Paul, this one not a pastoral letter. This one, a personal letter to an individual person in a church. And this book or this letter or epistle is 25 verses long. So, we’ll be beginning and completing it in today's reading. And this is the final letter clearly attributed to the apostle Paul. And it probably accompanied the delivery of the letter to the Colossians, which was a congregation that Philemon was a leader in. So, our likely scenario is that Philemon was likely one of the more wealthy and influential people in the church in Colossae and according to the letter a congregation met in his home and he had a servant who was named Onesimus and this servant ran away, probably stealing from Philemon in the process, which would've been an offense punishable by death in those days. So, Onesimus probably fled to Rome with the idea of disappearing. At the same time Paul was in Rome under house arrest, awaiting trial, and in a strange twist of divine providence Onesimus came into contact with Paul and under Paul's instruction became a follower of Jesus, and after beginning to follow the Lord he served Paul's needs in Rome. So, you have Onesimus the slave being freed to move around to serve Paul and you have Paul, the Roman citizen who's been arrested for his religious convictions who is under arrest. So, sometime later Paul wrote a letter to the church in Colossae with the intention of sending Tychicus on the journey to hand deliver it, but in the process Paul also wrote a personal note that's been preserved to Philemon and sent Onesimus the runaway slave to accompany Tychicus back to his hometown and his…his master, which would've…which would've been a frighteningly large step of faith, one in which he was taking his life into his hands, but the influence of Paul in his life and watching him as he was imprisoned gave Onesimus the faith, the boldness, to leave his life in God's hands as Paul was doing and do the right thing. And this letter actually packs…packs a punch it. It shows the importance of forgiveness and shows us that no matter how much authority we have or how much power we have over someone if…if they’re a believer in Jesus then they’re a brother or a sister, part of the family of God and none of us, no matter how much we have or don't have deserve that. It's God's gift His love for us. And this little letter gives us a real-life example of how God does work things together for the good of those who love him. And, so, we begin, and we’ll read in its entirety the letter to Philemon.

Prayer:

Father we thank You for Your word and we thank You for bringing us into two new different territories in the New Testament today, but we also thank You for the closing reminder, that gossip keeps the fire burning in a bad way, in a consuming way, in a destructive way. And yet when that is removed, the fuel is taken from the fire and contention quiets down. And, so help us Father, not to be…not to be gossips, not to run around today saying things about people behind their back, even just in conversation. And help us Father, perhaps even more importantly to not be consumers of this kind of behavior, to not listen, to not participate in it, because it does no good. It gives us offenses to carry around that we don't have, and it blurs things and infects our relationships in a very negative way. So, come Holy Spirit into our words today we ask in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, and indeed where you can find out what's going on around here.

Check out the Initiatives, including the God of Your Story, a brand-new resource that has just been released that is of us and for the Daily Audio Bible and for the journey through the Bible in a year. So, check that out.

Check out the Community section in the website as well for the different links to different social media channels. And the Prayer Wall is in the Community section as well.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com also. There is a link and it lives on the homepage. So, thank you profoundly, humbly for your partnership. If you’re using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or, if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a Prayer Request or comment, you can press the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is a Leonora calling from the Florida Panhandle. Six years ago, I started listening to DAB. It was an awakening to God’s word like I’ve never had. It burst a closer and growing relationship with our Father. I am 35 years married to a man I love very dearly and have been unequally yoked to a nonbeliever. Five years ago, I called in asking for prayer that after my husband soon retired, I shall continue to have quiet time with our Lord and stay focused on my walk with him. Now, five years later I confess it has not been an easy path. The enemy has a field day with my husband, and I am constantly tested. I need your prayers for strength, for focus, and self-discipline. I have just retired from my nursing career and it seems even harder than ever now to stay focused and make time for our Father and I am ashamed of that. My husband is a good man, but he will not yield to a God he is so unsure of. Please Lord, give me the strength to live through You and in You and every word and deed so that I may show my husband your faithful love. May the scales drop from his eyes in Jesus’ name I pray. I love you all so very much. I listen, I cry with you and pray for you always. Thank you, dear family. This is Leonora calling from the Florida Panhandle. I love you.

I’m sitting here with a patient. I’m a psychiatrist and I’m just reaching out to the Daily Audio Bible family to pray for her suffering from depression and anxiety. It’s affecting her whole life and she’s really scared right now with the different logistical effects it’s having on her including finances and connection. So, please pray for her Daily Audio Bible family. I’m really grateful for you. Take care.

I stand at the patio door watching snow fall upon the deck, the lawn, and the bushes beyond. The lilac leaves hold the gathering flakes as cupped hands receiving a gift. No wind disturbs the downward journey. As the flakes collect upon the deck I think of a summer day when I walked in prayer during the Daily Audio Bible long walk cottonwoods cast their seeds into the air swirling in unseen eddies and gathering near buildings and curbs in great clubs resembling snowdrifts. My praise rises to our Creator. This snow may disappear within a few hours but for now a silent fall of white upon white speaks peace. Oh Lord Jesus my heart aches for those who feel no peace. I lift up my brothers and sisters for whom each day holds pain and anguish. I ask for Your provision for those seeking work and safe homes. I pray for restoration of relationships. I pray for children who have lost their way. I seek Your forgiveness for those who took the wealth of Your house and spent it on pleasure only to find themselves living among the pigs. I weep with those who mourn for loved ones, beloved pets, or the loss of a life they once knew. Show them the path to move forward. Send light on their darkness and comfort their pain. I rejoice with those who rejoice. I stand with many who wait in faith not yet seeing the result of their hope but trusting in You anyway. May Your blessing fall upon this ministry as generously as the snow. Keep us united in love across the oceans, rivers, and hills that separate us. Keep us united until all the world here’s Your word. Amen.

Hi Daily Audio Bible family this is Heather. I’ve been listening for about five years and I’ve always been too scared to call in, but I love to listen and pray with you my family all around the world. Brian, thank you for the work you do. It’s so wonderful and soothing to hear your voice and God’s word every day at the touch of a button and I love praying along with each and every one of you that calls in. And today I’m calling to ask for prayer for my family. My husband recently retired from the military and it’s been five months and it’s been hard to find a job. He’s had a few interviews and a few rejections and most of all he’s starting to lose hope. I’m not really sure of his salvation but my prayer is that not only would he find a job, but God would use this to really get a hold of his heart and show him where his true identity lies. Thank you so much for praying for our family. I love you.

Hello Daily Audio Bible my name is Melissa and I just want to clarify that our Lord is awesome and powerful and mighty and wonderful and He’s working in our lives even when we don’t know what He’s doing. Today is my birthday and I just talked with my birth father that I have never known for 50 years for the very first time. And this all came about because the Lord…I don’t know…He provided an illness in me I guess…He provided it but I had adrenal tumor and I had to go through many problems seeing doctors, psychiatrists, Prozac, and they found out…I said, “there’s something’s wrong”, God was speaking to me, He led me to see an endocrinologist and they removed my adrenal. So, I’ve been on steroids since April. So, just pray that my right adrenal will wake up. But in the meantime, I searched out my family birth history that I’ve never desired or wanted to do before, and I’ve already contacted my birth mother and my birth father, and it’s been amazing stories and an amazing 10 months. And I slip back, and I see how God has worked and He has used all this to bring about other people in my lives and to witness to them about how awesome He is and how He’s just worked in my life to do all this. I’m still struggling from how the effects of the adrenal mess with my system and the hormones but I’m working on it every day and with faith and trust in the Lord and you can do it too. Just love Him and just He’s amazing and awesome and I just pray for anybody who’s struggling, that you might not see what’s happening at the moment but you look back and I see how he’s been working His hand on me the whole time and He was there and I thank you Jesus for that. So, always keep Him in mind and look up.

Hello Daily Audio Bible family this is Amari. I’m asking for prayer for my marriage. Been in my marriage for almost 30 years. Last 10 or 15 the been really really rough on me. We’ve come back from infidelity on his behalf and we’ve been trying our best to come back from that. Our marriage…our intimate relationship is just zero. We’re the best of friends and we’re good parents and we take care of business. We just don’t have an intimate relationship. And I admit that during…out of this conflict that I even had an affair because I was trying to fill a void that I wasn’t getting for my husband. But I knew it was wrong, so I broke it off because I was trying to be what God wanted me to be. But still things haven’t changed and now I’m at a crossroads where I’m ready to give up because I want to be loved and I want to be cared for and I want to be happy. Just want the hundred percent of our marriage and not just bits and pieces. So, pray my strength and pray that God would repair our marriage because I want it from my husband…no one else. And I’ll continue to pray for you all and I thank you, Brian for this platform. God bless all of you all and continue to pray for me and thank you in advance for the prayers and God blessing me and my marriage.

1 note · View note

gracewithducks · 5 years ago

Text

Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38-42; preached 7/21/19)

I’ve heard plenty of couples bragging about who “wears the pants” in the family… but I’m much more interested in knowing who does the dishes.

I still remember, when I was younger, helping my mom put away another kitchen full of dishes, and I said, “Mom, when I grow up, I want to be a dad – because dads never have to do the dishes.” I was only half-joking. And I know every family is different, and truly, my dad was amazing – he was kind and funny and affectionate and compassionate, and some of my favorite memories are of being curled up next to dad to hear the next chapter of the “Superfudge” book.

My dad was great. But he never did the dishes. And over the years, all that time spent in the kitchen washing and drying and putting away and doing it all over again – all those years of dishwashing can take their toll.

My mom is one of the strongest people I know – but she’s also a peacemaker, someone who avoids conflict at all cost. And she’s a giver, the kind of person who will give and give and give until she’s got nothing left… which means there were plenty of nights of sullen dish washing and slamming cupboard doors, with the hope that someone would finally take the hint and come in to help.

There are few things in life as frustrating as being the Martha in the story – being unappreciated, doing all the most important work, behind the scenes, without so much as a nod or a word of thanks. I’ve known plenty of Marthas – I’ve even sometimes been Martha myself, spending hours of cutting vegetables and stirring sauces and setting tables and soaking pans and slamming cupboard doors, and just when you finally get to sit at the table with everyone else, another timer goes off, or a kid needs help in the bathroom, or someone asks for another drink, or the biscuits start to burn…

And you just keep waiting for someone to notice that you’re falling apart, that you’d like a chance to catch your breath and enjoy your company, too. It’s so heartbreaking to be Martha, quietly soldiering on; yes, you’re strong and you’re capable, but you’d still love for someone to look you in the eyes and say, “I’ll get it” or “How can I help?”

Instead they say, “Isn’t this fun?” And, “Why don’t you stop worrying? Just sit down and enjoy the party!” But they don’t realize that, without your constant work, everything will come crashing down, and there won’t be any party at all.

Martha gets the short straw again in this story, every time we turn her into the villain, the crazy distracted hysterical woman, while her sister, the calm strong smart one, makes the better choice. But I can relate with Martha. I get Martha. And I’m right there with her when she snaps – when this poor long-suffering woman finally blows her lid.

“Don’t you care?” she asks Jesus. “Don’t you even care that I have to do everything myself? This food doesn’t prepare itself. The table didn’t set itself. The meal doesn’t serve itself. Tell my sister to help me. She will listen to you.”

Martha’s bitterness and resentment have simmered for too long; they finally boil over. And then Jesus weighs in – and he does scold a sister, but it’s not Mary, not Mary whose lazy butt has been sitting at the table while Martha does all the heavy lifting. No, Jesus shakes his head, and he says, “Martha, Martha. Your sister has chosen the better part.”

And don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of Jesus. But who in their right mind thinks that it’s a good idea, when someone is distraught, angry, bitter, upset – who thinks it’s a good idea to wade right into those messy family dynamics and make it worse? Jesus decides to bring some sibling rivalry into this: “Martha, you’re great, and the food is amazing, but why can’t you just be more like your sister?” Because that always helps soothe hurt feelings and end a fight.

This story frustrates me. It always has. Sure, maybe we’d all love to just sit around gazing into heaven and thinking about Jesus all day long – but in the real world, there’s work to do and bills to pay. Does Jesus really mean that the world would be better if we all just let the dirty dishes keep piling up forever?

I don’t think so. For one thing, it helps to remember where this encounter with Mary and Martha falls in Luke’s Gospel. Looking back, the last thing that happens – the last thing we hear about before Jesus visits the sisters’ home – the last thing that happened was that a lawyer stood up to test Jesus, and said, “What must I do to gain eternal life?” And when the answer – love God and love your neighbor – isn’t enough, he asks, “But who is my neighbor?” And Jesus tells the story of a man who is attacked and left for dead by the side of the road.

Right before Jesus ate with Mary and Martha, he told the story of the Good Samaritan: the story of a man in need, who is ignored by religious leaders caught up in their holy concerns, but who is helped by an outsider who’s willing to do what needs to be done. Jesus has just finished teaching the crowds that thinking good thoughts isn’t enough, not if we never do anything about it. The Samaritan doesn’t stop by the roadside to offer a theological response to the problem of suffering and evil; the Samaritan doesn’t stop to spend time praying Psalms of Lament, or to preach a sermon to this dying man about how good it is that God shares and joins with us in our suffering. No, the Samaritan helps. The hero of the story goes into Martha mode. The Samaritan wins Jesus’ praise by actually doing something.

So maybe what we need is to hold both stories together. And maybe the story of Mary and Martha isn’t about which sister is best; maybe it’s not a competition at all.

Let’s just stop for a moment and recognize the fact that this is a story about two women – their famous brother, the one Jesus raises from the dead, isn’t even mentioned. This isn’t a story about how Jesus went to visit Lazarus, and the sisters of Lazarus just happened to be there. No, this is a story about two women. This is a story about two women with names, two independent women, two women who aren’t just stage dressing or bit players, but two women who are people in their own right.

When Jesus reaches the village, we are told that Martha “opens her home to him.” Let’s not gloss over the fact that Jesus is a guest in Martha’s home. It’s pretty much unheard of for a woman to have her own home, to be the head of her own household, but here is Martha: no backstory, no explanation, no apologies – just an independent woman who serves as the gracious host to a very important guest in her own home.

This isn’t a story about a sister who’s in the background doing “women’s work” – but this is the story of a woman who breaks the rules and breaks the mold, a woman who is, against all odds, running a household all by herself – and succeeding, welcoming an honored guest to her own well-appointed table.

And then there’s her sister, Mary. Mary does the unthinkable by taking a seat at Jesus’ feet. Sitting at the feet of a rabbi was a sign of discipleship, a place of honor and learning – it was a place reserved for men, a place where women absolutely are not allowed to be. But Mary does it anyway. She breaks the rules, she defies expectations, and she takes her place as a disciple learning at Jesus’ feet.

These are two women who break every stereotype and defy every limitation society places on their work, their roles, their lives. These are two women who are, in their own different ways, breaking the rules – Martha by running her own home, and Mary, by taking the disciple’s seat.

And when Martha, distracted and distressed by her own work, tells Jesus to order her sister to help her – Jesus refuses to send Mary away.

And maybe that’s what this story is really about.[1] It’s not about whose work is better – because both sisters are offering hospitality, by serving their guest and also by sitting and listening to what he has to say.[2]

There have been plenty of times when I could relate to Martha; the work she does is absolutely important, no matter how little she’s thanked or how much it’s taken for granted. The work she does is a labor of love. Martha’s problem isn’t what she’s doing, but what what she’s doing is doing to her. She’s overworked, exhausted, angry and bitter – this word Luke uses, “distracted,” it literally means Martha is being pulled in different directions, being pulled apart… until she feels like she’s coming apart herself, she doesn’t know which way to turn, and she can’t even catch her breath.[3] She’s worried and upset about so many things that she’s lost sight of the big picture; she’s forgotten what it’s all about. She needs to remember why she’s doing it all, and who she’s doing it for: for the love of the guest at her table, to honor this divine presence in her midst. Martha works to show her love for the one who loved her first and loves her still.

We can easily get lost in the debate of whether service or study is better, but really, we need both. We remember the lesson of the Samaritan: without works, all our pious words and holy posturing are nothing. But at the same time, if we never return to sit at the feet of the one who loves us, no matter what we’ve done or failed to do – without returning to the well that fills our own cups, without first putting on our own oxygen masks, we will soon find ourselves running dry, pulled apart, struggling to breathe, and unable to truly show love by helping anyone else at all.

We need to follow the example of both Mary and of Martha. And I say again, at its heart, this isn’t a story about whose way is better – but this is a story about who is welcome, about who is welcome in the household of God, and who is welcome at the table of Christ.

The rules say the Martha shouldn’t be in charge, but she is. The rules say Mary shouldn’t sit with the disciples, but she does. And even when she’s criticized, Jesus refuses to send her away. It’s easy to compare ourselves to each other, to criticize each other; families are hard, and the family of God is no different – and we can easily work to undermine each other, to resent each other and tear one another down. But Jesus welcomes us all. Jesus welcomes us, and reminds us that we all have a role to play – and we all are called both to study and to serve, to love God and to love our neighbors in turn. Martha and Mary, work and worship, study and service, love for God and love for people – they’re just two sides of the same coin, as inherently linked as breathing out and then breathing in, then out and in all over again.

Jesus welcomes us all to come and learn, to become his disciples and learn at his feet. And no matter what others may have to say, in the end, Jesus refuses to send anyone away.

It’s a message we need to hear, again and again. Especially in these days, when we are so divided, when people in power afraid of losing their power use their power to make us fear each other, criticize and undermine each other as we are driven farther and farther apart – when racism walks around boldfaced, wrapped up in religious language – when we are told that some are more equal, and some are more welcome than others – in these days, we desperately need to be reminded that ALL are welcome at the table of Christ. It’s a table we ourselves have a place at, not because of who we are, what we look like, what we’ve done or where we were born – but a table where we find ourselves by God’s grace alone. And it’s a table where we keep discovering, keep being reminded, that there is room and grace enough for us all.

In our baptism, in our confirmation, every time we welcome a new member or reaffirm our own baptism, we are asked a question: “Do you confess Jesus Christ as your savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the Church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?”

And it’s a question we need to keep before us: will we keep our whole trust, not in our busy-ness, but in God’s grace? Will we sit together at the big, messy, beautiful table of Christ? Will we serve our neighbors, without first stopping to check that they are worthy? Will we love one another, with the same generous and gracious spirit of our rabbi, who defies the rules and refuses to send anyone away?

The world needs us to be Martha and Mary: to offer hospitality and compassion, to work with dedication and persistence – and to return to the well of grace, to drink deeply from the teachings and the example of our Lord and our Savior – and then to return to the world, to offer hospitality and compassion all over again.

May we be Mary. May we be Martha. And may we live as those who really do believe that there is room at the table for us all.

God, we thank you for inviting us to your table. We thank you for allowing us to sit at your feet, to be called your disciples, to learn your ways. And we thank you for sending us to serve, humbly and patiently, to love others the same way you have loved us. Help us to be faithful, always, to your grace. In Christ’s name we pray; amen.

[1] I am grateful for Karoline Lewis’ reflections on this scripture, especially this question, which resonated and shaped the resulting message: “In other words, what if this story has nothing to do with who is better and everything to do with who matters?” (No Comparison by Karoline Lewis, 7/10/2016. http://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=4686)

[2] Martha “has missed out on the ‘one thing needed’ for true hospitality. There is no greater hospitality than listening to your guest.” (Elisabeth Johnson, Commentary on Luke 10:38-42, 2013. http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1723)

[3] D. Mark Davis’ reflections also shaped this week’s message. Davis digs into the original Greek and offers these notes: “For περισπάω , the prefix περι (“peri”) means around; the stem σπάω (“spao”) means to break, according to one modern dictionary. It is the stem for the English words ‘spasm’ and ‘spastic,’ which may be suggestive here… The emphasis would not be on the industry or Martha’s work itself, but on how it has discombobulated her.” Davis also writes, “[Martha] really is panicking about many things. Jesus does not say that she is irrational or wrong-headed. He merely says that he will not stop Mary from sitting and hearing.” (Martha’s Anxiety: Struggling alone against many things by D. Mark Davis, 7/11/2016. http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2013/07/marthas-anxiety-struggling-alone.html)

1 note · View note