#Transcendental logic

[geopolicraticus]

The Dimensions of Transcendental Logic

The Problem of Formalization.—The bulk of the problem of logic is not the process of deduction, but the formalization of the problem that precedes deduction. It is how the problem is set up for deduction rather than the deduction itself in which the art of logic lies. And here we must take the “art” of logic seriously, for that part of logic not yet reduced to mechanical derivation remains an art and not a science and cannot be mechanized in the manner of fully formalized proof procedures. How exactly we shoehorn ordinary thought into the strictures of logic so that anything at all can be derived is the real problem of logic, and this is the problem of formalization. This problem of formalization has many dimensions, all of which bear upon the result, but each of which can be taken up separately. How we break down the problem of formalization into discrete parts is itself a part of logic, or, rather, transcendental logic. Ancient axiomatics distinguished between axioms and postulates: axioms are common to all the sciences, while postulates were specific to a particular body of knowledge. We could still break down formalization in this way, but the distinction between axioms and postulates is now regarded as archaic. While the distinction remains valid, it passes over in silence specifying the choice of logic employed in derivation, unless we consider this a tacit function of the axioms. Twentieth century axiomatics distinguished between formation rules and transformation rules: formation rules govern what can be a well-formed formula (WFF), while transformation rules govern transforming one WFF into another WFF. This conceptualization has the virtue of making reasoning (transformation) explicit, but it does not explicitly thematize the elements that may be employed in a WFF (what we could call the ontology of a calculus), which is taken for granted, as the ancient conception took the univocity of reasoning for granted.   

[blueheartbooks]

Delving into Kantian Philosophy: A Review of "The Critique of Pure Reason" by Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant's "The Critique of Pure Reason" stands as one of the most influential and enduring works in the history of philosophy, reshaping the landscape of metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Published in 1781, this monumental treatise seeks to provide a comprehensive account of the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge, offering profound insights into the nature of reality, the structure of the mind, and the conditions of possibility for knowledge.

At the heart of "The Critique of Pure Reason" is Kant's revolutionary concept of transcendental idealism, which posits that the mind plays an active role in shaping our experience of the world. Kant argues that the mind imposes certain fundamental concepts and categories—such as space, time, and causality—on our sensory perceptions, organizing them into a coherent and intelligible framework. Through his rigorous analysis, Kant seeks to uncover the a priori conditions that make experience possible, shedding light on the fundamental structures of human cognition.

One of the key themes of "The Critique of Pure Reason" is Kant's distinction between phenomena and noumena, or appearances and things-in-themselves. Kant argues that while we can only know phenomena as they appear to us through the filter of our cognitive faculties, there exists a realm of noumena that lies beyond the reach of human knowledge. This distinction has profound implications for Kant's philosophy, shaping his views on the limits of human understanding and the nature of metaphysical inquiry.

Moreover, "The Critique of Pure Reason" is notable for its meticulous analysis of the nature of space, time, and causality, which Kant identifies as the fundamental categories of human thought. Kant argues that these categories are not derived from experience, but rather constitute the necessary framework through which we interpret our sensory perceptions. By elucidating the synthetic a priori nature of these categories, Kant lays the groundwork for his transcendental idealism and challenges traditional empiricist and rationalist accounts of knowledge.

In addition to its groundbreaking philosophical insights, "The Critique of Pure Reason" is also celebrated for its rigorous methodology and systematic approach to philosophical inquiry. Kant's meticulous argumentation, intricate terminology, and careful exposition of concepts make "The Critique of Pure Reason" a challenging but rewarding read for scholars and philosophers alike. Kant's influence extends far beyond the boundaries of philosophy, shaping the development of disciplines such as psychology, physics, and linguistics, and leaving an indelible mark on the intellectual landscape of the modern world.

In conclusion, "The Critique of Pure Reason" by Immanuel Kant is a towering achievement in the history of philosophy, offering profound insights into the nature of human knowledge, the structure of the mind, and the limits of metaphysical inquiry. Kant's rigorous analysis, groundbreaking concepts, and systematic approach to philosophical inquiry make "The Critique of Pure Reason" a timeless classic that continues to inspire and challenge readers with its depth, complexity, and intellectual rigor.

Immanuel Kant's "The Critique of Pure Reason" is available in Amazon in paperback 24.99$ and hardcover 31.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 516

Language: English

Rating: 10/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

[blueheartbookclub]

Delving into Kantian Philosophy: A Review of "The Critique of Pure Reason" by Immanuel Kant

Immanuel Kant's "The Critique of Pure Reason" stands as one of the most influential and enduring works in the history of philosophy, reshaping the landscape of metaphysics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. Published in 1781, this monumental treatise seeks to provide a comprehensive account of the nature, scope, and limits of human knowledge, offering profound insights into the nature of reality, the structure of the mind, and the conditions of possibility for knowledge.

At the heart of "The Critique of Pure Reason" is Kant's revolutionary concept of transcendental idealism, which posits that the mind plays an active role in shaping our experience of the world. Kant argues that the mind imposes certain fundamental concepts and categories—such as space, time, and causality—on our sensory perceptions, organizing them into a coherent and intelligible framework. Through his rigorous analysis, Kant seeks to uncover the a priori conditions that make experience possible, shedding light on the fundamental structures of human cognition.

One of the key themes of "The Critique of Pure Reason" is Kant's distinction between phenomena and noumena, or appearances and things-in-themselves. Kant argues that while we can only know phenomena as they appear to us through the filter of our cognitive faculties, there exists a realm of noumena that lies beyond the reach of human knowledge. This distinction has profound implications for Kant's philosophy, shaping his views on the limits of human understanding and the nature of metaphysical inquiry.

Moreover, "The Critique of Pure Reason" is notable for its meticulous analysis of the nature of space, time, and causality, which Kant identifies as the fundamental categories of human thought. Kant argues that these categories are not derived from experience, but rather constitute the necessary framework through which we interpret our sensory perceptions. By elucidating the synthetic a priori nature of these categories, Kant lays the groundwork for his transcendental idealism and challenges traditional empiricist and rationalist accounts of knowledge.

In addition to its groundbreaking philosophical insights, "The Critique of Pure Reason" is also celebrated for its rigorous methodology and systematic approach to philosophical inquiry. Kant's meticulous argumentation, intricate terminology, and careful exposition of concepts make "The Critique of Pure Reason" a challenging but rewarding read for scholars and philosophers alike. Kant's influence extends far beyond the boundaries of philosophy, shaping the development of disciplines such as psychology, physics, and linguistics, and leaving an indelible mark on the intellectual landscape of the modern world.

In conclusion, "The Critique of Pure Reason" by Immanuel Kant is a towering achievement in the history of philosophy, offering profound insights into the nature of human knowledge, the structure of the mind, and the limits of metaphysical inquiry. Kant's rigorous analysis, groundbreaking concepts, and systematic approach to philosophical inquiry make "The Critique of Pure Reason" a timeless classic that continues to inspire and challenge readers with its depth, complexity, and intellectual rigor.

Immanuel Kant's "The Critique of Pure Reason" is available in Amazon in paperback 24.99$ and hardcover 31.99$ editions.

Number of pages: 516

Language: English

Rating: 10/10                                           

Link of the book!

Review By: King's Cat

[lonesomedotmp3]

love philosophy when it's just shooting the shit about some random crap nobody cares about. when it borders on the scientific? the mathematic? let's all kill ourselves.

[finisnihil]

I'm thinking about Sunday again and how we're shown that Robin is his weak spot over and over and really he probably wouldn't have slipped up if not for the people trying to exploit her death.

In 2.0 we see them hanging out together and the like but we don't see them interact much, Robin very obviously cares for Sunday but Sunday maintains a quiet atmosphere and professional facade and as such one could wonder how much he actually cares about her as his sister.

But then at the end of the quest we see the cracks start to show a bit. Sparkle pretends to be Robin and Sunday becomes enraged. Until then he's pretty subdued in his behavior in the aftermath, but the mockery of his sister's death is too great a slight and when Sparkle offers to pretend to be Robin so nobody gets suspicious, Sunday tells her to stuff it and go away which she does. It's a really telling scene that when Robin is involved his careful mask cracks down the middle and he begins to not think clearly or strategically because later in 2.1 it's noted he went back to accept the offer.

Aventurine notes that Robin's death is an entry point for the IPC to exploit but not for the overall Family, just for Sunday. Sunday is reeling to find control with the other heads pressuring him and the IPC closing in like a pack of hungry vultures. Sunday was always alone except for Robin and they're both pretty aware of the corruption as Sunday is desperately trying to root out the traitor while Robin left and is helping him research Death. Aventurine knows this and he knows Sunday is off balance and prone to overlooking things in his rage and grief that's potent in everything he does after 2.0's quest. Sunday went to Ratio for informatiom because he understands Aventurine's a threat needing to be taken seriously and he needs to handle him quickly and efficiently and that makes him sloppy enough to get duped by the Jade cornerstone.

When Welt and Acheron investigate his office they find all the letters and lists and investigations into the problem but they also find a beloved lightcone of a young Sunday watching his sister preform on a toy stage. Robin is noted as finding this preformance her favorite and most cherished one. Is Sunday clapping to applaud her or is he keeping time for her? Sunday keeps things running himself so she can free to persue her dreams. He does care about Robin, they really only have each other.

Finally... Gallagher. You really see the persona Sunday puts on finally shatter all at once. This is the man who murdered his sister and who's caused him so much trouble and stress. Nobody's around to fool, nobody's around to witness, and you finally see all his pent up rage and grief spill out. That's his mistake, he's so distracted letting out his bottled up feelings Gallagher's able to get him before he can even react.

Small side analysis, Robin's name and signature song come from the Emily Dickinson poem of the same name. She's an American Poet who mostly wrote works of Romanticism and Transcendentalism. We haven't see much of Robin but she seems to match Romantacism, a literary movement that focused on emotion and individualism with no regard for logic. Sunday seems to match Transcendentalism, a literary movement that focused on the relationship between humanity, the divine, and nature with little regard for science. The three aspects of Transcendentalism also match Xipe's motif of threes, like their three heads.

[talonabraxas]

“Like all magical mysteries, the secrets of the Great Work have a triple meaning: they are religious, philosophical and natural. Philosophical gold in religion is the Absolute and Supreme Reason; in philosophy, it is truth; in visible nature, it is the sun: in the subterranean and mineral world, it is the purest and most perfect gold. Hence the search after the Great Work is called the Search for the Absolute, and this work itself is termed the operation of the sun.” ― Éliphas Lévi, Transcendental Magic: Its Doctrine and Ritual

Eye in the Triangle Dale Keogh

Eliphas Levi: The Triangle of Solomon

The perfect word is the triad, because it supposes an intelligent principle, a speaking principle and a principle spoken. The Absolute, revealed by speech, endows this speech with a sense equivalent to itself, and in the understanding thereof creates its third self. So also the sun manifests by its light and proves or makes his manifestation efficacious by heat.

The triad is delineated in space by the heavenly zenith, the infinite height, connected with East and West by two straight diverging lines. With this visible triangle reason compares another which is invisible, but is assumed to be equal in dimension; the abyss is its apex and its reversed base is parallel to the horizontal line stretching from East to West. These two triangles, combined in a single figure, which is the six-pointed star, form the sacred symbol of Solomon’s Seal, the resplendent Star of the Macrocosm. The notion of the Infinite and the Absolute is expressed by this sign, which is the grand pantacle – that is to say, the most simple and complete abridgement of the science of all things.

Grammar itself attributes three persons to the verb. The first is that which speaks, the second that which is spoken to, and the third the object. In creating, the Infinite Prince speaks to Himself of Himself. Such is the explanation of the triad and the origin of the dogma of Trinity. The magical dogma is also one in three and three in one. That which is above is like or equal to that which is below. Thus, two things which resemble one another and the word which signifies their resemblance make three. The triad is the universal dogma. In Magic – principle, realization, adaptation; in Alchemy – azoth, incorporation, transmutation; in theology – God, incarnation, redemption; in the human soul – thought, love and action.

There are three intelligible worlds which correspond one with another by hierarchic analogy; the natural or physical, the spiritual or metaphysical, and the divine or religious worlds. From this principle follows the hierarchy of spirits, divided into three orders, and again subdivided by the triad in each of these.

All these revelations are logical deductions from the first mathematical notions of being and number. Unity must multiply itself in order to become active. An indivisible, motionless and sterile principle would be unity dead and incomprehensible. Were God only one He would never be Creator or Father. Were He two there would be antagonism or division in the infinite, which would mean the division also or death of all possible things. He is therefore three for the creation by Himself and in His image of the infinite multitude of beings and numbers. So is He truly one in Himself and triple in our conception, which also leads us to behold Him as triple in Himself and one in our intelligence. This is a mystery for the faithful and a logical necessity for the initiate into absolute and real sciences.

The Word manifested by life is realization or incarnation. The life of the Word accomplishing its cyclic movement is adaptation, or redemption. This triple dogma was known in all sanctuaries illuminated by the tradition of the Sages.

The primeval Sages, when seeking the First of Causes, behold good and evil in the world. They considered shadow and light; they compared winter with spring, age with youth, life with death, and their conclusion was this: The First Cause is beneficent and severe; It gives and takes away life. Then are there two contrary principles, the one good and the other evil, exclaimed the disciples of Manes. No, the two principles of universal equilibrium are not contrary, although contrasted in appearance, for a singular wisdom opposes one to another. Good is on the right, evil on the left; but the supreme excellence is above both, applying evil to the victory of good and good to the amendment of evil.

The principle of harmony is in unity, and it is this which imparts such power to the uneven number in Magic. Now, the most perfect of the odd numbers is three, because it is the trilogy of unity. In the trigrams of Fohi, the superior triad is composed of three YANG, or masculine figures, because nothing passive can be admitted into the idea of God, considered as the principle of production in the three worlds. For the same reason, the Christian Trinity by no means permits the personification of the mother, who is shown forth implicitly in that of the Son. Hence, in the trigrams of Fohi, the three inferior YIN correspond to the three superior YANG, for these trigrams constitute a pantacle like that of the two triangles of Solomon, but with a triadic interpretation of the six points of the blazing star.

Dogma is only divine inasmuch as it is truly human – that is to say, in so far as it sums up the highest reason of humanity. So also the Master, Whom we term the Man-God, called Himself the Son of Man. Revelation is the expression of belief accepted and formulated by universal reason in the human word, on which account it is said that the divinity is human and the humanity divine in the Man-God. Paracelsus and Agrippa did not set up altar against altar but bowed to the ruling religion of their time: to the elect of science, the things of science; to the faithful, the things of faith.

In his hymn to the royal Sun, the Emperor Julian gives a theory of the triad which is almost identical with that of the illuminated Swedenborg. The sun of the divine world is the infinite, spiritual and uncreated light, which is verbalized, so to speak, in the philosophical world, and becomes the fountain of souls and of truth: then it incorporates and becomes visible light in the sun of the third world, the central sun of our suns, of which the fixed stars are the ever-living sparks. The Kabalists compare the spirit to a substance which remains fluid in the divine medium and under the influence of the essential light, its exterior, however, becoming solidified, like wax when exposed to air, in the colder realm of reasoning or of visible forms. These shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, and the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes. In the book Zohar, and in that of the Revolution of Souls, perverse spirits or evil demons are never called otherwise than shells – cortices. The cortices of the world or spirits are transparent, while those of the material world are opaque. Bodies are only temporary shells, whence souls have to be liberated; but those who in this life obey the flesh build up an interior body or fluidic shell, which, after death, becomes their prison-house and torment, until the time arrives when they succeed in dissolving it in the warmth of the divine light, towards which, however, the burden of their grossness hinders them from ascending. Indeed, they can do so only after infinite struggles, and by the mediation of the just, who stretch forth their hands towards them. During the whole period of the process they are devoured by the interior activity of the captive spirit, as in a burning furnace. Those who attain the pyre of expiation burn themselves thereon, like Hercules upon Mount Oetna, and so are delivered from their sufferings; but the courage of the majority fails before this ordeal, which seems to them a second death more appalling than the first, and so they remain in hell, which is rightly and actually eternal; but souls are never precipitated, nor even retained despite themselves therein.

The three worlds correspond together by means of the thirty-two paths of light, which are as steps of a sacred ladder. Every true thought corresponds to a Divine Grace in heaven and a good work on earth; every Grace of God manifests a truth, and produces one or many acts; reciprocally, every act affects a truth of falsehood in the heavens, a grace or a punishment. When a man pronounces the Tetragram – say the Kabalists – the nine celestial realms sustain a shock, and then all spirits cry out one upon another: ‘Who is it thus disturbing the kingdom of heaven?’ Then does the earth communicate unto the first sphere the sins of that rash being who takes the Eternal Name in vain, and the accusing word is transmitted from circle to circle, from star to star, and from hierarchy to hierarchy.

Every utterance possesses three senses, every act has a triple range, every form a triple idea, for the Absolute corresponds from world to world by its forms. Every determination of human will modifies Nature, concerns philosophy and is written in heaven. There are consequently two fatalities, one resulting from the Uncreated Will in harmony with its proper wisdom, the other from created wills in accordance with the necessity of secondary causes in their correspondence with the First Cause. There is hence nothing indifferent in life, and our seeming most simple resolutions do often determine an incalculable series of benefits or evils, above all in the affinities of our DIAPHANE with the Great Magical Agent, as we shall explain elsewhere.

The triad, being the fundamental principle of the whole Kabalah, or Sacred Tradition of our fathers, was necessarily the fundamental dogma of Christianity, the apparent dualism of which it explains by the intervention of a harmonious and all-powerful unity. So is the Apocalypse the book of the Gnosis or Secret Doctrine of the first Christians.

‘The sacred word MALKUTH substituted for KETHER, which is its kabalistic correspondent, and the equipoise of GEBURAH and CHESED, repeating itself in the circles of heavens called eons by the Gnostics, provided the keystone of the whole Christian Temple in the occult versicle.

MALKUTH, based upon GEBURAH and CHESED, is the Temple of Solomon having JAKIN and BOAZ for its Pillars; it is Adamite dogma, founded, for the one part on the resignation of Abel and, for the other, on the labours and self reproach of Cain; it is the equilibrium of being established on necessity and liberty, stability and motion; it is the demonstration of the universal lever sought in vain by Archimedes. A scholar whose talents were employed in the culture of obscurity, who died without seeking to be understood, resolved this supreme equation, discovered by him in the Kabalah, and was in dread of its source transpiring if he expressed himself more clearly. We have seen one of his disciples and admirers most indignant, perhaps in good faith, at the suggestion that his master was a Kabalist; but we can state notwithstanding, to the glory of the same learned man, that his researches have shortened appreciably our work on the occult sciences, and that the key of the transcendent Kabalah above all, indicated in the arcane versicle cited above, has been applied skillfully to an absolute reform of all sciences in the books of Hoene Wronski.

The secret virtue of the gospels is therefore contained in three words, and these three words have established three dogmas and three hierarchies. All science reposes upon three principles, as the syllogism upon three terms. There are also three distinct classes, or three original and natural ranks, among men, who are called to advance from the lower to the higher. The Jews term these three series or degrees in the progress of spirits, ASSIAH, YETZIRAH and BRIAH. The Gnostics, who were Christian Kabalists, called them HYLE, PSYCHE and GNOSIS; by the Jews the supreme circle was named ATZILUTH, and by the Gnostics PLEROMA. In the Tetragram, the triad, taken at the beginning of the word, expresses the divine copulation; taken at the end, it expressed the female and maternity.

Tetractys. The Tetractys (also known as the Decad) is an equilateral Triangle formed from the sequence of the first ten numbers aligned in four rows. It is both a Mathematical idea and a Metaphysical Symbol that embraces within itself - in Seedlike form - the Principles of the Natural World, the Harmony of the Cosmos, the Ascent to the Divine, and the Mysteries of the Divine Realm. So revered was this Ancient Symbol that it inspired Ancient Philosophers to swear by the name of the one who brought this gift to Humanity --Pythagoras.

[transmutationisms]

i saw ur response to the unconscious/conscious as supposedly “divided spectrums” and it got me rotating ol homoerotic duo deleuze-guattari's great anti-oedipus (and mil platôs too, for one). i tried searching up if u had written on it but couldn't find anything at all – wld love to hear some thoughts. any of your thoughts about it akshually. peace

hah anti-oedipus was my first foray into psych-critical scholarship way back in the day :')

my position on psychoanalysis has evolved a lot since then and i think most noticeably in the sense that i've become a lot more interested in historicising it and less interested in haggling over its scientificity or whatever---ie, the question to me isn't so much "is mommy-daddy-me an intrinsically organising principle of human psychology" (obviously not) but more "what are the conditions that allow the claim to be credibly made that it is?" which is i guess to say that, like, in some ways the less insightful part of a text like anti-oedipus is always going to be the assertion that the current ruling ontology isn't a transcendentally necessary one---like, of course it isn't, lol, and the analysis here would be so productively served if deleuze and guattari had a serious engagement with historical thinking; deleuze at his best is on par with like foucault as far as historicity goes.

i think the model that anti-oedipus proffers of a broadly schizophrenic operating logic of capital has some explanatory utility but i don't think that's equivalent to forming a foundation for liberatory political action. i find deleuze generally at his most interesting where he takes up the claim that the desire for one's own oppression is not just a matter of a kind of socratic lack of (self-)knowledge and is instead a genuine expression of desire under capitalism and its familialism. but for as much as this part of the argument wants to build off reich, it's also a place where the text is noticeably not building off a historical-material analysis and instead has a really unhelpful unproductive tendency to tell a psychological myth of desire as an intrinsically revolutionary force and capitalism as motivated by the need to constrain it. so again this is, at best, just not a foundation for liberatory action because it's not historically or materially grounded.

i really adored deleuze and guattari when i first read them and i would still say that anti-oedipus and a thousand plateaus changed a lot about how i thought and read. but also these days i would honestly throw in for reich or like any other frankfurt freudo-marxist over most deleuze, lol

[katyspersonal]

Somehow I will discover super elusive and obscure connections in the lore, and then will misinterpret something as simple and plain as Goldmask's ending kghygcnh

The notions that it does make everyone equal before it and that it is opposite of Ranni's ending ARE still true! But for some reason, for the longest time, I've been reading it as giving everyone the opportunity to interpret it and gain from it in their own way! Ranni yeets the Elden Ring, and by effect the GO "infinitely far away" for the next thousand of years, so everyone is free to forge their own fate! So I thought Goldmask did the same, but minus the "remove all golden things that stemmed from GW" part. Think like, removing the preachy guy from religion that tells HOW to read the holy book, but keep the book ��

I did think of it from a slightly wrong angle, and it IS simpler! GO is bad because it is effected by human logic. Their biases, their subjective vision, conveniences of the timeframe, their whims and ambitions maybe.. all the things that guarantee it won't and CAN'T please everyone and be fair to everyone! The darn thing can't even be consistently unfair, ffs! Crucible having been divine before but becoming condemned later comes to mind.

The "problem" is that the principles come from an imperfect, human in all but status mind, and there is no individuality that could fit everyone. Human mind just can't think of a one shoe fits all solution, and human mind in power will always have to hurt someone or favour someone. Goldmask ending makes the thing objective for everyone, as someone's individual mind, with all their biases, flaws and treachery is removed from the picture. In Goldmask ending, GO becomes something that cannot be debated, cannot be misconstructed, cannot be doubled or challenged! It is simply how things are, without any "interpretation"!

In a way, it is more liberating than Ranni's ending! People might be freed from the influence of GW that dwelled in Elden Ring and Marika/Radagon, but they are not freed from being people. Flawed, chaotic beings, that won't know what to DO with their freedom besides inventing new ways to cripple it by themselves. Making new oppression for self and others. Perfect Order deals with the problem of people having "will weak and minds young", having the rules and principles come from a much more transcendental and objective source instead. No guarantee that truth without any interpretation is always pleasant, of course. Who can tell if "objective reality" is FAIR to everyone? Except this time, if someone gets a shorter end of the stick, it can't be blamed on corrupt person in power... This is horrifying to think about.

At the same time, it is also better world than what Miquella wanted in the end! He was opposite to Ranni in the way of striping people of their freedom "for their own sake", but Perfect Order is not forced by anyone. It is just creation of "objective reality" that can't be debated, in can be both a blessing or a curse. People have freedom, but they also have answers, so they can "calm down" if that makes sense...? There is harmony to be found, for sure. Though both Ranni and Miquella suggest that any world can only be "a thousand years voyage", so for sure EVENTUALLY someone would just become Marika/Radagon 2 🤔 Perfect Order is just a long rest before another inevitable turn of the vicious cycle of existence, but honestly, it is the best option

[ghelgheli]

In the logic of martyrdom, a new semiosis of killing emerges. It is not necessarily based on a relationship between form and matter. As I have already indicated, the body here becomes the very uniform of the martyr. But the body as such is not only an object to protect against danger and death. The body in itself has neither power nor value. The power and value of the body result from a process of abstraction based on the desire for eternity. In that sense, the martyr, having established a moment of supremacy in which the subject overcomes his own mortality, can be seen as laboring under the sign of the future. In other words, in death the future is collapsed into the present. In its desire for eternity, the besieged body passes through two stages. First, it is transformed into a mere thing, malleable matter. Second, the manner in which it is put to death—suicide—affords it its ultimate signification. The matter of the body, or again the matter which is the body, is invested with properties that cannot be deduced from its character as a thing, but from a transcendental nomos outside it. The besieged body becomes a piece of metal whose function is, through sacrifice, to bring eternal life into being.

Achille Mbembe, Necropolitics

[zalrb]

Would it be fair to say that Stefan had some kind of a Madonna whore complex with Katherine/Elena. (Not a Stelena anti, just wanted to hear your thoughts on this)

The stark differences in Stefan's relationships with Katherine and Elena suggest that he does exhibit signs of the Madonna-Whore complex. hear me out for a second..

As you're probably aware, Madonna whore complex describes the idea of feeling less sexual arousal and more lovey duvey feelings for a woman perceived as pure, and intense sexual arousal for a woman perceived as fallen or debased.

Katherine embodies the archetypal 'Whore' in Stefan's eyes. She is portrayed as sexually liberated, manipulative, and morally ambiguous. Stefan's intense sexual attraction to Katherine is evident, but it is coupled with disdain and mistrust. He acknowledges her prowess in bed and is undeniably drawn to her sexually, but this is paired with a persistent inner voice that views her as untrustworthy and immoral.

A pivotal moment that showcases this dynamic is in Season 2, when Stefan and Katherine are trapped in the caves. The tension between them is palpable, and Stefan’s struggle is evident—while he is drawn to Katherine's seductive nature and provocative demeanor, he simultaneously resents her manipulative and deceitful behavior. Every time I watched their dynamic unfold I used to get this vibe of Stefan thinking "I'm attracted to her but she sure is poison for me." Almost like he felt he was is just too moral to love someone that duplicitous and manipulative.He initially "loved" her because he thought she was an "angel", he loved the sweet/innocent/perfect image she portrayed. once she showed anything else, he couldn’t accept it. She became a monster to him.

And the reason he fell in love with Elena was because she was "the opposite of everything Katherine ever was." He fell for the sweet/innocent/perfect image once again (the ‘exact opposite’ of katherine). That’s definitely enforced by the fact that elena was human, which automatically made her pure and perfect in stefan’s eyes. since elena was ‘the opposite’ of katherine, and human (which is automatically ‘good’ according to stefan logic), she could do no wrong.For better or for worse, Stefan places a lot of value on character.

Beyond their sexual encounters, Stefan’s treatment of Katherine on a non-sexual level is filled with scorn and a lack of genuine respect. He sees her as a fallen woman, whose value is diminished by her moral failings, reinforcing the idea that he views her through the 'Whore' lens of the complex.

Elena Gilbert - The 'Madonna'

In contrast, Elena is the epitome of the 'Madonna' in Stefan's life. She is perceived as pure, virtuous, and deserving of his love and respect. Stefan's relationship with Elena is characterized by deep emotional intimacy and a protective, almost reverential attitude.Stefan is about what will bring Elena peace of mind, what is important to Elena, what would Elena want, what would Elena need, what would Elena’s life be like, what is the aftermath of a decision.

Sexual Dynamic: While Stefan does feel sexual attraction towards Elena, the nature of their sexual relationship is different. It almost felt like his respect and admiration for her purity and goodness temper his sexual desire, often resulting in a less primal and more tender expression of their intimacy. Stefan views Elena as pure, virtuous, and inherently good. His love for her is deep, respectful. This is further supported by their gentle, coming together, transcendental, connective, we-are-one, let me discover every inch of you, be with you, be inside you, soulful lovemaking sex.

The difference in Stefan’s sexual dynamics with Elena and Katherine can be illustrated by comparing intimate scenes with both women. With Elena, the moments are tender and filled with love, whereas with Katherine, the encounters are charged with raw sexual energy but underscored by a lack of deeper emotional connection.

Internal Struggle: Stefan's interactions with Katherine reveal a struggle between his lustful desires and his moral repulsion. This internal conflict is a hallmark of the Madonna-Whore complex.

I ask this because I've heard irl personal experiences. (I would love to hear your thoughts)

*Deep sigh* OK. So, if you spent a little time on my blog, like ten minutes even, you had to know I would disagree with this reading. The primary problem with the Katherine aspect of this ask is the complete disregard for the fact that she ruined his human life

once she showed anything else, he couldn’t accept it. She became a monster to him.

Is that what happened? Or did she bite him

compel his obedience

compel him to drink her blood

compel him to keep it a secret from Damon

and start a war in his town in which he died?

You make it seem as if Stefan simply looks at her as the "whore" because he finds her desirable but immoral for "reasons":

he acknowledges her prowess in bed and is undeniably drawn to her sexually, but this is paired with a persistent inner voice that views her as untrustworthy and immoral [...] Every time I watched their dynamic unfold I used to get this vibe of Stefan thinking "I'm attracted to her but she sure is poison for me." Almost like he felt he was is just too moral to love someone that duplicitous and manipulative.

when he doesn't see her as a "whore" but his anger and disdain is because he experienced severe trauma because of her -- trauma that she continues to inflict in the present

[...] she hijacks Elena’s body in season 5 and attempts to seduce him even though that is unbelievably fucked up, she doesn’t think about the consequences that would cause for Stefan and how that would mess with his head.

It’s why in season 2 she threatens to kill Elena while he watches if he doesn’t break up with her.

which keeps him from fully trusting her because of course it would. She has manipulated or attempted to manipulate key aspects of his life and when that doesn't work, she physically harms him

A pivotal moment that showcases this dynamic is in Season 2, when Stefan and Katherine are trapped in the caves. The tension between them is palpable, and Stefan’s struggle is evident—while he is drawn to Katherine's seductive nature and provocative demeanor, he simultaneously resents her manipulative and deceitful behavior.

Is this actually true, though? Or are you referring to the part of 2x11 that Katherine puts in his head in an attempt to seduce him? Because this

is all a part of the sex scene, which is a part of Katherine's mind games

Because outside of that sequence, whatever tension there is -- and I actually don't think there is any narratively, Dobsley chemistry is a different story -- comes about because he is playing her for information.

He initially "loved" her because he thought she was an "angel", he loved the sweet/innocent/perfect image she portrayed.

Again, is that true? Before they get together physically, before she bites him, before she compels him, she makes a mockery of rules

she's heavy with the innuendo

He was was always attracted to how free-spirited and impulsive and fun she was, that's clear. Understandably, his feelings changed after she did what she did to him. It's not a loss of innocence, rather a betrayal of trust.

Yet, as season 5 indicates, Stefan still views her as someone worthy of compassion and sympathy and grace

So, no. I don't take the argument. I don’t think he has a “whore” complex with her, I think he sees her as a person who has caused him serious harm.

I definitely don't take the "Madonna" argument for Elena.

He fell for the sweet/innocent/perfect image once again (the ‘exact opposite’ of katherine).

Again, is this true? Or did he fall in love with a person who wouldn't do something like compel the person she supposedly loved to be with her, to die for her (that's what her compelling Stefan to drink her blood implies, that she was going to turn him into a vampire without his actual consent) because while Elena is flawed, she isn't meant to be an inherently selfish character? Did he fall in love with someone who, like him, places value in friends and family and who will do what she can to protect them instead of abandoning them?

Unlike Katherine

Could it be that that's what he meant when he said "you are the opposite of everything she was" and not oh my god she's so pure and innocent and sweet?

For better or for worse, Stefan places a lot of value on character.

Character. Not idealizations.

Sexual Dynamic: While Stefan does feel sexual attraction towards Elena, the nature of their sexual relationship is different. It almost felt like his respect and admiration for her purity and goodness temper his sexual desire, often resulting in a less primal and more tender expression of their intimacy.

Honestly, speak for yourself? We could talk about the fact that when she is a vampire and can physically handle the extent of Stefan's primal nature, they go for it

and he gets off on her primal nature

but the show deliberately made them not have sex as vampires so she could have that experience with Damon.

But really, my thing is wanting to fuck in her parents bedroom

Being so loud that Jenna can hear even though they're supposed to be broken up

Having sex and not caring that Damon can hear -- which was her idea and which turns him on, which is why he laughs before they go under the covers --

speaks to something primal to me. Buuuuuuut that's just me, I guess.

And I already did a post on the evolution of "assertive Stefan"

Idk, I find too many holes in this argument personally.

Perhaps an argument could be made that the show frames them as the Madonna/Whore dichotomy from how they dress, to how they use or don’t use their sexuality, to their dialogue, to their morals, but that’s the show and how the showrunners/writers/creators develop the characters and not Stefan and how he views them. And I don't necessarily agree with that argument either but that's less of a stretch for me.

[dk-thrive]

Good poetry feels like truth, true poetry sounds beautiful, beautiful poetry “tastes” good

Good poetry feels like truth, true poetry sounds beautiful, beautiful poetry “tastes” good, and all decent poetry is perfumed by the scent of wonder and awe, making us see things anew. Poetry makes tangible and existentially realizable the union of the transcendentals of truth, beauty, and goodness; poetry allows us to experience the harmony of the very qualities of Being (and even sense the ineffable quality of no-qualities of Beyond Being) in ourselves and in every being. As Wallace Stevens concludes the “The Snow Man”: 

For the listener, who listens in the snow,  And, nothing himself, beholds  Nothing that is not there and the nothing that is.

— Oludamini Ogunnaike, from "The Logic of Birds" (Renovatio, May 6, 2022) (via The Hammock Papers)

[clownprince]

Look. Don't get me wrong. I love the batjokes fandom literally everyone I've interacted with has been SO nice for such an insane ship it's a surprisingly chill fandom.

That being said... sometimes I feel Weird because a lot of the community (not all! but a large part) is like haha yeah my favorite fucked up toxic problematic ship love how twisted it is >:) batman wants to fuck that clown even though he literally killed his whole ass son it's so fucked I love it.

And that's fine! No problem with that. Power to you.

But I'm just over here like... what if they both got better together and processed their trauma and Joker made amends with everyone and everyone was happy and content as a family.

Like, the most compelling thing for ME in Batjokes is easily Bruce's refusal to view Joker the way most other people do. Even in arcs where he does dehumanize Joker, he at the very least makes an attempt to understand him. Everyone else is just like yeah, he's evil, he's just doing this shit because he enjoys it because he's a monster. But even when their relationship is at its worst, like in Joker War, Batman tries to understand where Joker is coming from. He doesn't just assume oh yeah Joker is just doing this because he's evil there's no logic behind his crimes he just enjoys it.

Bruce actually understands that Joker is trying to show him something, i.e., that he isn't being Batman right (in Joker's opinion). And even after Joker literally tears down his life, fucking reanimates his dead father figure to torment him and re-enacts his childhood trauma on the city, Bruce STILL ends up agreeing that he had a point!

Like to ME... Batjokes is about loving someone so transcendentally that you devote your entire existence to helping them. It's about having compassion for someone even after they commit horrific atrocities. It's about loving someone who everyone else hates and views as a monster. It's about someone loving the parts of someone that they consider terrible and unlovable. It's about being misunderstood your entire life and finally finding someone who gets it. It's about love for one person motivating you to stay alive in a world that's been nothing but cruel to you. It's about finding someone who makes everything awful that's ever happened to you seem worth it. But most importantly it's about the refusal to give up on someone who everyone else has long since declared a lost cause.

[thisisnotmyname]

no worries. I, too, find it extremely impressive when I see people solving hard oly geo problems, especially when they reduce those to 2-3 claims that seems approachable, sometimes even trivial. like, how did you even notice this thing in a diagram so cluttered?

that being said, I hate it when someone posts on an AoPS thread something that goes along the line of "this is a well-known property of X(57)". this is why I said I understand the hatred.

it's acceptable to expect your readers to know a few well-known results or to look them up, but looking at solutions that bring out the ETC or some very specific property of the sharkydevil point (cool name tho), I find, is discouraging. it's worse when you find it's almost impossible to solve a problem in reasonable time without having previous knowledge about stuff like this or resorting to almost mindless bashing.

I know there are olympiad geometry connoisseurs who enjoy working with these obscure configurations. it's just not my cup of tea.

Actually the ugliest mathematical objects is every olympiad geometry problem but they’re not even mathematical objects to me

[pretentious-art-love]

Album Reviews #10 - Sing to God by Cardiacs (or Puckish and the Joy of Pure Folly)

Call this album proggish, call it punkish, call it pronkish, call it whatever you want, it might be any of those things if you are so pleased, but above it all, this album is puckish.

Are you a friend of reason? Or do you just make a truce with it? I don't think there is anything in the entire world as beautiful as this record at all, and everything that is played on this album outmatches the most colorful butterfly, the biggest canyon, the most technically advanced skyscraper, if there is an album that lets you feel how maddening it is to be capable, as almost as if being a deity and in a constant state of eruption, is this album. Understand one thing, there are just things that logic cannot give to you, there are things that intellect cannot grasp, and if there is one thing that this album tells me, is that reason is nothing more than illusion caused by the human brain, reason as a whole is a fallacy. Tell me one thing. What would you do with power? What would you do with the ability to do whatever you wanted to do? Would you do evil? Would you do good? Would you reach towards the end of things until all things shall be well and peaceful? Will you reign over the hearts of men and show them the pain necessary to grow as beings? It is not just empowering and honest to choose evil over good, but it is also hilariously facetious to use evil not to harm but to get a good chuckle. Sing to God in a way is the feeling of having absolute and complete might, of having vigor, but use all this power and strength for the absurd, imbecilic, incongruous and the ridiculous.

I legitimately haven't found music that has ever been as intense and as beautifully provoking and infuriating as the songs found in here, and all of them as a whole are dangerously close to be maddening. Sing to God obliterates all semblance of rational thought with its sheer, unadulterated obdurate beauty. This isn't just music; it's a transcendental odyssey, a siren's call that lures you into the depths of your soul and destroy it in seconds. When you feel this happy, you stop acting as human being, you forget who you are, what you are, where you are, how you are and what you are doing, what you ever did, and what you are going to do, you end on a state of supreme bliss. Why would you be logical when you are in control of the universe? Why would you follow the chains of reason when you are almighty and supreme? You stop following reason and do the most absurd and stupid thing to exist, because you can, and let me tell you something, if you can do something not because of reason but because emotion, even when you didn't gain anything from it, when you didn't get happiness or pain, advantage or disadvantage, good or wrong, you just did it because you wanted to do it and without connecting any sort of events that happened in your life before to do them, that makes you feel free, omnipotent, if you are able to laugh at reason and take all that immense power you have to be puckish, it is the most delightfully exhilarating thing you could ever experience. It is hard to even being to understand how something as good as this exists, I could try explaining it in detail, but I haven't managed to explain it to myself yet.

In Sing to God, each note in this album is a tear in the fabric of reality, each chord a bridge to the divine. If Cosmic Horror is an exploration of the fear of the unknown, Sing to God, is a dance around the elation that exists on what we don't understand. I have said before in other reviews that all humans hide the evil, and we are all, in a way, evil, but imagine that you didn't use evil to destroy or create, but to fool around like a maniac, like an absolute idiot and laugh at purpose and intention, just to laugh along with the absurd. To listen to this album is to experience the shedding of the mundane to embrace the extraordinary and use power not for more euphoria or an extreme bliss, but to use it for folly, it almost feel as if gaining the most infinite energy to end it or create it all and use that same energy for a single chortle! That is what I want! That is what I love about life! This is it! Because that's the thing! You don not even need to be a god to be puckish! To laugh at reason! To find in the absolute supreme joy of innocent impishness! The only thing you need, is to feel that you are able to do it. This album contains the music that expresses everything that I have loved about awareness and existence and comes to me as an inspiration to live further than anyone has ever before, to live as much as I can as an individual and as a part of the whole.

Sing to God is for me truly one of the biggest achievements in humankind, I will defend it and praise it in all its madness, not for a specific reason at all, just out of pure and complete happiness, and if there is something more than I love more than myself, than I love more than my family, my friends, my life, the tastiest food I have ever tasted or anything else, is this. How beautiful is to be able to stop listening to reason and finally be to experience pure vivid and intense amusement? How wonderful is to be able to feel this wicked for no reason at all?

Custom Tracklist

1.01 Eden On The Air 1.02 Eat It Up Worms Hero 1.03 Insect Hoofs On Lassie 1.04 Fiery Gun Hand 1.05 Fairy Mary Mag 1.06 Dog-Like Sparky 1.07 Bellyeye 1.08 A Horse's Tail 1.09 Manhoo 1.10 Hurricane 1.11 Devils 1.12 Wireless

2.01 Billion 2.02 Spinney 2.03 Odd Even 2.04 Red Fire Coming Out From His Gills 2.05 Flap Off You Beak 2.06 What Paradise is Like 2.07 Bell Stinks 2.08 Bell Clinks 2.09 Quiet As A Mouse 2.10 Angleworm Angel 2.11 Dirty Boy 2.12 No Gold 2.13 Nurses Whispering Verses 2.14 Foundling

Running Time: 1h 39m

25/10

[maaarine]

Phenomenology (Shaun Gallagher, 2012)

"Think of it this way. Consciousness is like our window onto the world.

Of course, we are usually interested in the things we perceive through that window; maybe we are fascinated with the stuff that is happening outside.

But how do we know that we are getting a good view through our window?

For example, what if the window is dirty, or colored, or distorted. What if the window frame, or the way the window is designed, keeps us from seeing everything we want to see.

The phenomenologist suggests that before we study the things that we see when we look outside the window, we should first be concerned about the condition of the window—whether it’s dirty, colored, distorted, or structured in such a way that it gives us only poor access to the objects on the other side of it.

Returning from the metaphor, the phenomenologist thinks that the first step in understanding the basis for knowledge is to study the conditions imposed by consciousness—the way it works, and specifically the structural features of consciousness, and perhaps the systematic distortions that might introduce some kind of bias. (…)

Rather, he thought that we could actually put ourselves into a transcendental stance or attitude that would allow us to see how the mind (or consciousness), or our experience of the world is structured.

This is what Husserl meant by ‘intuition’—we can actually ‘see’ the transcendental structure of consciousness.

This kind of intuitive seeing, which brings something to presence in our experience, is a principle in the practice of phenomenology.

In this context, ‘intuition’ doesn’t mean having a hunch, or a vague feeling that something is the case.

Rather, it means a pure seeing that something is the case in a self-evident way.

Intuition does not involve making an inference or deduction (i.e., a logical move from A to C, via some other fact, B). It means simply seeing that C is the case.

Phenomenology is an attempt to step back and to see how consciousness works."

[rom-e-o]

Among the Leaves (NSFW)(Constance/Ebenezer fic)

Fall is here. A themed drabble is in order.

Ebenezer takes his first ever 'holiday' off of work and goes to the English countryside with Constance. Without the prying eyes of coworkers and family, the two use the opportunity to catch up on quality time.

This is an explicit, 18+ story. Minors, I ask that you DO NOT INTERACT.

The story is under the cut. Enjoy!

The sweltering London heat finally boiled over in early September. By the third week of the month, the leaves were golden and the air held a telltale crispness.

Gentle zephyrs that smelled of cinnamon and apples funneled down the country roads, each one gentle enough to send petticoats and top hats for those who weren’t cautious.

Constance adored windy weather. It allowed her unbound hair to whip about and blow freely, a sensation she found liberating and cleansing. Her dress, low-cut and made of spearmint linen, danced around her legs with every step, adding to the delight. Ebenezer, dressed in breeches and a simple white shirt, walked alongside her with a chipper gait. In the rolling hills outside the city limits, they were anonymous. Not a banker and socialite – not a scandal for retired folk to gossip about over tea. They were just another couple, stealing embraces and lingering glances, amidst the red and ember-colored trees.

“It’s gorgeous out here,” Constance said, looking around the golden fields that seemed to stretch in every direction.

“Yes, it’s a different world from the city,” Ebenezer agreed. He looked more handsome than usual, she thought, with his hair slightly windblown and his face lit with golden light. He had an almost boyish glow that she hadn’t seen around him yet, thanks to the city’s low ceilings and reliance on gas lamps.

As if reading her mind, he closed he eyes and basked in the autumnal calm. Tipping his head back, he inhaled slowly. “Serene. Quiet.”

Her cloak danced upon her heels with every spritely step, the tassels heavy enough to crunch the deadened leaves that her heels boots missed.

“It reminds me of home.” Her voice was almost ghostly, as if she was uneager to disturb the quiet that enveloped them.

“New York?”

“Yes,” she said,” Oh, don’t get me wrong, London is beautiful in the winter. But…New York in fall. Tarrytown. Hudson Valley. It’s something transcendental.”

“I believe you,” he said, taking moving his hand from her elbow to twine their fingers. “Washington Irving waxes beautiful stories of the area."

“Oh! You’ve read Irving?”

“I hadn’t before I met you,” he confided somewhat shyly, “But once we started courting, I wanted to know everyone I could about where you came from.”

The woman found herself grinning in pure excitement at the romantic confession. He’d kept that venture a secret from her.

He continued, albeit somewhat bashfully, “I found his works in a local bookshop. They are…quite popular this time of year, and it makes sense – the Dutch settlements. Fields of fragrant grain. The orchards. Throwing cinnamon chips atop crackling tavern fires. Lovers walking together on foggy nights amidst the gravestones. It’s all very autumnal and American …delightfully so.”

She flushed and nodded. “Yes. That last one is particularly dangerous, I must say.”

The two were a mere half-mile away from their temporary abode for the coming weekend. It was a small cabin with a hitching post for the horse and a small well out front. It was a comfortable lodge, and in the British countryside, finding their way back would not be difficult. Nonetheless, being out too late would be unwise, and both knew it.

“I can see why,” he agreed. “The stories and legends of the American wilderness are exciting enough for me, thank you very much. I’ll leave its true secrets to those knowledgeable enough to keep them. The prospect of getting spirited away by some ghostly Hessian soldier is, frankly, not an experience I’d like to entertain with you, dear. No offense.”

“Erudite and logical,” Constance teased. “None taken. I have no intention of getting spirited away on this very lovely afternoon. I quite like your company.”

He chuckled. “A very agreeable statement, my dear.”

Pausing momentarily, he snuck a quick look over his shoulder to peek at the road behind them. He squinted his icy eyes, as if trying to peer into the distance as much as possible. The moment Constance observed this behavior and tried to follow his gaze, he turned back her with a smirk. With the gentlest of shoves, he nudged her against an oak tree off the path until her back was flush with the bark.

There, he kissed her hard, tipping her head back so their mouths could meet fully. She reciprocated eagerly, hands roaming up his band, fingertips pressing into his back and through the flimsy material of his shirt.

She tugged the fabric tucked into his breeches free so she could slip her hands beneath the material and caress the skin of his bare back. Flanks of long, lean muscle met her eager fingertips. His towering, 6-foot-4 frame was impressive and weighty against her, but not in an unpleasantly smothering way.

As she did that, Ebenezer rolled his hips against hers, earning a thankful moan in return. He reached down to lift one of her shapely legs and wrap it around his waist. After it was secured, his hand skimmed up her skirts and past the edge of her stocking, exploring the tops of her thighs. Her skin quickly warmed under his skilled touch.

“Ebenezer…” she husked, eyes glassy as their kiss became more physical. Their bodies swayed and rutted together until even the flimsy barrier of their thin clothes was too much to bear.

He pulled back long enough to ask a breathless question, resting his forehead against hers. “D-Do you want to…”

Connie nodded eagerly, the heat in her lower belly too persistent to ignore. “We can use my cloak.”

Their hands tangled and they darted into the woods like excited teenagers. It took a few moments to find a clearing that was concealed by trees but was even enough for them to sprawl upon.

Ebenezer carefully unlaced the cloak from her freckled shoulders before laying it on the ground, smoothing it like one might do with a blanket before a picnic. Once he was satisfied, he turned around to see the pleasant sight of Constance already unfastening her dress.

When the fabric pooled around her ankles, she took great pleasure in drinking in the amorous expression on his face. The glow from before was this present, softening his features even further. With deliberate slowness, she slipped her hands over her ample breasts and down her corset, nails pulling and tugging the laces until she could remove it, her smalls and her stockings in one motion. The entire time, he never broke her gaze away from his.

When she rose again, Ebenezer’s gaze smoldered like twin diamonds.

“My gods,” he breathed, standing slowly and moving to her. He took her bare hips in his rough hands and pulled her close. “Look at you.”

She shuffled under his gaze, hands drifting behind her back.

“What about me?” she asked sweetly, tilting her head so her copper pooled over one shoulder.

“Bathed in this golden light…you’re like a sun goddess,” he breathed, his breath unsteady as his grip upon her tightened. “My goddess.”

The possessive lilt to his voice made her swoon, and she was suddenly very thankful for his arms being there to hold her.

“Well, Mr. Scrooge, don’t keep a goddess waiting,” she tried to tease, but her voice vacillated too much to sound as coquettish as she desired. They’d done this routine of teasing and flirting many times, yet her blood pounded with excitement as if it was their first time.

Judging by her lover’s matching smirk, he felt similar. “Mm. Eager, are we?”

“Well, it’s not very gentlemanly to leave me standing alone and nude without company,” she reasoned, crossing her hands over her breasts for playful emphasis.

This made his chest rumble, laughter as warm as summer thunder thumbling forth.

“You have a very unique idea of what a gentleman should do,” he said.

Despite his vague reply, he didn’t hesitate un unlacing the remainder of his shirt and tossing it aside. The action tousled his hair further, and as he pushed the silver-straked coif off his face, she was struck yet again by how damnably handsome he was. With his lean muscle from years of survival to his broad chest, covered in a spelt of salt-and-pepper hair, he was nothing short of a human Adonis. Then there was his face ... maker, his face. A strong Roman nose and sculpted cheekbones that could cut diamonds, nothing was as incredible to her was his icy-blue eyes. They glittered like mica in instances like this, when he stared at her as if she was the most precious being to him in the world.

It was her turn to ogle him as he unlaced his breeches and kicked them off him his socks and shoes.

He was all long-legged, toned glory. A trail of dark hair ran from his chest and down his belly, all the way to the reddened erection between his legs. His cock was already half-mast, heavy with arousal against his thigh, a clear pearl of liquid appearing at the top. She wetted her lips at the sight, suddenly desperate to take him into her mouth.

However, this occasion wasn’t the time for the lengthy foreplay that both could stretch on for hours. They had to be fast, less they be discovered by some unsuspecting travelers or merchants off the road. That scandal would follow them back to London easily.

With urgency that bordered on primal, Ebenezer closed the distance between them and wrapped two strong arms around her. She followed his lead, feeling him dip her into a kiss that forced her to cling onto him to prevent her from toppling over. The effect made their bellies and chests rub together. Her breasts, already heavy with desire, practically burned as his chair hair scrubbed her nipples.

Ebenezer lowered them both onto the cloak, with Constance laying supine beneath him.

They continued to kiss, moaning ang gasping as their hands roamed each other’s bodies. Relief flooded her when his hands finally lifted to her breasts and gave them a squeeze, helping to ebb some of the tension she’d felt buzzing in her nerves.

Arching her back into his hands, she was rewarded for her keening with the swipe of his deft tongue across the sensitive tips. She cried out from the pleasant combination of warmth and wetness. Her legs opened without a thought, already seeking his familiar girth to fill her and bring her to the edge of ecstasy.

After savoring the womanly musk of her breasts, he kissed a path down her stomach, hands moving down to cup her ass. With a hand on each cheek, he began to massage the flesh in circles, easing her body open further and further.

“E-Ebenezer, please, just…”

“Not yet,” he replied, kissing her belly button. Gods, she could feel his breath against her quim, already hot and eager and dripping for him.

She bit back a moan of frustration, for she knew that the delay of pleasure was all for a good reason.

Ebenezer was many things, but among the long list, he wasn’t a selfish lover. When it came to making sure his woman was satisfied, he wanted to know when he finally slid into her that she was wet and ready for him. Friction would be smooth, and his approach would be slow until he found that perfect spot inside her that milked the prettiest trembles and screams. Then, and only then, would he ferociously pick up the pace and drive into her, making sure to tilt his hips at the angle that kept her screaming for more.

Even when they’d first laid together, knowing she wasn’t a virgin, he’d treated her as such. He carried her to bed, taken her clothes off, kissed her slowly, savored the taste of her clit against his tongue … all of it to make sure that she was trembling and aching for him by the time they could finally come together in a moment of glory.

“I’m ready,” Constance said, hips lifting off the cloak and swaying. “Oh, please…love, please…”

Ebenezer was weak to her pleading, especially when she called him pet names.

“F—uck, do you have any idea how you look when we're together like this?” he whispered, moving his lips back up her sternum so he could whisper in her ear. “Once we get back to the cabin, I’m throwing you on that bed and making love to you until you can’t walk.”

She moaned loudly, her entire head tipping back at the sound of his promise. “Oh, please…yes!”

“Another beautiful sound,” he said, lips caressing her forehead as he placed a kiss right between her brows. ‘You, begging for me. It’s so hard to not give you what you want…”

“Please, Ebenezer!” she practically wept. Lifting a leg, she shakily wrapped it around his waist to bring his hips down. Feeling his tip right of her entrance, pressing inside slightly, made both release a collective sigh of yearning.

“A-Are you certain?” he stuttered.

She nodded. “Yes.”

With a roll of the hips, he slid inside, and … it was perfection. His cock filled her so perfectly. He wasn’t too big or too small. He knew when to speed up his pace, and when to slow down and keep her teetering on the edge. Best of all, he knew her body and knew what made her scream.

When he bucked his hips and arced right into the spongy G-spot on the roof of her sheath, her entire body went as taut as if she’d been seared by electrocution.

“Y-Yes, right there!” she begged. Her other leg shot up to cradle his body, his narrow hips fitting perfectly between her trembling thighs.

Platitudes fell from her lips as he continued his steady rhythm. With one hand supporting her lower back so he didn’t drive her too hard into the ground, he rutted into her with the same desire he felt the first time they’d slept together.

The entire time, he whispered comments into her ear: about her beauty, about how good she felt, about how lucky he was to share these moments with her. For a man who fancied numbers more than words, he was an incredible poet.

When she finally came crashed down from her high a minute later, her spine kinked and she dug her nails into his skin. He growled in pleasure, a smirk never leaving his visage as he watched her beautiful features spasm in bliss.

“There we go,” he commended, hands combing through her coppery strands. “That’s a good girl. Just like that.”

Tears in her eyes from the power of her orgasm, she let out one last cry as she felt her body close around his cock like a hot fist.

As he went to pull out and finish outside of her, she kept her legs locked around his waist, keeping him in place.

“S-Stay inside…” she begged, hands flying to squeeze his shoulders. “Finish in me.”

His eyes softened instantly, then glazed with the telltale signs of happiness. “M-My Constance, a-are you…are you sure?”

Again, she nodded. “I’ve never been more certain.”

This certainly of her love for him and confidence in him as a potential father to her children…it was too much. His brow furrowed as a surge of pleasure shot through him, and he shifted his angle to thrust back inside her.

Constance let Ebenezer move her body as needed to find the perfect angle that would apply to best pressure to his cock. Once he found it, she saw his eyes practically roll back.

“I-I love you…” he stuttered, already breathless after just two thrusts. On the third, he laughed and practically collapsed. “Connie, I love you so, so much.”

She nodded, her heart swelling with each beautiful declaration. “I love you, Ebenezer…my Ebenezer…”

The last of his restraint snapped, and with a growl, he shuddered and filled her with a hefty load of his seed. He frantically pumped his cock as deep as he could, filling her until droplets seeped onto the cloak below, before he let out an exhausted sigh.

He slumped beside her, a sheen of sweat covering his chest and forehead. Wiping the moisture away, he rallied himself for only a moment before he rolled atop her and kissed her again.

“You’re my radiance, my map to grace…” he said, rambling breathlessly. “I-I…could not be without you. I’m sure of that.”

It was a somber declaration, and it made her ribs go soft.

“I can’t be without you, either,” she said. “I’ll make sure we’re never apart. I never want to be taken from you.”

“I would perish before allowing that,” he whispered. Again, he reached down and twined their fingers.

Constance smiled and rolled into his embrace. She wrapped the cloak around them as a partial blanket for the moment.

“Well, perhaps we should hurry back then,” she teased. “We don’t want the ghosts to come out, right?”

He flattened his chest so she could use it as a pillow, which she greatly appreciated. As she nestled herself into place with a smile, he rolled his eyes.

“If there were any specters lurking in the trees, I’m quite certain we scared them off,” he said. Then, a beat later, he added, “Or … I hope.”

Constance giggled. “I hear no rattling chains.”

“Don't tease.”

She giggled and glanced up at him.

“I won’t let the ghosts take you away,” she promised. “After all …”

A hand drifted to her belly.

“Who knows what the future has in store?”

The two decided to stay in each other’s arms as they drank in the sunset in each other’s arms. With each passing minute, Scrooge dropped another tender kiss upon her, never wanting to let her go.

Thankfully, as long as the world around them stayed as calm and tranquil as this…he would never have to.

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