#Unselfishness and Community Living

[jiejing-lifechanyuan]

No Procedural Safeguards, Morality Is Hollow, and Ideals Are Empty

Xuefeng

December 2, 2024

Throughout human history, sages—including gods, Buddhas, celestials, and saints—have extolled the virtues of morality. In China, values like benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trust have been upheld for centuries, alongside ideals such as gentleness, kindness, respect, modesty, and deference. Christianity has promoted the virtue of love for over two millennia, and Buddhism has advocated for the Pure Land for just as long. Yet, what is the result? Look at humanity today: we are still trapped in a jungle ruled by survival of the fittest. In this world, wealth and power are revered, while the powerless and penniless are reduced to insignificance. Human society does not operate on morality but on money and authority.

Even with lofty moral ideals, who can survive without money? And even if morality is universally admired, how does it stand up to power? Especially under totalitarian regimes, morality becomes completely powerless. In the face of wealth and authority, even the grandest ideals are mere castles in the air, and the most beautiful dreams are no more than fleeting illusions.

Where does the problem lie?

The root issue lies in the lack of a production and living system that aligns with moral principles. Without procedural safeguards, morality is hollow, weak, and powerless—it inevitably surrenders to wealth and power. Without these safeguards, aspirations such as spiritual cultivation, elevating LIFE to enter heaven, building Earth into a paradise, or achieving democracy, human rights, freedom, and happiness remain mere fantasies—nothing but self-deception.

The most ideal and beautiful life for humanity is one where everyone "owns nothing but has everything." What kind of life constitutes a heavenly existence? The answer is this: a life where everyone owns nothing but has everything is a heavenly life. Any life outside of this cannot be called heavenly.

Can humanity achieve such a state?

The answer is no—without a corresponding procedural system, it is entirely impossible. Owning nothing, won’t one be reduced to a beggar? In a society propelled by wealth and power, mere survival without possessions is already a challenge—let alone having everything.

Currently, only the Chanyuan Celestials living in Lifechanyuan’s Second Home truly understand and experience the meaning of "owning nothing but having everything." The Second Home operates under a lifestyle system modeled after the primary paradise. Without this system, the morality I promote—truth, kindness, beauty, love, faith, and sincerity—would merely be an opiate for the masses. In that case, it would be more practical to encourage people to focus on earning money and gaining power.

But does the Second Home’s system have issues?

Of course, it does. What happens when individuals join the Second Home but contribute nothing and merely consume? What about those who shirk responsibilities or fail to create value? How should we handle discord or members who do not adhere to the system?

To address such problems, we must return to morality. Without a foundation of noble morality, the Second Home’s system cannot be sustained and will eventually collapse. This is because human nature harbors selfishness, greed, and the pursuit of power. If every member fails to achieve "unselfishness, selflessness, non-attachment, and freedom from resentment," the Second Home will only be short-lived.

In reality, morality is hollow, which is why Lifechanyuan transforms morality into actionable values. When morality is distilled into values, it becomes a guide for words and actions—a clear and concrete navigator. For example, kindness is a key component of morality. However, vague exhortations such as "everyone must be kind" are ineffective. What exactly constitutes kindness? There are countless interpretations. By contrast, Lifechanyuan translates kindness into actionable values. For instance, one value states: "The heart of comparison is the root of evil." This makes it clear that refraining from comparison and rivalry embodies kindness. To cultivate kindness, one must avoid comparisons and competitions.

The conclusion is this: Without procedural safeguards, advocating morality is futile. Without morality as a foundation, an ideal procedural system cannot be established, and even if it were, it would be short-lived. A critical step is to transform morality into actionable values with specific content and standards.

～～～～～～

Please know more about Guide Xuefeng and Lifechanyuan from: https://lifechanyuanvalues.wordpress.com/2024/11/09/a-transformative-new-life-program-for-sustainable-living-the-second-home-of-lifechanyuan/

[mimble-sparklepudding]

OC Questions on the Seven Forms of Love.

A little list of OC questions based on the seven types of love identified in Ancient Greek thought. Obviously this is a highly simplified presentation of some quite complex philosophical concepts from Classical History, intended more for the purposes of entertainment than education. I also left out Mania, which is arguably an eighth type of love (Obsessive), because I'm keeping it mostly positive in these tricky times!

Eros – Romantic, Passionate Love.

Is your OC romantic in the traditional sense? Do they enjoy giving or receiving gifts of flowers or confectionary? Or are there other courtship traditions from their culture of origin that are important to them?

How important is sex to them in a relationship? Do they see it as something essential to their happiness? Would they be able to remain in a monogamous relationship with someone they loved without sex?

How do they feel about public displays of romantic affection? Does it make them uncomfortable? How do they feel if a romantic partner kisses them in public?

Do they believe in love at first sight? Have they ever developed a crush or romantic (or erotic) fixation upon a stranger based on their appearance alone?

How closely is their opinion of their own beauty (or lack thereof) linked to their confidence? Do they see themselves as more or less worthy of love or sex based on how attractive they feel?

Philia – Affectionate, Platonic Love.

Does your OC have a Best Friend? If they do then how long have they known each other and how did they meet? If they don't then do they have a close group of friends they love equally? Or are they more of a loner?

Does your OC find it easy to make friends? Or are there barriers to them doing so? If so then are these due to issues of inclination, communication, or something else entirely?

What qualities does your OC most value in a friend? Loyalty? Shared sense of humour? Or something else?

Is your OC able to build close friendships with people very different from themselves? Perhaps in terms of culture, age or personality?

What is their most fervent wish for their best friend(s)? How far would they go to make it happen?

Storge – Unconditional, Familial Love.

Did your OC's parents love them unconditionally? If so then has this helped them feel confident as an adult? If not then how has this affected them? What were the conditions their family attached to their relationship?

Does your OC have children? If so then how fiercely do they love them? If they have more than one then do they love them all equally? If they do not have children then is this part of their future plans?

How far does parental approval (imagined or expressed) impact upon their current sense of self-worth? What might they sacrifice or attempt to achieve in order to ensure the approval of their parents?

Does your OC have any siblings? If so then did their parents have a favourite growing up? Has their relationship with their sibling changed in adulthood? If they don't have any siblings then do they perhaps feel they have missed out on an important relationship? Do they have any especially close friends who go some way towards filling that role?

Is your OC able to love without necessarily needing or expecting reciprocation or reward? Or are all their relationships to some extent transactional? Have they ever loved another person unconditionally, whether a child or another adult?

Agape – Selfless, Universal Love.

Does your OC wish to make the world a better place? How far do they see that as being their responsibility? What lengths would they go to in order to help achieve this?

Does your OC feel a spiritual connection to the world around them? Do they have a particular love for nature or living things?

To what extent does your OC believe in the value (or even existence) of true altruism? Do they see an unselfish concern for the welfare of others as being naïve or foolish? Or as a moral quality to which people should aspire?

Does your OC have a religious faith which emphasises the importance of a love for all people? If so then do they try to follow these teachings authentically? Or do they just pay lip-service to them? If not then do they follow a more martial or mercantile faith? Or none at all?

Does your OC find it easy to empathise with their enemies? Or do they see it as important to dehumanise them in order to combat them with sufficient determination?

Ludus – Playful, Flirtatious Love.

Does your OC have any particular favourite chat up lines? If not for themselves then perhaps ones they have suggested to a friend? How effective do these tend to be?

Is your OC particularly skilled at flirting? Have they had to practice this or does it just happen naturally?

How does your OC feel about one night stands? Have they ever enjoyed a night of passionate romance with a stranger? Is this something they are quite keen on recreationally? Or only something they might engage in under specific circumstances (such as the eve of a battle or after a difficult breakup)?

Who was your OC's first crush? How do they feel about it now?

What seduction techniques are most likely to be effective when it comes to your OC? Are there some things guaranteed to get them going? Or are they immune to such things?

Pragma – Committed, Long-Lasting Love.

Is your OC in a committed long-term relationship (or relationships)? If so then what has contributed to this relationship lasting so well? If they are not in such a relationship, then is this something that saddens them or which they regret?

What is the biggest challenge that your OC has had to overcome in a long-term relationship or friendship? What helped them get through this?

Are your OC's parents still together? To what degree do they look to their own parents as a model for their own ideal relationship?

After the initial fires of passion cool to some degree, what would keep your OC engaged in a relationship? Shared goals? Similar values? Or contented companionship?

What importance or value does your OC attach to marriage? Do they believe that it is important to make a public statement of commitment to another person (or persons)? Or are they more concerned about inheritance rights and security for their family? Or do they not see marriage as a necessary signifier of commitment and loyalty?

Philautia – Self Love.

Does your OC have a healthy sense of their own worth and value? Or do they see themselves as failing to live up to their original potential? Perhaps they are convinced of their own sinful or inadequate nature?

Does your OC believe that it is important to love themselves in the first instance? Perhaps in order to be able to give and receive love authentically? Or because they believe first and foremost in "looking after number one"?

Does your OC judge themselves by the same standards as they apply to others? Or are they sometimes hypocritical in condemning others for faults they also possess? Or perhaps they find it easier to forgive others for things that they cannot abide in themselves?

Which of your OC's qualities makes them the most proud? Do they think more people should be like them in this regard? Or do they quite like being rare in possessing it?

Has your OC always had the same opinion of themselves or has this changed over time? Have they learned to love themselves - perhaps with the help of others - as their journey progressed? Or have the consequences of their actions only served to erode their sense of self-worth?

[oraclemoontarot]

which k-pop idols match your vibe? 𓂃⊹ pac tarot reading

from left to right, top to bottom -> pile 1, pile 2, pile 3, pile 4

paid readings

•┈┈┈••✦ ♡ ✦••┈┈┈•

pile 1 𓂃⊹ ִֶָ

cards pulled: three of swords, six of wands, star, strength, empress, six of swords, king of pentacles, queen of wands, ten of wands

can I just say, I love your vibe so much?? you are someone who is successful, strong, and optimistic no matter your struggles, challenges, or any heartbreak in which you have or do go through. you are someone who looks to the future with optimism and hope in which things will get better, there is this inner strength to you that is so empowering and inspirational to others. some may even wonder how you are able to have such a strong heart and mind despite what may lay in your path.

your energy is mixed with that of the empress and the king of pentacles. there is this grace, femininity, beauty, and love to you, yet there is also a grounded humbleness, security, maturity and wisdom. paired with something enamouring and eye-catching - it's a confidence that is fun, sociable, caring, and nurturing. you bring good vibes with you everywhere to the point it's contagious and people love and long for your company.

you don't let the past hold you back, you don't let it define you, it is simply what built your character, but it did not chain you or keep you from achieving what you want and that is truly a wonderful thing.

idols which give me your vibe: tbh the first idol who came to mind was iu simply because of her life experiences yet, despite all that, she still remains someone positive and dedicated. other idols include ─ renjun, taehyung, hwasa, taeyong, baekhyun, lisa, ningning

pile 2 𓂃⊹ ִֶָ

cards pulled: moon, seven of cups, three of swords, two of cups, ace of cups, emperor, ace of pentacles, ten of cups, seven of pentacles

honestly, I was confused at first. it may be that you are someone who lives in their head a lot, maybe you daydream or envision how your life might be/go, there are a lot of fantasies, thoughts, dreams, feelings, it might be overwhelming or confusing. It may also be past feelings/experiences taking root in your mind, yet there is so much love and sensitivity to you. you feel things deeply and it may stem from your empathetic nature in which you may not often let show. Yet, because of this empathy, you are patient. you carefully and meticulously plan out your goals and take your time building the necessary steps to reach them, but this patience also surrounds those close to you.

you are like a protector and a mentor ─ someone who wants to be reliable and a strong pillar for others. you may want to provide as well, for your loved ones. Because of this, you may be good at making money or managing your finances. For you, what brings you true happiness and the feeling of contentment, is being close with your family and loved ones, making a house a home, and simply bringing people together.

idols which give me your vibe: you give me true leader energy, someone who may burry their worries but wants to be there for others and are extremely unselfish. therefore, idols that remind me of you are ─ suho, a mix of mark lee and taeyong, irene, hongjoong, bangchan

pile 3 𓂃⊹ ִֶָ

cards pulled: emperor, lovers, king of swords, tower, queen of pentacles, nine of pentacles, fool, ace of swords, death

you are someone who protects and takes care of your loved ones without hesitation. you are strong and a great communicator, there's never awkward silences, misunderstandings, or moments in which you're unable to clearly express your thoughts. there is this intelligence to you, and yet a nurturing side, it reminds me of tough love and from a good place. you are grounded and humble, stable and mature.

you are someone who embraces change, constantly shifting, you may be an air sign? you are constantly growing and through all your achievements, you feel a sense of gratitude and you appreciate the rewards you reaped through your hard work and efforts. the reason as to why you may embrace change is because it feels like it may be your first life, or that's the impression people get when they think of you. you have this excitement, energy, and wonder in your eyes - always ready to experience something new, to get out of the house and interact with people. you may even have a sense of love and excitement when it comes to interacting with others, especially if the communication is challenging, fun, deep, and meaningful. you may even love to debate certain topics.

idols which give me your vibe: as I was writing this, I kept looking up at the photo for this pile, and you really do remind me of haechan, to a T. other idols include: chuu, baekhyun, jake, beomgyu, taehyung, eric from tbz, johnny, dahyun, chaeryeong

pile 4 𓂃⊹ ִֶָ

cards pulled: three of wands, knight of swords, six of swords, nine of pentacles, ten of wands, page of cups, king of wands, page of wands, temperance

you are someone who previously let your past, your heart, and mind hold you back, but you have a newfound determination and drive and are taking the steps to move past that, if you haven't started already. it's as though you have said, 'enough is enough', and pulled yourself out of that void in search of creating something you know you would be proud of. you are grateful for those experiences, even if they initially might have hurt you or kept you in that mindset, because you know it has made you come out stronger and more eager to achieve your greatest wishes. you may also feel like it made you a far more interesting and multi-dimensional person.

Yet despite this eagerness, there's this childlike, sweet, and romantic side to you, kind of like a hopeless romantic, but in a cute and beautiful way. no matter how your experiences affected you, you still have so much love and light to give to this world, I feel so calm and happy while doing this reading for you, you are genuinely a one of a kind person, someone the world could do better having more of.

This sweetness also brings forth this passionate, energetic, enthusiastic and fun character. you enjoy the simplicities of life, you may even be a sentimental person with a lot of balance and empathy to you. you know when to take things seriously and when to simply have fun. there is this maturity to you that juxtaposes with your playfulness, and I think that with you embracing your silliness, your creativity, and your romantic nature without fear of judgment, is the most mature thing anyone can do ─ simply choosing to be your authentic self when everyone is like a mirror image of each other.

idols which give me your vibe: jaemin, jacob, jisung from nct, soul, hoshi, yeosang, taeyong, chenle, wooyoung, jisoo, lee know ─ just noticed a lot of these are infps lmaoo

[rnn11203]

I really love Sebastian. I think hes a great character and im sad that hes often brushed off as just some emo boy. Im sure a lot of what i think can be said as headcanons but i feel like if needed i could really have a convincing argument for why i think all of this.

But anyways, Sebastian is very anti social. He says so himself that he doesnt really enjoy the company of others, but i dont really think that he views other people as bothersome or annoying or like a hassle. I think hes afraid of being vulnerable, his inferiority complex doesnt allow him to be open or honest with others because hes afraid of what they’d think about him. I think his relationship with Sam and Abigail is very surface level, i dont view their relationships as very deep or intimate. I think Sebastian could be seen as a chill but solemn guy by the rest of the community but its really cute that he’s secretly very nerdy. He likes comics, dnd, and web design.

I really love that hes a bad older brother, i too am an older brother who feels like ive disappointed my younger siblings, i was supposed to be there for them but instead i let my insecurity, my jealousy of our parents affection, and ultimately my feelings of inferiority get in the way. Is it selfish to want to be loved? I dont think so, but it is selfish to let it get in the way of loving others. I think Sebastian feels guilty over the way he behaved towards Maru, im not sure if i think they’d ever reconnect.

I headcanon their ages as 22 and 18, it must’ve been difficult for Sebastian to cope with his father’s absence and such a sudden change. I think he wouldve felt casted aside, almost like he was being replaced. I think Sebastian grew up in pelican town, that the house was built prior to his parents split, i like to think that him and maru shared a room up until he was 12? Maybe 13? And insisted to live in the basement instead. I think he wouldve been satisfied with that but slowly he realized that no one was really interested in checking on him, instead of communicating it he’d internalize it, lash out by spending even more time alone. I think both Robin and Demetrius love him, but excuse it as personality differences. However Sebastian in game seems kinda prone to emotional outbursts, instead of acknowledging something is wrong his parents just think hes just the more difficult sibling. I also think that he had loose contact with his bio dad, but the bastard suddenly stopped responding at all so he further convinces himself that he is unwanted. “Would it really matter, if I just disappeared?”

It’s really interesting that in his 2heart event he says “They’re engaging, straightforward, and unselfish. Quite the opposite of a lot of people I know." I wonder who that refers to? Is Demetrius boring? Sam a bit scrambled? Abigail selfish? (I say Abigail is the selfish one bc he expresses discontent about her coming over and disregarding his work in the same scene).

But really, i think Sebastian just wants to feel like he belongs. I think the farmer makes him feel comfortable, valued, and understood. I really like that about him.

[petruchio]

"snow hates katniss because she's lucy gray reincarnated" well no. it's not magic, not some kind of prophecy, not a saga of one family that's fated to overthrow the regime. katniss *isn't* lucy gray, she's just a girl. that's the point. she's nobody.

except that she is lucy gray. not *actually* but in spirit, in her actions. because what lucy gray and katniss -- and snow himself -- prove is that nobody can be truly independent of their community. snow wants to believe (he is taught to believe) that we are all ungenerous, calculating, power-hungry. that we all value ourselves above all else, that we could never love selflessly because we are, at our core, selfish. so when lucy gray shows him that doesn't have to be the case, it terrifies him. and so, in his fear, he kills her, hoping that will kill the doubt she seeds inside of him. kill the source of the doubt, kill the doubt itself. prove to yourself that love is selfish. win at the game that you yourself created -- snow lands on top.

and for years, you really believe that. you won. you steadily gain power, people show you the same story, over and over. and it twists you, warps you, into the calculating dictator you were told you had to be.

only then, decades later, another girl shows you the very same thing: true, unselfish, radical love. a girl who volunteers to die for her sister, who sings to her friend as she dies, would rather die than kill the boy she loves, and she's from the same place as the very person who first made you doubt it. you thought you'd killed that doubt years ago, but what you failed to account for was that killing lucy gray doesn't kill her love.

so katniss reminds snow of lucy gray, but not because she *is* her, but because she created something that can't be killed. it's not magic, it's art. it's no accident that katniss grew up singing her songs. lucy gray is dead, but her art lives on, and woven into that art is the love she showed snow all those years ago. her love can't be killed because it doesn't belong to her individually -- it belongs to her people. and it's nurtured in that community. it's in the art, the music, and thus in the people that live there. love becomes the soundtrack of an entire community, and then it lives on in their lives and their actions. it lives on in katniss' father who sings his way into her mother's heart, it lives on in haymitch who holds his ally when she dies, and then in katniss and prim and peeta and every person from district 12 who shows that same selfless, radical love. it wasn't fate, or destiny, or even one family. it's community. it's art. no man is an island. we cannot survive without love.

[radical-revolution]

Our Beloved Kwan Yin

The Great Compassion Bodhisattva

(Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva)

Long ago, according to legend, Kuan Yin earned the right to enter Nirvana after her death. But when she stood before the gates of paradise, she heard the anguished voices of those left on earth and, turning away from bliss, vowed to remain in the world, gently leading others until all living things reached enlightenment. Kuan Yin, a bodhisattva, became the goddess of compassion, or 'she who hears the cries of the world,' and her message spread beyond the Chinese Buddhist community. Today she is known by many names in many countries. Because of her popularity, she is depicted in hundreds of ways. Most often shown as a slim and graceful barefoot woman dressed in flowing white robes, she is the embodiment of empathy, unconditional love, and perfect compassion. Sometimes she transforms herself - into a child, a man, or even a king - to better guide and teach the path to Nirvana.

Kuan Yin's goal is to liberate all beings from suffering, no matter who or what they are, and thus building a relationship with her involves little. There is no required ritual or dogma. Rather, her devotees strive to emulate her compassion and caring in their own lives by attempting to adhere to the standards of the goddess and by serving others. Kuan Yin's unselfish devotion to all living beings is key. She is free from pride and vengefulness, and passes no judgment. She is reluctant grants great comfort to the lost, the sick, the senile, the troubled, and the unfortunate. In the tales surrounding Kuan Yin, the dejected need only cry out to her for help to be freed from fear and danger.

Embracing the way of Kuan Yin is as easy as cultivating her virtues, which are said to exist deep within all beings, in your own life. You may want to meditate on her sacrifice and ask yourself what selfless actions you could take to better the world. She provides us with an example of how to better relate to the world and each other, asking us simply to treat all living things as we ourselves would be treated.

Kuan Yin is also spelled Guan Yin, is the bodhisattva of compassion venerated by East Asian Buddhists. Commonly known as the Goddess of Mercy, Kuan Yin is also revered by Chinese Taoists as an Immortal. The name Kuan Yin is short for Kuan Shih Yin (Guan Shi Yin) which means "Observing the Sounds of the World".

In Japanese, Kuan Yin is called Kannon or more formally Kanzeon; the spelling Kwannon, resulting from an obsolete system of Romanization, is sometimes seen. In Korean, she is called Kwan-um or Kwan-se-um. In Vietnamese, she is called Quan Âm or Quan Thế Âm Bồ Tát.

Praise To Kuan Yin Bodhisattva

Kuan Yin Bodhisattva's compassion for all beings is so vast and inconceivable, our gratitude cannot comprehend nor fully express the magnitude of her blessings. Her body and garments of brilliant, translucent White Light. Her adornments, a white vase of Compassionate Water in her left hand, The Sacred Willow Branch in her right hand.

Enlightened through infinite acts of compassion countless lifetimes ago. Her feet rest upon a fragrant red lotus flower above a vast ocean. Her brows curved and radiant like the crescent of an autumn moon. With the sweet dew drops she sprinkles from her vase, She relieves the suffering of beings everywhere and always, for countless autumns.

Prayers for help arise from thousands of hearts, and thousands of prayers are answered by her vow of eternal compassion: Beings in Samsara, who sail the ocean of suffering, She will guide and deliver safely to the ultimate shore of enlightenment.

Avalokitesvara (known as Chenrezig in Tibetan) is an important deity in Tibetan Buddhism. In particular, the Dalai Lama is held to be a manifestation of Avalokitesvara.

Other manifestations popular in Tibet include Sahasra-bhuja (a form with a thousand arms) and Ekādaśamukha (a form with eleven faces).

In Tibetan Buddhism, White Tara acts as the consort and energizer of Avalokitesvara. According to popular belief, Tara came into existence from a tear of Avalokitesvara. When the tear fell to the ground, it created a lake, and a lotus opening in the lake revealed Tara. Another version of this tale tells that Tara emerged from the heart of Avalokitesvara. In both, it is Avalokitesvara's outpouring of compassion which manifests Tara as a being.

Tibetan Buddhism relates Avalokitesvara to the six-syllable mantra Om Mani Padme Hum, also spelled Om Mani Peme Hung and Om Mani Padme Hon. It is for this reason that Avalokitesvara is also called Shadakshari, Lord of the Six Syllables.

In the Tibetan tradition, Avalokiteshvara is seen as arising from two sources. One is the relative source, where in a previous kalpa (era), a devoted, compassionate Buddhist monk became a Bodhisattva, thus giving the present kalpa its form of Avalokitesvara. That is not in conflict, however, with the ultimate source view, which is Avalokiteshvara as the universal manifestation of compassion. In brief, it may be said that the Bodhisattva is the anthropomorphised vehicle for the actual deity, serving to bring about a better understanding of Avalokitesvara to humankind.

***

[thebibi]

Your post has got me thinking again about how Dracula ruins Lucy & Arthur, almost ruins the Harkers but they come through okay by the skin of their teeth... but very much saves both Jack and Van Helsing. Jack is on a downward path here and then he gets his Unselfish Cause and he comes out better for it. He loses sleep and blood and the love of his life and his preconceived notions of masculinity and has a good cry about it and his life is uncontestably better now. Today sees him at a low, standing on a brink - and instead of going over the edge he goes through the fire and it helps. Dracula ruins everything but Jack is in such a bad place here that that's an improvement. That's wild!

Yup! That's why at the beginning of this year's DD, previous readers were arguing how Dracula ruined everyone's lives. And its blatantly untrue. Dracula gives Jack and Van Helsing a second chance at life, which is overwhelmingly positive. They get back in touch with each other, they reaffirm and make new friends, they both learn to rebalance their lives. It also makes them relevant. Van Helsing's obscure knowledge is finally helpful, and he's rewarded with a new found family and adopted grandson. Jack lets go of his prejudices (which will make him a better doctor in the future) and finds love again. And ultimately its all thanks to the worst thing that happened to everyone else.

I'm sure there's something to be said about how Dracula can be interpreted as a positive change in the story, but ironically it has less to do with Mina and more to do with the Victorian medical community....

[herefortarlos]

hey desi! it's nice ask week, i hope you're well and don't mind me coming into your inbox :)

what's your favorite lone star episode?

who is your all time comfort character?

what's your favorite song/album right now?

Hello my sweetest, Rachel 💖!! Sweetie, the day I mind you coming into my inbox will be the day I am no longer a pansexual liberal, so not a chance of that ever happening 😂.

Ohh why would you ask me that!! Okay, favorite overall Lone Star episode, and not just for 1 or 2 scenes, has to be 3x13 "Riddle of the Sphynx". That episode just gave us sooo much good Tarlos! We got supportive and jealous/sassy and then understanding Carlos. We got TK attending meetings and doing what he has to do to take care of himself! We got so much tarlos physical affection and that amazing dining table scene!! I recently watched that episode again and that scene blows me away every time, Ronen and Rafa acted their butts off! We get tarlos communicating, even if it's messy communication at first, and so many iconic lines!! "It feels like he's getting pieces of you that I don't" "You don't want those pieces" "I do, I want all of it" "You have all of me, Carlos." Just throw me off a bridge why don't you 🥲, and it's one of the few episodes where I know all the tarlos dialogue word for word. @heartstringsduet are you proud of me 😊. Then TK being affected in the field and being depressed about his own mom, looking at photos telling Carlos, "I'd give anything to feel like that again", and Carlos realizes he is in way over his head and that this isn't about him, it's about TK and what he needs so Carlos gets over that insecurity and reaches out and makes sure TK has the support he needs 🥹 And then the infamous "I love you" with TK "Heart Eyes" Strand and Carlos' understanding "I know." Every tarlos scene in this from beginning to end of episode is amazing and impactful and leaves me an emotional mess every time I watch it 💖

who is your all time comfort character?

All time comfort character you ask? 🤔 After thinking about all the fandoms I've enjoyed and been a part of over the years, please don't come at me for saying the obvious of TK 😅. He's the first live action character that I have loved this much, and there are so many reasons for that! One of the biggest being how he has been through so much hardship in his life but he is so unselfish and sees the best in people and still has so much love to give!! He is sunshine personified but he is still very much a real person with flaws and baggage, but he is constantly working to take care of himself and be a better person! I've had similar, not exact of course, experiences in my own life and have come out the other side better for it! It took a lot of time of course and I needed to be in a place where I had the power to make my own decisions and I love that about TK too, that the show constantly shows that his decisions to get better have ultimately been his own! And him being an openly gay character who is proud of his sexuality was primarily what drew me to him and the show in the first place 🥰

what's your favorite song/album right now?

Ohh always love a music question! Haha and probably not what you're expecting but my favorite album lately has been Bo Burnham's "Inside (Deluxe)" edition. It's such a fantastic special and I watched the deleted scenes not too long ago and have not been able to stop listening to "Five Years". The chorus is so damn catchy and I wish it was longer and the line "Everyone's a feminist until there is a spider around" makes me laugh every time 🤣.

[vickyvicarious]

There's something interesting going on with silence in today's entry. Specifically, with Mina and Renfield. And even more specifically - the effort to fight against or to hide in silence.

"I am not at liberty to give you the whole of my reasons; but you may, I assure you, take it from me that they are good ones, sound and unselfish, and spring from the highest sense of duty." [...] "Can you not tell frankly your real reason for wishing to be free to-night? I will undertake that if you will satisfy even me—a stranger, without prejudice, and with the habit of keeping an open mind—Dr. Seward will give you, at his own risk and on his own responsibility, the privilege you seek." He shook his head sadly, and with a look of poignant regret on his face. [...] "Dr. Van Helsing, I have nothing to say. Your argument is complete, and if I were free to speak I should not hesitate a moment; but I am not my own master in the matter. I can only ask you to trust me." [...] Can't you hear me, man? Can't you understand? Will you never learn? Don't you know that I am sane and earnest now; that I am no lunatic in a mad fit, but a sane man fighting for his soul? Oh, hear me! hear me! Let me go! let me go! let me go!"

Renfield's first interview is marked repeatedly by him being silenced against his will. He tries his best to speak anyway, to give hints, but no one seems able to hear him. His efforts fail to be understood, his requests are left ungranted, his pleas fall on deaf ears. He fights furiously against it but is forced to give up.

It even goes further, with him seeming to deliberately regulate his own behavior as he tries different techniques out to get them to listen and give him what he wants. I was especially struck when he tries to be so calm and deliberate and logical at first, as though wary of seeming mad/a concerted effort to appear sane. Then when he gets more emotional later, Seward notes it as a sign or returning madness, proving his efforts to restrain himself and control his words were necessary as he thought.

"I fear that he does not appraise me at much. Our interview was short. When I entered his room he was sitting on a stool in the centre, with his elbows on his knees, and his face was the picture of sullen discontent. I spoke to him as cheerfully as I could, and with such a measure of respect as I could assume. He made no reply whatever. "Don't you know me?" I asked. His answer was not reassuring: "I know you well enough; you are the old fool Van Helsing. I wish you would take yourself and your idiotic brain theories somewhere else. Damn all thick-headed Dutchmen!" Not a word more would he say, but sat in his implacable sullenness as indifferent to me as though I had not been in the room at all.

When van Helsing speaks to him again Renfield chooses to be silent. He is angry that he went unheard before, perhaps especially by a man so reputedly open-minded. When trying to communicate has failed so terribly, he gives up on it entirely. It's too late now. Mina has been bitten.

"I don't want any souls, indeed, indeed! I don't. I couldn't use them if I had them; they would be no manner of use to me. I couldn't eat them or——" He suddenly stopped and the old cunning look spread over his face, like a wind-sweep on the surface of the water. [...] I think that through the cloudiness of his insanity he saw some antagonism in me, for he at once fell back on the last refuge of such as he—a dogged silence. After a short time I saw that for the present it was useless to speak to him. He was sulky, and so I came away. [...] "Blow spiders! What's the use of spiders? There isn't anything in them to eat or"—he stopped suddenly, as though reminded of a forbidden topic. [...] "You've got their lives, you know, and you must put up with their souls!" Something seemed to affect his imagination, for he put his fingers to his ears and shut his eyes, screwing them up tightly just as a small boy does when his face is being soaped. [...] "If you only knew the problem I have to face, and that I am working out, you would pity, and tolerate, and pardon me. Pray do not put me in a strait-waistcoat. I want to think and I cannot think freely when my body is confined. I am sure you will understand!"

When Seward comes to speak to him multiple times, Renfield continues to seek silence. While he's willing to talk a great deal more than he was for van Helsing, he repeatedly avoids the subject of souls or of drinking. And when he thinks that Seward is getting him to talk too much he falls into total silence. Failure to communicate marks this conversation as well, both with Renfield deliberately refusing to engage the way Seward wants at times, and also with him appealing to Seward's understanding at the end. Sure, he sort of gets his wish that time, since he doesn't end up restrained, but the irony of him claiming certainty in Seward's ability to understand him is only increased by Seward's efforts to do just that. He does make some progress, realizing that the Count may have visited Renfield, but he still never sees what Renfield was trying to show him. He's looking from his own perspective and analyzing along his own lines of thought/things Renfield isn't saying, but he's not listening to what Renfield wants him to hear.

Renfield being forcibly silenced comes up again here as well, first from speaking (though it's unclear whether the refusal to say 'drink' is enforced externally or internally), and then from moving. While the straightjacket doesn't stop him from using his voice it prevents him from thinking clearly, 'silencing' his mind. This is something else that happens to Mina tonight. Furthermore, the straightjacket relegates him firmly to the zone of 'violent madman' and no one will listen to him when he's in that state, no matter how loud he screams. So it silences him that way too. Also, of course, the threat of it shuts him up here, gets him defaulting back to behaviors he knows will forestall it.

Now... on to Mina.

I remember hearing the sudden barking of the dogs and a lot of queer sounds, like praying on a very tumultuous scale, from Mr. Renfield's room, which is somewhere under this. And then there was silence over everything, silence so profound that it startled me, and I got up and looked out of the window. All was dark and silent, the black shadows thrown by the moonlight seeming full of a silent mystery of their own. Not a thing seemed to be stirring, but all to be grim and fixed as death or fate; so that a thin streak of white mist, that crept with almost imperceptible slowness across the grass towards the house, seemed to have a sentience and a vitality of its own. I think that the digression of my thoughts must have done me good, for when I got back to bed I found a lethargy creeping over me. [...] The poor man was more loud than ever, and though I could not distinguish a word he said, I could in some way recognise in his tones some passionate entreaty on his part. Then there was the sound of a struggle, and I knew that the attendants were dealing with him. I was so frightened that I crept into bed, and pulled the clothes over my head, putting my fingers in my ears. I was not then a bit sleepy, at least so I thought; but I must have fallen asleep, for, except dreams, I do not remember anything until the morning, when Jonathan woke me. [...] I was very anxious about him, and I was powerless to act; my feet, and my hands, and my brain were weighted, so that nothing could proceed at the usual pace. [...] Then it occurred to me that I had shut the window before I had come to bed. I would have got out to make certain on the point, but some leaden lethargy seemed to chain my limbs and even my will. I lay still and endured; that was all. I closed my eyes, but could still see through my eyelids. [...] I could see it like smoke—or with the white energy of boiling water—pouring in, not through the window, but through the joinings of the door. It got thicker and thicker, till it seemed as if it became concentrated into a sort of pillar of cloud in the room, through the top of which I could see the light of the gas shining like a red eye. Things began to whirl through my brain just as the cloudy column was now whirling in the room,

Mina's 'nightmare' alternates between sound and silence. The sounds of dogs barking have been shown multiple times to help bring people out of vampiric trances, and at first as she listens to them and to Renfield's prayers, her mind seems clear. But then silence is enforced, smothering those sounds. Dracula seems to affect nature itself, hushing the world around her and leaving only himself free to move. It is only once Mina cannot hear anything that she begins to get sleepy and succumb to him 'silencing her mind'. But it's not complete yet, and more noise from Renfield brings her back to herself more. Unfortunately, despite her recognizing him pleasing she is unable to understand him. She dismisses it as 'madman' behavior, as something others are probably dealing with, and tries to hide from the frightening sounds. She seeks silence. Once again, as soon as things go quiet she thinks she must have fallen asleep as Dracula approaches her. Here she is 'silenced' again, and more pervasively - she cannot even make commands travel from her mind to her body let alone say anything out loud. She's unable to move or speak or think clearly. The only one who is able to act now is Dracula.

Indeed, it may not be a hard task, after all, for she herself has become reticent on the subject, and has not spoken of the Count or his doings ever since we told her of our decision.

Mina dismisses her experience as a dream. Her mind has been 'silenced', unable to connect the dots and unable to understand what happened. The next day, she doesn't try to speak to Jonathan about anything to do with the Count. He tries to reassure himself that this means she wants silence, but that's not the case. Even when she reinforces it herself, it isn't something she wants. It's forced upon her, whether by Dracula or by the well-intentioned exclusion from the men... and as a result her experiences aren't understood and she isn't protected.

[noddaduck]

Wish Rumplestiltskin had been in Dimension 20’s Neverafter. He’s the one of few villains whose name is the title. It’s technically his story. He might be powerful enough to know he’s in a story and have memories of other Once Upon a Times. He canonically rips himself in half in some versions of his story.

Honestly, he was my self insert as I watched Neverafter. I always make up a character and imagine they are in there when I’m watching D20, and little Rumplestiltskin, AKA Eiman Imp always holds on to that glass necklace and glass ring he takes from the miller’s daughter. He’s grown attached after all this time, he always wants to help her normally but can’t. Whenever he doesn’t die by his own hand at the end of the story he has to flee the country.

He’s got the hermit background so he can have already died and gone through other Times before the story started and the characters met. He has to break away from his innate deal magic to make his own unselfish decisions every new Time, but after all this time he’s learned magic through science and is a wizard. When the whole group dies he’s already done this before and might actually know the rest of them are doing it too now. He hops into the new Time right at the end of his story and manages to get the ending where he just flies away on a comically large ladle, so now he gets a magic item for flying.

He knows how bad it is to be a villain, even if he doesn’t know what it’s like to be a side character. Once he gets his book, he figures out how to make deals with his villainous role. He tries to heal the Little Mermaid, writes out a whole contract. Maybe it works. He sacrifices the party’s memories of him to Baba Yaga, but makes sure to leave whatever character growth they might have gotten arguing “it belongs to them now, they used me to make it, I don’t own that so I can’t give it”. He wanted so badly to choose to be kind and be loved for it, a life made by actually being the self that has grown outside the narrative.

When the story is over and everyone is traveling toward the new story he veers of just a little bit to the very beginning of time, saves the dinosaurs and becomes Arthur Aguefort but with ADHD instead of Autism. He goes up to the very first sentient beings as soon as they have the basics of communication down and hands them business cards with Eiman Imp on them.

When the Miller first starts bragging about his daughter spinning straw into gold Eiman dumps a pile of gold fibers on his head and ensures the story simply never happens. He gets deal magic back but he can use it for good and be creative with prices. Somebody dies while Eiman is hanging out with the Big Bad Wolf and Eiman brings him back in exchange for all the “interesting times” in his future, thus ensuring the man can go back to his family and live the most normal, non-disastrous life ever. Somebody else has to figure out that’s what Eiman did cause he never tells. If any of the other party members reach out for his help he is already there. Roselyn wants a spinning wheel for practice? Button of Summoning Infinite Spinning Wheels. Ylfa can have a dinosaur.

[mybeautifulchristianjourney]

Devotional Hours Within the Bible

by J.R. Miller

The Outcome of Lot’s Choice (Genesis 19)

Abraham ended his intercession, and the two angels went on their way. In the evening they reached the gate of Sodom. There they found Lot sitting in his place, ready to show hospitality to strangers. When he saw the heavenly messengers approaching, he arose and greeted them cordially and warmly. He invited them to stop with him in his house as his guests. Lot understood the laws of hospitality and failed not in practicing them. The men at first declined to stay in Lot’s house, saying they would abide in the city square but when they were pressed, they accepted Lot’s invitation and went home with him. Lot then made a feast in their honor.

The coming of the strangers to Lot’s house became known outside, and during the evening the people of the town gathered about the door, apparently in a wild and boisterous mob. This shows the character of the inhabitants of the city, and gives us a hint of the wickedness that prevailed there. Peter speaks of Lot as righteous, and says that he was greatly distressed by all the immorality and wickedness around him ; and that he was distressed by the wickedness he saw and heard day after day.

Lot is a problem. He is spoken of as a righteous man and one that preached righteousness. Yet his preaching seems to have had little power to make the people better. His own life appears to have been blameless, and yet it had no influence on the community. The people were not made better by it. It probably is not hard, however, to account for the ineffectiveness of Lot’s righteousness and his preaching. He revealed the kind of man he was in his treatment of Abraham. He showed his selfishness in taking advantage of Abraham’s generosity, and choosing the richest and best portion of the country for his own, choosing the garden valley and leaving the rugged hills for Abraham.

Lot’s choice revealed his worldliness, as well as his selfishness. The people of the Jordan valley were exceedingly wicked. Lot knew the character of the towns in this garden spot and yet he overlooked this in his desire for the wealth that he could gather there. Not only did he choose the rich valley but he soon pushed his way into the depths of the wickedness, for he took his family into the city of Sodom and became identified with the place, doing business in it, one of the ruling men in the city.

One, to be an effective preacher in an evil community, must keep himself separate from the evil. He must not be a partaker in it. Those who would preach unselfishness must be unselfish. It is evident that Lot was a lover of money, of luxury, of gain. A home may be a blessing and a center of influence in a community but to be so it must be a home of prayer, of love and of all righteousness. There are evidences that the home of Lot was not kept sacred and separate. Its doors were open to the social life of Sodom. Lot’s children made their friends among the Sodom young people. His daughters were married to evil men of the place. It is easy to see that his home had not made itself a power for good in the community. It was not known in the city, as a home of prayer. It was just like the other homes of Sodom!

All this explains the fact that however good a man Lot was in his personal life he had no effectiveness as a preacher of righteousness. He loved the world and lived in the world and for the world and therefore could have no influence upon the men of his community! He showed courage that night when his guests were so insulted by the wicked mob. He went out to plead with them and to try to persuade them to depart. He showed loyal hospitality, and was ready to pay any price to protect his guests. But the people only laughed at him and assaulted him. It would have gone hard with Lot perhaps he would have lost his life had not the angels, his guests, interfered to save him, bringing him inside, shutting the door and smiting the mob with blindness, so that they were powerless to do anything.

The angels then began at once to prepare to get Lot and his family away from the city before its doom would be visited upon it. First, they inquired about his household. “Do you have any other relatives here in the city? Get them out of this place for we will destroy the city completely. The stench of the place has reached the Lord, and he has sent us to destroy it!” The angels wished that all of Lot’s family might be spared from the overthrow which was impending.

It is not enough to secure our own safety; we must also eagerly seek the safety of all who belong to us. Lot hastened out in the darkness of the night and sought the homes of his sons-in-law and, arousing them, told them of the doom that was about to be visited upon the city. “Quick, get out of the city! The Lord is going to destroy it!” “But his sons-in-law thought he was joking!” They only laughed at him. They did not believe his message nor heed his warning. It is sad when a good man has no influence, even upon his own family! Lot had not begun soon enough to have his children trust in him and respect his counsels.

A man rose in a prayer-meeting one evening, when the topic was “Home Religion,” and asked prayers for his sons. In the early days of his home life, he was not a Christian. He did not love God nor honor Him. He never prayed in his home. He lived without God. He indulged in profanity, in bad temper, in strong drink. In that atmosphere, his children were born and spent their childhood. After a good many years the father came under the influence of the Spirit of God, and was saved. His conversion was genuine and thorough. He became a man of faith and prayer. He put away his evil habits and was an earnest follower of his new Master. Then he tried to bring his family to Christ. But his children had learned the ways which he had shown them by his example, and had so long lived in these ways that he could not win them to the new life he had chosen. They only laughed at his pleadings. He came into the prayer-meeting and told the whole story, asking the Christian people to help him.

If we would have our children safe with us in the shelter of Divine love we must begin in their earliest years by teaching them the Divine commandments and by living ourselves near to Christ. When they are out in the world, absorbed in its life it is too late to fly to them in some time of alarm and beg them to come to Christ. Lot had to go away from Sodom and leave his two sons-in-law to perish in its destruction!

At the breaking of the day the angels hastened Lot. “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the destruction of the city!” There was no hope now that the city would be saved. Abraham had prayed that if there were ten good people found in it the city would be spared for the sake of the ten. But there were not ten righteous to be found. Yet while the city could not be spared, the good who were in it would be gathered out before the doom fell. It was so also before the flood came the saving of Noah and his family was provided for. It was the same before Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD the Christians were led out of the city and found refuge in Pella. So it will be at the end of the world. Not one believer in Christ shall perish in the destruction that shall come upon the wicked. Christ will send His angels and gather out all His own.

It seems strange that Lot lingered when the angels had urged him to flee. Why did he linger? Did he doubt that the destruction of the city was imminent? No! but all Lot’s interests were in Sodom, all the property he had amassed. He was probably very wealthy. If he fled from the city he must leave all this behind him, and his heart clung to it. It is hard for those who love the world and money to part with it. We have an example of this in the story of the young man who came to Jesus asking the way into the kingdom. He was told to give up all that he had, and let it be used to help the poor, and then follow Christ. He longed to make the right choice but he could not, and the last we see of him he is clinging to his money and turning his back on Christ.

The angels had almost to drag Lot and his wife and daughters away from their home and from the city. Angels are gentle and kindly messengers but here was a time when gentleness would have been most unkind. “When Lot still hesitated, the angels seized his hand and the hands of his wife and two daughters and rushed them to safety outside the city, for the Lord was merciful.”

If we understood the meaning of our troubles and chastenings, our disappointments, the blighting of our earthly hopes, the severe things in our lives which so often break into our ease and comfort we would find that many of them are God’s angels, sent to save us from ruin! Even stern treatment is kindness, when it saves us from destruction. Anything, however painful or stern, that tears us away from sinful attachments and brings us into the way of life is a Divine mercy.

When the angels had brought Lot and his wife outside the city they bade them escape for their lives. The terrible storm of fire was about to burst upon the plain. What the exact agency of destruction was, is not known. Josephus, giving the Jewish tradition, ascribes it to lightning. An Assyrian legend also says that a terrible thunderstorm caused the destruction. Others say an earthquake was the cause. The Bible account is very striking and simple. “The Lord rained down fire and burning sulfur from the heavens on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, eliminating all life people, plants, and animals alike!”

This judgment broke suddenly and the angels had commanded Lot and his wife and daughters to, “Run for your lives! Do not stop anywhere in the plain. And do not look back! Escape to the mountain, or you will die!” They were not even to look behind them, nor were they to stay or slacken their flight anywhere on the Plain. They were not to rest until they had reached the mountain.

This is still the gospel message. We are in danger of God’s judgment and must escape from it if we would live. We must not stay anywhere in all the plain of sin. There is no safe spot, no shelter anywhere, no place where the fires of judgment will not fall. Some people would like to compromise ; they are willing to flee from some sins but not from others. There are some professed Christians who like to stay on the borders of their old life. They are continually asking whether they can do this or that, go here or there and still be Christians. They want to keep just as near to Sodom as possible so as not to be burnt up in Sodom’s destruction. The answer to all such questions is, “Run for your lives! Do not stop anywhere in the plain. And do not look back! Escape to the mountain, or you will die!” Even the borders are unsafe! The only safe place is the mountain, the mountain where Christ’s Cross stands!

Lot ventured to make a request, to ask for a special favor. The mountain seemed far away. The flight to it seemed greater than he could make. So he pointed to a little city that was near at hand, and begged that this might be an asylum for him. It was only a little city, and he pleaded that it might be spared from the doom of all the cities of the Plain, just to be a refuge for him. Lot did not show much faith in God, in making this request for a refuge near at hand. He certainly had not much of that faith which Abraham had, when he left all and went out, not knowing where he went but trusting God to take care of him.

Lot reluctantly left Sodom but he wanted to choose his own refuge. There are a great many who make the same mistake. They want to be Christians but they are not willing to be brave, heroic Christians, cutting loose from all their old life and following Christ to the mountains in heroic ventures of faith. They are afraid to give up a wrong business which pays them well and depend upon the Lord to provide for them. Such timid faith never reaches anything noble in Christian life or character. God may still accept us but we are throwing away our own opportunities of doing a great work, and of attaining a high character. Little faith wins only little blessings .

Lot’s request was granted, the doom upon Zoar annulled, and Lot was allowed to flee there. We should note, however, that God sometimes lets people have their own way, which seems an easier way to them when it is not really best for them. He sometimes answers even unwise prayers and gives us what we crave, though it is not what He would give to us if we had more faith and courage and were able for the harder thing. In this very case, Lot soon found out that he had made a mistake in fleeing to Zoar, and he was glad enough to leave his unsafe refuge and go at last to the mountain to which the angels had bidden him to flee at first. God may sometimes let us have our own way, though it is not the best, until we learn our mistake by our own sad experience.

Lot’s wife ‘looked back’. There had been a specific command, “Do not look back!” The meaning was, that the storm of death would move so swiftly that even a moment’s delay in their flight would imperil their safety. Why Lot’s wife looked back is not explained. Was it curiosity to see the nature of the terrible destruction that she heard roaring behind her? Or was it her dismay as she thought of her beautiful home, with all its wealth of furnishing and decoration, and all her jewels and garments and other possessions which were now being consumed in the great conflagration?

Our Lord’s use of the mistake of Lot’s wife was to teach the peril of desiring to save things out of the world lest in doing so we lose all. “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”

The inference from our Lord’s use of the incident would seem to be that she was appalled at the thought of leaving and losing all her beloved possessions, and paused in her flight and looked back, with the hope that possibly she might yet run back and snatch some of the ornaments or gems something, at least, from the awful destruction. “But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt!”

We should not miss the lesson which our Lord Himself teaches us from the tragic fate of this woman. We cannot have both worlds ! Lot’s wife could have escaped with her husband and her daughters but she could escape only by resolutely and determinedly leaving everything she had in Sodom. Her love for her possessions, cost her her life.

Just so, there are thousands today, to whom God’s message comes, “Run for your lives! Do not stop anywhere in the plain. And do not look back! Escape to the mountain, or you will die!” They somewhat desire to follow Christ but their love for the world is so intense that they cannot give it up they cannot renounce it. They must decide, however, which they will renounce Christ or the world. They cannot keep both!

In Lot we have an example of one who was almost lost and yet saved. In Lot’s wife we have an example of one who was almost saved and yet lost. She was lost because she loved the world. She looked back, lingering there until it was too late to escape.

There is a picture of an artist sitting on an ocean rock which had been left bare by the retreating waves. There he sat, sketching on his canvas the beautiful scenery sky, earth, and sea all unconscious that the tide had turned and had cut him off from the shore and was rapidly covering the rock on which he sat. The tempest, the waves, the rising sea were forgotten, so absorbed was he in his picture. Even the cries of his friends as they shouted from the shore were unheard.

So men grow absorbed in this world, and perceive not the torrents of judgment onrolling, and hear not the calls of friends warning them of their peril. So they stand until overwhelmed with the waves of destruction!

[grandpasessions]

Only by taking into serious consideration the biblical and Greek patristic concept of the original destiny or theosis of man can we gain a deeper understanding of how badly the West's theologians have misunderstood Eastern theology's focus on man's redemption from death and corruptibility. Having eudaemonistic conceptions of human destiny and believing death to be from God, the West is unable to grasp the moral significance of the patristic doctrine of salvation from death.

This is to be expected, however, since the West's theologians view man's inclination to self-satisfaction as natural. And since death is the underpinning of that inclination, they do not understand how death could be a moral obstruction to man's living in accordance with the Western notion of his original destiny, that is, selfish eudaemonia.

When we take into account the fact that man was created to become perfect in freedom and love as God is perfect, that is, to love God and his neighbor in the same unselfish way that God loves the world, it becomes apparent that the death of the soul, that is, the loss of divine grace, and the corruption of the body have rendered such a life of perfection impossible. In the first place, the deprivation of divine grace impairs the mental powers of the newborn infant; thus, the mind of man has a tendency toward evil from the beginning.

This tendency grows strong when the ruling force of corruption becomes perceptible in the body. Through the power of death and the devil, sin that reigns in man gives rise to fear and anxiety and to the general instinct of self-preservation or survival. Thus, Satan manipulates man's fear and his desire for self-satisfaction, raising up sin in him, in other words, transgression against the divine will regarding unselfish love, and provoking man to stray from his original destiny.

Because of death, man must first attend to the necessities of life in order to stay alive. In this struggle, self-interests are unavoidable. Thus, man is unable to live in accordance with his original destiny of unselfish love. This state of subjection under the reign of death is the root of man's weaknesses in which he becomes entangled in sin at the urging of the demons and by his own consent.

Resting in the hands of the devil, the power of the fear of death is the root from which self-aggrandizement, egotism, hatred, envy, and other similar passions spring up. In addition to the fact that man "subjects himself to anything in order to avoid dying," he constantly fears that his life is without meaning. Thus, he is strives to demonstrate to himself and to others that it has worth.

He loves flatterers and hates his detractors. He seeks his own and envies the success of others. He loves those who love him and hates those who hate him. He seeks security and happiness in wealth, glory, bodily pleasures, and he may even imagine that his destiny is a self-seeking eudaemonistic and passionless enjoyment of the presence of God regardless of whether or not he has true, active, unselfish love for others.

Fear and anxiety render man an individualist.

And when he identifies himself with a communal or social ideology it, too, is out of individualistic, self-seeking motives because he perceives his self-satisfaction and eudaemonia as his destiny. Indeed, it is possible for him to be moved by ideological principles of vague love for mankind despite the fact that mortal hatred for his neighbor nests in his heart. These are the works of the "flesh" under the sway of death and Satan.

Ancestral Sin John Romanides

[eye-of-yelough]

philia 2 & 4, agape 3 & 5 for whoever you feel like!!

yippeeee answering philia for Leo Hawke and agape for Slater Adaar cos these questions are great for them…

Does your OC find it easy to make friends? Or are there barriers to them doing so? If so then are these issues of inclination, communication, or something else entirely?

making friends, leo doesn’t have much trouble with, it’s keeping them that’s difficult. just an angry person with a shitty personality that Will come out sooner or later. those she perceives as in need of protection, bethany, merrill, anders, or those she puts on a pedestal, isabela, anders as well, will be getting the full overbearing force of his guard doglike devotion and it’s . a lot. he drinks a lot and it brings out only the worst. he makes weird sexual passes despite not even being interested and riles up friend and stranger alike just to get a reaction when she’s bored. really not an easy person to get along with.

Is your OC able to build close friendships with people very different from themselves? Perhaps in terms of culture, age, or personality?

equally strong personalities, aveline or sebastian for example, don’t gel with her, especially with clashing viewpoints. he WILL be telling you every passing opinion with no regard for your feelings. so, generally, no, but there are exceptions. merrill is very different to her and has some traits he doesn’t like, but she’d do pretty much anything for that girl.

but most interesting is the varric dynamic cos they’re so weird about each other. she hates that little man but doesn’t hesitate to call him her best friend. i think they say things to each other that has them lying in bed at night, wondering what the fuck that meant and how they knew it would have such an impact. ironically they do it almost completely by accident. water and gasoline, those two, they just don’t fucking work. varric lives behind his mask, leo is authentic to a fault, etc etc. very different people. varric is one of the only people his saviour complex doesn’t trigger At All, to the point it’s the other way around. varric is very devoted to hawke regardless of approval, personality, and political views, and that disgusts and freaks leo the fuck out in equal measure because she just wants to punch him most of the time.

To what extent does your OC believe in the value (or even existence) of true altruism? Do they see an unselfish concern for the welfare of others as being naïve or foolish? Or as a moral quality to which people should aspire?

slater time teehee. there is definitely something to be said about wether she even believes in altruism, i’ll have to think about that. but ultimately, yes, it’s a worthy goal that all, particularly herself, should aspire to because uhhh. she struggles with it!

Does your OC find it easy to empathise with their enemies? Or do they see it as important to dehumanise them in order to combat them with sufficient determination?

that low empathy, black and white worldview autism stops that in its tracks. sometimes she can empathise with someone’s logic - like the mayor of crestwood flooding his village to purge the blighted refugees and protect the uninfected - but the emotional, the irrational, she finds difficult to grasp. she struggles not to dehumanise people, and feels relief that actually having bigbad enemies gives her an excuse to do so without feeling bad.

[hunting-songs]

The Animal In You ! Tagged By: A little wildbirdie! Tagging: @bewitchingbaker @skarletchains @gyofukuki @muddsludge @zealctry @kiigan @YEONBAN @distortedkilling @lightfaithed @saiakv @uzumakiuser ...AND YOU ! Sooo, does your result matches well with Senritsus? You Are a Prairie Dog ! Prairie Dog Characteristics:  Communicative • Cautious • Meddlesome Scientific Name:  Synonyms ludovicianus Collective Term: An association of prairie dogs 

Insatiable Curiosity If the words "infectiously mischievous" remind you of anyone, chances are that you have a prairie dog in your life. Petite, attractive and intelligent, this creature's free time is spent in bucolic surroundings, playing socially bonding games with friends and family. But despite its insatiable curiosity, the prairie dog is cautious about venturing into the unknown and the conflict between its homebody tendencies and restless intellect defines its personality.

The Prairie Dog's Social Life Like most insectivorous creatures, prairie dogs are wary of strangers and are anxious to turn them into allies. Even though it leaves an indelible mark on its community, only a handful of people ever claim to truly know a prairie dog. This subtle alienation distresses the gregarious prairie dog who suffers its periodic bouts of loneliness in silence.

As letter writers, prairie dogs are without equal. Typical of the social animals, they are generous and unselfish with their time and find sharing to be a source of pleasure. Their personal lives are well organized and they confidently tackle life's challenges while building a successful career. Prairie dogs derive a great deal of pleasure from nature and return the favor by conscientiously recycling and encouraging their community to do the same. They spend most of their recreational time at play with close friends and avoid competitive sports requiring physical contact. Instead, they prefer group activities that cement social bonding, like card and board games.

A Prairie Dog Needs Balance Prairie dogs love music and dancing. Outdoor concerts are a special treat where they draw energy from the crowd under an open sky. They are also creative and enthusiastic lovers who take pleasure in their partner's pleasure. They are not drawn to any physical type in particular, but seek lovers to whom they can connect on a spiritual level, and it is with small woodland personalities -- cottontails, deer and foxes -- that the prairie dog finds its natural balance. 

It is wont to take the art of lovemaking less seriously than one might expect, viewing sex as simply another opportunity to communicate, and this seemingly disinterested approach can disappoint a casual lover who expects something kinkier from this otherwise enthusiastic little creature.

Prairie Dogs in the Wild Prairie dogs inhabit the plains of North America and live in large "cities," measuring up to two hundred miles long and containing 400 million individuals. Such large populations require an exceptional social communication system, and the prairie dogs live in highly organized groups.

Recent research has suggested that prairie dogs have a vocabulary more extensive than any other animal except man. With up to five sounds to name predators, prairie dogs also use adjectives to modify these nouns. An approaching man generates a particular alarm call, while a man with a gun elicits a slightly different vocalization.

Although they live in such vast cities, individuals rarely venture from their individual coteries, which cover about an acre. Since most of the individuals within a coterie are related, their social bonds are very strong. When members of a coterie meet, they exchange ritual kisses: Each nibbles the other, and prolonged mutual grooming begins.

Careers & Hobbies Social work • Teaching • Journalism • Psychology Dancing • Cinema • Reading • Nature •Gardening

Love & Friendship Prairie dogs are creative and enthusiastic lovers, taking pleasure in their partner's pleasure. They are not drawn to any physical type in particular, but seek lovers to whom they can connect on a spiritual level. So, it is with small woodland personalities -- cottontails, deer, and foxes -- that the prairie dog finds its natural balance.

So you're in love with a prairie dog? Well, here's something you should know. It can be a frustrating long-term love partner with an annoying habit of allowing platonic friends to distract from its primary relationship. You'll have to contend with being just a cog in a large network of friends and old lovers, all of which whom the prairie dog loves as much as it does you.

Because its lover must share its affections, the prairie dog is advised to find a mate who has its own social network, like the gregarious otters, deer and cottontails.

Best Mates For a prairie dog Cottontail • Mole • Prairie Dog

[the-weaving-cryptid]

"Old Time Burials" [1]

The following transcripts are from the second Foxfire book from the chapter "Old Time Burials." Trigger warnings for death, funerals and dead bodies.

While reading the following transcripts, please keep in mind that Appalachia has a unique dialect. Many of the words and phrases shown may be foreign to you. They are not misspellings; they are a reflection of Appalachia's dialect.

All transcripts are indented. Any quotes of peoples direct words are bold and italic. My own commentary will be normal text.

I'm making a particular note of the following transcript, because it reflects how society has lost its sense of community and empathy. Even if you choose not to read the rest of the transcripts below the cut, I encourage you to read the following.

While working on this chapter, we learned to value the qualities of unselfishness and concern that people had for others in the time of death and to appreciate the unlimited time they gave of themselves. Showing their genuine sympathy, respect, and love for the family of the deceased, people traveled great distances in wagons and on horseback to attend wakes, help dig and fill the grave, make the coffin, wash and dress the body, and to help the family in any possible way. And they did it, usually, free of charge. As Margaret Norton said, "Th'family didn't have t'pay nothin'. They dug th'grave free of charge. Men went in together and dug th'grave. And you made th'burying clothes, and you made th'box t'be buried in, and there wadn't no payin' goin' on. Th'preacher never charged for a funeral- for preachin' the funeral. They'll charge for funerals now, preachers will. They're not supposed to. See, most preachers is paid by salary, and that's one of his jobs. He ain't supposed t'charge y'. But many of'em'll take anything."

As soon as a person died, a number of things were traditionally done almost simultaneously: a bell was tolled announcing the death; a neighbor was contracted to produce a casket (unless it had been made in advance under the supervision of the person who had died); relatives who lived away from the community were notified as quickly as possible- sometimes by means of a letter edged with a black border; and the body was washed and laid out in preparation for the wake that would take place that night in the home of the deceased. The "settin' up" was held in the home since, as Maude Shope said, "They didn't have no funeral homes t'take'em to, y'know. If one was t'die here last night, we laid'im out. What neighbors was already here 'cause somebody'uz sick would strip th'bed off and put'im on a plain plank till y'got yer casket." Most of our contacts told us the number of times the bell tolled depended on the age of the person who had died. Ethel Corn, for example, said, "Quick as the news went that they was dead, why somebody would go ring th'bells. And then they'd toll th'bells for however many years old they were. You could count th'bells a'tollin' and you'd know just exact how old that person was."

The thing that stands out the most to me here is the fact that small communities made somebody's death a community-wide event. Showing up to the funeral was just the bare minimum. People made it a point to help the sick during their final days, as well as the family of the sick. Even after death the family's neighbors would contribute to make the wake and burial process easier.

This expression of sympathy and compassion is a rare experience these days. People will show up for funerals, offer the family of the deceased food as a sign of compassion and things like that. Nobody goes to such great lengths, as it has been recorded in this book, to help a friend or neighbor these days. Even in the largest of families, it is almost always left to a small few to sort out the funeral arrangements.

Even pastors, the people who are supposed to be the most compassionate and generous towards their communities, will demand payment or a donation to their church to perform any services for a funeral these days.

It's honestly disgusting to think about how many people profit so much off the dead and their grieving families. The viewing, burial, service fees, transport, casket, embalming and other aspects of a funeral can cost thousands of dollars. Putting the dead to rest shouldn't cost people so much money- especially when families are grieving.

By the time the casket was delivered at the home of the deceased, many of the neighbors in the community would have gathered around those who were mourning. "They'd go spend th'night, y'know," said Mrs. Tom McDowell. "They'd go set up of a night and sing, and people'd come in. And when they died, somebody'd go and toll th'bell at th'church. And that let th'community know. If we'uz workin' in th'fields and somebody died, we quit and we went. Tom's grandmother had a big old sheep horn. And when she died, they got up and blowed that horn. Now we heard that all around. They blew th'horn that noon, and th'horses heard it, they all come in. People didn't work no more till she was buried." "The neighbors usually did everything," said Mrs. E. H. Brown. "Usually they'd be someone go spend the night with them the first night. They thought they'd be lonesome or something." The night following the death, it was customary to have a wake, or a "settin'up with th'dead." In fact, this is often still done today. When we asked Fidel Crisp why, he remarked, "Show your respect to th'dead man is all I know. It's th'respect they have for you after you die. And they set up with'im on that account. But now y'die, they don't give a damn whether you live or walk."

The part about spending the night with the dead is intriguing. To many southern and Appalachian folk, it's believed that the dead need time to process their own death and pass on. "They thought they'd be lonesome or something" implies that the dead are still present shortly after their death occurs, and they want comfort. Spending time with the deceased after death wasn't just about comfort, but also respect.

Digging and filling in the grave was a sacred act that was often reserved for friends and neighbors who were close to the family. Ada Kelly verified this by saying, "Friends dug the grave and filled it up afterwards. And some do here now. They used t'be a bunch a'men had tools, shovels, and ever'thing that they needed t'dig graves. And some one person usually had charge of those tools. Different ones in th'community would dig th'grave. It was always very sacred. It'uz just a custom." Florence Brooks added, "They'd just carry th'casket up t'th'cemetery, and they'd have th'grave already dug. All th'neighbors helped dig it. They'uz a lot a'difference back then. Seemed like people had better feelin's for other people than they do now. Now they don't care if y'set up by yourself all night or not."

This is what I have been talking about this entire time: respect and compassion. Throughout these parts of the chapter it is constantly reiterated that all of these customs have meaning. It was a standard to give beloved members of the community a good send-off.

When reading this chapter I felt a sense of melancholy. It's amazing to see how much people cared about their neighbors way before profiting of the deceased was normalized, but it's a sad reality knowing that people just don't care like they used to.

[justforbooks]

When Robert McCrum asked PD James if she believed in original sin, she replied: “I don’t think we come into the world as unselfish, kind and loving. I think we come in as selfish little animals.” This bleak assessment won’t surprise anyone who has read A Taste for Death, a book in which almost all of the characters are despised by their creator. Early on, we encounter the alcoholic mother of a young boy called Darren. She is portrayed as physically and morally repulsive: “She was lying on her back, naked except for a short wrap over dressing gown from which one blue-veined breast had escaped and lay quivering like a jellyfish against the pink satin.” She snores “with small guttural sounds”, we’re told she stinks. What we’re not told is how and why she ended up in such a mess – because the person telling the story doesn’t seem to give a damn.

James shows more concern for her villain, but only to the extent that he is someone who must be stopped. Dominic Swayne, killer of the MP Berowne, is cartoonish in his evil, veering on ridiculous. Here he is deciding to spare the life of poor Darren: “The boy would be allowed to live. He savoured for one extraordinary moment a new sensation of power, and it seemed to him sweeter, more exhilarating than even the moment when he had finally turned to gaze down on Berowne’s body. This was what it felt like to be a god. He had the power to take life or to bestow it. And this time he had chosen to be merciful …”

It’s not just that he can’t be counted among standard, safe, decent human beings – he’s inhuman. When James isn’t showing him as a conceited god, she’s dropping vaguely homophobic hints about his home life with the “disgusting” Bruno (“with his huge half-naked chest on which a lucky charm, a silver goat’s head on a chain, moved repulsively among the hairs”). There’s one brief flash of sympathy for Swayne when he explains that his father forced him to take part in a paternity test, but even this is immediately dismissed with his usual overpitched arrogance: “He was a terrible man,” he says, “but I got my own back.” The result is as flat and empty.

Swayne is supposed to be a monster. Maybe my complaint about James’s writing is no more than that James did what she set out to do. But she doesn’t limit her opprobrium to addicts and murderers, she also ignores the humanity of the average person: those working in public housing, or community social workers (“whatever that might mean,” writes James, who sat in the House of Lords as a Conservative). Her contempt leads her to clumsy writing – bad writing, even. There’s an absurd scene where a lefty careers adviser tries to persuade a young would-be detective not to become a policewoman. The dialogue reaches its cringe crescendo when the adviser says: “I’m afraid, Kate, that recent research shows that walking in safety has little to do with the level of policing. Why not read the pamphlet in the library, ‘Policing the inner city: a socialist solution’?”

It isn’t just that the lefty-bashing feels so gratuitously plonked into the narrative, or that libraries in the 1980s (of which I was zealous aficionado) contained no such leaflets. It’s that there’s no sense in the book that characters like the careers adviser might have any interior life that matters.

The apogee of absurdity comes in the final pages, when the same Kate (yes, she did become a policewoman) is taken hostage by Swayne. “His voice was high, brittle,” we are told, “the eyes large and bright as if he were on drugs.” He doesn’t start swinging on the chandeliers, but only because there aren’t any; instead he smashes all the crockery while gloating about his previous murders. Such melodrama feels a long way from the cold, matter-of-fact opening.

I didn’t really mind making the long journey to this silly ending. There’s enough good storytelling to make the 600 pages zip by. There are a few moments of real horror and some enjoyably snobby passages about architecture and coffee. But there are just too many failures in empathy and credibility to make A Taste for Death at all convincing.

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