#also all the people I graduated with who never matured past 15 and therefore have done no self reflection ever and ain't gonna start now

[romericas]

having thoughts about Arthur, Francis, and Antonio being relatively young teenagers when they start colonizing the world, like Antonio only being around 15 or so physically, Francis somewhere around the same, and Arthur only being like 13. this is not a "feel bad for the colonizers because they were babies UwU" this is a "being an adolescent and believing wholeheartedly that you are correct in your perceptions of the world and those around you and being encouraged by the adults in your government, but still not being mentally old enough to understand the full weight of your actions and then later refusing to acknowledge the full realities of the atrocities you committed at such a young age and the tragedy of that because it's hard"

I'm talking about thirteen-year-old Arthur deciding he's mature enough to take care of a literal child and is startled by how much he's forced to physically and emotionally grow up in the process of trying to raise Alfred only to watch him later follow in Arthur's imperialist footsteps. I'm talking about Francis being a shitty and distant parental figure to Matthew because he was too immature for the responsibility, shedding it at the first opportunity and still not understanding the full extent of the harm he's caused as an adult. Antonio taking on more and more kids because he likes having people who look up to him and don't call him on his shitty actions, who are little enough that he can just ignore them if/when they do and say things that he doesn't like, pretending that he's being a perfect parent to feed his ego and letting the fact that parenting is difficult excuse his shitty actions so he doesn't have to think about them too hard

like also imagine how it changes the dynamic during the revolutionary war if Arthur is barely 18, still a teenager in most regards himself, fighting against a physically 13 year old Alfred and the amount of cognitive dissonance happening for him to say that Alfred isn't old enough to be independent, when he himself was trying to raise a child at the same developmental age

just them being young and thinking that they're doing terrible things because it's all for the right reasons and not knowing how to confront that as adult, especially when faced with their adult children who reflect all their actions back at them

[askyaboyrichie-blog]

richie?

It should be noted that I've upvoted every single person who's disagreed with me here, as far as I know. That said. In 7th grade, I took an SAT test without preparing for it at all, it was spur-of-the-moment, I knew about it about an hour ahead of time and didn't do any research or anything. I scored higher on it than the average person using it to apply for college in my area. An IQ test has shown me to be in the 99.9th percentile for IQ. This is the highest result the test I was given reaches; anything further and they'd consider it to be within the margin of error for that test. My mother's boyfriend of 8 years is an aerospace engineer who graduated Virginia Tech. At the age of 15, I understand physics better than him, and I owe very little of it to him, as he would rarely give me a decent explanation of anything, just tell me that my ideas were wrong and become aggravated with me for not quite understanding thermodynamics. He's not particularly successful as an engineer, but I've met lots of other engineers who aren't as good as me at physics, so I'm guessing that's not just a result of him being bad at it. I'm also pretty good at engineering. I don't have a degree, and other than physics I don't have a better understanding of any aspect of engineering than any actual engineer, but I have lots of ingenuity for inventing new things. For example, I independently invented regenerative brakes before finding out what they were, and I was only seven or eight years old when I started inventing wireless electricity solutions (my first idea being to use a powerful infrared laser to transmit energy; admittedly not the best plan). I have independently thought of basically every branch of philosophy I've come across. Every question of existentialism which I've seen discussed in SMBC or xkcd or Reddit or anywhere else, the thoughts haven't been new to me. Philosophy has pretty much gotten trivial for me; I've considered taking a philosophy course just to see how easy it is. Psychology, I actually understand better than people with degrees. Unlike engineering, there's no aspect of psychology which I don't have a very good understanding of. I can debunk many of even Sigmund Freud's theories. I'm a good enough writer that I'm writing a book and so far everybody who's read any of it has said it was really good and plausible to expect to have published. And that's not just, like, me and family members, that counts strangers on the Internet. I've heard zero negative appraisal of it so far; people have critiqued it, but not insulted it. I don't know if that will suffice as evidence that I'm intelligent. I'm done with it, though, because I'd rather defend my maturity, since it's what you've spent the most time attacking. The following are some examples of my morals and ethical code. I believe firmly that everybody deserves a future. If we were to capture Hitler at the end of WWII, I would be against executing him. In fact, if we had any way of rehabilitating him and knowing that he wasn't just faking it, I'd even support the concept of letting him go free. This is essentially because I think that whoever you are in the present is a separate entity from who you were in the past and who you are in the future, and while your present self should take responsibility for your past self's actions, it shouldn't be punished for them simply for the sake of punishment, especially if the present self regrets the actions of the past self and feels genuine guilt about them. I don't believe in judgement of people based on their personal choices as long as those personal choices aren't harming others. I don't have any issue with any type of sexuality whatsoever (short of physically acting out necrophilia, pedophilia, or other acts which have a harmful affect on others - but I don't care what a person's fantasies consist of, as long as they recognize the difference between reality and fiction and can separate them). I don't have any issue with anybody over what type of music they listen to, or clothes they wear, etc. I know that's not really an impressive moral, but it's unfortunately rare; a great many people, especially those my age, are judgmental about these things. I love everyone, even people I hate. I wish my worst enemies good fortune and happiness. Rick Perry is a vile, piece of shit human being, deserving of zero respect, but I wish for him to change for the better and live the best life possible. I wish this for everyone. I'm pretty much a pacifist. I've taken a broken nose without fighting back or seeking retribution, because the guy stopped punching after that. The only time I'll fight back is if 1) the person attacking me shows no signs of stopping and 2) if I don't attack, I'll come out worse than the other person will if I do. In other words, if fighting someone is going to end up being more harmful to them than just letting them go will be to me, I don't fight back. I've therefore never had a reason to fight back against anyone in anything serious, because my ability to take pain has so far made it so that I'm never in a situation where I'll be worse off after a fight. If I'm not going to get any hospitalizing injuries, I really don't care. The only exception is if someone is going after my life. Even then, I'll do the minimum amount of harm to them that I possibly can in protecting myself. If someone points a gun at me and I can get out of it without harming them, I'd prefer to do that over killing them. I consider myself a feminist. I don't believe in enforced or uniform gender roles; they may happen naturally, but they should never be coerced into happening unnaturally. As in, the societal pressure for gender roles should really go, even if it'll turn out that the majority of relationships continue operating the same way of their own accord. I treat women with the same outlook I treat men, and never participate in the old Reddit "women are crazy" circlejerk, because there are multiple women out there and each have different personalities just like there are multiple men out there and each with different personalities. I don't think you do much of anything except scare off the awesome women out there by going on and on about the ones who aren't awesome. That doesn't mean I look for places to victimize women, I just don't believe it's fair to make generalizations such as the one about women acting like everything's OK when it's really not (and that's a particularly harsh example, because all humans do that). I'm kind of tired of citing these examples and I'm guessing you're getting tired of reading them, if you've even made it this far. In closing, the people who know me in real life all respect me, as do a great many people in the Reddit brony community, where I spend most of my time and where I'm pretty known for being helpful around the community. A lot of people in my segment of the community are depressed or going through hard times, and I spend a lot of time giving advice and support to people there. Yesterday someone quoted a case of me doing this in a post asking everyone what their favorite motivational/inspirational quote was, and that comment was second to the top, so I guess other people agreed (though, granted, it was a pretty low-traffic post, only about a dozen competing comments). And, uh, I'm a pretty good moderator. All that, and I think your behavior in this thread was totally assholish. So what do you think, now that you at least slightly know me?

[anohana-flower]

“SPRING DAY” BTS You Never Walk Alone Theory (updated)

This mv is very deep and I probably missed out on a lot of easter eggs. This is simply my opinion and what I believe. No one has to agree with me but I’d like everyone to take the statements into consideration. This is just a theory so none of it is confirmed. Thank you for reading my theory it took a lot of analyzing and taking apart every little easter egg in the video and other videos. Thank you and please give me credit if you use this theory for a theory of your own -Kami :3

The mv shows the boys going through the process of adulthood. Letting go of the past and waiting for one another. It connects to several other videos and photo shoots as well. Each member all have different reasons for doing what they are doing. Specifically Jin and V. Jungkook also takes a big part of this as well.

Everyone turns to the left, looks to the left, everything is going left. With the exception of Jungkook. He is looking right. He is the last to go through the process of adulthood. Everyone else is looking to the left at him because they��re waiting. Jungkook is the youngest and also the last to enter adulthood that is why he is always by himself throughout the mv. The stairs in the mv represent them climbing up to adulthood and so does the arch way in BST. Jungkook is always last with the exception of Jin and V which will come in later on. They all individually go through the process of adulthood which is why jungkook and also Rapmon were on the train to Omelas by themselves. They have to go through the train by themselves until they end up at Omelas where all of the rest are waiting.

Jin never seems to climb the stairs with everyone else and never goes through the arch way in BST. Tae also never goes through the arch way nor is he found climbing the stairs. The conclusion for this is that they both are being stopped from entering the process. Almost as if they’ve passed away before being able to join the others. Tae has passed away in Run where he drowns himself. This connects to BST because he is the only to receive the Dark Wings and is keeping Jin with him in “Heaven.” However, in Omelas the utopian has a child trapped under ground and is left alone until a few people find him and they leave the city. Tae could possibly be the child stuck in that cage especially in the Stigma teaser he was left in a cage. He is being stopped from climbing the stairs to adulthood because he is stuck as a child, dead. Jin is known for the only one not having shoes in concept photos for BST and will prove that the shoes Jimin picks up from the ocean are his. Leaving shoes at the end of the shore are symbolism of suicide or death. So does hanging up shoes on a branch. Jimin’s hair turns from a light pink to a neon pink from beginning to the end of the mv. This is because Jin had passed away before Jimin went through the process of adulthood. Jimin brings the shoes with him through the process of becoming an adult. Jin is the one to pierce Jimin’s ears which is very painful in real life and surprising a lot of teenagers do it. His way of grieving is bringing the shoes with him. EVERYWHERE. Jin is seen to seem unnoticed by everyone because. He IS the spirit of the shoes. He’s there in spirit and isn’t alive. Like most people with stress, their hair turns gray or white, like Jimin his hair turns into a highlighter pink than what it originally was. It is likely that V is apart of the shoes as well because he is always doing something similar to Jin. He seems unnoticed as well and isn’t apart of the party they have when Rapmon makes it to Omelas.

With Jin passed away, Suga is the second oldest. Jin puts his hands in a picture frame form which can lead to him imagining the pile of clothes, which can symbolize the end point or the mountain of youth. Suga is the first on it because he finally became an adult and went through the process everyone else is going through. Jin would be there with him but shown, he never climbed the stairs to adulthood. Suga is waiting for everyone to meet him up on the mountain of clothes because that is adulthood.

On the last train ride everyone is together because they finally “all” made it to the last ride together into adulthood. They all waited for eachother. Jungkook didn’t have a celebration because he was rushed into adulthood. Like in real life, Jungkook was 15 when he was a trainee and was forced to grow up quicker than everyone else. He had to rush all his schooling and mature to become who he is. He never got a true teenage life like everyone else.

Jin and Tae were seen doing the same thing like putting up their hands as if picturing something. They were picturing all the other members on the mountain of clothes. Talking about clothes, Jin wears the color yellow especially his sweaters and “Too much yellow causes loss of focus and makes it hard to complete a task. Too much yellow also can cause people to become critical and demanding.” Jin is trying to grab the attention of the boys while they are going through the process. He’s trying to stand out and get their attention.

“Bogo sipda” can be translated to “I want to see you” or “I miss you” in Korean. Jimin sings this verse several times and also has a few lines about not wanting to let go. He misses Jin and is seen to grieve a lot especially after finding the shoes. He has the shoes everywhere especially in the laundromat. Jin also holds the last verse of the song and says “Please stay, please stay there a little longer.” This is Jin’s plea to the member to not leave him. They tie the shoes to the tree which symbolizes death. He doesn’t want them to forget about him. He doesn’t want them to leave him behind because he has passed away. Jimin is especially trying so hard to hold onto Jin and possibly V’s death. He doesn’t want to leave them behind. In the last train ride Jimin is seen curled up and almost crying. He knows that they have to let him go and give him freedom but he can’t do it. The stress of leaving them behind makes his hair turn into a completely different pink.

Let’s go back to Tae for a second. He isn’t seen much in the mv HOWEVER, his special scene is the beginning. He is shown alone on the train station. Waiting. But the the train never arrives. He places his head on the rails. He knows he won’t ever get his train ride to Omelas. He won’t ever be able to experience the process of adulthood because he is stuck in time. He, like Jin, has passed away before they could experience it. He’s been waiting for the train but it never came for him. His acceptance was putting his head on the railings as if trying to sleep. Letting go of his hope. The “devil or wings” had taken over him in BST showing that he wasn’t alive or at least human anymore. He took Jin with him as well for unknown reasons and I’m guessing that Tae didn’t want to be alone. He took someone who was vulnerable and oblivious. Someone he could tempt into death. Jin got easily distracted by the painting in BST and Tae used the statue to gain his attention.

Jhope sadly doesn’t have any verses but his significance in the mv is huge. After he threw that paper airplane, Jungkook looked to the left for once. He grew up. He had a realization that he needed to become an adult quicker to catch up to the rest. Jhope was the reason for the change in thoughts for Jungkook. Hobi didn’t have to say anything to change Kook’s mind, all he had to do was let go of the airplane.

In conclusion, the members are faced with the reality of going through adulthood. Their concept was Young Forever, however, Spring Day shows a much darker scene than staying young. They are finally growing up. They individually are challenged to go through the process by themselves until they reach Omelas. They celebrate their journey with each other with a crazy party and doing rebellious act that of a teenager. Jungkook is last to become and adult. He recently just graduated and is finally considered and adult. He has taken the train to Omelas but was given no party because he had to rush his teenage life since becoming an idol at such a young age. Jin and Tae never climb the stairs to adulthood because they have passed away before even being able to experience it. They watch from below as the others reach the mountain of clothes which is their endpoint. Suga is there first because he is the second oldest, therefore he will wait for the rest. It all ends with the tree that signifies that they were ready to let Jin and possibly Tae go. They were accepting that they weren’t able to become adults but Jimin took them with him through his process.

I know this isn’t the best or most organized theory but it is my most in depth theory made. I hope it makes to sense to at least some people and I hope you guys liked it. My original theory I wrote at 12 in the morning on my phone laying bed. It is the comment by Kami Z 

[consciousowl]

Neuroplasticity: How To Get Smart Fast

I will praise you; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…

Psalm 139

Have you ever hit one of the Big Numbers: 30, 40, 50 or 60? If you are like many of us, you dread the very thought of being “over the hill,” and assign unique value to one number over all the others. I remember turning 20, and realizing that I would never again be a teenager, and therefore, I would never again be “cool.”

While this is laughable to me today, I realize that this was a big deal in my childhood. Back then, you retired at 65, and if you were lucky, you would hit your 70’s. You went to school, graduated from college or served in the military, got married, had children, retired, and then promptly kicked the can. It became a self-fulfilling prophecy to slow down as you grew older and reduce your expectations.

Somehow, the world changed, thanks to dietary improvements, powerful medicine and greater concern with health, including strength training. Now you are good through your 80’s, and reaching into the 90’s is to be expected. Even making it past 100 is no longer newsworthy.​

Could this be true of our minds, as well?​

What Is Neuroplasticity?

Neuroplasticity refers to your brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections. These synapses are formed from infancy through childhood into our teens. We have over 10 billion neurons, or nerve cells, and the potential combination of them is actually more than the number of particles in the Universe.

As we learn, biochemical connections are formed, and as we repeat new information, those connections become more solid, almost as if they were etched into the brain. It was originally supposed that, once they were formed, they remained indefinitely, and could not be reorganized. It was supposed that each section of the brain, and each neuron, were dedicated to a specific purpose, and could not be altered.​

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We now know that this is not true. The brain tends to remember its connections, but it can remap itself throughout an entire lifetime, beyond adolescence into early adulthood, the middle years and finally maturity. In extreme cases, parts of the brain can change their function to support new demands, such as assuming the role of providing acute hearing to the person who has suddenly lost his eyesight.

How the Discovery of Neuroplasticity Changed Everything

It had long been known that the brain was a powerful instrument of association, and that it could develop definite habits that supported deeper learning. For example, after you learn how to ride a bicycle, you give little thought to what you do to maintain your balance.

What was not appreciated was just how malleable the brain actually is, which appears to the naked eye much like packaged oatmeal.​

By creating new associations, you can dissolve old ones. You can erase bad habits and imprint healthy ones. You can neutralize negative memories and painful experiences, such that they have no more command value.

Tony Robbins, with his early appropriation of NLP, popularized the possibilities all the way back in the 1980’s. He became famous for curing people of snake phobias in 15 minutes or less, and deconditioning people’s attachment to addictive food, such as packaged candy. Tony did this through the power of words to generate new associations. He even pioneered ��pattern interrupts,” where you do the utterly unexpected, such as shouting or clapping your hands, to break a negative train of thought.

A Whole New Model of the Brain

In the last decade or so, neuroscience has gone through a revolution. Multiple factors are at play. We had finally decoded the human genome, computational power had gone up astronomically and the combined knowledge of humanity via the Internet ended up doubling every year or so.

We went from an old static model of the brain, where all the limits were set by heredity, and you could really only learn anything worthwhile in your youth to a very dynamic conception of the brain. For example, biomolecular engineering and new paradigm scientific thinking, such as systems theory, helped us realize that every cell is conscious, including every neuron in the spinal cord, as well as the brain.​

A new discipline of making maximum use of your brain emerged with Accelerated Learning, amplified by a profusion of digital interactive media on smart phones, tablets, laptops and digital TV’s, Computers, using either DVD or the Web, became powerful allies to learning a new language in record time, simulating total immersion. Mastering French, Hebrew or Mandarin became a practical goal for people in midlife.​

Lifelong Learning Our Birthright

Until the last few years, most of us had a good excuse for confining learning to school and college. Once you graduated from college, you would get all the rest of your education from “the real world.” We didn’t have the time or the money to keep going back to school. We wanted to simply get on with our job and our career, and that was that.

With the information economy emerging out of the computer revolution, inspired first by the P.C., and then the Internet and finally the mobile revolution, continuous learning was not only an option, but the preferred way to get ahead. Perhaps that is why Starbuck’s has upstaged MacDonald’s as the preferred destination for individuals and families.​

We now know that our brain cells can keep changing and remapping themselves every year of our lives. We even know of people who have lost an entire lobe of the brain. Eventually, everything was remapped and they went on to assume a normal life. Today’s classroom now looks quaint and industrial. With the World Wide Web, Google, YouTube, Facebook and Wikipedia… information and ideas are instantly accessible. The boob tube TV has lost its attraction; besides which, you can play it off your laptop, if you insist.​

Countering the Threat of Alzheimer’s Disease

The big one for most of us is Alzheimer’s Disease, as was experienced by our late President Ronald Reagan, who ended up forgetting he was ever in that High Office. Associated with the rise of Diabetes, this is one of the maladies we fear most. Dr. Rudy Tanzi of Harvard Medical School, in association with Dr. Deepak Chopra, recently published a ground-breaking guide to optimizing your brain through integrative medicine, Super Brain.

If you keep your brain active, you have less of a chance to succumbing to the worst symptoms of Alzheimer’s. You can actually learn to make new associations and exercise your brain, much like you would your body. You also can use deep meditation to get your brain in synch and avoid fogging up.

The authors are optimistic that when we get in touch with our inner dimension, our latent spirituality, we can then utilize our brains to the maximum. When we realize that we have a brain, but that we are NOT our brains, we can appreciate the brain for the wonderful gift it is.​

Mobilizing Our Best Friend

As we probe our inner depths, we begin to notice the observer witness the flow of thoughts. We distance ourselves enough from our thoughts to recognize another Self, the Source of Life and our very Being.

We begin to realize that all of our experience lies in another dimension, what Dr. Chopra refers to as “qualia.” When you gaze at a glorious sunset, where is that sunset? If you look closely, you will realize that it lies, not “out there,” but “in here.” Yet when you actually probe each neuron, you will see that the sunset is far more than a chemical reaction. It lies in another dimension.

Our brain is the ultimate tuning mechanism for the Infinite. It doesn’t create thought. It translates thought, much like a radio or TV station, that transmits the sound and images over the air. They are very fast vibrations that have to be stepped down for the human ear to hear and eye to see. The pop band is not in your computer, nor in your brain. They are simply media triggering a qualitative experience.

Related Article:  Can The Human Brain Create Consciousness?

Our brain can be thought of us our best friend, a wonderful servant, but a wretched master. We can treat it as the precious gift that it is. We make the greatest possible use of it while we have it. What if someone gave you a brand new Tesla Model S? You would want to immediately take it out for a spin, drive it every day and take it in for maintenance punctiliously. Why not do the same for your brain?

Mastering Neuroplasticity the Easy Way

You can learn the basics of neuroplasticity, and actually experience it for yourself, through a delightful course developed by Gregory Caremans, neurocognitive psychologist, who developed the Brain Academy in 2014 to take the latest developments in neural and cognitive science out into the world.

This online course is replete with videos and over 30 exercises to get comfortable using neuroplasticity. Gregory has an irrepressible spirit of fun and playfulness that is infectious. Over 40,000 people have taken his courses and given him very high marks.

Why not give your brain the treat it so richly deserves? Exercise your imagination. Get your creative juices flowing. Learn how to learn once again.​

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