#cling to wisdom

[tracklessreason]

Reigen asking Mob every time they find a stray dog "can we keep him?" and Mob saying no. Every time, without fail, it's no.

And Reigen just accepts that answer.

Once Serizawa comes along, he has trouble understanding how a student can say no to his master, it seems so against the way these roles have been taught to him. So he asks Mob why he won't let Reigen keep any of the dogs.

And Mob says it's not about the dogs. It actually plays perfectly off of the traditional master and student roles. "If he has to ask me, he doesn't really want the answer to be yes."

Because it's Reigen. He defers to Mob's reasoning because he doesn't see himself as being kind enough, wise enough to decide the fate of something so small and innocent.

When he can ask himself the question, and accept his own answer, he'll be ready to adopt a dog.

[peachcat14]

shooting my shot before the first spoilers start coming out. i KNOW the "in another world" bit from the solavellan breakup is going to become relevant. the veil is going to come down and it's going to fondamentally alter the nature of the known world. and in this new world (after SO MUCH shit) solas and lavellan can finally be together (in whatever form that takes).

[coloncurlybracket]

"Stay in my open arms" transitioning to Polities singing it did in fact break me. If you even care

[thepursuitofunderstanding]

I am not well; I could have built the Pyramids with the effort it takes me to cling on to life and reason.

Franz Kafka, Letters to Felice

[thelordismylightandmysalvation]

Let love be genuine.  Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. 

Romans 12:9 ESV

[kellymagovern]

"Watch. If you are attached to a person, are you in love? Or are you afraid of your aloneness, so you cling? Because you cannot be alone, you use this person, so as not to be alone. Then you are afraid." —Osho

[clochanam]

no but one of my favorite things abt iw.tv so far is that somehow i truly do believe that jacob an.derson is an immortal being that's far older and wiser than daniel is, like listen, no other vampire media has ever convinced me like this, there's always a constant "foolish child i am centuries older than thee" line being thrown around, but here? no. we've got two gay vampires emitting such powerful ancient vibes that i haven't once considered the fact that the actors are decades younger than the man interviewing them.

[xxwish-bonexx]

Having teeth is such bullshit. You have bones in your mouth (that arent actually bones) that require constant maintenance. Brush everyday. Floss even though you dONT WANT TO. And if you do a terrible job at taking care of them, then they start to get these bastard holes that HATE YOU! Also you have teeth that you have to get pulled out or else they'll hate you to

[iiusia]

'Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said: “Who is this who darkens counsel By words without knowledge? Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me.

“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell Me, if you have understanding. Who determined its measurements? Surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it? To what were its foundations fastened? Or who laid its cornerstone, When the morning stars sang together, And all the sons of God shouted for joy? “Or who shut in the sea with doors, When it burst forth and issued from the womb; When I made the clouds its garment, And thick darkness its swaddling band; When I fixed My limit for it, And set bars and doors; When I said, ‘This far you may come, but no farther, And here your proud waves must stop!’

“Have you commanded the morning since your days began, And caused the dawn to know its place, That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, And the wicked be shaken out of it? It takes on form like clay under a seal, And stands out like a garment. From the wicked their light is withheld, And the upraised arm is broken. “Have you entered the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in search of the depths? Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death? Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Tell Me, if you know all this. “Where is the way to the dwelling of light? And darkness, where is its place, That you may take it to its territory, That you may know the paths to its home? Do you know it, because you were born then, Or because the number of your days is great? “Have you entered the treasury of snow, Or have you seen the treasury of hail, Which I have reserved for the time of trouble, For the day of battle and war? By what way is light diffused, Or the east wind scattered over the earth?

“Who has divided a channel for the overflowing water, Or a path for the thunderbolt, To cause it to rain on a land where there is no one, A wilderness in which there is no man; To satisfy the desolate waste, And cause to spring forth the growth of tender grass? Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew? From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth? The waters harden like stone, And the surface of the deep is frozen. “Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, Or loose the belt of Orion? Can you bring out Mazzaroth in its season? Or can you guide the Great Bear with its cubs? Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you set their dominion over the earth?

“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, That an abundance of water may cover you? Can you send out lightnings, that they may go, And say to you, ‘Here we are! ’? Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the heart? Who can number the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the bottles of heaven, When the dust hardens in clumps, And the clods cling together? “Can you hunt the prey for the lion, Or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, When they crouch in their dens, Or lurk in their lairs to lie in wait? Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, And wander about for lack of food?'

Job 38:1-41

[martiko]

I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.

James Baldwin

[dykedaesque]

was very close to referencing hit novel in dramatic form, The Sunset Limited, in my email to my delightful English prof, in whose class we are reading The Sunset Limited, about why i cannot finish the current essay, being that i am dealing with my very own Sunset Limited situation at the moment. I didn’t. but very close

[chipsncookies]

Super robot butler Leon is the best thing I've ever seen all week thank you for this omg 🤣 whatever he wants to do, whatever he becomes, I support him, he deserves everything 🙏💖

I also miss the variety of monsters but at least we got some cool ulseven monster designs (the official Twitter posted them recently so I guess they're not spoilers anymore? Lol) my favourite are libal and toruth!

Also I completely agree with you I love the stories too much! But I'm not used to this much lore (14 chapters!) being released all at once, followed by one event per week? I play other gachas and I'm used to around 2 events per month, RK feels a bit fast paced to me 😅 I also got sidetracked by other things (ooh there's a 2* card of another fav character I must grind to get it!!)

Also this is more my own personal problem, but when I started a gacha game, as an f2p I feel compelled to collect the gems/currency as much as possible because what if they released my fav next (doing this by running explorations and rasing card levels...) So progressing in main chapter has been slow 😅

I know we're not the only people with this problem (unable to catch up) because apparently in the latest dev letter they will extend the event period to 10 days now, so it's clear other players were complaining, and I'm glad they're listening. I think the devs are still trying to gain their footing in running this game, here's hoping it'll only get better from now on 🙏

#i feel you op i also started initially to read the stories but got busy grinding for events instead 😭 #i also haven't read any of the events not even madguy bc i feel like im gonna miss a lot of context i feel sorry for my boys #although I've recently caught up to ch7 and it made me a stornger more brainrotted madguy fan than before #ppl said it's gonna get more insane later on and im nervous #but so far. the stories are GOOD i highly recommend reading it if you're able to #it's just kamen rider but with extra steps #also to assuage your fear (i hope?) i heard from the grapevines that the change to leon is minimal you can easily miss it (via @chipsncookies)

YES I feel a lot better knowing other people are in the same boat as me! :') as someone who only plays games very casually, the events are fun (and have been a good excuse to get those support stories on characters I was kinda ignoring) but SO distracting -- and they have a connected overarching narrative of their own (make sure you read them in order when you get to them!) so I don't want to skip any. which I guess is to say that my problem is that I'm enjoying the writing too much! how dare they.

overall it definitely has that Kamen Rider tone and feeling I was hoping for and I am VERY pleased with it! I do kinda miss the kitbashy monsters, though otherwise it's basically just Rider But With More Random Scenes of Characters Being Ridiculous At Each Other and that is exactly what I was after. (also exquisite taste, Mad Guys are best guys 🤝)

and as long as I still haven't gotten to episode 13 and can therefore continue to be hilariously naive, let me just say that I know what I'm dreaming of for Leon. he deserves it.

...although I do think it would be VERY funny if they made that whole big "WE WILL BE UPDATING LEON'S SPRITES TO REFLECT STORY CHANGES!!!!" announcement and then it turns out that they just like. hue-shifted his eye color slightly to the right or something. it's not even a big story beat, Leon just decided to try out some color contacts, maybe comb his hair back a little, and we don't have the heart to tell him to stop. :(

[argentconflagration]

when the subject of "why do people believe things that are seriously wrong and harmful" comes up it feels like you kinda hear one of two perspectives:

"oh, that's easy! it's because they're fundamentally Bad people who want to hurt others and choose their beliefs to justify that! :) hope this helps"

or

"they just don't have access to the same information we do. look at this person who was raised in a cult! don't you feel sorry for her?"

and like, yes, fine, some people were in fact raised in cults, but what i wish people would understand is that the bulk of it is just normal human flaws, like:

they want to believe stuff that makes them feel smart and cool and like they've figured everything out (you also do this)

they want to believe stuff that makes them feel like their emotions are justified and grounded in reality, and that the people they want to hurt deserve to be hurt (you also do this)

they form conclusions before they've processed all the relevant information, and cling to that first impression even when new info comes to light (you also do this)

they pick up beliefs from the people around them because they want to be liked and fit in, not because the beliefs are good or true (you also do this)

they come up with reasons that the stuff that benefits them (and the people they like and identify with) is actually overwhelmingly best for everyone and obviously the right thing to do (you also do this)

they pay more attention to stuff that supports what they already believe and avoid looking in places that might show them otherwise (you also do this)

they listen to people who talk like 'one of them' and ignore others (you also do this)

they come up with reasons to dismiss people with conflicting viewpoints as obviously in bad faith or ignorant or a shill or evil (you also do this)

they fail to take their own beliefs seriously sometimes, and take their beliefs way too seriously other times, in a selective way that lets them do the things they already wanted to do (you also do this)

the very ways they construct the ideas of 'knowledge' and 'wisdom' and 'belief' and 'understanding' are biased so that what they don't want to believe comes under lots of scrutiny and what they do want to believe receives less (you also do this)

you, dear reader, are presumably right about everything and were correct to die on every hill you've ever died on, but the difference between you and someone who's wrong about important stuff doesn't look like "well they're inherently evil and i'm not", it probably looks like a combination of:

natural environment (they would have been exposed to different information than you regardless of their choices)

being in the right place at the right time (your particular profile of flaws and virtues happened to be what was needed to lead you to the right conclusions, they had the opposite experience)

random luck (you doubled down on what felt right to believe but wasn't, but it turned out to be inconsequential, or even right for different reasons, while they doubled down on what turned out to be a horrible mistake distorting their entire worldview)

you do less of the things in the previous list, and over time the difference between you and them adds up

and, look, i also do these things. the nicest and most thoughtful people i've ever met do these things. if you meet someone who never does any of these things, i dunno, give them a fucking medal or something.

i know you're doing your best. we're all doing our best.

[opossumanon]

So I'm just sitting here listening to screechy violins doing their thing and I have now decided to impart some wisdom on you all (My fellow queers):

If we as a community want everyone to be accepted, then we have to accept cis men too.

"Oof trans men are being shat on for "basically being cis men" and it's so annoy--" If we love cis men then it won't be an issue.

"Oof amab nonbinary people are constantly shoved out because they're mistaken for cis men--" If we love cis men then it won't be an issue.

"Oof transfems in the beginning of their transition are being rejected for looking like cis men--" If we love cis men then it won't be an issue.

I could list hundreds of more examples, but the point is that a lot of our infighting is because of this strange hatred of cis men, to the point where people do everything in their power to make sure that a cis man can never enter a queer space.

We can't clear up some of the transmisandry in the community if we still try to remove cis men.

We can't clear up the misgendering and exclusion faced by amab nonbinary people if we still try to remove cis men.

We can't make transfems feel protected and welcome at all stages of transition if we still try to remove cis men.

And yes, I meant what I said earlier with "love". Just tolerating cis men won't be enough, we have to actually appreciate their existence.

There is no way, no reality, where we can cling to the terf idea of cis men being satan without dragging queer people into the crossfire.

[millionsknives]

i don’t think i’ve rewatched atla since becoming a committed pacifist and i just finished what was probably my tenth rewatch and i have never loved aang more. i've seen it so many times but i still came away with a new appreciation for the way the end of the story was handled. aang is the only survivor of a genocide and he is clinging to the last remnants of his culture and religion, and everyone is telling him the only way to save the world is to kill the dictator whose regime is responsible for the genocide, but to do so would abandon the deeply held beliefs of his people. if aang goes against his beliefs and kills ozai, his people's way of life dies completely and sozin wins.

aang knows it would be wrong but he can't see another way out so he prays for an answer, and the universe hears him and the spirits send out the lion turtle, and the creator answers him. and here's the thing that i never put together before today: aang would not have been able to energybend ozai if he had given in and wanted to kill him. the lion turtle tells aang that only the incorruptible can bend another’s energy, or else they will become corrupted themselves. and i think that aang, because of his love for the fire nation as he had once known it, was never corrupted by personal hatred for the fire lord or the fire nation. he was able to expertly hold two conflicting beliefs in harmony better than any adult could, the belief that ozai is a horrible person and the world would be better off without him and that he's still a human being with a life that is sacred.

and i don't think it's a matter of selfishness like some people make it out to be. aang is not some immature little kid who doesn't want to kill because killing is for bad guys. he's an incredibly wise and spiritual person who was shaped by airbender beliefs and upholds airbender beliefs, and he can see beyond the scope of this war. the balance of the world depends on the existence of the four nations, and aang does not just represent the air nomads, he IS the air nomads. he's all that's left.

despite many people’s interpretation of the four past avatars’ advice, none of the past avatars outright tell him to kill ozai. they tell him to be decisive, to bring justice, to be proactive, to be sacrificial. but none of them tells him definitively to kill him. he doesn't disobey or ignore their advice, he follows their ancient wisdom while still staying true to his beliefs. yangchen actually comes the closest to outright telling him to kill ozai (even more than kiyoshi, surprisingly) but what she fails to account for is that aang is not just the avatar, he is the last airbender, and being the last airbender is far greater a burden than being the avatar. no matter what happens, once he dies, there will always be another avatar. but if he is not careful to preserve the airbender way of life, there will be no more airbenders. yangchen could sacrifice her air nomad way of life for the sake of her duty to the world because there were thousands of other air nomads to continue their traditions. aang has no such privilege.

and it's not that he doesn't want to kill, it's that he actually doesn't think he can do it -- both that he won't be able to emotionally bring himself to kili someone, and, prodigy that he is, he doesn't have the raw bending skill to overcome a comet-powered master firebender. and then it turns from 'i don't think i can do it' into ‘i can’t do it.’ and when the avatar state gives him enough power to actually do it, he changes the answer to ‘i won’t do it.’ he overcomes all the combined power of his past lives to say no, i have found another answer and i will remain incorruptible. to kill is to maintain the power struggle of the fire nation and to reject air nomad wisdom and without airbenders the world CANNOT be brought into balance.

the only thing ozai cares about is power, and that's what the entire fight with ozai is about, physically and ideologically, because ozai only sees power in terms of force, fear, threats, and violence. to ozai, aang (and his entire people) are weak and undeserving of life because they are largely pacifists, but he fails to see the magnificent power that the airbenders do hold, spiritual wisdom and mastery of the self and contentment and joy and harmony and a deep understanding of the world that a man like ozai could never obtain. to kill ozai would ratify ozai’s worldview that power as he defines it is the most important pursuit in the world and the only way to assert one's right to be in the world is to be cruel and violent like him. i think to ozai, becoming powerless might be worse than being dead. he wants power, or he wants death, and aang gives him neither. it upends everything he believed in. aang, the avatar, but more importantly, the last airbender, armed by his past lives' power and his people's love and the spirit world's blessing and the lion turtle's omniscience (and toph's mastery of true sight through neutral jing), ends the war 100 years to the day after the air nomad genocide, in the way that his people taught him, with power that goes beyond force and violence, with spiritual wisdom, with an incorruptible soul, with mercy -- mercy that is not weakness, mercy that brings justice.

[satanghulu]

under a trance!

✦ PAIRING: mammon x reader ✦ SUMMARY: mammon goes under anesthesia. shenanigans ensues. ✦ WC: 0.7K

| MASTERLIST

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“Yer’ so cute.”

The sight in front of you could only be described as endearing. It was cute, unbearably so. The ditzy look on Mammon’s face and his dopey smile makes you want to pinch his cheek, but you refrain from doing so to maintain some form of dignity.

“Thanks?” You answer, shifting his current position to sit upright, prompting him against the wall as he flops around like a boneless pack of goo. You stifled a laugh. Lucifer had assigned you to pick up Mammon from the dentist, which you had initially assumed was for a regular dental checkup. Though looking at the state of the demon in front of you, he definitely had undergone some kind of procedure. 

“Who are you?” Mammon threw his arms over you as he leaned into your chest to take in a deep inhale, “You smell so good.” He mumbles with his cheeks squashed against you. His half-lidded eyes were hazy and you couldn’t stop yourself from giving him a quick pat on the head.

“I’m your human.” You said simply. His face scrunches up into an adorable frown as he pulls back to pout at you. The sound of the door opening sends Mammon scuttling back with a groan, knocking his head against the wall. Thankfully, demons are hardier than they look, and after a quick checkover, you twisted to see who had entered the room.

“Ah, you’re here to pick Mammon up right?” A person? demon clad in all white, presumbly the dentist, questions you. He peers past you to look at the patient, who is hissing at him and taking a defensive stance. It was pretty amusing to see a full-grown man curl in on himself to exhibit behaviour similar to the cats that Satan feeds.

You nod.

“Great. He just took out his wisdom teeth and is now under anesthesia. The effects should wear off pretty quickly.” The dentist starts, tapping on his clipboard before handing you a stack of instructions. He then continues to overwhelm you with a long list of aftercare steps that you have already forgotten. Noticing you were distracted, Mammon had taken his chance to cling onto you again, nudging your hand to find its place on the top of his head. You take it as a cue to start petting him.

It was kinda sweet how little inhibitions the Avatar of Greed had when he was medicated. It makes your stomach do a flip whenever he directs you a dorky grin. It almost makes you wish that he could be more forthcoming but his brand of tsundere was what appealed to you to fall head over heels in the first place.

Somehow, the admission that demons had wisdom teeth came to you as a surprise and the thought of it was pretty funny. Briefly, you wonder if the other brothers had already gone through this process.

From your position on the bed beside Mammon, you idly continue your action of stroking his head while he mumbles gibberish into your chest. And you’re pretty sure he’s also slobbering on you if the wet patches on the front of your shirt were any indication. (And of course, you jumped at the chance to take multiple photos and videos and had already backed it up.)

“Mammon.” You tried to admonish him. He lifts his head dazedly at the sound of your voice, and you can’t help but change your tone to coo at him. It was so adorable to watch him preen under your attention. It was a rare sight to see him like this and you were going to exploit every opportunity you could. 

You kiss the top of his head.

“No… I have my treasure…” His voice had shifted to a sleepier tone even as his arms tightened around you. But seriously, he has you in his arms and he’s still thinking about Goldie? You were slightly offended at the thought.

“Ya smell like them… My treasure. Treasure!” Mammon roared, suddenly biting the corner of your shoulder hard. A flash of pain jolted through you at his unexpected movement.

“What the-- Ouch!” You quickly swatted him with the back of his hand, glancing down at your shoulder to see the damage sustained. A clear impression of the bite mark was imprinted right on the edge, though thankfully, it wasn’t as deep as it had felt.

You pull back to look at him disapprovingly.

“Treasure!” He slurs happily with a dumb look. This time, you kind of wanted to punch him.

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a/n ▸ dorky mammon has my heart. also i know I'm terribly late for his birthday whoops