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phoenixyfriend · 2 years ago

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Ko-Fi prompt from Anonymous Supporter:

For the Econ Topic, an analysis on a society that has magic and fantasy races would be nice. Or maybe how a guild of Thieves or Assassins would work in either real life, fantasy or sci-fi setting.

The former is far too varied and complicated a topic to fit into 500 words, but I can definitely make the latter work... by explaining what the fuck a guild is.

These days, the words guild and union are used more or less interchangeably, and they do admittedly have some overlap in modern capitalist society. In the historic Europe that many of these settings are inspired by, the word guild had a more specific meaning.

Let's unpack some of what the economic structure is in these settings.

Large, overarching companies engaging in multinational work are rare in those historic settings. You have some trading/merchant organizations (e.g. the Dutch East India Company) that fit that bill, work that couldn't be performed without a large, existing structure to back it (e.g. mining), and domestic agricultural lordship (you know, feudalism).

For the rest of the economy, though, you have small businesses. Technology isn't at such a point that something bigger can be done. Factories aren't a thing until the industrial revolution, but we do have division of labor, so there are people who specialize in baking, or weaving, or shoemaking, or pottery.

Many of these professions require years of training, from apprenticeship to journeyperson to mastery. Trade secrets are a big deal, you marry off your daughter to your apprentice to secure the line and prevent competition, and you try not to give up those secrets because if you do, what's to keep your lord and other rich folk from taking advantage of you, and paying you less than your worth?

That's where the guild comes in.

No matter how good you are at keeping secrets, the competition does exist. You cannot be the only baker, dressmaker, shoemaker, bricklayer, carpenter in town, unless your town is very small indeed.

Price competition isn't a great idea when profit margins are already low, and you are a small business that doesn't have the diversification or coffers to take the hit for a few weeks. If your lord tries to force you to sell low, you can't just refuse him! He's the one that pays whoever uses the swords!

If only you and all the other trained professionals in your industry could hold together and tell him, "Yeah, that's as low as the price can go. You are paying for the bare minimum of materials and labor with that. So sorry, can't go lower without taking an actual loss, and everyone else will tell you the same thing."

Joining a guild was often the only way to perform that craft or service in a given city. This prevented untrained, untested individuals from trying to peddle something that wasn't up to standard, but also acted as a form of gatekeeping that could prevent the market from becoming oversaturated with competition. The formation of a guild was often related to, or even reliant on, approval from local government or a monarch.

Guilds did absolutely have negative impacts, by the way, often through market manipulation and rent-seeking behaviors. They stifled innovation, gatekept skills, and were capable of price-gouging and price-fixing beyond the basic "this is how we keep from getting screwed over by the rich guys." While the guilds themselves were arguably intended to ensure minimum standards and protect against wealthy clientele, they were just as prone to stagnation and greed as any organization.

The guild differs from the unions in that the guild is for trained professionals that, by and large, own their business to some degree. The unions, meanwhile, are for laborers who work for someone else, and formalized labor unions only began in the mid-18th century, while trade guilds, or something like them, date back over four thousand years.

Remember how I said that factories as we know them, and that whole Big International Company format, didn't really start being a thing until the Industrial Revolution? You know how the Industrial Revolution started in the mid-18th century?

We now see the connection.

So, what does a guild of thieves or assassins mean, at its core?

Well, they have to be doing this professionally. Someone who's just killing for the fun of it isn't a professional assassin, being paid by other people for it, just like how the baker's guild isn't going to care overly much for the farmer's wife making her own bread for dinner. Thievery is a bit less obvious in terms of 'what counts as professional.' Does the person who picks pockets to pay their rent qualify as professional? Or just the ones who steal on behalf of someone else? What about burglars?

So part of what you'd need to untangle is what qualifies as professional for the thieves themselves.

Then, given that these are generally illegal acts in the first place, what purpose does the guild serve? Is the guild supported by the crown as a form of control over theft and assassination in the first place, like privateering? Does the guild institute rules on who can be stolen from, whether or not it's within guild rules to kill individuals of certain ages or genders or classes? What punishments does the guild implement on those who violate those rules?

If the crown allows the assassin's guild so long as members of the royal family are not targeted, is there a rule that any client who requests the assassination of a monarch must be reported, or killed on the spot? What government fees does the guild have to pay in order to exist? If they exist as an underground, unofficial group that is not affiliated with the government, how do they deal with the government? How do they hide? Do they dictate pricing? Do they pay off cops to stay under the radar? How do they advertise their services without getting found out?

For the thieves guild, it's even more wiggly. Who qualifies as a professional? Is it the pickpockets, the cat burglars, the people who climb into dragon's caves to locate ancient treasure and get out unseen? Is there a minimum yearly income threshold? How is that calculated? What about membership fees? Is membership singular, or can it be done as a couple, a team, a family? Are there groups that are off limits? Maybe there are two thieves guilds, one for those who can be Hired By Adventurers, acknowledged by the crown, and a second for those who work in the seedy underground away from official oversight.

There really is no one way for this to play out, and will probably vary from town to town or planet to planet in-story, but hopefully I've given you the framework to build up the various guilds you need for your story!

(Prompt me on ko-fi!)

#economics #phoenix posts #ko fi prompts #ko fi #economics prompts #guilds #unions #history #trade guilds #this is the kind of prompt I love to fill out. just. talking about the way that trade will regulate. whether it does so in a good way or no

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senditcolton · 1 year ago

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I Get to Love You

Thigh squeezes. Reaching over and resting your hand on their outer thigh, perhaps giving a gentle squeeze. Feeling their eyes on you as they try to decipher your motives. Whether the touch is teasing, loving, reassuring, or just for fun.

summary: attending Kevin Hayes wedding with your fiance Brady has you thinking about your upcoming one song inspo: i get to love you by ruelle word count: 0.6k warnings: none! requested by @pyotrkochetkov Disclaimer: Reading/creating content for married players isn’t for everyone. Please don’t read if you don’t vibe with it, but don’t attack me or others!

The breeze blowing in from the ocean was a pleasant sensation against your skin. You sit in your designated white wooden folding chair on the large patio, the scent of flowers filling your nostrils. The gentle music floats above you as you watch the adorable parade of kids making their way to the altar. You shoot a quick glance back at Kevin, rocking on his heels, his eyes trained at the end of the aisle.

“Kev looks like he’s about to cry already,” you whisper to Brady, sitting next to you.

“Isn’t that a good thing?” Brady questions, his eyes turning to look towards his friend.

“Of course it is,” you lightly giggle. “Which reminds me; if you don’t shed a single tear during our wedding, I might have to call the whole thing off.”

The teasing in your voice is evident, that mischievous smirk on your face as you look back at your fiancé. Brady shares your grin, leaning in to place a quick kiss on your lips.

“If that’s the case, then I promise I will be a sobbing wreck. And if I’m not, you can subtly kick me in the shins until I start crying.”

Another gentle laugh escapes you and you press a kiss onto his lips. The music swells and you see the officiant lift their hands – an indication for you to stand. You do, angling your body towards the entrance of the aisle. Brady’s hands come to rest on your hips, his need for physical touch making you smile.

You watch as Katya makes her way down the aisle, holding the elegant bouquet of white florals, the material of her dress dancing in the breeze. You sneak another glance towards Kevin and you look just in time to see him wipe a tear away. Katya makes it to the altar, kissing her father on the cheek and handing off the bouquet to her maid of the honor before taking Kevin’s hands in hers. Once everyone has settled back down into their seats, you listen intently to the exchanging of vows, the smile never leaving your face.

There was something magical about weddings – an entire day devoted to celebrating love. They were one of your favorite events to attend and you loved every second of them: the ceremony, the first dance, the reception. But your favorite part was the vows. Listening to two people profess their love for each other in front of friends and family was beautiful, especially when it always looked like the couple was in their own world. Just the two of them – no one else around.

You smile as you see Kevin and Katya seemingly caught up in their own perfect bubble.

A hand landing on the top of your thigh pulls your attention away from the bride and groom and towards your soon-to-be-husband. Brady looks at you with a soft smile on his face, his strong grip gently squeezing the flesh of your upper thigh, his thumb running over the silken fabric resting there.

You understood the action – one that could have many different intentions driving it – was one of excitement and love. You grin back at him, your head coming to rest naturally against his shoulder. Brady presses a kiss into the crown of your head and you hear his gentle voice whispering into your hair.

“Only three more months. Then that’s going to be us up there.”

Your smile grows, your left hand coming up to rest on top of his. Your engagement ring catches the sunlight, sparkling like an exclamation to the end of Brady’s statement. You lift your head, resting your chin onto his shoulder, watching as Brady turns to stare into your eyes.

“Three months can’t come fast enough,” you whisper. Brady smiles, leaning in and pressing a quick kiss to your lips before you both turn your attention back to Kevin and Katya.

Weddings were magical. And you knew in your heart that yours and Brady’s wedding would be the most enchanting of them all. You couldn’t wait for that day.

#nicole writes #casual intimacy series #brady skjei fic #brady skjei imagine #brady skjei fluff #nashville predators fic #nashville predators imagine #nhl fic #nhl imagine #hockey fic #hockey imagine

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sweetredbeans · 9 months ago

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Just gonna randomly ramble some things here about the Sonic Movies okay cool. (PS. This is absolutely not meant to be mean if you didn't like the trailer: you are 100% allowed to dislike it. This is just me rambling my own thoughts ^v^)

I'm already immediately tired of people absolutely BLASTING the movies for choices that they don't like without actually thinking about why those choices might have been made.

Tom being a cop. Okay. What other Earth profession follows the stereotypical "hero" role (the role that Sonic fills in his games) any better? So, a profession where you are saving people from "bad guys" by beating them up. Because that is what Sonic does in Sonic 1. Follows Robotnik around and beats him up and rescues the people (flickies) he was being mean to. They clearly wanted to parallel that idea and yeah, Sonic doesn't like cops and that makes sense given who he is, but I can also look at the movie and go "Oh, they wanted that parallel for a reason and that's why they made that decision" not just because they want to engage in copaganda.

Why is Amy not here yet. Money. Plain and simple, guys. Amy doesn't sell as well as Shadow. Period. Sorry. And nobody knows if they'll get another movie after this. They might, yeah, but 3 movies in a franchise like this is already a lot, and 4 is REALLY a lot. Yes, it is being more common now for something to have 700 sequels, but it is VERY not guaranteed, and if they wanted to get more hype and make more money, then Shadow coming first makes WAY more sense. And trying to shoe-horn her into this movie would absolutely be a disservice to her personality and backstory, as well as Shadow's--they wouldn't be able to properly develop either of them in one 2.5 hour long movie.

Sonic is working for GUN so he must be pro-military. I reblogged a much better-worded post about this earlier, but I am HIGHLY inclined to believe that GUN is USING Sonic to get to Shadow by playing off something adjacent to "He's gonna destroy the world oh noooooo". Let's be real here: GUN would NEVER let Sonic go get Robotnik again, they blackbooked him HARD for a reason. So I am highly inclined to believe that while Sonic may START working for GUN because they ask for his help, they are not going to stay amicable for the whole movie (especially given the fact that we see soldiers around Maria's dead body and somebody is going to tell Sonic about that) But clearly they aren't going to give something like that away in the first 2 minute trailer guys.

Gerald is here. I don't have a great answer for this one aside from the fact that they needed someone to play Eggman's role from SA2, and Eggman himself isn't set up to do it. Theoretically, SOMEONE had to bust Shadow out of GUN prison, and having Gerald be a hologram or robot or something set up to take revenge on GUN later would make a lot of sense. It's also possible that he was also frozen or stasis-ified and got let out once GUN figured out Project Shadow still existed and then took his revenge idk we'll just have to see won't we?

This is just a random last point but...if you go back and watch the first trailers for either of the other Sonic movies, they are VERY different from what we actually saw and LOADS of stuff is either massively changed or majorly taken out of context so...that could be good or bad.

In conclusion: we'll just have to wait and see, but these are my thoughts and predictions woo!

#sonic movie 3 #I dunno #just wanted to apply some logic to some complaints #obviously this is all speculation and my own opinions #if you aren't happy about the trailer you are absolutely allowed #don't mind me #sonic 3 trailer spoilers

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beevean · 1 year ago

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Hey now how could you say such nasty things about the show? Don't you realise how important it is for lgbt representation? I bet you're some bigoted neckbeard!

Go back to your jumping pixels on the ps2 and leave us alone you gatekeeper!>:(

I know you joke and all, but it's honestly baffling to me how NFCV (and esp Nocturne) got the reputation of being woke because of one (1) bi threesome, when it's shockingly bigoted itself.

Wallachians are depicted as backward hillibillies brainwashed by the Church and engaging in bestiality: classism and xenophobia due to them being Eastern European, plus a general shallow caricature of history.

Alucard mocks the Belmonts by accusing them of being "mentally ill hoarders" and engaging in pagan rituals such as sacrificing chickens and mummifying cats: ableism and xenophobia, not helped by the fact that he's technically a nobleman looking down on common people (so classism).

Trevor is an alcoholic because of genuine childhood trauma. He's constantly mocked by other characters (and even the fucking music sometimes), he's pushed aside in favor of Alucard who is the first person who disrespects him, and eventually ditched by his own story.

Carmilla, the quintessential lesbian vampire in popular culture, jokes about being willing to fuck Godbrand only if all the men, half of the women and some of the animals dropped dead: equates having sex with women with having sex with animals.

Isaac's backstory is being a slave owned by a Catholic priest, so historically inaccurate that it can only come from the preconception that black people can only exist in Europe as slaves.

Isaac is a self-professed Muslim man who gleefully worships a demonic creature and agrees with his idea of killing "impure" people for a superior mission, justifying his sins by misquoting the Quran. His hypocrisy is never pointed out, and we're meant to admire him all the way through. I cannot make this shit up.

The generals in Dracula's court come from all over the world, with prominent Indian and Chinese vampires, but they are literally props only there to pretend the world is bigger than it actually is: the focus is given to two white Northern European vampires, Godbrand and especially Carmilla.

Striga and Morana are the laziest form of lesbian representation you could possibly have, literally Disney level of "seventh first gay character".

Alucard got "revealed" as bi in a tweet as if to reassure us that no, he wasn't raped, he enjoyed it! Pure biphobia.

Hector's whole story in S3 and 4 is disgusting rape apologism stemming from sexism, both against men (men are inherently horny and they cannot get sexually traumatized) and against women (women are never a threat and everything they do is inherently titillating).

Vampires, unholy creatures who can only exist by causing harm to humans, are treated as if they were their own separate race, and as if the Belmonts are committing ethnic cleansing against them. Case in point, Alucard being such a cunt to Trevor because oh no, his ancestors killed vampire children and kept their skulls in their hold! As if "vampire children" would be anything else than a cursed existence. (and never forget about the "cabal of vampires" controlling the slave trade in Nocturne, or how in that show vampires are the literal ruling class to be crushed by the revolution.)

oh but game isaac is offensive because he looks like a bdsm stripper or stuff. sure whatever.

At least Nocturne had the decency of fleshing out its gay couple. Yay, progress.

#anti netflixvania #i honestly wonder if the people who profess their love for the show have ever rewatched it #it's impossible to rewatch it and not notice how fucked everything is

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scotianostra · 11 months ago

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On June 18th, the day after Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned at Lochleven Castle, The Palace of Holyrood House was overrun by religious zealots destroying the Royal Chapel and plundering the building.

The author James Boswell lamented in May 1758 the state of the church in his poem “An evening-walk in the Abbey-church of Holyrood-house” mentioning the state of the Royal Vaults as also the “venerable roof” which fell “a prey to the rude winds, and Winter’s stormy blasts!”

The biography of Mary Stuart describes the event as such:“The insurgent nobles, on the 18th of June, seized the Queen’s plate, jewels, and other moveables, in Holyrood-house: They coined the whole of her plate. On the same day, Glencairn went with his servants into the Queen’s chapel of Holyrood-house, and broke down the altars, and demolished the pictures, images, and ornaments. This outrage was highly commended by the preachers, as a work of great godliness: But, the other insurgent nobles were somewhat displeased; as he had done this mischief, without any order, and before they had resolved, how to deal with the Queen.

It is a curious circumstance, which marks the real design of the rebellious nobles: They immediately took the most decisive, and vigorous measures against the Queen, in violation of their public professions, and in breach of their solemn engagements, to serve, and obey her; while they did not pursue Bothwell, or take any measure to prevent his escape; though they always avowed one of their chief objects to be, to inflict condign punishment on Bothwell, for the King’s murder: Morton and Maitland, who were his complotters, knew, that he could charge them with their guilty conduct, in that abominable deed.”

So it really shows the anger shown towards Bothwell was merely an end to a means, they wanted Mary dethroned. This was confirmed on 24th July 1567, she was forced to abdicate.

In the years that followed the Abbey’s alters and stain glassed windows were destroyed along with the tombs of Kings David II, James II and Mary’s father James V.

There were attempts to rebuild the building, these were after 1758 when its high vault collapsed, but the repairs were disastrous and did not stand up to the task, by 1766 they were beginning to deteriorate.

Scots Magazine and reported a two stage failure.

“On the 2nd of December, about noon, part of the walls and roof of the church of the Abbey of Holyroodhouse, Edinburgh, gave way and fell in; and in the night following a great part of the remainder fell also. This is said to be owing to the enormous weight of a new stone roof laid over the church some years ago, which the walls were unable to support. The pillars and ornaments of this edifice, though for many years waste, and almost ruinous, were greatly admired, as one of the finest Gothic remains in the Island. The vaults, where the bodies of some of the royal family, several of the nobility, and a great number of the gentry, were deposited, were by this accident laid in ruins. – The church however, is, it is said, to be speedily rebuilt.”

Throughout these times the Abbey was still a place of interest for the people of Edinburgh and visitors alike, it was especially popular as a romantic place to take a walk, especially in the the twilight.

The Abbey is now in the care of Historic Scotland, but much to my annoyance you cannot just go and visit, you have to pay the best part of £20 to the Royal Collection Trust, which look after the royal palaces, I have no interest in visiting the Palace of Holyrood House, nor contributing to the trust, so only have vague memories of visiting when it used to be free when I was a young bairn.

#scotland #scottish #history #edinburgh #holyrood abbey

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4th-make-quail · 8 months ago

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May I ask a clarifying question on your boundaries? I don’t consider myself “proship” or “anti” as I think those terms are reductive, and two people who may both fit under one label could have incredibly different opinions. However, I believe that the way I interact with media could be something that someone would call “anti”, in that I find it more interesting to look at fiction through the lens of reality rather than “fiction doesn’t effect reality”, by which I mean when reading Lolita I like to go “okay so what is this saying about how the psych profession saw csa at the time?” “How was this influenced by Nabokov’s own experiences?”, I see Marius and Armand as a reflection of child sexual abuse and enjoy analysing it under a more realistic lens, and would find wincest more interesting as a look at enmeshment between siblings under an abusive parent, rather than a ship (although what people mean by the term “ship” is also really vague and can differ wildly).

Based on that, and what you say in your pinned post, would you prefer I don’t interact? I wouldn’t want to make you uncomfortable!

Okay so to preface this, I don't go into much detail in my pinned because I hate the whole thing, and I hate spaces which are super dedicated to the pro/anti discourse. I try to keep my online spaces free of discourse and drama because its simply not fun! I don't want to spend my days steeping in negativity.

This got very long, so I'm gonna put it under a cut!

So. The thing is anon, the proship label originally came about as a response to antis, to describe people who don't actually care what other people ship ("ship and let ship", "your kink is not my kink and that's okay" and all that), but it's been massively conflated these days and now people take it to describe what they call problematic ships or art. You're right about them being reductive terms - and in fact, I have a lot of freak friends who are super into things I personally dislike or am outright squicked by (and vice versa), because we're not a monolith.

My stance entirely is this: I don't care what other people ship. I don't care how they ship it, or how they want to analyse and engage with that source material. I think what people ship and what art people enjoy has no say at all in what their morals might be.

What you describe as how you engage with those pairings is a completely valid interpretation! Preferring to look at a relationship through those lenses is perfectly fine, and in fact lots of people do this under the umbrella of meta.

What I personally mean by "ship" is the usual description - I want those two characters to have a romantic and sexual relationship. However, I also have no issues with people who don't have that viewpoint because it quite literally doesn't affect me unless they go about harassing others.

Liking a "problematic" ship dynamic doesn't mean you also condone that thing in real life. There's a reason one of the top sexual fantasies is noncon (see: any women's magazine list of these), and it's not because the person secretly really wants to be raped in real life. It's because human beings enjoy exploring taboo subjects in a safe and fictional environment.

Where my opinion stands on this is simple. If you think it's okay to harass people for the ships they like, if you think it's acceptable to write call out posts and smear people's names because of the ships they like, then I don't want to know you. If you think liking Marius/Armand makes that person a paedophile, or that liking underage ships leads to the person eventually moving on to real life kids, or that being an incest shipper means you're gonna go fuck your own sibling, again, I don't want to know you.

The same goes for both sides of this frankly stupid issue - far too many people who call themselves proship proudly love to dunk publicly on antis or people who don't share their viewpoints, which imo makes them just as bad! If someone's out there being awful to people who don't ship their problematic ships, then it's just as bad!

This is also why I don't do any DNIs or anything like that. If I see someone start to follow me and they have big obvious "PROSHIP DNI" in their info, then I will go ahead and block them, but otherwise I'm not interested in policing who can interact with me in that way. It's not for me to decide whether someone else wants to interact with me, it's on you to decide if you want to.

I'm not gonna be going out and ripping on people who dislike a ship I like, or who engage with art in a different way to me. However, if I come across posts in my tracked tags or on my dash expressing anti sentiments, or going on a negative rant about something I love, then I will also probably unfortunately be blocking that person. I don't like seeing negativity about shit I love on my dash or in the tags (really, does anybody? lol) so I'm proactive about that because a) it depresses me, and b) I spent a long time in the ffxiv fandom, where people think liking Garleans makes you a nazi apologist, and where they love to go on ranting screeds about how my favourite characters should die painfully, and I'm honestly not about that in my fandom life.

Anyway, all this to say: if you're comfortable interacting with me, a Marius/Armand bitch who does indeed enjoy their fucked up relationship because of how fucked up it is (and finds it incredibly sexy, actually), then I'm fine with you interacting with me. I'm not gonna be sharing or posting about that specific ship anyway, and I'm certainly not gonna be awful about people who find it distasteful or triggering or even just plain don't like it for whatever reason. It won't make me uncomfortable in any way to interact with you because you engage with those things in a different way to me, as long as you don't also engage in the other activities I discussed further up.

Sorry this got so long, anon! Hopefully it all makes sense. As an aside, I'm not interested in having any debates about these issues with anyone and will not be engaging with arguments about it. Sensible discussion, yes. Arguments, discourse and wank? No. Thank you for understanding! 💚

#ask quail #also as an aside: this is your free pass to unfollow and block me if my liking these things is a dealbreaker for you #this goes for anyone!#I have no issue with that at all #because at the end of the day we have to curate our own spaces #nonnybirds

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lingshanhermit · 4 months ago

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Lingshan Hermit：When Confucius and Shakyamuni Meet Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir

I am not a perfect person, but I am an extreme perfectionist. As such, I hold both myself and others to extraordinarily high expectations and demands. Sometimes this creates slight tension in my relationships with those around me. As an extreme perfectionist, I have little tolerance for others' foolishness. Even more than others' foolishness, I cannot tolerate my own inaction, and what I find most intolerable is wasting time. My WeChat public account tells me that in 2024, I wrote 346,000 characters, averaging nearly a thousand characters per day. This comes close to meeting my personal standards. Over the past few years, I have been busy with dharma practice and writing. I've performed over nine hundred grand offering ceremonies and written hundreds of articles, which gives me some comfort that I haven't wasted my time. Because I've been so occupied with these matters, I rarely have time for other activities. So when someone asked me about my thoughts on that Hong Kong film, all I could tell them was that I hadn't seen it yet - I knew about the film and had wanted to watch it, but couldn't find the time. A few days ago, I finally found a gap in my schedule to watch this highest-grossing film in Hong Kong's history.

I quite liked this film—but don't misunderstand, when I say I liked it, it doesn't mean I agree with the messages it conveys. I liked it because I could see in it the state of many practitioners, witness the collision between Eastern tradition and Western thinking, and observe what happens when Confucius and Shakyamuni encounter Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir. Hello Brother represents the state of many practitioners. Although he has spent his whole life as a Namo master performing traditional rituals to help the deceased escape from hell, he has never truly understood the meaning behind these traditional rituals. He simply follows the traditional requirements blindly, without knowing their true significance. Because the patriarchs said so, he says so; because the patriarchs did it that way, he does it that way. He has never questioned whether these words are correct or delved into their deeper meaning. From my observation, if a person doesn't want to deeply investigate the truth or falsity of something, it indicates that they don't actually believe it's true—subconsciously, they feel it wouldn't stand up to scrutiny.

Therefore, people like Hello Brother, although engaged in traditional professions, are easily led astray by seemingly reasonable but false teachings and easily conquered by Dao Sheng's apparently logical arguments. This is because they have never established true faith. I've met many people like Brother Hello. They don't truly understand Buddhist dharma, yet they practice it. Although they don't understand it, they don't know that they don't understand. When Buddhist dharma faces questioning, they still defend it. They defend it not because they're certain it's right, but because Buddhism has become part of them, become part of their "self," merged with their identity. In others' eyes, they are Buddhism, and Buddhism is them. Defending Buddhism means defending their face and dignity, their authority—that's why they persist.

On the surface, they appear to be traditional practitioners who act according to tradition, but due to a lack of genuine practice and guidance, they haven't truly and thoroughly embraced Buddhist dharma in their hearts. Therefore, when they encounter the alluring Western culture, they are quickly drawn to it. There are many such people in both Chinese and Tibetan regions. Though they may outwardly appear to be disciples of the Buddha, wearing Buddhist robes, their hearts have long since become followers of Voltaire and Steve Jobs.

For thousands of years in the past, practitioners in Tibet lived in seclusion from the mundane world, but circumstances have changed now. Today's monastics are no longer the isolated mountain dwellers of the past who were removed from worldly affairs. Mobile internet has become widespread even in remote monastery areas. Even if you're staying in a deep mountain monastery in Sichuan, you can still see the latest trending topics and receive mobile greeting messages. Compared to waking up at four in the morning to chant the monotonous Kangyur in the main hall all day, scrolling through TikTok is certainly more entertaining. Mobile internet has brought convenience and Buddhist teachings, but it has also brought the Devil and his daughters.

Compared to practitioners living in the deep mountains of Sichuan, those living in cities are exposed to even more new ideas and concepts. If they don't have firm right view, they will almost certainly be conquered by the demons. Many modern popular ideas can be traced back to Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir, and we are fed these Voltaire flakes and Beauvoir nutrition drinks through our phones every day. This is why many practitioners, though seemingly practicing, are simultaneously individualists and social Darwinists (they probably don't realize these systems are completely opposite to Buddhist dharma). This is probably because the fruits of spiritual practice don't come as quickly as becoming an individualist or social Darwinist.

The results of spiritual practice usually manifest in subtle ways; sometimes you can't even feel the so-called results at all. After practicing dharma for several years, you can neither fly nor become wealthy, your interpersonal relationships remain as bad as ever, when you have a cold for several days chanting sutras doesn't help and it's only after taking a few pills of Molnupiravir that you get better, and your wife pressures you every day. This can't help but make you doubt the efficacy of Buddhist dharma. Most people's practice bears no fruit because they neither understand practice nor know how to practice, yet they don't attribute this to their lack of understanding—instead, they doubt the dharma and their teachers. Compared to practice, everyone can experience the benefits and immediate pleasure brought by Western culture. Because Western products are designed for the general public, even children and housewives can easily use them, while the threshold for Buddhist practice is quite high.

Many people prefer visible happiness, prefer precisely designed electronic products, prefer the convenience brought by technology, because most of us are shallow people—compared to the subtle changes produced by Buddhist practice, SUVs and Coca-Cola can provide more direct pleasure. Therefore, many people, while maintaining their Buddhist identity, have long since surrendered in their hearts to the civilization established by Aristotle, Shakespeare, and John Locke—that is their true refuge, their true object of devotion.

I know someone who immigrated to Australia. Once, for some reason, he suddenly started telling me about his faith in Buddhist dharma and his teachers, speaking at length about it. I asked him, "If that's the case, why did you go to Australia? So far from your teacher?" He said it was because they have a better social security system there. This really left me speechless. If you believe that good medical care or social welfare systems are your true security, then your thinking is no different from ordinary people. Your entire value system is not Buddhist.

It's like if you agree with Western medicine's claim that bone broth has no nutritional value, you would similarly believe that negative energy and dampness don't exist, would consider post-partum confinement a backward custom and think it's fine to eat ice right after giving birth. Likewise, you would have doubts about the existence of reincarnation and samsara. Because these concepts all come from the same source, they all belong to the same system. This system, since ancient Greek times, has only used that clumsy method to explore the world—only using test tubes and quantum computers to explore the world—they can only observe and analyze observable material phenomena, and are completely helpless when it comes to intangible things like qi, so they can only dismiss it as ancient people's imagination.

There are many people like him. They practice Buddhism, recite Guru Rinpoche's prayers, while simultaneously seeking security from the Western system. For such people, praying for the guru's blessings is a joke. Unlike them, Brother Hello didn't immigrate to America or Canada; he stayed in Hong Kong. Although he didn't emigrate to Canada, although he stayed in Hong Kong and continues to help people escape from hell, it doesn't mean he has no doubts about the traditions passed down from the patriarchs. Therefore, when the traditional culture he inherited encountered Western civilization's opposition, although he appeared to be defending and counterattacking, because he didn't truly understand tradition nor ever verify its correctness, his defense appeared powerless and pale. So when his daughter Man-yue questioned him, "Didn't the patriarchs have mothers?" all he could do was repeatedly mutter those few phrases.

His son went even further. This man who grew up in 1980s Hong Kong received a completely Western education. He merely treated the family inheritance as a business venture. From beginning to end, he had no faith in these ancient rituals, didn't believe these rituals could help the deceased, and didn't care whether they could help the deceased. He wasn't even interested in whether people continue to exist after death. To him, it was just a way to make a living, no different from selling furniture at Wing On Department Store in Sheung Wan. Because of his education, he would feel that selling furniture at Wing On would be more respectable than his inherited traditional profession. Therefore, he could convert to Catholicism for his son's extra school admission points and then convert back later.

There are actually many such people now; I can see many of them in Buddhist circles. These people grew up in a social environment completely opposite to Buddhist culture. They don't believe in Buddhist dharma or karma; they practice because their family members believe in Buddhism or because they inherited this profession. As for Dao Sheng, he represents those self-proclaimed clever secular businessmen who treat everything as a business from start to finish. To make more money, he thought up many clever reasons and excuses, telling Brother Hello that while the dead need to be saved from hell, the living need it even more.

To help the living escape hell, he could violate professional ethics by secretly letting the deceased's same-sex partner into the makeup room for a final meeting and even secretly giving them a portion of the ashes, could let Man-yue preside over the hell-breaking ritual, could break through all traditions—just to make clients feel he's a good person so they'll come back to him next time. The clients are pleased, but the effectiveness of saving souls from hell becomes quite questionable. While the feelings of the living certainly need to be respected, the focus of hell-breaking is not the living but the deceased. You can't jeopardize the deceased's future just to make the living happy.

Under such pretexts, you can do anything; all rules will be broken, all traditions will be destroyed, and eventually, all dharma lineages will cease to exist. It appears humanistic but is actually destroying the transmission. It seems considerate of others but is actually only for profit. And the underlying logic of all his actions is that death is the end of everything. This is what the devil wants to convey.

What Dao Sheng says seems reasonable but can only fool those who don't understand. I've met many people like him, and their common characteristic is that they know nothing about Buddhist dharma. Besides knowing nothing about Buddhist dharma, they also know nothing about themselves. They read a few books and think they've grasped the essence of Buddhist dharma, then question things based on their limited understanding. They think Buddhism is wrong about this and that, that it should change. According to their thinking, Buddhism shouldn't have so many restrictions on monasticism, shouldn't restrict who can become a monastic—anyone should be able to become a monastic. They even want to teach those who teach them dharma how to teach them dharma.

Usually, I ignore such people because they're just seeking attention. What they need is education from 0 to 10,000. And I am an impatient person, so this task should be done by someone more patient and compassionate. I bet even those patient and compassionate people would lose their patience and compassion with them. If they had basic logic and intelligence, they should know that a tradition that has been passed down for thousands of years must have profound reasons, because this is something verified by countless people who were smarter, more logical, and more critical than them, and every seemingly unreasonable rule might be based on the lessons of predecessors, so these are not things that can be overturned by someone who has just read a few books.

At Brother Hello's funeral, Dao Sheng announced that Man-yue would preside over the hell-breaking ritual. This decision was opposed by all the Namo masters present. Then Dao Sheng presented his reasons, which were quite shallow—so shallow that I couldn't take them seriously. He insisted that hell-breaking was just a ritual, with the main purpose being to comfort the living. When an outsider is too much of an outsider, what they say will leave all insiders speechless. Because it's too easy to refute and leaves people with no desire to refute it.

There are many such people in Buddhism. They don't understand Buddhist dharma, don't believe in it, and don't cherish it. Buddhist dharma is just a tool for them to seek profit. Such people only want to please others, only want others to think well of them. They use Buddhist dharma to do favors, and for this, they can sacrifice any tradition. This is probably what is meant by "convenience leading to degradation."

Over the past century, the spread of Western education has given many people the illusion that they can judge everything (they not only think they can judge right from wrong but also believe they can control destiny). Because most of the ideas they've received come from the tradition of Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir, they tend to think many things in traditional culture are ancient people's imagination. For instance, Brother Hello's constant talk about women being impure, women having menstruation, and the patriarchs not liking it. Most modern people won't like such concepts because they have already been bound by Voltaire's ideas and consider these to be discrimination against women. I don't know if these are ancient people's imagination, but I have seen evildoers' faces grow increasingly dark, seen mandala jewels become covered in black ash when touched by those who seriously violate samaya, seen many things beyond your imagination and logic, so if someone tells me that negative energy is just ancient people's imagination, I can only feel compassion for them.

Brother Hello, as an inheritor of this profession, although he has spent his whole life helping people escape from hell and moving in traditional cultural circles, still faces the impact of Western culture and can feel the intense shock to his own faith. It's just that in traditional East Asian society, most people are bound by face—even if they have doubts, they won't show them, burying these doubts deep in their hearts for the sake of face. Especially people like Brother Hello; as a locally famous Namo master who breaks hell, he can only insist on the patriarchs' teachings, though he himself might not deeply believe them. No one knows if he might think at midnight about whether what he does has any meaning, whether people still exist after death, whether what he does actually helps them or if it's really as Dao Sheng says—that hell-breaking is just to help the living get rid of their psychological knots. This is an issue that exists for all practitioners, but most people are unwilling to touch this awkward question.

Most practitioners facing various new things coming at them are not prepared. They don't know how to respond, don't know how to reconcile the conflicts between their practice, faith, and modern ideas. Many people who are accustomed to self-deception will feel they don't have this problem—self-deception helps them cover up this issue, making them feel they don't have such problems. But no matter how you cover it up, the problem still exists.

When a freedom-loving individualist comes to a Buddhist community to practice, when they see the "Fifty Verses of Guru Devotion," see various precepts and requirements, they will feel that Buddhist practice is full of anti-freedom elements. You have to share the teacher's leftover food with your dharma brothers and sisters because that is the guru's siddhi and has blessings; you have to wash the teacher's socks, endure their bad temper; you must obey them completely, and if they tell you to quit your job and beg on King's Street, you have to do it. You must admit these things conflict greatly with what you learned at Princeton University.

In the past two hundred years, traditional culture has been shattered by modern Western civilization. Even practitioners and those who make a living from traditional culture are no longer firm in their beliefs—they just don't voice it. I understand why this situation has occurred. We face our phones every day, face girls dressed in anime style, face gene editing therapy, Trump coins and Hirokazu Kore-eda, face city trains speeding past on elevated bridges, face a drastically changing new world. Growing up in such an era, the scenes described in Buddhist sutras seem as unreal as dreams.

All along, I have believed that the root of most people's problems in modern society lies in their respecting what should be despised while despising what should be respected, respecting what shouldn't be respected while not respecting what should be respected—this is the root of many of our problems. From this perspective, this film is no different from those feel-good movies; it's also a feel-good movie, the only difference being that its feel-good nature is deeply hidden. It trampled and humiliated things we should respect in a special artistic way.

Dao Sheng and Man-yue probably represent the Hong Kong younger generation's understanding of this. They grew up in a Hong Kong society where English is the official language, and in their view, many traditional rules are just outdated garbage. Although she was raised on Brother Hello's work as a Namo master, this doesn't prevent her from seeing that system as merely a remnant of the old era. This isn't surprising—she grew up in Hong Kong society, using Octopus cards and drinking Yakult, with planes flying overhead every day. Although Hong Kong society has preserved much traditional culture, it still cannot resist the erosion of Western culture. Compared to the deceased, they believe the living are most important—actually, this isn't just their thinking, it's most modern people's thinking. You can find people who think this way in any city in mainland China. They are also followers of Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir.

The terrifying aspect of this thinking is that it denies the existence of the deceased, making traditional rituals like hell-breaking lose their meaning, becoming mere formal cultural heritage—perhaps relics. In the letter left for Man-yue, Brother Hello told his daughter, "I didn't know those words were hurting you all along." He was referring to words about women being impure and such. These final words undoubtedly revealed his true values. Although he had been engaged in hell-breaking work and maintaining tradition, deep in his heart he had always been a modern person (someone with a Voltaire brain) rather than a traditional Chinese person. That's why he would feel those words hurt her.

East Asian culture, after more than 2000 years of fermentation and misinterpretation among ordinary people, has finally manifested as an extremely unskillful education method. East Asian parents are accustomed to educating their children with stern faces; they never praise their children, always pick at their faults, and are extremely strict with them. I can't say this is wrong, but it easily pushes children to the devil's side. The devil loves to collect those who lack love—it will appear beside them, praise them, provide them with abundant security. With it, even if you punch a hole in the sky, it doesn't matter; it will make you feel it's the one who truly loves you.

Basically, if you want to hear pleasant words, words that don't hurt you, you should go find deceivers—only deceivers can provide you with full emotional value. The words of sages are never pleasant to hear. Laozi said the sage is not benevolent and treats the people as straw dogs. Shakyamuni Buddha said women have five obstacles. Jesus said let him who is without sin cast the first stone. In today's world where individualism runs rampant, we have all been spoiled. We can't bear to hear any truth; any truth makes us feel offended and hurts our fragile hearts. Even TV dramas like "As If in Hell" can make many people feel greatly hurt. What you need to know is that any truth is unpleasant to hear, but unpleasant words are what you should hear. Because only those who love you will risk offending you by saying those truths you don't like to hear. As for those who don't care even if you make a huge mistake—of course they don't care, because you're the one who has to take responsibility, not them. If you ruin your life, what does it matter to them?

In today's world where Western culture sweeps across the globe, traditional East Asian education methods have been severely questioned, and new-generation parents are taught not to be harsh with their children, to use "Western," "civilized" methods to educate children. Hong Kong, as one of the earliest regions to be baptized by British civilization, appears on the surface to perfectly combine the essence of East and West, maintaining the appearance of traditional culture, but many people have actually long abandoned tradition. Traditional culture inheritors like Brother Hello perform traditional rituals in the most traditional way while feeling they've failed their daughters—this is a manifestation of internal Westernization.

Imagine one day when Confucius and Shakyamuni meet Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir. This is what happens to everyone in the film. Some are followers of Voltaire and Simone de Beauvoir from the start, while others struggle between Confucius, Shakyamuni, and Voltaire. Because of what we have been taught, all our standards for measuring advancement come from Voltaire's legacy. Using Voltaire's cognition and standards, you certainly cannot understand the greatness of Chinese culture. Chinese sages never emphasized material civilization. Western society, on the other hand, has been devoted to material civilization since the Renaissance, and today material civilization has reached unprecedented abundance. Millions of trucks and cargo ships deliver goods around the world daily to satisfy our greed. You can drive to the supermarket and buy a week's worth of food, open your phone to watch people dancing worldwide, and walk into the bathroom to find hot water waiting for you. Most people will like such a life and consider it advanced. Even followers of Shakyamuni won't refuse hot showers and TikTok.

As they say, Confucianism and Buddhism never invented phonographs or chrome film, didn't create shower heads and central air conditioning, didn't write "The Wealth of Nations," didn't invent supermarkets—so what did they do for thousands of years? As far as I know, our ancestors, these great sages, like the Indians, were doing the most important things: studying how to solve our fundamental afflictions, researching the root of all human problems, examining the ultimate questions we must face. Therefore, they were doing what matters most. For us, the most important things are how to solve our suffering, how to transcend life and death, how to attain happiness. There are many less important matters, such as who becomes the U.S. president, how to conquer AIDS, how to make goods circulate quickly, how to train large language models, and how to make toothless people grow new teeth. These are all less important matters. Studying these things not only fails to solve our problems but adds to them. Yet most people become addicted to these unimportant things. They think if planes could fly ten times faster, if we could grow new teeth, we would be happier.

Of course, I never fantasize that the general public could understand these things. Most people can only see the convenience and happiness brought by Voltaire, Simone de Beauvoir, and Adam Smith. They cannot see the price they must pay for these conveniences, nor can they see that these external things will ultimately fail their expectations. Therefore, people like Brother Hello, although still following and even defending tradition, have already been conquered by Simone de Beauvoir in their hearts. I don't mean to blame him—he's just an ordinary person, and in this era, it's almost impossible not to be conquered by the Voltaires. There are few people in this world who can see the problems and ultimate results brought by Western culture; there are even fewer who can understand these things, and fewer still who would support Eastern culture while Western culture dominates the world. After all, that means risking being seen as a spokesperson for backwardness and decay by the whole world. However, regardless, you must know that the theories of Voltaire, John Stuart Mill, and Simone de Beauvoir may bring you temporary happiness and prosperity, but ultimately, it is an endless path of suffering because it is an erroneous theory built upon a non-existent "self."

Written by Lingshan Hermit

January 14, 2025

First published January 20, 2025

Revised January 22, 2025

Copyright Notice：All copyrights of Ling Shan Hermit's articles in Simplified and Traditional Chinese, English, and other languages belong to the natural person who owns "Ling Shan Hermit". Please respect copyright. Publishers, media, or individuals (including but not limited to internet media, websites, personal spaces, Weibo, WeChat public accounts, print media) must obtain authorization from Ling Shan Hermit before use. No modifications to the articles are allowed (including: author's name, title, main text content, and punctuation marks). We reserve all legal rights.

灵山居士：当孔子释迦牟尼遇到伏尔泰和西蒙.波娃（修订）

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thismightbemylaststraw · 4 months ago

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Getting to know your Mutuals

Tagged by @celemee, thanks for the tag (〃．.)

What's the origin of your blog's title?

A quote from The Price of Salt that I've reaally been feeling these months.

Favorite Fandoms:

The Witcher (books & games), Horizon games, Baldur's Gate 3, Hades games

OTP(s) + shipname:

Not big on shipping or romance, but Elisabet Sobeck x Tilda van deer Meer have been gnawing at me in ways they have no right to.

Favorite color:

Black, purple, and midnight blue.

Favorite game:

I'd say RDR2 and Nier Automata. Both made me cry and Nier Automata pulled off a magnificent stunt with using the video game medium in a unique way.

Song stuck in your head:

Go Tell Aunt Rhody from RE7 of all things?? (never played any games)

Weirdest habit/trait?

I like to trace my index finger on surfaces or my hip/knee when I'm lost in thought, but I'm actually drawing something :D clinically insane? Maybe.

Hobbies:

Listening to music, reading, gaming, virtual photography, talking to cats I meet on walks.

If you work, what's your profession?

◉ ̫◉

If you could have any job you wish what would it be?

Something quiet and with books/writing, cliché as it may sound. Like, a librarian or some mysterious book editor that leaves you cryptic messages on Google Docs.

Something you're good at:

Stealth! I move without any sound unless I wear winter boots. One time at work I accidentally scared a coworker too much (I thought her heart stopped for a moment). Then I brought her candy because to this day I feel so bad about it :'D

Something you're bad at:

I can give you the list by alphabet or relevance :D let's say I'm bad at reigning in my cynicism so it doesn't grow into harsh judgement or downright ruins my experiences.

Something you excel at:

Body language, both reading others' and controlling my own (perks of growing with deafmute grandparents).

Something you love:

Water and words that tingle my brain. Definitely music, too. And snow. Nothing else comes to mind right now.

Something you could talk about for hours without off the cuff:

I prefer to listen, but with the right people I can talk extensively about a lot of things.

Something you hate:

Callous and snobbish people. There is no place for unjustified rotten actions and conceit.

Something you collect:

Facts about people. A whole archive in my head.

Something you forget:

My physical needs and small tasks that I don't want to do (well, how convenient).

What's your love language?

The more I care for/love someone, the less I engage with them. Consider it trash taking itself out ^.^

Favorite movie/show:

Am awful when it comes to watching movies and shows.

Favorite food:

Hearty soups/stews, mashed potatoes. Also am a certified sugar maniac.

Favorite animal:

Cats and crows.

Are you musical?

A couple of people had said I do have a musical ear, but I was prohibited from artistic pursuits, so I don't know if it's a yes or no. I do like to sing a lot when alone, though.

What were you like as a child?

Quiet and gentle. And, by god, very opiniated. Loved taking naps in the closets (if that wasn't foreshadowing, huh).

Favorite subject at school?

English, biology, and history.

Least favorite subject?

Math. In last 3 years it was also art. The teacher and I, oh we had a beautiful hate relationship.

What's your best character trait?

Funny.

What's your worst character trait?

Conceited as all hell.

If you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be?

I'd be currently in a snowy forest of some Northern country with my identity changed and death faked. But, oh well.

If you could travel in time who would you like to meet?

I can't choose.

Recommend one of your favorite fanfics

Oh absolutely gonna recommend Graven Image for Tilda x Elisabet shippers. This one is my hyperfixation because it's goooood. Like sugar.

#tag game

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the-fandom-abyss · 1 year ago

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Hey, are your match ups open?

If they are, may I request one from marvel (any gender)? Spiderverse-specific would be great but I understand if you aren't familiar enough with the characters to write for that so any marvel characters would also be fine.

Because I do not understand the concept of brevity, I have my matchup information pinned to my blog. I really hope that won't be too much of an issue for you. I just don't want to clog your asks with my ramblings.

Anyhow, thank you so so much!

I ship you with Felicia Hardy (Black Cat)!

You mentioned that due to your dancing background that you walk on your toes. Felicia adores that about you, she likes to think that you glide as an angel should never touch the ground. With her profession, it can also be a blessing with the amount of sneaking she has to do, she draws inspiration from your movements and implements them into her own.

Now what is a black cat without her witch? The fact that your wardrobe happens to match her alter ego, well Felicia absolutely loves it. This fact alone is why she calls you her special nicknames like witchy, sorceress, enchantress etc. She’ll even go as far as to use cheesy lines such as “I’m under your spell” or “it must be the love potion”.

After what has happened in her past, she tends to avoid large crowds or events that could lead her back to her past. So she likes to be amongst a smaller group, she doesn’t mind what they’re doing as long as it doesn’t involve a whole party of people. She’s like you in a way, happy to stand outside the venue and continue the conversation, it’s more personal that way. She sighs when you tell her, thankful that someone else just gets it. She feels safe around you.

To maintain your interest and engage in your need to not be bored, Felicia shares little jobs with you. She will hand you floor plans, locations of security cameras. She’ll ask you to stake out the staff, gain an idea of their schedules. She will lead you to safes or vaults that are encrypted, just so you can spend your time searching for the code. There is never ending jobs to be done that there is no time to be bored.

If that isn’t enough, in her down time, she will make sure to plan dates or experiences or holidays with you. It will have all the thrills with the added bonus of together time. Which Felicia has a hard time balancing so she tries her best to accomodate both her personal and work life.

There would be no sneaking around if you were in Hogwarts. A ravenclaw often attracts another and that is exactly what happened. You two would cause chaos in class with the amount of smarts and wit that you possess. I feel you would give the Weasley twins a run for their money, always in competition to see who can one up each other

1k Follower Celebration

#felicia hardy #black cat #Felicia hardy x reader #Felicia hardy matchup #black cat x reader #black cat matchup #spider verse matchup #marvel matchup

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gutsby · 4 months ago

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guts! i am here to ruin the vibe with a career question. but i’ve seen other people do it here! i am considering law school but i am naturally negative. i always think of all the reasons i should not do something before i think of the reasons i should go for it haha i’m a few years out undergrad around your age, really hating my career direction rn. i have been told i’d enjoy legal career because i tend to be nerdy, enjoy research and thrive in highly structured environments. i think pursuing a career path that has a clearer pathway could be very positive me. but i get in my head about the amount of debt you take on, the fact i m don’t know what practice area i would pursue, all this stuff you hear about the difficulties in law because it’s a gilded profession. or stuff about there being a larger supply of lawyers relative to jobs available. i shit the bed a couple years of undergrad because i was going through it at the time so undergrad gpa is mid. i don’t wanna be someone who does it for the wrong reasons ig? anyway i am dropping this in your inbox to ask what you think about all my negative thoughts (and i’m SO sorry i did, it’s a buzzkill and irrelevant) but figured i would get a more kind yet honest response than on reddit where people tell you to go kys when you ask for advice lol. congratulations on your engagement and adorable new puppy. 🥹

DUDE!!!! Never apologize for asking questions like these - I get SO excited to hear of people considering law school, and I want to help in any way that I can!! (I’ll try to start tagging these so y’all can have them in one place!)

What you’re feeling is completely normal—and A LOT like how I felt before I started applying places. It’s obviously important to keep the financial reality of the situation in mind (these fuckers ain’t cheap) and to remain practical to a degree, but PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don’t count yourself out of an opportunity on those feelings of fear/uncertainty/negativity alone! You are capable of so much more than you think. OKAY CORNY, YES, BUT LET ME EXPLAIN,,,, I didn’t even have law school on my radar until like…almost halfway through senior year. I spent three semesters getting my ass beat in pre-med before that, which TANKED my GPA, and when I switched to Poli Sci I had no fucking clue what I wanted to do with it. Now that you’re a few years out of undergrad, your GPA matters even less, and you can do a whole lot more with your LSAT, personal statement, outside experience, etc!

It’s awesome that you have years under your belt outside academia, because that will absolutely help keep you grounded through the hell that is 1L and beyond—as a K-JD with zero experience in another career, it was easy to feel like grades were the be-all and end-all. They weren’t. For reference, my law school’s median GPA for its incoming class was like a 3.95, and mine was MUCH lower. On paper, it seemed like a long shot. Apply anyway!!!

As for not knowing what area you’d like to practice in, don’t sweat that at all. Like, at all. Not to sound flippant but honestly nobody knows what the fuck they really wanna do coming in, and the ones who think they do often change their minds after their 1L internship LOL. It happens. Another personal anecdote but I only found my current practice area through attending an informational meeting on the masters program during 2L! I didn’t even know if I would like it, but I was lost on what I wanted to do otherwise and liked the idea of two degrees for the price of one LOL so I thought why not. If you have questions about JD/LLM programs too lmk!!

Depending on the city, I’m sure certain markets are oversaturated and the competition is nuts. But YOU. CAN. SPECIALIZE. Find a niche area where you excel! Try an internship in a city you’ve never lived (I did it twice and now I’ve relocated to someplace I never thought I would). The legal profession is far from where it needs to be in terms of accessibility/inclusivity/not being a bunch of elitist fucking pricks, but it has changed a lot over the years, and you deserve a chance to be part of it, if that’s what you want!

OKAY RAMBLING OVER!! I hope this helps in some way!!! If you ever have questions or just wanna talk at any time, I’m always here, and I am ROOTING FOR YOU 🫶🏼 Best of luck with whatever you choose to do and wherever you end up!!!! 🩷🩷

(and thank you for the well wishes!!! 🥹💓)

#ask #✏️

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tasmiq · 4 months ago

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Jumu'ah Sohbet: 24 January 2025

This week, I was left in an ocean of gratitude for Allah joining us as spiritual family in a Tariqa (a path or way in Sufism). We each come from different walks of life with a common characteristic in our thirst for acknowledging, learning more of, and loving the very Source of us. We unpacked only some of the rational reasons for reciprocating the love of Al-Wadud (the Loving Source of us). In truth, it is actually a lifelong unfolding, but bismillah to the truest kind of love that exists, that of Divine love...

#1. Even before we embarked on unpacking Shaykh Mir's provocative query into Divine love... Earlier in the week, I had my own unique encounter of what Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee transcendentally describes as the radical intimacy of spiritual ecology as a newly discovered love story. I performed Zikr (Sufi meditation) in union with the avocado tree in our garden. We both recounted that we palpably felt and were grateful for the presence of the invisible Sustainer of us, Al Qayyum. The very next day, I was humbled and honoured to be gifted one of its fruit. What's more, it feels as though its leaves are affectionately reaching out to us.

Above: Your Aunty Nokthula the day after I performed Zikr intentionally with our beloved avocado tree seeding avocado as big as these for the first time. Subhana'Allah (Divine glory)!

In the subsequent days, I have been yearning the Hoosens', namely the humble giants Wakila Rehana and brother Javed and family's, gifted green fingers as I have been conveying my loving frequencies to our whole garden. Our garden has gratefully borne us granadilla, banana, brinjal, grapes, a host of edible and ethno-botanic plants, and even minute litchis from a barren tree that we have been trying to revive. Radical intimacy of spiritual ecology aptly describes our gradual love affair with our garden soil, that is free of pesticides, attempted to be free of alien invasives, and as loyal as can be to organic gardening principles. Every day is thus a discovery to see what gloriously manifests after our loving intentions are seeded in our garden.

#2. Like a naturally intriguing and loving mystic, Shaykh Mir related Mollah Nasruddin anecdotes as a very spiritually practical approach to learning, which many people cannot actually understand. There are no wrong answers in these mystic tales, which can be interpreted in numerous ways and hence considered controversial.

After Mollah Nasruddin professed at the social "tea house" that he could see in the dark, he was subsequently queried about his reliance on a lantern in spite of this...? He matter of factly replied, "A light in the dark might show me the way forward on a pitch dark night. However, why let the lantern impose its little light on the grand mystery of the Unknown?" Being in the dark and seeing the Universe is not limiting itself to a single source of light or guidance, but we ought to rather be in awe of the Universe itself.

But before his share of an interpretation, we reflected that initially the Mollah was referring to seeing in the dark with the eyes of the heart, and because others didn't have this ability, he was carrying a lantern to prevent others colliding into him.

#3. Shaykh Mir followed this intrigue by inspiring us to individually reflect on the practical implications of Surah Al Fatiha. When we say, "Lead us to the straight path", what are our different understandings of this, because if we don't specifically ask Allah, we won't necessarily get the guidance for the direction ahead. What I appreciated about this as a multilingual is a deep engagement with the contents of another language. Here, we reflected that it was guidance to the path of love. If there is no love in our actions, that exercise is often meaningless.

However, if the concept of love is limited by expectation in getting something in return for the action, then the love is not pure as love without expectation. As the example given by Shaykh Mir of a mother's unconitional love for her child at the beginning of its life. Human beings love different things, but they are inspired by us and come from Allah. And, we misattrribute it to our egos' preferences. If everything is imbibed in Divine love, the love of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), and the message of the Qur'an, we would be fully completed as a person.

Or it is the path to Allah through the opening of the inner eye because there is no place where Allah is not because He is everywhere, He is our goal! Shaykh Mir humbly ended by reflecting that as we develop that Divine love, insha'Allah, we must remember that as the Oneness in the Unity of the diversity because Allah cannot be defined by any one mind. We acknowledge that because the Omnipotent, Omnipresent, and Omniscient Allah cannot be in any single form or space. However, the mind needs a stimulus, and it is said that the mu'min (believer) is a reflection of the mu'min. In the Tariqa, it is said that the first step is to love your Shaykh or spiritual mentor, denoted by the expression of Fana which means spiritual annihilation. From Fanafil Shaykh, you become Fanafil Rasulallah - who is the final messenger of Allah - which takes you to the infinite journey of love to become Love itself, Al-Wadud.

In conclusion, Insha'Allah Ya Rabbal 'Alameen (As Your Divine will, oh Lord of the worlds)! May our wills unite with Your will Ya Wadud ...

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