#i take the 'you could make a religion out of this' meme as a personal challenge

[tanadrin]

@afloweroutofstone

The “Catholic trinitarianism = polytheism” meme has always struck me as a misreading of Catholic theology It’s just monotheism with extra steps

sorry, the muslims and jews are right about this one. trinitarianism is the kind of nonsense you get when a bureaucratic committee is given the task of hammering out how jesus can be divine but not god but also there's only one god; the fact it is so easy to fall into heresy when dealing with christology (is jesus an aspect of god? modalism. heresy! is jesus created by god rather than "proceeding" from him, whatever that means? arianism. heresy! are the persons distinct beings united in one "will"? mormonism. heresy!) isn't because christology/trinitarianism is philosophically subtle, it's because it's incoherent.

but it was enforced as a dogma by state-backed religious authorities long enough to take root, and when the peasants asked how this could possibly be true the priest could say, "it's a mystery, you have to have faith, now shut up." but "one god existing in three distinct, consubstantial persons, who are each fully god" one of whom is furthermore "fully human and fully divine" is literally nested oxymorons.

it's like the eucharist being both really the body of christ and also chemically indistinguishable from bread; that people believe this is a demonstration of both the power of religious authorities and adherents' willingness to signal in-group membership, it's not a coherent metaphysical claim.

in practical terms there are social and formal consequences to the doctrine of the trinity that make christianity resemble other monotheistic religions in many important ways--this is why i categorize christianity as "less monotheistic" but not fully polytheistic--but it also resembles polytheism in many important ways! well, catholicism and eastern orthodoxy even more than protestantism, but that's in part because of the whole saints thing, which is a totally different bag of worms.

[solargeist]

an angel doesn't necessarily have to be religious. typically yeah they are, but we're talking fantasy. you could make angels some sort of rare hybridization between different bird like hybrids.

though, if you WANTED to keep with the Catholic/religious theme. there was stuff written about humans and angels (or demons) having offspring. it would in the angels case result in them falling, BUT their offspring would have exaggerated features or even powers.

an angel here could be what happens if you spliced watcher/listener DNA with some other species. in skizz's case it could just be human, but you could probably make cool cases for others.

Yesss you are right, there is a story abt angels breeding with humans and creating giants, angels also taught magic and astrology to humans. (i think this is also what led to the whole flooding thing, which, boooo, let angels be freaky 2024)

I take some inspiration from Catholicism, but don't follow it exactly for Watchers. The Watchers are just that world's version of Catholicism, the people made a religion out of them, how they appear at times to guide and protect, sometimes taking people, and they're always been around. Grian grew up around Watcher religion as a child, he's got catholic guilt as an adult. (his Watcher mum--Aether, also grew up around Watcher religion)

Tho the difference--they don't have a Jesus-like figure, its just tiers of angels, the universe, that sort of thing, but who knows, maybe theres different Watcher branches amongst people as well, there are enchantment dialect differences.

Maybe Skizz just comes from a line of different enchantments, not Watcher based, but it's why he looks like that without being a hybrid. (the protestant joke rly does work here, they don't believe/pray to saints or angels or other figures beyond the main guy LOlol)

Listeners are fallen Watchers, treated much like demons, in the sense that they have to be stomped out, they'll lead humans astray.

Another difference, Watchers are infertile, so they do not breed with themselves or others, they just adopt and use enchantments to change the person, its how they continue, an endless source of Saints.

I do treat it more fantasy style, not super bible-accurate, but the lore inspiration is still heavily tied into it

Their domaines are much like convents, strict and confined.

I call them angels, but.... Watchers are "angels" in the way that they watch people, they bring information and guidance, they're skilled warriors who possess magic, but they don't serve a "God" or "Heaven", this is all of their own interest. (and also humans are cute, they can't help but interact.) Appearance wise they resemble birds, crows and owls, growing feathers and fur, claws and wings, multiple eyes on their face and "spiritually" (the floating eyes they conjure) They dress in flowing fabrics and hoods, they're very modest, but this is just most comfortable for all the feathers and wings, and allows them to blend into the dark and hide their forms. Nothing to do with the purity idea.

Bonus, they're like this meme but both at the same time

[defira85]

With the proviso that I have not finished the game and I in a really shitty mood about my Rook's body type breaking in the romance cut scene specifically, I have thoughts-

I saw a post that said that Veilguard is so fundamentally determined to say nothing that sometimes it comes out as incredibly offensive with just how aggressively noncommittal it is

and that's really it, isn't it

Shadow Dragon Rook got into trouble for saving slaves, and the Viper is a vigilante saving slaves, but we never SEE any slavery. We see poverty and abuse, but there's no talk about the rigid castes within Tevinter. Maybe the Venatori were drawn primarily from the lower classes of mages, those without family seats in the Magisterium, who were drawn to the promise that they could accumulate power instead of being trapped in a system that dooms them to failure and looks down its nose at them for being born not important enough

Tevinter's whole thing across the series has been slavery!!! And we get one or two codex entries about how Dorian gave such a nice speech about "slavery bad :c" and that's it

The Crows are so utterly toothless. Just an aggressively white-washed cool vigilante group, no hint of their child abuse or slavery practices, where's the acknowledgement that they make a lot of their money from slavery?

Lucanis' year in solitary confinement and torture is just window dressing. Again, haven't finished the game, but no examination of it at all 45 hours in. There's so much literature about what solitary confinement does to a person, how it's a form of torture, and just thinking about how much of Zevran's past abuses were woven into his characterisation so carefully... it's like chalk and cheese

Davrin once again filling the role of Bioware's obligatory "elf who hates being an elf and aggressively denies all elven heritage" companion

And like... every mini villain is just someone who was too ambitious and that made them eeeeevil. All the companions' rivals get dropped on Rook without any build-up, no casual conversations to say "oh I had this ex-friend/rival/foe who shaped me". Maybe I've been spoiled by Baldur's Gate 3 and how carefully all of the companions' abusers were woven into who they were as a character and how it shaped them and their story. Gortash didn't just come out of nowhere, Karlach was mentioning him in chapter 1! There were codex entries about him to be found weeks before you met him! But who the fuck is Johanna Hezenberouasertrousers or whatever the fuck her name is. She was ambitious, TOO ambitious, so she's evil and Emmrich's mirror. Cyrian joined the Forgotten Ones, and sure the Evanuris turned out to be super evil abusers that all the myths and religion was super wrong about but this is WORSE CYRIAN HOW COULD YOU

Don't get me started on whatever the fuck the game is trying to say about religion and about faith. Gods, it's so mid 2000s atheist edgelord memeing "unfortunately for you.... I have reason and logic on my side....... checkmate religion..." There's no nuance at all!!!!! Just "religion is a lie so faith dies now" no acknowledgement of faith as a cultural force!!! Of CULTURE being shaped by faith!!!! Okay I said don't get me started, I'll stop now

Whatever the fuck they're doing with the Qunari. They really just have gone back to their incredibly racist roots of "islamic borg" as David Gaider called it but they've made it even more offensive by making them all so... I don't know what word I'm looking for is, but it's about the sex appeal. How they've got their entire chiselled asses out. They look like they're trying to take part in Mister Bodybuilder Treviso, not a vaguely regimented army that was incredibly carefully structured up until about 5 minutes ago

This was more than what I intended to write lmfao. It's a fun game! I'm enjoying myself, as a fun action RPG. But after Baldur's Gate 3, it's just so utterly spineless. It has nothing to say. Evil people are evil, good people are good. It doesn't take a stand about anything. It is so determined not to be offensive to anyone at all that I find it gross

I'll finish it, and then I'll go back to BG3

[writingforatwistedworld]

Ah, I hope this isn't annoying, but I couldn't resist! I just read the request for the self-aware au, for a player who is actually a god and I really LOVED the idea!!! So if it's not too much trouble, could I ask for the exact same idea only with Ruggie, Riddle and Ace?

By the way, I love your blog and your work, I love your creativity!! ❤️❤️❤️

Self-aware au

I do not take any responsebility for you reading this no matter which age group you are from!

WARNINGS: Yandere themes, religion, obsessiveness, murder, blood, beheading, violence, death

My works are not meant to be taken seriously. Neither am I telling you in what kind of religion you are supposed to believe in.

Riddle Rosehearts/Ace Trappola/Ruggie Bucchi-Player is a real god

God of law and order

Oho, so we are actively trying to make him loose his mind (mhm good plan good plan)

I mean, come on, the Queendom of roses is a place I would rank “third-most-not-so-fluffy-relationship-with-you” and he grew up in there so what did you expect?

Something normal? Ha! You are making me laugh

But here we are, croquette master with a hedgehog in his hand in person, almost dropping his needely friend

But how did he even find out? Well… Leona. Leona and a lot of ink (you catching my drift, right?)

Things were looking south and everything was just so…. so… unruly

Mhm I can see how a God of law and order popped a blood vessel in that kind of situation

And whilst you aren’t some kind of being creating bloodshed and war getting hit by a rule book and whatever kind of abilities you have has to hurt

Also it was giving away who you truly were

I mean, yay? Now you have an (somehow possible) even more obsessive follower…

And they all wonder why he suddenly became so religious

Even if you are a more “chill” kind of entity concerning your field of work (the market of Gods is always having too little workers) he is still like “Nope Trey. Imma go pray to ruler number 168” or something like that

Like I said, religious

But oh dear heavens (u get it heavens in like… ok I’ll stop) someone disrespects you or tries to take his seat as “most devoted follower of the month”

Uh… he was in the mood for a “realistic” demonstration of how the Queen of Hearts would deal with annoyances

Just tell him that you are proud… otherwise I’m not sure that even the hedgehogs would tolerate him and his… rather red behaviour

God of trickery

Hmm… this one is kinda tricky

You see, he is from the Queendom of Roses but at the same time he is not powerful enough to do that much damage… with magic at least

When Ace found out that you were everything but a ordinary student you two were in a rather unhappy situation

I mean, either you make that huge glass thingy behind Riddle trip and fall or you can eat rose bush which it was swinging around like crazy… pick your poison

Ace isn’t the fatest tool in the shed but when you, a magicless student, suddenly used something akin to magic he knew that something was up

And who would have known, maybe if it wasn’t for the bad parenting of Riddles mother you may have hidden this until the day you would go separate ways

But oh well, seems like fate decided it wanted him to be religious

I mean, a God of trickery, something like that is perfect for him!

Not to mention that you are way more approachable than some God of law and order because who would want to follow such a stiff deity? (Jokes on you Ace but Riddle...)

Despite him being on the “chill, man” side I can also see a huge spike in religiousness in his personality

I mean, come on, it’s now literally proven with his own two eyes that God (or Gods) at least exist

You know that meme “he don’t but-YES IT DOES!” that’s him

My man just turns feral when someone dares to take your prescious attention and time away from him

Literally a menace, and not the peaceful kind

Before you know it he is asking you if you can help him dig holes for a “garden project”

In the middle of the woods. Aha. Totally believable

Well, all I can say is that Trey will probably miss the kitchen knife... yeah I would buy a new one and never use the old one again...

You know... Maybe the cake looks a bit red if he were blind and never noticed anything.... It's a “garden project”, ok? Let the man raise his Gladiolus, Aconitum, Lycoris and Chrysanthemum

God of kindness and equality

So we feeding the carnivores today? Sounds like a plan. Not a good one but at least it is one

Ruggie has always been someone who needed to clench his teeth and do stuff other people wouldn't do simply to have his basic needs fulfilled

So imagine you standing there one day, opening up that you are in truth literally the things he had been craving all his life for

Mhm, I am just had he doesn't have rabies. You could have fooled me with how aggressive he becomes towards new people (and also your own little circle to be honest) after finding that out

Here we are, Leona is dealing with his stuff in an unhealthy way and someone needs to step up and bring him down to earth again

But imagine his surprise that you were actually the good of kindness after you slapped our local lion who may or may have not escaped from the Zoo next door back into reality (and out of his doom)

After he spends even more time with you it starts to make sense thought

Even though he is the closest person to Leona which could be used for someone's benefit people still tend to be at least wary of him because... well broken bones hurt, you know?

But here you are, holding out your hand to him, offering him your kindness and friendship

Though you could have said “marry me” because win his eyes that is exactly what you did

And who is he to say no to such an perfect being literally being from heaven (or whatever higher place)

He is scratching, biting, kicking and using all the dirty tricks in the book just to keep you alone, isolated and all for himself

Of course he won't do that in front of you, he isn't a monster! Such a pure and perfect being lime you doesn't need to witness such a thing!

If you thought that Diasomnia is already bad then I would say yes, he is only a teeny tiny bit better than them

Why? Oh well, he doesn't have the magical or physical strength to start a war

That doesn't mean he won't leave you alone

Oh no

You will spend somewhere the rest of the time he exists in a small in the middle of nowhere thinking that everyone despises you

He has a way with words (and sharp, suspiciously red teeth) you know?

[stellacartography]

Thanks to @lisbeth-kk for tagging me.

Fic Writer's Meme

How many works do you have on ao3?

I have 28! 18 in Sherlock, 6 in Star Trek: Voyager, and 4 Good Omens.

What’s your total word count?

182,614, a majority of which is Kinesis, but as a person who has always struggled with completing things, the 100,000+ words that aren't Kinesis are a real victory in my head.

What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

Kinesis (Mystrade), The Interrogation of Anthony Crowley, Witch (Ineffable husbands co-written with @mevima), Avast Ye Merry Gentlemen (Johnlock Christmas), The Bold and the Bruised (Mystrade 360MG), Atonement (Janeway/Chakotay post-series reconciliation).

Do you respond to comments? Why/why not?

Absolutely! I love comments. If I haven't responded to a comment it's only because life has been eating my brain and I will get to it once I've recovered.

What's the fic you've written with the angstiest ending?

Probably All the Time it Takes to Wait, which is titled after a song I played obsessively at the time while I was dreaming up the scenario of Chakotay actually getting to have feelings about the whole Fair Haven disaster. Nothing is resolved but they have it out. The song is angsty and so is the fic.

What's the fic you've written with the happiest ending?

It's gotta be Kinesis. Not to overhype, but the ending is pretty satisfying and joyful.

Do you write crossovers?

I have the outline of a Sherlock/Star Trek crossover in my WIP pile.

Have you ever received hate on a fic?

No, but I can't wait. Bring it on, internet. I love an argument. I love to analyze the fears and insecurities of people who start fights on the internet over free content lovingly created and bravely posted. I am unhinged and ruthless.

Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Hell yes. Smut has been an essential part of my recovery from religion, both the reading and writing of. Smut is so revealing of a character's motivations, their vulnerabilitites, their desires. I think it's a marvellous thing.

Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Not to my knowledge. If so, I'd rather not know.

Have you ever had a fic translated?

No.

Have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes, the aforementioned The Interrogation of Anthony Crowley, Witch was so much fun to write with @mevima. It was way outside my comfort zone, kinkier and darker than anything else I've written.

What's your all-time favourite ship?

Johnlock and Mystrade are forever duking it out in my head. I also love Ed and Stede's speedrun enemies-to-besties-to-lovers dynamic in OFMD.

What's a WIP that you want to finish but don't think you ever will?

Never say never, right? I have another long one that could be a Good Omens AU set in Toronto in the early 90s. Because it's last on my list of long fics, I don't know when I'm going to get to it. Also all the garbage behaviour of a certain writer/creator has really sapped my enthusiasm for writing in the fandom right now. I had a thought to turn it into an OFMD fic but I'm not sure if or when I'll get around to it.

What are your writing strengths?

Dialogue is my friend. If I get stuck in a scene, I just make the characters talk and it helps me move on. Comes from a background in writing plays.

What are your writing weaknesses?

Endings! Spare me from having to finish anything. I get burnt out and distracted easily but I'm learning to manage it. I look forward to the times when the story really flows, but since most days are not like that, it's about finding ways to write the next 5, 10, 500 words.

What are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

Like so many things, I don't think there should be hard and fast rules about what writers can and cannot do. For me, I'd be inclined to check with a native speaker if I can find one, but keeping in mind that this is not a professional venture, I think foreign dialogue in fic is a "do your best and be forgiving" venture.

That said, if a writer chooses not to get a native speaker to weigh in on their usage and they get comments like "Hey you bum. Don't use google translate for this!" we have to be willing to take our lumps and seize the opportunity: "My hero! Will you look at the rest of my dialogue for me?" Fandom is about connection building.

What was the first fandom you wrote for?

My first creative writing project in first grade was an origin story for a talking boot puppet in a horrifying Canadian children's program called Readalong. But I had no idea what a fanfic was at the time.

My first intentional fanfic might have been an unpublished Sailor Moon or Mulder/Scully fic that may live on in a hard drive somewhere.

First fic on AO3 is actually poetry called Not a Romance about what Kathryn Janeway was thinking after the episode Resolutions.

What's a fandom/ship you haven't written for yet but want to?

Our Flag Means Death. Probably Ed/Stede but there are so many great characters, it might be hard to choose.

What's your favourite fic you've written?

Kinesis. It's the fic I've always wanted to write. It has some of my favourite vibes. And I derived great joy from firing Mycroft Holmes.

Tagging @hubblegleeflower @may-shepard @the-toad-in-your-piano @copperplatebeech @blogstandbygo @fearlessdiva930 @cirquedereve @antheiasilva if you feel like answering and haven't already been tagged. I tag anyone who sees this and wants to answer (please @ me in your response and I will reblog).

If you see this and you're more of a reader, tag your favourite writers in a reblog or the notes. Seriously, this goes for anything. If you tag me on your original posts, I will gladly reblog and hype your content.

[medali-meltdown]

🌻Brassius headcanons🌻 (companion post to this one, now with added imagery (a single screenshot but so worth it))

-In his mid-40s but refuses to accept it, which manifests in ways such as: pulling all-nighters like a young student, skipping/forgetting meals, continuing to make an impression on gym challengers by leaping from the tops of windmills, roofs, whatever's convenient. Any of these habits could break his fragile body. Speaking of which...

-He started doing the wild leaps in school as a cool stunt and way to show off and be memorable, but he has a private reason also — it's his way of defying death and mocking his illness. By gods he's going to live and not only that, he's going to do it in the most avant-garde way.

-tbh I haven't pinpointed exactly what is his chronic illness. Asthma? Hey wouldn't it be ironic if he has a severe pollen allergy while loving and being surrounded by plant pokemon? (just like me fr) Also I'm still on the idea a friend told me of him describing his symptoms as thorny vines in his lungs (which could be his creative way of describing a common asthma attack, and of course he styles his hair in the same manner because he's just Like That).

-Nature and the turns of seasons are his religion. He dabbled in paganism in his younger days. Found the modern practices too commercialized, but keeps it in his heart, in private.†

-Super pretty when he was younger. Wore his hair long, and with it being so thick and wavy, it cascaded about his (fuller, more lively) face and slender neck, even when he had it pulled into a ponytail. Stormy grey eyes always in deep contemplation of Art. Elegant ways of moving and speaking, radiating beauty with every step and word... honey what happened.

-(Nothing, it's all still there if you know what to look for and Hassel sure does, he is an expert on beauty, after all!)

-Hassel 💗💗 What a long, complex history he has with Hassel. They were good friends as students long ago, both being in arts & music classes. Brassius looked up to the multi-talented Hass from day one, always inspired by him and his bravery. Of course he fell in love with his muse, but for one reason or another, they never could quite be together, at least for very long. It might take Hassel until the present to reconcile his feelings, but will it be too late? (please I have a whole fic I want to write about this, of course I love them being Extremely Married but consider this: 20 years' worth of Mutual Gay Pining and the angst what follows)

-Just like born musician Hassel has some art in him, natural artist Brassius has some form of musical talent. After all, he's the Verdant Virtuoso — a term that skews toward musicians. I like to think he's got a good singing voice.* Belts out tunes while he's in the Art Zone. In perfect Spanish Paldean because he's bilingual.

-Whenever the mood strikes him (rarely, anymore), this guy can get a little kinky. He may carry a rope to help him climb high for tall sculptures (I guess???), but it also comes in handy for tying up unruly dragons~

-He's had many more partners in the past than Hassel has, and therefore a lot of practice. Not so much these days, however. His art, gym, and health come first.

-The Surrendering Sunflora Story: it's easy to tell that Brassius, at the beginning of his art career, let his personal vision suffer because he was focused on being more of a content creator, gaming that algorithm in endless pursuit of fame, fans, and money. The stress got to him, making his illness flare up to near-fatal levels. Was there anything else stressing him out at the time? Was he battling debilitating depression as well? Because he was prepared to die from it all — whether or not his debut work succeeded. And then Hassel appeared. "It was then I met Hass." So they must have become friends a little later in their student lives? Out of nowhere comes Hassel to remind Brassius of the meaning of Art, and that saves his life. Where's that meme picture of the creature holding onto a wall and going i think i need a moment wait

-It's p much universally accepted that Brassius gave Hassel the Applin that would evolve into the latter's Flapple. I think Brassie did so after the Surrendering Sunflora exhibition was complete to express his feelings. Unfortunately, Hassel, not being from this part of the world and unfamiliar with nearby Galar's customs, thinks it's simply a friendly gesture of appreciation. Hang in there, Brassie ❤️‍🩹

-Maybe once Hass figures it out he'll give Brassius a Dipplin in return. "There are two bodies sharing one sweet home! It's more symbolic than the Applin, right? Surely they know this in Galar...?" "No, Hass, Dipplin's apple is only found in a region that's very far away, so it doesn't have that kind of meaning..." "🥺🥺😭 B-BUT IT'S USSSS"

†Meta: isn't the Pokemon world inherently pagan? I know we like to throw around the name of Arceus and/or Mew as though they are God, but... they're not really? Do not let me get theological on this post about my grass blorbo hfhfhsh

*Look, his deep, deep Japanese voice did things to me, and learning that seiyuu Nakai Kazuya voiced Mugen of all people (and some other guys I guess, Zoro if you go there) amuses me to no end hhhn

[sloshys]

HI I WAS THE FIRST ANON AND YOURE SO FUCKING RIGHT. GOD.

I just think that Daan has this kinda like. Need to be towered over? I think thats why he interacts with the people who are kinda cold/uncaring/powerful most. I mean. He's found himself almost in every aspect of his life in a position where someone was constantly telling him what to do, and I feel like strong characters (like O'saa or karin) kinda fill that niche of "I need someone to boss me around and tell me what to do because I've lived my life at others whims and while I can hold my own for a good bit after a while I'm not sure what to do but asking for help would be too vulnerable so having someone be a higher up towards me gives me a sense of security but i will also kinda be a little shit about it so it doesnt seem so vulnerable" and with O'saa he's super blunt. Very much "I will do things my way wether you like it or not and you will follow my lead or get out my way." and I mean, hell he was a leader! He very much outwardly has control and leadership tendencies, even if inside he doesn't feel like he can ever truly fit the bill. Which is what Daan is looking for yknow? And O'saa, i just kinda think for O'saa its one of those things of he cant for the life of him figure out why he likes him so much, but then Daan starts talking to him about scholarly topics and they have discussions of religion, medicine, science, war, and other things and theres this draw of Daan's Intellegence paired with this strange need of "i want to see him happy, because his whole life hes been miserable and part of it reminds me of me and if i cant be happy then perhaps i can make someone else happy to fill the void" (touching on the whole joking between the two) but being as O'saa has an enlightened soul, i feel like he would be incredibly interested in what Daan has to say. If the two ever got the chance i feel theyd definitely debate between eachother. Imagine that one reaction meme image of the two scholars talking to eachother. Thats them i think. I feel like the two compliment eachother but in a way of like. They fill a niche the other is searching for. Neither are good with words, much less pda, but alone? I feel like if there ever was time alone in a different time in a different place their intimacy would be intense, passionate, and wordless. Nothing would really need to be said, just intimacy, a smoke on the balcony, and dinner in a perfect world. Other people may find their relationship seemingly loveless, but they just couldn't understand the wordless display of trust, of closeness, and of tenderness. How could they? The two have only ever really been truly vulnerable with the other, and I feel if conflict was to arise, they may argue, take a heated break, and then come back with a wordless apology and cook for eachother. Acts of service, cooking, and gift giving i feel would be something that again, if given the chance, the two would indulge in regularly. I feel if O'saa was being particularly sappy he'd maybe get Daan some expensive alcohol he'd been eyeing. As for Daan, I feel he'd get O'saa a nice clothing piece the other had been admiring. But that's in a life they'd never get, I suppose... sorry for rambling in your inbox, I care for them dearly PFT

Anon rn:

BUT FR LIKE IM SOSO GLAD TO RECIEVE THIS RESPONSE BC YOU EXPLAINED SO WELL WHAT I WAS THINKING

I put my thoughts down there i hope i was able to cover everything

Im going to start off in a daan analysis tangent real quick

Daan has been neglected by his cultist parents ever since he was a baby. He probably never got the proper feeling of security or personal growth as a child because he was always living to survive. Which worsened even more after the death of his parents, and was doomed to child labour very young. Im sure he never got to properly play or express himself as a kid until he got closer to Elise. But The only thing about himself he found worth talking about were his insane cultist parents. His life at the Baron’s mansion was everything he had, as were his studies of modern medicine. That's why he feels attracted to powerful and determined people like O'saa and Karin (and Marcoh too, I believe), who seem to know exactly what their own goals are and think they still have control over what is happening. Despite trying to do things on his own, he still craves company. He also wants to protect the younger ones, like Levi and Marina, because his ass is projecting! But the sad thing is that Daan can't be too dependent on these people and doesn't want to share too much of his past with them because it's very traumatic for him.

If the discussion had taken place, I think O’saa would have been very interested in Daan and his upbringing. Daan never followed the religions and cults of Europa and is aware of their danger. He prays to Sylvian not as an act of worship but to help those who are sick. He also ran away from Pocketcat his whole life and never wanted to give himself to him until depression hit him harder than before. This makes Daan rational, smart, and inquisitive. Which seem to be attractive traits for someone who possesses an enlightened soul.

TOTALLY AGREE ALSO ABOUT THESE TWO HAVING BIG BRAINED DISCUSSIONS O'saa proves himself to be a good listener to others feelings in the booth; Daan can be a very open-minded person; and they both have similar views about the use of magic. I agree that the way they show affection is when they’re both very intimate with each other. O’saa does not trust people lightly because, in his case, his greatest fear is manipulation due to the fact that his country is being invaded and controlled by Europa's religions, wars, and cults. So he only ever relied on himself, which is why he chose to be a yellow mage. I imagine it might take a great deal of time and trust for him to share his vulnerability and feelings with Daan. But they seem to both crave social interaction since they're both lonely at heart, so there might be a chance (we’re winning, girlies!). Either way, I agree with sappy O'saa, that's such an adorable concept and somehow fitting since he finds his own jokes funny. I hc that he’s very genuine when he talks about his emotions, and no matter how embarrassing they are, he always says them with a straight face. But Daan is so sappy too. They would write each other love letters; you cannot tell me otherwise.

Also, I thought of an ending for these two surviving the festival: Daan confessing to O’saa that he doesn’t have anything that waits for him and O’saa noticing the true meaning of those words. He feels a tinge of sympathy because Daan has lost everything to war and religion, and he can't bear to see him give up after surviving the gruesome festival. So O’saa proposes to make a deal to be his personal doctor because he plans to travel dangerously, defy the authority in his country to establish his own teachings, and rise to the top. Since Daan doesn’t have anything to lose, he agrees to it. I think that it is during those travels that they will slowly fall for each other. They might also find some closure on their pasts during those trips.

[maggotsandroaches]

i haven't done this in forever

okay so hello! this will be important but i'll try to keep it short!

hello! my name is aries if you couldn't already tell by the blog name. i write stories and fanfictions! i used to do this in high school all the time and used to have a page with anime content. however i grew out of that phase and have come to like people who are very much real. the boys! so id like to clear up some things about my content before i even post anything because i have had issues in the past.

i do not practice, support or condone any of the dangerous or illegal content that presents itself in my writing. this may include things such as stalking, cheating, bullying, murder, drugs, assault (sexual or physical), abuse, blackmail, and trafficking. my content is mature and i give proper warnings beforehand. if you dont think something is right for you, i will give you something more enjoyable. youll just have to let me know! this is all fictional.

the people i write about in this blog are REAL HUMANS! please remember that when requesting. while my content is mature i dont like to throw crazy shit around for shock factor. dont ask me to make so and so straight rape you. dont ask me to make them interact with minors. its not hard (yes unfortunately ive had asks yes theyve been reported long ago and taken care of.) i am aware most of them are with someone as well!

dont be an asshole to me, or anyone for that matter! i dont tolerate disrespect on my page. this is a safe space. i dont care what sexuality, race, gender, religion, or country you come from, were all people. we have guilty pleasures and fantasies, thats totally fine man. i will write pretty much anything you want.

it might taken me a while to get some things out a lot of the time. i like the take my time on my work and give it proper quality. i also have a busy personal life between my job and trying to get back into college as well as trying to keep myself mentally sane! so i apologize in advance if you see my work, enjoy it, and it takes me forever to respond or reply. i do see the ask, i do see the comments, i do see the other notes, i promise! just give me some time to get it to you please!

on that note, ask me anything! i dont care what you put in that ask box. it could be a request, a meme you found, how your day was, i dont mind. i have anon on and my inbox is always open if a request is too much!

[margindoodles2407]

Greetings from the Margins

Sup? My name is MarginDoodles2407, but y'all can call me Margin :]

The most important thing to know about me? I am Roman Catholic, Pro-Life, and Anti-Pornography. By the way, my definition of pro-life is not just "anti-abortion", although that is a big part of it. I believe that to be truly pro-life, you must make a commitment to extend the respect and dignity we deserve as human beings to EVERYONE, regardless of age, health, status, physical characteristics, gender, political ideology, et cetera. And my Catholic faith is central to who I am as a person, so while I try not to get political on this blog- because we all need fun places to hang out without the stress of the real world- I will not hesitate to post about my Catholicism and Pro-Lifery. If that’s not your jam? Understandable. But please, be respectful to my Religion and values, as I will be to yours.

This blog started out as a Zelda blog and uh, it quickly became a Star Wars blog. From this sentence alone, you can probably guess my two biggest fandoms. My natural habitat is openly weeping about warrior space monks with laser swords and a fictional army of genetically identical South Pacific Islander men. Speaking of which, I am The Fives Guy. Do you wanna talk about Fives? Do you have Questions (tm) about Fives? Has this man crossed your mind at all? Well actually I am in the process of writing an Essay about him, which I will link to this post when I finish.

In terms of Zelda, my favorite character is the boy himself, my guy Link, and my favorite game is Ocarina of Time, and even though I am mainly a Star Wars blog now, I am ALWAYS down to talk about Zelda because these games were part of my formative years, I am still a huge nerd about them, and they are very near and dear to my heart. I cannot stress how much I still love Zelda.

I am an Artist and an Author, and requests for both are always open. Just keep it Safe for Work :) In case you’re interested, my AO3 is Margin_Doodles.

Alright let's talk about a few more things. Namely, the Tagging System, and what on earth it means.

Zelda Tags (main tag: #the legend of zelda or #tloz)

#hero's spirit: The blog, @tloz-heros-spirit, that I run with my EXCELLENT best friend and partner-in-crime, @whyoneartheven. A concept for a potential Zelda game that would be, canonically, the final game in the series and break the Curse of Demise. If you like lore-accurate storytelling, over-the-top character designs, and seafoam-green ghost fire, give it a check-out! Fair warning, though, I haven't updated this one in a while, but if you'd like to talk about it I'd love to!

#margin's links: My interpretations of the various Links, Zeldas, and NPCs of the Zelda series. Includes meaningful meta, silly art, memes, and various questions and answers.

#my beloved hyrule warriors: I talk about my second-favorite Zelda game, Hyrule Warriors, which I am mentally unwell about

#zelink my beloved: I am a Zelink shipper. It has me in a chokehold

Star Wars Tags (main tag: #star wars)

#hfsw: My precious baby, the High Fantasy Star Wars AU. Basically I take Star Wars, and make it a High Fantasy AU. I don't know how much more on-the-nose the title could be. This one also has its own blog, @high-fantasy-sw, although I'm not always great about cross-posting. Includes overly-intricate worldbuilding, SO MANY FREAKING MEMES, very flowery prose writing, even more silly art, and lightsabers but they're actually just swords on fire.

#wdap au: Commander Fox of the Coruscant Guard and Senator Riyo Chuchi of Pantora are madly in love. This saves the Galaxy. 50% whump and angst, 50% crack-treated-seriously absolute chaos nonsense. Another collab with @whyoneartheven, this started out as a personal canon-compliant slowburn tragedy but then took a 180 degree pivot and became our silly fix-it romance AU, featuring a begrudging-coworkers-to-reluctant-allies-to-mutual-respecters-to-genuine-friends-to-mutual-pining-to-lovers-to-totalitarian-government-topplers storyline, the What to Do About Palpatine Tea Club (from which the au derives its abbreviation), Padme "Been There Done That" Amidala planning a secret wedding, and Robot Hand Buddies Mace Windu and Anakin Skywalker, to name a few of the better jokes.

#newsies au: Blame the twisted mind of @luke-shywalker for this one; I was sick and decided to watch Newsies, and at her suggestion I liveblogged it. Then things got out of hand. Featuring Crutchie!Echo, Obi-Wan Kenobi In The Person Of Teddy Roosevelt, and "they have interplanetary travel but still read paper news?".

#baseball au: The Clone Wars, as a series of really high-stakes baseball games. I came up with this one on my birthday with one of my real-life friends. Featuring Political Baseball Intrigue.

#margin watches tcw: I watch The Clone Wars (2008), and provide commentary

#margin watches tbb: I watch The Bad Batch, and provide commentary

#rebels my beloved: the Star Wars Rebels tag

#master disaster himself: Anakin. The Anakin Tag.

#electric judgement: the Plo Koon tag

#look at my guys: the Clones tag. I need to get better at actually USING this tag, but it does exist.

#in this house we love and respect her grace duchess satine kryze of mandalore: the Satine tag

#maul is a drama queen: the Darth Maul tag

Personal Tags:

#margin doodles: my art

#margin writes: my writing

#margin rambles: my soliloquies

#you ask margin babbles: answers to asks

#memes by margin: my memes

#incorrect quotes: incorrect quotes, usually by me

#the vod'e: I talk about my siblings (i have a LOT of siblings)

#friend art: my friends' art! very cool, totally recommend

#catholicism: Catholicism :)

Fic Masterlist

Thanks for reading, thanks for checkin' out my blog, and May the Force Be With You!

[morgansmornings]

Tell us about a myth/folktale/urban legend of your culture.

What religion/philosophy are you most drawn to?

Would you quit roleplaying forever for $5 million?

Vampires or Werewolves?

This Meme: Accepting @little-earthquakes-rp ~~*~~

Tell us about a myth/folktale/urban legend of your culture.

El Cucuy (pronounced koo-koo-ee), The Child Eater is a common one from where I live and grew up.

He is a contemporary of the BoogeyMan, however El Cucuy targets misbehaving children to steal away in the night.

He has various influences behind his origins. All I know is that my mother only had to bring him up once. That was enough.

What religion/philosophy are you most drawn to?

This may not come as a surprise to some, but a big one to others.

I am Wiccan/Pagan.

I find the concept of being respectful to nature and being kind to animals a boon. As without them what would we be. But it also brings me a certain peace that I did not find in other religions.

The one ‘Hard and Fast Rule’ that I find particularly intuitive is the following. “Do as Ye Will; Harm None.”

It can be taken Many ways. And to me I roll this in with the concept of paying it forward. The world is a dreary and unwelcoming place. We all take things for granted. We do not think twice about most daily things. But to know that it takes more energy and effort to make someone miserable, why would you seek that out as it hurts you and the others that you are around.

Please note that I was raised Roman Catholic and while I understand the faith, I have a hard time believing that God is a single parent. But that is just my personal belief. I have no hatred for Catholics or any real religion or philosophy. I am happy to agree to disagree on certain beliefs, but I am not condemning any of them. Because to me, it matters what kind of person you are.

Most people are good. But there are also those that use religion to be complete dickbags and hateful to others. But that can be said of any religion.

I also believe in ghosts, Demons, and a host of other supernatural creatures. I believe in an afterlife and reincarnation. I believe what we do in life will come back to us by a multiple of three.

Would you quit roleplaying forever for $5 million?

Absolutely not.

Look, I used to write a lot. Be it in composition notebooks, or in spiral notebooks. On Google Docs and Discord. And on the weekend before the pandemic I was part of various Tabletop Roleplaying games set in the Paizo’s Pathfinder 1st Edition. I have played in White Wolf’s World of Darkness (Dumbed down because I was a teenager) games. I just roleplay. That doesn’t mean it was good writing, but I had fun and I knew my muses. I still see writing and roleplaying as a means to escape life for a little while. To get a chance to live a different life. One where I do have control of what happens. To have control where I normally don’t. A place where what I say actually matters.

Vampires or Werewolves?

Werewolves.

Now let me tell you why. At least on a selfish and slightly shallow scale.

One, They are awesome. Two, I prefer cold environments. If I have a werewolf companion… Forever personal space heater. Three, the cuddle puddles. I personally like to cuddle with people. Sadly I don’t have many people who will just let me hold them like a stuffed animal or body pillow.

There are a variety of other deepers reasons that I will bore you with outside of an ask or I could be here for three hours.

[squeakintothevoid]

I decided to stop lurking and actually post my thoughts somewhere because of my man Larry here, who shared his reaction to "The Sound of Silence" covered by Disturbed. I've listened to the original by Simon & Garfunkel before but didn't pay much attention to the words. I mean, it's just that memed depression song, right?

What folly! I have failed ye, Simon & Garfunkel! But Disturbed's video made me pay attention to the obvious message:

“This is a song about the inability of people to communicate with each other"

—Art Garfunkel

Okay, I get the point. Now, if I may, I will disturb the sound of silence (ha) to share my own thoughts while I was listening to the song:

[Verse 1] Hello darkness, my old friend I've come to talk with you again Because a vision softly creeping Left its seeds while I was sleeping And the vision that was planted in my brain Still remains within the sound of silence

Let me give you some context about my life. I have social anxiety. Or did, I might not meet the criteria anymore. But woah boy, did I have social anxiety. I mean, sometimes I'd try to speak and simply could not make a sound. That's how paralyzing my fear of speaking was. I know now that this fear came from being ignored as a kid plus a heaping of religious trauma. Growing up, I'd hear some teachers or friends say it's okay, just say what you want, be yourself. Sure, whatever. I didn't really believe them due to not being noticed very much the rest of the time. I thought: I don't even have anything to say and if I did, why would I risk telling anyone? But that positive messaging still seeped in my brain somehow where it remained dormant.

[Verse 2] In restless dreams, I walked alone Narrow streets of cobblestone 'Neath the halo of a street lamp I turned my collar to the cold and damp When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light That split the night, and touched the sound of silence

Of course, I still had thoughts and emotions to say even though I kept them inside. At age 10, I thought I was like a wise ninja, only speaking when necessary, but really I was emotionally stunted and always afraid. I slowly learned how to socialize though, but real progress was made when I started gaining confidence and trust in myself. Mainly because of movies and music. And the few solid people I could trust in my life.

More context about me: I was raised Mormon (Latter-day saint). So like, in a cult. Or a "high-demand religion" if "cult" is too much of a buzzword for ya. Anyway, I ended up attending BYU, a Mormon college that will kick you out for not conforming to their strict "honor" code. I was understandably depressed while I was there. Except I didn't understand why at the time.

Then my eyes were stabbed by the neon light of Freddie Mercury.

For real though, Queen, among other artists, helped me see that I felt stuck, and that the next step on my hero's journey was to break free from Mormonism and my parent's expectations (and somehow not get expelled and homeless at the same time). To have confidence in myself and keep myself alive.

[Verse 3] And in the naked light I saw Ten thousand people, maybe more People talking without speaking People hearing without listening People writing songs that voices never shared And no one dared disturb the sound of silence

So now I was aware of how sinister and blatantly false Mormonism was. In a university full of devout followers that will tattle on you. Followers only talking about what they're allowed to talk about, and anyone who stands out is shut down. Everything seemed so platitudinous and hateful now. Man, I wasn't ever thinking for myself before, was I? I knew there were other people at BYU in my situation, because they said so on reddit, but I didn't dare make my thoughts known to anyone in person.

[Verse 4] "Fools," said I, "You do not know Silence like a cancer grows Hear my words that I might teach you Take my arms that I might reach you" But my words, like silent raindrops, fell And echoed in the wells of silence

Simon speaks like a prophet. In Mormonism, you have a prophet that claims to be speaking the words of God. So like, you gotta listen to him or go to hell. Actually, Mormons don't really have the same idea of hell as mainstream Christianity, but you definitely won't get into the special VIP top level of heaven if you don't shut up and obey the prophet with exactness. Prophets give you commandments. Prophets tell you to give all your time, talents, and money to the LDS church. (Although they only enforce giving 10% of your income.)

But Simon isn't really speaking to tell you what to do and not do. He, like most artists, is trying to reach out to you. To emotionally express himself and encourage others to do the same. It's a refreshing idea of what a prophet could be. He's calling us fools not because we are sinners, but because he wants to share what he has learned. His writing isn't to make a cash grab (I think lol), but catchy music that can be echoed in the background tends to get the best sales.

[Verse 5] And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made And the sign flashed out its warning In the words that it was forming And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls and tenement halls And whispered in the sound of silence"

Most people see the "neon god" line as a critique of consumerism, and I wouldn't disagree. It's sad that television and music in many ways raised me better than my parents, that the religious texts that promised me spiritual awakening didn't have shit on Freddie's whimsical ballads. But these "neon signs" are what saved me, no matter how cringe that sounds. I wouldn't be as daring to make real world connections if it weren't for media and the internet.

Following fandoms, lurking on tumblr, sending superwholock memes to my friends, watching stupid youtube crack videos, staying up late just vibing to the music I had. These are my prophets. It's sharing all these little pop culture things that culminated in me finally realizing that I'm alright as I am, even with my cringe hyperfixations. That maybe I can slowly learn how to speak my truth and say with a newfound sense of confidence that I do want extra ketchup. Or that I'm rejecting my parent's one true religion.

It's all good now, I never got expelled nor disowned as I feared, but I'm still healing from things. I can't say I'm a beacon of self-confidence either (right now, I'm worried this whole post is too long and pretentious). So if you took the time to read this, thanks! I know tumblr can be a hellscape of a site but I appreciate y'all. It's our little ramblings that get us through the day when we feel like nobody understands us. Here's to the whispers in the tenement halls!

Yes, I did shoehorn a spn gif in my first tumblr post, what are ya gonna do about it?

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

By: David Marchese

Published: Aug 25, 2023

For more than 50 years, Daniel C. Dennett has been right in the thick of some of humankind’s most meaningful arguments: the nature and function of consciousness and religion, the development and dangers of artificial intelligence and the relationship between science and philosophy, to name a few. For Dennett, an éminence grise of American philosophy who is nonetheless perhaps best known as one of the “four horsemen” of modern atheism alongside Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, there are no metaphysical mysteries at the heart of human existence, no magic nor God that makes us who we are. Instead, it’s science and Darwinian evolution all the way down. In his new memoir, “I’ve Been Thinking,” Dennett, a professor emeritus atTufts University and author of multiple books for popular audiences, traces the development of his worldview, which he is keen to point out is no less full of awe or gratitude than that of those more inclined to the supernatural. “I want people to see what a meaningful, happy life I’ve had with these beliefs,” says Dennett, who is 81. “I don’t need mystery.”

Right now it seems as if truth is in shambles, politics has become religion and the planet is screwed. What’s the most valuable contribution philosophers could be making given the state of the world? Well, let’s look at epistemology, the theory of knowledge. Eric Horvitz, the chief scientist at Microsoft, has talked about a “post-epistemic” world. That phrase, the mere fact that he could utter it, is extremely frightening. The presence of agreed-upon landmarks and sources of common knowledge — this is something we’ve taken for granted for a long time and can no longer take for granted. We have to work to try to restore it.

How? By highlighting the conditions under which knowledge is possible. This will look off track for a moment, but we’ll come around: Andrew Wiles proved Fermat’s last theorem.It was one of the great triumphs of mathematics in my lifetime. Why do we know that he did it? Don’t ask me to explain complex mathematics. It’s beyond me. What convinces me that he proved it is that the community of mathematicians of which he’s a part put it under scrutiny and said, “Yep, he’s got it.” That model of constructive and competitive interaction is the key to knowledge. I think we know that the most reliable path to truth is through communication of like-minded and disparate thinkers who devote serious time to trying to get the truth — and there’s no algorithm for that.

There’s a section in your book “Breaking the Spell” where you lament the postmodern idea that truth is relative. How do we decide which truths we should treat as objective and which we treat as subjective? I’m thinking of an area like personal identity, for example, where we hear phrases like, “This is my truth.” The idea of “my truth” is second-rate. The people who think that because this is their opinion, somehow it’s aggressive for others to criticize or reject them — that’s a self-defeating and pernicious attitude. The recommended response is: “We’d like to bring you into the conversation, but if you’re unable to consider arguments for and against your position, then we’ll consider you on the sidelines. You’re a spectator, not a participant.” You don’t get to play the faith card. That’s not how rational inquiry goes.

This is skipping around a little, but in the memoir you refer to the fervor around ChatGPT as a “bubble.” Why is it a bubble? There’s an idea here that I want to talk about: In the piece that I wrote for The Atlantic on counterfeit people, I mentioned that the great danger of GPT-3 and ChatGPTs and so forth is that they can reproduce. They’re memes. You don’t have to be alive to evolve. Viruses aren’t alive; boy, do they evolve. Things evolve because they can, and cultural evolution — memetic evolution — is a potent phenomenon. We don’t want to have censorship, but we want to have something like quarantine to prevent the spread of cultural variants that could destroy culture, destroy democracy. The economist Paul Seabright writes movingly about trust, and trust is a social phenomenon. Society depends on trust. Trust is now seriously endangered by the replicative power of A.I. and phony interactions. This is a grave danger. There’s a natural human tendency to think, If I can do it, I will do it, and not worry about whether I ought to. The A.I. community has altogether too many people who just see the potentiality and aren’t willing to think about risks and responsibility. I would like to throw a pail of cold water on their heads and say, “Wait a minute, it’s not cool to make easily copied devices that will manipulate people in ways that will destroy their trust.”

You’ve written about the idea that comprehension can come out of competence. Does that imply that there’s nothing stopping A.I., which we currently think of as more capable of competence rather than true comprehension, from becoming sentient? Yes, strong A.I. is possible in principle. There’s no magic. Many years ago, Giulio Giorello, wonderful philosopher of science and journalist in Milan, interviewed me, and the headline in the Corriere della Sera the next day was, “Sì, abbiamo un’anima. Ma è fatta di tanti piccoli robot”: “Yes, we have a soul, but it’s made of lots of tiny robots.”

What did you mean by “tiny robots”? Your brain, your whole body, is made of cells. Each cell is a living agent of its own. It has a sort of agenda: It’s trying to stay alive. It’s got to keep itself a supply of energy to keep going. It’s got a metabolism. It’s the descendant of a long ancestry of free-floating, living cells that had to fend for themselves, and they’ve all joined forces to make a multicellular body. Those are little robots. If you look inside them, how do they move? How do neurons reach out and grab other neurons and send signals to them? They’ve got trillions of motor proteins, and motor proteins are not alive. They’re macromolecules. They march along on these little highways on the brain, carrying things around. They’re porters. They carry the necessary materials to keep the cell going and to repair and to extend its dendrites, for instance. Motor proteins aren’t alive. Ribosomes aren’t alive. Life couldn’t exist without these little molecular machines — by the trillions — that are working in your body right now. Human life and human consciousness are made possible by these incredibly brilliant consortia of little robots.

We have a soul, but it’s made of tiny robots. There is no God. These are ideas of yours that I think a lot of people can rationally understand, but the gap between that rational understanding and their feelings involves too much ambivalence or ambiguity for them to accept. What is it about you that you can arrive at those conclusions and not feel adrift, while other people find those ideas too destabilizing to seriously entertain? Some people don’t want magic tricks explained to them. I’m not that person. When I see a magic trick, I want to see how it’s done. People want free will or consciousness, life itself, to be real magic. What I want to show people is, look, the magic of life as evolved, the magic of brains as evolving in between our own ears, that’s thrilling! It’s affirming. You don’t need miracles. You just need to understand the world the way it really is, and it’s unbelievably wonderful. We’re so lucky to be alive! The anxiety that people feel about giving up the traditional magical options, I take that very seriously. I can feel that anxiety. But the more I understood about the things I didn’t understand, the more the anxiety ebbed. The more the joy, the wondrousness came back. At the end of “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea,” I have my little hymn to life and the universe. That’s my God — more wonderful than anything I could imagine in detail, but not magical.

Is it right that your sister is a minister? My older sister is the white sheep of the family. [Laughs.] She went to seminary and was ordained late in her life. She’s still alive. She was raised in the Congregational Church, which became part of what’s now the United Church of Christ, which is religion lite. If all religion were like that, all religion would be fantastic.

So how do you understand religious belief? No problem at all. More people believe in belief in God than believe in God. We should recognize it and recognize that people who believe in belief in God are sometimes very reluctant to consider that they might be wrong. What if I’m wrong? That’s a question I ask myself a lot. These people do not want to ask that question, and I understand why. They’re afraid of what they might discover. I want to give them an example of somebody who asks the question and is not struck down by lightning. I’m often quoted as saying, “There’s no polite way of telling people they’ve devoted their life to an illusion.” Actually, what I said was, “There’s no polite way of asking people to consider whether they’ve devoted their life to an illusion, but sometimes you have to ask it.”

There was something in your memoir that was conspicuous to me: You wrote about the late 1960s, when your pregnant wife had a bowel obstruction. Yeah, we lost the baby.

You describe it as “the saddest, loneliest, most terrifying” time of your life. Yes.

That occupies one paragraph of your memoir. Yes.

What is it indicative of about you — or your book — that a situation you described that way takes up such a small space in the recounting of your life? Look at the title of the book: “I’ve Been Thinking.” There are hundreds of pages of stories that I cut at various points from drafts because they were about my emotional life, my trials and so forth. This isn’t a tell-all book. I don’t talk about unrequited love, failed teenage crushes. There are mistakes I made or almost made that I don’t tell about. That’s just not what the book’s about.

But that brevity — I thought, is that showing something about you? I’m interested that you had that reaction. I bet you won’t be alone in that. We have two adopted children. I don’t talk about them much, but they are joys of our life. I’ll tell you a little story: Joe Weizenbaum was very avuncular with me when we met in 1973. I was teaching at Harvard, and he was writing “Computer Power and Human Reason.” He was sort of my Dutch uncle for a while, giving me advice. And one day I said to him: “You know, Joe, I have a strange worry. Our children are growing up in this house full of books and music and love. They’re having an ideal childhood in many ways, at least by my lights, and I’m afraid that when they get to be adults they’ll be soft as grapes. I don’t want to put troubles in their way, yet it worries me that I’m not giving them any troubles.” He said: “Don’t worry, Dan. They’ll make their own troubles.” And they did, both of them. I don’t talk about those. They’ve overcome the obstacles they created for themselves, and I don’t go into that either. But, boy, I spent as much time on that as I spent on my career as a philosopher.

The title of the book is “I’ve Been Thinking,” but don’t your feelings affect your thinking and the philosophical ideas you pursue? Oh, absolutely! It’s all — to use an old-fashioned term — driven by passion. The emotions rule. When I wrote the book with Matthew Hurley on humor, one of the great insights that Matthew gave me was that all control in human minds is via emotion. This is an important idea. Your laptop has an operating system. It’s dictatorial in how it runs things. It’s the traffic cop. In your brain, there’s no operating system in that sense — it’s all the turmoil of emotions. Happily, we have learned how to harness those emotions. That is to say, the emotions have learned how to harness one another. [Laughs.] But that “self” is at every level and all times driven by what we might call emotions and microemotions. Let’s see how I can put it: When you are choosing the words that come out of your mouth, slight subliminal differences in the emotional tone of one word over another, that’s what’s going to decide which word you use. If you’re in a pissy mood, you use one word. And if you’re in a happy mood, you use a different word. All of that is controlled by emotions.

Is it possible to be objective about the ways in which our emotions drive us? Very good question. There’s a conflict between objectivity and subjectivity here. You can’t objectively, calmly study in yourself the heights of sexual passion. If you try, you fail. Don’t try. You can think about it before or after. You can think about it in others. You can do heterophenomenology, but you can’t coldly study your own passions, because you need other passions to be in charge when you’re doing that. Only one set of agents can be in the driver’s seat at a time. A self is an individually evolved — I use the word “evolved” on purpose — variety of natural selection that trains up the emotional drivers in each of us and achieves a level of balance. It’s an entente. It’s a ruse of sorts that holds until it doesn’t. It’s a story we tell ourselves, but it’s a story guided by facts. It’s not just made up. We should agree with Richard Rorty and Jacques Derrida, because the ideal of objective truth in the sense of what Tom Nagel speaks about in “The View From Nowhere” — that’s a sort of ideal that is not achievable in any meaningful way. Absolute truth, off the table. But practical truth? That’s real, and that’s what we’re striving for. Rorty was the hero of a lot of postmodernists, and he seemed to be saying that there was no notion of truth, that it was all just conversation. I always resisted: No, no, there’s still a good notion of truth. It’s the notion of truth that you use when you say, “Is this a good map of the roads in the state?” We can get quite objective about that. [Laughs.] Rorty called that the vegetarian concept of truth. OK, let’s be vegetarians!

[ Archive: https://archive.vn/uTgJP ]

[katyspersonal]

I am really mad at how deep are betrayal wounds specifically. Just been angry at A again. Granted it is the only one of the three (four?) that made it their fandom mission to harm me for whom I still haven't made up a funny nickname, because it just cuts TOO far. Like stalking and harrassment are a joke compared with that shit.

Though she IS a meme template at this rate. Not only straight up saying "it's ok I'll pray for you to heal from what I did to you uwu" and "yeah I know I threw you to the wolves after having fed you lies about not blaming you but YOU are the bad one here for vagueblogging about me :/", but also "the way you blew up at me after I defended your stalker proves that you are a health hazard to depressed people with low self-esteem and never changed from your past broken state from years ago". Like I can't even get started on how straight up vile it is. She also had three chances given to fix the damage, only on third try there was at least some semblance of closure, and she blew it up by deciding to snoop on me after her mutual was an immature petulant asshole to me for no reason (obviously she was looking for vagueblogs).

I also still never understand why the fuck she is always so fake? Apparently at my first post past her mad stunt she was mad at me, but in her DMs she tried to twist it like feeling bad about that? And it took a confrontation months later to get the truth out of her, why? Also she could not take the L of being proven wrong about my stalker's innocence to the point she tried to lie to my friend that she "always knew actually" and that defending that person was "just a test" (I wish I made this shit up!!!). Like will she actually explode if she has to face having flaws, mistakes and negative feelings? This is what happens when you do not understand your own religion and think that you'll go to Hell for simply being a human, I guess. As someone coming from near-theocratic country: do not get into a religion JUST because it is a "patriotic" thing to do in your case! You need to GET it first! (Though what I am talking about regarding a person that wholeheartedly approved of 'casting the stones' mentality despite making being a devout Christian her trademark 🤦‍♂️)

The good part is that it's been months since the last time I felt angry and upset about that situation. If the time periods between these increase, it means this wound can heal, it just takes a very long time

[roshield]

PERMANENT PLOTTER / RELATIONSHIP CALL

happy almost year to this game and this blog so i figured it's time to finally put up a permanent plotter up.

liking this post means you're a-okay with me sending memes on meme day or just hopping in your inbox for something random ( and vice versa! ). you're also cool with me jumping into dms to discuss plots and all, and also just throwing out random starters your way. you're also cool with me liking starter calls and replying to your minis without feeling like i'm being bothersome!

just a warning is most relationships discussed will prob be pre-established stuff if we haven't interacted before, mainly because i'm just a lil tired of writing new meetings!

below is kind of a list of relationship types i'm interested in!! not rly anything final ( fantasy ) but just kinda a general idea of what i might vibe with.

friends: pretty classic stuff, despite clive's overall demeanor he's a pretty friendly guy. he gets along with a lot of people with different backgrounds. he's not exactly the most fun person, but he's... trying? sort of? he just kind of doesn't know how to be a normal person after being dehumanized for so long. nevertheless he does make a good friend and being friends means he's willing to put his life on the line for you!! this can also include being sparring buddies with him bc he's usually training a lot to keep his skills sharp. but really he just needs people to hang out with and maybe they can teach him how to loosen up a little

enemies: he's learned to be mostly patient buuut he's got a short-fuse and can be hot-tempered at times. he just doesn't have a lot of time for bullshit and has no tolerance for it. anyone looking to harm innocent people tend to go on his shit list pretty fast, and anyone who wants to hurt his loved ones will have the worst time with him. he's ruthless :)

not really enemies but you've annoyed him: again, short-fuse sometimes and has little tolerance for bullshit. he won't have the want to kill you but expect sarcasm and the negative sims emote.

animal lovers: clive spent most of his time with his dog or his chocobo as a kid and has a better connection with them. he's the only one who can speak to moogles in his world. he's basically a disney princess. if u like animals then he'll get along with u and if u like torgal then he'll rly get along with u! please show him ur pets too he will pet every single dog ever.

knights / other duty bound folks: clive has an odd relationship with his status as first shield, mainly because he really only took the role on to protect his brother. still, he takes pride in it and puts his duty before a lot of things. it would be interesting for him to see what people see when they look at him, but also find some kinship with people like him!

religious themes: clive was unfortunately fated to be some corrupt god's vessel and he really hates it! he's not exactly a religious person at all and has an odd history and feelings with religion because of that. he's tolerant of course but it's easy to understand why he's not exactly a faithful man, so it would be interesting for him to bounce off of characters opposite of him!

big brother / father figure: clive's got big bro instincts so he's pretty protective over younger characters. he can be slightly awkward with them because a lot of the times they're very playful and he's just, not really, but he's definitely got that cool big bro / wisely father kind of vibe! he's got years of experience and could give sound advice. really he just wants to look after people.

wife guys: anyone else miss their wives / spouse. he misses his all the time even tho she's on speed dial.

other: something else??? just let me know :3

[izzythehutt]

Forgive me if you’ve spoken about this before, or if my assumption is incorrect, but I think it would be interesting to hear your opinion on the interpretation of Jesse as a Christ-like figure considering from what I’ve gathered you’re a Christian? A lot of people who I see draw comparison between Jesse and Christ (including myself) are either not religious or have had a negative experience with religion so I think it would be interesting to hear from someone who has a different experience.

I think the main problem with that interpretation is that none of Jesse’s suffering is particularly redemptive or self-sacrificial, which would be the baseline requirement for him to be a Christ-figure.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of bad things happen to him: but it’s never because he’s consciously choosing that suffering for the sake of another person. The one exception to this might be continuing to cook for Jack's gang to keep them from killing Brock, and even that is a coerced choice between two evils—and Brock’s mother would never have died, Brock would never be in the position of being threatened in the first place, if he was not a pawn in Jesse and Walt’s codependent self-perpetuating psycho-drama.

That’s what it all goes back to. Listening to Walt, being Walt’s partner in crime��gets Jesse beat up by criminals or used as emotional leverage against him. The overwhelming guilt Jesse feels all stems from things he did to help Walt, save him, in service of their mutual criminal partnership or out of wrath/hurt at what Walt has put him through.

It’s because of his cooperation with evil that Jesse (and his loved ones) suffer, and that makes him far more of an Adamic figure than a Christ figure.

For my money, the closest we ever get to a truly Christ-like act in the show would be Flynn throwing himself between his mother and father to protect her, knowing full well that Walt could easily overpower him and acting under the assumption that his father has just murdered another member of their family. Junior is as close to an innocent as Breaking Bad has—the only character more innocent than him is the baby—and if he had somehow ended up injured or dead by Walt’s hand because he was shielding Skyler, that would be truly laying down his life for another person. Respect for Flynn, you were more than breakfast memes.

I don’t necessarily know how useful it even is to think about this particular narrative in this way, tbh. Breaking Bad is not an allegorical or didactic show, nor is it particularly moralistic (though it is keenly interested in morality.) It can be read on a realist, psychological level, and through the lens of noir, crime and western genres. It’s definitely not consciously symbolic.

But, if you were going to make the case for a Biblical symbolic interpretation, the glaringly obvious one is Walter White as the Luciferian figure par excellence. Is there a fictional character who more perfectly exemplifies the sin of pride than Walt? A brilliant scientist (Lucifer was, after all, the Angel of Light—the greatest of all the angels) who makes a spectacular fall from grace and proceeds to drag many others down to his level.

So, if Mr. White is “the devil”, then that would make Jesse his Adam. Exiled from the garden of (comparative) innocence in the pilot because he agrees to the partnership between them (his ‘deal with the Devil’, so to speak) Jesse then spends the next sixty-some episodes making a lot of terrible choices, directly and indirectly leading to a lot of pain and suffering, because of that partnership. That’s the entirety of salvation history (as Christians understand it) in a nutshell. This is Jesse Pinkman’s equivalent of taking the apple of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil—his original sin.

Man is made in God’s image, and like Adam and all his sons, Jesse still has a conscience—the spark of divinity lives in him. He still wants to do the right thing, but his relationship with Walt constantly pulls him back into the world of crime and evil. By the end of the show he’s become a literal slave to sin—his ability to make the blue meth, the gift his devilish mentor gave him that helped Jesse attain honor, power and money in the drug trade, now keeps him literally shackled in a hole in the ground. It’s not exactly subtle, is it?

But he does break free in the end. Not from his literal slavery—Walt has to be the one to free him from that—but from evil.

Jesse’s refusal to end Walt’s life at his command is him simultaneously breaking free of Mr. White’s control over his actions and refusing to continue the cycle of violence his old teacher fostered and Jesse enabled at every turn.

He does it all on his own. He makes the choice. After a lot of suffering, so even if there’s not a salvific figure in this universe persay, there is purgation.

(Ironically, Walt shielding Jesse with his body and taking a literal bullet for him would be an almost textbook Christ-like sacrificial death....except Walt was the person who set off the gun in the first place. Also the idea of putting Walter White and Jesus in the same thought, let alone comparing them....repels me for what I hope are obvious reasons, lol.)

What I liked about El Camino was Jesse finally having serious moral growth and maturity (not shocking that Walt had to die for it to happen.) The scene where he calls his parents, absolves them of blame and takes responsibility for his own actions was such exponential growth for him—the boy becoming a man. And his ultimate fate is to spend the rest of his life in a kind of exile. All of this comes at such a high cost, but there is atonement. It does all mean something.

[just-ur-average-egg]

okok so like, there’s gonna be quite a bit of lore for this, and it does include a lot of talk of religion, specifically Christianity, and demons n angels n stuffs sooo uh yeah.

WARNING ITS LONG AS HELL

So basically, I had a dream where God and Lucifer and the 7 deadly sins came down/up to earth and were like, ‘hey we’re gonna make you kiddos pick if you wanna be a demon or an angel, although there will be consequences for your choice if you choose wrong, p.s. parents get a heavy say in the matter’ so everyone formed a huge line and infront of it were two buttons, a red one and a blue one (insert that one meme here) blue representing becoming an angel, red representing becoming a demon. So I’m like 15th in line and everyone’s parents are around them influencing their decisions however, I really said fuck that and slammed the red button, I got screamed at and thrown out to where the other demons, Lucifer, and the Deadly Sins were. Btw this all kinda takes place in an area that’s like a school but also with a weird mix of Alterna, specifically the sky, they put a dome that pretends to be a sky. So after me was my Bf, and he got a very, very strict talking to on to not follow my footsteps (his parents aren’t really that fond of me irl sooo whoopsies) and he ends up having to be an angel along with quite a few of my friends. So here’s what I have down so far for when you become an angel, first off, your are blindfolded and put into a deep slumber, in said slumber you grow your wings, this is to make it so the angels have to deal with the least amount of pain possible when undergoing the changes. They wake up and get their Holy Robes n such, and get their halos bestowed upon them by God himself. However for the demons, they each line up at one of the Sins, as each would grant a different type of wish, some for nothing, some for a small favor, etc. For which Deadly Sin would grant what kinda of wishes (only one wish per person, no Sinhopping lol). Asmodeus (Lust) : boosting or lowering uhhhhh adult fun time drive, changing your body to fit how you want it to be, love/lust spells (you have to bribe him and really, really good.) or become a demon of the Lust ring. ORRR BONUS OFFER: be a succubus or incubus

Mammon (Greed) : Precious stones, jewels, money, gold, any form of accessories, Gucci, you name it, or make you into a demon from the greed ring

Belphegor (Sloth) : Pillows, blankets, loungewear, a whole ass bed, comfy things, or make you into a demon from the Sloth ring

Beelzebub (Gluttony) : literally food. Idrk, you could get any amount of food or food related item, kitchenwear n shit, or food from anywhere in the world in the blink of an eye, or become a demon of the Gluttony ring

Amon (Wrath) : weapons, you could wish misfortune upon someone, get an assassin, become skilled at combat, karate, etc, or become a demon of the Wrath ring

Envy : kind of the same as greed, you can get all sorts of riches and etc, or curse someone to be insanely envious of everyone around them, or become a demon of the Envy ring

Pride : boost your self esteem, re-wire some thoughts to block out the bad and negative ones so you only have good thoughts of yourself, become a demon of the Pride ring

Lucifer : change your physical form to anything you want, make you more happy, if you just want to talk he’ll listen ig, basically just any request if one of the Deadly Sins can’t fulfill it. Or ig just become a regular demon. I ended up choosing Pride, just to be a demon of the Pride ring and look hella cool (btw refs of demons from different rings soon ig) then I realized that I kinda wasted it bc literally my main goal was to transition but I forgor 💀 anywho so turns out a few months later everyone gets a second wish!! Yippeeeeeeeee!!! No one has ever ran to Asmodeus faster in their mortal lives, so I got to transition and I was sooooooo happy. But anywho the angels start to get really stuck up and are like literally committing hate crimes towards the demons but we aren’t allowed to reciprocate it or we would be punished. so y’know those blindfolds I mentioned earlier? Yeah so, it kinda brainwashes a lot of the angels, and the more halos they have, the more under control/ surveillanced they need to be, my bf ended up getting two bc we met up a twice and uhh yeah God was not happy at all. But at some point he decided to take off his blindfold and see the world again. Here’s the thing ab the blindfolds, they’re the only way God could get in your head and communicate with you telepathically, if you don’t have it on, no communication. So my bf took it off and crossed over to where the demons were chillin and was like uh…. Hi..? And I can’t keep writing it’s almost 3 am, update soon hhhhh