#interpretation of religious text

[spotlightstory]

"Interpretation is the backbone of this text," Poddar, 52, told CBC News. "Superficial knowledge can be misleading."

But many in India are foregoing that in-person contact with a guru interpreting the Bhagavad Gita and turning to online chatbots, which imitate the voice of the Hindu god Krishna and give answers to probing questions about the meaning of life based on the religious scripture's teachings. 

It's new technology with the tendency to veer off script and condone violence, according to experts, who warn that artificial intelligence chatbots playing god can be a dangerous mix. 

Several of the bots consistently provide the answer that it's OK to kill someone if it's your dharma, or duty.

[autisticrosewilson]

You're all fucking wrong about Catholic Jason he wouldn't feel guilt about Jack shit, ESPECIALLY not killing. He would get the All-Blades and be convinced that this is God's go ahead and divine confirmation that he's right about everything and all of his opinions are valid and everyone who opposes his worldview is a moron blinded by idealism and naivete.

[jedi-enthusiasm-blog]

Many people have taken one look at this and inmediately leaped to the conclusion that Jedi forbid emotions. Which is, huh… interesting.

What people don't realize is that the Jedi Order are a religious organization, and as such they have their own sacred texts, such as this meditation mantra (because yeah, that's the only time it's ever mentioned, during meditation).

And the trick about this kind of texts is that they're not meant to be taken literally. You're not supposed to take it at face value, you're supposed to think about it, reflect about it, and then interpretate it. I'm sure the average "fan" hasn't actually thought about it beyond "code bad Jedi evil", nevermind that it's not actually the Jedi Code mentioned in the films.

Since it's a meditation mantra, one used to focus to make connecting with the Force easier, it makes perfect sense that this is how you should feel when using the Force.

You shouldn't be overwhelmed with emotions or passions, you shouldn't act if you don't have knowledge. This is obvious: if you can command the essence of life, then maybe you should actually be in the state of mind to do it.

However, the other lines of "no chaos but harmony" and "no death but the Force" don't fit into this. So, what do they mean?

Here is the other version of the Code. It was seen for the first time in the Kanan comics, and is arguably more canon than the previous one.

(People have called it the Gray Jedi Code, which is hilarious in and on itself and another point in favor of the argument that the so called Gray Jedi are just canon Jedi.)

I'm sure everyone can agree that this one is good.

Feel, but find peace in your emotions. Know nothing, but figure it out. Suffer, but look past it to find serenity. Just like there is chaos, there is harmony. And just like there is death, there is the Force.

But what if I told you that both Codes are saying the same thing?

I know, I know. You probably think I'm crazy, but… what if they're saying the same things, in different ways?

To expand on the interpretation that the first one is how you should be when using the Force (and I admit with my whole chest that this is my interpretation), we can say that the Force isn't naturally things like emotion and chaos. They are only what we bring with us.

That doesn't make them any less real. They are, and they are important, but they are subjective experiences. Everyone will have different emotions, different passions, different things they are ignorant of. Even death, even as it will come for everyone, is something private and personal. I don't know what X person felt or thought when they died.

However, things like peace, harmony and the Force are universal.

Chaos (noun): "complete disorder and confusion." "the property of a complex system whose behaviour is so unpredictable as to appear random"

Dictionary definition, bear with me. "Whose behavior is so unpredictable as to appear random". It isn't random, it has patterns and reasons to happen just like everything else. We simply don't know those patterns. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Just because we don't know something doesn't mean we can't learn it. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. Therefore there is no such thing as chaos, not really, just a pattern, an order, a harmony, we don't know yet. First definition is about human reaction, not anything about the object itself. There is no chaos, there is harmony.

Emotion, ignorance, passion, chaos, even death. They are all feelings, subjective experiences, things that, ultimately, can change as you find new understanding (well, death only happens once and is permanent but you get the point). But inner peace, knowledge (about situations, about people's reactions), serenity and harmony are all universal. They exist, and will exist long after we die, we just have to find them.

And, long as we remember people, as we understand that all lives have left a mark, big or small, we will keep those who have passed alive within our hearts.

Death, yet the Force. There is no death, there is the Force. Or, perhaps…

"(The Force)'s an energy field created by all living things" Obi-Wan Kenobi, ANH

"Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter" Yoda, ESB

"No one's ever really gone" Luke Skywalker, TLJ

Death, yet the essence of living beings. There is no death, there is life.

[xx-psych0-rabbit-xx]

anyways heres some misc jamba cult info from the japanese version of star allies the official translation removed/changed the meaning of i found a couple days back (fan translations can be found here)

-this is implied but misworded in english, the jamba cult worships dark matter rather than be masters of it (this is prob why gooey gets positive nickname privileges from zan on twitter)

-the magic n science ancients old relationship prior to the magic clans ban is explicitly positive in japanese

-english hyness says magic overcame science n reached prosperity, japanese says science n magic could only reach prosperity when together

-for wtv reason, english replaced one of the mentions of the "book of legends" (the book abt void hyness has) w talking abt ambiguous ancient scrolls instead...?

-theres some references to a paradise void will destroy in the japanese screens w that one cult prayer that were cut from english (the second n fourth ones specifically iirc), the sisters guest star screens make references to paradise as well, make of that what you will regarding the religious side of the cult

-most if not all instances of void being called dark lord r used to censor out void being called god/god of destruction in the original version

-pon & cons japanese title (a-un guardian beasts) is a reference to a buddhist concept of beginning n ending, the pause screen states they surrendered to the enemy n thats why theyre doing guard work there, rather than they became cultists off screen between games like one might assume

-japanese hyness uses ~ when talking a lot, while most ppl associate that w a character having a sweet cute voice tone, for him it likely just indicates he tends to drag out the end of words a lot

-fully removed from english, hyness has a complex abt his face, which is why its so well covered

-zans second boss screen in english credits her loyalty to hyness' intoxicating charisma n her sense of duty, while japanese later does canonize she has a strong sense of duty in a different screen, it instead says for the second boss she feels indebted he took her in n is also "enamoured" by his charisma n "admires him from within the heart", quoting the used wording bc i think shes both adorable n so deeply worrisome

-weve all heard the english translation censored zan being heavily implied to have attempted suicide n being saved by hyness after it fails (succeeds?) after shes struck by lightning n nearly dies/gets bought back by him.wtv take on hyness saving the mages you prefer

-zan is never called the eldest of the sisters in the original, just the chief of the trio

-hyness misremembers zans name as zan paruru, a pun on the japanese word for forgotten (wasuraruru), that same pun is used for her boss themes title

-one of zans attacks in japanese is named after the "thunder candies" (type of wagashi) found in kaminarimon, where a statue of the shinto thunder god raijin is found, zans drums used during that same attack r literally based on raijins own drums

-zans first boss screen claims she toys w her enemies through her quick attacks rather than render them helpless like prey.just mentioning bc thats silly n has a slightly new show of her personality that line up w her depiction on the official twitter in a way

-flamberge wasnt taking a break in her second boss fight she was just slacking off n picked a nice star/planet on purpose for that.thats funny of her so its justified

-flamberge calls francisca kiss-chan in japanese, this is the same nickname zan gives her in japanese thats officially translated as franny

-this isnt mentioned in the documents but im bringing it up bc its funny.that part of HIAD where francisca calls flamberge "miss flamberge" was just flamberge-san in jp, -san is just a polite honorific to use that isnt immediately translated to miss/mister, specially if the characters know each other.why did they make it that lmao

-japanese explicitly says too much heat might straight up make francisca melt (english also implies that tbf)

-francisca dislikes "pointless murder", but is fine freezing ppl n keeping them for her collection if she deems them an enemy

-hyness' japanese title can be read as both mage priest n devil priest

-the sisters titles all have a reoccurring use of ice blossom, hellfire n thunder fang respectively, n theyre called the demon generals instead of mage sisters

-HIAD hyness' title fell priest has a reference to fallen angels.i feel thats giving pre corruption hyness too much personality credit but alright

-void is refered to both as devil n angel in different forms titles.this is awesome

-theres a kanji for hope thats associated w the jamba cult throughout the whole game

-the japanese guest star screens for the mages say theyre no longer praying n r seeking a new paradise together, for whatever reason, english completely removes the no longer praying part, completely losing the meaning of the sentence n development the sisters have (interestingly, hyness is mentioned in those n still called their master, n zans description straight up states she wants him to watch her triumph (translated officially as her wanting to make him proud), so its not actually explained if they disbanded the cult or theyre just.some kind of normal religion now? but theyre atleast touching grass now)

todays conclusion is the KSA translators just hate us 👍 check the linked fan translation for more examples of that

[kittenfangirl20]

I know I am trying to avoid talking about yurnu and their portrayal of God. They said that he was based on the Old Testament and that just isn’t true. If that were the case then God would be angry at Adam because right before Niffty killed him Adam openly said he should be worshipped which ignores the First Commandment which clearly states that you not allowed to worship anyone except God. One of yurnu’s favorite ships is Adam and Michael which Old Testament God would have frowned upon, I am not talking about the fact that it is a ship involving two men, but the fact that it involved an angel and a human. One of the many reasons why God flooded the Earth in the Noah story was because humans and angels were hooking up. I feel like they were using the Old Testament as an excuse to make God an edgelord, monster, and bully. One of the many things that upset God was a soul going to Hell and he would have been happy that a soul in Hell found redemption and got to go to Heaven. God would also never call Emily stupid, in fact he would say she was one of the few to uphold the morals of Heaven. Unlike what some of the fans of yurnu is saying, I am not causing a controversy, I am expressing my opinion. I know that they don’t like people questioning their little comic, but I can’t stay silent on this, their art is good, but their version of God is a monster who is nothing like the one in the Bible in the Old or New Testament.

[volo-omnia]

I'm gonna be honest I've been mulling over the cut dialogue post for the entire day because what I want to know is the direction of the developers.

Part of me isn't sure whether if the cut dialogue was cut content for the sake of cut content (i.e. time/budget limitations, it was too much/unnecessary for the scene, etc) or whether it was a change in tweaking Volo's canon character. (i.e. making his villainy closer/a foil of Cyrus.) (for the most I'm still not sure if the cut dialogue is considered "canon" or not, but for the most part until we see official content that contradicts it I will consider it as "canon" Volo.)

Because I don't know about you, but it's really telling something about his character.

I'm a descendant of the ancient Sinnoh people! I revere Arceus, the almighty god, and I will demonstrate his power to all living things in the sky, the earth, the sea! Yes! As the avatar of Arceus, I will house that power and bring its gospel to Hisui! I won't let you, an outsider with no history here, get in my way!

Okay so, this passage is the part I want to delve into. A couple of points:

"Avatar of Arceus" - this pretty much explains the Arceus cosplay in the final battle. I mean it was assumed already if you know how iconography and symbolism works, but it pretty much plainly explains that Volo sees himself as a god or in the very least, as a standing representation of Arceus itself in the physical world.

"I will house that power" - again this is just a rewording of what already exists in the final scene, where Volo states he wants to "use Arceus' power to create a new better world". Note he doesn't say he will defeat Arceus, or kill it. I know it's common interpretation in fan circles that Volo kills/takes Arceus power, but it's important for us to remember that canonically, Volo DOES NOT want to kill Arceus. His reverence may be strong, and he does have this weird religious ecstasy brainrot, but he does not wish to actually kill it. Volo is a religious zealot.

And the parts that are bothering me the most are these lines:

"I will demonstrate his power to all living things in the sky, the earth, the sea! / ...bring its gospel to Hisui!" - this part is what I'm ruminating on the most. Because with this passage, it's making me rethink all of my previous interpretations on Volo, and I fear we may have been misinterpreting him this entire time.

This is again where I want to emphasize I don't know for sure if this is a character rework or cut content, because here Volo makes no mention of a "better world" by using the power of Arceus.

Because yknow what that sounds like right? Like Christian/Catholic preaching. Specifically the word "gospel" is used here, and he makes mention of "demonstrating his power to all living things". Like spreading the word of God? He makes no mention of this gospel of Arceus being love or light however, which makes me worried what this implies...

And this is what's bothering the most about this. Volo from this dialogue, may not be a saviour wishing to create a better world without suffering because his God designed a flawed world that included those things.

Volo is a religious zealot that believes the world is flawed because of other people, not because his God made a flawed creation. And that the cure to removing this suffering is recreating his own biblical flood and killing everyone and spreading the word of Jesus Arceus.

That's why Volo has a hard time trusting others in Pokemas because other people are sinful/backstabbing and cannot be trusted (albeit heavily influenced by whatever Traumatic Thing™ happened in his villain backstory that as of writing this, has yet to be revealed) but if this is canon to his character, it's a HUGE difference from what we were all interpreting. He's not staging a divine coup for the people, he's your Catholic pastor that believes if you don't believe in god you're going to hell. He's the holy crusader that is willing to hurt entire groups of people in the name of god, believing this harm he's doing is "righteous" because he's doing it for Arceus.

If this is what Volo's idea of a "better world" was like the entire time, damn I really hope he loses and gets a redemption. A world where everyone follows the gospel of God through force? Maybe there's a reason he's a villain.

[of-arches-and-angels]

Meet my new (and first) Ultrakill OC: Bezaliel! I honestly don't have a lot down in terms of his story or place within the lore, but I have been playing with some ideas based on his name meaning "The Shadow of God" (Maybe also meaning "Damaged"? Idk it's kind of mixed but the first one is most widespread. I'm learning as I go lol). He's also mentioned as being a fallen angel (if I'm not mistaken) so I've been toying with that as well. I know that most of his abilities are related to that "Shadow" aspect of things: moving through shadow, providing aide from the shadows, or even using the shadows in battle. The ball on the screen is similar to a familiar of sorts- something he uses to gather information or keep tabs on certain individuals. Considering the fallen angel bit, I might have him be on poor terms with the council, though that part of things is still up in the air.

I have yet to draw his physical weapon, but I do have some ideas for that as well.

[bruciemilf]

" he would not fucking say that" actually, he would. wanna know why?? cause fictional characters are objects of enjoyment, not attachment, sugar lips

[bumblingbabooshka]

K I’m not too deep into voyager yet but I always imagined T’pel as having the same kinda fanatical religious streak as Tuvok. I think they both go weak in the knees for the teaching of surak in a very unlogical way you know? I imagine her as a Vulcan whose maybe too enthusiastic about being one. She’d go on and on to whoever would listen in a monotone voice about how great logic is and excuse it by saying she’s teaching them or something but she’s just really passionate about it lol. Her and Tuvok go on dates and just do Vulcan Bible study for five hours.

From the little of her I’ve seen in the show I think of her as being heavily invested in Vulcan culture and tradition as well, again to the point of it being less logical and more emotional. Like she’d do something in a way that was super tedious just because she wants to do it in a traditional way to preserve and experience history.

also she’s got a lot of that tuvok hater streak in her. She will be petty about how much more she knows about certain topics!! She will gossip about how illogical other Vulcans are being!!

He wants a church girl who goes to church aN readsER Bible!!!

[menlove]

feeling like a real "well, actually-" bitch reading articles for my capstone that have only done surface digging into the ugaritic texts ahdhsjhs they make so many mistakes and parrot some common misconceptions and I'm sitting here like

[5-htagonist]

if i head the words "jesus" "sacrifice" and "himself" in a sentence again ill scream.

[rasarit-of-my-life]

art teacher in university: ’there are three types of art: propagandistic, religious and (another type i cannot bother to remember rn). But; since the religious and propagandistic type seem to have the same pull and energy towards the human mind, they must be, in their essence, one and the same.’

first of all: that’s how you perceive it. just because you call a religious icon ‘propagandistic’ for having similarities (which you may or may not have made up just to prove your personal point) doesn’t mean that it is. It can be used for such purposes, of course, but that is NOT the essence of religious art.

second of all: how are you a teacher with a degree in art school who put you here i will plow your head through fifty walls if you open your damn atheistic mouth again and try to tell me (who was worse than an atheist) how to ‘correct’ my pov over orthodox christianity of all things in this world

[tmarshconnors]

Does it scare you to think about what Satan is trying to do to your kids?

What are you doing to make sure he doesn’t? Are you teaching your children about God?

Are you setting an example for them showing them what faithfulness looks like? Do you take them to church and Bible class?

Do you talk to them about the lies and immorality that the devil has made normal?

Do you keep them from playing video games and watching shows that slip in things that will take them off course? Do you pray for them and over them?

Don’t think for one second that you can let up or slack off. Evil doesn’t.

[mycelestial001]

Traditionally, many religious traditions have maintained rigid views on gender roles and sexual orientation. READ MORE

[copias-juicebox]

"Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, "Come." I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer."

I just found this amazing piece of art on Pinterest and managed to find the artist on Instagram, it’s by the very talented Shoegazerx.art 

Definitely check out their page for more Copia artwork.

[thespiritualparrot]

Ancient Wisdom: Spiritual Meanings in Historical Texts

Welcome to a journey through time and spirit! In this article, we’re going to explore the rich tapestry of wisdom woven into ancient historical texts. These texts are not just relics of the past; they are living documents that continue to offer profound insights into our spiritual journey. From the cryptic symbols etched on temple walls to the profound verses of sacred scriptures, every line and…