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sleepymick · 2 months ago

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Do u think all religion is bad I'm just curious all respect to you

hi! i wouldn’t really use the word “bad.” there’s too much nuance in life to categorize something as just “bad,” save for very obviously bad things like murder, rape, etc. it’s also kind of complicated because the bones of a religion can mean well, or have sound philosophy, but what we’ve done with this religion can screw it up completely, so then how do we know what was religion, and what was humans screwing it up? especially when religion is man made to begin with? how do we know what was the work of god, and what was the result of evolved intelligent minds and empathy?just because we can find sound philosophy and “good” in religion…doesn’t make the god or gods of those religion real. religion does this weird thing where it creates problems, and then people try to solve the problems using….more religion.

as far as i am aware, religion was created by man a) to understand our purpose of life as a whole, and our purpose in life as individuals, or if we have a purpose at all and b) to control people. i do find that we can gain wisdom and peace from religion, but i personally don’t think it’s wise or healthy to devote yourself to just one worldview, or one way of gaining wisdom. that’s biased though because i love to learn about all sorts of things in all sorts of ways. if you can be religious, open hearted, open minded, and accept that we just don’t KNOW the reasons of who, what, where, why, and how, and accept that you’re using religion as a tool -rather than claiming your belief is THE belief- i respect and admire that greatly, and have met people who do exactly this. they’re few and far between, but they’re out there.

i love religion as a concept; finite humans desperately grasping for meaning while living on a spinning ball that’s suspended in an endless void. religion has shed light on the sheer power of our will and imagination/creativity as human beings. i love religious art, music, themes, stories, etc. like, the story of jesus is extremely emotional to me, and very inspiring, but i’m not a christian. when i say “fuck religion” i mean “stop giving the credits to a god that may not exist, and start crediting human beings for good, for accomplishments, for change. stop blaming a god that may not exist, and start blaming the human beings who harm, who shun, who judge.” understanding and accepting these things has allowed me to feel so immensely connected to humanity as a whole, has helped me with my fear of death, dying, and the afterlife, and has helped me to be more present and accountable in my own life. because we’re just making this shit up. accepting that was oddly healing, humbling, yet empowering all at once. i say “fuck religion,” but i mean “it’s time to evolve our idea of it, and relationship with it because so much pain, suffering, bigotry, sexism -the list goes on- is rooted in this concept of religion, which again, we created in the first place.”

so it’s time we create something better, because we deserve better. otherwise, we’re just going to keep avoiding accountability, going backwards in our evolution, abandoning families, going to wars -this list also goes on- all under a delusion of our own creation.

thank you for asking. i went on a bit of a tangent, but i love this topic -and don’t have many people in my personal life that i can share this with- and i love to connect with others in general, but especially through discussion. may you and yours be well <3

#god #religion #anti religious #anti religion #anti christianity #bible #the bible #non religious #atheist #atheism #agnostic #agnostisizm

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windvexer · 2 years ago

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Hi chicken!

Wanted to know to which card I can associate to the Christian god. And the Jewish one and the Muslim one. Which, they're similar but different so the cards should be different too. It's fairly easy to draw associations with the Greek - Roman pantheon (because of planets and signs etc...), but I'm at loss for monotheistic religions.

(wanted to ask because I'm going through a bit of crisis of faith).

Hello, Friend.

I am formerly Christian,

but have never been Jewish or Muslim,

and I am afraid to say I don't think I even know the first thing about those religions.

If I may try to offer some advice you did not ask for,

I suspect you are attempting to perform divination to sort out your religious feelings, and perhaps determine what faith is right for you.

Have you ever done painting, like with acrylics or watercolor?

Have you ever just used those thin sheets of printer paper that can hardly hold a drop of water without warping?

And then, you put paint on it and the paper wrinkles immediately.

But the more and more paint you load onto the page, the page starts warping severely and then even tears through?

Divination is like this.

The topic of your fascination is the piece of paper. And I am afraid to say that big, important, life-changing topics have the thinnest and most delicate pieces of paper of all.

Each divinatory reading you perform loads paint onto the paper. And the more you do it, the more the situation gets warped. The more chaos is produced. It can become and endless rabbit-hole that, all of the sudden -

the paper shreds.

And you end up in the Upside-Down, and things get Weird.

I am a diviner perhaps more than I am a sorcerer or a witch. And please trust me when I say,

there are things we should not divine on.

Instead, perhaps practice making paper.

Talk to pastors. Talk to rabbis. Go to temple, go to mosque, go to therapy. Cry in the woods. Bury yourself in pillows and scream. Make friends with a tree. Make some good activist friends and help make posters. Get into making art with found objects.

All these things are making paper.

I wish you all the best in resolving your crisis. I hope you are not too hard on yourself if it takes a while.

#answered

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witchybooksarl · 2 years ago

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Petition Paper with positive intent

Use candles to help you if you're feeling uncertain they help keep the vibrations positive even when you're not feeling fully positive.

When you write a petition paper, you are showing the universe that you have a serious and focused intention. Like a good contract, a petition paper should be focused and precise. Because you are working on a manifestation, you should keep your petition paper positive...

Such as I'm abundant in money in prosperity

And money comes to me with ease

You're writing the petition paper as if this is already happening for you.

You can then make your own sigil by eliminating the vowels and then any repeating letters after that, then destined the leftover letters in a way that means what your intentions feel as they should. And it doesn't have to look artistic if you're not good at art. Either am I. It's really all about the intent you put into your sigils that you make up...

I will now into my sigils or someone Clap them with my hands to activate my sigils. You can activate them that way or by drawing a circle around yours. In not good at drawing a decent looking circle around mine they look oval and squiggly. So that's when I learned you can blow on your sigil or Clap on them or even spit on them or light them in fire or flush them down the toilet if it's written on T.P.

What this really narrow down to is your intent. I won't throw my sigils away until I feel they're fine helping me with what I asked them for...

I keep the ones I make for protection and good luck. Because; why not!

When I want to add more magik with my sigils, I place them under corresponding candles to help strengthen my petition and spells.

I'm a broom closet witch so I don't carve sigils into my candles. I'm married to a really nice Christian man. We're both raised Christian. Only he's less of an open mind about witchcraft.

I'm more open-minded towards this. And I really wished that I wasn't brought up so religiously in the Christian perspective. To be honest, they're too serious about some of their stupid rules. You know I'm talking about if you've ever been raised in the Christian world or been to a Christian church enough to know these ridiculous rules. Over time, I know I've become that kind of person that is all about. Some rules are meant to be broken. Especially if they really don't hurt or harm anyone in return.

Once you’ve written your petition paper, you may need to fold it to make it the right size to place beneath your candle holder or tray. If your spell’s objective is to bring something to you, fold the paper toward you. If you need to fold it a second time, turn the paper clockwise and fold it toward yourself again. If your work is to banish, eliminate, or reduce something, fold the paper away from you and turn counterclockwise to fold again.

Once the petition paper is folded, place it beneath your candle dish, tray, or holder.

Writing down your spell words as a petition paper is the perfect place to focus your spell and intention, but speaking those words out loud adds commitment to your outcome. When you’re doing a candle spell, it’s natural to want to say something as you light your candle, reaffirming the intention of your spell at the moment you set it off. Even a whisper can be powerful if there is conviction behind it. Just say it like you mean it...

When you are ready to add some extra power to your candle spell, you can do so by adding some herbal magic to your spells. Herbs and essential oils are just two of the tools I like to call “magical allies.” Anything that we add to our spell work to align it more with our intention—colors, numbers, timings, petition papers and, of course, herbs and essential oils—will help to keep our intention going, even if we worry about the outcome ourselves...

The first step of working with oils and herbs is to apply oil to the candle. Applying the oil gives you an excellent opportunity for putting your wishes, intentions, and energy into the candle before you light it. After you do that, you can choose to stop there, or you can apply herbs to the candle or sprinkle them around the candle. You can use a spiritual oil crafted by someone else or create your own.

Whenever working with essential oils, you should dilute them before using them on your skin or a candle. Some essential oils are flammable, and most are irritating to the skin in their undiluted form. Dilute essential oils with a carrier oil such as sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, or apricot kernel oil in a ratio of about ten parts carrier oil per one part (or less) essential oil. A little goes a long way...

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atwas-gaming · 2 years ago

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30-something Christian gamer girl. HUGE gaming theorist and analyst. May also blog about theories related to other media, as well (books, movies, TV). Eclectic tastes, I never know what I will or won’t like until I get into it.

I'm on Twitch! Stream schedule: Monday, Wednesday, Friday; starts at 4:30p, usually runs 2-4 hours. Yeah, I know, lousy schedule, but it's what fits my life.

Current Twitch schedule:

Monday: TBD

Wednesday: Backpack Hero

Friday: Ori and the Blind Forest, Normal Mode, 100% completion

I have a Kofi! Come support me and my stream!

Check out my "game journal" tag to see updates on games as I play them. Many of these games are probably old and their fan bases are mostly dead, but I don't care, I'm having fun XD

Favorite genres: plaftormers, RPG’s, adventure, puzzle, “casual,” and Metroidvania. And anything with a storyline that appeals to me. Not too big on most shooters. I don’t have anything against them, I just suck at shooters. Solo player, mostly- my brain works like the brain of a cat, i.e., I like to repeat things until I memorize the patterns so I can “git gud,” or at least get better. As a result, I don’t do so well when playing against the unexpected randomness of human nature. Again, nothing against it, I just suck at it.

Favorite games/franchises: Undertale/Deltarune (I include Undertale Yellow in this list and I will die on that mountain), Sonic, Axiom Verge, Zelda, Metroid (in that order). (Currently super-obsessed with UTY.)

Also Celeste, Stardew Valley, Ori, American McGee's Alice, Dark Souls, Witcher, and a bunch of others. I’m bad at a lot of them, but I love them, anyway.

I believe that gaming is a sport and game design is art- which means both making and playing games takes skill and talent. I also believe that God is with us all the time, even in video games. So the purpose of this blog is to show all the ways that God reveals Himself in even the games we play.

I also want to encourage Christian gamers not to let other people tell them whether or not to play games, or even which games to play. God calls each of us differently. For instance, I have no interest in GTA, but if God called you to spread His love in the GTA community, go for it. It's between you and God to decide where He wants you to go. Just make sure you stay close to Him along the way.

From time to time, I'll post what I call "praise reports." These are where I brag about an accomplishment in a game- but I call them "praise reports" because I like to think that God plays games with me, and that when I get stuck, He helps me get through it. Sounds strange, I suppose, to say that God helps me with a game... But I figure, if I can trust Him with the big things, like food and money and my job, then why can't I ask Him for help in little things like beating a boss monster? (In fact, sometimes I feel like it's the other way 'round- like His help in beating a boss reminds me that He can and will help when the car breaks down or something.)

I also like to look at everything and compare it to what God says and ask, "Do I see any Biblical parallels in this?" Which leads to me saying things like, "Hylia giving up her divinity to become a human is like what Jesus did when He left heaven to be born in a manger," or "Sonic walking towards his death to take on his friends' corruption on Rhea Island reminds me of how Jesus carried His own cross to take our sins upon Himself." *shrug* Some people think it's weird. A lot of Christians says it's sacrilegious. I feel like it's just God showing Himself to the world in ways that everyday people will understand.

I am starting to use a special tag for these things: #Biblical parallels. I also have other tags for Bible references, Bible verses, etc. And I try to mark things as religious posts if they mention God or the Bible and I don't have another tag to fit them. Because I am a Christian and I do like to talk about God. But I also know that's not everyone's cup of tea.

I have four other blogs:

atwas-meme-ing, mentioned above

the-unrelated-theorist, which is nothing but Undertale/Deltarune theories. If you're into that, plz check it out.

sans-joke-book is for puns and bad jokes.

atwas-creations, which is where I will upload my fanart, fanfics, and fan games (when I finally get around to making them probably 50 years from now, but I'm working on it, anyway).

just-bible-musings, which is where I will post some of my deep thoughts about the Bible.

uty-timeline, which is all Undertale Yellow

#mod post

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jollyishere · 3 months ago

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Intro post. ( tws ; long post, text talking of bl00d and w4r )

Hello, dear. My name is Jolly and I generally go by They / He pronouns. You may also refer to me by a variety of other xenopronouns. I am a system of 15 but generally use singular pronouns here.I am here if you desire Otherkin resources such as profile pictures, user boxes, id packs ( ; however I am not too good at them ), and many other accessories for accounts, messages, or just your pleasure. I do not welcome nsfw on this account as I am agere ( ; age regression ) friendly. I have an odd way of typing at times and will add translations if needed, I tend to add excessive trigger warnings, please bear with me. I use emojis at time but I can remove them if it makes my posts / content hard to read. If you intend to come here while little, I recommend blocking the tag/s ‘ cursing tw ‘, ‘ bl00d tw ‘, and ‘ not little friendly ‘.

dni ; Basic dni, harmful proship / comship, dark ship, pro contact harmful paraphillia, anti recovery. Please do not interact if you are a mainly discourse oriented blog.

thin ice ; problematic media supporters, I will not deny you content, but depending on what media it is I may not want to interact with you on a personal level. Religious based blogs ( ; especially Christianity and Atheism )

request requirements ; Must include a theme or media, that’s truly it, request however you’d like, if I need extra clarification I will say so. I do not mind requests with soft s3xual content but do keep in mind I am a minor.

Tagging system. ; alt text - tagging system.

; Jollyanswers ( requests )

; Jollycares ( agere based posts )

; Jollyislistening ( vent related asks )

; Jollyvents ( my vents )

; Jollyhowls ( rants )

; Jollydraws ( my own art )

; Jollyreblogs ( my reblogs )

; Jollymadethis ( my content )

; Not little friendly ( non agere friendly blogposts )

; Little friendly ( agere friendly blogposts )

I believe that is all, I will add more links and other links later on. Have an amazing day.

#nonhuman #otherkin #alterhuman #intro post #agere friendly blog #agere friendly #jollyanswers #jollycares #jollyislistening #jollyvents #jollyhowls #jollydraws #jollyreblogs #jollymadethis #little friendly

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echoesoftheeast · 2 years ago

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Why I No Longer Believe in God

I am sure that even seeing the title of this post will be shocking for anyone who has known me within the last 10 years. As someone who grew up within an Evangelical-Mennonite community, embraced Christianity wholeheartedly at the age of 19, converted from the Mennonite faith to Eastern Orthodox Christianity, and even played a role in establishing an Orthodox liturgical community in Winkler, I am sure that the last thing that anyone expected to find out was that I have lost all belief in a God. Before I spell out the reasons why I am no longer a believer, I want to clarify what this loss of belief DOESN’T mean: 1) I don’t hate religion. I still recognize and understand all the good that religious faith (along with the unnumerable shameful things) has contributed to society throughout history. I give credit to where credit is due. I also still have a strong aesthetic attraction to religion, particularly Eastern Orthodoxy and Islam. I keep icons in my home and read writers such as Rumi. I will always be attracted to the artistic beauty of religious architecture, liturgy, hymnography, and art. Even if I no longer subscribe to the faith being expressed by this art, it still moves me deeply. 2) I do not have any antagonism to people of faith. Pretty much all the nearest and dearest people to me back home in Canada are people of faith. I do not think that they are uneducated, illogical, or stuck in the past. People of faith have their own reasons for why they cannot understand the world we live in apart from the existence of a God and I respect people’s beliefs, regardless of what they are or if I agree with them. There is still a part of me that wishes that I could still believe in a God, even if it is an impossibility for me at this point in my life. 3) I am not interested in “de-converting” people. Back when I was a believer, I always found “atheist evangelists” a strange phenomenon. I do not see any value in trying to convince anyone to not believe in anything and would rather live a life of mutual respect and acceptance. 4) I do not have all the answers. Even though my world view has naturally changed completely, I do not claim to have answers to every question about the existence/non-existence of God. Life has been chaotic for me for a while now and I have not had the necessary time to consider every facet of life from a non-theistic perspective to have a definitive position on a variety of fundamental questions regarding life and existence. This means that if someone asks me the sort of question that goes like “If God doesn’t exist, then how do you explain___?” I likely will not have a definitive answer. My life and my perspectives are still a work in progress. 5) I still believe in the necessity of morality. Contrary to the opinion of Dostoevsky who wrote that without God, everything is permissible, I still believe that morality and a consideration on how we treat other people is an inescapable necessity in life. While my definitions of what is right and wrong may be more subjective since they are no longer tied to the idea that morality is rooted within the commandments of a God, I still believe that there is much value in the moral teachings found in religion which help regulate interactions and maintain healthy relationships. If someone would ask me why I would even bother if I do not believe that there is any post-mortem reward of punishment for our behaviour, my answer would simply be that I’d rather live happily now with healthy relationships and if you’re a self-centered, inconsiderate, selfish jerk to everyone, you’re not going to have a happy life. Obviously this doesn’t encapsulate the entirety of my worldview/values at this point in my life (as my fourth note set out to explain) but I believe that these points are important to keep in mind before I move on and explain why I no longer hold onto any theistic beliefs. However, I know that anyone reading this is not primarily interested in the above points and wants to know why I am an atheist now after having been such a dedicated believer for the last 10 years of my life. With that being said, let us move on to the main subject. The foundation of my disbelief is rooted in a few interrelated issues: 1) The problem of evil 2) The traditional attributes of God 3) The issue of human freedom 4) A flawed creation from a perfect God 5) The contradiction between the doctrines of creation and eschatology Nothing here is entirely knew in the history of atheism so I’m not pretending that I’ve discovered some never before heard of reasons to reject belief in a God. However, I do think that I have come to my own conclusions with these issues which may be unique to myself, as I have never seen them articulated elsewhere (though that may simply betray the lack of atheistic literature that I have read). I will begin with the age-old objection: how can there be so much pain, suffering, and evil in a world created by an all good, all powerful, perfect God? For years I was able to disregard this objection with the simple retort that since God is Love, it was necessary for Him to create humans with free choice, since love is a free response and can not be compelled. The side effect of this gift of freedom is the possibility to misuse this freedom and therefore turn away from God, thereby disordering the perfect order of creation and ultimately excusing God from any wrongdoing. Later, I will explain how this answer no longer is adequate. According to traditional Christian theology, God is the existence beyond existence, the supra-existential being beyond all being, the perfect communion of love, and the source of all life, being, and goodness (among innumerable other cataphatic and apophatic affirmations). Since God has always been and has always been the plenitude of perfection of power, knowledge, and goodness, this means that even before the indescribable moment when He began to bring the material universe into existence, every single moment, event, and individual that would come to exist was already known to Him (since if there was anything which was not known to Him, this would imply ignorance in God, which is an impossibility since it is necessary for God to know everything). This means that God knew that His creation would turn away from Him, endure an existence of pain, misery, loss, suffering, injustice, and death. If we also take the traditional position of judgement into consideration, this means that a significant portion of His creation would ultimately be condemned to eternal punishment due to their lack of faith and wrongdoing. This means that every single person who is ultimately condemned to hell was eternally known to God and He still chose to create these people. While not all Christian traditions adhere to the doctrine of predestination, most of them hold to the doctrine of foreknowledge, which confirms that God has known all the actions and decisions of people before they make them (even if these decisions were not predestined to happen but were the result of people’s free choices). What we have here is a picture of a perfect God Who creates an imperfect world. The objection to the assertion that the world created must be perfect rests on the position that only God is perfect, and therefore creation can only be perfect if it was an extension of God Himself, therefore even though God created the world without anything bad or evil, the constant refrain in Genesis is that everything was good, there is still the potential for imperfection and deviation inherent within creation by virtue of the fact that it is creation and not God. The crack in the image appears when we consider the doctrine of the gnomic will as was articulated by one of the most preeminent Church Fathers, St. Maximus the Confessor. He wrote that the first created man was in possession of a pre-lapsarian will (this essentially means that the human will prior to the “Fall” or the first instance of sin was not disordered in any way). Due to the choice made by Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, in direct disobedience to God, this has disordered the human will and resulted in all of humanity subsequently living in a state of ignorance, not knowing fully what is good and therefore living in a state of needing to choose, not immediately knowing what is good. According to Maximus, in the Age to Come when Christ will return to raise the dead, carry out the Final Judgement, and usher in the Kingdom of Heaven, the righteous will be filled completely with the Holy Spirit, granting them a perfect illumination and their gnomic wills will be healed. This means that their freedom will be preserved, but since they have their wills re-ordered and with the perfect illumination by the Holy Spirit, they will not exist in this fluctuation of not knowing the good. They will know the good perfectly and will always choose the good perfectly. This begs the question as to why God did not immediately create humanity in this state. Why didn’t He immediately grant the newly created humanity a perfect illumination? If the freedom of will can be maintained in the Kingdom of Heaven where there will not be any sin, suffering, or death, why go through aeons of this cruel existence? Why not simply create the world and humanity in this glorified state to begin with? This brings us to a contradiction in traditional Christian theology. According to the historical doctrine of creation, as can be found in “An Exact Exposition on the Orthodox Faith” by St. John of Damascus (for example), it is stated that the world that God created is the best possible world that could have been created. Since God is perfect, the world He made is the best possible world that could have been created. However, the fundamental Christian theology of the end times (“eschatology”) precisely maintains that the world to come will be better than the world that we live in now. This means that God is going to transform the world we live in and make it into a perfect version. However, this flies directly in the face of the suggestion that the original creation was the best possible option since eschatology flatly contradicts this. Eschatology says that the world to come is better than this world and even better than the world when it was first created. Once again, we are left to beg the question as to why didn’t God simply create the world in this glorified perfect state to begin with? When we tie all these threads together, this is the conclusion that I have come to: 1) God creates an imperfect world where He has known from eternity that His creation will turn away from Him, plunge the world into a state of disorder, and history will be a horrifying parade of injustices. 2) This is apparently the risk that God had to take in order to preserve the freedom of His creation, even though He is also apparently able to fully illuminate His creation in a way that their freedom is preserved and they freely make good choices. 3) This is also presented as the best possible world that God could have created, even though He will recreate this world into a perfect version. Adding all of this together, it seems to me that God was perfectly able to create a world where human freedom is preserved while sin, suffering, and death is prevented. This then brings us to the final point of traditional Christian theology with is intolerable: the doctrine of hell. How can the eternal punishment and suffering of created beings be an expression of the perfect love of God? If God is love, therefore every single act of God is an expression of love. This means that the existence of eternal maintenance of hell is necessarily an expression of the love of God. How is eternal conscious torment an expression of love? So many passages within the Gospels present God as the great Healer, the One Who recognizes the brokenness of the human condition and comes to fix us. How could any doctor be content to preserve someone in an eternal state of misery and anguish if their true desire and intent is to bring the person back to health? If God is truly love, then what sort of love is this? Here I find the words of Friedrich Nietzsche to be straight to the point, “Dante, I think, committed a crude blunder when with terror- inspiring ingenuity, he placed above the gateway of his hell the inscription "I too was created by eternal love"-at any rate, there would be more justification for placing above the gateway to the Christian Paradise and its "eternal bliss" the inscription "I too was created by eternal hate"-provided a truth may be placed above the gateway to a lie!” Perhaps those of a more sensitive disposition might point out the tradition of universalism within the Christian tradition; the belief that at some point, everyone will be saved (even if after spending a prolonged purgatorial period in hell if necessary). At first glance, this seems to solve the problem: hell is not a place of vengeful punishment, it is a place of purification and healing which is a temporary stop on towards the perfection of the whole of humanity and creation. However, even if everyone will eventually be saved, does this really bring restitution to the unspeakable horrors that have happened in this life? Here I am unable to consent to the question posed by Ivan Karamazov, “ Imagine that you are creating a fabric of human destiny with the object of making men happy in the end, giving them peace and rest at last, but that it was essential and inevitable to torture to death only one tiny creature...and to found that edifice on its unavenged tears, would you consent to be the architect on this condition?” When looking at universalism through the lenses of my previous conclusions, I hardly see how the eventual salvation of all humanity is a satisfactory resolution for all the intolerable horrors that have happened throughout history. If God can save everyone, why didn’t He create us in a state which did not need to be saved? Again, I ask, why not start things off at the end where existence is free of tear, pain, sorrow, and death? Why put us through all of this? This is love? When I weighed all these issues together, I realized that I can no longer in good conscience consider myself a believer. The contradictions between the doctrines of creation and eschatology, the unsatisfactory assertion that evil exists because humanity possesses free will when eschatological theology confirms the preservation of the will’s freedom in glorified perfection, that an all good, all powerful, all knowing God of love would willingly create this world as it is when He could have made it according to the pattern affirmed by eschatology, and that He has foreknown the eternal conscious torment of an innumerable amount of people and carried on creating them, knowing that their lives will be episodes of suffering with intervals of happiness, only to end in eternal suffering. I am unable to accept this. I understand that for many people reading this, particularly many of my friends and family back in Canada and people from the Orthodox communities that I was a part of, that this is very painful to read. I want to stress that I do not regret my time spent within the Orthodox Church and that none of my current positions are connected to any of my experiences. I cannot thank everyone enough for being there for me over the years, for all the love, all the care, and for be a living example of Jesus to me. You will all have my love and care no matter where life takes me. I also want to emphasize that there is no way that I will ever believe in God again. Perhaps a day will come where something changes in my head, or my heart, and I find faith once again. I have not closed the door and nailed it shut. However, I also need to be honest about where I am in life and I care about everyone too much to just pretend, you all deserve better than that. I have been struggling with this loss of faith for almost a year now and the fear of hurting anyone has prevented me from opening up. I have been realizing lately that lying to myself and others about how things are has only caused greater damage to my life. I have come to understand that the only way forward in my life is to be honest with myself, confront the things that have been eating me up inside, and to accept where I am in life. While I understand that many people reading this will have many questions and concerns, I kindly ask that if you wish to discuss anything with me, please refrain from messaging me directly over social media. While I will be posting this on my various social media platforms, I have no desire to get into arguments or debates. If anyone simply wants to talk or to listen, you can write me an email at [email protected]. I may not reply right away, but I will in time. Writing this has not been an easy thing and publicly sharing this has been even more difficult. I am sorry for any pain, confusion, or disappointment that I may have caused anyone by making this announcement.

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sovaghoul · 1 year ago

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I HAVE THOUGHTS.

On the surface it can be taken as a very tongue-in-cheek jab at Christianity that is very on-brand for Tobias and Ghost. But also, being an Occult nerd as I am (and Tobias is, man knows his shit), it can go deeper.

First there's the environmental messages, that humans have failed in their charge of being the stewards of the Earth (look it up, we're supposed to take care of Her). All the talk of metal cities and the Earth being "like an open sore." That line kills me, every time. And yes, I know Tobias didn't write this, but he wouldn't have recorded it if it didn't mean anything to him.

But Sova you may ask, as well you may. What's this about Occult shit? Well. Let me tell you.

First off, Babylon was a polytheistic Pagan society that existed in the Middle East before Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Those three monotheistic religious traditions supplanted and replaced Babylonian beliefs (among others of the time). So, with the introduction and popularity of the God of Abraham, Babylon was essentially eradicated.

BUT THERE'S MORE.

Aleister Crowley, founder of Thelema and obvious inspiration to Tobias (Impera album art, photoshoots, and even the phrase "call me little sunshine" all bear Crowley's influence), wrote about his contact with a Mother Goddess, Babalon. She's known as the Scarlet Woman and Mother of Abominations. She's also associated with the Earth itself, and is said to be the Devil's lover. These things set Her in opposition to Christianity especially. (Fun fact I'm 99% sure Per wears a Babalon related pin on his leather jacket.)

Bible makes me incredibly emotional. Because who will pray for Babalon? Because Babylon is falling.

bible by ghost is so underappreciated u guys its INSANE

#the band ghost #bible #aleister crowley #occult #babylon #babalon #per eriksson #per sodo eriksson #per sodomizer eriksson #sodo #sodomizer #unmasked ghoul mention

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flagellant · 2 years ago

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if you're sick and tired of talking about the temple passage, just go ahead and delete my ask haha

but this is something i struggle with so much. like yeah the event may very well have not been antisemitic when it happened! but it's been utilized in antisemitic ways so much since, i've heard sermons by my old pastors, i've had jewish friends tell me about the ways it's been used against them. i love church. i love going every week and the stability it brings, i love singing with other people, i love baking for coffee hour, i love working at soup kitchens, i love being with people! but as i've grown more and more aware of the antisemitism and all the other bigotry that seems to be built into its very foundations, it's gotten harder and harder. i go to a liberal church now, but is that enough? are we doing enough as a congregation? am i perpetuating discrimination in some way i don't know yet? can we use the temple cleansing verses in a non antisemitic way or have they been tainted? can the church continue and be a force for good or are its foundations rotten? i know it's probably not a yes or no thing, it's probably complicated... christmas, the perfect time for religious angst

What you're going through right now is what I went through before finally deciding to leave Catholicism, and is at its roots why I studied to become a theologian. I find religion so beautiful in all its forms and reasons; we invent the supernatural to create explanations for the things which exist beyond us. The occult is the place where humanity revels in its inherent nature as contradictory, illogical, and strange.

And Christianity as an institution has, undeniably, been a source of much beauty and good in the world. No one can deny that objectively. The whole of Vatican City alone is a testament to the glory of God in art, and even without acknowledging any charity work done by any church or Christian organization, the kindness and support of parish communities alone cannot be overstated.

But it is also the case that Christianity as an institution has, undeniably, been a source of countless horrific, torturous deaths, systemic abuses and oppressions, and multiple genocides. This, too, is something no one can deny objectively. It exists not as the other side of the coin to the former; it is the same thing. The same good and beauty is fed and feeds the ugliness and the carnage.

What is the capability of an individual person in the face of all that trauma, all that debt of blood? You can't do anything about it. And even if you thought you could, how different does that make you if you still work under Great Man Philosophy? Is anything here worth saving? Is any experience free of the original sin of antisemitism and genocide and imperialism and colonialism?

I don't know. But what I do know is that I find it important that we all think of these things and acknowledge them. Christianity has done horrific things. But by not learning about the good things that the institutions have done, by refusing to recognize them, we forfeit our ability to more accurately define what is bad and why. The Spanish Inquisition is a horrible part of history, but Christianity couldn't have reached that point if it was all Inquisitions.

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writingwithcolor · 3 years ago

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Jurassic period alien interacting with key cultures and historical figures in Middle East & Asia throughout history

@ketchupmaster400 said:

Hello, so my question is for a character I’ve been working on for quite a while but wasn’t sure about a few things. So basically at the beginning of the universe there was this for less being made up of dark matter and dark energy. Long story short it ends up on earth during the Jurassic Period. It has the ability to adapt and assimilate into other life animals except it’s hair is always black and it’s skin is always white and it’s eyes are always red. It lives like this going from animal to animal until it finally becomes human and gains true sentience and self awareness. As a human it lives within the Middle East and Asia wondering around trying to figure out its purpose and meaning. So what I initially wanted to do with it was have small interactions with the dark matter human and other native humans that kinda helped push humanity into the direction it is now. For example, Mehndhi came about when the dark matter human was drawing on their skin because it felt insecure about having such white skin compared to other people. And ancient Indians saw it and thought it was cool so they adopted it and developed it into Mehndi. Minor and small interactions though early history leading to grander events. Like they would be protecting Jerusalem and it’s people agains the Crusaders later on. I also had the idea of the the dark matter human later on interacting with the prophets Jesus Christ and Muhammad. With Jesus they couldn’t understand why he would sacrifice himself even though the people weren’t deserving. And then Jesus taught them that you have to put other before yourself and protecting people is life’s greatest reward. And then with the prophet Muhammad, I had the idea that their interaction was a simple conversation that mirrors the one he had with the angel Jibril, that lead to the principles of Islam. Now with these ideas I understand the great importance of how not to convey Islam and I’ve been doing reasearch, but I am white and I can understand how that may look trying to write about a different religion than my own. So I guess ultimate my question is, is this ok to do? Is it ok to have an alien creature interact with religious people and historical events as important as they were? Like I said I would try to be as accurate and as respectable as possible but I know that Islam can be a touchy subject and the last thing I would want is to disrespect anyone. The main reason I wanted the dark matter being in the Middle East was because I wanted to do something different because so much has been done with European and American stuff I wanted to explore the eastern side of the world because it’s very beau and very rich with so many cultures that I want to try and represent. I’m sorry for the long post but I wanted you guys to fully understand what my idea was. Thank you for your time and hope you stay safe.

Disclaimer:

The consensus from the moderators was that the proposed character and story is disrespectful from multiple cultural perspectives. However, we can’t ignore the reality that this is a commonly deployed trope in many popular science fiction/ thriller narratives. Stories that seek to take religious descriptions of events at face value from an areligious perspective particularly favor this approach. Thus, we have two responses:

Where we explain why we don’t believe this should be attempted.

Where we accept the possibility of our advice being ignored.

1) No - Why You Shouldn’t Do This:

Hi! I’ll give you the short answer first, and then the extended one.

Short answer: no, this is not okay.

Extended answer. I’ll divide it into three parts.

1) Prophet Muhammad as a character:

Almost every aspect of Islam, particularly Allah (and the Qur’an), the Prophet(s) and the companions at the time of Muhammad ﷺ, are strictly kept within the boundaries of real life/reality. I’ll assume this comes from a good place, and I can understand that from one side, but seriously, just avoid it. It is extremely disrespectful and something that is not even up to debate for Muslims to do, let alone for non-Muslims. Using Prophet Muhammad as a character will only bring you problems. There is no issue with mentioning the Prophet during his lifetime when talking about his attributes, personality, sayings or teachings, but in no way, we introduce fictional aspects in a domain that Muslims worked, and still work, hard to keep free from any doubtful event or incident. Let’s call it a closed period: we don’t add anything that was not actually there.

Reiterating then, don’t do this. There is a good reason why Muslims don’t have any pictures of Prophet Muhammad. We know nothing besides what history conveyed from him.

After this being said, there is another factor you missed – Jesus is also an important figure in Islam and his story from the Islamic perspective differs (a lot) from that of the Christian perspective. And given what you said in your ask, you would be taking the Christian narrative of Jesus. If it was okay to use Prophet Muhammad as a character (reminder: it’s not) and you have had your dark matter human interacting with the biblical Jesus, it will result in a complete mess; you would be conflating two religions.

2) Crusaders and Jerusalem:

You said this dark matter human will be defending Jerusalem against the Crusaders. At first, there is really no problem with this. However, ask yourself: is this interaction a result of your character meeting with both Jesus and Prophet Muhammed? If yes, please refer to the previous point. If not, or even if you just want to maintain this part of the story, your dark matter human can interact with the important historical figures of the time. For example, if you want a Muslim in your story, you can use Salah-Ad-Din Al-Ayoubi (Saladin in the latinized version) that took back Jerusalem during the Third Crusade. Particularly, this crusade has plenty of potential characters.

Also, featuring Muslim characters post Prophet Muhammad and his companions’ time, is completely fine, just do a thorough research.

3) Middle Eastern/South Asian settings and Orientalism:

The last point I want to remark is with the setting you chose for your story. Many times, when we explore the SWANA or South Asian regions it’s done through an orientalist lens. Nobody is really safe from falling into orientalism, not even the people from those regions. My suggestion is educating yourself in what orientalism is and how it’s still prevalent in today’s narrative. Research orientalism in entertainment, history... and every other area you can think of. Edward Said coined this term for the first time in history, so he is a good start. There are multiple articles online that touch this subject too. For further information, I defer to middle eastern mods.

- Asmaa

Racism and Pseudo-Archaeology:

A gigantic, unequivocal and absolute no to all of it, lmao.

I will stick to the bit about the proposed origin of mehendi in your WIP, it’s the arc I feel I’m qualified to speak on, Asmaa has pretty much touched upon the religious and orientalism complications.

Let me throw out one more word: pseudoarchaeology. That is, taking the cultural/spiritual/historical legacies of ancient civilizations, primarily when it involves people of colour, and crediting said legacies to be the handiwork of not just your average Outsider/White Saviour but aliens. I’ll need you to think carefully about this: why is it that in so much of media and literature pertaining to the so-called “conspiracy theories” dealing with any kind of extraterrestrial life, it’s always Non-Western civilizations like the Aztec, the ancient Egyptians, the Harappans etc who are targeted? Why is it that the achievements of the non West are so unbelievable that it’s more feasible to construct an idea of non-human, magical beings from another planet who just conveniently swooped in to build our monuments and teach us how to dress and what to believe in? If the answer makes you uncomfortable, it’s because it should: denying the Non-West agency of their own feats is not an innocent exercise in sci-fi worldbuilding, it comes loaded with implications of racial superiority and condescension towards the intellect and prowess of Non-European cultures.

Now, turning to specifics:

Contrary to what Sarah J. Maas might believe- mehendi designs are neither mundane, purely aesthetic tattoos nor can they be co-opted by random Western fantasy characters. While henna has existed as an art form in various cultures, I’m limiting my answer to the Indian context, (specifying since you mention ancient India). Mehendi is considered one of the tenets of the Solah Shringar- sixteen ceremonial adornments for Hindu brides, one for each phase of the moon, as sanctioned by the Vedic texts. The shade of the mehendi is a signifier for the strength of the matrimonial bond: the darker the former, the stronger the latter. Each of the adornments carries significant cosmological/religious symbolism for Hindus. To put it bluntly, when you claim this to be an invention of the aliens, you are basically taking a very sacred cultural and artistic motif of our religion and going “Well actually….extraterrestrials taught them all this.”

In terms of Ayurveda (Traditional holistic South Asian medicine) , mehendi was used for its medicinal properties. It works as a cooling agent on the skin and helps to alleviate stress, particularly for the bride-to-be. Not really nice to think that aliens lent us the secrets of Ayurvedic science (pseudoarchaeology all over again).

I’m just not feeling this arc at all. The closest possible alternative I could see to this is the ancient Indian characters incorporating some specific stylistic motifs in their mehendi in acknowledgement to this entity, in the same vein of characters incorporating motifs of tribute into their armour or house insignia, but even so, I’m not sure how well that would play out. If you do go ahead with this idea, I cannot affirm that it will not receive backlash.

-Mimi

These articles might help:

Pseudoarchaeology and the Racism Behind Ancient Aliens

A History of Indian Henna (this studies mehendi origins mostly with reference to Mughal history)

Solah Shringar

2) Not Yes, But If Ignoring the Above:

I will be the dissenting voice of “Not No, But Here Are The Big Caveats.” Given that there is no way to make the story you want to tell palatable to certain interpretations of Islam and Christianity, here is my advice if the above arguments did not sufficiently deter you.

1. Admiration ≠ Research: It is not enough to just admire cultures for their richness and beauty. You need to actually do the research and learn about them to determine if the story you want to tell is a good fit for the values and principles these cultures prioritize. You need to understand the significance of historical figures and events to understand the issues with attributing the genesis of certain cultural accomplishments to an otherworldly influence. 1.

2. Give Less Offense When Possible and Think Empathetically: You should try to imagine the mindsets of those you will offend and think about to what degree you can soften or ameliorate certain aspects of your plot, the creature’s characteristics, and the creature’s interactions with historical figures to make your narrative more compatible. There is no point pretending that much of areligious science fiction is incompatible with monotheist, particularly non-henotheistic, religious interpretations as well as the cultural items and rituals derived from those religious interpretations. One can’t take “There is no god, just a lonely alien” and make that compatible with “There is god, and only in this particular circumstance.” Thus:

As stated above by Asmaa and Mimi, there is no escaping the reality the story you propose is offensive to some. Expect their outcry to be directed towards you. Can you tolerate that?

Think about how you would feel if someone made a story where key components of your interpretation of reality are singled out as false. How does this make you feel? Are you comfortable doing that to others?

3. Is Pseudoarchaeology Appropriate Here?: Mimi makes a good point about the racial biases of pseudoarchaeology. Pseudoarchaeology is a particular weakness of Western-centric atheist sci-fi. Your proposed story is the equivalent of a vaguely non-descript Maya/Aztec/Egyptian pyramid or Hindu/ Buddhist-esque statue being the source for a Resident Evil bio weapon/ Predator nest/ Assassin’s Creed Isu relic.

Is this how you wish to draw attention to these cultures you admire? While there is no denying their ubiquity in pop-culture, such plots trivialize broad swathes of non-white history and diminish the accomplishments of associated ethnic groups. The series listed above all lean heavily into these tropes either because the authors couldn’t bother to figure out something more creative or because they are intentionally telling a story the audience isn’t supposed to take seriously.*

More importantly, I detect a lot of sincerity in your ask, so I imagine such trivialization runs counter to your expressed desire to depict Eastern cultures in a positive and accurate manner.

4. Freedom to Write ≠ Freedom from Consequence: Once again, as a reminder, it’s not our job to reassure you as to whether or not what you are proposing is ok. Asmaa and Mimi have put a lot of effort into explaining who you will offend and why. We are here to provide context, but the person who bears the ultimate responsibility for how you choose to shape this narrative, particularly if you share this story with a wide audience, is you. Speaking as one writer to another, I personally do not have a strong opinion one way or the other, but I think it is important to be face reality head-on.

- Marika.

* This is likely why the AC series always includes that disclaimer stating the games are a product of a multicultural, inter-religious team and why they undermine Western cultures and Western religious interpretations as often (if not moreso) than those for their non-Western counterparts.

Note: Most WWC asks see ~ 5 hours of work from moderators before they go live. Even then, this ask took an unusually long amount of time in terms of research, emotional labor and discussion. If you found this ask (and others) useful, please consider tipping the moderators (link here), Asmaa (coming eventually) and Mimi (here). I also like money - Marika.

#alien character #historical fiction #science fiction #pseudoarchaeology #Middle-Eastern cultures #South-Asian cultures #Islam #writing with Islam #mehendi #cultural appropriation #areligious perspectives in writing #asks #WWC

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fictiophillia · 3 years ago

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OBEY ME BROTHERS + DIAVOLO AND BARBATOS REACTING TO YOU AS :

GENDER NEUTRAL! MC / GENDER NOT SPECIFIED

aside from the tits thing but- man titties is a thing and there's nb people with boobs as myself so-

ALSO FORGIVE FOR MAMMON'S ACCENT I TRIED I'M NOT EVEN A NATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER BAJAKEHSKEHSKDH

I was going to do Simeon, Luke and Solomon too but I don't think they would fit this so- I mean they would just be proud and then disappointed and Solomon wouldn't even care.

Scenario

"Could you give me a minute of silence now please? I'm going to pray."

*mc gets on their knees, and brings their hands together*

"what a great day to not be pregnant

thank you god

our father who art in heaven hallow thee by name

my tits are big, and I am hot

amen"

Lucifer

"sure."

As soon as he realized what you just had said he was so confused.

"you're going to what now?"

but as soon as you got on your knees and started saying it he didn't know if he actually sighed because he was somehow relived of what was your "pray" (didn't want to be betrayed lmao poor demon really thought you had switched sides) or because he had one more idiot to deal with (besides mammon).

"Y/N I don't have time for this you know."

Mammon

Probably didn't even heard you at first, was too busy flirting with his credit card.

But then you got on your knees.

"Oi, human! What yer doin'!?"

"what do you mean I said I was going to pray."

Mammon.exe stopped working

As confused as Lucifer

Then you started talking and he actually laughed.

"Ya surely are hot."

Leviathan

Leviathan.exe stopped working

"Pray???!!! Have you gone nuts????! That's so not poggers!"

Then you said it.

He was relieved but confused????

"Ew, what's up with that normie stuff, say something understandable at least!"

Probably the one that will complain the most.

Like- he's all of a gamer and an internet person but his humor is still the same as millennials.

Satan

"Alright just try not to be loud."

Another one that wasn't paying attention.

But even distracted by his book the word "pray" had him looking up at you, getting on your knees.

"Wait care to repeat it??!"

"I'm going to pray, Satan."

"Uhm, no I don't think you will, Y/N"

You did it nonetheless.

And even though he tried hiding it with the same coldness as Lucifer you could actually see a faint smile on his face.

Asmodeus

Always pays attention to you and what you say do when you told him you were going to pray that actually caught him out of guard.

"Oh darling you mean pray in like hunting??!!"

"No, asmo, I mean pray as in praying."

Found it suspicious of you but didn't complain and actually let you.

Probably the one that wouldn't judge if you were Christian/Religious asides from Mammon and Beel.

"Also am I relieved of none of us being pregnant! Have you seen babies? They're so gross! Always drooling everywhere!"

".... I just told you I was gonna pray and that's all you have to say? SERIOUSLY??"

Beelzebub

"Warn me if I am too loud."

Would say that before realizing what you said but even when he did he didn't take it back or question you.

Like I said before, he, Asmo and Mammon wouldn't judge your religious choices (although they would prefer if you didn't pray to God).

"You do have a nice body :))"

Wanted to question why you didn't want to have children but decided to stay silent.

Belphegor

"If you wake me up by being too loud I'm gonna beat your ass."

He never woke up so fast.

"WAIT YOU ARE GONNA- I DON'T THINK I'VE HEARD THAT RIGHT."

Like Satan he'll pull out a "no you won't."

But you're a bad bitch so you do it anyways.

".... I can't believe you woke me up for this."

Will blame you for ruining his sleep.

Diavolo

"I don't think that's suitable for this place, are you sure about what you're about to do?"

You just tell him to listen and give him a reassuring smile.

Also laughed when you were done.

And unlike Beel he actually questioned why you didn't to have children.

"May I ask why you wouldn't like to have a child?"

I bet he would actually like to have one so if you really don't want one.... You got yourself a problem there.

Barbatos

"My apologies can you repeat?"

Was like a calmer version of Satan.

"Could I ask why that suddenly? I didn't know you were a religious person, as you never showed any interest on that part."

You ignored the question knowing it would be answered soon.

"oh... well that was in fact an amusing... pray... :)"

Was nervous at first but it's pretty chill about it, understands the GenZ humor easier than Leviathan surprisingly.

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blackswaneuroparedux · 4 years ago

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Anonymous asked: As a beginner in Classics I love your Classicist themed posts. I find your caption perfect posts a lot to think upon. I suppose it’s been more than a few years since you read Classics at Cambridge but my question is do you still bother to read any Classic texts and if so what are you currently reading?

I don’t know whether to be flattered or get depressed by your (sincere) remarks. Thank you so much for reminding me how old I must come across as my youngish Millennial bones are already starting to creak from all my sins of past sport injuries and physical exertions. I’m reminded of what J.R.R Tolkien wrote, “I feel thin, sort of stretched, like butter scraped over too much bread.” I know the feeling (sigh).

But pay heed, dear follower, to what Menander said of old age, Τίμα το γήρας, ου γαρ έρχεται μόνον (respect old age, for it does not come alone). Presumably he means we all carry baggage. One hopes that will be wisdom which is often in the form of experience, suffering, and regret. So I’m not ready to trade in my high heels and hiking boots for a walking stick and granny glasses just yet.

To answer your question, yes, I still to read Classical literature and poetry in their original text alongside trustworthy translations. Every day in fact.

I learned Latin when I was around 8 or 9 years old and Greek came later - my father and grandfather are Classicists - and so it would be hard to shake it off even if I tried.

So why ‘bother’ to read Classics? There are several reasons. First, the Classics are the Swiss Army knife to unpick my understanding other European languages that I grew up with learning. Second, it increases my cultural literacy out of which you can form informed aesthetic judgements about any art form from art, music, and literature. Third, Classical history is our shared history which is so important to fathom one’s roots and traditions. Fourth, spending time with the Classics - poetry, myth, literature, history - inspires moral insight and virtue. Fifth, grappling with classical literature informs the mind by developing intellectual discipline, reason, and logic.

And finally, and perhaps one I find especially important, is that engaging with Classical literature, poetry, or history, is incredibly humbling; for the classical world first codified the great virtues of prudence, temperance, justice, loyalty, sacrifice, and courage. These are qualities that we all painfully fall short of in our every day lives and yet we still aspire to such heights.

I’m quite eclectic in my reading. I don’t really have a method other than what my mood happens to be. I have my trusty battered note book and pen and I sit my arse down to translate passages wherever I can carve out a place to think. It’s my answer to staving off premature dementia when I really get old because quite frankly I’m useless at Soduku. We spend so much time staring at screens and passively texting that we don’t allow ourselves to slow down and think that physically writing gives you that luxury of slow motion time and space. In writing things out you are taking the time to reflect on thoughts behind the written word.

I do make a point of reading Homer’s The Odyssey every year because it’s just one of my favourite stories of all time. Herodotus and Thucydides were authors I used to read almost every day when I was in the military and especially when I went out to war in Afghanistan. Not so much these days. Of the Greek poets, I still read Euripides for weighty stuff and Aristophanes for toilet humour. Aeschylus, Archilochus and Alcman, Sappho, Hesiod, and Mimnermus, Anacreon, Simonides, and others I read sporadically.

I read more Latin than Greek if I am honest. From Seneca, Caesar, Cicero, Sallust, Tacitus, Livy, Apuleius, Virgil, Ovid, the younger Pliny to Augustine (yes, that Saint Augustine of Hippo). Again, there is no method. I pull out a copy from my book shelves and put it in my tote bag when I know I’m going on a plane trip for work reasons.

At the moment I am spending time with Horace. More precisely, his famous odes.

Of all the Greek and Latin poets, I feel spiritually comfortable with Horace. He praises a simple life of moderation in a much gentler tone than other Roman writers. Although Horace’s odes were written in imitation of Greek writers like Sappho, I like his take on friendship, love, alcohol, Roman politics and poetry itself. With the arguable exception of Virgil, there is no more celebrated Roman poet than Horace. His Odes set a fashion among English speakers that come to bear on poets to this day. His Ars Poetica, a rumination on the art of poetry in the form of a letter, is one of the seminal works of literary criticism. Ben Jonson, Pope, Auden, and Frost are but a few of the major poets of the English language who owe a debt to the Roman.

We owe to Horace the phrases, “carpe diem” or “seize the day” and the “golden mean” for his beloved moderation. Victorian poet Alfred Lord Tennyson, of Ancient Mariner fame, praised the odes in verse and Wilfred Owen’s great World War I poem, Dulce et Decorum est, is a response to Horace’s oft-quoted belief that it is “sweet and fitting” to die for one’s country.

Unlike many poets, Horace lived a full life. And not always a happy one. Horace was born in Venusia, a small town in southern Italy, to a formerly enslaved mother. He was fortunate to have been the recipient of intense parental direction. His father spent a comparable fortune on his education, sending him to Rome to study. He later studied in Athens amidst the Stoics and Epicurean philosophers, immersing himself in Greek poetry. While led a life of scholarly idyll in Athens, a revolution came to Rome. Julius Caesar was murdered, and Horace fatefully lined up behind Brutus in the conflicts that would ensue. His learning enabled him to become a commander during the Battle of Philippi, but Horace saw his forces routed by those of Octavian and Mark Antony, another stop on the former’s road to becoming Emperor Augustus.

When he returned to Italy, Horace found that his family’s estate had been expropriated by Rome, and Horace was, according to his writings, left destitute. In 39 B.C., after Augustus granted amnesty, Horace became a secretary in the Roman treasury by buying the position of questor's scribe. In 38, Horace met and became the client of the artists' patron Maecenas, a close lieutenant to Augustus, who provided Horace with a villa in the Sabine Hills. From there he began to write his satires. Horace became the major lyric Latin poet of the era of the Augustus age. He is famed for his Odes as well as his caustic satires, and his book on writing, the Ars Poetica. His life and career were owed to Augustus, who was close to his patron, Maecenas. From this lofty, if tenuous, position, Horace became the voice of the new Roman Empire. When Horace died at age 59, he left his estate to Augustus and was buried near the tomb of his patron Maecenas.

Horace’s simple diction and exquisite arrangement give the odes an inevitable quality; the expression makes familiar thoughts new. While the language of the odes may be simple, their structure is complex. The odes can be seen as rhetorical arguments with a kind of logic that leads the reader to sometimes unexpected places. His odes speak of a love of the countryside that dedicates a farmer to his ancestral lands; exposes the ambition that drives one man to Olympic glory, another to political acclaim, and a third to wealth; the greed that compels the merchant to brave dangerous seas again and again rather than live modestly but safely; and even the tensions between the sexes that are at the root of the odes about relationships with women.

What I like then about Horace is his sense of moderation and he shows the gap between what we think we want and what we actually need. Horace has a preference for the small and simple over the grandiose. He’s all for independence and self-reliance.

If there is one thing I would nit pick Horace upon is his flippancy to the value of the religious and spiritual. The gods are often on his lips, but, in defiance of much contemporary feeling, he absolutely denied an afterlife - which as a Christian I would disagree with. So inevitably “gather ye rosebuds while ye may” is an ever recurrent theme, though Horace insists on a Golden Mean of moderation - deploring excess and always refusing, deprecating, dissuading.

All in all he champions the quiet life, a prayer I think many men and women pray to the gods to grant them when they are caught in the open Aegean, and a dark cloud has blotted out the moon, and the sailors no longer have the bright stars to guide them. A quiet life is the prayer of Thrace when madness leads to war. A quiet life is the prayer of the Medes when fighting with painted quivers: a commodity, Grosphus, that cannot be bought by jewels or purple or gold? For no riches, no consul’s lictor, can move on the disorders of an unhappy mind and the anxieties that flutter around coffered ceilings.

Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt (they change their sky, not their soul, who rush across the sea.)

Part of Horace’s persona - lack of political ambition, satisfaction with his life, gratitude for his land, and pride in his craft and the recognition it wins him - is an expression of an intricate web of awareness of place. Reading Horace will centre you and get you to focus on what is most important in life. In Horace’s discussion of what people in his society value, and where they place their energy and time, we can find something familiar. Horace brings his reader to the question - what do we value?

Much like many of our own societies, Rome was bustling with trade and commerce, ambition, and an area of vast, diverse civilisation. People there faced similar decisions as we do today, in what we pursue and why. As many of us debate our place and purpose in our world, our poet reassures us all. We have been coursing through Mondays for thousands of years. Horace beckons us: take a brief moment from the day’s busy hours. Stretch a little, close your eyes while facing the warm sun, and hear the birds and the quiet stream. The mind that is happy for the present should refuse to worry about what is further ahead; it should dilute bitter things with a mild smile.

I would encourage anyone to read these treasures in translations. For you though, as a budding Classicist, read the texts in Latin and Greek if you can. Wrestle with the word. The struggle is its own reward. Whether one reads from the original or from a worthy translation, the moral virtue (one hopes) is wisdom and enlightenment.

Pulvis et umbra sumus

(We are but dust and shadow.)

Thanks for your question.

#question #ask #classical #greek #latin #horace #poetry #literature #arts #cambridge #classics #personal #study #habits #reading #books #culture #personal growth

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ungodlydandelion · 3 years ago

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Announcement: HAPPY WRATH!

what is this?

This blog is an exchristian, exvangelical, exbaptist sideblog focused on religious trauma (and more general childhood trauma) from growing up in the aforementioned groups.

@ungodlydandelion is a religious trauma blog and thus the entire blog is dedicated to religious trauma. Respond with that in mind.

whom is it for?

Apostates from any religion, of any age, are supported here in all cases except for bigotry. The Achene does not consider anti-theism innately bigotry: anti-theists are welcome. Bioessentialism and traditionalism are bigoted in nature and thusly unwelcome.

A general block rule is in effect for any christians, TERFs, radfems, exclusionists, and standard DNI bigots.

All things are open to reblogging except those tagged #not to be reblogged. Please keep in mind this is a trauma space and will be discussing personal & deeply rooted pains. When the Achene says "I", "me", "my", and "in a therapy session" perhaps they are not discussing the issues of the entire world, but rather of their abusive childhood.

I am not here to convince anyone of anything in particular. I'm here because I was hurt and I must process. If you learn something, great. If you need something from this, take it. If it does not serve you, leave it. Above all if you cannot stand me; block me.

Anonymous questions are not welcome and never will be. The Achene may answer privately upon polite request.

I will be adding image, gif, and video descriptions to as many posts as possible. Posts that have not yet been described will be tagged #undescribed

who is responsible?

The Achene is firmly an adult with a job and family and student loan debt and everything.

As such, @ungodlydandelion is run very slowly. asks will be answered. in time.

The Achene is queer and inclusionarily queer affirming. If you dislike this, leave my posts alone. They are not for you.

Queer and gender / sexuality minority related posts will be tagged #queer. Acceptable pronouns include any non-gendered pronoun, should one need to be referred to.

content filtering

one uses the following tags for filtering:

things which may induce psychotic episodes or dissociation will be tagged #unreality - please inform the achene if a post needs to be tagged as such and is not

things which may include flashing lights or strobe effects will be tagged #flashing lights and #epilepsy warning

NSFW is tagged #nsfw #lust and #not for minors

blood is tagged #blood tw

food will be tagged #gluttony

purity culture and sex negativity discussion will be tagged #purity culture

cult discussion will be tagged #cult mention and / or #cult tw

discussions of trauma recovery will be tagged #recovery

posts about leaving will be tagged #free goat

the achene’s art will be tagged #my art or #ma

others’ art will be tagged #not my art or #nma

others’ descriptions will be tagged #not my description or #nmd

text pieces will be tagged #text, quotes tagged #quote, videos tagged #video, etc

long posts will be tagged #long post

The Achene may add more tags to note as time progresses.

#not to be reblogged #blog description

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atwas-meme-ing · 2 years ago

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30-something Christian gamer girl. Also something of a gaming theorist. May also blog about theories related to other media, as well (books, movies, TV). Eclectic tastes, I never know what I will or won’t like until I get into it.

I'm on Twitch! Stream schedule: M-Th, starts at 7p, usually runs 2-4 hours. Yeah, I know, lousy schedule, but it's what fits my life.

IMPORTANT! I will be streaming Tears of the Kingdom on Twitch beginning May 12 (unless something goes wrong). I will be posting the videos on my Tumblr. In case I forget to mark something as "spoiler" or "major spoiler"- because I forgot on a few Sonic Frontiers posts- just assume that any TOTK posts I make after May 12 will be spoilery.

Favorite genres: plaftormers, RPG’s, adventure, puzzle, “casual,” and I’m still not sure what defines a Metroidvania, but apparently I like some of those, too. And anything with a storyline that appeals to me. Not too big on most shooters. I don’t have anything against them, I just suck at shooters. Solo player, mostly- my brain works like the brain of a cat, i.e., I like to repeat things until I memorize the patterns so I can “git gud,” or at least get better. As a result, I don’t do so well when playing against the unexpected randomness of human nature. Again, nothing against it, I just suck at it.

Favorite games/franchises: Undertale, Sonic, Zelda (in that order)

Also Celeste, Stardew Valley, Ori, American McGee's Alice, Dark Souls, Witcher, Hollow Knight, Metroid Dread, and a bunch of others. I’m bad at them, but I love them, anyway.

I have four other blogs:

the-unrelated-theorist, which is nothing but Undertale/Deltarune theories. If you're into that, plz check it out.

sans-joke-book is for puns and bad jokes.

atwas-creations, which is where I will upload my fanart, fanfics, and fan games (when I finally get around to making them probably 50 years from now, but I'm working on it, anyway).

just-bible-musings, which is where I will post some of my deep thoughts about the Bible.

#mod post

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poplinn · 4 years ago

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@divine-buni ha risposto al tuo post: “ hello! I myself am not Jewish, and I was wondering why Jewish Medic is anti-Semitic? I'm genuinely asking, if it's possible that you could elaborate a bit more, please?”

Yes, I’d love to elaborate for you [and other people who’ve seen the post and aren’t quite sure what I meant]. Considering this post is going to be quite a long one I’ve put everything under a read more, but here’s a quick TL;DR

TL;DR:

Medic’s actions in Comic 6 contradict Jewish beliefs, therefore I find it disrespectful to our religion to HC him as Jewish.

Most people who HC Medic as Jewish are goyim, and portray him/Jewish beliefs/Judaism very incorrectly but don’t seem to listen to Jewish people who try to correct them.

All art i’ve seen of Jewish Medic so far feed into Antisemetic Stereotypes which is disgusting.

Jewish Medic only came into existence to counter the Nazi HC

People just don’t their research even though it’s not that hard.

Full explanation under the read more:

So before i start explaining why I think the Jewish Medic and its portrayals are anti-semetic I want to give a little background information. I myself am Jewish, I have been my entire life, and I’m a practicing conservative Jew. I go to the Synagogue and I have read the Tanakh [The Hebrew Bible]. Now I understand that the text may differ in some translations/interpretations of the original text. I also understand that some things are left a bit ambigious at times, meaning different people can have different interpretations of the same text. What I’m about to write after this is all part of my personal interpretations/findings of the Tanakh and what I’ve been taught. I, obviously, don’t speak for all jewish people out there, this is strictly personal.

Now, what I’ve always learned from reading the Tanakh is that the belief in demons and Satan [sometimes even angels] is often, if not all the time, rejected. There are no mentions of demons in the Tanakh, and Satan is not a demon. Think of it that Satan is more of a metaphor, and doesn’t exist in physical form. He’s more of an advocate or metaphor for having different opinions.

In Kabbalah Satan represents a sinful impulse a person might have[we’ve all been there], or a “force” that prevents us humans from submitting to divine will. The Devil doesn’t exists, he’s merely a metaphor for the bad stuff we have inside us, our sins/sinful thoughts. But physically? He’s not there.

It is also generally believed that Hell is...not a thing. It’s really more of a Christian thing to make people fear G-d. But what happens if we commit sins? Well, what I’ve been taught in my 20+ years of living is that when we die, we either go to heaven or go to purgatory. In purgatory you work off your sins for a set amount of time. This time differs per person depending on what sins you’ve committed and if you show remorse. But Hell itself does not exist at all.

Why does this all matter? When Medic dies he goes to Hell and meets the Devil.

The fact that this happens contradicts Jewish beliefs. I think that if you headcanon Medic as Jewish without taking this huge contradiction into consideration is very disrespectful of out belief. And mind you, all people I’ve seen HC Medic as Jewish are goyim. Medic meeting the Devil himself isn’t inherently antisemitic or disrespectful, considering Medic is not canonically Jewish, but headcanoning as Jewish is.

Then there are the portrayals of Jewish Medic in art. Now we all know what Medic looks like:

He’s a white man, with short black hair and a little flock of hair that rests on his forehead. All the art I’ve seen of Jewish Medic so far, and I mean ALL, feed into Jewish stereotypes. Curly black hair, really dark skin and a huge nose. I’m sorry but, since when is this okay?? [ I shouldn’t be one to speak on this considering I have black curly hair, tanned skin and bigger nose /joke ]. Not every Jewish person looks like this. If Medic were indeed canonically Jewish the way he looks is just...fine. A character doesn’t need to have black curly hair, darker skin and a huge hooked nose in order to be Jewish. It just baffles me that in the year of 2021 people still think doing this is okay.

And to add to it, like every other religion, in Judaism we also wear specific kind of clothing. The cloth and colour of our Yarmulkes all mean something, and to see this being portrayed incorrectly, by goy people nonetheless, it just bothers me a lot. It gets even worse that, when me and other Jewish people try to reach out to these artists and try to tell them nicely that they’re portraying our religion incorrectly that we 1. dont get listened to, 2. get blocked, 3. get dismissed.

To directly quote a message from a certain person I messaged about their Jewish Medic portrayal being incorrect: “I don't know how much I can say of Jewish issues considering I've never been connected to that part of my ancestry religiously or culturally.” Right after I explained everything to them, it’s incredibly dismissive in my eyes. You don’t need to be Jewish in order to understand Judaism or Jewish beliefs.

I feel like I’m kind of starting to ramble, so apologies if it’s a little less coherent, but....I also think the origins of the Jewish Medic are a bit...icky/weird/uncomfortable. I’m not sure what the right word is [apologies, English isn’t my first language].

Back in the day the Nazi Medic Headcanon was a thing, which is obviously problematic on its own. Some people, in response to that, wanted to counter this Nazi HC by making Medic Jewish. Because it was “fun and quirky.” Which is ridiculous. Our religion is not just something “fun and quirky” for gentiles to randomly use as a headcanon. I personally feel like gentiles take our religion serious because of that. Jewish people are not the direct opposites of Nazis. The world really isn’t that black and white / Bad vs Good. You don’t need to be Jewish in order to counter Nazis or be anti-fascism. If someone isn’t Jewish, it doesn’t make them a Nazi.

I don’t mind if a person wants to HC a character as something they aren’t, but please please please do some proper reasearc or reach out to people before you do, so you can also do it correctly. For example: I have an OC who is intersex. I myself am not intersex. I did research, I went to forums and I asked around to make sure what I was doing was right. It’s not that hard.

I may have missed a few things here and there but I hope it answers your question and happy Passover

#team fortress 2 #tf2 #team fortress two #medic #tf2 medic #medic tf2 #jewish medic #tf2 jewish medic #antisemitism #anti-semitism

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