#my ego is either HUGE or nonexistent

[chunkecheeks]

i vacillate wildly between thinking my art is the most perfect thing in the universe and thinking my art is so bad i should be arrested for crimes against humanity and i don't think that's healthy but whatever i'm trying to get a degree rn i can't be worrying about whatever mental illness is happening

[ko-existing]

Ik you probably don't wanna talk about Sophie ( I think it was her name)-adas disciple idk what actually happened between y'all but teaching wise I think she was more un-liminiting than ada cause I've read her posts she did claim that ego was just a bunch of thoughts and it was just the name given to your seemingly personality whereas ada showed it as a different entity which we need to take control over

My reply is a bit long because I’m addressing multiple things here—mainly an analysis of what went wrong. I see where you're coming from, but I have to disagree (kind of).

I came after she left but if we compare their posts, conditions and phrasing alone, Ada’s content was closer to Actuality than Disciple’s—if she hadn’t tried to simplify it so much that it became unintentionally limiting. Ada’s biggest challenge was that most of her audience came from the already heavily limited Tumblr-LOA side and struggled with the terminology of Advaita Vedanta.. to this day. Many of us (other bloggers and previous admins) had the same issue—we had to rephrase things so much to make them accessible that, in the process, we ended up making the explanations overly restrictive. It wasn’t intentional, but it happened naturally. Once we realized this, we either deleted those posts, kept them in drafts, or reworded them in their original, unfiltered form. People did not understand what the core message is because of how much it actually debunks their current concepts of beliefs so that's why they struggled to comprehend it, which is natural but still unfortunate.

A prime example of this attempt to make it more understandable going horribly wrong is the Laura (Lara?) and Vanessa disaster, which still follows us in our inbox. It was peak limitation within AV/No Concept and should never have happened. That’s a huge reason why you've likely seen us and others emphasize the difference between Tumblr ND and Actual AV. I understand *why* it happened but it shouldn't have.

I always said unlike Disciple, Ada actually understood AV/ND, but if she had been on Instagram or YouTube instead of Tumblr, her content probably wouldn’t have become so limited in the first place. The environment played a massive role in distorting it.

People on tumblr are used to being fed content after content, asking one question after another, detailed explanation after detailed explanation and as soon as someone doesn't do that—the longer we were here, the more we refused because there's no reason to—readers spiral and bloggers get looked at sideways. As a blogger, Ada most certainly felt some type of pressure to help as much as possible which lead to overexplanation and overcomplication.

The Ability to think independently And investigate something was just borderline nonexistent on Tumblr. And as someone who comes from a different background privately and content-wise, the longer I spent time on Tumblr I understood why people were confused why it took me (or us) just a few videos that were less than 10 minutes and just going within and that is it. When I was very new and had no idea how this side is like I didn't understand why people could not understand that it doesn't take 50 posts a day or years of scrolling but after a while I got it and went "oh.. no wonder".

I firmly believe that Tumblr is not the best way to learn anything, it's an ok-medium to use to get a few selective good posts but it's very very very difficult if you are attached to a million and one concepts from a hundred accounts. There have been a lot of accounts who just pop up out of nowhere, say something that is wrong and become inactive. from people not understanding the difference between law of assumption & non-duality to people mixing them, parasocial relationships, unhealthy obsessions, ND-blogs sending themselves and others asks, charging $100-500, using chatGPT to prove their false beliefs about AV, physical 3D or tangible human experience to us which.. is a crazy sentence to type.

Overall, it's a very interesting topic (tumblr as a whole), it's a bit tragic because it could've been so easy and direct.

[duskamethyst]

deception.

a/n: if you ask me why i did this, the answer is i don’t know.

word count: 4.6k

genre: smut, nsfw, angst, quirkless AU

warnings: daddy kink, degradation, edging, age gap, implied cheating, reader is a little delusional

pairing: sugardaddy!bakugou x f!reader

summary: where you fall in love with your own sugar daddy and you finally confess to him.

pretending to be in love with old men for a couple of hours can be exhausting and it might seem like a nonideal way to get money, but desperate times call for desperate measures. you’ve met plenty of these people, who have too much money they could spend. some are just lonely; in need of company from a young, pretty girl and some just want to have fun despite having their wives and kids at home. they come and go, and you couldn’t care less about what happens to them after your encounter, as long as you get your money’s worth. 

but never have you ever thought that you’d be so attached to one. maybe entertaining sugar daddies isn’t that tiring when they’re really attractive (it’s natural to like good looking people, can anyone blame you?). he’s truly a sight for sore eyes and you often wonder how he possesses so much stamina in bed. bakugou makes you feel some kind of way, it’s wrong, but with more time you spend with him, you can’t help but to actually fall in love with the guy. he makes you feel antsy and you often find yourself waiting for his texts, either the dirty ones or the ones that expresses his anticipation to see you again soon.

it’s not like he doesn’t do the same thing as the others; buys you things you know you can’t afford, spends his money on fancy dinners and continues to spend the rest of the night with you at random five stars hotels after. the difference is, you actually somewhat enjoy being around him as his spoiled little princess and you find yourself to gladly do anything for him like the time you let him fuck you raw because he wanted to. 

for a man his age, bakugou is well maintained. you love to lay your head down on his huge chest and rake your nails on his broad back, eliciting deep grunts of pleasure from the man in return. he looks appetizing; toned abs and a happy trail that leads to his trimmed pubes and down to his massive cock. if it isn’t for the fine lines on his face and the white streaks on his hair, you wouldn’t think he’d be reaching 50. 

you don’t know if you should even feel jealous of his wife. if you were born years earlier, would he choose you instead? the thought of him being with someone else and vowed to be together for the rest of their lives makes you want to puke. bakugou must’ve realized that it was a mistake too. if he still loves her, why would he have his cock sink inside you? if he really loves her, why are you the one he tells that to instead? 

“daddy loves you. daddy loves fucking your tight cunt. baby, you feel so fuckin’ good– so fuckin’ good for daddy. love you too– fuck.”

you can already picture the image of him on top of you as you replay those same words like a broken record player inside your head; lips part slightly in heavy pants, vermillion irises overfill with lechery as he fucks you senseless.

daddy loves you. he loves you and you're more than certain that you love him. not for his money, not for the stuff he indulges you with but only for himself. 

you want him. you want him to make you all his. you want him to be able to see you freely and not sneaking behind someone else’s back. you want to sit pretty as you wait for him to come back home from work every day, all wet and ready to please him. he loves you, and that’s what he deserves after a stressful day. 

as soon as you get inside the room and kick off your heels, a strong pair of hands grab you by the thighs and easily lift you up. you wrap your legs around his waist in an instant, dropping your bag to the floor unceremoniously before circling your arms around his neck as he draws you in a passionate, hungry kiss. a battle of dominance has always been nonexistent when it comes to bakugou, he naturally holds everything in the palm of his hand and both of you like it that way.

his lips never stray away from yours, not even when he walks towards the bed with you clinging onto his strong physique while his hands squeeze firmly on the flesh of your bum before he breaks away, but only to throw you on the soft mattress. you prop up on your side, looking up at him innocently and pleadingly with doe eyes that you know would never fail to stir up something primal inside him. his gaze drinks in every inch of you; the heave of your chest, the curve of your ass and overall your smaller frame that lies submissively in front of him. 

“look at you. such a fucking doll.” he takes off his slim fit suit, throwing the coat carelessly on the ground before loosening up his tie until it unfolds completely. “you like the dress? it’s shorter than i imagined, can’t help but to notice how the other guys kept on checking you out.”

you nod your head, pressing your thighs together as you notice how his lustful eyes linger a little too long on your ass that’s barely hiding under the hem of your mini dress. “yes, because daddy bought it for me.”

“damn right he did.” he smirks, unfastening about three buttons of his dress shirt. “ass up.”

you hurriedly roll on your stomach, planting your cheek on the mattress and arching your back perfectly as you lift your ass in the air. you feel the bed dipping from your back before a calloused hand caresses your thigh and trails up to your cheeks slowly, appreciating the smooth and youthful skin before he gets to ruin it.

“good. lift your head up.”

it’s never your position to question. carefully, you do as told by lifting yourself up on your hands and knees. you can discern the shifting of his body from behind and by your side as you look ahead and face the curtains before your sight is abruptly seized by darkness.

the silky material biting your lids suggests that he has wrapped his tie around your head, purposely blindfolding you to amplify your other senses as your sight is consumed with pitch black. bakugou pushes your head down with his hand, keeping you on your knees and lets you stay in the position while he takes off his dress shirt.  

“you’re gonna be a good girl for daddy.” he states more than questions, hiking up the hem of your dress to your waist to feed him with an unobstructed view of the damp patch adhering on your flimsy panties. bakugou presses his thumb on the splotch and his eyes flick over to your quivering body. “gonna let daddy use his tongue to fuck you?”

“please, daddy.” you whine, bucking your hips closer to ease the ache with his touch but is greeted with a sharp smack across your skin instead. 

“so impatient,” he tuts, rubbing the red print gently. “you’re just a horny little girl, aren’t you? can’t live without daddy’s dick inside her cunt.”

“just you– only yours.” 

“you know just what to say, don’t you?” his voice husky and rasp, complimenting the conceited smirk on his lips as he spoke. you learn that bakugou is actually a man that is easy to please, only if you know how to stroke his ego and as simple as that, his intimidating persona would be long gone. 

cold air brushes against your wet folds once he strips off your panties. he lifts up both knees to get you out from the garment and crumple it into a ball with his hand before bringing it in front of your face. 

“open.” you obey and open your mouth, allowing him to gag you with the cloth and quickly filling your senses with a mixture of lace and your own scent. “so good for me.”

bakugou moves back to his initial position, smearing his fingers against your puffy folds with your slick. he circles your clit teasingly and slowly, resulting in you to squirm while your hands find purchase on the sheets beneath you. 

“stop squirming around or i’m not gonna eat you.” he warns as his ministrations come to a halt to observe your compliance before he continues. for a man that is impatient himself, it’s quite hard to take his sweet time teasing you. maybe with the fact that you’re so querulous, a surge of power and pride rushes through him and his willpower tells him not to lose his machismo too quickly.

a satisfying grin tugs on the corner of his lips while he watches you struggle to follow his order and his thumb presses tight circles on your swollen clit to draw out sweet, muffled whines. once he notices your legs begin to tense and toes to curl, he pulls away. 

“you can’t cum yet.” he licks up the slick from his fingers clean before settling his head in front of your rear. an anticipative knot swells in your lower stomach as you feel hot plumes of breath prickling against your puffy folds before he spreads them open with his fingers. with how much your senses have spiked up, you can feel your pussy dripping with so much arousal and you know damn well that bakugou can see it too. 

“you’re nothing but a dirty little slut, aren’t you?” he coos, sounding both demeaning and amused as he rubs your lips, sending more waves of sensation on the bundle of nerves. “my dirty little slut.”

bakugou doesn’t expect you to answer but as soon as his warm tongue takes the first lap of your slick, a loud squeal rips from your throat. his large hands rest on your hips as he tilts his head to reach your clit, toying and teasing by using the tip of his tongue while his own plump lips and stubble graze against your slit.

you’re quick to turn into a sobbing mess, unheedful of the saliva trickling from the corner of your mouth when you’re aware that it won’t take too long until you’d eventually break. just as the stimulation is becoming more overbearing, his hands clench on your supple flesh tighter in a silent command that tells you it’s not time to cum yet. 

after he’s satisfied with abusing the bud, he drags down his tongue and pumps inside your quivering hole, causing you to jolt in a delighted surprise. from the loud, lewd squelching sounds of your own fluid mixing with his spit, you can only picture the way he looks right now; face buried between your ass cheeks, nose deep in your cunt while his tongue works miraculously around your walls. 

even the image beyond the abyss itself makes you more delirious. 

“c-can’t–” you break into a muffled cry as your hips bucks into his mouth without conscious control. another harsh slap is what you receive, but you can’t seem to care when a thick fog of desire is already clouding your brain; making the pain and pleasure to become one divine fusion. 

bakugou’s blows don't stop with how much you’re grinding so earnestly on his face. your skin burns from the cruel attention, yet your cunt just keeps on seeping with slick that trickles down to his chin and drips down on the sheets beneath you. 

“you’re such a fucking pain slut.” he growls, hot breath fanning your greedy cunt and making the pressure even tighter in your stomach. “not yet.” his tongue is anything but languid; swirling hastily as it explores your little hole as far as he can reach. it’s obscene. the way that the muscle glides so smoothly.. the warmth, the moisture– 

next thing you know, your eyes are already rolled to the back of your eyelids as your body tenses while waves of gratification crash down throughout your entire being.

“cumming on daddy’s tongue without permission.” he tsks, giving one last spank before standing up at the edge of the bed as he burns the image of your quivering body into the back of his head, adorned by the red imprint of his hand on your pliant skin. “turn around.” 

without a spare moment to gather yourself, you get up on wobbly legs and arms, carefully turn around like a fawn taking its first baby steps and rebuild your senses at the same time to estimate where he currently stands until he tells you to stop. 

your eyes squint as they adjust to the subdued room, finally able to see faint light again after bakugou takes off the tie around your head. you look up to the older man, only to be pierced by a pair of carmine orbs and a disgruntled look on his face.

“you know what you did wrong.” a thin string of drool latches onto the panties when he pulls it out from your mouth to observe the drenched fabric between his thumb and pointer finger. “looks like you had a great time.” you can see how it’s embarrassingly soaked, but not as embarrassing as the amount of slick glistening around his lips and chin that he doesn’t even bother to wipe off.

“’m sorry, daddy.” you whisper hoarsely through dry throat while giving him your most remorseful look. it would’ve deceived him if he didn’t know any better, but receiving punishments is something he knows you’d enjoy.

the slight upturn at the corner of his lips etches into a lazy grin as he unfastens his belt and takes off his pants along with his briefs to release his erected cock– now standing proudly in front of your face. 

“what do you have to do now?” he hums, tapping the flushed tip on your lips as if moisturizing the parched skin with his leaking precum. 

“m-make daddy proud.” you shamelessly steal a taste, flattening your tongue out so he can rub it on your palate. 

“can’t fuckin’ understand you– cock hungry slut.” he chuckles with mirth, one hand tucking your hair behind each ear as his gaze softens for a moment. “but that’s why i fuckin’ love you.”

your lashes flutter as you stare up at him, heart blooming like flowers on a fresh start of spring after a harsh, cold winter as the words he uttered loops inside your head. with a content hum, you close your eyes and wrap your lips around his cock, eliciting a hiss from the male once engulfed in the warmth of your mouth. 

“shit, i haven’t even told you to suck me yet.” his own eyes follow suit, throwing his head back as his own hand finds home on top of your head. your eagerness makes it hard for him to stay mad. if he was younger he would’ve been a little irritated if someone tried to take control, but maybe aging really did something and made your whims seem more tolerable for him. but what he loves most is seeing you struggle to fit his fat cock; whether it’s by your mouth or your pussy.

“just like that,” his voice drops an octave, watching most of his length disappear inside your mouth while your tongue runs against his veins. “fuckin’ look at me when you’re suckin’.”

you submissively comply to his command, meeting those sharp eyes you adore beneath the tousled mess of his blond and white hair. 

“you love daddy’s cock?” he doesn’t intend to give you a second to answer before he continues,  “then you wouldn’t mind chokin’ on it, don’t ya?” 

you moan in response just as he expected and he snorts through his nose. “of course you don’t.”

bakugou brings your head closer, shoving down his cock your throat before he starts to snap his hips. a chorus of curses pass his lips, taut muscles relaxing as he drowns in euphoria. drool soon starts to dribble from the corner of your lips and your jaw starts to ache, yet you’re still insistent on accommodating his cock– using your tongue when you could until he’s exploding with a mouthful of oaths.

“such a good girl.” he grunts, holding your head firmly with tension in his fingers as he stares down at you with knitted brows. “feels good havin’ dick in your mouth? hm?”

“hmm–” you moan in concur, the vibration almost drives him mad and it’s evident through the twitch you feel against your hollowed cheeks. with an exasperated groan, he pulls out his cock from your mouth and pumps it in his fist. 

“take it off and lie down. now.” his words thrum through you in a burst of heat. you swiftly discard the dress and rest on your back, spreading your legs in front of him in anticipation before he proceeds to climb on the bed. you shudder when he spits on your cunt before smothering his cock against the slit and down to your entrance to give extra lubrication. 

a deep, inarticulate sound rips from his throat, one that conveys pleasure as he sheathes his cock inside you. he can feel your walls sucking him in so welcomingly and squeezing him so tight that he thought he might cum then and there.

“that’s fuckin’ tight.” he girts out, pushing through the walls until he has bottomed out. with each hand on the sides of your head, his large and shredded build looms on top of you and keeps your smaller frame caged underneath. 

“daddy– s-so big.” you extend your arms to cling around his neck, looking up at him with a lust addled gaze. 

“i know you can handle me, sweetheart.” he smirks conceitedly and starts to roll his hips, dragging every ridge and vein against your walls through each thrust. your toes curl when he goes deeper and your nails dig into his back, leaving crimson trails as they rake.

“l-love you, daddy.” the words slip past your lips so naturally in flawless manifestation of your genuine feelings towards him. 

you observe how his lips stretch into a simper, fiery and lustrous eyes staring back at you before he replies, “love you too, ba– fuck–” 

bakugou feels you clench around him impossibly tighter and he leans down to kiss you, forcing you to swallow down his moans as he ruts inside you harder and faster.

“baby– that’s right. daddy fuckin’ loves you.” his low and resonant voice fills your ears, pleasure pulling taut in your lower stomach as the pressure begins to build up rapidly for your second orgasm. “–and he loves this tight cunt.”

“ah– daddy! p-please make me cum–” you start to babble, too lost in pleasure and your legs find themselves wrapping around bakugou’s waist to keep him closer and deeper.

“don’t you fucking dare cum yet.” he snarls before lifting himself up to keep his hands on the headboard in front of him and instantly blocking your view of the room. not that you mind when you’ve already set your eyes on him the whole time. 

“no matter how many times i’ve fucked you–” he pulls out almost completely before ramming in again, making you squeal.  “you still feel so fucking good.”

your hands reach to cup his face gently, your lips parted and wet, eyes glazed with adoration and an overflowing want for him. “all for you.” 

he chuckles quietly to himself. who knew that he would find himself burying his cock in some dumb college girl? with her heart filled eyes that tell him he’s some kind of a savior or the last man on earth. whether it’s all superficial or not, he thinks you’re pretty damn good at it.

“you sure make it hard for daddy not to love you.” he scoffs. you let out a needy whine when he pulls out and your hole convulses, instantly missing the way his cock stretches you out and makes you feel full. 

but it’s not for long when your vision suddenly keels as he flips you over to lie down on your stomach. bakugou easily hoists up your hips and pushes down your back to force you into a perfect arch before he sinks his throbbing cock inside your sloppy cunt without warning. 

“nghh– daddy–!” you cry as bakugou pounds into you with a menacing pace and hits you at the right places at the same time. 

“yeah? you like it when daddy uses you like the little slut you are?” he grabs a fistful of your hair, jerking your head up. “like you’re nothing but my little cocksleeve?”

“yesyesyes– daddy–! s-so deep– can’t!” your strength begins to drain out and you don’t know how much longer you can hold yourself  before he allows you to cum.

“you can– fuck– you’re clamping down on me.” he growls, one hand on your hips forming crescent shapes on your skin with his fingers.

your jaw has fallen slack, mouth gaping in breathless whimpers as you let bakugou abuse your little cunny while your own hands are balling into fists that your knuckles turn white. the air is filled with the sound of skin slapping against each other, mingling with his heavy pants.

“you’re really– hah– milking this fat cock.” his own rhythm turns sporadic, skin burning red with every second he prolongs his desire.

“please– daddy–” you let out a feeble moan and your legs begin to tremble as a result of the unbearable pressure tightening in your lower stomach. your pussy is already leaking with so much slick and it’s making a filthy mess on the bed. 

“you’re ready to cum for daddy?” he fucks you harder with deep strokes, knocking the breath from your lungs each time he presses into you. 

“pleasepleaseplease–” tears prickle from the corner of your eyes as the coil in your stomach threatens to snap.

“cum.” 

the word left his lips in a pure command and you break down instantly with a loud cry. a huge wash of pleasure winds its way through every nerve and your pussy gushes and clenches around his cock. 

“that’s it. good girl.” a deep growl rumbles in his chest as he observes every twitch of pleasure he has brought into you. 

“th-thank you, daddy.” you mumble, still deeply doused in ecstasy.

bakugou finally releases his harsh grip and your head plops down on the soft pillow while he pulls out and pumps his cock in his own fist, coated with your own arousal before he splurts thick ropes of cum all over your cheeks and watches as it trickles down to your cunt. 

after a brief moment of catching his breath, bakugou reaches for the nearest tissue box and helps to clean off the mess you both made. you let your exhausted body fall onto the mattress and he throws the used tissues away before leaning back on the headboard next to you, still panting and trying to get down from his high. 

“you okay?” he breaks the silence, flicking his gaze towards you and rubs your head gently in hopes to soothe the pain he caused from pulling your hair so roughly. 

you hum, seeking for solace from his touch as he pulls the blanket up to cover your bodies and reaches for his phone on the nightstand with his other hand. you silently observe him as he looks at his phone, probably reading and scrolling through emails or texts like he’d usually do after having you wrecked. 

“love you, daddy.” you suddenly squeak, yet bakugou doesn’t tear his eyes from the screen and it leaves you unsure if he heard you or not. 

“hm.” his response is indifferent and your stomach churns into an unpleasant feeling; one you don’t appreciate at all. 

“daddy.” you swallow past the lump in your throat. “i said i love you.”

bakugou clicks his tongue and your heart shatters slightly at the sound, thinking that you probably just annoyed him, “yeah, i heard you.”

“bakugou.” you suddenly snap and the hand on top of your head stills. you don’t know where the courage to call him by his name comes from, but you want to convey your sobriety over the current situation and for what you’re about to say next. cold shivers run down your spine once his attention diverges towards you and he raises a questioning brow, ushering you to speak. 

“i-i love you–” you gulp, taking a deep breath. “like, i’m in love with you.” 

his stare is impassive and there’s an uncomfortable silence weighing the air between the two of you. your cheeks begin to warm up with humiliation and a part of you dreads with regret. you aren’t sure how long the deafening silence lasted before you see a twitch at the corner of his lips. 

“you gotta be kidding me.” he snickers, shaking his head in disbelief. 

you rise up on your side and your eyes waver with confusion as you look at him. “b-but you said you love me too. you do, r-right?”

he scoffs, mostly galled by the fact that he’s actually having this conversation with you– a dumb college girl, but he doesn’t expect much either. “why the hell would i be in love with you? did i knock your head?”

getting straight to the point is one of bakugou’s nature; his bluntness is like a sharp knife that stabs you in the heart. 

“but you said–”

“why do you think i only said it when i had my cock buried inside your cunt?”

and it twists painfully. 

“forget about it. go to sleep.” he nonchalantly replies and returns back to his phone, brushing off the wounded look that’s written all over your face.

you feel humiliated, angered and disregarded. given that you were always spoiled, you can’t stand having your feelings unreciprocated and rejection is one of the things you aren’t familiar with.

“why? because you have a wife? you don’t even love her–”

you flinch when you hear the loud thud of bakugou slamming his phone down on the bed, but it’s not as fearsome as the malicious glare he’s shooting at you. “don’t you fucking say that. i don’t wanna hear that, especially coming from a dumb whore like you.”

harsh reality gives you a massive slap in the face. 

your heart is hammering against your chest and your vision begins to blur as tears well up in your eyes, threatening to spill out. you feel like you want to scream at him but the words you want to say only get caught in your throat. bakugou notices how you’re about to burst but he only rolls his eyes, expressing his vexation. 

“god,” he sighs exasperatedly and gets off from the bed to pick up his clothes from the floor. “the last thing i need is another fucking nuisance.”

“w-where are you going?” you croak as you watch him put on his clothes. 

bakugou turns to your direction and snarls, “what does it look like? leaving.” 

the pain in your chest becomes harder to bear, fat tears start to roll down your cheeks and when you try to reach for him, he coldly shoves your hand away. you saw how furious he could be through his phone calls but you were never on the receiving end; always the one who calmed him down and let him use you as a way to take out his frustrations on. now you’re nothing different than the rest of the people in his life, or maybe you were just too stupid to realize that you were never any different before too. 

“just leave when it’s time to check out. you’d know at least that much.” he scoffs as he walks to the door and twists the doorknob before turning back to you for what it seems would be the last time. 

“and don’t even think of finding me again.”

duskamethyst © 2020 • do not modify, translate or repost anywhere.

[theoreticslut]

📚 FIC REVIEWS! - @plumso

Hi love! I didn’t want to make the answer to your ask too long so I thought I’d give your fic review its own post! 😂 I’ll tag it in the answer though, so you can easily find it if you don’t see this right of!

First off, I love your titles! They’re short but sweet and I just feel like they fit the fics so well! Secondly, I decided to read two of yours so far (but I’m definitely going back to read the others soon!) Overall impressions - they are both so good! I think you’re a really talented writer and can’t wait to read more of your work 💗

in your eyes - cedric diggory

Ugh!! This was so so SO cute! I’ve never read many cedric fics (mainly because I just don’t come across them ☹ ) but this one was ADORABLE!! I really like the dynamic you had in it with cedric being the “perfect boy” for everyone but himself. I especially love this part -

Cedric would laugh when his father shows nothing but love and pride for his son, but it only added to his fear of disappointing him.

- because I can understand it so well. It’s well-written and just completely sums up the weight of not wanting to disappoint anyone. 

I also really really love how adamant Cedric is in not wanting to be close to her solely due to the fact that the way she makes him feel scares him. I mean, I am a sucker for loving someone but not doing anything about it because your scared, but this was just phenomenal 💗 I didn’t feel like it was overdone or seemed to be forced any, it was just really natural which I love to see in a fic.

But his fears become nonexistent once he’s locked in her eyes. He felt bare under her gaze as if she saw his anxieties, his fears, his pride, his ego, his guilt – his soul. 

This part!! I absolutely adore how you wrote this part! It honestly sounds like it should be out of some novel. It is just so well-written and conveys so much emotion. It completely gets across the feeling of love/admiration without saying either word. It’s just amazing! 

Y/N places her hand on his and gently squeezes it before giving him a warm smile. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say it all now.” She says as she rubs the back of his hand with her thumb. “I get it.”

This made me smile and my heart swell in happiness. It’s such a simple gesture, but it’s so sweet. I think this entire scene of him trying to explain his feelings but stuttering and getting anxious is perfectly written. It’s natural and it actually seems like you know what your talking about with it. Sometimes I feel like stuttering can be overdone, but yours didn’t seem that way. I think you did a really great job at portraying the anxiousness and making it seem realistic.

 And then having y/n just reassure him that it’s okay? Ugh, it’s the cherry on top. I like that you give her some closure in cedric’s words that its not her doing for why he’s avoided her for so long. I do wish she got a little bit more closure/explanation, but with the way you wrote cedric getting all nervous and not knowing how to explain it, I think gives it a nice balance. It’s like she gets the explanation she needs, and she’s okay with that. I like that she doesn’t push cedric for the complete explanation. Instead she’s respectful of what he’s comfortable with while still letting him know she would like more explanation in the future, but letting him tell her on his own time.

Overall I just think this fic is really cute and really well-written! Definitely a cute, fluffy, feel-good story! Again, I also really like that it’s cedric because I don’t read many of his fics. That and I feel like it just fits him so well with being a star-student and all-around good person. 💗

once in a lifetime - george weasley

Alright, I had to read your george fic when I saw you had a george fic because I love him. It’s nearly impossible for me to skip any involving him.

With that said, I think this is AMAZING!! I know it’s only part one, so i’m not going to judge it on not having all the answers I want yet. What you do have is really good though!!

I love the dynamic of them being friends and both liking each other, but george not pushing it becuase he knows y/n is afraid. I just love the respect and how he’s okay with keeping it this way as long as he still has her.

I also LOVE the mention of the father figure with Moody. I think that was such a nice touch!! A lot of times when I see a fic regarding the war, and especially this section when everyone is trying to get Harry to the burrow, it feels like the deaths of minor characters (like Moody) are brushed over. So I really like that you put in the little background of how he was a mentor and a father-figure for y/n and therefore thats why it upsets her so much. I like that she has grief other than her best friend losing his ear.

His intuition had been right all along: she really was hurting. Though Y/N skillfully hid her sorrows from everyone’s discerning eyes, it could not fool George.

This part? So good 💗 I love that george just knew that y/n was hurting and basically woke up from sleep because of it. Again, I am a HUGE sucker for love, but this is just ugh *chefs kiss* 

I also really love how you wrote how she is really good at hiding her emotions, but that george always knows. The word choices and structure of the sentence is amazing. It gets across that even though everyone else is good at reading each other, george is the only one who can really read y/n. Just so cute!! 

Incredibly insightful to emotions, George and Y/N were usually the ones who did all the comforting for their friends and family. However, when the two found each other, they finally found comfort and open arms in each other.

You made my heart ache ☹😭💗💗💗 

I wish I had someone like that. I can only imagine the comfort and sense of security one must feel in a situation like that. Its so amazing how you wrote this!

  But he knew she was afraid, and if he or anyone were to push or force these feelings onto her, their friendship would ruin.

Again, I love how you wrote this. You did such a great job at conveying the fear of not wanting to ruin things without making it completely obvious. 

Fred snorted. “No need to be so proper and stiff, children.”

The two looked at Fred then back at each other before falling into a fit of laughter.

This flashback of y/n and george meeting was gold. I think that’s probably one of the best introductions I’ve ever seen! I love that y/n completely kicks Fred’s ass and how george is just so enamored with it, and her! I like how he just kinda zones out until she starts moving towards Fred to help him. And of course I love how Fred is the jokester as always and has a plethora of smart comments for the both of them.

Fred laughed loudly, causing George to glare at him while Y/N looked everywhere but their discerning eyes.

Again, I know this is only part one, but I can’t wait to see where it goes!! I love how you’ve written them being in love, but not admitting it so everything is still a bit tense and awkward when they’re caught in intimate moments. 

Overall, it’s just so cute!! This part was really fluffy, but I worry later parts might be really angsty and just hurt. Either way, this is really good and I can’t wait to read more!! Like I said before, you’re a really talented writer 💗 

✨End of the Year Party✨

[ubernoxa]

The Sip: A modern GNR FanFic

Chapter 1: A Boring Party

Our limo stopped and the two of us immediately made eye contact. At least we were here, one step closer to getting this night over with. Out of the two of us neither had wanted to be her here. Mark wanted to be at home with his actual girlfriend, and I would much rather be home watching Netflix.

Mark opened the door for me and helped me out of the limo, another part of our little show we were putting on for the press or whoever the hall was watching.

As we walked in, I immediately made eye contact with a face I had seen countless times in the tabloids and magazines, Duff McKagan. He stood no more than 100 feet from me smiling and laughing with his band mates as some people took photos of them. It was clear they were having a good time. I felt butterflies grow in my stomach the longer we kept eye contact. Jesus he was hot.

“Earth to Alanah,” Mark jerked me forward as we posed for a quick set of photos before going inside. If there weren’t people around us I would have made a comment about how surprised I was that he could fit through the doorway with such a big ego, but I didn’t want to start something. I was in no mood to deal with the backlash from my publicist who recommended that I ‘play nice’ tonight. Jesus Christ, my eyes hurt from how hard I rolled them when I read her text.

I felt like I was having the same conversation over and over again. It was like we were all rehearsing for a play. Don’t get me wrong, people were being very nice. It was just...repetitive.

Ohh I love your dress.

Are you working on any new projects?

How are you two doing?

Wow you’ve been dating for nine months?

Congratulations!

Are there wedding bells in your future?

“Excuse me, I am a bit thirsty. I need to get something to drink,” I smiled as a exited the conversation with one of Mark’s friends. He either played football or soccer, I honestly couldn’t remember. I also didn’t care.

“Hi,” I said to the bartender as I sat at one of the chairs. God it felt amazing to sit down. I regretted wearing my heals the second I left my apartment.

“What can I get ya?” He cleaned a glass as he spoke. To be honest I wasn’t a drinker. I probably drank once every couple months, if that at all.

“Vodka cranberry please,” I replied as the man nodded as he went to make my drink. Hopefully a drink would take the edge off, maybe even make the night enjoyable.

“How has your night been?”

“Would I sound like a bitch if I said it was boring,” I couldn’t help but laugh when I spoke.

“Not a huge fan of these parties?” The bartender handed me my drink.

“I used to like than a lot more. I don’t know anyone here, so I feel incredibly awkward. When I agreed to come I thought I knew others who would be here...but now...now if I have to talk about sports for 10 more minutes my head is going to explode,” I replied while placing some cash in his tips jar.

“Well if you need a break, some people are in the basement. Maybe a change of scenery would help?” I offered the bartender a smile as he spoke and pointed me in the direction of the basement.

Part of me felt bad for heading downstairs, but I didn’t care. The basement was probably half the size of the room upstairs, but I felt less claustrophobic as I walked around.

“Alanah,” I smiled as I saw an old friend at the pool table.

“Adam, long time no see! How are you?” I now stood next to him joining the small circle of people.

“I’m good. It feels good to be in the states again,” I smiled back to him. While the Netherlands were beautiful, there was nothing quite like home.

“Hey Adam, you down for pool? Alanah? When did you get here? Where is Mark?” Mira asked as she pulled Adam and I into the second room for pool.

I had met Mira twice before tonight. Long story short she was Adam’s girlfriend and an absolute sweetheart.

“Fuck Mark, he is busy bragging about how he is the greatest athlete on the planet,” it came out more blunt than I hoped, but there was no taking my words back.

“Great you found some people,” I looked over to see a the room full of recognizable faces. Mira quickly explained to me that they were going to play a game of pool something I have never played.

“You ready to lose,” I looked to my left to see a definitely not sober Duff McKagan. Was he actually talking to me? Did he notice me staring earlier?

fuck

Fuck

FUCK.

I took a quick second to collect myself by taking a sip of my drink. Dear god of alcohol, whoever you are, Please please please keep me from making a complete and utter fool of myself.

“I’d be worried if you weren’t drunk,” I smiled back finishing off my drink. I could feel his eyes on me as I finished it. He must have been wondering what I was drinking. I didn’t take him as the judge type, but who cared.

“Well I am worried that you are sober. Here have some of mine,” he offered me his glass and I quickly declined it.

“Why not a vodka fan?”

“No I got a vodka crab here,” I shook my empty cup as I spoke.

“I don’t like the idea of it mixed with sprite. Kinda sounds nasty...no offense,” I immediately regretted not only speaking but existing once I finished talking.

I could tell he was trying to hide a smirk. At least he was being nice?

“This is just straight vodka,” I froze in place as he spoke. I must have sounded like such a child.

“Oh, I’ve just never drank it straight,” I feel like a child admitting it. I wanted to kick myself as I spoke. I expected him to wander off and go find someone else to talk to, but he stayed. Maybe he was curious about what train wreck I would lead myself to.

“Well there is a first time for everything,” he shrugged as he passed me his glass. I looked over towards Adam who was already preoccupied with his girlfriend and her friends.

I felt a sharp burn shoot down my throat as I took a sip. I tried to conceal my cough, but I failed.

“Trust me it gets better the more you drink it. Come on let’s get you a glass,” he motioned for me to follow him, and I did like a lost puppy. The way I saw it was that I had three options.

1. Decline his offer and go talk with Adam

2. Decline his offer and go find Mark

3. Accept it and see what would happen.

I gave Adam a quick goodby wave as I followed Duff towards wherever he was going.

“Isn’t the bar upstairs?” I asked as we wondered through the halls.

“Yeah, but there is another one down her. No bartender, but we can make our own drinks. Plus we don’t have to deal with the annoying shits upstairs,” I was shocked at how clear his thoughts were after drinking straight vodka. Was this a regular night for him?

I handed him my cup and he filled it with vodka.

“Is vodka your go to?” I watched as he effortlessly drank the rest of his cup and poured himself another glass.

“Yep, and she hasn’t betrayed me yet. Come on let’s go upstairs,” He grabbed the bottle and the two of us snuck to the second floor of the venue. I don’t know why, but I felt a rush of excitement flow through my veins.

“How did you know this was up here?” I spun around looking at the small room we walked into. The soft carpet was begging for me to take off my heals and throw them in the trash. There was a table with chairs in one corner and a couch with a TV across from it.

“I was at another party here a few months back and I needed to get some air. Too many people,” I couldn’t have said it better myself.

As he went to open a window I sent Mark a quick text saying that I didn’t feel well and went home. He wouldn’t mind, he would actually prefer it. He would get to spend the rest of the night with a girl he actually likes.

“Understandable, sometimes it’s all too much,” I replied taking a seat on the couch.

“I’m assuming you know how to play go fish?” I turned my head towards his direction as he spoke.

“The children’s game?” I hadn’t meant for my tone to sound harsh, but it was. This was Duff McKagan the bassist of Guns N’ Roses, go fish was the last game I expected him to suggest.

“Judge all you want, but it’s a fast and fun way to get drunk,” I almost cringed as he spoke. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea. Could I really trust him?

I felt my phone vibrate and read the text from Mark, “absolute shocker”. God I wanted to slap him. At least I will have a better night now. I sneered, what a pair Mark and I were. An absolute match made in heaven.

“Alright, Duff explain the rules,” I threw my hands up in defense as I spoke.

I was beyond thankful that the rules were simple. If the other person doesn’t have the card, you drink. This, this was a game I could play.

“So where is your boyfriend?”

His question pulled me from my thoughts of trying to think of what cars to ask for.

“Gloating about himself downstairs, will probably be fucking some other chick tonight. where’s your girlfriend?” I quickly asked back. I wanted to kick myself as I spoke. I probably sounded like a complete bitch.

“Nonexistent,” why was I happy about that?

“Well between you and me, the same could be said about my soon to be ex,” I added in hopes to make him feel better.

He offered me a soft smile before taking a sip.

[lazerbeamzlifeblog]

the most transformative year

In my developed pretentiousness and bloated sense of ego, I have seemed to make it a habit to review the past year in light of the new year despite being a literal fetus. I also do this for my birthday, but I detest thinking on that day to avoid thinking how much closer to death I am, which has seemed to grow into another habit of mine. As always, life imitates art (or more so I confuse plagiarism with flattery), which means sometimes I quote from songs, films, and tv shows without actually using quotes so don't mind me please. I haven't started that process yet, so don't worry about the previous statements.  There are two things I in review I always say to myself: that I have done nothing of value all year and that the next year will be worse than the last. This holds both true and false value of various degrees for 2018, depending on how I look at it. In 2017, I traveled to Italy and explored Rome, Florence, and Venice. I changed majors and found something I was comfortable doing (hopefully, I love my engineering classes so far). I spent as much time with my best friend that I could and explored parts of my state I have never been to before. I worked two jobs. I did a lot and didn't think the next year could live up to it and it would be worse for a huge glaring reason I will go into detail later. 2018 changed a lot for me. I quit one job and left the other job because I graduated from that college. I graduated as valedictorian and then transferred to University. I managed to form new friendships despite my shyness and mindset that I would never make another friend again after the previous year. They don't handle a candle to her, but it was a start to feeling normal, or growing up. I returned to California and spent blissful, relaxing weeks there. I managed to transition into University nicely by getting most of the grades I wanted. I landed the internship I've been pining for 2 months since applying.  That all sounds rather boring, so let me go straight to what has made the last year the most transformative: my mental health. I have had depression for at least 5 years, if not more. It was hell. It was never fun. I never asked to have it, but I had it anyway. If you asked me how I have it, I still wouldn't be able to muster a coherent, sensible answer to give you. It was light at first, just sad thoughts here and there. But that's how it worked for me. It slowly grew into a monster that drained the life from me with each passing day. I had flames inside my head that I couldn't put out. I tried everything, and they were temporary band-aids. I wrote poetry. I listened to music, though not particularly constructive since I can only listen to music according to my mood and since I was depressed most of the time, well. The thing that helped the most during this period was talking to my best friend. The only one that truly understood my pain and whom I confided in all my most painful thoughts. This person was my life support, my plug, my life. Still is in many ways.  Yet, the pain remained. The wound festered and rotted my brain. The quiet flames burned white. I thought most of the time of wishing for death and going through each possible method until finally settling for death in sleep, not by pills or anything, just is, because it could never be ruled as intentional and I would be unaware of it. I desired death, but didn't want to be aware it was happening to me. Hypocritical, right? I thought about how worthless I felt. I always compared myself to others and wished I was somebody else, well, more like having their certain qualities. I thought about how ugly I am. I thought about how stupid I am. I thought about how physically weak I am. I felt like nothing. I thought I was nothing. I thought about how much of a loser I was. All my friends were able to leave their house without having to ask for permission or being able to stay out until 2 AM in the morning while for me, I always had to like ask in advance from my parents and I could never stay out past 9 PM. I always pitied myself, then thought about how other people had it worse in other countries then hated myself even more for complaining and feeling selfish. Then, I would go back and forth with myself with these arguments of how pain isn't a competition and that you're allowed to feel that way and always arguing with myself and no one else that ultimately got me nowhere to feeling better about myself. My thread to life barely hung in the air and my instinct for survival was practically gone. I constantly wondered if it ever truly got better. I thought that life was meaningless and that there is no God. This is all coincidental. When I die, that is it. I just cease to exist. And that made it even worse. I thought, who cares. Life is pointless.  The thoughts got darker over time. I wrote more poetry and the writing got better, even when I was deteriorating. Yet somehow, towards the end I had a sudden seed of desire to get better. I wanted to get better. I don't know where the sudden feeling came from. The seed slowly grew until I acted on it in September of 2018. I paced back and forth of the counseling center for weeks before. I debated in my head whether I should go in or not. I wanted to go in, but the flames inside my head burned me and convinced me I didn't need it. I confused my depression for regular sadness that everyone experienced and thought it was normal. I told myself that even if I got medication, my internal problems would still remain there and that pills couldn't take them away, that I would just be a drug addict clinging to pills because they would be the only thing that made me feel anything. I told myself that I was selfish and that my problems weren't real problems and that my depression was all in my head and other people in other countries had it worse. These were the things I constantly grappled with in my head when I considered therapy for at least a year.  I finally worked up the courage and just thought, just try it and if I don't like it, I need not ever commit. And I did.  The first few sessions were the hardest. Besides my best friend, I never went into detail of what I was feeling. I never explained the depth of my emptiness, sadness, pain, and anger at everyone and the world and myself for feeling the way that I am and for just existing. To fully divulge myself over the course of several weeks was extremely cathartic. I felt like I was unleashing a dam that have never been broken and was just pouring and pouring ever bit of emotion and feeling I have never done in such a way before. It was both freeing and hard. I felt comfortable sharing, but it was also hard for the words to come out. I always thought, if I speak it into existence, it becomes real and true. And I never wanted to admit my demons. I never wanted to admit my problems and how I struggled everyday just to get out of bed and do things. I was most afraid of what they were going to do with me if I admitted my suicidal thoughts. I was afraid they would call my parents and I would be committed to a  mental hospital and all my dreams were over. I thought if that would to happen, I might actually do it and off myself. Once they told me that it was ok to admit my feelings and that my parents were never called the next day, I realized I could relax and that I can actually do this. The first few sessions were the darkest.  Once I started medication two months after, I had an extremely quick reaction to it. I begun to feel level-headed within two days of taking it. I didn't feel happy, but I didn't feel depressed. It was a balance I never actually knew for more than 2 days at most at a time. It expanded into a week that turned into months. My suicidal thoughts became almost nonexistent. The most it ever became was just wanting to not exist for a period of time and return when I am ready. I didn't think about death every day. I hardly do anymore really. I hardly feel sad either. I just feel level-headed most days. This is the strangest and most surreal feeling I have ever had. I'm still not sure what to make of it. All I know is that, I am grateful for the progress I have made. I never truly thought I was going to get better. I thought I would feel sad forever until I die. Don't get me wrong, I do not think my depression has gone away. Just that I have a better grip at controlling it now. I am now able to recognize that my suicidal thoughts weren't actually normal. It takes a lot to make me sad or upset, unlike before when all it took was one tiny mishap for me to fully blow over into the darkest of depressive episodes. It took like a month before I felt sad again and it only lasted for like 2 days at most. And it was never on the level of my normal depressive episodes. It was very light and I actually thought positively that the next day will be better. And it did.  I can still enjoy my sad music and movies without actually getting sad or having to be sad, which is strange to me. I can somehow feel happy even with hearing the most depressing of music. I still enjoy watching dark shows and getting deep into it. When I do get sad, however, the biggest point is thinking of how, maybe I should be doing something else. I have a feeling that I don't actually know what I am doing, I am just making things up as I go and going along with whatever is happening. It can get quite existential. But also beautiful. I think there is a beauty in not knowing what you are doing. The more mistakes you make, the more you learn. And you get to enjoy the things along the way. I appreciate more of the little things. I look forward to sundays where I spend time with my family. I love my family more. I enjoy my walks in the town center. I love sitting on benches and listening to my music and watching people and cars pass me by. I imagine I am in the movies sometimes and add a dreamy quality to my every day life. I enjoy laying down in the gym in between breaks of doing reps. I compare myself less to people and find value in myself again. I don't hate myself as much as I used to anymore, if I still do. One thing that has changed that I don't quite enjoy, is the lack of writing. Ever since I have gotten better, I have been writing less and less. I don't know if my writing in the first place was a result of my depression or if I actually had a talent for it and now I'm beginning to question if I am a writer at all. How do people make art when they aren't sad? How does that happen? I have hardly ever written anything without feeling depressed. So, who am I then? Do I have to lose a part of myself that I enjoy for me to be happy? I guess there is always a price for everything. The other thing, that has made 2018 particularly sad, was that it has been a whole year without seeing my best friend. I still find myself, even with my mental health at its best it has ever been, feeling sad whenever I think about it has been so long and not knowing when I will see my best friend again. A lot of good things has happened to me, but this is an enormous thing that I still face often. When I hear particular songs, walking from class to class, in the store, at home. And that is when I write again. I think it is some cruel cosmic joke that I can be happy, but also not have one thing that I would trade anything for. I don't know. I'm not perfect. I never was. 

1. January. 2019. LF

[ultraericthered]

First off, I second this:

But actually, I do agree with most of these points. Except…there’s just one particular fallacy that’s stuck to them, and it’s this:

But throughout 31 years, Eggman never, ever displayed any positive quality that would suggest that he’d grow emotionally attached to a child, even one of his creation.

The fandom cries that Eggman was turned into a joke by Pontaff but now they cheer when his credibility as a villain gets a huge dent put into it because of his Eggdad dynamic with Sage.

My main issue with Eggdad is that this was pulled off with the clear intention of softening up Eggman, it’s very blatant that this was done in an effort to give the message that he has a heart and the whole fandom is eating it up.

Soooo might I ask what exactly makes this “EggDad” thing stand apart from all those other times Eggman in the games has displayed positive, not-entirely-pure-evil-without-any-noble-side qualities? 

Eggman is as much a “rotten egg” as is humanly possible, this is canonically true, but I missed when he was ever this completely inhuman monster that you all make him out to be. Feeling something resembling instictual parental care and affection (as close as a self-absorbed, sociopathic man like him could ever come to feeling such emotions) towards his latest and greatest creation is just the most recent in the rare but not nonexistent instances of Eggman “having a heart” way, way, way, way, way deep down. So what makes this a stretch too far over the other rare Pet The Dog moments from this same character? Why do those moments get a free pass yet one occurance of him caring more for another person (who was created by him, which inherently ties her to him and his immense ego) than he normally ever would automatically turn him into Mr. Tinker?

From what I’m seeing, it amounts to two things - writer bias and fandom response. Ian Flynn has not earned a ton of goodwill with some fans like you, Eggman fans in parcticular given the IDW comics constantly squandering his villainous potential, so it’s hard not to read the worst into what his intentions behind his writing decisions must’ve been. And since previous Pet The Dog moments didn’t get so many fans latching onto them, making cute, wholesome and touching fan content about them, and loudly proclaiming that they either give Eggman more “depth”, “development”, and “nuance” or straight up proves Eggman’s not really the worst guy ever deep down, they didn’t spark as much ire as the current EggDad thing. 

I can’t really say anything definitively about the former - I’m not much a fan of Ian Flynn’s “vision” myself. But for the latter, it’s totally a fandom thing. @the-fourth-knower​ sort of answered it already.

I’m hoping that it’s mostly a fandom thing and not something Sonic Team will do . Also it’s funny because Bowser being a dad…hasn’t really made him any less of a villain in his universe. Sonic community built different i guess???

Almost every fandom can, have, and will make fan content about villains in the work they’re in fandom of that will depict those villains in lighter, softer, cuter, more “precious” and “sexy” lights than how those villains actually are in canon. So the positive response to EggDad should come as know surprise, and if you try to argue that there’d be no such response from fans if the US script had closer ressembled the JP script and Eggman had no explicit fatherly love for his “dear daughter”, you’d be lying to yourself and me. And you could argue that Flynn just should not have bothered giving Eggman and Sage such a dynamic because he should have known how fans would percieve it and it would diminish the credibility and evilness of the franchise’s primary villain but…that kind of puts too much responsibility for fans own thinking and behavior on the writer(s) of the canonical narrative. To liken to an obscure example, I can find some fan content about Reiji Miyabi and the North Maiden (”Fish Girl” as he calls her) that I find quite cute because that dynamic was very nuanced and had a sweet side to it and I like seeing those two together…but afterwards I will still not forget that Reiji is one of the most self-absorbed, narcissistic, psychopathic people ever who was terrible to so many characters, Fish Girl included, and that canonically he is unquestionably a villain who was given exactly what he had coming to him in the end. Positive dynamics that bring out some positive traits in an evil person does not “diminish their villainy” so long as the villain is kept in-character (which Eggman mostly was in the US script of Frontiers and absolutely was in the JP script.)

For fucks sake, Archie!Eggman is a thousand times the monster that Games!Eggman is and he was even notably torn up when he had to kill off the creation that he saw as a daughter and who saw him as her father, and it did exactly jack shit to diminish his villainy or push him towards becoming a softer, better, less heinously evil person.

I'm getting really tired of Ian using the whole thing about the writing and characterization in the series being inconsistent throughout the years as an excuse. Yes, there has many wildly different interpretations and takes of the characters in the many different spin-offs in media that have been made throughout it's history. Imo it's why the franchise has remained so relevant and it's fandom so active to this day, because it's made the characters and series more accessible that way. Anywhere can be a jumping on point for people. But I really don't think people are asking too much for there to be some consistency or set of rules within a continuity that he and the others working on IDW have, or tried to have, established. Unlike with Archie, where they were literally making things up as they went along, they're supposed to be starting completely from scratch with IDW.

And it doesn't help with him doing writing work on a mainline game like Frontiers, because it's meant to take place in the same exact canon as the main games. Assuming he had something to do with it, I wouldn't have any problem with how the whole Eggdad thing was done(aside from it just feeling completely rushed) if it was in a completely different continuity that was it's own thing, as the character has had so many different portrayals throughout the franchise's history. But since this is meant to be the same Eggman from the games, I have to look at it through the lense of how he's been in the previous games up until that point- which I would say has actually been pretty damn consistent- and because of that, it feels so off-putting for him to suddenly soften up out of nowhere, when he normally would have immediately pushed the off button on Sage, or do a bit of "reprogramming", the second she started talking back.

It's a lazy copout, not befitting of Best Sonic Writer The Veteran, and it's not even true!

You know what, I'll just put this from the FAQ, which wasn't written for sport:

“Games!Sonic is inconsistent.”

Yes, different writers choose to emphasize different aspects of Sonic’s personality. In ShTH, he was overly giddy and excited, and even seemed to not notice Shadow being upset because he remembered his own death. In ‘06, he was overly stoic. In Colors, he gained the sudden quirk of taunting robots who couldn’t respond.

However, Sonic still has core traits that no game has changed: for example, Games!Sonic is always supportive towards his friends, and trusts them to know what they’re doing… something that isn’t always present in IDW. Games!Sonic remarked that Shadow saved the world once and thus he isn’t just a weapon in Battle; IDW!Sonic guilt-tripped him by reminding him that he tried to obliterate the planet once in #6. Games!Sonic listens to Tails, and he makes sure to apologize to him after the one time he has offended him in Lost World;  IDW!Sonic brushes Tails off and deflects blame when Tails confronts him about his decision to let Metal Sonic go in #50. Games!Sonic is fairly terse when it comes to himself, and only speaks for longer when he talks about the power of friendship; IDW!Sonic goes on whole speeches about his general modus operandi (granted, this is an issue with Flynn’s writing in general, who really seems to like writing many words).

Sonic is a simple character at his core, and as such, the traits that make his very being have always been respected. Sonic is friendly, kind although with a noticeable ego, he always always tries to save people in need even if he has no idea of what's going on, always sees the best in those people, but he's somewhat uncaring of villains, especially the ones who have crossed the line in his mind - he doesn't automatically go for the kill, but if he has to kill them, he'll do it. The fact that he's more of a chatterbox in Colors than he is in '06 doesn't mean that there is one game where Sonic has suddenly turned into a manipulative bastard, or somehow thinks that Eggman could ever reform.

The games. They're meant to be played. With care.

And of course, same with Eggman. Yes, the Eggman from '06 is a much more serious, less hammy version of the character, that is inconsistent. But throughout 31 years, Eggman never, ever displayed any positive quality that would suggest that he'd grow emotionally attached to a child, even one of his creation. This is why I hate the argument "well Bowser can be a dad and still be evil!" sure! Bowser. Not Eggman. They're not the same character. Anti-heroes who slash everyone in their way and still are heroic exist, but that doesn't mean that Sonic would be one of them!

Justifying it with "muh inconsistency" means you're not above the level of a 6 year old who makes up the rules of the game as they go along, because they really want to win.

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Lotuses Quotes

Official Website: Lotuses Quotes

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• A flower can’t grow without rain. (Alexion) Too much rain and it drowns. (Danger) And yet the most beautiful of the lotus flowers are the ones that grow in the deepest mud. (Alexion) – Sherrilyn Kenyon • A little child paddles a little boat, Drifting about, and picking white lotuses. He does not know how to hide his tracks, And duckweed’s opened up along his path. – Bai Juyi • A man ought to live in this world like a lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never moistened by water; so a man ought to live in the world – his heart to God and his hands to work. – Swami Vivekananda • An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea. – Herman Melville • And her sweet red lips on these lips of mine Burned like the ruby fire set In the swinging lamp of a crimson shrine, Or the bleeding wounds of the pomegranate, Or the heart of the lotus drenched and wet With the spilt-out blood of the rose-red wine. – Oscar Wilde • And just for a moment I had reached the point of ecstasy that I always wanted to reach, which was the complete step across chronological time into timeless shadows, and wonderment in the bleakness of the mortal realm, and the sensation of death kicking at my heels to move on, wiht a phantom dogging its own heels, and myself hurrying to a plank where all the angels dove off and flew into the holy void of uncreated emptiness, the potent and inconceivable radiancies shining in bright Mind Essence, innumerable lotus-lands falling open in the magic mothswarm of heaven. – Sal Paradise – Jack Kerouac • As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world – Gautama Buddha • As a water bead on a lotus leaf, as water on a red lily, does not adhere, so the sage does not adhere to the seen, the heard, or the sensed. – Gautama Buddha • At this moment, is there anything lacking? Nirvana is right here now before our eyes. This place is the lotus land. This body now is the Buddha. – Hakuin Ekaku

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Lotus', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_lotus').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_lotus img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Be like a lotus. Let the beauty of your heart speak. – Amit Ray • Because people learn from their mistakes, Danger. Pain and failure are a natural part of life. It’s kind of like a parent who watches their child fall down while learning to walk. Instead of coddling the child, you set them back on their feet and let them try again. They have to stumble before they can run. (Alexion) Do you really believe that we need to have our hearts ripped out? (Danger) A flower can’t grow without rain. (Alexion) Too much rain and it drowns. (Danger) And yet the most beautiful of the lotus flowers are the ones that grow in the deepest mud. (Alexion) – Sherrilyn Kenyon • But when one masters this wretched desire, which is so hard to overcome, then one’s sorrows just drop off, like a drop of water off a lotus. – Gautama Buddha • By means of microscopic observation and astronomical projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe and an agent whereby we may perceive Truth. – Yukio Mishima • Cut brambles long enough, Sprout after sprout, And the lotus will bloom Of its own accord: Already waiting in the clearing, The single image of light. The day you see this, That day you will become it. – Sun Bu’er • Cut out the love of self, like an autumn lotus with thy hand! – Gautama Buddha • Deep within the self is the Light of God. It radiates throughout the expanse of His creation. Through the Guru’s teachings, the darkness of spiritual ignorance is dispelled. The heart lotus flower blooms forth and eternal peace is obtained, as one’s light merges into the Supreme Light. – Guru Amar Das • Did either the nonexistent or the measured response after a series of attacks on Americans the past decade – in Lebanon, Africa, Saudi Arabia, New York, and Yemen – suggest to our terrorist enemies that it was wrong and unwise to kill reasonable and affable people, or did the easy killing imply that self-absorbed and pampered Lotus-eaters would not much care who or how many were butchered as long as it was within reasonable numbers and spread out over time? – Victor Davis Hanson • Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna’s Lotus sounding rough? – Murray Walker • Do not go to the garden of flowers! O friend! go not there; In your body is the garden of flowers. Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the infinite beauty. – Kabir • Drop guilt! – because to be guilty is to live in hell. Not being guilty, you will have the freshness of dewdrops in the early morning sun, you will have the freshness of lotus petals in the lake, you will have the freshness of the stars in the night. Once guilt disappears you will have a totally different kind of life, luminous and radiant. You will have a dance to your feet and your heart will be singing a thousand and one songs. – Rajneesh • Drop jealousy and love wells up. Jealousy means that I am the owner. It is an ego trip, and wherever there is ego there is poison, and the poison kills the very source of love. One has to become aware of just these few things and discard them and one’s life becomes a lotus of love. And then there is no need to go in any search of god, god will come in search of you. This is my observation, that god always comes seeking the true seeker. Whenever the disciple is ready the master appears. – Rajneesh • Egypt loved the lotus because it never dies. It is the same for people who are loved. – Anita Diament • Egypt loved the lotus becuase it never dies. It is the same for people who are loved. Thus can something as insignificant as a name-two syllables, one high, one sweet- summon up the innumerable smiles, tears, sighs and dreams of a human life. – Anita Diament • English Bohemianism is a curiously unluscious fruit. … Inside this hothouse, huge lascivious orchids slide sensuously up the sweating windows, passion-flowers cross-pollinate in wild heliotrope abandon, lotuses writhe with poppies in the sweet warm beds, kumquats ripen, open and plop flatly to the floor-and outside, in a neat, trimly-hoed kitchen-garden, English bohemians sit in cold orderly rows, like carrots. – Alan Coren • Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted. – Sylvia Plath • Every green herb, from the lotus to the darnel, is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man. – Martin Farquhar Tupper • God cannot be found outside you, because there is no God who can ever be outside you. God is the ultimate fragrance of your consciousness. When your consciousness opens like a lotus, the fragrance that is released is God – better to call it godliness. – Rajneesh • God is the Sun and when His rays fall upon your heart, not impeded by the clouds of egoism, the lotus blooms and the petals unfold. – Sathya Sai Baba • Great people will always be mocked by those who feel smaller than them. However, a lion does not flinch at laughter coming from a hyena. A gorilla does not budge from a banana thrown at it by a monkey. A nightingale does not stop singing its beautiful song at the intrusion of an annoying woodpecker. Whenever you should question your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty. – Suzy Kassem • Heat lingers As days are still long; Early mornings are cool While autumn is still young. Dew on the lotus Scatters pure perfume; Wind on the bamboos Gives off a gentle tinkling. I am idle and lonely, Lying down all day, Sick and decayed; No one asks for me; Thin dusk before my gates, Cassia blossoms inch deep. – Bai Juyi • I also have a lot of preserved foods, things that will keep for a long time like dried fish, seaweed or lotus seed. – Martin Yan • I embrace my body, and I embrace everything about myself. Coming full circle is a celebration of freedom and happiness because that’s what [my new album] ‘Lotus’ is representing. I’m embracing everything that I’ve grown to be and learned to be. – Christina Aguilera • I got things like the lotus position long before anybody else did, or at least in the mainstream. But I had fun. I guess my legs are pretty flexible, so I used to get a kick out of doing things like that. I would get into a full lotus with my legs and then roll around. – John Astin • I have a strong antipathy to everything connected with gardens, gardening and gardeners. . . . Gardening seems to me a kind of admission of defeat. . . . Man was made for better things than pruning his rose trees. The state of mind of the confirmed gardener seems to me as reprehensible as that of the confirmed alcoholic. Both have capitulated to the world. Both have become lotus eaters and drifters. – Colin Wilson • I saw Lotus F1 racing as the best choice for me to progress my career, after considering several other options that were available to me. – Heikki Kovalainen • I sit cross-legged on the rock The valleys and streams are cold and damp Sitting quietly is beautiful The cliffs are lost in mist and fog I rest happily in this place At dusk the tree shadows are low I look into my mind A white lotus emerges from the dark mud – Hanshan • I think it’s more, at least at the time, a sense of abstraction. My mind doesn’t really work in a way where there’s a definitive sense of something. I go one way and then it opens up into a million different ideas, and somehow, when you look at the art, Buddhist art, or particularly Tibetan art, you know, it’s a similar thing. All of a sudden there are a million lotus leaves and you’re following one to the next and to another, and I related to that, and it felt simple and easy to me. And it made me feel smart. – Jake Gyllenhaal • I want you to learn the lesson of the lotus. This flower springs forth from muddy waters. It raises its delicate petals to the sun and perfumes the world while, at the same time, its roots cling to the elemental muck, the very essence of the mortal experience. Without that soil, the flower would wither and die. – Colleen Houck • I was in yoga the other day. I was in full lotus position. My chakras were all aligned. My mind is cleared of all clatter and I’m looking out of my third eye and everything that I’m supposed to be doing. It’s amazing what comes up, when you sit in that silence. “Mama keeps whites bright like the sunlight, Mama’s got the magic of Clorox 2.” – Ellen DeGeneres • I will allow only my Lord to possess my sacred lotus pond, and every night you can make blossom in me flowers of fire. – Huang E • If the bees which seek the liquid oozing from the head of a lust-intoxicated elephant are driven away by the flapping of his ears, then the elephant has lost only the ornament of his head. The bees are quite happy in the lotus filled lake. – Chanakya • If we take shelter of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, we can become free from illusion, fear and distress. If we wholeheartedly beg for his mercy without any deceit then the spiritual master bestows all auspiciousness upon us. – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati • If you come to Plum Village in the summertime, you see many lotus flowers. Without the mud the lotus flowers cannot grow. You cannot separate lotus flowers from the mud. It is the same with understanding and love. These are two kinds of flowers that grow on the ground of suffering – Nhat Hanh • If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful – and strong. • If you sleep, Desire grows in you Like a vine in the forest. Like a monkey in the forest You jump from tree to tree, Never finding the fruit – From life to life, Never finding peace. If you are filled with desire Your sorrows swell Like the grass after the rain. But if you subdue desire Your sorrows shall fall from you Like drops of water from a lotus flower. – Gautama Buddha • I’m always very interested in breeding. Raising cacti is breeding. My lotus plant collection is breeding. The insects are breeding. – Takashi Murakami • I’m delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I’m grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity. – Kimi Raikkonen • I’m influenced by the music of the ’60s. It’s a mishmash of everything. To me, psychedelic can be all the way to a DJ. House music can be very psychedelic. ‘Flying Lotus’ is very psychedelic. Even though it’s urban and technological, it’s also mind-expanding, anything-can-go mishmash. – Anton Newcombe • In 1879 the Bengali scholar S.M. Tagore compiled a more extensive list of ruby colors from the Purana sacred texts: ‘like the China rose, like blood, like the seeds of the pomegranate, like red lead, like the red lotus, like saffron, like the resin of certain trees, like the eyes of the Greek partridge or the Indian crane…and like the interior of the half-blown water lily.’ With so many gorgeous descriptive possibilities it is curious that in English the two ancient names for rubies have come to sound incredibly ugly. – Victoria Finlay • In Egypt, I loved the perfume of the lotus. A flower would bloom in the pool at dawn, filling the entire garden with a blue musk so powerful it seemed that even the fish and ducks would swoon. By night, the flower might wither but the perfume lasted. Fainter and fainter, but never quite gone. Even many days later, the lotus remained in the garden. Months would pass and a bee would alight near the spot where the lotus had blossomed, and its essence was released again, momentary but undeniable. – Anita Diament • In Savasana or in meditation, the light of the eyes is drawn towards the lotus of the heart, so that the seat of the intelligence of the head is brought into contact with the seat of the intelligence of the heart, which is called the mind. Thus one passes from the individualistic state of consciousness to the universal state of consciousness. It is the merging of the intellect of the brain with the intellect of the soul. – B.K.S. Iyengar • In the land of the lotus-eaters there is no action. Action arises only from need, from dissatisfaction. It is purposeful striving towards something. Its ultimate end is always to get rid of a condition which is conceived to be deficient-to fulfill a need, to achieve satisfaction, to increase happiness. – Ludwig von Mises • In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner – not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are. – Shunryu Suzuki • In the Lotus Sutra, it is said everything is emptiness – this world is empty, hell is empty, heaven is empty, God is empty, everything is emptiness. Emptiness is the nature of all things, nothingness, so be attuned to nothingness and you will achieve. – Rajneesh • It does not matter if you are a rose or a lotus or a marigold. What matters is that you are flowering. – Rajneesh • It is the north wind that lashes men into Vikings; it is the soft, luscious south wind which lulls them to lotus dreams. – Ouida • It is the plight of man. And while the blame lies partly on the river ” Lotus gestures towards the dark waters before us “most of the blame lies on man’s inclination to tune into the noise that blares all around him instead of the beautiful silence that lies deep within. – Alyson Noel • It was an easy choice to return with Lotus Renault GP as I have been impressed by the scope of the team’s ambition. – Kimi Raikkonen • It’s a mining town in lotus land. – F. Scott Fitzgerald • It’s like growing lotus flowers. You cannot grow lotus flowers on marble. You have to grow them on the mud. Without mud you cannot have lotus flowers. Without suffering, you have no way to learn how to be understanding and compassionate. – Nhat Hanh • Just think, Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, and the lotus of the universe grows from his navel. On the lotus sits Brahma, the creator. Brahma opens his eyes, and a world comes into being, governed by an Indra. Brahma closes his eyes, and a world goes out of being. The life of a Brahma is 432,000 years. When he dies, the lotus goes back, and another lotus is formed, and another Brahma. Then think of the galaxies beyond galaxies in infinite space, each a lotus, with a Brahma sitting on it, opening his eyes, closing his eyes. – Joseph Campbell • Life is like a rain drop on a lotus leaf. Everybody realises that you’re either very lucky person or you’re not. – George Harrison • Like the lotus flower that is born out of mud, we must honor the darkest parts of ourselves and the most painful of our life’s experiences, because they are what allow us to birth our most beautiful self. – Debbie Ford • Like the lotus which thrives in mud, the potential for realization grows in the rich soil of everyday life – Dalai Lama • Lotus-land as it appears in ‘Free Will’ is simply a metaphor for an idealized background, a ‘land of milk and honey.’ It is sometimes also used as a pejorative name for Los Angeles, though that was not in my mind when I wrote it. – Neil Peart • Love is born in sexuality but sexuality is not love. The lotus is born in the mud, but the lotus is not just mud. And if mud remains mud of course there are bound to be tears on the cheeks. – Rajneesh • Love is the lotus, lust is the mud the lotus arises out of. – Rajneesh • May the honey-sweet flute music that flows from Lord Mukunda’s lotus mouth fill me with bliss. – Rupa Goswami • May we live like the lotus, at home in muddy water. – Gautama Buddha • Meditation is your awakening. The moment you awake, sleep disappears and with it all the dreams, all the projections, all expectations, all desires. Suddenly you are in a state of desirelessness, non-ambition, unfathomable silence. And only in this silence, blossoms flower in your being. Only in this silence the lotuses open their petals. – Rajneesh • Microsoft has had two goals in the last 10 years. One was to copy the Mac, and the other was to copy Lotus’ success in the spreadsheet – basically, the applications business. And over the course of the last 10 years, Microsoft accomplished both of those goals. And now they are completely lost. – Steve Jobs • My mother always said I must be part Mongolian because of my lotus-pale complexion and squid-ink black hair. – Diane Ackerman • My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel. – Edward Abbey • Nay, do not grieve tho’ life be full of sadness, Dawn will not veil her spleandor for your grief, Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beauty To lotus blossom and ashoka leaf.

Nay, do not pine, tho’ life be dark with trouble, Time will not pause or tarry on his way; To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter, Will soon be some forgotten yesterday.

Nay, do not weep; new hopes, new dreams, new faces, The unspent joy of all the unborn years, Will prove your heart a traitor to its sorrow, And make your eyes unfaithful to their tears. – Sarojini Naidu • Number theorists are like lotus-eaters — having once tasted of this food they can never give it up. – Leopold Kronecker • O! Lover, Enjoyment on the soft body of a lotus is always risky and inconsistent because its route is always surrounded by thorns. – Manmohan Acharya • On the top of the head is a Chakra – Sahasradala or the thousand-petalled lotus. There is a Chakra in the middle of the forehead between the eyebrows and one in the heart-centre. The region between the navel and head constitutes the mental field. From navel downward extending till the terminus of the spinal chord, mūlādhāra, is the seat of the vital. – Sri Aurobindo • One thing is certain: you can never become anything other than yourself, and unless you become yourself you cannot be happy. Happiness happens only when a rosebush grows roseflowers; when it flowers, when it has its own individuality. You may be a rosebush and trying to flower as lotus flower – that is creating insanity. Erase the mind. And the way to erase it is not by fight: the way to erase it is just to become aware. – Rajneesh • Only the other day I was inquiring of an entire bed of old-fashioned roses, forced to listen to my ramblings on the meaning of the universe as I sat cross-legged in the lotus position in front of them. • Our first duty is to satisfy the spiritual master, who can arrange for the Lord’s mercy. A common man must first begin to serve the spiritual master or the devotee. Then, through the mercy of the devotee, the Lord will be satisfied. Unless one receives the dust of a devotee’s lotus feet on one’s head, there is no possibility of advancement. Unless one approaches a pure devotee, he cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. – A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada • Over the eons I’ve been a fan of, and sucker for, each latest automated system to ‘simplify’ and ‘bring order to’ my life. Very early on this led me to the beautiful-and-doomed Lotus Agenda for my DOS computers, and Actioneer for the early Palm. – James Fallows • Remember Mother Earth knows who these people are that are going to become the one heart. Really the better way to say it is one lotus. This place in the heart has always been referred to as the lotus. And when you find your way there, Mother Earth will completely take care of you and protect you and provide everything for you. Even though everything outside seems to be insane, it will be miraculous. – Drunvalo Melchizedek • Sandalwood, tagara, lotus, jasmine – the fragrance of virtue is unrivalled by such kinds of perfume. – Gautama Buddha • Say not, ‘I have found the truth,’ but rather, ‘I have found a truth.’ Say not, ‘ I have found the path of the soul.’ Say rather, ‘I have met the soul walking upon my path.’ For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. – Khalil Gibran • So as you are, in whatever conditions you are, in whatever situations you are, whatever may be the surroundings, like a dirty mire full of creatures and filth, you can become like lotuses. When you become like lotuses, all that is filth, all that is horrible can become fragrant. And this is what we have to achieve. – Nirmala Srivastava • The #lotus comes from the #murkiest #water.. but #grows into the #purest thing.- Nita Ambani • The banyan tree does not mean awakening, nor does the hill, nor the saint, nor the European couple. The lotus is a symbol of regeneration. – Swami Vivekananda • The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet, in much the same way the Koran, Torah, and Pali Canon offer guidance to people of other religions. If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that? Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical. – Dan Brown • The crown chakra is located several inches above the head, but it is not connected. The crown chakra, also known as the thousand-petal lotus of light, references the planes of light, of enlightenment. – Frederick Lenz • The honey in the flower or lotus does not crave for bees; they do not plead with the bees to come. Since they have tasted the sweetness, they themselves search for the flowers and rush in. They come because of the attachment between themselves and sweetness. So, too, is the relationship between the woman who knows the limits and the respect she evokes. – Sathya Sai Baba • The lotus flower is troubled At the sun’s resplendent light; With sunken head and sadly She dreamily waits for the night. – Heinrich Heine • The lotus grows in muddy waters but this flower does not show any trace of it: So we have to live in the world. – B.K.S. Iyengar • The lotus’ stem is as long as the depth of water, So men’s height is just as great as their inner strength. – Thiruvalluvar • The one who wanders independent in the world, free from opinions and viewpoints, does not grasp them and enter into disputations and arguments. As the lotus rises on its stalk unsoiled by the mud and the water, so the wise one speaks of peace and is unstained by the opinions of the world. – Gautama Buddha • The seated lotus postures are an amazing way to go into meditation, or simply just to take a moment to ground oneself. – Christy Turlington • The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. – Khalil Gibran • The thousand petal lotus of light, the crown center, really does not become operative until one is on the verge of enlightenment itself. Then you really don’t have to meditate on it. The thousand petals gradually light up. – Frederick Lenz • The truth is that there are no good men, or bad men,’ he said. ‘It is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them. There are good deeds, and bad deeds. Men are just men – it is what they do, or refuse to do, that links them to good and evil. The truth is that an instant of real love, in the heart of anyone – the noblest man alive or the most wicked – has the whole purpose and process and meaning of life within the lotus-folds of its passion. The truth is that we are all, every one of us, every atom, every galaxy, and every particle of matter in the universe, moving toward God. – Gregory David Roberts • The ultimate source of energy, the sun is ready to set. The leaves of the blooming lotus flower in the pond are losing their lustre. A bumblebee, sitting on that lotus is enjoying the romantic pleasure and murmuring passionate songs. – Manmohan Acharya • Their love as a dragonfly, skimming over echo park, stoppin to visit the lotus. Eating dreams and drinking blue sky. – Janet Fitch • There are still some terrible cliches in the presentation of Indian fiction. The lotus flower. The hennaed hands. In mainland Europe, people still slap these images on my books and I go bananas. – Hari Kunzru • There is a beautiful expression of this in the Chandogya Upanishad: ‘There is this City of Brahman, (that is the body), and in this city there is a shrine, and in that shrine there is a small lotus, and in that lotus there is a small space, (akasa). Now what exists within that small space, that is to be sought, that is to be understood.’ This is the great discovery of the Upanishads, this inner shrine, this guha, or cave of the heart, where the inner meaning of life, of all human existence, is to be found. – Bede Griffiths • There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus. – Nhat Hanh • There’s a kind of training, when you are sitting in a session in the Japanese tradition or any of the Buddhist traditions, taking your lotus posture or whatever it is. That’s what you’re doing. – Anne Waldman • There’s just so much stuff that sounds like Flying Lotus now – I really like what he does, but I don’t want to be like him. The new stuff is more experimental. – Gold Panda • To be beautiful means to be yourself.You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. When you are born a lotus flower, be a beautiful lotus flower, don’t try to be a magnolia flower. If you crave acceptance and recognition and try to change yourself to fit what other people want you to be, you will suffer all your life. True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself, accepting yourself, having confidence in yourself. -Nhat Hanh • To the sky, I rise / Spread my wings, and fly / I leave the past behind / And say goodbye to the scared child inside / I sing for freedom, and for love / I look at my reflection / Embrace the woman I’ve become / The unbreakable lotus in me / I now set free – Christina Aguilera • Water surrounds the lotus flower, but does not wet its petals. – Gautama Buddha • Waterlilies always come in Buddhist sculpture. The Buddhas all stand on lotus pedestals, because the lotus is grown from the mud. The mud represents the stained world, a dirty world, but growing from the dirt is such a beautiful, pure thing. This is the way the spirit should be. – Hiroshi Sugimoto • When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus I am blessed—let this be my parting word. In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play and here have I caught sight of him who is formless. My whole body and my limbs have thrilled with his touch who is beyond touch; and if the end comes here, let it come—let this be my parting word. – Rabindranath Tagore • When I notice a rear wheel overtaking me, I know I’m sitting in a Lotus. – Graham Hill • When one, abandoning greed, feels no greed for what would merit greed, greed gets shed from him – like a drop of water from a lotus leaf. – Gautama Buddha • When we speak of the dust of the lotus feet of the Spiritual Master, we are speaking of humble approach to serve his instructions. Unless we humbly serve the instructions of the great soul, it is Krishna’s arrangement the He never reveals Himself. – Radhanath Swami • When you sit in the full lotus position, your left foot is on your right thigh and your right foot is on your left thigh. When we cross our legs like this, even though we have a right leg and a left leg, they become one. The position expresses the oneness of duality: not two and not one. This is the most important teaching: not two, and not one. Our body and mind are not two and not one. If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one. – Shunryu Suzuki • Whenever you should doubt your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty. – Suzy Kassem • Worship of The Lotus Feet of The Spiritual Master: There is no work as auspicious as serving the spiritual master. Of all worship, the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the greatest but the worship of the lotus feet of the spiritual master is even greater than the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unless this is firmly realized we cannot understand what saintly association means, we cannot understand what the shelter of a spiritual master means, we cannot understand that we are dependent and he is our maintainer. – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati • YOU are the big drop of dew under the lotus leaf, I am the smaller one on its upper side,’ said the dewdrop to the lake. – Rabindranath Tagore • You can purify your existence by feeling deep within yourself a beautiful rose or lotus, or any other flower that you like. A flower is all purity. Try to identify yourself with the consciousness of the flower or with the purity of the flower. Today it is imagination, but if you continue imagining for five days, or ten days, or a month or two, then you are bound to see and feel the flower within you. First you may feel it, then you are bound to see the existence of the flower, and then automatically the fragrance and the purity of the flower will enter into you to purify you. – Sri Chinmoy • You can remain in the world for any number of years, but don’t let the world take hold. Don’t let the world take hold of the inside world. There is the example of the lotus. It stays deep down in the mud. It comes up to the light, and it can’t stay without water because it would die. But it does not get mixed up either with the mud or the water. You have seen the lotus; even if the water comes it just goes off again. Now, when they talk of God, they always say ‘the lotus eyes, the lotus feet’ because of this inner significance. – Sathya Sai Baba • You have to measure your success by the way your audience responds to your games. No matter how small that audience is, it’s yours. Your game is part of the lives and the memories of those people in a way that WordPerfect or Lotus 1-2-3 or Windows can never be. – Orson Scott Card • You like being vague, don’t you? (Amanda) It was a choice of being a Dark-Hunter or a prophet. Personally I like the slash-and-kill stuff much more than prayers and the lotus position. (Acheron) – Sherrilyn Kenyon • You must be a lotus, unfolding its petals when the sun rises in the sky, unaffected by the slush where it is born or even the water which sustains it! – Sai Baba • YOUR HEART IS FULL of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout. Just as a lotus flower springs from the mire to bloom splendidly, the interaction of the cosmic breath causes the flower of the spirit to bloom and bear fruit in this world. – Morihei Ueshiba

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Lotuses Quotes

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• A flower can’t grow without rain. (Alexion) Too much rain and it drowns. (Danger) And yet the most beautiful of the lotus flowers are the ones that grow in the deepest mud. (Alexion) – Sherrilyn Kenyon • A little child paddles a little boat, Drifting about, and picking white lotuses. He does not know how to hide his tracks, And duckweed’s opened up along his path. – Bai Juyi • A man ought to live in this world like a lotus leaf, which grows in water but is never moistened by water; so a man ought to live in the world – his heart to God and his hands to work. – Swami Vivekananda • An intense copper calm, like a universal yellow lotus, was more and more unfolding its noiseless measureless leaves upon the sea. – Herman Melville • And her sweet red lips on these lips of mine Burned like the ruby fire set In the swinging lamp of a crimson shrine, Or the bleeding wounds of the pomegranate, Or the heart of the lotus drenched and wet With the spilt-out blood of the rose-red wine. – Oscar Wilde • And just for a moment I had reached the point of ecstasy that I always wanted to reach, which was the complete step across chronological time into timeless shadows, and wonderment in the bleakness of the mortal realm, and the sensation of death kicking at my heels to move on, wiht a phantom dogging its own heels, and myself hurrying to a plank where all the angels dove off and flew into the holy void of uncreated emptiness, the potent and inconceivable radiancies shining in bright Mind Essence, innumerable lotus-lands falling open in the magic mothswarm of heaven. – Sal Paradise – Jack Kerouac • As a lotus flower is born in water, grows in water and rises out of water to stand above it unsoiled, so I, born in the world, raised in the world having overcome the world, live unsoiled by the world – Gautama Buddha • As a water bead on a lotus leaf, as water on a red lily, does not adhere, so the sage does not adhere to the seen, the heard, or the sensed. – Gautama Buddha • At this moment, is there anything lacking? Nirvana is right here now before our eyes. This place is the lotus land. This body now is the Buddha. – Hakuin Ekaku

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'Lotus', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_lotus').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_lotus img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Be like a lotus. Let the beauty of your heart speak. – Amit Ray • Because people learn from their mistakes, Danger. Pain and failure are a natural part of life. It’s kind of like a parent who watches their child fall down while learning to walk. Instead of coddling the child, you set them back on their feet and let them try again. They have to stumble before they can run. (Alexion) Do you really believe that we need to have our hearts ripped out? (Danger) A flower can’t grow without rain. (Alexion) Too much rain and it drowns. (Danger) And yet the most beautiful of the lotus flowers are the ones that grow in the deepest mud. (Alexion) – Sherrilyn Kenyon • But when one masters this wretched desire, which is so hard to overcome, then one’s sorrows just drop off, like a drop of water off a lotus. – Gautama Buddha • By means of microscopic observation and astronomical projection the lotus flower can become the foundation for an entire theory of the universe and an agent whereby we may perceive Truth. – Yukio Mishima • Cut brambles long enough, Sprout after sprout, And the lotus will bloom Of its own accord: Already waiting in the clearing, The single image of light. The day you see this, That day you will become it. – Sun Bu’er • Cut out the love of self, like an autumn lotus with thy hand! – Gautama Buddha • Deep within the self is the Light of God. It radiates throughout the expanse of His creation. Through the Guru’s teachings, the darkness of spiritual ignorance is dispelled. The heart lotus flower blooms forth and eternal peace is obtained, as one’s light merges into the Supreme Light. – Guru Amar Das • Did either the nonexistent or the measured response after a series of attacks on Americans the past decade – in Lebanon, Africa, Saudi Arabia, New York, and Yemen – suggest to our terrorist enemies that it was wrong and unwise to kill reasonable and affable people, or did the easy killing imply that self-absorbed and pampered Lotus-eaters would not much care who or how many were butchered as long as it was within reasonable numbers and spread out over time? – Victor Davis Hanson • Do my eyes deceive me, or is Senna’s Lotus sounding rough? – Murray Walker • Do not go to the garden of flowers! O friend! go not there; In your body is the garden of flowers. Take your seat on the thousand petals of the lotus, and there gaze on the infinite beauty. – Kabir • Drop guilt! – because to be guilty is to live in hell. Not being guilty, you will have the freshness of dewdrops in the early morning sun, you will have the freshness of lotus petals in the lake, you will have the freshness of the stars in the night. Once guilt disappears you will have a totally different kind of life, luminous and radiant. You will have a dance to your feet and your heart will be singing a thousand and one songs. – Rajneesh • Drop jealousy and love wells up. Jealousy means that I am the owner. It is an ego trip, and wherever there is ego there is poison, and the poison kills the very source of love. One has to become aware of just these few things and discard them and one’s life becomes a lotus of love. And then there is no need to go in any search of god, god will come in search of you. This is my observation, that god always comes seeking the true seeker. Whenever the disciple is ready the master appears. – Rajneesh • Egypt loved the lotus because it never dies. It is the same for people who are loved. – Anita Diament • Egypt loved the lotus becuase it never dies. It is the same for people who are loved. Thus can something as insignificant as a name-two syllables, one high, one sweet- summon up the innumerable smiles, tears, sighs and dreams of a human life. – Anita Diament • English Bohemianism is a curiously unluscious fruit. … Inside this hothouse, huge lascivious orchids slide sensuously up the sweating windows, passion-flowers cross-pollinate in wild heliotrope abandon, lotuses writhe with poppies in the sweet warm beds, kumquats ripen, open and plop flatly to the floor-and outside, in a neat, trimly-hoed kitchen-garden, English bohemians sit in cold orderly rows, like carrots. – Alan Coren • Even amidst fierce flames the golden lotus can be planted. – Sylvia Plath • Every green herb, from the lotus to the darnel, is rich with delicate aids to help incurious man. – Martin Farquhar Tupper • God cannot be found outside you, because there is no God who can ever be outside you. God is the ultimate fragrance of your consciousness. When your consciousness opens like a lotus, the fragrance that is released is God – better to call it godliness. – Rajneesh • God is the Sun and when His rays fall upon your heart, not impeded by the clouds of egoism, the lotus blooms and the petals unfold. – Sathya Sai Baba • Great people will always be mocked by those who feel smaller than them. However, a lion does not flinch at laughter coming from a hyena. A gorilla does not budge from a banana thrown at it by a monkey. A nightingale does not stop singing its beautiful song at the intrusion of an annoying woodpecker. Whenever you should question your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty. – Suzy Kassem • Heat lingers As days are still long; Early mornings are cool While autumn is still young. Dew on the lotus Scatters pure perfume; Wind on the bamboos Gives off a gentle tinkling. I am idle and lonely, Lying down all day, Sick and decayed; No one asks for me; Thin dusk before my gates, Cassia blossoms inch deep. – Bai Juyi • I also have a lot of preserved foods, things that will keep for a long time like dried fish, seaweed or lotus seed. – Martin Yan • I embrace my body, and I embrace everything about myself. Coming full circle is a celebration of freedom and happiness because that’s what [my new album] ‘Lotus’ is representing. I’m embracing everything that I’ve grown to be and learned to be. – Christina Aguilera • I got things like the lotus position long before anybody else did, or at least in the mainstream. But I had fun. I guess my legs are pretty flexible, so I used to get a kick out of doing things like that. I would get into a full lotus with my legs and then roll around. – John Astin • I have a strong antipathy to everything connected with gardens, gardening and gardeners. . . . Gardening seems to me a kind of admission of defeat. . . . Man was made for better things than pruning his rose trees. The state of mind of the confirmed gardener seems to me as reprehensible as that of the confirmed alcoholic. Both have capitulated to the world. Both have become lotus eaters and drifters. – Colin Wilson • I saw Lotus F1 racing as the best choice for me to progress my career, after considering several other options that were available to me. – Heikki Kovalainen • I sit cross-legged on the rock The valleys and streams are cold and damp Sitting quietly is beautiful The cliffs are lost in mist and fog I rest happily in this place At dusk the tree shadows are low I look into my mind A white lotus emerges from the dark mud – Hanshan • I think it’s more, at least at the time, a sense of abstraction. My mind doesn’t really work in a way where there’s a definitive sense of something. I go one way and then it opens up into a million different ideas, and somehow, when you look at the art, Buddhist art, or particularly Tibetan art, you know, it’s a similar thing. All of a sudden there are a million lotus leaves and you’re following one to the next and to another, and I related to that, and it felt simple and easy to me. And it made me feel smart. – Jake Gyllenhaal • I want you to learn the lesson of the lotus. This flower springs forth from muddy waters. It raises its delicate petals to the sun and perfumes the world while, at the same time, its roots cling to the elemental muck, the very essence of the mortal experience. Without that soil, the flower would wither and die. – Colleen Houck • I was in yoga the other day. I was in full lotus position. My chakras were all aligned. My mind is cleared of all clatter and I’m looking out of my third eye and everything that I’m supposed to be doing. It’s amazing what comes up, when you sit in that silence. “Mama keeps whites bright like the sunlight, Mama’s got the magic of Clorox 2.” – Ellen DeGeneres • I will allow only my Lord to possess my sacred lotus pond, and every night you can make blossom in me flowers of fire. – Huang E • If the bees which seek the liquid oozing from the head of a lust-intoxicated elephant are driven away by the flapping of his ears, then the elephant has lost only the ornament of his head. The bees are quite happy in the lotus filled lake. – Chanakya • If we take shelter of the lotus feet of the spiritual master, we can become free from illusion, fear and distress. If we wholeheartedly beg for his mercy without any deceit then the spiritual master bestows all auspiciousness upon us. – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati • If you come to Plum Village in the summertime, you see many lotus flowers. Without the mud the lotus flowers cannot grow. You cannot separate lotus flowers from the mud. It is the same with understanding and love. These are two kinds of flowers that grow on the ground of suffering – Nhat Hanh • If you feel lost, disappointed, hesitant, or weak, return to yourself, to who you are, here and now and when you get there, you will discover yourself, like a lotus flower in full bloom, even in a muddy pond, beautiful – and strong. • If you sleep, Desire grows in you Like a vine in the forest. Like a monkey in the forest You jump from tree to tree, Never finding the fruit – From life to life, Never finding peace. If you are filled with desire Your sorrows swell Like the grass after the rain. But if you subdue desire Your sorrows shall fall from you Like drops of water from a lotus flower. – Gautama Buddha • I’m always very interested in breeding. Raising cacti is breeding. My lotus plant collection is breeding. The insects are breeding. – Takashi Murakami • I’m delighted to be coming back to Formula 1 after a two-year break, and I’m grateful to Lotus Renault GP for offering me this opportunity. – Kimi Raikkonen • I’m influenced by the music of the ’60s. It’s a mishmash of everything. To me, psychedelic can be all the way to a DJ. House music can be very psychedelic. ‘Flying Lotus’ is very psychedelic. Even though it’s urban and technological, it’s also mind-expanding, anything-can-go mishmash. – Anton Newcombe • In 1879 the Bengali scholar S.M. Tagore compiled a more extensive list of ruby colors from the Purana sacred texts: ‘like the China rose, like blood, like the seeds of the pomegranate, like red lead, like the red lotus, like saffron, like the resin of certain trees, like the eyes of the Greek partridge or the Indian crane…and like the interior of the half-blown water lily.’ With so many gorgeous descriptive possibilities it is curious that in English the two ancient names for rubies have come to sound incredibly ugly. – Victoria Finlay • In Egypt, I loved the perfume of the lotus. A flower would bloom in the pool at dawn, filling the entire garden with a blue musk so powerful it seemed that even the fish and ducks would swoon. By night, the flower might wither but the perfume lasted. Fainter and fainter, but never quite gone. Even many days later, the lotus remained in the garden. Months would pass and a bee would alight near the spot where the lotus had blossomed, and its essence was released again, momentary but undeniable. – Anita Diament • In Savasana or in meditation, the light of the eyes is drawn towards the lotus of the heart, so that the seat of the intelligence of the head is brought into contact with the seat of the intelligence of the heart, which is called the mind. Thus one passes from the individualistic state of consciousness to the universal state of consciousness. It is the merging of the intellect of the brain with the intellect of the soul. – B.K.S. Iyengar • In the land of the lotus-eaters there is no action. Action arises only from need, from dissatisfaction. It is purposeful striving towards something. Its ultimate end is always to get rid of a condition which is conceived to be deficient-to fulfill a need, to achieve satisfaction, to increase happiness. – Ludwig von Mises • In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner – not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are. – Shunryu Suzuki • In the Lotus Sutra, it is said everything is emptiness – this world is empty, hell is empty, heaven is empty, God is empty, everything is emptiness. Emptiness is the nature of all things, nothingness, so be attuned to nothingness and you will achieve. – Rajneesh • It does not matter if you are a rose or a lotus or a marigold. What matters is that you are flowering. – Rajneesh • It is the north wind that lashes men into Vikings; it is the soft, luscious south wind which lulls them to lotus dreams. – Ouida • It is the plight of man. And while the blame lies partly on the river ” Lotus gestures towards the dark waters before us “most of the blame lies on man’s inclination to tune into the noise that blares all around him instead of the beautiful silence that lies deep within. – Alyson Noel • It was an easy choice to return with Lotus Renault GP as I have been impressed by the scope of the team’s ambition. – Kimi Raikkonen • It’s a mining town in lotus land. – F. Scott Fitzgerald • It’s like growing lotus flowers. You cannot grow lotus flowers on marble. You have to grow them on the mud. Without mud you cannot have lotus flowers. Without suffering, you have no way to learn how to be understanding and compassionate. – Nhat Hanh • Just think, Vishnu sleeps in the cosmic ocean, and the lotus of the universe grows from his navel. On the lotus sits Brahma, the creator. Brahma opens his eyes, and a world comes into being, governed by an Indra. Brahma closes his eyes, and a world goes out of being. The life of a Brahma is 432,000 years. When he dies, the lotus goes back, and another lotus is formed, and another Brahma. Then think of the galaxies beyond galaxies in infinite space, each a lotus, with a Brahma sitting on it, opening his eyes, closing his eyes. – Joseph Campbell • Life is like a rain drop on a lotus leaf. Everybody realises that you’re either very lucky person or you’re not. – George Harrison • Like the lotus flower that is born out of mud, we must honor the darkest parts of ourselves and the most painful of our life’s experiences, because they are what allow us to birth our most beautiful self. – Debbie Ford • Like the lotus which thrives in mud, the potential for realization grows in the rich soil of everyday life – Dalai Lama • Lotus-land as it appears in ‘Free Will’ is simply a metaphor for an idealized background, a ‘land of milk and honey.’ It is sometimes also used as a pejorative name for Los Angeles, though that was not in my mind when I wrote it. – Neil Peart • Love is born in sexuality but sexuality is not love. The lotus is born in the mud, but the lotus is not just mud. And if mud remains mud of course there are bound to be tears on the cheeks. – Rajneesh • Love is the lotus, lust is the mud the lotus arises out of. – Rajneesh • May the honey-sweet flute music that flows from Lord Mukunda’s lotus mouth fill me with bliss. – Rupa Goswami • May we live like the lotus, at home in muddy water. – Gautama Buddha • Meditation is your awakening. The moment you awake, sleep disappears and with it all the dreams, all the projections, all expectations, all desires. Suddenly you are in a state of desirelessness, non-ambition, unfathomable silence. And only in this silence, blossoms flower in your being. Only in this silence the lotuses open their petals. – Rajneesh • Microsoft has had two goals in the last 10 years. One was to copy the Mac, and the other was to copy Lotus’ success in the spreadsheet – basically, the applications business. And over the course of the last 10 years, Microsoft accomplished both of those goals. And now they are completely lost. – Steve Jobs • My mother always said I must be part Mongolian because of my lotus-pale complexion and squid-ink black hair. – Diane Ackerman • My sole literary ambition is to write one good novel, then retire to my hut in the desert, assume the lotus position, compose my mind and senses, and sink into meditation, contemplating my novel. – Edward Abbey • Nay, do not grieve tho’ life be full of sadness, Dawn will not veil her spleandor for your grief, Nor spring deny their bright, appointed beauty To lotus blossom and ashoka leaf.

Nay, do not pine, tho’ life be dark with trouble, Time will not pause or tarry on his way; To-day that seems so long, so strange, so bitter, Will soon be some forgotten yesterday.

Nay, do not weep; new hopes, new dreams, new faces, The unspent joy of all the unborn years, Will prove your heart a traitor to its sorrow, And make your eyes unfaithful to their tears. – Sarojini Naidu • Number theorists are like lotus-eaters — having once tasted of this food they can never give it up. – Leopold Kronecker • O! Lover, Enjoyment on the soft body of a lotus is always risky and inconsistent because its route is always surrounded by thorns. – Manmohan Acharya • On the top of the head is a Chakra – Sahasradala or the thousand-petalled lotus. There is a Chakra in the middle of the forehead between the eyebrows and one in the heart-centre. The region between the navel and head constitutes the mental field. From navel downward extending till the terminus of the spinal chord, mūlādhāra, is the seat of the vital. – Sri Aurobindo • One thing is certain: you can never become anything other than yourself, and unless you become yourself you cannot be happy. Happiness happens only when a rosebush grows roseflowers; when it flowers, when it has its own individuality. You may be a rosebush and trying to flower as lotus flower – that is creating insanity. Erase the mind. And the way to erase it is not by fight: the way to erase it is just to become aware. – Rajneesh • Only the other day I was inquiring of an entire bed of old-fashioned roses, forced to listen to my ramblings on the meaning of the universe as I sat cross-legged in the lotus position in front of them. • Our first duty is to satisfy the spiritual master, who can arrange for the Lord’s mercy. A common man must first begin to serve the spiritual master or the devotee. Then, through the mercy of the devotee, the Lord will be satisfied. Unless one receives the dust of a devotee’s lotus feet on one’s head, there is no possibility of advancement. Unless one approaches a pure devotee, he cannot understand the Supreme Personality of Godhead. – A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada • Over the eons I’ve been a fan of, and sucker for, each latest automated system to ‘simplify’ and ‘bring order to’ my life. Very early on this led me to the beautiful-and-doomed Lotus Agenda for my DOS computers, and Actioneer for the early Palm. – James Fallows • Remember Mother Earth knows who these people are that are going to become the one heart. Really the better way to say it is one lotus. This place in the heart has always been referred to as the lotus. And when you find your way there, Mother Earth will completely take care of you and protect you and provide everything for you. Even though everything outside seems to be insane, it will be miraculous. – Drunvalo Melchizedek • Sandalwood, tagara, lotus, jasmine – the fragrance of virtue is unrivalled by such kinds of perfume. – Gautama Buddha • Say not, ‘I have found the truth,’ but rather, ‘I have found a truth.’ Say not, ‘ I have found the path of the soul.’ Say rather, ‘I have met the soul walking upon my path.’ For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. – Khalil Gibran • So as you are, in whatever conditions you are, in whatever situations you are, whatever may be the surroundings, like a dirty mire full of creatures and filth, you can become like lotuses. When you become like lotuses, all that is filth, all that is horrible can become fragrant. And this is what we have to achieve. – Nirmala Srivastava • The #lotus comes from the #murkiest #water.. but #grows into the #purest thing.- Nita Ambani • The banyan tree does not mean awakening, nor does the hill, nor the saint, nor the European couple. The lotus is a symbol of regeneration. – Swami Vivekananda • The Bible represents a fundamental guidepost for millions of people on the planet, in much the same way the Koran, Torah, and Pali Canon offer guidance to people of other religions. If you and I could dig up documentation that contradicted the holy stories of Islamic belief, Judaic belief, Buddhist belief, pagan belief, should we do that? Should we wave a flag and tell the Buddhists that the Buddha did not come from a lotus blossom? Or that Jesus was not born of a literal virgin birth? Those who truly understand their faiths understand the stories are metaphorical. – Dan Brown • The crown chakra is located several inches above the head, but it is not connected. The crown chakra, also known as the thousand-petal lotus of light, references the planes of light, of enlightenment. – Frederick Lenz • The honey in the flower or lotus does not crave for bees; they do not plead with the bees to come. Since they have tasted the sweetness, they themselves search for the flowers and rush in. They come because of the attachment between themselves and sweetness. So, too, is the relationship between the woman who knows the limits and the respect she evokes. – Sathya Sai Baba • The lotus flower is troubled At the sun’s resplendent light; With sunken head and sadly She dreamily waits for the night. – Heinrich Heine • The lotus grows in muddy waters but this flower does not show any trace of it: So we have to live in the world. – B.K.S. Iyengar • The lotus’ stem is as long as the depth of water, So men’s height is just as great as their inner strength. – Thiruvalluvar • The one who wanders independent in the world, free from opinions and viewpoints, does not grasp them and enter into disputations and arguments. As the lotus rises on its stalk unsoiled by the mud and the water, so the wise one speaks of peace and is unstained by the opinions of the world. – Gautama Buddha • The seated lotus postures are an amazing way to go into meditation, or simply just to take a moment to ground oneself. – Christy Turlington • The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals. – Khalil Gibran • The thousand petal lotus of light, the crown center, really does not become operative until one is on the verge of enlightenment itself. Then you really don’t have to meditate on it. The thousand petals gradually light up. – Frederick Lenz • The truth is that there are no good men, or bad men,’ he said. ‘It is the deeds that have goodness or badness in them. There are good deeds, and bad deeds. Men are just men – it is what they do, or refuse to do, that links them to good and evil. The truth is that an instant of real love, in the heart of anyone – the noblest man alive or the most wicked – has the whole purpose and process and meaning of life within the lotus-folds of its passion. The truth is that we are all, every one of us, every atom, every galaxy, and every particle of matter in the universe, moving toward God. – Gregory David Roberts • The ultimate source of energy, the sun is ready to set. The leaves of the blooming lotus flower in the pond are losing their lustre. A bumblebee, sitting on that lotus is enjoying the romantic pleasure and murmuring passionate songs. – Manmohan Acharya • Their love as a dragonfly, skimming over echo park, stoppin to visit the lotus. Eating dreams and drinking blue sky. – Janet Fitch • There are still some terrible cliches in the presentation of Indian fiction. The lotus flower. The hennaed hands. In mainland Europe, people still slap these images on my books and I go bananas. – Hari Kunzru • There is a beautiful expression of this in the Chandogya Upanishad: ‘There is this City of Brahman, (that is the body), and in this city there is a shrine, and in that shrine there is a small lotus, and in that lotus there is a small space, (akasa). Now what exists within that small space, that is to be sought, that is to be understood.’ This is the great discovery of the Upanishads, this inner shrine, this guha, or cave of the heart, where the inner meaning of life, of all human existence, is to be found. – Bede Griffiths • There is the mud, and there is the lotus that grows out of the mud. We need the mud in order to make the lotus. – Nhat Hanh • There’s a kind of training, when you are sitting in a session in the Japanese tradition or any of the Buddhist traditions, taking your lotus posture or whatever it is. That’s what you’re doing. – Anne Waldman • There’s just so much stuff that sounds like Flying Lotus now – I really like what he does, but I don’t want to be like him. The new stuff is more experimental. – Gold Panda • To be beautiful means to be yourself.You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself. When you are born a lotus flower, be a beautiful lotus flower, don’t try to be a magnolia flower. If you crave acceptance and recognition and try to change yourself to fit what other people want you to be, you will suffer all your life. True happiness and true power lie in understanding yourself, accepting yourself, having confidence in yourself. -Nhat Hanh • To the sky, I rise / Spread my wings, and fly / I leave the past behind / And say goodbye to the scared child inside / I sing for freedom, and for love / I look at my reflection / Embrace the woman I’ve become / The unbreakable lotus in me / I now set free – Christina Aguilera • Water surrounds the lotus flower, but does not wet its petals. – Gautama Buddha • Waterlilies always come in Buddhist sculpture. The Buddhas all stand on lotus pedestals, because the lotus is grown from the mud. The mud represents the stained world, a dirty world, but growing from the dirt is such a beautiful, pure thing. This is the way the spirit should be. – Hiroshi Sugimoto • When I go from hence, let this be my parting word, that what I have seen is unsurpassable. I have tasted of the hidden honey of this lotus that expands on the ocean of light, and thus I am blessed—let this be my parting word. In this playhouse of infinite forms I have had my play and here have I caught sight of him who is formless. My whole body and my limbs have thrilled with his touch who is beyond touch; and if the end comes here, let it come—let this be my parting word. – Rabindranath Tagore • When I notice a rear wheel overtaking me, I know I’m sitting in a Lotus. – Graham Hill • When one, abandoning greed, feels no greed for what would merit greed, greed gets shed from him – like a drop of water from a lotus leaf. – Gautama Buddha • When we speak of the dust of the lotus feet of the Spiritual Master, we are speaking of humble approach to serve his instructions. Unless we humbly serve the instructions of the great soul, it is Krishna’s arrangement the He never reveals Himself. – Radhanath Swami • When you sit in the full lotus position, your left foot is on your right thigh and your right foot is on your left thigh. When we cross our legs like this, even though we have a right leg and a left leg, they become one. The position expresses the oneness of duality: not two and not one. This is the most important teaching: not two, and not one. Our body and mind are not two and not one. If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one. – Shunryu Suzuki • Whenever you should doubt your self-worth, remember the lotus flower. Even though it plunges to life from beneath the mud, it does not allow the dirt that surrounds it to affect its growth or beauty. – Suzy Kassem • Worship of The Lotus Feet of The Spiritual Master: There is no work as auspicious as serving the spiritual master. Of all worship, the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is the greatest but the worship of the lotus feet of the spiritual master is even greater than the worship of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Unless this is firmly realized we cannot understand what saintly association means, we cannot understand what the shelter of a spiritual master means, we cannot understand that we are dependent and he is our maintainer. – Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati • YOU are the big drop of dew under the lotus leaf, I am the smaller one on its upper side,’ said the dewdrop to the lake. – Rabindranath Tagore • You can purify your existence by feeling deep within yourself a beautiful rose or lotus, or any other flower that you like. A flower is all purity. Try to identify yourself with the consciousness of the flower or with the purity of the flower. Today it is imagination, but if you continue imagining for five days, or ten days, or a month or two, then you are bound to see and feel the flower within you. First you may feel it, then you are bound to see the existence of the flower, and then automatically the fragrance and the purity of the flower will enter into you to purify you. – Sri Chinmoy • You can remain in the world for any number of years, but don’t let the world take hold. Don’t let the world take hold of the inside world. There is the example of the lotus. It stays deep down in the mud. It comes up to the light, and it can’t stay without water because it would die. But it does not get mixed up either with the mud or the water. You have seen the lotus; even if the water comes it just goes off again. Now, when they talk of God, they always say ‘the lotus eyes, the lotus feet’ because of this inner significance. – Sathya Sai Baba • You have to measure your success by the way your audience responds to your games. No matter how small that audience is, it’s yours. Your game is part of the lives and the memories of those people in a way that WordPerfect or Lotus 1-2-3 or Windows can never be. – Orson Scott Card • You like being vague, don’t you? (Amanda) It was a choice of being a Dark-Hunter or a prophet. Personally I like the slash-and-kill stuff much more than prayers and the lotus position. (Acheron) – Sherrilyn Kenyon • You must be a lotus, unfolding its petals when the sun rises in the sky, unaffected by the slush where it is born or even the water which sustains it! – Sai Baba • YOUR HEART IS FULL of fertile seeds, waiting to sprout. Just as a lotus flower springs from the mire to bloom splendidly, the interaction of the cosmic breath causes the flower of the spirit to bloom and bear fruit in this world. – Morihei Ueshiba

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[ecotone99]

[UR] ‘Vaguepost’

It was one of THOSE posts on social media. The ones where it’s obvious the person is upset but you have no idea why. The clues are scarce and the details are vague or nonexistent. Traditionally, the term ‘vaguepost’ has been applied. The poster wants to vent about something that has made them very sad but for whatever reason, they do not feel comfortable spelling out the circumstances. Maybe they are going through a breakup and are trying to be deliberately obtuse, to avoid outing the person who caused their pain. Either that, or revealing the facts would cause more issues.

Either way, the vast majority of the people reading those vague posts have no idea what’s the matter. In most cases, the posters do not even want advice or real solutions. They just want to vent and gain some general sympathy. I guess I was too clueless for that. It just seems like pointless drama for its own sake; most of the time. I assumed those who knew the vague-poster better than I, would also know the secret details. I usually let those go, or just offer a polite ‘thumbs up’ but this particular one seemed to have more to it than an appeal for pity. There really seemed to be legitimate pain in her words. It moved me.

Like many online ‘friends’, I didn’t know the woman who posted it very well. I had chatted with her years earlier in a discussion group and liked the substance of her thoughts. It was enough to reach out and send her a ‘friend request’ back then but honestly, I only knew the scant details she offered about herself in passing. I’m not even sure if I would recognize her if I passed her on the street and yet, I was moved by her short online statement.

I must have read and re-read the post a dozen times. Then I went to her page to read the preceding posts (to see if I could glean the meaning of the most recent one). Nothing. Honestly, I had no clue about why she was so sad. There were no obvious precursors to heartbreak or personal tragedy in the earlier messages. It was a mystery that I kept coming back to. I like to fix things. I enjoy finding solutions to problems. It gives me an ego boost to set things right again but in this case, I had no tools to work with.

I debated keeping my mouth shut. That would have been the prudent thing to do. Then I waited for others to make comments which might shed more light on the true source of her problems. There were only a handful of well meaning, general sympathy comments offered by her friends. They were just as clueless as I was. They were also fishing for details in order to offer up real help but none was forthcoming. It seems that my friend was going to be tight-lipped about the source of her deep woes.

At that point, I could have left well enough alone and waited for my friend to recover from her mystery source of depression. That’s what I had done a hundred other times when similar situations presented themselves. Instead I sent her an instant message. It wasn’t read. Probably others had also sent PM’s to no avail. Part of me wanted to cease contacting her with that. I’d made an effort to reach out to her. I didn’t even know her if the truth was told but I’d still made an effort to show that I cared. I started putting my efforts into other things.

I assumed her real life friends were taking care of things. They actually knew her. They were surely aware of any deep relationship problems or personal issues she had. I reassured myself that there were far better people in her life, to be there for her than me. Minutes passed. I’d almost forgotten about it. The rest of the world had already moved on but I couldn’t shake the nagging worry I had. It was something I didn’t even want to articulate. There was no specific reference to harming herself or anything like that in the message. It was just an underlying tone of true despair that gnawed at me. It was what was not said. My sense of unease intensified.

I checked my earlier IM where I’d reached out to her. It still hadn’t been read. I don’t mind telling you, it wasn’t easy for me to let it go AND it wasn’t easy to keep contacting her. I’ve always been about ‘minding my own business’. This was way outside of that. I went on her profile info and looked for a phone number. Most people leave that field blank. They don’t want it to fall into the hands of spammers or crooks. Amazingly, there was a number in the field. I jotted it down quickly but dialing it was a different story. I wrestled with the potential risks. I struggled especially with the awkwardness of speaking to anyone for the first time. I’d already made a couple sincere efforts to help. Most people would accept that as ‘enough’ and not cross any more social boundaries. I was one of those people too; until I pressed ‘call’.

It rang and rang, and rang. Nothing. I let it keep going. Voicemail never picked up. I was tempted to hang up but figured if she wasn’t there, then it wasn’t annoying anyone. I switched over to the IM app. My message had finally been seen. I assumed the call had drawn her attention to it. It was still ringing. I typed ‘That’s me calling you.’ Finally she answered. Her voice was distant and hazy.

“Hellllloooo?” Although I had never heard her voice, I could tell she was very drowsy, or deeply disoriented. She sounded drunk or drugged.

“Hey Emily. It’s umm Jake. I just wanted to check on you. Are you alright?”

“Uhhh hi ‘Jake’. Jaaake whoooo?”

She was obviously confused by my unceremonious introduction. I explained that we were ‘friends’ from an old, defunct discussion group. From her responses, I could tell she was really out of it and incapable of rationalizing anything. There were huge pauses and gaps in her responses. I asked her what was wrong and she began to cry and sob. From what I could gather, it was relationship problems. ‘Marco’ has cheated on her with someone and then left her when she called him out on it. At least that’s what I gathered from her slurred speech and incoherent narrative. I asked if she had been drinking but I already knew the answer to that. What I really wanted to know was if she had taken anything else besides that. I was worried she had taken some sleeping pills or painkillers. Eventually she explained that she had downed a whole bottle of pills. I couldn’t make out what she said they were, but with alcohol, it was probably a deadly cocktail.

She kept saying she just wanted to ‘go back to sleep and sunbathe in the beautiful light.’ Unfortunately I knew what that meant but I did my best to keep her engaged with me and talking. Then she would get quiet and nod off again. I would have to yell or make odd noises to get her attention back. This went on for several minutes while I tried to figure out what to do. I had to keep her talking while I tried to find the 911 call center for her town. I’m not much of a multitasker but I managed to explain what was going on in an email to them. I listed her full name and phone number. Only time would tell if they would get my message in time and take it seriously.

I figured if she threw up, it might minimize the effect of the pills dissolving into her system. I started describing anything I could to gross her out and make her stomach feel queasy. If I went for too disgusting though, she’d just hang up. I had to find the right balance. I guess she was already nauseous. My little ‘pep talk’ did the trick. I heard her vomit and then there was a knock at her door. My hastily typed email had been received by the emergency medical center in her hometown.

They immediately went to action and started performing life-saving measures on her, right there in her bedroom. One of the EMT’s picked up her phone and asked if I was the one who’d reported it. I explained that I was alarmed by the tone of her social media post and decided she needed some help.

“She definitely did.”; He agreed. “There’s an empty bottle of sleeping pills in the bathroom but we have her now. It could have easily killed her with all the alcohol she also consumed. You’re a good friend, Jake. We’ll get her to the hospital and stabilize her. Bye.”

I didn’t hear anything for a couple days. I admit that I did an internet search in her hometown to see if there were any updates. In the end I decided ‘no news was good news’. I kept reminding myself that she and I were not really close; and despite my sincere effort to help in her time of need, I might never hear from her again. A good deed was its own reward. On the third day, I received a call from a number I didn’t immediately recognize. I just assumed it was a sales call but I answered anyway. Turns out, it was Emily.

“Hello Jake. It’s... Emily Brown. This is so embarrassing. I want to thank you for calling and checking on me Tuesday. Words can’t describe how much I appreciate what you did. I don’t remember much of what we talked about but if you hadn’t stepped forward and made that extraordinary effort, I wouldn’t be here now. I was deeply depressed. My boyfriend had dumped me after cheating with another woman and I couldn’t ‘see any light at the end of the tunnel’. While my own friends.., you know what I mean... while ‘they’ either rolled their eyes at my post or just offered some empty sympathy, you actually found my number and called me. I’m deeply touched. You even emailed paramedics while we talked! I don’t know how you did that but I’m eternally grateful. My doctor has me on medicine and it’s already helping me feel better. Thank you so much for reaching out and keeping me talking until they arrived. You literally saved my life.”

I attempted to downplay my role in her dramatic recovery but it did feel good inside to know my emotional instincts had been correct. She really needed a friend and I had been there for her. The ‘vague-post’ was a passive cry for help that too many others dismissed as exaggerated or insincere. I guess I’ll always examine the meaning behind the words, as well as their unspoken implications. Sometimes it’s not what is said, but what isn’t spoken that is most important.

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