#Contemplative Science

[markllockwood]

The definition of Contemplation

In our fast-paced, technology-driven world, finding moments of genuine peace and clarity can feel like an elusive dream. Yet, within us lies a powerful capacity for inner exploration and transformation: contemplation. Contemplation is not merely a passive act but a dynamic and profound practice that holds the key to unlocking our highest potential. We will seek to understand this concept as we…

[compassionmattersmost]

Quantum Kindness: The Future Has Always Been Here

They say quantum computing will change everything. That by tapping into superposition and entanglement, we’ll compute across multiverses—solving problems with impossible speed, even generating physical objects through manipulation of nanoparticles. A replicator. A cup of Earl Grey, hot. But what if some of us are already doing this—not with machines, but with our hearts? What if consciousness…

[polysyndetonaddictsupportgroup]

pez dispenser update, yay!

I am Very Interested in the direction you're taking izuku here. He seems to have come out the other side of this breakdown going, "no look! I trust you guys! Here, I trust you guys so much! You can know about the severe injuries I had as a child that never got a police report!"

It's funny to read izuku's pov vs aizawa. Izuku is just like, wow this all needs to end so I can get back to being the Normal And Awesome Deku I have turned myself into, and aizawa is like thirty seconds from having his own panic attack at having a few months to turn this kid into a functional human being.

You can truly tell that with how izuku keeps insisting on that he's got this by himself, with no understanding how crazy it is to expect his friends and teachers to back out and let him take over, that he, still, still, STILL has simply 0 faith or expectation that his teacher is driven to help the little kid in izuku that he's buried so deep down there. That an authority figure who isn't all might wants to save him. I want to eat his unthinking, warped by trauma thought patterns, they are delicious.

Kinda touching that midoriya foresaw and tried to avert the all might conversation issue. Rip, dude really tried, but baby izuku is like one of those puddles in flooded old buildings you can find videos of people dropping a rock in -- it doesn't look that deep, but if you tried to put your foot in, you would be getting a whole lot more than your shoe wet.

Yeahhhhhh Izuku’s really not handling it the best.

Izuku genuinely didn’t keep everything a secret all these years because he didn’t trust his friends. It wasn’t that he thought they’d react poorly or hurt him with the information or spread it around or anything like that. This was purely due to his own internal issues around it.

But they’re three years deep into being in the fucking trenches together. And Izuku very much is considered a bedrock of the class. You can see it in their internal monologues—everyone trusts him implicitly. It’s Izuku. If one of them was going through something sensitive or painful, he’d be at the top of the list of people to turn to. For like, the entire class.

And while Izuku isn’t per se aware of the fact that the entire class views him as the best of them, he is painfully aware of the fact that they’ve opened up to him over the years. And that this is making it look like he didn’t tell them a single detail about his life before he came to the school. Which is fair, because he sort of didn’t.

So he’s overcompensating. He doesn’t need privacy because he trusts them so so much and this proves it, right?? They can totally know the sordid details of the past he’s in active crisis over.

He’s scared that he’s going to lose the people who have trusted him over the years because he seemingly didn’t trust them back. But they all trust him so much that they’re more beating themselves up than blaming him.

Todoroki and Mirio were in that scene like “uuuuhhhh you look like you’re a second from a panic attack we can totally give you space if it makes you more comfortable” and Izuku’s in a spiral like Why Would I Need Space I Trust You Both Implicitly Please Ignore The Obvious Distress.

Fundamentally, Izuku has never processed what happened to him as a kid. He didn’t tell them because he wasn’t ready to confront how bad it was back then. It wasn’t about trust. Telling them meant saying aloud what happened. He just wasn’t ready for that.

And from the path canon took, I don’t really see Izuku trusting adults. His childhood did absolutely nothing to make him think teachers would protect him. And for all Aizawa did right, I think this is one bag in canon he legitimately dropped.

I want to be clear—Aizawa was working at a severe disadvantage. He didn’t even have a lot to tell him the problem existed, let alone how to address it. But it’s specifically the Hero Killer Stain Arc that makes me think that Izuku only would trust Aizawa to a certain point.

After the Hero Killer Stain Arc, Aizawa canonically calls out Iida, Todoroki, and Izuku in front of the entire class. He doesn’t mention what it's about, but he makes it very clear that he knows what happened and that he disapproves. And his criticism is specific: In instances where you are out matched, it is better to run and get help. Iida, Midoriya, and Todoroki need to understand that

The thing is that Izuku and Todoroki both considered that as their first option and then correctly deduced that they'd be burying Iida if they did that.

I will actually die on the hill that is that Izuku and Todoroki did everything right when it came to the Hero Killer Stain. Iida caused the problem, but the fact that he made mistakes was the point of that arc for him. But Izuku and Todoroki?

They both reacted perfectly. And if they had done a single thing differently, they'd have two dead bodies.

When Izuku realizes that Iida's in danger, the city is on fire, Nomu are attacking the train, and his supervisor has fucked off to fight monsters attacking the city. He does not have an adult hero who is free to bring with him, and we know for a fact that he did not have time to hesitate or try to find other options, because he arrives the second before Iida dies as-is. When he's on scene, his absolute first instinct is to run. Izuku canonically clocked the fact that he was out matched, evaluated whether he could safely retreat, and realized he’d never be able to get out of there with Iida and Native. He’d have to leave one or both of them to die.

So he asked for help the safest way he could: sending out the mass text and stalling for time. And canonically, he wasn’t hoping a classmate would show up to the fight. He was hoping they’d report it to their supervisors and get him help, which is exactly what multiple of his classmates did.

Todoroki, for his part, correctly clocked that something was wrong with Izuku when he got the message. And he didn’t just fuck off without telling anyone where he was going. He evaluated the situation, realized the city was on fucking fire and there wasn’t a single hero free to go with them, and told the heroes with him that they needed to go to this exact location the first second they could. And he didn’t have a moment to hesitate or figure something else out, because he also showed up at the very last second before Iida took a sword to his spine.

Frankly, Todoroki and Izuku couldn’t have possibly handled the situation better, but they got absolutely shit on in the aftermath. I don’t recall a single adult who told them they did the right thing, except maybe Native. They had the fucking chief of police telling them they were no better than the guy who tried to kill their teenage friend with a sword and their teacher publicly calling them out in front of the class without the benefit of context.

If I was Izuku, I would have walked out of that entire thing having my preexisting distrust of adults affirmed. Like. There isn’t a world where Izuku realistically looks back on his actions and thinks “damn I really should have left Iida die.” He’s not going to change a fucking thing in what he did. Every single time, he’s going to go save his friend. The only realistic take away Izuku could have from Aizawa’s call out was “wow, that guy is not going to have my back if I have to make a tough call. So if I have to make one, then I’m just not going to him for help.”

Which is kind of where we're at in pez right now, and Aizawa's starting to realize it. Don't get me wrong, Izuku trusts Aizawa more than any teacher he ever had growing up. He doesn't think Aizawa is going to be actively malicious to him. But he also doesn't necessarily think Aizawa's going to have his back.

The crux of it is in chapter 4. Tiny Izuku says that Mr. Aizawa is already on Izuku's side, and Izuku's immediate reply is, "I promise you that Mr. Aizawa has never once been on my side." He back pedals fast, clarifies that he thinks Mr. Aizawa is fair and not on anyone's side, but his knee-jerk reaction is undeniable.

And to me? It's because Aizawa genuinely has not been on Izuku's side since he came to UA. And I don't mean Aizawa has been malicious to Izuku. Fundamentally, the issue is that he misdiagnosed the problem.

Aizawa has spent his entire time with Izuku mistakenly believing that the source of Izuku's issues was the same as Bakugou's. He is only now realizing that his issues were more like Shinsou's.

Fundamentally, Aizawa correctly recognized that Izuku's problems came from the fact that he was raised in an unjust system. But he misunderstood what Izuku's position in it was.

Here's what Aizawa knows, from the jump: Izuku and Bakugou came from the same school. Both have very powerful Quirks. Both have obvious issues with the other. Izuku specifically moves and looks like he had a professional trainer, meaning someone invested in his training as a hero. Bakugou talks like someone who's been told his entire life that the sun shines out his ass and never got punished for being a little shit. Izuku's more muted, but he came from the same school. Two kids with powerful quirks? Likely were getting away with the exact same shit.

When you have an unjust system, you have the people running it, the people benefitting from it, and the people being victimized by it. If the teachers at Aldera were letting kids with powerful quirks get away with murder, both Izuku and Bakugou were likely benefitting from that. And it is absolutely vital that Aizawa undoes that damage before they debut.

He doesn't even need to think Izuku, specifically, was abusing his position in this power imbalance. The damage is done from how the teachers at aldera were likely treating him. Teachers that produce kids like Bakugou tell talented, powerful kids that they're special, that they're above the rules, that they've got something so fundamentally important about them that they can get away with more. Even if you don't chose to abuse that narrative in the moment, that's a hell of a formative experience.

They're about to have a ridiculous amount of power. They are about to be in charge of enforcing the rules. And people who are in charge of enforcing the rules and think they're above them turn into Endeavor.

Aizawa's approached Izuku from a sort of tough love perspective from the jump. He didn't cut him an ounce of slack, and it's because he genuinely was trying to do right by Izuku. No, he's not going to get to smash up his body and make himself a hazard. Figure it out, or go home.

He's had plenty of time to learn how to manage his quirk, after all.

With Stain? I don't think Aizawa, if he knew the full circumstances, would genuinely say the right call is to have Iida's fucking funeral. I think he'd agree with the decisions Izuku and todoroki made. But he didn't have all the information, and, fatally, he didn't ask. He assumed.

He's got three powerful, bullheaded students who end up in a back alley in the middle of the night, having all separately ditched the heroes they were supposed to be joined at the fucking hip with. He absolutely thinks that they either planned it together or that, when they realized what Iida did, Todoroki and Iida went after him in secret to try to keep Iida from getting in trouble--and almost got them all killed in the process. There is absolutely no way Aizawa knows that they actually tried to run and get help at every turn.

Aizawa made assumptions. And a big reason why he felt comfortable making those assumptions was because he thought he knew what Izuku's problem was. He thought Izuku, like Bakugou, had been benefitting from teachers turning a blind eye to his misbehavior for years. But the problem was the exact opposite. Teachers had been turning a blind eye to his victimization for years.

He shouldn't have been treating him like Bakugou. He should have been treating him like Shinsou.

Aizawa's trying to correct the damage of past teachers. If they've spent years telling Izuku he's god's gift to mankind and it doesn't matter what he does because he's a hero and that makes up for it, Aizawa needs to hold him to the fucking rules. He needs him to understand that he's not special, he's not the main character, he's not intrinsically better or more important or above the rules in some magically important way. He doesn't want to hear excuses. He doesn't want to know why this time it was different. Izuku needs to understand that he has to live by the rules too, because he's going to be in charge of enforcing them soon.

But if they've spent years telling him he's worthless, that people can hurt him and it's okay, that he can never, ever expect help from them because he's not worth it? Then fuck, Aizawa needed to do the opposite. He needed the same end result, don't get me wrong--an understanding that the system equally applies to everyone--but he needs to make Izuku believe that the system will protect him again. That Aizawa will protect him. And Aizawa's combing over every fucking interaction they've ever had, and realizing that he hasn't done that, because he spent all his time trying to correct a problem that didn't exist.

I think Aizawa's been beating his head against the problem that is Midoriya Izuku for the past three years. Because Izuku's a hard-worker. He is brilliant. He is a natural leader. He is the fucking cornerstone of the class. He is shining so bright that it's going to kill him, because Aizawa knows how to recognize a star that's burning out.

For three years, Aizawa has tried and failed to get Izuku to realize he can and should ask for help. And he has failed because he thought the problem was that Izuku didn't think he needed help, when the problem was actually that he thought no one would give it to him.

In this last chapter, Izuku finally said aloud the reason behind the core issue Aizawa’s had with him his entire time at UA: Growing up, he thought that there was literally one man on the planet who would care enough to save him. He was the most hero-obsessed boy Aizawa’s ever met, and he thought All Might was the only hero alive he could count on to care if he lived or died.

There it is. The exact answer about every scrap of self destructive behavior that Aizawa’s been trying and failing to remedy for years. Why the fuck would he ask for help when he needs it? He’s spent his entire life living in a world where people wouldn’t piss on him if he were on fire. Aizawa needed every day of those three years to reverse that kind of damage, and he’s out of fucking time.

Aizawa is legitimately terrified that he fucked up and that it's going to kill Izuku.

Izuku’s Quirklessness is the missing piece of the puzzle that makes everything fall into place—which is why he’s so pissed at All Might for not telling him. Aizawa’s actually kicking himself for not noticing the obvious discrepancies in Izuku’s past. The fact that he grew up with a powerful Quirk was the factor that made him return to the same incorrect conclusion again and again. There were enough hints that he feels guilty for not figuring it out anyway, but if he had known about Izuku’s Quirklessness from the start? He would have figured it out in seconds.

Now that he knows, Aizawa’s changed how he handles Izuku. He doesn’t let there be a single doubt about what he’s doing or why. He makes Izuku explain himself, so that way there’s no more miscommunications around what he means. He makes sure to compliment him whenever he does something right—he’s trying to change courses, but he’s panicking that it’s too little, too late.

And now he’s got this goddamn criminal investigation that Izuku wants to bury, and it’s killing him. Because that’s his student, and he was hurt horribly. And his student just cannot comprehend why Aizawa cannot let it go.

And then there’s All Might.

All Might’s conversation with baby Izuku, for me, forecloses the possibility that explaining OfA is a solution here.

All Might really went in and knocked it out of the park with the best possible attempt at convincing Tiny Izuku that he’s himself. He immediately failed, albeit, but he honestly couldn’t have done better.

There he is, Izuku’s lifelong hero. And he’s there to say the things Izuku’s spent his whole life wanting to hear. All Might met him, and Izuku inspired him. He reminded him of himself when he was young. He thought he could be a hero. He was so impressed he offered to personally mentor Izuku.

And he loved him. Believe you are him, because I loved you too much to ever let anyone take you from me. There is a fundamental flaw in your theory that simply no one cared enough to notice or stop him, because I love you with all of me. I would have noticed. I would have saved you.

If there is absolutely anything that could have convinced Tiny Izuku, it would be that. This isn’t about quality of the explanation. There’s an internal issue that needs to be fixed before Tiny Izuku will believe any of this.

And I think Izuku recognizes this, on a level. As much as he and Tiny Izuku clash, Izuku gets him. He can typically predict Tiny Izuku’s exact responses to things.

But he’s never approached Tiny Izuku like someone he can explain this to. He’s spent this entire time trying to cheat code his way out of this situation. He wants Mr. Aizawa to erase him or to go find the Quirk user and find away to negate the Quirk. He’s never actually even considered explaining this all to himself as a solution.

Because he knows that there’s some kind of fundamental impossibility about it. Even if he can’t say exactly what it is, he knows that there’s an internal issue that means he’s not going to be able to just tell Tiny Izuku the truth.

Voice of God, he is dead fucking right about Tiny Izuku not buying OfA and being liable to tell everyone out of spite. Tiny Izuku would have that shit on the news.

Fundamentally, Izuku is aware that there is a deeper problem driving Tiny Izuku. He knows that it’s not about the quality of the explanation. There is something deeply, profoundly wrong because of what happened to him that makes him absolutely unable to accept that Izuku is him.

But Izuku has never known how to solve the mental wounds his childhood left him with. He still has them himself. He’s been burying them for years, and he can’t anymore.

When action opens in pez, Izuku himself is not okay. He’s just… bleeding internally. He knows how to hurt in ways people can’t see. But you can see how much his childhood is still bothering him in his defense of Mirio. He has never been able to let go of what happened to him. The wounds never healed.

And he doesn’t know how to go to these people he loves and tell them that what they’re trying fundamentally will fail, because he knows he’s been hiding this fucking shipwreck of his own mental health for the past three years but they don’t have a fucking clue at the scale of the problem.

At the end of the day, All Might went in there because he wanted to save Izuku. And Izuku told him not to because he cannot imagine himself being saved.

[fisheito]

Super important question. Do you think Yakumo is ticklish?

wait hold on i have to look this up

[mysteryevolution]

5, for the hatchling ask game? (could also be taken as a free space to share hearthian specbio headcanons if you'd like :D )

Oh. Oh boy! Thank you for the ask because this is gonna be fun! Long rant incoming, so I'll go ahead and put this all below a read more.

Prepare to learn about nictating membranes, gills, brachial hearts, scale coloration/patterns, why I think Hearthians have four eyes, and how those eyes function. Not quite in that exact order.

Eyes, Color Vision, and Nictating Membranes -

So, the reason some aquatic organisms on earth developed four eyes or mechanisms adjacent to four eyes (such as split pupils) was to see above and below water at the same time. This is likely the same reason Hearthians evolutionarily have four eyes. (If you don’t already know about them, check out some photos of anableps, also called the “four-eyed fish.” A lot of my science for this post was inspired by anableps .)

Proto-Hearthians are mentioned to have resided in pools of water within caves, and it’s likely that those pools contained debris that could be stirred up by movement, such as a loose sediment, and they would need a way to protect their eyes while retaining visual acuity. Hence, Hearthians have a nictitating membrane: not quite a third eyelid! But kind of. It's close. It's there to help with underwater navigation via not letting silt directly hit the eyeball.

Additionally, a Hearthian’s top eyes and bottom eyes have different color receptors. One of the best colors for penetrating murky/lower visibility water is yellow light. As such, their lower eyes, which are meant to spend more time below water, contain red and green color receptors to create the illusion of yellow by mixing the two light wavelengths! The top eyes contain blue and green color receptors, and their brains essentially piecemeal the information from both sets of eyes to create “true color” vision. 

(This means not only is Gossan’s depth perception messed up, so is their color vision. Or it’s at least somewhat skewed, unfortunately for them. Oops?)

Gills, Three Hearts, and a Little Bit of Metamorphosis -

Hearthians have gills along their sides/ribs. And you may be thinking, hey? Doesn’t Hatchling drown in the game if they jump into water? Why would you give them gills? That's weird.

Yes. But by all appearances, Hearthians are amphibious, and it would make sense that Hatchling would know how to swim. Hatchling clearly does not, but that's a whole different can of worms. Of course, amphibians on Earth don’t retain gills unless they remain in their larval form, such as axolotls, but I have to have a little fun deviating from Earth norms when it comes to aliens. We (I) slap neoteny on things here (in my headcanons). 

Graphite “the worst amphibian on the entire planet” is an outlier and should not be included in data. The fact they drown so quickly, however, inclines me to believe that to remain game accurate, I must account for why the gills…are so very bad at their job. (It's either that or Graphite/Hatchling specifically just forgets how breathing works. Let me be real here, they would.)

How the gills are orientated: they run horizontally from a hand’s length below the shoulder blade to the front of the body. Pretend to draw a line vertically from where the hip bone meets the femur. That's approximately where the gill slits stop. There are two sets on either side of the body. 

These gills are not useless to the point of vestigial, per se, but they’re not the most functional organ either. There are two brachial hearts that branch off the main heart, one on the left gills and one on the right gills, (a mechanism observed in many real fish! Examples include cuttlefish - my main inspiration here - as well as hagfish (except they have four hearts), and octopi). Most real reptiles and amphibians have three chambered hearts as opposed to the mammalian four chambered heart, so the brachial heart structure used here is essentially just a more extreme version of spacing out those bits. The brachial hearts help move oxygen more efficiently into the bloodstream when it is taken in by the gills.

Gills are a remnant from the completely aquatic tadpole stage of the Hearthian lifecycle. Tadpoles have cute little webbed fingers and toes, a tail, very prominent gills, and lack of external ears. They still have internal ear canals, but sound travels much farther through water, and external ear shells aren't necessary for picking up vibrations. If anything, they'd create more drag when swimming, and that's counterproductive to survival. This stage lasts for about a year until the tadpole is ready to fully transition onto the land. They'll undergo a metamorphosis as they get closer to the one-year mark, losing most of their tails and webbing, growing proper air-breathing lungs, and developing external ears. Once they can breathe air, they're considered a hatchling.

Culturally, there's two stages to hatchlinghood: "you've still got some of your tail left" stage, and the "you no longer have a tail" stage, or, in human terms, pre-teen and teen.

Even though the gills and brachial hearts remain throughout all life stages, they don’t increase proportionally to body size once the tadpole stage is over. This means they don't have the capability to keep up with the energy demands of an adult body. The main heart is doing most of the cardiovascular work now.

Additionally, a lot of the water they might find themself swimming in isn’t oxygen rich. Breathing through gills will only provide a very meager amount of supplemental oxygen. They can, however, breathe better in cold water because of the higher concentration of dissolved oxygen available. You would think this is counterintuitive because, well, warm water is a better solute, right? And you'd be correct. But that also means warmer water contains a higher amount of CO2 than cold water, the same reason warm sodas go flat. The CO2 that couldn't dissolve before at lower temperatures suddenly can dissolve. This is not good for breathing.

When a hatchling or adult does breathe through their gills, picture it like this: you’re running, and you get a stitch in your side. You continue running while trying to breathe, and your breaths become fast and shallow. The balance of CO2 and oxygen is thrown off by breathing in this way, even though it’s a mechanism meant to try and disperse the buildup of lactic acid from your muscles. As such, you’re breathing, but you are not breathing efficiently. It can't be sustained for long. That, and in this analogy, you're breathing in a liquid, and you'd have to exhale underwater before you try breathing air again. Otherwise, you will start choking. Drowning. One of the two. It’s not the world’s best pulmonary system.

Scale Patterns and Coloration -

So, there’s this very fun form of camouflage present in many real animals called countershading. Countershading is exactly what it sounds like: two different colors working to provide protection in different environmental contexts simultaneously. Thinking mainly of birds and fish here, these organisms often have lighter bellies (ventral coloration) and darker backs (dorsal coloration). This is because when viewed from below, they are backdropped against the sky, or the top of the water column, lit by the sun, which is brighter than the rest of their surroundings. When viewed from above, they are seen backdropped against the darker colors of the ground or the depths of the waters. I think Hearthians should get lighter colored scales (off white/yellow-ish) on their tummies as a treat. 

As for scale patterns, why have patterns at all? What’s the point? There are two answers here, and I will only go into detail with the latter: attraction of mates and more camouflage!

Essentially, like many real animals, it’s likely that their spots/scale patches are a form of camouflage. And in my mind since the Hearthians all have mineral names (or names related to geological features, looking at Esker and Moraine there, lol), the naming convention stems from the idea that tadpoles are initially covered in spots to blend in with the rocky bottom of the pools they hatch in! These spots develop into more complex patterns as they age. …I also imagine their eggs look like rocks in all likelihood. Prevent predation by pretending to be rocks, y’all. No one wants to eat those. 

In short: Proto-Hearthian had spots because rocky bottom of habitat + outside pressures necessitating them = pebble-like spots on tadpoles = oooh, pretty scale patterns in modern Hearthians.

If you made it through this post, kudos to you! No seriously. Thank you for reading. If you want to hear my thoughts about Hearthian egg development, courtship rituals, child rearing structures, or pretty much anything else, my asks are open. I have speculative evolution-based rants for all of that stuff. Also, plants. I have so many thoughts about space plants.

[the-ephemeral-ethereal]

Patriotism is not enough. But neither is anything else. Science is not enough, religion is not enough, art is not enough, politics and economics are not enough, nor is love, nor is duty, nor is action however disinterested, nor, however sublime, is contemplation. Nothing short of everything will really do.

from Island by Aldous Huxley (1962)

[mental-food]

The first great thing is to find yourself and for that you need solitude and contemplation - at least sometimes. I can tell you deliverance will not come from the rushing noisy centers of civilization. It will come from the lonely places.

-Fridtjof Nansen

[neurodivergent-watt]

you and me, we're not the same;

i am a sinner, you are a saint.

[orcelito]

Had a moment of listening to music I liked back when I was a teenager (& still like) and having a whole. Realization . That I like myself as I am now sooooo much better than I like teenage me. And I started thinking about Why.

There's a lot to it I'm pretty sure, & most of it centers around the fact that I just... didn't really know who I was as a person. I didn't really have hobbies outside of what I did in school (aka orchestra) and like. Video games + anime. I did creative writing in middle school, but dropped off in high school for... some reason? I still made original characters and played around with them a lot, but it was mostly just in drawing and thinking about them. I never actually *wrote*, and I in fact didn't get back into creative writing at all until I was 23 years old. I was someone who had spent so long hiding behind others and just doing what I was told that I just... didn't have any real direction. I didn't know what I even *wanted*. I thought I knew, but in hindsight, I can confidently say that I didn't. I was just an insecure teen drifting through life and not thinking about things beyond what was immediately in front of me. Which is pretty standard for teenagers I guess, but not all of them. Not at all.

Compared to now, where I have Many hobbies, most notably being writing. As I am now, I am just Intrinsically a writer. And it's weird to remember that I wasn't even really *writing* before 5 years ago (besides text rps, which did a lot for developing my writing skill! But still aren't a replacement for writing individually). As a teen, I wasnt into dnd, I was incredibly out of shape, & I was a lot less aggressive and focused. I was the type to avoid sports!!! I hated them!!!! But as I am now, I Love biking and can easily bike for an hour+ no problem (I remember being a teen and trying to go on just 10 minute bike rides in the summer and just *dying* from it), & I love working out. I wanna be strong!!! I LOVE being strong!!! And I was an absolute mess with things like public speaking & working in groups, vs now where I can do an impromptu presentation no problem & I'm often the unofficial leader in group projects bc im typically the one who does the organizing and allotments of work. A side effect of working as a supervisor and then assistant manager for so long. I have a lot more confidence in my perceptions and judgements, & I have the self-assurance to assert these things. And this is only really the tip of the iceberg with all the differences.

I just feel like an entirely different person, almost. The cores are the same, or at least damn near similar, with the things I want out of life & the sorts of things I enjoy, but it's like. The difference between finding a random rock off the side of the road & then that rock when it's been sanded and carved and decorated to be something individual and unique. You look at them side by side and it's something dull vs something shiny and intricate. The origins can't be ignored and dismissed, & I certainly would never resent younger me for just doing the best with what I knew at the time. But it's just astounding how much difference time and experience will have for growing and developing as a person. Things I consider integral to my personhood weren't even thoughts in my mind back then. We are almost entirely different people.

[raffaellopalandri]

A Comparative Analysis Between Buddhist Nivṛtti (निवृत्ति) and Stoic Apatheia (ἀπάθεια) – Part 2

In the first part of this essay, we explored a revitalized interpretation of intellectual asceticism—not as a renunciation of thought itself, but as its disciplined, intentional, and ethically grounded refinement. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com Drawing from the foundational frameworks of Buddhist philosophy (notably the principle of nivṛtti — निवृत्ति, or “turning away”) and Stoic ethics…

[mrspinkloveheart]

I'm gonna end the pride thing here but here are the 2 I did

The one on the ship is Pirate Freddy and the human one is science Freddy! These are two Aus I don't talk about a lot

[unfoldingmoments]

Philosophy vs. Psychology & Neuroscience: Which Path Draws Us Closer to God?

Both philosophy and psychology/neuroscience aim to understand reality, human nature, and our place in the world—but they take fundamentally different approaches. The question is: which one leads us closer to God?

Philosophy: The Search for Ultimate Truth

Philosophy has long been a tool for contemplating the nature of existence, morality, and the divine. Thinkers like Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas used reason to explore the concept of God.

1. Endless Questions Lead to Humility

• Philosophy forces us to ask: Why are we here? What is the meaning of life? What is truth? These questions often expose the limits of human understanding, which can lead to a sense of humility—an important step toward seeking God.

• Many philosophers conclude that reason alone is not enough to grasp the full nature of existence, leading them to faith. For example, Aquinas used philosophy to argue for God’s existence but recognized that faith was necessary to go beyond reason’s limits.

2. The Idea of a Necessary Being

• Metaphysical reasoning often leads to the idea of a First Cause or Necessary Being (God). For example, the Cosmological Argument suggests that everything that exists must have a cause, and tracing this back leads to an ultimate, uncaused cause—God.

• Moral philosophy also points to an objective moral law, which implies a moral lawgiver beyond human subjectivity.

3. Faith Completes What Reason Cannot Fully Grasp

• While philosophy allows us to rationally explore God’s existence, it also reveals that human reason has limits. This can encourage a deeper reliance on faith and divine revelation.

In this sense, philosophy creates a space for contemplation that often leads one closer to God by acknowledging the mystery and transcendence of divine truth.

Psychology & Neuroscience: Understanding the Human Mind

Psychology and neuroscience, on the other hand, focus on human behavior, emotions, and cognition. They seek to understand how we think, feel, and act, often reducing human experience to biological processes.

1. The Temptation to Reduce the Soul to the Brain

• Neuroscience explains love, faith, and morality in terms of brain chemistry and neural activity. While this can be fascinating, it sometimes leads to a purely materialistic view of reality, where everything is just brain function, leaving little room for the soul or spirituality.

• If consciousness is seen as nothing more than electrical impulses, one might conclude that free will, morality, and even belief in God are just neurological byproducts—undermining the spiritual aspect of existence.

2. The Desire to Control or ‘Hack’ Human Nature

• Advances in psychology and neuroscience have given rise to concepts like “brain hacking” and neuroplasticity, which allow individuals to rewire their thought patterns, emotions, and even beliefs.

• While this can be used for good (e.g., overcoming trauma, improving mental health), it can also create the illusion of ultimate control—that humans can shape themselves into anything, even their own gods.

• This temptation echoes the ancient desire in Genesis 3:5: “You will be like God, knowing good and evil.” If humans believe they can fully manipulate and master their own nature, they may no longer see the need for God.

3. Can Neuroscience & Psychology Lead to God?

• While some use neuroscience to dismiss God, others see it as a window into divine design. The complexity of the human mind, the fine-tuned nature of consciousness, and the beauty of emotions and morality could all point to intelligent design rather than randomness.

• Certain areas of psychology (e.g., Carl Jung’s work on archetypes and the collective unconscious) suggest there is a deep, universal longing for meaning and transcendence—something that could reflect humanity’s innate search for God.

Final Thought: Which Path Leads Closer to God?

• Philosophy fosters a humble search for ultimate truth and naturally points beyond itself to God. It acknowledges the limits of reason and the necessity of faith.

• Psychology & Neuroscience offer deep insights into human nature but also carry the risk of reducing spirituality to mere brain activity, tempting humans to see themselves as their own gods.

Ultimately, philosophy seems more likely to lead one toward God, as it embraces mystery and recognizes the need for something beyond human intellect. Psychology and neuroscience, while valuable, can sometimes lead people away from faith by promoting self-sufficiency over dependence on the divine.

[opaleyedprince]

What kind of science are u Opal

my undergrad is bs with biomedical concentration lol, I'm working on my masters now (which is in the realm of workplace safety and health)

[a-typical]

“The Cosmos is all that is or was or ever will be. Our feeblest contemplations of the Cosmos stir us -- there is a tingling in the spine, a catch in the voice, a faint sensation, as if a distant memory, of falling from a height. We know we are approaching the greatest of mysteries.” ― Carl Sagan, Cosmos

[forgetriestowrite]

what's that quote by Terry Pratchett where he says something about magic still existing even though we know how it works?

It's really hard to remember that sometimes but I took a class my second term of college called The Science of Music and it blew my fucking mind.

Because it turns out that music is built out of physics and the way we make it is directly linked to the way we speak and music is communicating with the universe at all times and it is so much more than what we can hear, did you know there are pianos that are built with keys that resonate below the range of frequencies that humans can hear? But we still put them there because they exist and they affect every other note that you play

and sometimes, sometimes when it's hard to remember the magic I remember that thing I learned somewhere, maybe in school maybe somewhere else, that thing about how we're made of stardust, how all of our atoms have been somewhere else, that we are built out of the dying breaths of stars that existed billions of years ago

and how every aspect of our lives exists in an impossibly precarious bubble of perfect accidents, just enough oxygen to breathe and not burn alive, just enough drinkable water, just enough gravity so that when the thing that would be the moon crashed into us it didn't float away, and now it keeps the seas from rising too high or falling too low

it's hard to remember the magic because we have different names for it, names like geometry and sound waves and physics and astronomy and photosynthesis, but the plants figured out how to eat the sunlight and the universe talks to us through frequencies and harmonics and we are made of stars.

[station26]

applied to college after putting it off for way too long can i get a fucking yahoo or what ‼️