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genshinnrambles · 1 year

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[4.0]: A Theory On Rhinedottir, Alchemy, and the Meaning of Sin

“One thought may end all calamity, and there will always be thoughts that may transcend time.” -The Meaning of Aeons “Separate the dust in the flames with joy, and extract the exquisite from the crude. For all in the universe comes from a single source, and all things may be derived from a single thought.” -Cinnabar Spindle

I’ve been wanting to do some Rhinedottir speculations for a while. With the new Ancient Colors world quest in Fontaine, I think now is a good time to propose a theory about this mysterious member of the Hexenzirkel, her approach to alchemy, and the reason she is a “sinner,” especially within the context of one of the Archon Quest’s central questions: what does it mean to be “born with sin”?

SPOILERS: Up to Act II of the Fontaine AQ (just Primordial Sea stuff), and Ancient Colors.

Although Rhinedottir is never mentioned by name in Ancient Colors, all of the signs of her are there: Mamere’s identity as an artist, Elynas’ otherworldliness and similarities to Durin, and the differences between the Melusine’s perception of the world and our perception of it (or their aesthetics, which we will touch on later). Ancient Colors is trying to remind us of Dragonspine and, if you were playing during this time, Shadows Amidst Snowstorms, and I believe it is doing so because it is key to the secret of the Primordial Sea and the prophecy of Fontaine.

We’ve heard Rhinedottir’s perspective only twice so far, and that was in the Windblume festival from this last year and in Cinnabar Spindle’s lore. Though we still don’t know much about her, she does identify herself as a “mother” of many children, and that she is raising the only son she has left. This, of course, is Albedo.

We also know that she is considered a "sinner" at the center of the Cataclysm who unleashed "an army of shadowy monsters" onto Teyvat, but we have very little grasp of what exactly is meant by "sinner," and what if any consequences this label has had on her since then. Although every Hexenzirkel witch will undoubtedly be very important to uncovering the truth of Teyvat, Rhinedottir presents a particularly interesting case as the only one whose activities may have caused cataclysmic destruction, as opposed to Alice's general mischief and strange sense of humor.

It’s almost nothing to go off of, but I hope to demonstrate in this speculative theory that it’s more than enough to arrive at some answers.

Psychoanalysis 101, Round 2

To better explain what Durin, Elynas, and Rhinedottir’s other children are, we need to use an analogy rooted in Freud’s psychoanalytic theory of dream interpretation. This is a super TL;DR version of it and way oversimplified, but if you’re interested I wrote a more detailed theory about the significance of dreams in Genshin that has a full explanation of it there. (Also, it should be said that these were just Freud’s theories, please do not take any of the following as an accurate description of the human psyche and how it works. We are just having some fun for the sake of media analysis.)

Freud thought that dreams are the mind’s means of expressing unfulfilled wishes, and that the psychological purpose of dreaming is to “fulfill” those wishes. In A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis, he gives an example of this through a little girl’s dream where she was sailing on a lake: this dream was born out of an unfulfilled wish in her waking life, where she had to stop sailing on the lake despite wishing to continue. Hence, “I wish to sail on the lake” becomes “I am sailing on the lake” through the dream.

Further, Freud thought these unfulfilled wishes are “forgotten” in our unconscious mind when we are awake, censored by the ego to protect our conscious mind, but that at night this censorship is weakened. This is what allows a dream to occur while we sleep.

These unfulfilled wishes are often more complicated than a childish wish to keep sailing on a lake. Think about it this way: a wish is, at its core, a thought in our head, or a desire. What do we do with the thoughts we don’t like, the ones that are unbecoming of us or are unacceptable to fulfill?

We deny them.

Specifically, we repress them into the unconscious, where they are forgotten. Thing is, even if we temporarily forget these thoughts, they won’t just disappear from existence - they fester in the unconscious, waiting to be expressed. The dream, therefore, is the unfulfilled wish/repressed thought’s attempt to cross the boundary from the unconscious mind into the conscious mind - to be acknowledged, or indeed remembered.

“Unfulfilled Wishes”

Making sense so far? If so, try to think of Teyvat like this: everything that is visible, everything above ground that the light touches and that can be perceived is like the ego and conscious mind. All of these things are what you’re aware of, things that you “know” and can make sense of, things that you understand, things that fit into rules and laws and order.

Now, think of everything in Genshin that is “unseen” and “unknown”: the Abyss, the spaces underground, forbidden knowledge, things that are “not from this world,” from beyond the firmament…these are like things from the unconscious mind, the repressed thoughts that we deny in ourselves because they may reveal a truth we are unwilling to face. These things are comparatively chaotic in nature, things we’d rather avoid, or things that we wish to forget.

We know that Elynas’ and Durin’s bodies are composed of matter that’s foreign to Teyvat, and that this is a major reason why they are incompatible with Teyvat and cause its destruction. This would make them more similar to a repressed thought, something that we don’t understand or know, and attempting to understand it destabilizes our sense of self, our “truth.” It follows that their home, the Abyss, is most similar to our unconscious mind, and Teyvat is most similar to our conscious mind.

Elynas: Before I was born, I floated in the cosmic darkness. It was cold there, and lonely. I was so sad, then, and I would often cry.

So, as their mother, who or what is Rhinedottir in this analogy? Well, we can be a lot more specific than calling her a “sinner.” In fact, she’s a dreamer, and alchemy is the medium through which she “dreams”:

This was a story from long ago... Unborn life, unfulfilled wishes, Tragic dreams at the edge of the universal darkness that could never come true, Indwell my body, and descend unto this world. Then, my lovely children, Like rainwater flowing into creeks, and plants growing towards the sun, Go unto a lovely place, and display your own beauty there with pride. This is a memory, a memory that a child named Durin had of his mother… "Thank you, Mother, thank you." "You gave me wings to soar and a mighty form." "Mother, I wish to go to a land of lovely songs," "I will tell them about you, Mother, and about everyone else." "I shall tell them that the place where I was born is beautiful." -Festering Desire

Rhinedottir’s children, then, are like thoughts or ideas that she is bringing to life, or “making conscious,” by moving them from the Abyss to Teyvat. It may even be the reason why the sword from The Chalk Prince and the Dragon is called Festering Desire in the first place - it’s a reference to the idea of repressed thoughts, wishes, and desires festering in the unconscious.

Should the analogy hold true, it provides some insight into what her intentions may have been in creating her Abyssal dragons. But before that, we need to take a little detour into Enkanomiya and brush up on some lore.

Denouement of Sin

Eboshi: However, the heavenly order seemed to not wish for those who remembered all this to remain on the earth. We searched and searched for a road of return, but there was none to be found.

Remember these hologram-looking dudes? They are the Shades of Tokoyo, also known as Sinshades. They are described as afterimages of the former citizens of Byakuyakoku preserved by Istaroth’s favor, specifically those citizens’ most powerful emotions, and they are only visible during Evernight:

Eboshi: Due to the phenomenon known as Sinshades, the “past,” “history,” and “truth” of Enkanomiya would endure even if left to their own devices. Eboshi: As such, great effort was expended, not that we might remember, but that we might “forget.” Lady Sangonomiya was of this view.

Like a dream, Sinshades only appear at night, and they are a kind of embodiment of history or “truth” that Watatsumi Island has chosen to forget, representing the thoughts and emotions of those who once lived in Enkanomiya. Using Freud’s theory of dream interpretation as a framework, Enkanomiya then functions as Watatsumi Island’s unconscious mind.

Put another way, if all Sinshades are the result of strong emotions preserved in time through Istaroth’s favor, then those emotions are like thoughts, and that would make the Sinshade a “physical” form or expression of those thoughts. So, when we call the afterimages the “Sins of Tokoyo,” we are in effect calling them the “Dreams of Tokoyo,” because they are the thoughts and emotions of Enkanomiya given form, and that’s what dreams do: they convey thoughts and feelings through a series of images.

Through the Sinshades, we see an implicit association with the concepts of dreaming and sinning in Genshin’s worldbuilding, and through them we understand that they are not so different from one another.

A Brief Note on Aesthetics

Jakob: Look at your feet. Blood, flowing like a river, fertilizing the very dust of the earth with their filthy fat.

It may have struck you how various Melusine perceive reality in a way that greatly differs from the things we see, as if at times their perception was “flipped,” if not somewhat strange. By the end of Ancient Colors, it’s clear that this is due to the Melusine being born of Elynas, who is not from this world. A similar phenomenon can be seen in both Durin and Elynas, the former imagining itself dancing with the people of Mondstadt before it “woke up” from this dream to Dvalin’s fangs in its neck, and the latter realizing that the things that it finds fun are destructive and harmful to the people of this world.

This is a part of the commentary present in several world quests and commissions in Fontaine that deal with “aesthetics,” or one’s own sense of beauty. Aesthetics are principles that differ on both large and small social scales, varying between groups of people and between individuals (see Salsa’s and Ubu’s aesthetic disagreement), and they can change throughout time as values change. In other words, they are informed by perspectives.

For example, think of what we know so far about the Primordial Sea. Neuvillette wonders how the Primordial Sea could be capable of giving life and then “suddenly reversing itself” so that it instead “devours life,” but this is just his judgment of what the sea does, and ultimately his perspective. Many others view the properties of the Primordial Sea differently from him: to them, the prophecy is comforting because it signals a “return,” or a “homecoming.” To take it a step further, Neuvillette may be making an assumption by stating that the sea has reversed itself. Perhaps this is just how the sea is, perhaps this is its “truth.”

Verenata: The "truth" will not be limited or constrained by the eyes and perspectives of the viewer, and won't be distorted by what is in their heart. It objectively exists, and it just is...like the white sand, like the bones of seastars, like the waves that crash and pound...those are "truth."

Now, imagine that you are staring at a 3D object from a 90 degree angle. If I ask you to describe the object from where you're standing, you'll be able to accurately tell me about what roughly half of the object looks like, but you won't be able to accurately describe the other half of it without help from someone standing on the other side of the object.

But how can you be sure there even is another side of the object, or that it's any different from the one you see now? From your perspective, what is already visible to you may seem sufficient to describe the object in its entirety. In other words, your perspective becomes your "truth."

It is only through considering additional perspectives that we broaden our own understanding of reality and expand on our "truth." However, broadening our perspective is usually not a comfortable experience, as is typical when we engage with ideas that differ from our own. Part of expanding our "truth" requires us to shatter our current understanding, pick up the pieces, and reassemble them into a shape that makes space for these other ideas and their "truth."

For example, when we confront Jakob at Elynas' heart, he describes the rushing currents beneath our feet as Elynas' blood. To the player, who has been swimming around in that for a couple of hours by that point, this idea is macabre and horrifying. However, when we consider Jakob’s perspective, his “truth,” it also expands our understanding of Elynas as a being that is somewhere between dead and alive, sleeping if you will, and that he is more than capable of waking up from his slumber with the appropriate stimulus. Another example is Canotila, who saw the wasteland in Rene's Book of Esoteric Revelations as a peaceful forest. When we consider Canotila's "truth," her aesthetic sense doesn't change the way we see the wasteland, but it does show us something equally important: the way that we experience the wasteland is not the only way it can be experienced.

If we return to the other ever-present metaphor of alchemy as a form of painting, we can see that Rhinedottir’s aesthetic sense greatly differs from what is acceptable and compatible with Teyvat. But, just like Mamere, she paints regardless of whether her paintings are understood by a greater audience. In time, Teyvat's "aesthetics" may change again, and perhaps her "art" will be received differently when that time comes.

Concluding Thoughts

(A pool full of Water from the Primordial Sea. Countless sins were born of it…)

So, that is why I think Rhinedottir was deemed a sinner. She sinned by “dreaming” up these chaotic life forms that were not from this world, bringing them into being through the Art of Khemia, and telling those chaotic life forms that they were beautiful, too, that the ordered and lawful world of Teyvat just needed to realize how beautiful they were. Maybe Rhinedottir was dreaming of a new world, one where her children’s wishes could be fulfilled, where they could exist with everyone, and maybe creating that world required the destruction of this one. You could also think of her as someone who has introduced “external variables” into Teyvat, which, hmmm..:

“...No matter how many times I derive it, the result remains the same, though this result is not expected... Unlike the world depicted in these ancient texts, there will be no more new civilizations born... Unless we consider introducing "variables" from outside the system... If it was that sort of power, there might be a chance…” -Enigmatic Page I, Book of Esoteric Revelations

In this way, her “children” (thoughts) were all “born with sin,” or are born from sin (dreams). If Rhinedottir is a dreamer, then alchemy is the way that she dreams: it allows her to give forms to these thoughts. And if you buy that, then there are some serious implications to consider from this whole notion of Fontainians being “born with sin,” and just what exactly the Primordial Sea might be. Definitely something to think about while we wait for 4.1.

One last point that is more of an aside than anything else: Rhinedottir’s only remaining child is Albedo, but through this lens we see that he is not just the culmination of the Primordial Human Project, the creation of a human through the power of alchemy, but also the only known example of Rhinedottir’s “ideas” that coexists with Teyvat as it is now. As for her known extant grandchildren, they have integrated with Fontainian society and don’t seem to cause them any trouble. I wonder if she knew something like that could happen?

But…that’s just my take on it so far. What do you think?

(also, fun fact: there is a parallel storyline to this one unfolding in Honkai Star Rail right now as it relates to being deemed a “sinner” for creating life, and another parallel storyline in Honkai Impact 3rd about creation and rebirth and “returning home to the sea” and I just love when Hoyoverse connects their games like that)

EDIT (9/8/2023): Touched this up a bit and made some grammatical corrections. Thesis is the same, some added support and re-phrasing was done to better convey it.

Sources

A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud

#genshin impact #genshin lore #genshin impact lore #genshin theory #genshin meta #genshin impact meta #fontaine lore #rhinedottir #theory #elynas #durin #melusine #long post

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eonian-nightmare · 1 year

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Why I think the character Kayne from the Malevolent podcast is Nyarlathotep.

Okay, so obviously Malevolent follows lovecrafitan logic. So let's look into that Lore.

*Spoiler warning up to episode 31*

Malevolent is heavily inspired Lovecraftian lore. With a heavy focus on The King in Yellow, as well as minor influences from The Black Stone, The Dream Cycle and others, the supernatural of the world generally has roots in HP. Lovecraft's universe. So, when it comes to unknown characters such as Kayne, listeners can't help but dissect the entity in hopes of figuring out motives as well as possible plot progressions. Following this mindset, one can only hope but wonder what it might mean to draw comparisons to Nyarlathotep. Nyarlathotep (aka the Crawling Chaos) is one of the primary antagonist in the Lovecraftian universe. He doesn't really have a reason for his "villianry", apart from having an amoral perspective, a sadistic personality, and a desire to manipulate those around him, he generally just follows the will of his father, the blind god, Azathoth. However, in his spare time he is often seen manipulating and deceiving humans for personal pleasure, often choosing to toy with them or drive them insane. Although Kayne seems to fit this bill, being the epitome of toying with people and unhinged insanity let's talk specifics parallels.

Seven Million Voices & Two Heads

In episode twenty, in a joking maner, Kayne hands Arthur (the protagonist) a coin, and states the following: "Look, I often wish I had two voices in my head Instead of, like, seven million? But when all is said and done, you can always flip a coin. Two heads and all that." At first, this sentence may seem like just another deliriously random thought spewing from Kayne's mouth but upon further investigation, we can assume that this quote is some foreshadowing into future plot points or a Nyarlathotep reveal. It is important to note in art and imagery it is not uncommon for Nyarlathotep to be depicted with two heads. This displays interesting connotations because it implies that Kayne was acknowledging that his human form is not his true form, and instead a disguise which like Nyarlathotep he often wears. This is important knowledge as Nyarlathotep is the only "other god" (powerful lovecraftian beings) that can wear a human mask. Furthermore, Nyarlathotep is also able to create avatars/minions to follow him and he communicates with them telepathically. This would likely feed into Kayne's numerous voices in his head.

Travelling the Planes

Unlike most gods, both Kayne and Nyarlathotep alike are easily able to travel through dimensions/worlds/planes. Nyarlathotep often is depicted as being able to exist "beyond the archetypal infinity", existing across every and any plane at all times. Kayne follows this pattern as we see him both The King in Yellow's city, found within the dreamlands in episode twenty, and in the mines on earth in episode twenty-eight, despite it causing other gods like The King in Yellow to break apart and split.

Biblical Imagery

Its important to note that althought unintended, Nyarlathotep is often seen as a the twisted version of Jesus Christ, or even depicted as the devil. This is because as Sigmund Freud states, interpretation of the text belongs to the reader, and offers a psychoanalytical insight into ourselves by what we understand from it. So, existing in a predominantly Christian dominated world, it makes sense that critics and fans alike have made the comparisons.

Nyarlathotep is the son of the blind God; Azathoth, sent to be his messenger and do his bidding on Earth, similarly to how Jesus was sent to earth to do the biding of his father. It's quite easy to bounce the idea of Jesus and Nyarlathotep off one another, with Nyarlathotep being to destruction as Jesus is to being a saviour. Looking at Kayne, the same can be applied, we can acknowledge the destructive nature of his being but also compare the significance of his appearance. Walking around with bare feet and hands, drenched in blood that would not stop, could easily be seen as a direct parallel to Jesus' own injuries post crusifiction. Plus there's the fact that in response to John's "Jesus Fucking Christ" swear, Kayne responded with "Present and accounted for!", something that could have been just a delusional quip but in light of everything else seems suspicious.

But what about the devil? Surely a character of evil nature should be attributed to him and well yes, while Nyarlathotep is also depicted as the devil, its interesting to instead see Lucifer and Jesus as two sides of the same coin, or as Kayne earlier said; "two heads". I could dwell on philosophy, discussing the significance between cultural understanding and the tradgey in Lucifers tale, which depicts him more as a victim that a villian, but that tangent would take me far to much of track so instead I skip to the parallel with the devil. In the bible, Earth was called lucifer's domain. He had primary influence, and as such the heavans took drastic measures to ensure there were ways to combat it. They realised fighting on his turf was to strong, so god sent his only son to create a gateway out of his domain without the cost. This had to happen because Lucifer walked amongst the humans when others could not, he would whisper into their minds, corrupting them to sin and puppeteering them into madness. When it comes to lovecraftian lore, Nyarlathotep essentially did the same. He was known to have the most powerful influence over earth compared to all the other gods, he whispered into their minds and constantly drove humans insane. This is something that Kayne implicated he had the power to do. Kayne stated that compared to John/ The King in Yellow, He is more powerful, especially using mortal understanding. He was able to exist on earth because it was his domain and considering his relationship with sanity, it hardly seems unjustified to do this comparison.

Also its important to note, Lilith is refferenced as having a close relationship with Kayne and in Lovecraftian Lore. She is Nyarlathotep's daughter.

Faustian Comparisons

Apart from Lovecraft, Malevolent takes inspiration from many other sources such as Robert Frost, William Ernest Henley and most significantly Faustian folklore. With the podcast following a similar premise to the tale (man with a dead wife, drowned child, combats irredeemable guilt by making a deal with a demon), it makes sense that Kayne and Nyarlathotep would hold comparison to the main demonic being; Mephistopheles. All three entities maintain a chaotic, trickster based personality, inspired by their willingness to play and trick humans. Mephistopheles takes this further, using contracts and deals to delude. In the episode Coda, Kayne mirrors this by offering Arthur (Our Faust counterpart) a deal, allowing him to retrieve part of The King in Yellow for himself. As the deal-maker Kayne manipulates Arthur, pressuring him into a deal in which the fine print is hidden just as Mephistopheles does to Faust. So we can only presume Arthur will meet a similar demise at Kayne's hand as Faust met at Mephistopheles.

TLDR: All in all, if Kayne is supposed to Nyarlathotep, who is essentially the antithesis of Jesus Christ. I reckon we have an interesting story ahead of ourselves. Especially considering the Faustian inspiration practically guarantees tragedy

#nyarlathotep #lovecraftian #hp lovecraft #malevolent podcast #kayne malevolent #the king in yellow #religious #religious imagery #lucifer #comparison #mini essay #azathoth #Mephistopheles #harlan guthrie

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mbti-notes · 5 months

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Hi, this will sound strange but can the inferior function leak into consciousness when one is dreaming ? I'm an INFP and usually see Te-doms as being loud rushed and so on but I had this dream where I was behaving more or less like one and in the dream my actions while under the influence of Te made sense I was like hell yeah it makes sense as to why Te-doms are always on top of things always solving problems and such that when I woke up their actions made a lot of sense. Thank you.

Do you know who Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung are? Freud is widely considered the founding father of psychology, and Jung was his mentee. The two of them developed the first rigorous methods of dream analysis that are still used by some therapists today. Freud wrote the first authoritative treatise about dreams called The Interpretation of Dreams. In it, he famously said:

"The interpretation of dreams is the royal road to a knowledge of the unconscious activities of the mind."

Freud made a distinction between manifest and latent content of dreams. The manifest content is the literal images of the dream, while the latent content is the symbolic meaning of the images. Dreams have symbolic meaning because they are actually expressions of unconscious activities.

Unconscious activities deal with darker instincts, thoughts, feelings, emotions, desires, and ideas that are too psychologically disturbing to confront when awake. Though unconscious, these activities still have a negative influence in waking life, so it is important to become more conscious of them in order to mitigate those negative effects. This is easier said than done because the conscious mind seeks to avoid disturbance at all costs.

Enter dreams. Dreams occur in a mental space between the unconscious and consciousness, so they are the perfect vehicle for transmitting messages. Since the content of unconscious activities can be disturbing, dreams disguise the content in symbols in order to make it more palatable and easier to confront and accept. The process of interpreting the symbols in dreams allows people to arrive at deeper truths about themselves.

Freud understood dreams as a form of wish fulfillment. He postulated that human beings had a great many desires, but those desires often conflicted with each other or were deemed unacceptable by society. Thus, dark and taboo desires had to be repressed and kept unconscious.

However, repressed desires don't just disappear and they might even become stronger the harder they are repressed, to the point of creating anxiety or neurosis in waking life. The pent up energy from repressed desires has to go somewhere, so it eventually influences dreaming. Playing out dark/taboo desires through the events and stories of dreams is a safer way of handling them. Freud believed that dream interpretation was a good way of getting to the bottom of what was actually troubling people.

Eventually, Jung broke with Freud because he believed that Freud's ideas were too narrow in scope. Freud was famously focused on understanding repressed sexual desires and fixations (because of his own repressed desires and the fact that many of his clients were female and had suffered some form of sexual abuse in early life), but Jung believed that there was much more to mental life than sex and taboos. He developed dream analysis in a somewhat different direction. While he generally agreed that dreams were about wish fulfillment, he was able to paint a much broader picture of what a "wish" could be.

Dreams might provide some clues about the current state of your life, e.g., whether you are generally happy, sad, anxious, yearning, etc. In the hustle and bustle of daily life, people often neglect their own well-being, so dreams provide an opportunity to check in with oneself.

Dreams might provide insight into a challenge or problem you're facing. Ever heard the phrase "sleep on it"? When you're dreaming, the brain's executive functioning is switched off, which allows your mental processes to operate more freely and thus more creatively. Dreams can explore, connect, and synthesize information for you, which might help you come up with better solutions. This fits with current neurological dream research that indicates the brain uses sleep to clean up and consolidate information.

Dreams might provide wisdom by connecting you to a larger pool of knowledge you didn't know you possessed. Jung was an exceptionally well-read person. He studied the stories, myths, and religious practices of many different cultures, western and eastern, and was astounded to find common recurring patterns, which he distilled into a concept called archetypes. Dreams are often full of archetypal images. This led him to postulate the existence of the collective unconscious, a storehouse of information that is genetically transmitted to every member of a species. Ancient archetypal patterns lend dreams a narrative structure that makes it easier to decipher their meaning.

Dreams might signal a need for compensation or aspiration. As I've explained in the study guides, normal personality development is "uneven". This creates an underlying sense of lack or missing something, which opens a door to developing your potential.

In the process of healthy personality development, certain functions must be given more power and control. However, the side effect of this is that their opposite functions get repressed and left to exist in an infantile state, operating more unconsciously. When the imbalance between opposing functions becomes too extreme, the pent up energy of repressed functions can influence us in unpredictable ways. One way is through inferior grip, which is an unconscious and desperate attempt to right the imbalance. Another way is through dreams, fantasy, and wish fulfillment.

Your dream might be related to people or someone you've recently met that you feel drawn to because of their Te strengths. Or your dream might signal "type envy", which is negative, because it implies low self-esteem, deep-seated self-hatred, or a dark desire to destroy your true self and become something false (a manifestation of Te grip). Or your dream might indicate compensation for personality flaws, which could be positive if it led to change and improvement. Or your dream might indicate an aspiration to realize more of your potential, in terms of being more ambitious or striving for more challenging goals, which could be positive or negative depending on how you approach it.

While someone trained in dream analysis can help you interpret your dreams, at the end of the day, only you can confirm the underlying truth of those interpretations by taking the bigger picture of your life into account. Nobody can access your full experience except you. Examine the notable thoughts/feelings you've had about Te and the encounters you've had with Te in waking life. How do the images and emotions in your dream connect to those experiences? Because dreams often seem random at first, it helps to contextualize them by connecting them to waking life or reflecting on what aspects of waking life are provoking you to focus on Te. With added context, it's easier to discover the most truthful interpretation.

#infp #inferior te #inferior #dreaming #wish fulfillment #type envy #ask

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modernmaninsearchofasoulbyyami · 3 months

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First Entry

Insights into Dream Analysis and Psychotherapeutic Challenges

Carl Jung emphasizes the significance of dream analysis in psychoanalysis, especially for understanding and treating neuroses. He views dreams as direct expressions of unconscious psychic activity that can reveal hidden thoughts and feelings contributing to neurotic symptoms. Explaining these unconscious factors to patients can have therapeutic benefits by helping them become aware of the sources of their troubles. Initial dreams reported at the start of treatment often offer clear insights into the unconscious causes of neurosis, but dreams can become less transparent and harder to interpret over time. Analysts should acknowledge their limitations and avoid imposing preconceived theoretical interpretations, viewing each dream as new information instead. Methods based on suggestion are discouraged, as they do not align with analytical therapy. Dreams can express suppressed wishes, fears, deeper truths, philosophical insights, and more, with fixed symbols needing interpretation within the dreamer's current conscious state. For instance, a dream about a young man’s father driving recklessly might compensate for the son's over-reliance on his father. Integrating unconscious content into conscious awareness helps reduce anxiety and promote psychological development and balance. In the second chapter, Carl Jung delves into the evolution and application of analytical psychology, a more inclusive term than "psychoanalysis." He emphasizes the confusion caused by a multitude of psychological viewpoints and stresses the importance of considering various contemporary efforts to address the psyche. Tracing the roots of analytical treatment to the confessional, Jung highlights how secrets and repressed emotions can act as psychic poisons leading to neurosis, with early psychoanalytic methods like catharsis aiming to bring these repressed contents to consciousness, offering emotional release and full confession. However, Jung identifies a problem of fixation where patients develop a strong dependence on their therapists post-catharsis, prompting Freud to develop the interpretative method to help patients understand their unconscious projections. This method brought to light the necessity of acknowledging both the light and shadow aspects of the psyche, despite its discomfort. He said, “It is painful —there is no denying it— to interpret radiant things from the shadow-side, and thus in a measure reduce them to their origins in dreary filth. But it seems to me to be an imperfection in things of beauty, and a weakness in man, if an explanation from the shadow-side has a destructive effect.” Jung critiques Freud's reductionist focus on pleasure, advocating for Adler's approach, which emphasizes the patient's will to power and social adaptation, resonating more with educators and priests. He outlines four stages of treatment—catharsis, explanation, adaptation, and transformation—underscoring that true healing involves mutual influence and personal growth for both doctor and patient. Jung insists that therapists must undergo psychological challenges and self-education to effectively guide their patients. Ultimately, he argues that analytical psychology, while clinically rooted, offers principles beneficial to anyone seeking personal growth, envisioning a future where psychological methods support broader human development and self-perfection.

#literature #book blog #book review #my impression #psychology #psychology student #psychology facts #carl jung #sigmund freud #alfred adler

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notyourparentstherapist · 1 year

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I had two very intense therapy sessions.

Thursday was a wild ride of reacting negatively to "normal" psychoanalytic terms. Makes sense that's his style. But I felt such a shift. It was like I got pushed to the back seat while I watched myself fight for control. Someone was very upset with the words he used.

I'm not sure how much time had passed but I was able to control what I said. But I felt that he got defensive. The word in question was "fantasy". We've been processing these intrusive day dreams. And he asked me what I think about it and why I'm fantasizing about these things.

Woof.

I'm not sure how to describe it but there was an immediate and intense internal reaction. I was able to say calmly how I felt that word was dismissive because of its historical context. How Freud was on to something but then covered up all the trauma of his clients because that was easier than challenging his colleagues. A lot of women's issues were then reduced to fantasy and the lie of the oedipal complex was born.

He then asked me "didn't jung use it too"? Or something like that. Bro. You missed the point. Defensive much? Like I get some people really like him. He knows I like Jung's theories but he's just as problematic but in different ways.

I had a follow up session the next morning. I'm his last client on Thursdays and the first of Fridays. I think that's cool.

We talked about it more. I felt so small and bad all of a sudden. I felt like I was accusing him of being a bad provider because someone was mad about lack of clarity around diagnosis and so we processed it.

I feel bad for N. He puts up with so much. I asked him why he wanted me to come in more. 2 years ago he asked me if I wanted more sessions. Originally I thought it was to explore the dissociation explicitly. He said sure that's why we've been using the time but "I always offer people more time to talk". Idk why but I'm still having a mixed reaction to that too.

He also explained more the meaning of the word as he intended and reassured me he would not ask if he did not feel it was important. I just wish it was a different word.

I feel so over the place. I feel like I'm splitting into pieces. I'm pulled in so many directions every time.

I can't tell if I'm mad at him, upset, disappointed, sad, guilty, or feeling shame about everything.

I just want to crawl in a hole and cry.

He calls me again on Monday.

I feel nauseous and have a splitting head ache.

#therapist with lived experience #dissociative disorder #mental health #therapy #dissociation #trauma recovery #complex ptsd #ptsd #trauma #mental illness

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book4-bt · 4 months

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Chapter 1

Sweet Dreams

"Can anyone tell me about Freuds theory on dreams? How about you Mr. King, you seem so enthralled by todays lesson."

"Uhh Freuds dream theory?"

"That is correct Mr. King, this along with the rest of the lecture will be on the final so I hope you know it."

"Umm Freud suggests that dreams represent unconscious desires, thoughts, wish fulfillment, and motivations."

"Very good, what else?"

"He believed people are driven by repressed and unconscious longings, whether positive or even aggressive."

"Ok points to you Mr. King I'll let up but if I catch you sleeping in my class again we're going to have a problem."

"Sorry professor it won't happen again."

"Man nice save." My friend Kyle whispers looking impressed. I shrug not wanting to mention that I'm heavily invested in dreams lately especially since I've been having some weird ones of my own...

"You ok though this isn't the first class I've noticed you nodding off in." He says as we make our way down the hall after class.

"I'm fine man just been having some trouble sleeping."

"Why your roommate keeping you up again?"

"Nah I've been having these weird ass dreams."

"Uhh you know what maybe I don't want to know after all."

"Not like that man. It's just these two women fighting."

"Fighting over what?"

"Me." I say finally feeling stupid.

"Wh-what?" He asks laughing a little. "Over you huh?"

"Look man I'm serious! I know it sounds crazy but it's creepy one of them gets killed."

"Fighting over you, ok bro if you say so." He laughs patting me on the shoulder before walking away.

I decide to head back to professor Alston's class maybe he could help me with all this.

"Umm professor do you have a minute?" I ask stopping in his doorway. He looks up from his laptop waving me over.

"Is everything ok Ash, it's not like you to fall asleep during class."

"Oh no I'm fine, I was just up late studying last night. It won't happen again."

"Alright if you're sure what's up then?"

"I was thinking about your lecture today on dreams, and well I had some questions."

"Ok sure what's up?"

"Well I have this friend and he's been having some pretty disturbing dreams. And well is what you said true? Is it always someone's unconscious thoughts and desires?"

"Not always, the mind is a strange place sometimes we can have odd dreams because of eating habits and even stress."

"So it's just a weird coincidence nothing to worry about?"

"Well yes and no. As long as its not on a recurring basis, that will stop their quality of life its fine but if they are making it harder for them to function perhaps they should see a professional."

"Ok thank you sir," I say quickly heading for the door.

"Sure anytime, have a nice weekend."

"Thanks you too." I say trying not to think about the fact that I was definitely past the affecting the person's life phase. What am I supposed to do? If I tell anyone about this shit I can trade in my college career for life in a straight jacket...

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"So Ash tell me what brings you here today."

"Umm well doctor Brooks it's just..."

"Please Ash call me Maya."

"Umm ok Maya I've been having this weird recurring dream."

"Well Ash sometimes if we're fixated on events or people our mind will bring them up not just in our waking hours but in dreams as well."

"That's just it I've never seen these people or this place before. Well at least I thought I had never seen one of the women before."

"What do you mean?"

"One of the women in my dream, she's now in one of my classes."

"And you're sure you've never seen her around campus?"

"I'm positive I couldn't forget someone that looks like her."

"Have you approached her?"

"And say what exactly that I dream about her dying sometimes?" I ask glossing over the fact that it's no longer once and a while but every damn night for the past three months.

"No I'm not saying you should approach her like that. But perhaps the dreams will stop once you confront the subject behind these dreams. Perhaps it's from a desire stand point. You may have seen her before and your minds just creating a random scenario."

"Yeah maybe..."

*The Next Day*

"So Ash you going to that party tonight?" Kyle asks sitting next to me in our usual spot in the back of class.

"What party?"

"The one at Kappa house."

"I don't know, I think I'm just gonna try to get some sleep. I'm tired as hell."

"Come on man you've been boring as hell lately, you need to live a little."

"I'll think about it man."

"Alright let me know."

"Yeah." I nod about to stay something else when someone walks through the door stopping me.

"Good morning class may name is professor Edwards, and I will be filling in for professor Davies for the remainder of the semester."

"Professor Edwards, what happened to professor Davies?" A girl in the front asks.

"He's tending to a family emergency unfortunately. Now if you can please pull out your books and open to Chapter 8. I'll still be following the syllabus, so none of this should be new to you all I trust."

"Hey man don't she look familiar?" I whisper.

"If by familiar you mean fine as fuck yeah." He whispers back.

"'Nah like for real I swear I've seen her somewhere before."

"Maybe it was from here. I'm sure she's probably subbed for other professors before."

"Yeah I guess," I shrug opening my book. About five minutes after the lecture begins the door opens again.

"I'm sorry I'm late professor I got lost." She says stopping short for a minute I guess noticing it's not professor Davies...

"It's fine have a seat." She says continuing to write on the board. The woman decides to sit in the seat next to mine flashing me a small smile before turning towards the front. I'm trying not to stare at her but I can't help it, the resemblance is uncanny the only difference is the clothes...

By the time class is over I'm convinced I'm going crazy, In a split minute decision I decide to approach her. Hoping she doesn't think I'm some kind of creep...

"Hey excuse me ," I say following her up the hall. She stops looking at me wearily.

"Yes?"

"Umm this is going to sound crazy but have we met before?"

"No I don't believe so, I'm still pretty new here."

"Oh ok sorry for bothering you." I say turning to walk away.

"Hey wait why do you ask?"

"Look this is gonna sound stupid but uhh." I stop catching myself. "You know what never mind, sorry."

"It's ok..."

"Asher King I finish for her. But everyone calls me Ash, and you are?"

"Violet Munroe."

"Nice to meet you, sorry for bothering you again umm have a nice one."

"Thanks you too," She says walking off before I can say anything else... Man forget some stupid ass party, I'm staying in and getting some sleep I'm losing it. I think to myself walking to my room.

To Be Continued...

#Fanfiction #jordan calloway #Vampires #romance #Blacklove #black stories #kat graham

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starzpsychics · 5 months

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What Does it Mean to Dream

The meaning of dreams is important, on average a typical person will dream for at least two hours. However, that said there is still ongoing research into why we dream and why. So, what does it mean to dream… Dreams are fascinating and many spend hours trying to unravel the meaning of dreams. Freud believed that to dream about something was a form of wish fulfilment and held the keys to a person desires. He thought that whatever it was the person was to dream about stemmed from reality, even though the dream was not identical to their waking life and could not therefore be taken at face value.

Modern Theory

A more modern neuroscience-focused approach suggests that our dreams help us process difficult life experiences. In particular, the vivid dreams of REM sleep are considered a way to help the brain process waking experiences and regulate emotions.

Read More: https://starzpsychics.com/.../what-does-it-mean-to-dream...

#dreams #dreaming #remsleep #meaningofdreams #whatdoesitmeantodream #todream

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psychreviews2 · 6 months

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Object Relations: Fear Of Success Pt. 5

Choosing a vocation

With all the difficulties in achieving success, especially in office politics and the political corruption described in the last episode, the question now is how can Psychoanalysis help people towards a better working life with these problems in the background? Regardless of how things are we have to find a way. Paul Marcus of The Psychoanalysis of Career Choice, Job Performance, and Satisfaction provides a good overview of how psychoanalysis can contribute to Career Counselling towards success. "French psychoanalyst Christophe Dejours wrote that 'the relation to work is intertwined with the sexual economy', that is, with the attitudes and behaviors in the personal realm, including body-ego, body-image and love relationships." A pure rational pro and con analysis approach has to be balanced with unconscious forces that often nudge one in completely different directions. "As Carl Jung noted, 'You are what you do, not what you say you’ll do.'... Childhood experiences (both positive and negative) and familial heritage have a major influence on vocational choices. People choose an occupation that enables them to replicate significant childhood experiences, satisfy needs that were unfulfilled in their childhood, and actualize dreams passed on to them by their familial heritage...Freud famously said, 'all love is a re-finding': it tends to replicate emotional aspects of infantile templates, those impacting early experiences of satisfaction and frustration between parents and children."

To tolerate this trial and error, and to create new things without a fear of failure, work has to resemble experimentation, a learning orientation, which is similar to play. "The supreme accomplishment is to blur the line between work and play...The most successful businesses seem to be aware that a hospitable work setting, one that is more likely to facilitate innovation, in part emanates from allowing workers to intellectually play with ideas without worrying about failing." The impulse to develop play in psychoanalysis is to express love, desire, and aggression in a playful way: Sublimation. Through symbolization, acknowledging one's emotions in frustration, therapeutic catharsis, and play, one can transform the power of love, lust, and aggression into motivated action.

Sublimation: - Sigmund Freud: https://rumble.com/v1gv2fr-sublimation-sigmund-freud.html

"All sublimation relies on symbolization, so that, for instance, gardening, an activity that is infused with erotic impulse and is a long-standing metaphor in literature and the arts for sexuality, requires just such instinctual redirection and refashioning, that is, engaging in adaptive 'desexualized' and 'deaggressified' psychic processes. It is not by chance that horticultural metaphors are often used by people as creative visualizations regarding their career journey, using such terms as 'growing, flowering and blossoming,' as well as when the going gets tough as in 'being pruned and cut back.' Likewise, voyeuristic wishes are satisfied by becoming a psychoanalyst or photographer; the wish to hurt or kill is satisfied by becoming a surgeon or butcher; or exhibitionistic wishes are satisfied by becoming an actor or lifeguard. In other words, work represents one very good venue for the individual to negotiate the conflicting demands between desires, that is, instinctual gratifications, and culture, the requirements of normative social reality. As psychoanalyst and Freud translator A. A. Brill noted, from a classical point of view, 'every activity or vocation not directed to sex in the broadest sense, no matter under what guise, is a form of sublimation…in the service of hunger and love…guided by the individual’s unconscious motives.'"

Connected with a life drive, Sublimation can appear as symbol and belief in the mind connected with achievement in perception. The mind daydreams about putting things together, taking care of them, union, or the death drive as a form of destruction. Whether one can see sexual connotations of foreplay, engagement, and climax in projects, or sexual ideas of birthing a new project etc., creating something timeless to find immortality, or if one can see the benefit of meditation, surrender, disengaging from goals, taking out the trash, recycling, controlled demolition of old buildings, war to protect your country, and the closure of a business, as examples of the death drive, it's the healthy use of those desires in prosocial economic spheres as a stand in for procreation or dying.

When the above authenticity is tapped into, as talked about in past episodes, and shame is healed, then sublimation can move unhindered. "Developing a sense of initiative versus guilt can impact to what degree a person can create a realistic basis for his aspirations, focus and work-related decisions, including exploring what one might want to do in the adult work world. A lack of initiative often leads to choosing unsatisfying career paths. Acquiring a sense of industry versus inferiority can impact a sense of self-assurance, productivity and that all-important sense of being an agent in the world that can make things work: 'I am what I can learn to make work,' said Erikson. From a psychoanalytic point of view, the ability to actualize one’s creative visualizations and projections in real life is a sign of psychological health as well as a necessary constituent aspect of living the 'good life.'"

The destructive drives in work often get lodged in the Super-ego with arguments over self-preservation and shifting blame. For the Ego to work better, and to have confidence, playing has to be allowed to emerge, and the Super-ego conscience has to be ethically satisfied, to prevent remorse and conflict..."The best sublimations are those that 'fuse' the erotic with the aggressive. As Menninger points out, 'If the erotic impulse sufficiently dominates, the result is constructive behavior; if the aggressive impulses dominate, the result is more or less destructive behavior.' The point is that in civilized society an individual’s aggression cannot have full expression; it cannot find a direct outlet. Therefore it has to turn inward, and by doing so it becomes used by the super-ego. The super-ego in turn forces the ego to use its executive functions to submit to the reality of work with all of its adversity, drudgery and boredom. This internalized aggression [i.e., the ego submitting to the super-ego] is the ultimate guarantee for the maintenance of work and therefore, of self-preservation.' In this view, instinctual pleasure is not the ultimate driving force of work. Rather, the need for self-preservation is mediated by reason and intellect and reinforced by the voice of conscience. Thus, from a classically based perspective, the pleasure connected with work is the relief from the tension between the super-ego and ego, that is, the harmonization of conscience and reason, and this process allows the person to transform instinctually driven play actions rooted in one’s childhood into reality-driven adult work ones. As Lantos concludes, 'it is not the object or the skill of the activities which makes the difference between work and play, but the participation of the super ego, which changes play-activities into work-activities.' In short, at its best adult work is a pleasurable form of purposive play that is judged to be creative and productive...From the classical point of view, at its best work is erotically tinged, if not infused, by love. It is Eros made manifest." So here if one feels a sense of grind at work, it's because the Super-ego is micro-managing, bullying and over-processing in order to understand and complete the work. When the "rules of the game" so to say are habituated into skill, to make the work more effortless and effective, then the sense of play and Eros with the Ego can manifest, when one can get a taste of what it's like to do good work with a feeling of love.

Beyond love, a lot of a good fit with a vocation is the connection with psychoanalytic characters of the 'anal,' 'oral,' and 'phallic' kind. They are characters with a particular type of work style that is comfortable. Anal types are about neatness, cleanliness, and order. Oral types are about taking things in, using intuition, and are less concerned about messes. Naturally those two types wouldn't work too well together. Phallic types assert authority and domination over others and seek executive circles for networking and social protection from the other two types, because those types call them "dicks."

One of the big stressors at work is being a misfit for a job and trying to persist when one doesn't like it. For example, an Anal character "has an emotionally constricted comportment that is overly rigid, stubborn, perfectionistic and stingy, with preoccupation with trivial details and over-concern with having everything done one’s own way, and he displays excessive devotion to work, productivity and conscientiousness. These personality types tend to perform well and are happy in occupations that emphasize technical details, which demand concentrated, logical, methodical ways of thinking and continuous attention to their practical tasks. Moreover, they do well where social interaction is not primary to the work requirements, where decision-making is limited to their narrow technical expertise and where emotional expressiveness is not highly valued. Such personality types perform well on the job in work circumstances where they can control the parameters of work and in occupations that emphasize objectivity and detachment. One only has to call to mind the typical computer analyst, programmer, scientist, accountant, surveyor and lithographer to have an intuitive understanding of why an obsessive-compulsive personality would likely 'fit' well in these occupations..."

"Oral characters tend to be discernible by their optimism, self-confidence and carefree generosity, this being a reflection of the pleasurable aspects of the stage. Such people may be drawn to teaching, social work, non-profit work or the performing arts. Oral characters may also be characterized by pessimism, futility, anxiety and sadism, these being expressions of frustrations or conflicts occurring during this phase of psychosexual development. Such people tend to experience their occupation in dark, nasty terms and they are, often correctly, perceived as needy, dependent and moody, these being their main defensive ways of managing their anxiety and emptiness..."

"Phallic characters often express inordinate degrees of narcissistic behavior such as vanity, undue self-assurance, swagger, compulsive sexual behavior and in some contexts, primitive exhibitionistic and violent behavior. Indeed, more recently, such phallic characters are typically described as phallic-narcissistic characters. Political, religious and academic occupations permit such people to take advantage of their personality organization and defenses in which they satisfy their needs and wishes for adulation, self-aggrandizement and dependency attachments in a fairly shielded set of circumstances."

Of course, one could develop all elements of those types to try and balance out the weaknesses one has since many occupations require skills in all areas for some of the duration of the work day. If one also wants to work in areas that are opposed to their psychoanalytic character, they would want to emphasize skill development in those areas, so if an area is considered uninteresting, then if those activities eventually become skilled habits, they can be acted on with less friction, even if the work is mostly joyless. Both Anal and Oral characters could see the advantages of being more Phallic with assertiveness in areas of their job where it may help. Phallic types could also learn how improving their accuracy and increasing their creativity can balance their over-confidence. Anal characters can infuse creativity in areas where there is some wiggle room, and Oral characters can make their projects more robust by adding due diligence to their work.

Sexuality Pt 2: Infantile Sexuality - Sigmund Freud: https://rumble.com/v1gtort-sexuality-pt-2-infantile-sexuality-sigmund-freud.html

One has to keep in mind what a person risks if they work against type, which is a common scenario. "Individuals who have a 'job' and 'career' orientation toward work tend to have personal identities that do not significantly overlap with the actual work they do; to a large extent they view what they do at work as distinct from the rest of their life. They narrate their lives in terms of having a 'work self' and a 'non-work self,' and rarely do they feel they are a 'whole' or 'complete self'...In contrast, a 'calling' is a work orientation in which a person views their work as deeply satisfying and socially beneficial. That is, an individual chooses an occupation that he 'feels drawn to pursue,' often powerfully. He anticipates it to be 'intrinsically enjoyable and meaningful,' especially as a socially useful endeavor, and he views it 'as a central part of his identity.' As such work constitutes a practical ideal of activity and character that makes a person’s work morally inseparable from his or her life, and it links the person not only more intensely to his co-workers but to the larger community." The trick with connecting hobbies with work is to be able to monetize the activity one likes, and if one wants more control and choice over their work life, running a business can be the vehicle. Connecting passion for the product or service can also help sell the enjoyment of the products and services from the standpoint of one's own personal experience.

Matching the personality to the work can stabilize a strong sense of self by extending authenticity from home life to work life. "Such people are impressive when you encounter them, for one can sense there is no marked discrepancy between what they seem to be and what they are." In a way, the unconscious authenticity is powering the work behavior that one sees outwardly. "As cognitive psychologists have shown, 'most processing performed by the human mind for decision-making and behavior initiation is not performed at the conscious level' and 'introspective access to cognitive processes is limited'...The path of a career calling is a continuing, reciprocal and cyclical process which includes deep exploration of personal needs, wishes and goals, trial and error efforts, and critical reflection on failure and success, all of which constitute thoughtful career self-exploration, judgment and decision-making. Most importantly in this formulation is the 'feedback loop,' as it 'completes the success process and makes it self-reinforcing as a cycle.' Thus, given that unconscious meanings are in significant play with regards to the individual’s trajectory of a career calling, from a psychoanalytic point of view it is best to view a calling as both discovered and created, encountered and imposed, and found and made. Regardless of how one comes to one’s sense of having found/created one’s 'calling,' the fact is that it is based on the heartfelt assumption that no kind of work is insignificant if it uplifts humanity, if it enhances individual dignity and significance. Therefore, whatever work one does it should be engaged in with painstaking excellence."

To tolerate trial and error in developing skills to the level of excellence is partly explained by the sublimation descriptions above, but partly the endeavor to give one self more fully so as to guarantee that employers and customers will appreciate the efforts. Through visualization of growth, development, union, building, and creative destruction, one has to inhabit the other person in the exchange by "radiating out into intersubjectivity, expressing our ontological rootedness and togetherness." It's done through admiration of good qualities, but also authentic appreciation. This steps one out of having too much self-consciousness. You feel less blame when you know you put your current best into something. Also, excitement at work comes from knowing that you can do something well and can anticipate the steps to completion. "It is a psychological paradox that to give the best of oneself is the surest way one can receive. Research inspired by Frederickson’s 'broaden and build' theory has found that, in the workplace, institutionalized care-giving and supportive attachments and other pro-social behaviors that are rooted in heartfelt collective values that reflect 'organizational virtuousness' generate upward emotion spirals, so compassion begets compassion among employees." This can also follow through in romantic relationships where one gives as much of oneself as realistically possible, but in relationships with reciprocity, partners give back the same. To engage in this reciprocity, one has to have the ability to feel admiration and appreciation for others. You can recognize their value because it can be withdrawn from society as they choose.

The dangers of people not liking their jobs, relationships, and their feelings of alienation from society, is a threatening insecurity and helplessness that can bleed into criminality and destructive political beliefs. "Some people experience the urge to admire as a moment of radical diminishment. To admire someone else’s intelligence, work product, good character or looks, for example, is experienced as humiliating and, hence, is vigorously resisted. Such people are extremely suspicious of any act of recognition of someone else’s superiority in any domain. In fact, they resent such acknowledgment of another’s superiority. For such people there is 'a burning preoccupation with self at the bottom of this suspicion, a ‘but what about me, what becomes of me in that case?' According to Marcel, what people who cannot admire, hate, is the awareness that the acknowledgment of superiority is an 'absolute' judgment at the time it is given: '[the judgment] indicates that this new light can make me pale into insignificance in my own eyes or in those of others whose judgment I must consider since that judgment directly influences the judgment I tend to have of myself.' Such people experience the admired other as having power over them, while further fostering their beleaguered sense of self-control; hence, they often feel resentment, jealousy or envy. Where the jealous person feels bitter and unhappy because of another’s perceived advantages, possession or luck, the envious person, in addition, wants to aggressively 'steal' somebody else’s success, good fortune, qualities or possessions, take it all for himself, and leave the 'victim' with nothing. Perhaps what the person who cannot admire most profoundly resents and is jealous of is that [the] admired other lacks the 'inner inertia,' as Marcel calls it, the self-enclosure, low self-esteem and poor self-concept that the person who cannot admire feels. Thus, for the person who refuses to admire, the main self-deficit is that he will feel that his own dignity and pride are [permanently] damaged if he admires; he will experience a profound and lasting narcissistic injury that becomes fertile breeding ground for narcissistic rage; for the person who is unable to admire, the main self-deficit is that he is self-enclosed, hermetically sealed from allowing the unique otherness of the other inside himself. To do so would be too disruptive, disorienting or over-stimulating for him to let the other enter him; thus he pretends to himself that he does not notice the admirable qualities in others...There is an enfeebled self that consciously and/or unconsciously feels under siege from the condemning self-judgment that is evoked in the presence of someone or something who they believe is superior to them. Secondly, in both types the greater plenitude that one feels and derives in the presence of someone or something that transcends us is denied and they are less of a person as a result."

The capacity to admire others is similar to how one can admire things in the world. Like a meditation, one is concentrated in one's own activity. One can move to the next appropriate challenge, get absorbed, and repeat. "For example, when we look at a beautiful rose, we stare at it, note its loveliness and, when satisfied, move on to the next perception without clinging to the memory of the rose or trying to interfere with it. We simply engage the rose on its own terms with the fullness of our entire being. We then move on and become temporarily attached to another beautiful object of perception. 'Life, in other words,' says Yearley, 'is a series of esthetically pleasing new beginnings, and all such beginnings should be grasped and then surrendered as change proceeds'...The best way to go through the world, including in the workplace, is to experience life as it is lived, on its own terms, at least as one construes it, without trying to hold on, direct and/or control the experience. With this kind of moment-to-moment awareness, the mind is less likely to be ensnared by an experience, but instead can move effortlessly and continuously, seeing the world as a series of movie frames, some more pleasing than others but always changing, just as Nature does. The trick is to be able to become a person in whom the 'Tao acts without impediment.'"

Failing these standards, a person can resort to magical thinking and look for gurus, political leaders, and other powerful people for guidance, even if these people cannot possibly know your job or prove they have any deep knowledge of politics or economics to make the world change in any perceivable way. With buzz words like "alignment" and "abundance" these rituals can take over the mind. An article on Courier, describes one of these problems: Money manifesting gurus. At one point or another, whether a person is dealing with something psychological or not, they inevitably look for a guru to deal with poor finances, which are big reason why many people have psychological problems in the first place. "...All of [these financial gurus] seem to have one thing in common: they tend to be excellent at marketing and self-promotion...The manifesting coaches rely on anecdotal evidence (especially their own) as proof of their methods. But there’s no peer-reviewed science linking techniques like the law of attraction to real-world results." There is also an economic reality that if everyone kept day-dreaming themselves into abundance, what would that actually mean in terms of work and output in the economy? The reality is that if people got 30% richer on the average, and unless Artificial Intelligence takes over the work world and does most of the work for us, people would have to work 30% more to produce that extra wealth. Certainly in economics, there needs to be more effort for there to be more output. The remaining successes from the Law of Attraction are examples of confirmation bias where we focus in on positive situations and falsely attach those successes to seminar speakers or Tarot cards, without any evidence or self-examination, and usually by discounting our own efforts. "While coaches themselves are clearly making a success of money manifesting, it's less clear whether their course attendees are getting value for money." Some might say that it's just your outlook, and that it should be unrelentingly positive, so the Universe will bring you these opportunities, but the details of what's happening and what skills you have to develop can't be overlooked. There's no guarantee where you'll end up. Trial and error as a method may take a long time or be for the rest of your life.

Inside the 'money manifesting' myth - Courier magazine issue 41

Money Manifesting - Abraham Hicks: https://youtu.be/4Jk5FsAPVhI

Receiving Prosperity - Louise Hay: https://youtu.be/78gNJ3t5EfE

Cult Psychology: https://rumble.com/v1gvih9-cult-psychology.html

Some Might Say - Oasis: https://youtu.be/HPKeoRgdhzI

Even further, any skills that provide money are jealously guarded by the professionals who have them, to protect against being replaced. Because education is mostly a scam, because very few of your textbooks are usable in the workplace, many masters program students have lots of debt and no income to justify the risk they took. In the end, the most important knowledge is passed on from supervisor to employee when it is the right timing for the supervisor to move onto something better. Employees can practice all they want, but if they have no access to that knowledge, they have to reinvent the wheel, or search for another opportunity in another company. If there are generational imbalances, where there are plenty of older people who need the money and will work very late in their lives, there can be intergenerational conflicts when younger couples are looking for that all important promotion, to provide consistent sums of money for years, so they can get married and raise children. All bottlenecks demand a creativity out of employees to branch out into new businesses or to find underappreciated employment elsewhere. Those who remain in the wrong careers they chose in University are destined to fall into an endless cycle of narcissistic injury, until they change tack.

The Pinch: How the Baby Boomers Took Their Children's Future - and Why They Should Give it Back: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9781786491220/

Beau Is Afraid: https://youtu.be/XrCg9G_OHAA

Deliberate Practice

So let's say that you do find a position where you have all the resources necessary to perform well. What would that look like? Part of the sense of living a 'Tao without impediment' is being able to play. A condition for play is having enough challenge to push against, but also balancing energy so that one can go into new territory without complete exhaustion. The modern expert on this kind of high performance is Anders Ericsson. Despite what many self-help gurus say about doing easy things, and "let the universe do the rest," etc., people who actually meet their potentials in any arena have to assess their study and learning methods. "Purposeful practice is all about putting a bunch of baby steps together to reach a longer-term goal." This requires a lot of concentration emotionally. It means that when the cobwebs of the unconscious are resolved and relaxed there should be less avoidance distractions. Certainly looking at the above information and seeing what types of jobs are more in the wheelhouse of one's character helps a lot. Owners prize workers who live and breathe the industry and naturally try to separate the wheat and chaff. For generalist jobs, low paying jobs, or jobs that have high turnover, authenticity is not demanded as much. Some jobs are considered desperation jobs, entry level jobs, or jobs only for people with criminal records.

Nowadays there are lots of YouTube videos with doctors talking about how they study, though the gist of it is "stay on top of things" so the anxiety decreases. This isn't so easy if there's not enough energy or motivation. For so many, just about anything else is more interesting than their job. A recent Gallup poll found that only 15% were engaged. Typical of slavery mentalities, if people don't see progress, don't have time to celebrate progress, have no rest, it can move into extremes where there are mental health consequences. "To demonstrate the historical seriousness, stress and clinical burnout and subsequent suicide rates in Japan have caused the government to intervene. The current practice of management is now destroying their culture -- a staggering 94% of Japanese workers are not engaged at work...It is significantly better in the U.S., at around 30% engaged, but this still means that roughly 70% of American workers aren't engaged. It would change the world if we did better...Our conclusion is that organizations should change from having command-and-control managers to high-performance coaches." If the mind is focused squarely on the job as something to look forward to, with a sense of meaning, and an anticipation of growth, people won't feel that they are missing out when they are at work. This is why it's crucial that people try different things out before they put all their eggs in one basket with a career. "Employees everywhere don't necessarily hate the company or organization they work for as much as they do their boss. Employees -- especially the stars -- join a company and then quit their manager. It may not be the manager's fault so much as these managers have not been prepared to coach the new workforce."

The World's Broken Workplace - Gallup: https://news.gallup.com/opinion/chairman/212045/world-broken-workplace.aspx

Mindfulness: Letting Go: https://rumble.com/v1grbjr-mindfulness-letting-go.html

Study Techniques I Swear By As A Medical Student - StudyMD: https://youtu.be/QrLzs2oIfe8

Not everything is incumbent on the manager to facilitate motivation for employees, but there is that entitlement expectation that managers and owners have this duty. Filling jobs frees up time for executives for their other projects and there's a sense of duty to motivate new employees to keep from having to terminate employment only to start all over again. There are also political considerations. Managers don't want to let people into their job, yet employees want to see a pathway forward. This is why there's plenty of poaching between companies. For many managers their current role is as far as they want to go and they want the stability to work at a place for many years. This creates another separate group of employees, ones who want to limit the amount of change and resist to the point of burnout when forced to accept change, and those who excel at their roles and want to improve things. They look at change as part of the progress. When there's individual dynamism to manage oneself, the manager can relax and get out of the way. This is so much so that another Gallup poll found that "employees who work exclusively remote or hybrid tend to have higher levels of engagement (37% engaged in both groups) than those who work exclusively on-site (29% engaged)." Being at close quarters with other employees doesn't always enhance motivation. It has to do with connecting work with home, which adds meaning, and the reduced levels of the usual bullying, sexual harassment, while maintaining privacy from employees who may want to steal your ideas, judge you on looks, what you wear, and lifestyle. There's also less room for the usual slander and false accusations that Cluster B employees heap on the workers in jobs you have to commute to. Some workplaces are so toxic that employees dread going to work. Working at home means one can focus more on the work, and this is the same benefit that parents find when home schooling their kids. With bullying that goes unpunished, school shootings, inane juvenile cultures, all the parent's efforts at conditioning their kids for success, can be derailed very easily. The negatives of working at home is still down to politics, and in this case the politics of getting promoted. If you're never at the office how are you going to be considered?

The complexity of world wide politics is also clearly connected with office politics. The left and the right only want to work with people who agree with them, because the values are so different. With the influence of China and the CCP style Environmental, social and governance (ESG) scores, there's even more intrusion from corporations that identify with globalist policies to hire based on affirmative action and there's a nationalist push back where workers, who are also consumers, are boycotting companies that don't support their family values. People are now voting with their money, as you can see with organizations like PublicSq where you can shop not based on price, but based on values. Scandals and accusations of trying to groom children, adolescents, and teenagers with Disney and Budweiser are obvious examples, and now that sales for Bud Light have plummeted, there's now a Woke Alert that will send emails to let people know which companies are pushing a left-wing social agendas to replicate bans on those products.

An example of culture wars in my life was being hired by a narcissist psychopath in a brief Accounting job, and at the Christmas party one of the other guys that was newly hired brought his boyfriend and the psycho accounting partner was completely shocked and said "what? They're gay?!" and walked off from the table to pretend to be a social butterfly with clients who were also invited to this dinner theatre. Just imagine a guy with a permanent facial expression of repressed sadism and vibes out of an Ari Aster movie, who could at the drop of a hat start a human sacrifice, with a barely controlled aggression, and no authentic self, yet at the same time call himself a Christian, and as expected, a pillar of the community. On the other hand you have cancel culture which is also full of Cluster B types who are more interested in threatening lawsuits than doing actual work. They support a Neo-Communism that's not based on class but on race and sexual orientation. If you don't fit with an alphabet group or a marginalized ethnic group, you're an oppressor. There are even some people who fake ancestry to a marginalized ethnic group just to tap into that sympathy and attention.

Employers are also worried that work quality cannot be judged without one accusation or another. One viral short video explained the conundrum for employers. "So if I was like hiring, and I saw pronouns, so here's what I'm going to assume. I'm going to assume you're obviously very liberal. So I'm going to assume you're one of those people that is super far left. Hey. I'm going to assume you're not a very hard worker. You are either a female or you're a probably not straight guy. So everything in the office is going to have to cater to you, your feelings, your needs, and your emotions. So everyone around you is not going to be able to be themselves and walk on eggshells. Why would anyone want someone like you unless everyone is like you? In a work environment you're going to be the laziest person. You're going to be the most entitled, complain the most, and I think you're going to be the first to sue. So shocker that pronouns weren't helping you guys." Even when every side of the culture war pays lip service about diversity, people are tempted to find people with the same politics to work with. People with the same values feel more comfortable working with people who are the same. On top of sexual orientation, religion, and ethnicity, people go out of their way to hate those who are single, old, and ugly. Needless to say, that 70% minimum of disengagement at work sounds about right. Some years ago I remember meeting a marketing guy who told me, "Richard. It's really easy to be in sales. Just be like your clients." The pressure to be unlike yourself is so strong that it is not a shock that personality disorders where people don't have an authentic self are common. Being an actor is so well practiced that it bleeds into life outside work. Ideally, all that should matter at work is the work, and at home people can have their own lifestyles, but humans with power love getting into other people's businesses because they want to force one kind of imitation or another so they can feel they are working with people who are a mirror image of themselves. The only people in the end they are comfortable working with. In a way, cancel culture has always been there and it's leverage comes from being the decision maker on who can join the staff. When people chase power by saying the right things until they gain power, and when they get that power, they begin the process a new of making people into clones of themselves and rejecting more independent people. You have to ask yourself, if you had power would you do any differently?

Public Square: https://publicsq.com/

Woke Alert: https://consumersresearch.org/wokealert/

She has a point - Employers vs. Pronouns: https://youtube.com/shorts/JZ0YZvC6u-Y

U.S. Employee Engagement Slump Continues - Gallup: https://www.gallup.com/workplace/391922/employee-engagement-slump-continues.aspx

Tar Offends BIPOC Pan-gendered Person During Lecture: https://youtu.be/VTAXQYic9uU

For those employees, regardless of lifestyle, who are interested in work, there are some things that they look for from employers that creates a better environment. In Management innovation roadmap, by Vittorio D'Amato, what many employees want is:

• responsibility for doing something useful, • high level of freedom in the way results are reached, • opportunity for professional growth and skill development, • opportunities to work with professional people, • recognition for having done a good job.

A big part of management is to provide regulation where necessary, but employees want to preserve a certain amount of freedom to engage their personality in the work. Again, these are employees who are self-managing, and we are talking about jobs that allow for that kind of creativity. That process of training and pushing back, allows managers and employees to feel out how self-regulating an employee truly is and supervisors can gradually allow employees to continue with more freedom. Similar to Super-ego and Ego functions, they work well when there's no conflict along with that freedom. The Ego employee agrees with the regulations implemented by the Super-ego manager, because they are commonsensical, and in turn, the Super-ego trusts the Ego to use freedom responsibly. If one is willing put in as much effort towards self-management as one can develop, there's less need for an authoritarian management style.

The Ego and the Id - Sigmund Freud: https://rumble.com/v1gvdo1-the-ego-and-the-id-sigmund-freud.html

The complexity of this topic expands when accepting that employees and managers have differing views on what abuse is and what are reprimands for mistakes and irresponsibility. The workplace is full of situations where people are measuring interactional justice, which "describes the fairness of the interpersonal treatment received at the hands of decision makers or the quality of treatment an employee receives from his or her supervisor." This moves into attribution theory and locus of control, which are about those who put responsibility on themselves for outcomes or blame external forces, respectively. This is a tricky area because one has to be scientific enough to blame others where there is appropriate blame, because there's ample evidence, but to not scapegoat others for one's evidential failures. All arguments need to have some evidential basis. There's also a disconnect between managers and employees when they have differing values. What one manager thinks is justice may mean something totally different to an employee. Beyond checking for evidential support for abusive claims, matching employee values with the organizational values, there are situations of corruption and abusive supervision that are observed.

Emotional Exhaustion is a term used for what can be objectively seen in the consequences to workers. Typical Abusive Supervision includes obvious mocking and belittling. This isn't the same as highlighting weaknesses in job performance to motivate change, which unfortunately some with an external locus of control can't handle. It's the type of comments that craft a negative identity that reduces self-esteem and low self-esteem means low performance. The workload is also another obvious externally provable metric. "When employees take sustained effort to meet the demands but cannot adequately recover, job demands may turn to stressors, resulting in energy depletion and subsequently impaired health." High performance simply means being able to handle more because of increased skill and efficiency, and the term High Performance, should not be confused with workaholism and burnout, which many types who like to grind through their workday think it is. Similar to the Management Innovation Roadmap above, researchers posit Perceived Job Characteristics (PJCs) that include dimensions of skill variety, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and feedback, as a way to counter emotional exhaustion due to repetitive task overload.

Development in soft skills, including skills in constructive criticism, is a big way to help reduce turnover. Managers have to resist the temptation of sadism and mockery towards employees, especially in areas totally unrelated to behavior, and employees have to develop more of an internal locus of control, like having an ability to learn from legitimate criticism. A lot of readers may laugh because this basic level of attainment is actually quite hard for both managers and employees to achieve, and this is especially true for those dealing with persistent mental illness. Sometimes there's denial before one can move into acceptance of one's own faults, and it's important to know that all personality tests find each type has some weaknesses. Teams with this kind of self-awareness can avoid obvious bigotry on one side and political correctness on the other.

So let's say that you have an internal locus of control and your employer provides freedom for creativity and constructive criticism. What does Ericsson think is required for high performance? Deliberate Practice for Ericsson is not just rote repeating to lodge skills into memory, but a particular type of practice where there is a reflection on what good performance looks like. When there aren't examples, one has to experiment to find new standards beyond the current ones. "The amateur pianist who took half a dozen years of lessons when he was a teenager but who for the past thirty years has been playing the same set of songs in exactly the same way over and over again may have accumulated ten thousand hours of 'practice' during that time, but he is no better at playing the piano than he was thirty years ago. Indeed, he’s probably gotten worse." Instead of trying harder and grinding, it's better to try differently, which is similar to the maxim "try smarter, not harder." It also means that organizations have to accept experimentation and there's always an edge to one's skills so that no procedures can be permanently codified. A new edge means new procedures. This can be a strain for those who work as a means to an end and are not jazzed up that they have to take more of their personal time to learn new aspects of a job.

There has to be a curiosity to see how far one can go before it's decided that this is the edge of the universe. Many limits are self-imposed because making mistakes and having an overactive Super-ego is draining. "In all of my years of research, I have found it is surprisingly rare to get clear evidence in any field that a person has reached some immutable limit on performance. Instead, I’ve found that people more often just give up and stop trying to improve." Internal and external signs of improvement make it easier for people to accept changes and also believe in their own ability to improve. The longer it takes to see results the higher the probability one will give up. The way to improve motivation is to work with the sense of self and monitor progress. "...once he started to see improvement after the first few sessions, he really enjoyed seeing his memory scores go up. It felt good, and he wanted to keep feeling that way...It can be internal feedback, such as the satisfaction of seeing yourself improve at something, or external feedback provided by others, but it makes a huge difference in whether a person will be able to maintain the consistent effort necessary to improve through purposeful practice."

There are different ways of doing this depending on the work or activity. One can reorganize information in the mind with self-tests, although the closer the test is to reality, the better. There is some upfront effort that is needed to create tests where none exist. When tests are matched to realistic scenarios, confidence increases as it normally does when one feels prepared. A lot of what makes up self-esteem is self-efficacy: knowing you can achieve. There is a version of you before Deliberate Practice and the version after. These two different self-images come about based on signs of progress and signs of failure. The pleasure comes from achieving personal goals and collective goals within an organization. Most important are the personal goals, and there have to be enough of them with frequent feedback to maintain motivation. When there's politics at work and difficult challenges, a learning orientation that can accept failure is needed to prevent burnout that comes from repeated resistance to setbacks. Employees that can lead themselves put themselves in a good position to negotiate with employers. Individuals working at their cutting edge can decide if where they are working provides enough satisfaction. Deliberate practice also clarifies what commitment is needed in order to be the best one can be. Each person has to assess how much personal time they have to give up in order to perform at this level. Is the trade-off worth it?

Initial successes and confidence with this method can provide a life long interest in deliberate practice. Things that seem to work well tend to be repeated. "If we can show students that they have the power to develop a skill of their choice and that, while it is not easy, it has many rewards that will make it worthwhile, we make it much more likely that they will use deliberate practice to develop various skills over their lifetimes."

The Psychoanalysis of Career Choice, Job Performance, and Satisfaction: How to Flourish in the Workplace by Paul Marcus: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9781138211650/

Aryee, S., Chen, Z. X., Sun, L.-Y., & Debrah, Y. A. (2007). Antecedents and outcomes of abusive supervision: Test of a trickle-down model. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(1), 191–201.

Lin, W., Wang, L., & Chen, S. (2013). Abusive Supervision and Employee Well-Being: The Moderating Effect of Power Distance Orientation. Applied Psychology, 62(2), 308–329.

Martinko, M. J., Harvey, P., Sikora, D., & Douglas, S. C. (2011). Perceptions of abusive supervision: The role of subordinates’ attribution styles. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(4), 751–764.

Tepper, B. J. (2007). Abusive Supervision in Work Organizations: Review, Synthesis, and Research Agenda. Journal of Management, 33(3), 261–289.

Calcagno, A. (2010). Hannah Arendt and Augustine of Hippo: On the Pleasure of and Desire for Evil. Laval Théologique et Philosophique, 66(2), 371.

Freud on Sublimation: Reconsiderations by Volney Patrick Gay: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9780791411841/

Management innovation roadmap by Vittorio D'Amato: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9788823844711/

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise - Anders Ericsson: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9780544947221/

The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance - Anders Ericsson: https://www.isbns.net/isbn/9781316502617/

Psychology: http://psychreviews.org/category/psychology01/

#object relations #fear of success #career counselling #deliberate practice #andersericsson #burnout #cancel culture #emotional exhaustion #sublimation #wokeness #culture wars #envy #love #psychoanalysis

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genshinnrambles · 11 months

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[4.1] What is "It"?: Theories on Will, Wishes, and Fate

With the finale of Fontaine’s Archon Quest in just a few days, I know there’s a lot of questions I’m personally anticipating the answers to: what is the true origin of the prophecy? What is the Primordial Sea, really? What is the connection between it and the Abyssal whale? And just what exactly did Skirk mean when she said that Childe had awakened “it” and had traces of “it” on him?

Most community theories suggest that “it” just refers to the whale, but like, what is the whale? Why did Childe even see it in the Abyss all those years ago, and why has it reappeared now? Well, I have a few ideas I’d like to explore about that, albeit in a very roundabout way, and they start with a quest that I feel has been severely under-discussed and under-theorized since its release: Yoimiya’s second story quest.

It’s understandable that this quest didn’t get too much buzz between its very unfortunate timing in patch 3.7, when community burnout was exceptionally high, and Honkai Star Rail’s debut as the Shiny New Thing. But it’s also a shame, because this story quest is full of interesting lore, Freudian references, and a few intriguing world building mysteries beneath its very wholesome story and further exploration of Yoimiya’s character. That is to say, the content of Yoimiya’s second story quest really matters. It’s not just because it is the first non-Archon character’s second story quest to date — it’s because it is an incredibly important piece of the puzzle comprised of Nahida’s second story quest, Caribert, and Khvarena of Good and Evil that was preparing us for Fontaine’s plot.

This is an attempt to identify and analyze the connections between Yoimiya’s second story quest and those above, as well as to theorize about the greatest mystery in Yoimiya’s quest, the “Urstone,” and finally tie all of that into Fontaine’s Archon Quest thus far. As that is an ambitious project, this will be far from an exhaustive theory, but I hope to at least get closer to understanding the meaning behind Childe awakening ”it.”

SPOILERS: Fontaine AQ Acts I-IV, Yoimiya’s SQ Act II: Star-Pickers’ Passage, Aranyaka, Nahida’s SQ Act II: Homecoming, Khvarena of Good and Evil, Ei’s SQ Act II: Transient Dreams, Kazuha’s SQ: A Long and Friendless Road (very minor), and Caribert.

A “Story”

Yoimiya: But there’s a premise to every legend, and that’s belief!

Since it's been a while, let’s start with some recap of Yoimiya’s Act II: Star-Pickers’ Passage.

By chance, the Traveler comes across Yoimiya in Inazuma as she prepares to search for a great meteor shower like the one that her ancestor saw many years ago. It’s patch 3.7, so the Traveler’s got a lot of time to kill and offers to go with her from Ritou to Port Ormos. There, they come across Acara Crafts’ stall that sells Aranara carved figures, which Yoimiya buys out to bring back as souvenirs to Hanamizaka.

In Sumeru City, Yoimiya and the Traveler briefly split up to look for meteor shower leads, and the Traveler runs into Nahida at the Akademiya. Upon learning their journey’s purpose, Nahida explains that meteor showers are unpredictable occurrences related to “intricate fates” interfering with one another, and for this reason seeking one out reliably is impossible.

The Traveler and Paimon are reluctant to tell Yoimiya this out of fear of disappointing her and rendering her journey meaningless, so with Nahida’s help they decide to facilitate the meteor shower through a dream in order to fulfill her wish.

This is the first of many references to psychoanalysis and Sigmund Freud’s theory of dream interpretation in this quest. Freud thought that the psychological purpose of dreams is to fulfill wishes, particularly wishes that we’ve forgotten through repression. He believed that these unfulfilled wishes are what produce the dream itself; the wish “wants” to be remembered, and the mental processes that repress it are weakest at night, so dreams are our mind’s attempt to translate the underlying “thought” that represents the wish into “images” while we sleep. Through dreams, unfulfilled wishes can be made conscious or remembered and fulfilled through a fantasy.

To lure Yoimiya into the dream and sell her their “story”, the Traveler and Paimon craft the perfect pretext so that she fully believes that they are preparing to see a meteor shower. Their pretext’s foundation, namely the idea that meteor showers are summoned by people’s wishes, subtly twists the truth in Nahida’s words so that something intangible and uncontrollable is framed as something with an amount of certainty. In other words, by controlling the pretext, the Traveler and Paimon are able to control “truth.”

Upon reuniting with Yoimiya, the Traveler finds her with a little girl in a wheelchair named Avin. Before parting ways, Yoimiya gives her a carved Aranara souvenir to thank her for guiding her through Sumeru City, and to cheer her up. Yoimiya then tells the Traveler that Avin has an unknown chronic illness that immobilizes her legs, and that she had approached Avin because she seemed to be alone and in a bad mood.

As they refocus on finding the meteor shower, the Traveler and Paimon begin to tell Yoimiya their lie and set the plan in motion. They play the role of magicians using careful misdirection to craft a wonderful illusion; beneath the ruse of finding the right “location” (or “space”) and forging a special device (which can be anything) to observe the meteor shower, they will take Yoimiya on a journey through Sumeru and make memories with her, adding meaning to what is ultimately a trick. With these seeds planted, they head off to Devantaka Mountain to “practice” wishing for the meteor shower.

At the top of the Ruin Golem there, Yoimiya shares more about her motivations for setting out on this journey. As someone who was entrusted with the wishes of everyone in Inazuma who heard of her dream, Yoimiya began to wonder why people derive this meaning from meteor showers in the first place:

Yoimiya: People use fireworks to remember their most precious memories, and these memories sparkle and shine each time the fireworks fly.

Yoimiya: In other words, fireworks symbolize the past. Yoimiya: And shooting stars make people think of wishes because wishes carry people's brilliant hopes and expectations for the future. Yoimiya: One represents the past, and the other the future. They both bloom in the sky, but have completely different meanings behind them.

Yoimiya’s belief that wishes are beautiful things that join the past and the future is what gives her journey meaning, and this is what keeps her moving forward despite the lack of certainty that she will ever find this beauty herself. This admiration for the hope in people’s hearts is what shapes her wish, too.

After returning to Sumeru City, they ask Ahangar for guidance on how to forge an observation device with the purest ore. After some initial skepticism, he chooses to entertain their “story” and tells them about his own profession’s local legend: somewhere, there exists an excellent forging material that few have ever found, and the few who already have it have never used:

Yoimiya: So you mean that [the forging material] symbolizes dreams? Ahangar: Dreams, inspiration, obsession, focus…. Call it what you want. But if you take it to symbolize “purity,” then I believe it is your goal as well. Ahangar: We call it Urstone, but in truth, neither I nor my colleagues have ever seen it.

As they are about to set off and find this Urstone, Avin’s parents show up looking for her after she didn’t return home that day. The Traveler and Yoimiya then find Avin collapsed on the outskirts of Sumeru City. After calming her down, Avin discloses that her illness has not just immobilized her – she has also forgotten her happy memories and how it felt to be passionate before she got sick. With no end in sight to her illness, Avin’s dreams of becoming an adventurer have ended and her world feels as if it is closing in on her – as she later reflects, her world had “shrunk down to a tiny space.” Avin’s illness is an objective truth with material consequences on her life, and this truth ended the fantasy of her innocence, along with her dream of becoming an adventurer one day. This loss of innocence, and therefore loss of childhood, triggered feelings of depression and hopelessness in her. However, the Aranara carving that Yoimiya gave Avin reminded her of her childhood friend, Arashani, who she desperately wanted to see again.

To help Arashani and Avin reunite, the Traveler calls on the Aranara for help with a whistle that Nahida gave them for the dream-meteor shower. When Arapurva arrives, Yoimiya asserts herself as someone who both values childhood innocence and sees children’s dreams as worthy of protection, which earns the Aranara’s trust:

Arapurva: It seems that Red Nara has not yet grown up. Paimon: Huh? What do you mean by that? Arapurva: Time is very important to Nara. Nara walk with time. They remember much, and they forget much. But Red Nara is different. You know how young Nara think. The warmth in your heart is very pure, and it is fierce like the sun.

Arapurva then takes them all to Mawtiyima to find Arashani, and here they enter a collective dream. Before leaving them, Arapurva urges Avin to remember, and that to do so she needs both memories and dreams. Arapurva also says something very interesting, also worth keeping in the back of your head: “Dreams are connected to your heart, not your body.”

Avin: Wow, that’s amazing, is this…the power of my heart? Video Still from Streetwise Rhapsody

The dream space allows Avin to unite thoughts with belief to create images. Remember, according to Freud, the psychological purpose of dreams is to make conscious an unfulfilled wish – so, in this liminal space between the conscious and unconscious, Avin can create the image of herself walking again just by thinking of it, because it is her wish, and thereby remember how she once felt before she got sick.

As they search for Avin’s memories of Arashani, Yoimiya and Avin chase a wayward “star” across Mawtiyima’s mushroom canopy until they reach an iridescent pale blue stone with a solid partial casing surrounding it. Inside, the stone glitters with the light of the universe.

Avin: I dunno how to explain this…I don’t know what it is, but it feels very familiar…Almost like it’s a part of me.

Yoimiya speculates that this stone is what Avin has been searching for all this time, and that it is her Urstone:

Yoimiya: It's a very rare ore that symbolizes a person's aspirations and dreams. Yoimiya: Since you can see it, that means you've found what you've lost. Avin: Is that how it works...? Avin: It's just like in fairy tales... I thought I'd stopped believing in those. Avin: But I'm glad that I found that belief again.

Avin then reaches into the Urstone and passes through it into a deeper layer of the dream, and there she reunites with Arashani, signaling that she has regained her memories. Having found him again, Avin’s hope is renewed and it changes her reality – indeed, it changes her fate. To be clear, Avin can’t dream or wish away her illness in real life, but her hope is what allows her to expand the “tiny space” her world had become in her depression.

After this, the crew seemingly returns to reality, but finds that Arashani is still there along with Arapurva. Having settled her worries, Avin resolves to help Yoimiya and the Traveler achieve their wish to see the meteor shower, and offers them her Urstone…

Avin: Yoimiya, you need this Urstone because you want to see a meteor shower? Yoimiya: Yep. Oh! Once we find it, you should come with us! Avin: If that’s how things are…I’m happy to lend you my Urstone.

…And then, Avin pulls a light blue lens from her chest, right over her heart. With this lens crafted using the purest ore, they locate a meteor shower of stars flying up from the ground and ride them through the clouds. Finally, they wake up from the collective dream and part ways in Port Ormos.

The Purest Ore and the Will to Power

Now, there’s a lot to discuss about Yoimiya’s second story quest, and we will get to as much of it as possible, but the bulk of this theory will be focused on trying to understand the Urstone, so that is where we will begin.

Let’s start with what we know from the quest. We are told three things about the Urstone: it is “the purest ore,” it symbolizes dreams, and through the dream we are implicitly told that it represents the power of the heart.

This last area is where we’ll turn the majority of our attention, because from there we can reach a greater understanding of many worldbuilding concepts we’ve encountered in the story thus far. However, all of these definitions of the Urstone work hand-in-hand and do not contradict one another, so they are all helpful to keep in mind going forward.

But what do I mean by “power of the heart?” Well, first let’s harken back to the Aranara quest, Aranyaka, where we learned about the “Sourcesong” and the songs that split off from it through time. By learning all of the songs that represent these branches from the origin, the Aranara get closer to learning the Sourcesong:

Arasudraka: Songs are like rivers. They derive from the same origin, the "Sourcesong." She is the home to all songs and the source of all great rivers. Arasudraka: Then, it changes when it is sung for different memories and different stories, just like how a great river diverges into creeks. Arasudraka: Just like all the creeks eventually flow into the sea, all the songs eventually converge into one, into the Sourcesong. Arasudraka: So Aranara song gatherers have to find all the songs. That way, we can find the Sourcesong.

These songs serve as a metaphor for another theme of Aranyaka, which is the concept of “returning to Sarva,” or returning to Irminsul after death in the form of memories/energy in the Ley Lines. It could also be extended to what we currently understand about the Primordial Sea as the origin of all life, its “source,” and all the lifeforms that arise from it are like the creeks that diverge from the river before they eventually converge back into the sea:

Paimon: What? You mean you don't believe in the prophecy? Augereau: No, no, I believe in the prophecy, but I also believe in another story. Augereau: The story says that people once lived in the ocean. They were one with the ocean and couldn't live apart from it. Augereau: But as time wore on, people desired to live on land and developed blood vessels, encapsulating the sea within their bodies. Thus could people set foot on land. Augereau: So if you ask me, when the water rises and takes us all, it'll be like we're going home.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche was also interested in the idea of things differentiating themselves from a primordial source of sorts, and he uses this language in one of his many attempts to define his most well-known philosophical doctrines, the Will to Power. In Beyond Good and Evil, Nietzsche marks the inner “world of desires and impulses” as the source of emotions (Nietzsche, 35). He likens it to a primitive world where desires exist in a state of unity that then branch off into distinct organic processes. Nietzsche argues that this differentiation arises due to “will,” and that will is the “causality of all things,” and that all will is Will to Power – in other words, the will to dominate and to multiply (Nietzsche 13 & 35).

“Will” is the force that differentiates the primordial soup of our base desires and impulses into distinct organic processes, and these processes then give rise to distinct life forms that separate themselves from the original state of unity. That is, without “will,” we would all still be floating in the unified state of the primordial soup - will is both the cause, and the reason for individuality:

Mary-Ann: Water can take any shape, and life can choose what form it must take. This, however, has nothing to do with its essence. That is a different matter.

If you’ve been following the Narzissenkreuz Institute world quest plot, this discussion of “will'' should be ringing some bells. In Khvarena of Good and Evil, we came across Rene’s Investigation Notes in the Girdle of Sands, which talked about the power of Khvarena and a blurred out word (likely “Abyss'' or “Void”) containing a will of their own that can recognize itself, unlike the power of the Elements:

...Though the results are nothing impressive, this is because the object [the Khaenri’ahns] chose was pure elemental force, which lacks any will whatsoever. Like the difference between the Director and a Hydro Slime, perhaps? […] Even though the calculated result is unchanged, but if the refinement method is reflected... If the power of... then maybe we can extract the "will" within. Using this method... resist the impact…

The investigation notes do two things here that we’re interested in: first, they establish the presence of “will” as the distinction between elemental energy, such as that found in Azosite, and the higher powers represented by Khvarena and “Void,” and second, they raise the possibility that “will” is something that can be removed from its vessel, so to speak, or perhaps manipulated. Just keep this in the back of your mind for now, too, we’ll come back to it much later.

If we apply this concept of will back to the Sourcesong story, then it is will that differentiates each song into its own unique form, but each song still contains the essence of the Sourcesong from which it arose. A similar story is told about the five branches of the Raiden Gokaden. In Kazuha’s Story Quest, Amenoma Tougo likens the Raiden Gokaden to schools of thought that originate from a single source, with each branch carrying its own philosophy. Kazuha’s family’s school, the Isshin Art, seeks “complete harmony between blade and mind” during the forging process, because they believed this was the only way for a blade to “capture and convey its maker's thoughts and feelings, and eventually become an extension of its wielder's will.”

This is a very important concept as we move forward. If we think of will as what differentiates each forging art of the Raiden Gokaden from each other and their source, and each branch is considered a unique school of thought and philosophy of blade forging, then thoughts are an essential component of will. If a blade that these philosophies produce is meant to capture the thoughts and feelings of its respective forging branch, such that they are an extension of will, then will can be further defined as the cause and reason that an abstract form (thoughts and feelings) is translated into a physical form (an object, such as a blade). It is both the how and the why.

Put another way, the blade is the bladesmith’s will embodied. It is the bladesmith’s thoughts and feelings, which we have just established are an essential component of will, given a physical form. The thoughts and feelings are will, the object is will, and the “force” that translates the abstract into the physical is will. So basically, it’s all will, but in different forms.

But so what? Well, let’s go back to the amazing feat that Avin accomplished towards the end of the story quest. She asks Yoimiya what she needs, then says she will lend her Urstone to Yoimiya to help her achieve her dreams, and what does she then do? She pulls a viewing lens from her chest, right over her heart.

That is what the Urstone is. The Urstone is the source of a person’s will, and the Urstone is associated with the power of the heart, which would also make “will” the power of the heart. Will is what underlies the power of creation and imagination, or as Ashikai puts it in her theory of Irminsul’s true purpose, the power by which “thoughts become things.”

The purest ore was needed to craft the observation device, and of course the purest ore would come from the purest will – a child’s will. What’s more, Yoimiya and the Traveler never even mentioned what kind of device they needed to forge with the Urstone. It was Avin’s will to help her friends that materialized their thoughts into an object. The implications of this are fascinating, though this theory isn’t going to go there. Instead, I’d recommend watching Ashikai’s video above if you’re interested in that train of thought.

The Seed of Ideas*

Paimon: The light turned into…a seed?

Having established this connection between thoughts/feelings, the power of the heart, and “will,” let’s see how else we can think about the Urstone. I noticed that “will” turns up in a couple of other recent to semi-recent contexts, and both of them involve the origin of some important trees in the open world.

To start, let’s revisit Ei’s second story quest. As a lightning fast refresher, Ei and the Traveler were investigating Rifthound activity near the roots of the Sacred Sakura tree, which we know protects Inazuma by purifying “filth” from the earth, or rather the memories of people who died on the land. This is meant to mirror Irminsul, since the Ley Lines also contain memories and are Irminsul’s root system. With the Sacred Sakura’s roots damaged, this “filth” leaks out, and the memories within are briefly re-projected onto the land.

As Ei confronts her past through these memories of Inazuma, she vocalizes her change of heart since the Vision Hunt Decree and her newfound will. The Shogun then challenges her to a duel in Raiden Makoto’s realm of consciousness, which Ei preserved before she passed away 500 years ago. When Ei successfully proves the strength of her will to the Shogun, she awakens another fragment of Makoto that she hid inside Musou Isshin. Interestingly, Makoto calls this a fragment of her will. Upon awakening her will, it becomes a seed that Ei plants in the realm of consciousness, which grows the Sacred Sakura tree in the real world. In other words, the Sacred Sakura tree is Makoto’s will given a physical form, another example of someone’s will embodied.

But this is not even the first time that will has been represented to players as a seed. In Dragonspine, the Frostbearing Tree goes through a physical transformation as the Traveler offers it more and more Crimson Agate, which is a crystal tainted with Durin’s abyssal blood. After offering enough Crimson Agate, we get the blueprint for the Frostbearer catalyst, which tells us an interesting story:

A long, long time later, yet still long ago — When the deathmatch between the dragons of darkness and wind was decided at last, When corrosive blood stained the ashen valley red, The tree, at last, remembered that it had not died with that entombed city, And it extended its greedy roots towards the warm ichor that irrigated the land. Because a certain someone poured out a crimson essence upon it, The tree that should have long died remembered its past, And bore a single fruit from the coalescence of all its might…

As creepy as the Frostbearer catalyst lore is, there’s another useful analogy to be made here so that we can better understand Avin and her Urstone.

Think of Avin as the Frostbearing Tree, a tree that “should have died” but remembered its past upon being offered Durin’s blood. This may seem like a strange comparison at first, but Durin’s blood is conceptually not so different from the memories flowing in the Ley Lines like water, or the filth flowing through the roots of the Sacred Sakura tree, just as Durin’s “heart” is likely a similar anchor for his consciousness as Elynas’s is, just as Makoto’s fragment of her will became the seed or “source” of the Sacred Sakura, or the “Urstone,” we theorize, is the source of an individual’s will.

Basically, Durin’s blood is a liquid form of his will that can change the “shape'' of the objects it comes into contact with, and upon being exposed to it the Frostbearing Tree remembers what its life was like before the Skyfrost Nail dropped on Sal Vindagnyr. This is very similar to how Avin remembered her happiness before her illness through the magic of the dream space and finding her Urstone. And upon remembering its past, the Frostbearing Tree bears the “fruit” that is the Frostbearer catalyst, the “coalescence of all its might,” but Avin bore the observation lens. Both are products of their source’s will, but have different emotions behind them due to their difference in purity.

But there’s one last thing I want to point out about the Frostbearer catalyst before moving on to the next point. A fruit is like a sugary case for a plant’s seeds, so what might this structure be in the center of the Frostbearer catalyst?

That’s right. A “seed,” which also resembles a gem or a stone. And not too unlike the general shape of the Urstone, I would add.

But you know what else the Frostbearer catalyst and the Urstone really remind me of? The Fire Seed from Nahida’s second story quest. Although the Fire Seed neither becomes a tree nor seems to come from one (though this is also debatable if you consider Rukkhadevata and Nahida to be like…smaller trees, originating from Irminsul), it’s still worth talking about if only for a potential analogy between it and the Urstone.

The Fire Seed has obvious visual similarities with the Frostbearer catalyst, with both “stones” or seeds in the center of them having the same overall shape - the Traveler and Nahida even call the Fire Seed a crystal before they learn what it is from the elemental life form in the Chasm.

Video still from Star Dragon X

The Urstone also generally looks similar to the Fire Seed in terms of the stone’s shape and the orientation of the casing-like objects around it, but there’s a more compelling analogy to be drawn between their composition. The Fire Seed is described as an extremely high concentration of elemental energy in a very fragile or unstable state, and we know from our understanding of Irminsul that elemental energy is another form that memories can take. While it’s not clear if passing through the Urstone is the same thing as entering the Urstone itself, Avin does access more of her repressed memories of Arashani after doing so, allowing her to “remember,” as Arapurva asked her to. So, both seem to contain memories.

You may also know that the prefix Ur- in Urstone means primordial or original, something from before the present. This leads me to wonder if that light of the universe glowing from within the Urstone is what Roozevelt calls “primal energy.” Hoyoverse does like to worldbuild through analogies and allegories, so I wouldn’t be surprised if the visual similarities between the Fire Seed and Urstone were meant to be a tip for a functional similarity as well.

Finally, there’s the relationship between the Fire Seed and Apep’s Heart of Oasis. The Fire Seed was made by Greater Lord Rukkhadevata with the help of Apep’s “children,” the elemental beings that split off from that “source.” It is meant to mimic the Heart of Oasis and the way that it functions, which tells me that all of this will/”heart”/source as a seed imagery is being repeated for a reason, because it’s meant to teach us more about how “will” works.

Remember how the Aranara believe they can find the Sourcesong by learning every song, and how this points to the idea that the essence of the source is retained in each of its “children,” despite the unique form that each song takes? Well, let’s think about that for a second. For example, think about how light shining through a prism will split off into unique colors - each color is distinct from the other, with a unique character and “form,” so to speak, but each color still originates from light. Red, green, and blue may all look different from each other, but each tells you about a characteristic of this thing called light.

I think the same is true about these “seeds.” These fragments of an original consciousness can take the form of seeds because that is one facet of the essence of the source. That’s why an Urstone can be so many things at once: a “heart” (though not corporeal), an “ore,” a source, a will, and a seed. That is because each fragment of the source’s will conveys a small “idea” taken from the original consciousness, and these ideas are like fruits born from a tree. If you were to “plant” these seeds in the ground, the ideas would spread across the land, thereby allowing one’s will not just to dominate, but also to multiply.

*The “Seed of Ideas” heading title is taken from an enemy in Honkai Impact 3rd introduced in Chapter 33. Lore-wise, they’re actually not a great example of the idea I’m trying to illustrate here lol. So don’t think too hard about the heading if you’re a Honkai 3rd player – I just thought it sounded cool. >_>

Wherefore Did the Spirit Tree Grow?

“But the reason it is effective is due to the nature of the origin, the primordial... based on the records, the constituent elements should be a "Circle of Four Orthants" and a "Tree of Emanation"... flows from the roots toward the center of the circle, and the circle encircles the abstract of... It's akin to pie crust and the filling of the pie, a metaphor sure to excite Jakob.” -Book of Revealing, Enigmatic Page VIII

And plant them we shall! That is just what Greater Lord Rukkhadevata and Raiden Ei did with Egeria and Raiden Makoto’s consciousness. Egeria’s consciousness sleeping in the Gaokerena has always reminded me of Avin’s Urstone, long before having the language of “will” to talk about it, but I could never quite explain why. I think the answer is a little more clear to me now, though there’s no concrete way to prove this theory at the moment. The Harvisptokhm, the Sacred Sakura, and I would also venture to guess the tree at Windrise are the result of planting either the source of consciousness or a fragment of consciousness, which anchors the consciousness to the mortal realm and allows it to exert its will on the land by purifying and containing its “filth.”

These trees all belong to the consciousness of gods and ascended allogenes, but Avin is as ordinary as they come, so how is it possible to suggest that her Urstone is anything like the Gaokerena or Makoto’s will? Maybe all that’s missing is “time”?

So…what is "it"?

“An external form is but a gift of time. Through ��growth’ comes change, and even abandonment of previous forms. However, our true nature is not so easily affected.” –”Where Lies the Path Home,” Sapientia Oromasdis: Act II

Now with all of that set-up out of the way, let’s get to the heart of the matter here…ignore the pun.

The Archon Quest establishes early on that Childe’s Vision’s malfunctioning and his bad mood are connected to one another, and with Act III and IV we see that Childe is literally being summoned by the whale – it is calling out to him, drawing him into a rift where it swims in the Primordial Sea. His Vision’s malfunctioning is what I want to zero in on first to begin to answer the larger question of what the whale is and explain Childe’s movements so far.

Once again, Aranyaka becomes very relevant here. When the Traveler saves Rana at the end of the quest after resealing Marana’s Avatar, Rana resolves to go out on an adventure and receives a Vision of her own. Though we are not shown a visual of this, it is described on a black screen of white text:

Rana pulling the Vision from “a light with the warmth of a heartbeat” from her chest is imagery we’ve already seen before, when Avin pulled the lens from her chest in the collective dream. I mean, isn’t the parallel a little too on the nose here? Avin created a lens, something you use to see and perceive, and Rana was granted her…Vision? …Why are you booing?

Although Rana’s is the only Vision story so far that fits this imagery like a glove, I think Act III and Act IV offer some more support for where I’m going with this. Despite having Childe’s Vision in their possession since Act I, the Vision is shown twirling at the beginning of every dream sequence the Traveler experiences in the Fortress of Meropide, sequences that seem to be copies of Childe’s memories while he was a prisoner. The fact that the Vision doesn’t need to be on the physical person of its wielder in order to transmit these memories could be an indication of a deeper connection between the Vision and the wielder – that is, the Vision is similarly a physical extension of its wielder’s “Will,” created by their Urstone or “Heart,” and therefore is a part of them, like the fruit of a tree. And if that’s true, then Venti wasn’t kidding when he compared Visions to organs.

This also puts the Vision’s malfunctioning into a different perspective. To go back to Nietzsche’s statement about Will to Power, will can only operate on will, and will is the causality of all things – through this lens, it may be correct to say that the traces of “it” that Skirk could sense on Childe are traces of the Abyssal whale’s will, and that its will is interfering with Childe’s own will at this fateful moment.

If we buy the idea that will is at least part of what can change your fate, and that Childe has traces of the whale’s will left on him, then the secret of why “it” has reappeared now may have been foreshadowed by what Nahida said in Yoimiya’s second story quest: that “meteor showers'' appear as a result of many intricate fates interfering with one another.

Specifically, it’s an allegory for Childe and the whale. The dream Childe had when he fell into the Abyss and the meteor shower are analogous, to be sure, but let’s not forget about our good friend Mr. Freud here either, who’s analysis shows us that dreams are suppressed wishes translated into images. From that perspective, it would also be correct to say that the meteor shower is analogous to a wish. That is, Childe’s fate and the whale’s fate are interfering with one another because of their encounter in the Abyss when he was a young teenager, and perhaps the Abyss appeared that day because Childe’s fate and the whale’s fate were interfering with each other then too - and that this was Childe’s wish all along:

“Pursued by bears and wolf packs, he lost his footing and fell into a bottomless crack in the earth's surface. There, he witnessed the endless possibilities of another ancient world. There, he would meet a mysterious swordswoman... Or perhaps one should say that this dark realm had sensed the burning ambition in this boy's heart.” –Tartaglia, Character Story 4

As for the larger question of what the whale is, it’s likely not very different from Visions, or the blades of the Raiden Gokaden, or Avin and the lens. It is an extension of the Abyss’s will that branched off from its source a long time ago, a primordial being much lower on the Abyssal phylogenetic tree than the more humanoid Abyss Heralds or mages. That’s as far as I feel comfortable speculating about its origins for now, but I hope we get some clarity on its age and “distance” from its source very soon. Speaking of which…we haven’t talked about Caribert yet, have we?

There’s something eerily similar about the way that Avin described her world as a “tiny space” before changing her fate when we consider the additional context of Caribert. When he regained consciousness, he said it felt like he had just woken up from a “long dream,” and that in his dream he was hiding in a “little room,” and that he had no desire to leave it. I think this language is similar on purpose, and it tells us some more crucial information about Urstones, will, and their relationship to these curses placed on the Khaenri’ahns.

The “little room” and the “tiny space” are metaphors for a person’s perspective, which has been repeated over and over again in nearly every Fontaine world quest thus far to further our understanding of aesthetics. It’s clear from those quests that an individual’s perspective is limited, but it can be broadened by interacting with others + the passage of time, and that over long periods of time these perspectives allow for aesthetic values to change. Thus, the world is also changed. But the opposite of change is stagnation, and stagnation is precisely the result of losing the ability to connect with others - indeed, the will to leave the tiny room.

We’ve already established that when “will” exerts its influence on another will, it can change the “shape” of the will it is dominating - the Frostbearing Tree is a great example of this. The Hilichurls have also had their external forms altered, and they erode away until eventually dissolving into the mud in the Chasm. So maybe, just maybe, the “curse of the wilderness” is a result of their will being tampered with by the same “thing,” such that their inner world becomes so small that they cannot find their will anymore, and therefore they cannot change their fate.

Childe is briefly seen fighting the whale in his Foul Legacy form in the version 4.2 trailer

Now, I’m not suggesting that the traces of the whale’s will would ever result in Childe becoming a Hilichurl, or that the whale is responsible for the curse of the wilderness at all. What I am wondering is if this is why Skirk took Childe up as her disciple – to teach him a “form” of combat that would maintain his grip on his will, on some kind of “belief,” not allowing it to be dominated by the whale’s will, so that there is yet hope that Childe can change his fate.

And if that is true, then here is my last theory before I disappear: Yoimiya’s belief that a child’s wish is precious and worth protecting is likely an allegory for Skirk’s motivation to train Ajax, and the relationship between Yoimiya and Avin is also meant to foreshadow them – a master and her disciple, a traveler from afar and a child of this world, a child-at-heart and a child who is lost. This core belief is what makes Yoimiya’s heart pure, and by passing that belief on to Avin, she plants the seeds of new hope for her to defy fate, and one day she may do the same for someone else. This, in essence, is the meaning of will, and that is what I believe Skirk’s lessons were meant to teach Ajax. And that is a twist that I truly never saw coming.

TL;DR: The Urstone is the source of will that exists in each person, will is what translates thoughts into images and objects, smaller "wills" or "ideas" split off from the Urstone/heart/source/consciousness and allow for will to spread and exert its influence on other wills, and Skirk may have more in common with Yoimiya than you thought.

Thank you so much for reading, I really hope it made some sense. I would love to hear what you think of all the lore up to this point and what you make of it! :)

Sources

Yoimiya Story Quest Act 2 (Full Quest) Carassius Auratus Chpater: Act II | Genshin Impact - YouTube- grabbed the “is this…the power of my heart?” screenshot from here because I forgot to take it in my alt’s playthrough.

Nahida Story Quest 2 - Using the fire seed to save Grounded Geoshroom | Genshin Impact 3.6 - YouTube - Video still of Lumine holding the fire seed from this video.

Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche, which you can read for free here. Page numbers are given from my hard copy.

A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud, also can be read for free here.

For more analysis of the Will to Power doctrine, check out Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

#genshin impact #genshin lore #genshin theory #genshin meta #genshin impact lore #genshin impact theory #fontaine #tartaglia #childe genshin #skirk #yoimiya #theory

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psychelis-new · 8 months

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Hi Lys! How are you? I usually don't remember my dreams, but I had a strange one this morning that stuck, and I immediately thought I could ask you about its meaning 💕

So, in my dream, I was watching something on the TV, like a documentary, but at the same time it felt as if I was seeing it myself. The place was between the mountains, in the countryside, and I felt as if it was some Eurasian country, like turkey or Kazakhstan.

The people there were going away, leaving the village, and it felt like there was some kind of natural disaster/threat they were running away from. Most people had taken their animals with them, or let them loose, but there was a pen with around 5-6 cows in it, and I felt really bad for them because they were left behind, and wished they'd jump over the fence and get away.

Then, at that moment, I saw the cows, that now were a lot smaller, jumping through the fence, one by one, and gathering outside the pen. However, when I looked back, there was one cow that couldn't get out through the fence, because she had two heads and wouldn't fit though the holes in the fence.

The dream ended there, but I didn't wake up right away. This is kinda nsfw so you can read up to here if you don't feel comfortable with that, but I'll include it just in case because it was pretty weird 😂

Thanks in advance and have a great day! 💕

-----

So, during this "transition" time between the dream and waking up, I started feeling sexually aroused? It didn't seem like it was related to the cow dream itself, but also not completely unrelated? it was like a spin-off dream without "images"? Very short and then I woke up, but I'm definitely not the kind of person who has that kind of dream (like, it literally has happened just 2-3 times in my life?) so it definitely stood out...

Hello, sure :) And don't worry about the last part, I have no problems about it also cause there's actually nothing really nsfw imo (I mean we may feel aroused also when we need to pee or when we're running on adrenaline, eg.) nor I am judging you/anyone in any way (my 18+ pacs were way worse + I have those kind of dreams so what could I ever say *cough*)

So, let's start with the "fun" part (don't mean it in a bad way tho but... okay just let me explain). It could actually relate to that nsfw part since the beginning. You may have lot of energy moving on inside of you and it can be caused also by you stressing over something or trying to make something fit but not being able to (like the impending natural disaster and the stuck cows -both potentially dangerous situations that needed fast solving- may have caused you to accumulate adrenaline/energy), and you know amount of energies and stress need to leave our body somehow and what's a way to obtain that? Yeah. Plus, according to Freud landscapes in dreams often speak about sexual desires, and cows may talk about feminine energy and fertility. To this, I can add: moving from a deep sleep phase to a light dream one/waking up, can actually cause arousal. But since you felt a connection with your dream, everything I said above may be a more correct explanation for you.

Now, if we want to analyze the dream without considering that part: I'd still say you may feel overwhelmed/stressed/unsettled or maybe you have expectations over something, and you're trying to end that stress and make a new start. It feels like you may be going through a lot and trying to process/calm down so it could also be that your mind tried to help you with that, connecting you with peaceful nature (another meaning of countryside). Maybe you also feel a bit unsure or lacking something, or not being able to make it and honestly I do think it could be about love or manifesting it at this point but maybe not maybe it's school/career. Maybe you're trying to make things move faster and force them, squeeze them through the obstacles (that can be self insecurities/fears, eg.), but you cannot do it with everything: some things just require their time and you need to try and take care of them and you first. The same way, you cannot squeeze yourself through something uncomfortable to make it fit or it will just cause you more stress. Take it slow and try to work through this overwhelming feeling. I also feel you may know or sense something is coming but it doesn't have to be bad/unsettling as you imagine, so maybe try to check your emotions (especially about what you can't see and fear may be) and then... go forward. I mean cows do also represent abundance, growth and aspirations so, this can be solved in the bestest way but success often requires time. Follow your intuition and trust yourself about whatever it is (even if you cannot see clearly it now), not your wounded ego.

This is what I am getting. Not sure it's all, but I cannot see much else. I do think tho there's some news coming in (possibly) or you becoming aware of something and again, ground yourself and don't run away/move too fast (or accept less) based on past experiences: it doesn't have to always be the same thing.

Best of lucks in whatever it is about, take care!

#.#dreams #dreams interpretations

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mythsteps · 9 months

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when is it good to be a bad boy?

Do dreams reveal repressed wishes? Freud’s claim is generally dismissed these days… But while reviewing an old dream recently, I said to myself, “On second thought…” In the dream… I’m driving the wrong way up a one-way street. I keep dodging oncoming cars at the last moment. I know I should stop, yet I don’t. When I woke from that dream, I was surprised at my recklessness. That wasn’t…

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#awareness #Freud #interpretation #shadow #wish fulfillment

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the-dream-beyond · 11 months

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Episode 23: Adlerian Psychology - Embracing Inferiority and the Drive for Greatness with Hallie Williams

Hallie Williams

Encouraged is derived from courage. So we encourage people to get better. And that person has to have the courage to deal with our inadequacies, the mere human experience, yes that we wake up one day and find ourselves on this planet Earth. And we go through life trying to figure out ways to deal with the adversities that come up. Those things take courage.

Nik Tarascio

So many of us have had a desire to have a big impact on the world in some way. I think so many of us feel like that's part of the meaning of why we're here. That's our purpose, right? It's to be an advocate for something to go out and find something, you know, like activism to support a cause that you believe in, whatever that thing is building your own business, raising a family. What if I told you that underneath some of the people that have been the most successful at shaping the world, was a single person's principles that you've probably never even heard of? That's what's so shocking to me. So we're going to talk today about one of the lesser known psychologists who is actually on par with Jung, and Freud, and how you can learn some of these principles and take it to that again, you can make the world more the way you want it to be. I hope you really enjoy.

Welcome to the dream beyond. I'm your host, Nik Tarascio. I'm a CEO musician, an overall seeker of Truth, inspiration, and simply put, how to live the most fulfilling life possible. Growing up surrounded by extremely wealthy and successful people gave me unique and unfiltered perspectives of those who have seemingly made it on the dream beyond we're letting you in on what it really takes to achieve your dreams. What happens when it turns out your destination isn't the promised land you are expecting? How to process the lessons from your past while mapping of course to true fulfillment. Let's get started.

Hey, everybody, I'm here with someone who's a clinical psychotherapist and a graduate of Adler Graduate School in Minnetonka, Minnesota. His main clinical focus and passion surrounds trauma and mental illness with at risk youth and their families as well as the trauma surrounding us veterans, rightfully so he's also a veteran of the US Army. Please welcome Holly Williams with us today. Thank you for being here. Hello.

Hallie Williams

Thank you for having me. All right.

Nik Tarascio

So I wanted to let everyone know how I even got to Adler and again, we're gonna be talking about a guy named. It's Alfred Adler. Is that right? That's right. Excellent. So I was out in a bookstore, actually, I guess was a coffee shop in Santa Monica. And I saw this book cover called the courage to be disliked, which immediately spoke to me. I was like, I wish I had more courage to be disliked. I think I'd probably I think I'd probably do more interesting things. And at the end of the day, I said, What is this all about? And I got into it realize it was really a book, a Japanese book about Alfred Adler, who was Was he Austrian or German?

Hallie Williams

I don't even know what his backers were originally was Austrian, but he was eventually moved to the US.

Nik Tarascio

Okay, so here's this, here's this crazy circuitous path of a random guy in a Santa Monica coffee shop that sees a book that's written by the Japanese, about an Austrian therapist, who made his way to the US. So it was just kind of this very security thing. And I was like, Who is this Alfred Adler guy? And very quickly started to understand that Adler was really on the level of, of Jung and then Freud, but for whatever reason, I'm curious why you think it is that he's not as big of a name as the other two. Why is that?

Hallie Williams

Well, Adler and Freud had a falling out a theoretical form, and now and a number of Freud's followers at the time, ended up subscribing to Atlas theories, when they separated. Freud was from more of a upper class society, if you will. He was more connected from a pretty powerful family, and would Adela did his seat, he left that environment he moved out to living among other people when he was developing his theory. And I think the main reason that we don't know more about Adler was initially as I said, he did not come from a powerful background. So his spirits weren't spread as all and nowadays, we have a number of people that utilize Adler's theories and his teaching without giving him adequate credit. So, you know, the Adler could be called the father of positive discipline, or and the father of positive psychology, but only in positive discipline. As he mentioned positive psychology you almost never hear about it. So it really takes a little bit of digging to find out that most of the theories that we have today are derived from Adlerian teachings but Allah does not get much credit. That's the that's really the main reason it will take a little digging kinda like you did, to find out a little bit more about it.

Nik Tarascio

Interesting. I'm curious to other other, other other expressions are concepts that are in common knowledge, but are not attributed to Adler.

Hallie Williams

Well, you know, the inferiority feeling of inferiority complex is the term created by Adler. I don't think many of you know very many people know that. Adler was also a big proponent of social interests. You know that people don't really talk about much birth order, I'm sure you probably somebody with that, and many people will be with birth order. But these are concepts that will kind of derived and cultivated by Adler. So that's, you know, what I would say those are the ones that's probably most common that people would be familiar with everybody kind of knows of inferiority complex, and that inferiority feelings. So I would say those are those are probably the most common without being an academic, that people would be kind of familiar with.

Nik Tarascio

The interesting. So it sounds like he's a little bit like the Nikola Tesla of psychology. And that way, we're bigger players with bigger players from a successful family took a lot of credit spread his teachings, or or just, I mean, in the case of Tesla was pretty much buried by Edison as far as his work goes. So

Hallie Williams

that sounds very good way of putting it very good way of swinging.

Nik Tarascio

Interesting. So how did you find your way to Adler?

Hallie Williams

That's a that's an interesting question. I was working with. I had developed the program. And I was working with youth that had, I guess we would call them lack of another term juvenile delinquents that had gotten in trouble with the law. And I was writing curriculums and redirect some of these at risk youth. So the court system had agreed that the youth that completed this program that I had, would would not be incarcerated, because they'd already been picked up by the jail by the police, who were in jail and had been released to go to this program, they successfully completed it, they would not be re incarceration. So as I dug into my research, developing the curriculum and the things that I wanted to teach them about, and I was looking for positive things, and went back a long ways, I mean, ever since the abolitionists, and as I read about them, and and things that I could present to the kids that I thought was interesting, it kind of led me to someone named Karen Horney.

And, you know, different people. And they kept referring to this guy, Alfred ad here. And that was like, Who is this Do me because I knew nothing about it. So as I started reading, about Alfred Adler, his theories spoke to me, it gave words to something that I already believed that I just didn't have the credibility to say and didn't really know how to say. And often that happens when a theory is put out in the world, certain people get attracted to it based on your personality. So as I dug into it, and I found out about you those feelings of inferiority, how some people will have this strong feeling of inferiority and they do a variety of things to make them feel better, or to move into a different direction. And I found like a lot of this stuff applied to the kids, the more I dug into it, the more I kind of fell in love with the theory of ads, you know, probably had I'd not been working with at risk youth. I probably would never stumble across you unless I wanted to a coffee shop like you would picked up. Yeah.

Nik Tarascio

Yeah, it's super. It is always shocking for me to understand how much someone could have impact on the world and be a ghost, right? In many ways, just be a ghost that's kind of running under the radar. And so for for people that are hopefully curious about this any here's this guy who's this master of psychology that has really contributed so much to the field of psychology, but also just some of again, our common common knowledge. Like you said, this inferiority complex that I think people know quite a bit about. What what is the, like, how would you describe it? I think people have an understanding of Freud you know, understanding of Freud as he's the next guy, right? Everything Is Everything has some sexual undertone. Jung is, uh, you know, again, when I think of young I think of archetypes, talks a lot about the concept of archetype and the hero's journey and a lot of things like that. How would you describe Adler in summation?

Hallie Williams

Um, you know, often when I talk to people about this, I tried to divide Adela into two will Adlerian theory, which is also called individual psychology. I tried to divide it into kind of two categories. It's not really that way. But well me to describe it and get people to understand it are divided into two categories. One is the pathology approach, dealing with mental illness, a variety of illnesses. But individual psychology is also about a way of life. And this is why You know, many of the social work teachings come from Allah had mentioned earlier positive psychology because basically it takes a person's life, and breaks it down until so tells us how we should live.

And I'm sure you probably pick that up from from a book that you read, it's a way of living. It's how we should interact with our fellow man. It's how we should move toward happiness. So different than young are different than Freud, which focus primarily on just a pathological approach. individual psychology helps you figure out a way of living, gives you a life, purpose, or helps you identify your purpose. And personally, I think it leads us to on the road to happiness, because ultimately, and I may be getting a little bit ahead of myself, but ultimately, up social interest, this thing that will kind of born with working with others to Wingfoot others is the way to go to, you know, to travel down the road to what happens. So if I had to call him when we're let's just call him a positive approach to living one's life, I think is how I will conceptualize everything about it.

Nik Tarascio

It sounds it sounds like we're touching on the I mean, I know Jung had some spiritual context as well. Some people said he was pretty deep into the into spirituality. It sounds like Adler also touches on philosophy, and spirituality slash almost like religious ideology on some level.

Hallie Williams

On some level, or being when he developed his theory, he did study you a variety of things he studied, the Bible was one that he used to kind of develop his approach I wouldn't call individual psychology, you know, by no means a religion or spiritual experience. But he helps us understand our position in this world. You know, we're all humans. So it's a way that humans should interact with other humans. It's a way we should interact with our world. And he clarifies all of it for us so we could see it. I guess some people would refer to it as a spiritual experience, I wouldn't. I think of it more as just a rule and a guide of life. So in some respects, the Bible is considered to be a rule and guide a thief. But I've looked at individual psychology as a guide to our life.

Nik Tarascio

So be curious if you wanted to sell someone on this, like, when I see a movie I love or I hear music, I love I immediately, like, I gotta find the hook so I could get other people interested. What are the hooks? What are the things? Or what are some of like, the core concepts that you would share with someone, if you see someone you love? And you're like, they're not happy? They're not understanding how to relate to the world around them. Hey, here's some ideas you might be interested in, in hopes that maybe they go wow, this other guy does have some stuff to say, and I want to go deeper into his work. And where would you start people in that,

Hallie Williams

I probably would start with, you know, some examples. some real life examples, for instance. Or ask somebody to relate to think about maybe Christmas, at times of Christmas, people give gifts, people received gifts. But imagine for a minute that you have someone that you care about deeply. Let's just see one of your children. And you purchase a gift for them. thoughtful gift you didn't ask, you don't ask them for a list or anything, just knowing your child, you purchased the gift for them. And when they opened the gift, it's exactly what they wanted. The joy you seal in that person's face, the exuberance, the enthusiasm, I mean, when they just gets hyper, it puts a smile on your face, you didn't receive anything, you gave something.

And by giving vaccine, you get a great deal of joy back, it made you happy. You gave a gift to make somebody else happy. But instead it made you happy is something about giving and doing for others. That complete us because that's who we are. We are a race of people that surface one another. So I would use that example to explain social interests. What are the fundamental parts of individual psychology, it's about doing for others, because that's where happiness comes for a weekend, take and take and take what sometimes you can keep taking in and you still find yourself unfulfilled. You're not happy. You've you've got all the money in the world. You've got all the local friends in the world, but you still find out that you're not happy.

The road to happiness is us doing for others. So I will use that example to spark the interest and depending on the interest and I would go into some of the other some of the other feelings describe inferiority feelings. I mean, because this feeling about inferiority Avila will tell us that we're all moving. From a feeling of inferiority to a feeling of superiority, or more than if I could elaborate a little bit on that, I would say it's kind of like the, what a baby is born, the child sees us standing. So eventually that child in the career starts pulling on the edges of the crib, until they can stand up. And they feel fulfilled about that, because now they have that feeling of inferiority that they bought with feeling less than the other humans around them, they're standing in talking to them, once they stand up, you get that feeling of fulfill you moving from a feeling of inferiority to a feeling of superiority, if you will, or not above anyone else, but better than you were.

And this, this drive goes throughout life, everyone has this feeling some of us more than others, the key is cultivating this feeling within you so that as you move to a place of more there are more superiority, you're doing it in a functional way, not at the expense of others,

Nik Tarascio

is that is that where the complex comes in is that when someone says it's an inferiority complex, you're saying I want to feel more than but at the expense of others.

Hallie Williams

Exactly, exactly. Because in these things are held together. So we believe that you were born with a social feel it Okay, a little bit different social interest, that social feeling is the innate thing that we were born with. The social feeling must be cultivated by people like you and I, when we have children, we have the social feeling of zap, but we cultivate that to the point that they understand how they should interact. You have you have a small child, you teach them to share their toys, when someone comes by, you don't want the kid to be taken all the toys, so they've got friends, but they can't play with anything. These are all mine. Yes, they are yours. But you start teaching them to share in the joy that comes from another person using a toy, both people are happy enough, you know, so we start working on cultivating that. And if it's not cultivated, overs, cultivated in a dysfunctional way, you're right, that leads to this inferiority complex.

Nik Tarascio

What's the other side of social interest. So in the same way, like it makes sense to me that we all start less than, and we have a long way to go to become enough, or feeling, I guess the other side would be the superiority, right on some level using that word. But on that path, that makes sense. I've inferiority, I want to get better. And if I do it at the expense of others, that becomes the shadow version of that the complex of that, what's the complex of social interest?

Hallie Williams

Well, but the best where it becomes dysfunctional. Let me let me give you an example. And this is anecdotally I haven't done research studies on this. But you know, throughout America, we have a rash of mass shootings, you have, we can't seem to get our arms around, when you will connect it in a family. But you feel like you, you, you feel that human connection of humanity with others. We don't do adverse actions to other people. But we feel disconnected, it's easier to do something terrible to someone that you are not connected to. So when we talk about the adverse part of that social feeling, is that disconnection and isolation that leads to some type of dysfunction. And that dysfunction could come up many ways. Sometimes it's a fight. It's an argument. You know, I could see it in a husband and wife situation, but on the screen is we see it when people want to do these mass acts of terror. They don't feel that connection to others. They don't feel it's the adverse of the social interest in the commission that we bear that makes it

Nik Tarascio

it does. And I think the place I get hung up is when you talk about social feeling. I'm wondering, is it actually like a somatic experience in the body that Adler's talking about, or is it something else that he's saying when he refers to it as a feeling?

Hallie Williams

Well, again, we have two things. We have that social feeling, which is like the innate thing that we're born with, that we have our birth right. We have that social feeling because we are all part of the same family of humanity. SOCIAL, the social interests is the part that we as parents must cultivate in our children. We cultivate that to make sure they realize that they're a part of something, we start that if you have children at home, generally speaking, you would want them to understand that they're part of let's call it the team, you're part of a family, you have things to do as a father, the wife has things to do as a mother, that children should have things to do to be part of that team, that could be making your bed, taking out the trash, you know, a variety of things to feel like they're actually a part of that feeling, a part of that team. So the best the beginning of cultivating the thing that's already in there, that's that innate thing that we have that we recognize we're part of humanity, you're cultivating that into social interests, we're now on their own, that people understand that they stumbled the children were misled, that they should be connected to one another.

Nik Tarascio

So I guess the place I go to, and again, I may sound thick on this one, because if anything, I've been very disconnected from the head to the body most of my life. So a lot of it when I hear the concept of feeling and you talk about there is almost if someone truly felt connected to people, the world, whatever that is, generally they're not going to do harmful acts, right? Because it's, I mean, this goes back to like non duality, sorry, non dualism, non duality of like, inside outside all the same thing. There's no, me and other, it's just all we're all wanting the same. Right? It's, it's so so there's something to that. I'm curious, though, is when? How would you describe it? If I said to you, I want to feel that social feeling? Is it actually a sense in the body? Is it actually an emotion? Is it what it when I feel connected to someone, there is sometimes a sensation that I feel in my body, but is there actually a physical component of the concept of social feeling in your mind?

Hallie Williams

It is a social feeling is a descriptive word that we use to describe an intangible, like, like love you who are we can't touch it, we can't see it. When we observe it in in your actions, would you care for someone do certain things, you may do something for a wife or a girlfriend, and they may conclude from that you love her. Or she will say he loves me, based on the things that you are doing? So social feeling or social interests is an intangible thing. It's not. It's just like those emotions of, of love. And you can you know, it's based on how a person acts. So it's not like you get a particular feeling that reverberates throughout your entire body. It's,

Nik Tarascio

I'm relieved to hear that. I'm relieved to hear that because I'm like, Man, I think I didn't want to say it until you answer that. Because I'm like, I think I was born without the social feeling. I can feel it in my body.

Hallie Williams

Let me let me interject something. And I'll tell you how I would kind of evaluate it. To people, I would ask them, Are you happy? Are you happy with your life? You know, when people tell me that they are, then you know, hey, everything's Gucci? That's fine, we got no problem. If you're not happy, then we probably should talk about it. And the first thing I would look for is, is how are you interacting with others? What are you doing for others, because this puts you on the road to happiness. Generally speaking, when a person doesn't have that, that feeling of social uterus, I would say that they're generally lacking in the things that they're doing for other people. Because we have become self centered in the whole world is about doing things for me. Doing things for me, is not going to take you to happen. It will get you through life.

But you're always going to feel a vacancy there. Because that's not how we are created nowhere in society. Do we find man isolated, we've always been a part of a community, that community of humanity, and that community of humanity is what fulfills us doing for others. I mean, it's a word that we could use this pretty universal, that whether people hate to because of your ethnicity, your complexion, your financial status, or whatever. It's a word that we use the same as the UNIVAC, new five people and that skill. When we say help other humans come, whether they like you or not, it's like a something in us. It fulfills us to go help people. We have organizations we call charity that people just give to, you know, I have I have a humorous expression. I have given the people some time and I say that, you know, poverty is God's extra key that he gets Have wealthy people so they can get to heaven. So you could do something for other people. And it's just a humorous, you know, no anecdote that I use. But the fact of the matter is, it's something to bear is something to the fact that we get such great pleasure for doing for others. So when when, when people are unhappy, and I have met a number of them in my life, generally speaking, I start evaluating them, and I look what they do their lives, and most certainly my fan, that they are self centered, without really even realizing that they are. Sometimes we strive so hard to achieve and accomplish things. But those things are all about us. You know, a successful business is when a CEO can find a way to put everybody in positions, so that they can feel successful. So you do something for them to make them feel successful. You know, when these people see that you're doing, you're giving to them, that makes you happy.

But it also makes them happy, who isn't happy. Versus if you have a mentor or a mentee. And you train this person that you teach this person, it all of a sudden, this person achieves a great level of success. Wouldn't that make you happy? It's all about what you'd have done for someone else. So instead of us looking inward, about about it being all about us, the success is going to come when we start doing for others. This is why we will find in an athletic endeavor, sports teams, and we'll see on paper, this particular team should win. But they don't win. Why? Because they're not. They're not together. They're not working together as a team. Sometimes I'd give up points. So I can make you successful. Instead of me taking that shot, I might pass it to you for you to take the shot. But if I'm selfish, I'm trying to get all the points out here. And maybe I will get those points, but the team will lose. It's about sharing, giving to others. That's that's where our success in life comes from. And I believe that's where all happiness.

Nik Tarascio

So I guess I'd be curious to now build on that knowing that you work with at rescue, I imagine that social interest may come into the dialogue with them. And I, I would love to hear from you. How do you apply this right? So someone says great, I'm sold. This is super interesting. This Adler guy's clearly got some ideas that are really beautiful. And bring again, to me it is the application of timeless spiritual principles into practical knowledge for living. That's really the way I would describe it, given what you just said. So given that, I'm wondering, can you give some real examples of people you've worked with, or kids you've worked with the kind of results you got and how you steered them using some of these tools?

Hallie Williams

Well, of course, athletically, you know, it's easy to do if coach, basketball football track. No, for a number of years, I don't right now, but I've did that for a number of years. And it's easier in those kinds of environments, because I can show them how, by Friday to make someone else successful, it makes us successful. By inspiring them to pass the ball not at of course, initially, you have to enforce that. But if one person doesn't make the shot, is one second left in the game, and you pass it to someone else and they make the shot, the whole team is happy. It doesn't matter whether you did it or not. So I would emphasize those facts when I'm dealing, you know, athletically, when I'm dealing with youth, and it has nothing to do with athletics. So if I'm not coaching them, it's a little bit different approach. And I don't normally isolate social interest just by itself. social interest is kind of tied. It's like the glue that holds together the tasks that she must accomplish in life. We haven't talked about that, at least at this point, but it's three particular tasks that you have to occur. So if you want I can elaborate on those right now.

Nik Tarascio

Yes, yeah. I'd be curious to know what the three tasks are.

Hallie Williams

So that these three tasks are according to individual psychology, everyone has a we will call it the work X. And that means that we all must provide must work so we all can provide to society. For instance, you sitting in a beautiful studio there with your guitars on the wall. But you probably are the expert musician, but I would venture to say you didn't make any other guitars. Someone else made those and they provided it to you. And then you could do your favorite source of work tasks. Well, we all contribute to one another, and we all benefit from one another. Secondly, is the task of us being able to get along with other humans were part of humanity. I mean, we have to learn to get along. You know, you'd have animals, you have insects, you have a lot of the things of the world. But in the animal kingdom, nobody is accepted humans to be a part of that lions don't want us joining the crew, were the weakest thing on this planet. We can't, I mean, we can't survive outside, by ourselves, we can't just fight our food, we were just weak we survive, that we thrive, because we work together.

So it's imperative that we learn to work together with other humans, because our very existence depends on it. And lastly, is speaks more to procreation. Many animals go extinct. That's not something we're going to ever have to worry about with humanity for a variety of reasons. But because of it, and to pre procreate, we have an opposite sixth, we must learn how to get along with the opposite sex, or the effect of procreation. Now, granted, everybody does not have children, and it's a choice that they've made. But anybody could make that choice, we have to procreate, because this is how humanity continues. So those three tasks, ama believes everybody must reverse those tasks, those tasks are held together by social interests. So I give the same kind of explanation to use that I deal with, but I specifically focus on getting along with one another. And, and getting along with one another is kind of held together by doing for one another, because it's a task that we must accomplish. So how do you get that task done, you do that by working together. So you're not would have different tasks in a classroom or in the streets, if we happen to be out there, where two or more people are working together on the same task. And as they accomplish these things, they get the feeling of working together, you can get more done, when when you're working together, you know, all ships should rise when the tide comes in.

So I emphasize that part, to do a variety of little tasks that we we we utilize in classes. And that's primarily how I would do that. But I usually don't separate it without kind of tying everything together. You know, realizing also, that, you know, if I could a little bit I just feel like at this point, I'd like to talk a little bit about a sorority, if you if you don't, man and how that ties together. And I'll tell you this, this kind of brings up an example about my not have a brother and my brother, as youth. He was not a very good athlete. I was I was a much better athlete, but I didn't have to work it and I was just, you know, I was just good at some things. So we were on a football team. And my brother didn't make the tea. So my mother made me quit. Because, you know, my mom was on about academics, and it's just a game. If kids can't make the tea. Nobody is going to play. You know, even little coaches came by like we need Halid No, no, if kids can't make it, nobody, please. So my brother had Disentis this out, he felt terrible about that. He felt, you know, he was less than I could do everything better than him long story short.

Years later, my brother ends up making a tea, getting a scholarship to go to Syracuse University. Because of by his senior year, he had become very dominant. So he gets to Syracuse. And at Syracuse, initially same kind of thing. In the beginning, he was not that much of an athlete. He felt inferior, which was driving him by his senior year. He was one of the top linemen at Syracuse. Bow comes the draft. But he didn't get drafted. He did get an offer to walk it on at with the Eagles. Again, same situation when he gets there. Everything he owns is in the trunk of his car. He has nothing. It didn't draft it. At the beginning of camp. He's just getting beat down until this almost this feeling of inferiority just develops in him so much until it breaks down to he's about crying. But the feeling of inferiority was so strong in him. That it that it inspired him it pushed him so much more. Long story short, he ends up making the tea playing in the NFL for 14 years, stopping for 11 and he was always driven, but he was always driven by being less vain, every one of feeling less than even when he was successful. He felt desperate, because it's not about reality. It's about what a person feels.

So realizing those experiences of what could happen with that, with that feeling of inferiority, I've used those examples. When I, when I deal with us to channel it in a more positive, in a more positive manner, we go through life with this feeling of inferiority, we go to, if you're taking a Spanish class, for instance, you don't know Spanish initially. But so you feel inferior. But the functional way, the more pro social way of dealing with that is let that inspire you to work harder, let that inspire you to focus versus being dysfunctional, it inspires you to find a way to cheat, to do it in a dysfunctional way. So it's all about, it's not about eliminating these feelings, because the human experience is about these feelings of if you're already every day you go to work, Nick, is something different that happens that you might not have planned for, you have to figure that out. So it's two choices, you can approach it in a pro social functional way. Or you can find something ethical to do to accomplish that, that becomes the development of a pathology, it's about taking this feeling, first understanding it, and taking it and focusing it. And if enough, a person is a leader, you recognize this, and you look at the people that work for you, you identified those feelings, and you help them focus it in a functional way.

You have to have the courage to be imperfect, it's not going to always work just right, which you have to be strong, you'd have to have the courage today, if it don't work, right, this time, it will the next time and if not, then this, it will make you so do keep that in a pro social way of functional where we don't go outside of those barriers, because when we do, of course, that's when it starts leading to a variety of dysfunctions, you know, we we may steal, or we may lie, we may reach, you know, all these other things. So these are the things that I tried to do with the, with the kids with a youth that I that I worked with, and I worked with adults also. But particularly with the youth because it's easier. They're at a stage when they're developing these things already. So it's easier for me to focus them than it is with an adult, although the same thing happens with an adult.

Nik Tarascio

I mean, I can very much hear as you're talking I mean, there's so much curiosity that comes up around the idea that one, inferiority, I've only known inferiority complex. I've never known just inferiority, right. And that's important in my mind of, it's almost like we shame the feeling of inferiority, Oh, I feel that that's bad. And so if I can be with my own feeling of inferiority, then I can't, I won't want to put myself in a situation that will challenge me to become my better self, my better version. And I immediately go to like this idea of these, like, everyone gets a trophy in school, right? It's this idea. We don't want anyone to feel uncomfortable on anyone to feel less than. And I'm curious in that perspective is, you know, with the, with the teachings of others say we're actually taking away the opportunity for people to feel the adversity of inferiority so that they can have a motivation to move forward.

Hallie Williams

If he would, I think ever will speak a bit more about courage. Encourage is the raft from courage. So you we encourage people to get better. And that person has to have the courage to deal with our inadequacies. The mere human experience is that we wake up one day we find ourselves on this planet Earth. And we go through life trying to figure out ways to deal with the adversities that come up. Those things take courage. So when you talk about the trophies and everybody getting a trophy to school, I don't subscribe to that, when I do subscribe to is the people that did not when you learn to deal with those adversities. You have the courage to deal with your adversities. That feeling that you have you will hear sometimes great athletes say hold on to that feeling. Let that feeling drives you to become better. The great, the super great athletes, all will see they might have lost the game, but I sit there and I watch the celebration on the court. I wanted to hold on to that field.

And I use that feeling throughout the offseason. It drove me to do something to make myself better to make the team better. It's not about me, just getting all the praise. It's about making everybody better. So when if we try to shape the world with a child to think that everything goes your way, best giving them the role, worldview, because now you end up with an adult that has expectations But everything goes away, we know that that's, that's just not reality. So what ends up happening, we could be cultivating this development of a complex within this person, and they start solving their problems through dysfunctional ways. Because you believe the whole everything, you believe you supposed to have all the money, then maybe you will rob somebody, well, you will steal the you will do some other things, because you think it always should be that way. Our job as these young people not developing their view of the world, is to help them with that development. You know, we encourage them, you know, we want them to develop the courage of a you and I have to have courage to deal with many things to the stuff that we haven't done before. Even if it's learning how to play golf, I mean, the first day you go out and play golf, you're not going to be very good at it. What you have to have the courage to go out there, even though people may be looking at you saying, Look at Nick, he can't even hit the ball.

And maybe people let you have to have the courage to deal with it. This is This is life. This is the way we have to go through life. But we must remember, stay within boundaries, the acceptable boundaries of society. Because all problems have really social problems, their problems, because society deemed them to be problems. So up, no, I don't subscribe to the everybody gets a trophy philosophy. And for those that decide to do that, that's fine. But from my vantage point, I think we want to do is use all of those as life's teaching, moments and explanation, because that's going to be other things that come up also. So you have to learn how to deal with adversity, and how to accept certain things. And if you want to be better, then you move on to become better.

Nik Tarascio

Again, very, it's very interesting. I'm curious how How did Adler set the stage for positive psychology and you said something was positive motivation, which I didn't know exactly what that was.

Hallie Williams

Well, that's that's exemplified in the word that I just use, Adela talks a lot about courage. But what we should do is encourage people because sometimes, when these adversities come up, it can increase that feeling of inferiority so much, that this person can't deal with it. Because what we're trying to do is keep everybody to handle their life's task in a functional way, in an acceptable way. So it's about encouragement. You know, you you continue to encourage people, that's part of reason, actually a therapeutic approach. with clients, you want to encourage them to continue to do something and not give up because because you're gonna have life's adversities. So this is why Adela is looked upon as Oh, Adlerian psychology is looked upon as positive psychology because of the encouragement that we believe that you give to people to keep them motivated to keep them headed in the right direction. In a family situation, you could have a son, who was running track races, maybe he ran across country, and he came in fourth place, and he says he wants to quit. I think most fathers and mothers would say, No, you shouldn't quit, you can be better, it's about being the best that you can be. As long as you are the best that you can be, it doesn't have to be number one, or number two, or number three, is about being the best version of yourself. And again, this is all about life, going through life, trying to be the best version of yourself.

Nik Tarascio

I really liked that as I've never thought about the concept of encouragement, as lending someone your courage until they have enough of their own. That's a really, really beautiful idea. I've never thought about the etymology at all. So it's kind of a, it's a total reframe, for me of like, that's really beautiful. It's us having the courage to face the challenges of our life, our life's work or life's task. And in those moments that we don't have it, having people around us that hopefully have that social feeling and social addressed, to lend it to us and I start to see how the framework of Adlerian like starts to come together. I can I can start to understand it's very interesting to me. And I hope it's interesting to people that are listening. I'd be curious to know what at this point as we're starting to land the plane here. If someone's got their, you know, their their ears tweaked. Bellegarde, I'm curious, I want to know more about this. How would you recommend someone go down the road of of learning more about Adler or finding ways to bring some of the some understanding these principles to their own life?

Hallie Williams

Of as you mentioned earlier? Adler wasn't a Releford writer. He did write many books, but most people wrote about him. And you and I got together because of a book that you read, the courage to be disliked. And the book that you read which was written, you almost wouldn't know it had anything to do with Adlerian psychology or individual psychology, the way it was written, it was like a story that it was, you know, went through a whole life experience. But it talked about many different Adlerian theories there, it didn't go deep into whether it was just enough to spark your interests. That's a, that's a good book, that I would recommend courage to be disliked. It's also an expression that I use with people, I do a lot of recruiting and organization, I'm also the president elect of the North American Society of Adlerian. Psychology. So I do a great deal of time I'm traveling. And I teach a lot internationally, in addition to states, and I always see to be one who ask what, you know, you sit down, and you talk to Ed Leary.

And where you can get a deeper understanding is pretty difficult, difficult to conceptualize the entire philosophy in an hour's time, but by talking with somebody, there's so many other parts of Adlerian, psychology, lifestyle. And it's interesting, if I don't know if you have any siblings, but if you do, three of them, I would wager you, that your siblings that you knew when you were a little kid, as you look at them now, he would say, You know what, they have not changed much since they were a kid, yes, they do another thing, but it's still, they're still the same. Why? Because at an early age, we develop this worldview, we develop what we call a lifestyle, the way we see the world, it's like I am a certain way, people are a certain way the world is you start developing these things. And you maintain that, because it's comfortable for you not to change. And this is how sometimes people develop biases that they have, that they don't even realize, because many things are developed early. And they just don't change unless someone changes you. Also, this leads down the rule of pathologies, because many times anxiety, for instance, is maybe a safeguard a way that you have learned to protect yourself against certain situations.

So if a person, every time a person is going to do something new, they may get this HS feeling, because something they learned early in life, going into new situations could be bad for them. So they have developed this thing that becomes part of their being this is not a conscious thing. And they start having anxiety when they are doing new things. So when you know. So what a mad lyric does is I never tell anybody what to do. I sit with you a week, and I help you uncover those things. And what's uncovered, you will find a solution yourself. Because these things that we're doing, we don't even realize it until you talk to somebody, the best way to understand Adlerian psychology would be to talk to an Adlerian. But you could also go to some of the other Adlerian sites like www dot, Alfred adler.org is one way this leads you to the North American Society of Adlerian psychology, well, you could just type in basic North American Society of Adlerian psychology, and open up a web page and in a variety of resources there.

I could also leave you at the end of the presentation with a my email, you know, people could certainly reach out to me, and I certainly don't mind answering questions or for as long as it takes. And occasionally I do presentations on individual psychology beginning Adler, a variety of things which was, which is kind of like a teaspoon worth of Adler to keep sparkling beverages. Excellent. Well,

Nik Tarascio

what we'll do is I'll put all that stuff in the show notes, so people have all the links. We'll put your email and everything. We appreciate you offering that out to our listeners. And I'm curious what the last question What is your dream beyond?

Hallie Williams

That's a very good question, Nick. I was in Ireland. A couple of months ago, as I said, I teach in a variety of notaries and I did a glittery there. And the plenary was about a saving the world. And prior to be doing the plenary, many people came to me and said, Oh, so you got to save the world as you said, well, let's let's I can't wait to hear your presentation. But that's really deep in my heart. I think that if we have problems with society, we are society. You know, as we look at children, our method of solving problems with children Is to incarcerate them. We've been doing that for 100 pages of use, that's not solving the problem. incarceration. It's not so we can't keep blaming the kids, we are in charge of society. So things are going wrong is up to us. We can change society, we can make it better. We may be familiar with the butterfly effect. You know, you know, something that happens? Yeah, I guess a good example was Canada had some fires a while back.

And it was sort of smoke everywhere. I live in St. Paul, Minnesota, quite a ways away from Canada. Yet, some days we will get warnings not to go outside if you didn't need to sporting events will count. Why? Because something that happened in Canada was affecting me in St. Paul, Minnesota. We can make a difference. We can make a difference. One guy, Martin Luther King, use Adlerian psychology. You know, he spoke about this in a great speech, he gave the drum major effect. And he talked about his teachings that he got from Adler taught him how we should get along with each other. And one person Martin Luther King created a giant civil rights movement that change the country. Another Adlerian, Dr. Kenneth Clark, and his famous doll experiments, he petitioned the Supreme Court with the teachings that he said he learned from Adler, and this created legislation, that during the Brown versus Board of Education that outlawed segregation in schools, not the Kenneth Clark says, if it's anything that I know, and I'm paraphrasing him, all of the things that I know that I was able to present to him, I learned from Alfred Adler. The teachings of Adler, when Miss with the skills of particular individuals, like yourself, can make a difference. So my dream is that we all do our part, to make this world a better place for everybody might sound you know, magnanimous. But that's that's Marjorie.

Nik Tarascio

And it's beautiful. It's a beautiful share. And I though I wanted to wrap it up, I do want to touch on something that you told me once before, and I think it's worth noting is if we could just close it on the fact you know, you talked about MLK, and you talked about the other individual. I forgot his name was at Clark, you'll kill us Clark, Kenneth Clark, right. These are people that have had extraordinary impact on the world and our country specifically. And what I find interesting is that Adler you use the term about he was one of the early it was a term you use around how like he just cared for community cared for society cared for social causes. I think that that's also something I find so interesting is if you could just touch on that real quick when you mentioned it one time before I missed it.

Hallie Williams

I'm not sure which term I use, but I will say that what Adela did as he developed his theory is he went and lived among circus Pete. He wouldn't do poor areas of town. Because Adela was an was the advocate, and an activist. And he developed this because he looked at the disparities and inequities in society, realizing that these inequities, the antithesis of humanity, were supposed to work together. Because this is how we survive. And we're not we're destroying society. We're making it bad for everybody so Adela lived among he. So I'm not sure exactly which term I used at the time. As you as you could probably tell, I can, I could go on and on for hours, just talking, but it was about you know, him just understanding how we work together as a team. So he and he developed this from living, not in the in the exclusive big mansion White House someplace, but it was living, almost. Listen, I certainly don't want to compare Adela to Jesus. But it's almost like he lived among oral everyday people to develop this is theories. And you know, I think that's what makes him able to relate to everyone. Because on a base level. I mean, we're all really the same.

Nik Tarascio

Yeah, so you totally hit the point of the head. I don't remember the word but I think even just touching on the fact that really he was he was an advocate and he was into activism. There's something really important in that because again, there's a lot of concepts of I just recently heard about Freud that he had a lot of ideas, but when you really looked at Freud's record, I think someone told me recently, he had only worked with under 100 people that he actually were a very, very small set and it was mostly Austrian wives, or housewives.

Hallie Williams

there tended to be people from the wealthier.

Nik Tarascio

That's right. So like, we have this very, very, very tiny, tiny data set that was used to be applied to everyone where here you have a guy like Adler, who's going to every aspect of life and interact with people from all walks of life. And there's just something to that a guy saying, like, look, yeah, I'm not going to isolate this just to my little bubble in my little circle, I'm really going to look at the fundamental principles of society, humanity, who we are as people. And to that, I think, you know, just some of the biggest takeaways for me today is just the power of embracing that feeling of inferiority, right. Like that is such a such an unlock for me, because again, I always thought if I feel inferior, inferior, I thought it was a complex just because I feel inferior, I didn't know that it was only a complex if I knock people down because of it. That is huge unlock for me, that second piece of understanding the power of encouragement, right, using using that desire to be part of that, you know, the social contract, the social feeling.

There's something really beautiful again, about this idea of lending your courage to others so that they can cultivate their own so that they can become who they're supposed to be. It gets to your point of like, most parents, I've talked about their kids, they said, I knew who my kid was going to be when they were three, it was just a matter of just watching them figure it out as they went. And I just think that's a beautiful idea. If we could all just lend that encouragement, lend that courage to other people. And the last thing I'd say is, if you are someone who wants to make a difference in the world, I would highly set about you know, Adlerian psychology, the alerian principles, becoming an alerian yourself. May be the tools may give you the tools, you need to really have an impact in the world. So you're not just sitting on the sidelines, you're on the court playing in a big way. And, man, I love this. I love this conversation. I love these topics. And I hope everyone is just as inspired by all the stuff you just heard. In the meantime, again, you could check out the websites, Alfred adler.org. We'll put a bunch of other stuff in the show notes, check out the book, the courage to be disliked. If you're interested in either working with Holly or just reaching out to him for questions. We'll put his email in the show notes. And again, Holly, thank you so much for sharing your heart and doing so much meaningful stuff in the world.

Hallie Williams

Oh, the pleasure has been entirely mine, I appreciate you. And one last comment that I'll make is that after listening to your closing statements effect, you're almost ready to start teaching individual psychology to yourself. Alright.

Nik Tarascio

Beautiful. I'm ready to graduate. Let's get it done. All right. Well, thank you again, Holly. I hope you all enjoyed the show. Thank you for listening to the dream beyond. I hope that you received whatever message or inspiration you were meant to get from today's episode. I had a great time recording it for you. If you love the show, please take 30 seconds to subscribe rate and review it. That really helps get the word out. And if you want to connect with me, you can find me at

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