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siren-theories · 6 years ago

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Repeating the past - Ben and Ryn as modern parallels to Charles Pownall and his mermaid?

When I wrote my previous post about the Pownall Massacre I noticed just how many parallels between the massacre and our trio exist, especially for the characters of Ben and Ryn. In fact, I saw so many parallels that I started writing the following as the last part of my analysis. But I soon realized that this was too large and merited an article of its own.

If you are unfamiliar with the story of the Pownall Massacre feel free to read my previous article on it (or alternatively you can just accept my conclusions at face value).

Gifs in this post are either taken from the official freeform site, Crayonboxhearts, koortega or sirensource.

Due to the characters involved in the Charles Pownall story this analysis has to mainly focus on Ben and Ryn. I apologize beforehand if it seems as if I am ignoring Maddie. You will understand why once you get to the last part of this article.

Hypothesis: The story of Charles H. Pownall and his mermaid might be repeating itself in the form of Ben and Ryn (and to a certain extent Maddie).

(Polymarine fans upon reading the previous sentence)

The looming threat of Ben turning into his ancestor and Ryn into the original mermaid is always present in the show and adds drama and spice to their relationship. A huge part of what makes their relationship worth watching is experiencing how they overcome the past - or not - and how they make different choices than their respective families / societies. This piece will examine how the show creates parallels and in which way they differ from the original characters.

Part I: The Parallels

There are multiple obvious parallels between the story of Charles and his mermaid and our trio, so many in fact that this is very unlikely to be coincidental.

1. Charles Pownall was the first of the Bristol Cove community to meet a mermaid and became entranced with her and her song

(ELAINE: “I*m curious, how did you and Ben become friends? RYN: Ben almost hit me with car.”)

Likewise, Ben is the first person in close to 150 years to meet a mermaid and he too becomes entranced with her song in Episode 101: “The Mermaid Discovery”.

2. Both Charles and Ben were already in a committed relationship when they met the mermaid.

Charles was married to an unnamed woman (presumably Bens great-great-great-grandmother), Ben was dating Maddie for several months until Ryn arrived on the scene.

(Player 3 has entered the game)

As with Charles, the new presence complicates the existing relationship, to the point that Ben and Maddie break up for a short while in Episode 110 when he (under the influence of the song) consistently put his need to protect Ryn over communicating with Maddie.

3. Charles and the mermaid lived together on land.

(”Ryn choose[...] I stay on land with Ben and Maddie”)

Ryn too lives with Ben and Maddie on land, As of 209, she wants to stay on land permanently even though it might put her in danger.

4. Charles Pownall suffered from alleged mental illness due to the song.

Likewise, Ben and Maddie experience visions and exhibit poor impulse control after being exposed to it. This ranges from visions of Ryn being in danger to a unique way of telling your prospective inlaws about the nature of your relationship with their son and the “friend from Finland”.

5. Charles tried alcohol to cope with the effects of the song.

(Episode 209 “No North Star” and Episode 211 “Mixed Signals”)

Maddie and Ben start drinking alcohol whenever missing Ryn or daydrinking when under the effect of the song.

6. Charles started to act abnormally when his mermaid was gone.

Ben and Maddie also act abnormally whenever Ryn might have left them for good. Ben takes risky trips to sea at night in Episode 105 "Curse of the Starving Class" , both Maddie and Ben self-medicate with the song in Episode 209 "No North Star".

7. As with Charles the song causes brain damage in Ben and Maddie.

(“My song do this? Make Heads go dark?” - from Episode 211: “Mixed Signals” )

8. It is likely that Charles’ mermaid was the one initiating the sexual part of the relationship.

"I have a dream. About Ben.[...]Maddie says it is because I want you."

While Ben and Ryn discussed having feelings for each other before, it is Ryn who pursues him in 204 “Oil and Water”.

Ryn is the first to kiss both Maddie and Ben (mimicking human behaviour in episodes 105 and 106 with first true kisses happening in episode 204). It is Ryn who first states the wish to have sexual relations with the other two.

All subsequent sexual encounters we see depicted on the show happen with Ryn being the one initiating them.

(Episode 208)

(Episode 209)

(Episode 210)

(Episode 213)

9. According to other humans the mermaid was a woman of ill repute, even slandered as a tavern prostitute after her disappearance.

Likewise, Ryn is seen as a drug addict, murder suspect and person-who-holds-wild-orgies-at-the-cabin-with-Ben by elements of the police force. The look on Deputy Marissa Staub's face when Ryn appears besides Ben at the Cabin in Episode 203 “Natural Order” speaks volumes.

(Tfw you discover the local prince is way too intimate with the local druggie, offending conservative sensibilities everywhere. Oh the humanity.)

Marissa also likely views Ryn as a home-wrecker (considering she knows Maddie is dating Ben and is close to Dale), much the same way other humans would have viewed Charles mermaid.

10. Charles and the Mermaid had a baby

One thing missing at this point in the show is the presence of a hybrid baby but that might (and I think eventually will) change in the following seasons. There were multiple scenes in Episode 213 where both Ben and Ryn clearly exhibited signs of wanting to have children with each other and one scene in particular where they both had to force themselves not to do so within that episode.

[Sidenote: The acting in Episodes 213-216 was on point.]

Wwhether there will be a baby in the relationship due to Ryn getting her full-blood baby back (although I think it more likely that one - if it survives - will end up with the other sirens in the sea) or a hypothetical future hybrid baby she might have with Ben (something I personally thnk will be the direction the show will eventually take in the penultimate, maybe ultimate season) the massive anvil sized hints the writers dropped in 213 are too huge to ignore.

[Sidenote: Would Ben and Ryn need IVF to conceive? Probably not. As the tests showed in Episode 213 "The Outpost" there was nothing wrong with Ryn. I believe the problem with getting pregnant was firmly on the male side as infertility in apex predators (and humans) is most often a male problem and the procedure they used is typically used to fix low sperm count in male humans. More on that maybe in a later article.]

11. There is persistent symbolism associated with Charles Pownall, Ben and Ryn in Season 1

In Episode 109 “Street Fight” the most tragic event of Season 1 (Donna getting fatally wounded) happens right near the statue of Ben's Ancestor, with the camera panning over to the statue multiple times to make sure the audience gets the hint.

It also featured a storyline of Ben acting increasingly irrationally (albeit in a very mild manner compared to Charles) while trying to protect Ryn from Katrina.

Conclusion:

So there you have it. The Siren trio is just a retelling of the Charles Pownall story adapted for modern times, destined for the same tragic ending. After all, the parallels are there. Charles = Ben, his mermaid = Ryn.

(Polymarine representatives gather near the author’s house to register their difference of opinion, 2019, decolorized)

Maybe not.

Or rather, this is not the same story and the show tells us that they are not reliving the past.

B) Differences

Whereas the story of Charles Pownall was that of a tragedy and eventual separation, the story of our trio is not. In fact, what the writers are going for seems to be the kind of story that shows that people in similar situations might act in a different manner than their ancestors and thus that similar situations might have different, better outcomes.

Let us take a look at the ways the show differentiates the trio from the Pownall story and also the ways the show outright tells us that this is not the same story.

1. Ryn and Ben’s motivations are different than those of their ancestors

Unlike the mermaid which helped Charles find material wealth, Ryn's initial motive is to find her sister, then stop the overfishing, then safeguard her pack, then save her species from extinction. This of course is accompanied by the motive of Ryn to stay with Ben and Maddie, a motive which might even have taken priority if Ryn leaving her pack to stay on land permanently in Episode 209 is any indication.

The initial motive on the actions of Charles were profit (and maybe fame), which is definitely not the case with Ben who seems to not care much about material wealth as evidenced by Episode 108 where he declines a new car.

ELAINE: "Your car is disgusting." BEN: "I like my car" ELAINE: "We could buy you a new one, you know. One of those electrics....good for the environment."

Ben could easily become famous and have a huge career boost by "discovering" Ryn and publishing his findings but he does not. Instead his main motive seems to protect both humans and Sirens from harming each other - something that Ryn comes to eventually share as well.

2. The characters act as a bridge between the cultures, not as dividers

The show sometimes attaches imaginery to fit that purpose, as in Episode 203 “Oil and Water”.

(Let's just look each other in the eyes for 30 seconds while the merpack safely sleeps between us and hope that the viewers are not too distracted by the sexual tension to not notice the symbolism)

The writers further bring up the idea of characters (specifically Ryn) acting as a bridge between the cultures in Epsiode 206.

RYN: “Shapeshifter like me” DALE: Yes. And in those stories, the ones like you often represent the idea of two worlds coming together. [...] But maybe that is your calling, to lead my kind and your kind to a peaceful existence in this new world.”

In 208 Ben reveals his hope that eventually the two species can live together (again) in harmony (something that Ryn, Maddie and Ben already practice on a smaller scale).

3. When facing a choice between their respective societies/families and their relationship the trio consistently chooses the relationship

After becoming Alpha in Episode 109 "Street fight" Ryn still choses to leave her pack behind to stay on land.

In 207 Ryn decides to volunteer as a military test subject in order to get Ben out of jail.

This was a very risky choice - she had no reason to trust the military, no reason to believe they would ever let her go and she also risked her entire pack's welfare by placing herself in the hands of the military. Yet she still did it for Ben.

In episode 208 Ryn leaves her pack to spend the night with Ben and Maddie and in episode 209 she reveals she permanently wants to stay with them no matter the costs or risks attached, even though it might expose her to capture by the military and thus risk her colony. The vehemence with which she defends her choice is telling.

RYN:"Ryn hurt inside. Need Ben and Maddie" BEN: "We need you too. There is a woman looking for you". MADDIE: "She's with the military. RYN: "Yes. I help her." BEN: "Why?" RYN: "She get Ben out of cage." MADDIE: "You agreed to work with her to get Ben out of jail?" RYN: "Yes." BEN: You shouldn't have done that" RYN: "Ben is love" BEN: "Look you shouldn't have put yourself in danger for me." MADDIE: "We think it's better for you to go back to the water. Just for a while."

At this suggestion, Ryn gets visibly angry.

RYN: "Ryn choose...Military was bad to sister, but good to Ryn." MADDIE: "For now. But we don't know what they want to do to you." RYN: "I stay with Ben and Maddie."

Ben likewise rejects his family business and refuses to follow in the footsteps of his ancestors. When presented with a "dark" vision of himself in Episode 214 he rejects it with horror. He consistently lies to his family to keep Ryn safe and to help her. Most importantly at the end of Episode 215 “Sacrifice” he puts Ryn’s safety above the health of his own mother, who might very well die because of this choice.

Kyle, slimeball extraordinaire and commander of the military facility had previously told Ben that his mother would need another injection of Ryn's stem cells soon in order to continue healing, leading to the following conversation:

MADDIE: “As soon as he finds out what we did, that'll be the end of our relationship with him.” BEN: “Yeah. This is what matters right now. For Ryn and her species. All the rest we'll just have to figure out.”

Maddie likewise choses to protect Ryn and breaks a solemn vow to her father to do so in Episode 107 “Dead in the water” . While maybe not on the same level of the above-mentioned sacrifices made by Ryn and Ben there is not a single reason to doubt that she too would choose her two mates over anybody else.

4. The human families of the trio are not openly hostile to them being together with Ryn

Charles Pownall's family was hostile to the mermaid with the Hawkins being permanently ostracized by the Pownells.

The human families reaction to the relationship between Ben, Ryn and Maddie are different from that. Maddie's mother, Susan, is concerned - but not about the nature of the relationship, instead she is concerned about Maddie getting hurt. We do not know what Dale thinks about the relationship or if he even knows about it though I find it hard to believe Maddie would keep it from him. Thus I would argue he at least tolerates it).

Ben's father seems completely unfazed by his son being in a polyamorous relationship. If anything he seems more amused by the display Maddie made when she announced that she, Ryn and Ben were in such a relationship instead of the fact itself.

HELEN: "That was quite the show" TED *laughs* : "That's one way to put it. I just hope those three figure it out, whatever it is."

Elaine was shocked but that might have been more due to the nature of the announcement - she certainly did not have any problems with Ryn kissing Ben in Episode 209 despite knowing that Ben was with Maddie.

There are a few caveats to the above. Nobody except Dale knows Ryn’s true nature. Ted's reaction might very well be different and even hostile in the future considering he is on the verge of finding out about Ryn. Of course the Sirens having something to do with the boat accident that crippled Elaine or that Elaine might suffer more in the future due to Ryn having to withhold stem cells from her might also cause Ted and Elaine to react negatively in the future.

5. (Human) society has evolved a bit since the 19th century

Humans in the 19th century would not have reacted kindly to an unmarried woman (the siren) spending time with a married man (Charles) , even if they did not know her true origin,

[Sidenote: If you want to have a “fun” time read up what people did in the 19th and early 20th centuries to sabotage relationships that were considered abnormal. In the infamous example of Virginia Woolf this even involved a plane chase across two countries.]

When the trio's human friend Xander learns about the relationship, his reaction is one of surprise and shock. (You can watch the scene here). However a discussion between him and Maddie in Episode 212 confirms that this is not due to a rejection of the nature of the relationship but more about Xander's worry that the Siren song is controlling Maddie. After being told this is not the case, he drops that objection and while he certainly does not like the relationship he is not taking active steps to sabotage it unlike 19th century people might have

In fact it seems as if nobody in Bristol Cove much cares about the relationship the three have. There must by now be a considerable amount of people seeing the trio interact in public like this:

(Yes officer, this scene right here)

And multiple people in the anchor saw Ryn and Ben dancing together in 204 in a manner that was way too intimate to just be friends.

(Taking bets on the number of gaskets Deputy Marissa will blow when she hears about this happening.)

Especially in a small town like Bristol Cove where everybody knows each other the gossip mill must already run wild about the trio. However nobody seems to mind.

This of course is a major difference of today's society to the 19th century society of Charles and his mermaid. Today's society cares much less about things like adhering to strict heterosexual norms and two-person relationships. Unlike in the 19th century where even marrying below your station would be considered a betrayal and seriously threaten your standing in society, the acceptance of sexuality and relationships as fluid concepts is at an all-time high.

There is only one person who openly is hostile against Ryn spending time with Ben and Maddie in the show and that is Deputy Marissa. However Marissa also believes that Ryn is a drug addict, possible dealer, possible murder suspect and person-who-holds-wild-drug-orgies-at-the-cabin-with-Ben. No wonder she is hostile to Ryn given that it is her duty to protect Bristol Cove from bad influences - which her inaccurate version of Ryn definitely is.

If anything it seems that the Siren society is less accepting of the relationship than humans are (at least Cami and Katrina are appalled by it). But as long as Ryn is Alpha then what are they going to do about it without risking an immediate beatdown by an enraged Ryn?

[Sidenote: At this time I feel it is my solemn duty to link you this great video of humans reacting to the trio, edited by Koortega.]

6. The reactions to the Siren Song might be different from those of Charles

This is more speculative than the other parts of this post because we do not know the specific reactions of Charles Pownall to the song. Yet so far - and speaking strictly about the effect of the song on the relationship - whenever the song is used it does not have negative effects with regards to threatening the relationship.

Ben's visions are not about domineering or being possessive about Ryn, but ultimately about protecting her (Episode 110 “Aftermath” and to a lesser extent Episode 203 “Natural Selection”), realizing he might hurt her through his behaviour and reaffirming how much he loves her (Episode 214 “The last mermaid”).

Likewise Maddie, despite being exposed to the more harmful defensive variant of the song only wants to tell the world about how much she loves Ryn and Ben.

[Sidenote: There is also the unlikely possibility that the relationship between Charles and his mermaid was solely based on the song, which in any case is not true for our trio.]

A cure for the brain damage due to the song also exists and the experience of obtaining that cure together brings the throuple closer together.

(From Episode 212: “Serenity”)

So there you have it. There are enough differences between the trio and Charles Pownall and his mermaid to not have them go down the same dark path. But in this case the show goes even further.

C) The events of the last episodes of Season 2

The writers themselves tell us in no uncertain terms in the last four episodes of Season 2 that this is not the same story because Ben and Ryn are not their respective ancestors.

In Episode 213 and 214 as the Pownall massacre as well as Ryn’s mating drive and her unilateral actions based on that drive put the relationship to its hardest test.

It is important to note that the writers used multiple contrivances to arrive at this point. For the biggest example, Ryn seems to have suddenly developed complete memory loss with regards to her knowledge about Ben being a Pownall. Which is more than a bit contrived considering Ben and Maddie discuss his father owning Pownall’s two meters away from her while she is clearly listening in Episode 106 “Showdown”.

This was not something Ryn overheard considering later in the same episode:

DONNA: I see his face. In that place take our food. RYN: That was not him. That was his father. Writers of Episode 213: FAKE NEWS.

Oh and if there was any doubt left there is also that time Bens father was called Mr. Pownall in front of Ryn in Episode 108.

(WRITERS: “You saw nothing.”)

In Episode 110 Helen explicitly names the father of the hybrid baby as “Charles Pownall” and also confirms that Ben and her are related through Charles. This is done while Ryn is listening and participating in that conversation (I have transcribed the whole conversation in my previous post about the massacre)

Ryn also seems to have paid no attention at all to her surroundings while living with Ben and Maddie for months (c’mon, does that sound anything like the hyperobservant, inquisitive and highly intelligent mermaid we know?). Anybody who walks around a modern human name would shortly know the name of the homeowner. Given all these factors, her not knowing before Episode 213 makes no sense at all.

So why the contrivance?

Of course one possibility is that the writers were too incompetent to remember what they wrote a year ago. But I do not believe this to be the case, especially with how few contradictions there are in the show otherwise and the great attention to detail the writers usually have. Maybe they wanted to score cheap drama? But there already was enough drama with Ryn trying to save her species from extinction (plus the effect this had on Ben and Maddie) and it seems odd to go to such great lengths just for that. Therefore I would argue that the Pownell revelation was (at least partly) included here to make a specific point.

What point would that be? Let us recap what happens in those episodes, especially 214.

After “suddenly discovering” (excuse me while I go grind my teeth in the corner) in Episode 213 that Ben’s last name is Pownell Ryn gets very upset and concerned, culminating in the following exchange in Episode 214:

BEN: "Charles." RYN: "He loved one like me and his love turned bad. It makes him angry. He killed my people. And it starts with love. Like *crying* Like Ben love Ryn."

Ryn is clearly concerned about a repeat of the original Pownall story. And in this episode Ryn (and the audience) is explicitly told by Maddie that Ben is not his ancestor - just as Ryn is not hers either.

MADDIE: "You know my mother, Susan?" RYN: "Yes" MADDIE: "Remember I told you how she was? The pain she caused me?" RYN: "Yes. She was weak and sad." Maddie: "Am I like her?" RYN: "No. You are strong." MADDIE: "Just because your family thinks or acts a certain way doesn't mean you have to repeat that. Ben's ashamed of what his family did. And many in your colony don't trust humans. They want to fight them. But you came on land, you trusted us, fell in love with us." RYN: "Love can be good or bad." MADDIE: "Yeah. But I trust Ben. I trust you. I trust that our love is good."

(Take ALL the Applause Maddie, you earned it.)

Ryn accepts Maddie's argument. The speed at which she does so as well as her obvious concern for Ben when he disappears during the episode seems to indicate that she was more conflicted about her own feelings than anything else - like Ben himself in that episode one might say. When Ben finally reappears, Ryn is visibly relieved at the sight of him and the following exchange happens:

RYN: "You are okay?" BEN: "No. Not okay." RYN: "Angry with me?" BEN: "Confused. About myself." RYN: "Ben. I know you would not hurt me. I know you are different from your family. Those who kill. BEN: "I want to believe that." RYN: "I believe. Our love is good." BEN: "You trust me?" RYN: "I don't want you to feel any more pain."

The relationship between her and Ben survives the stress test and trust seems to be fully restored through Ben’s following actions in Episode 215 (some of which have already been mentioned before).

The relationship seems to have been fully repaired by the end of 215 but if there was any lingering distrust I think Episode 216 would have dispelled that as Ryn is clearly willing to move forward with the relationsip at the end of Episode 216. Letting Ian drown might have been taken by Ryn as a display of trust, especially as she knows that it took a toll on Ben.

This of course is a parallel to another Season 1 episode. In Episode 106 “Showdown” Ben steps in to prevent Ryn from killing another antagonist that was a threat to her (Aldon Decker). Her reaction to Ben refusing to let a human die to keep her safe is one of anger and feeling betrayed.

RYN: "Why you help the bad man?” [Ben refuses to let Ryn kill Decker by placing himself between them] RYN: You choose him. You should choose me."

In Episode 216, Ben does so. He clearly chooses Ryn and her safety over the life of a fellow human.

Even without that choice it was in my opinion already clear from the looks they share at the end of Episode 215 that they will move forward with each other.

(Protip to a happy life: find yourself a relationship where the persons involved in said relationship can still look at each other like that even after they just finished putting each other through hell for several days).

Due to all the factors involved in Episodes 213-216 (Ryn unilaterally deciding for much of the storyline and expecting the others to go along without giving them a say, the whole fertility crisis amongst the Sirens and of course the Pownall “revelation”) this probably was the worst stress the relationship could ever be under at that point.

I therefore posit that if the relationship between Ben and Ryn would be “Charles Pownell 2.0″, this would have been a fracture point instead of a successful stress test.

And the relationship between Ben and Ryn surviving is of course in no small part due to the largest stabilizing element in the relationship, the one element that was missing from the story of Charles and his Siren.

D) The third element

Imagine how different the story of Charles and his mermaid might have happened had they lived with the Haida - people who knew how to deal with human-siren relationships, how to help hybrids and who were most likely used to that kind of relationship happening.

The present-day relationship the show is depicting has such a large stabilizing element to it. I am talking of course about the one person I have so far criminally neglected in favour of focusing on Ben and Ryn (because they are the parallels to charles and their mermaid and also because this allowed me to give this post a better structure).

Maddie might not be Haida biologically, but she is a Haida in the cultural sense of the word. She was raised by a Haida man and one of the first stories she tells Ryn to calm her down in Episode 102 “The Lure” is a Haida story. Now of course Maddie is not the solution to all the problems the trio faces. She does not have any Haida knowledge on how to deal with hybrids or Sirens.

However, she is by far the largest stabilizing element in the relationship as evidenced by episode 214 and the episodes before. Whenever Ryn and Ben are acting out of character or have communication issues (either between them, others or with Maddie), Maddie appears as the mediator that manages to get through to the other two and makes them see reason. Even when she initially fails (as with Ben in 110 and with her first discussion with Ryn in 214) she still manages to have enough of an impact on them to get them to reconsider their actions, change their behaviour and attempt to fix the situation.

Her second long dialogue between her and Ryn Episode 214 (which is quoted in the segment C of this post) is the best example of Maddie’s exceptional communication skills. It probably is one of my top 5 Maddie scenes of the show and highlights just how integral Maddie is for the story of the trio. The way Maddie (without recriminations) manages to make Ryn understand that she got the wrong impression of Ben, the way she focuses the communication on the love that is the basis of the trio relationship is unbelievably on point.

Or to put it more bluntly: The story of Siren is not the story of Ben and Ryn alone. It is the story of Ben, Ryn and Maddie. It is a story about the unique love and trust that develops between the three.

And this is why I firmly believe that we are not seeing a repeat o the CharlesPownell story here. Instead, what we are seeing is how the more enlghtened and more evolved characters of Ryn and Ben and Maddie make different choices than their ancestors. In short, just because History might look similar, it does not - and will not - repeat itself in this case.

Does that mean there will be no challenges to the relationship in the future? Of course not for otherwise there would be a lot less in the show. We already see the groundwork for multiple future stress tests of the relationship being laid (Ted having footage of Ryn underwater, the Sirens attacking Ted in the water when Elaine had the boating accident, the reaction by some sirens like Cami to the relationship, Ben letting Ian drown, him and Ryn keeping this from Maddie etc.)

But there is one certainty the show tells us over and over again, even chosing it as the end screen for season 2.

They are love.

And on that note, we shall end the analysis of the parallels between our throuple and the Pownall Massacre. Thank you for reading and for sticking with this rather long post until the end. I shall endeavour to make the next post a little shorter, I promise. Alternative interpretations, additional info or critique are always welcome.

[Final sidenote: Anybody wishing for the trio to become a duo (whether it be Ben/Ryn, Maddie/Ryn or Ben/Maddie) is asking for the show to be a lot poorer in terms of character interaction, to be less inclusive and to have fewer opportunities for future storylines.

Could the story work with just Ryn and Maddie or just Ryn and Ben? Yes, the love between each of them might be strong enough to survive without the third. But such a story would not be Siren, it would be another star-crossed-lovers story that has been done countless times before.

And this is why it was immediately clear that Episode 216 was a giant fake-out as soon as Maddie was fatally wounded in it.]

#siren freeform #Pownall Massacre #polymarine #analysis #long post #i swear the next one will be shorter #Ben #Ryn #Maddie #siren #freeform siren

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inevitably-johnlocked · 7 years ago

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OOH can we please have the angsty fluff fic rec list??? thanks!!

@idontneednormal said to inevitably-johnlocked: hi there! could you please share your angsty fluff fics with us? i live for angst with a sappy ending!

HELLS TO THE YES I WILL, LOVELIES. Like I said on this post, I was just waiting for someone to request it. I’ve A TONNE MORE, but like I said, these are just what I’ve sorted so far :) There will probably be a part two in a few months if someone asks again, LOL.

ANYWAY, here’s some angst with a healthy happy dose of fluff to soothe the heartache caused by the angst! I think 99% of these all have happy endings, so don’t you worry none, your angst gets instant relief <3

ANGSTY FLUFF

One-Way Mirror by StormyNight108 (K+, 830 w. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Post-TRF, John’s Blog) – It’s been months since the incident, where a man lost his best friend. Slowly but surely, John’s life is starting to turn up a little. That night, his blog is updated to share good news to his followers, and one anonymous commentator is quick to share his happiness. It’s about as close to his friend as he can get right now. No slash.

You Lead, I Lead, You Follow, I Follow by BrighteyedJill (M, 862 w. || Fever, H/C, John Whump) – John wakes up after a chase gone wrong to find Sherlock watching over him, but he’s a little hazy on the details.

Static by Johnnlocked (Krullenbol2602) (G, 917 w. || Fluff, H/C, Dr. John, Headaches, POV Sherlock, Fluff, H.C, Pre-TSo3) – Sherlock suffers from a headache.

Secrets by 796116311389 (G, 1,084 w. || Drunk Sherlock, Drunk Confessions, Angst, Fluff, Happy Ending, Pining Sherlock) – “He is the best person in the world and sometimes I get sad because I’m not. Not his best person.”

Drums and Fireworks by Cumberbatch Critter (T, 2,121 w. || Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Platonic Cuddles) – “Are… Are you afraid of THUNDERSTORMS?” John asked incredulously.

I’m Sorry by bewdifuldragon (K, 1,172 w. || Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Sick John) – During a case - that just for the record, he never wanted to take on anyway - John falls ill; and a guilt-ridden Sherlock does everything he can to make amends.

Of Small and Unexpected Things by wearitcounts (T, 1,239 w. || Love Confessions, Scars, Implied Abuse, Fluff & Angst) – It’s by accident, the first time John sees them.

In Dreams by Youarethelightoftheworld (T, 1,340 w. || Falling in Love, Accidental Cuddling, Snuggling, Fluff, Romance, Domestic Fluff) – Every once and a while, the dark makes it easier to see.

Lost Without My Army Doctor by ItsRealForUs (K, 1,499 w. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Migraines, Doctor John, Domestics) – Sherlock’s fighting a losing battle with his migraine when John comes home to help.

The Two of Us Against the World by slashscribe (T, 1,617 w. || Post-TAB, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Drug Addiction, Anxious Sherlock, Angsty Fluff) – John is there to take care of Sherlock as he comes down from his overdose in The Abominable Bride. Set immediately after the tarmac, back in 221B.

Not Straight by IamJohnLocked4life (NR, 1,728 w. || POV Sherlock, Fluffy Angst, Happy Ending) – John moves back into 221B. Feelings come up. Happy ending.

Q 1 HR by StillWaters1 (K+, 2,234 w. || Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, Sick John, Fluff, New Year’s Eve) – On New Year’s Eve, Sherlock discovers that sometimes it’s the seemingly innocuous, rather than life-threatening, conditions that can keep John from The Work. And John is reminded just how deeply their friendship runs.

Just Admit It by LoyalNerdWP (T, 2,512 w. || Christmas, Fluff, Family, Romance, Pining Sherlock) – Sherlock goes to his family’s place for Christmas without John, and Mycroft makes an interesting observation that Sherlock missed.

Rooftop Confession by Random_Nexus (T, 2,514 w. || Ace Sherlock, Developing Relationship, Friendship / Love, Angsty Fluff) – Sherlock asks John to join him for a slightly unexpected discussion.

Intensive Care by aceofhearts61 (T, 2,539 w. || Ace!Sherlock / Straight John Queerplatonic Relationship, Hurt Comfort, Angst, Cuddles and Snuggles, Hugs, Doctor!John, Medical Procedures) – In which John looks after Sherlock directly following the events of “Bless You and Keep You.” Sequel Fic. Part 15 of A Love with No Name

Green Carnation by glenien (T, 2,616 w. || Sherlock’s Mind Palace, Meta-Fic, Angst and Fluff, Communication, Post-TAB) – John takes Sherlock home. Part 1 of It’s No Longer Eighteen Ninety-Five

Turn the key, and come home by TooManyChoices (M, 2,718 w. || First Kiss / Time, Angst With a Happy Ending, Emotional Messes, Implied Sex, Angst and Humour, Bed Sharing, Post-TRF) – Sherlock and John have been dancing around what’s between them for years. Will John return to Baker Street, and if so, will things ever be the same?

Extraordinary by ardenteurophile (T, 2,739 w. || Angst, Pining, Romance, Second Person POV Sherlock, Pre-Slash) – Sherlock tries to understand his preoccupation with one Doctor John Watson - the one case he can never solve.

There’ll be people By Ariane DeVere (T, 2,739 w. || Friendship/Romance, Angsty Fluff, First Kiss) – There’s a reason why Sherlock doesn’t travel on the Underground, and it’s not because he’s a snob. John learns the reason the hard way. Although, given the conclusion, maybe this one Tube ride wasn’t such a bad idea.

Unspoken by PipMer (T, 2,770 w. || John’s Missing Wed., Fluffy Angst, Mutual PIning, Pre-Slash, Missing Scene) – Sherlock wanted to test a hypothesis. About John. He wanted a question answered that he couldn’t just ask, at least not under normal conditions, because John would never tell him the truth about that.

The Sweetest Taste In The World by crossroads (G, 3,121 w. || First Kiss, Fluff, Pining, Friends to Lovers) – The sweetest taste in the world is rarely ever the easiest to come by.

It Was All Right There In Front of Him (A Five Times Plus One Story) by bees_stories (T, 3,191 w. || 5+1, Protective Idiots, Grooming, Bed Sharing, Lestrade POV) – DI Greg Lestrade is a good detective. But sometimes he doesn’t trust the evidence in front of him, until there’s a compelling reason to do so.

Listening By Ear by StillWaters1 (T, 3,384 w. || Lestrade POV, Friendship, H/C, John Whump) – Lestrade figured that anyone who thought John Watson wasn’t important, and that Sherlock hadn’t changed since meeting him, had to be completely, bloody deaf. Because it was all right there, in every sound Sherlock made. For anyone attentive enough to listen.

Measuring Damage With the Fujita Scale by teahigh (T, 3,548 w. || First Kiss / Time, Vacation / Holidays, Friends to Lovers, Bed-Sharing, Pining Sherlock, Sherlock POV, Angsty Fluff, Scars, Awkward Talks) – John goes back into town, into the storm, and Sherlock realises he forgot to say, “I just want to be alone with you.”

MR# 1430155 by blueink3 (T, 3,560 w. || Talks of Parentlock, Baby Watson, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Fluff and Angst) – John paces the length of the not inconsiderable hallway and glances at his phone for the tenth time since he exited the hospital room seven minutes ago. Sherlock’s last text was sent at 5:06pm. It is now 5:39pm. He should be here by now. After all, his daughter is 46-minutes-old and if John is going to share this momentous event with someone, it sure as hell isn’t going to be the woman who just gave birth to her.Part 5 of Tumblr Prompts

Stay by msdisdain (M, 3,561 w. || First Kiss / Time, Angst / H/C, Bed Sharing, Nightmares, Blow Jobs, Anal) – John’s nightmares are nothing new. Sherlock’s inability to ignore them, however, is.

Because Your Coat is Part of You by camellialice (K, 3,705 w. || 5 and 1, Canon Compliant, Sherlock’s Coat, Angst, Fluff) – Five times John wore Sherlock’s coat and one time he didn’t need to.

Come home. by hudders-and-hiddles (huddersandhiddles) (E, 3,763 w. || Texting / Sexting, Lonely Sherlock, Nude Photos, Pining, Fluff & Smut) – When John leaves for a medical conference, Sherlock tries to entice him back home.

April Sea by ladydirewolf1 (T, 3,778 w. || Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, Melodrama, Reminiscence) – Sherlock takes John to the place he spent his childhood summers.

Upon Waking by joolabee (E, 3,901 w. || Mild Dub Con, Magical Realism, Angst, Somnophilia) – It sets on slow: John can only be awake while Sherlock sleeps, and vice versa. Their lives are codependent, but never meeting. Like a set of scales.

Water Is Another Matter by cathedral_carver (T, 3,903 w. || Sick Fic, Pining, First Kiss, Heat Wave) – He thinks it’s in trouble, his poor heart.

In the cherry blossom’s shade by Eliane (M, 3,934 w. || Post S3, First Time / Kiss, Sleeping Together, Pining / Obsessive Sherlock, Minor Char. Death) – This isn’t new. Sherlock has already done this – has gone through cities, and dingy hotels, and sleepless nights but it was different before. John wasn’t there before.They’re in this together.

Someone Else’s Heart by thisprettywren (E, 4,188 w. || First Time, H/C, POV Sherlock, Caretaking John, Pining Idiots) – A crime scene, a rainstorm, and something they both should have known all along.

But Tonight You Belong to Me by esplanade (T, 4,296 w. || Fluff & Angst, Pining, Stag Night, Sad Ending) – “You. It’s always you. John Watson, you keep me right.”

The Dance Lesson by bittergreens (G, 4,596 w. || TSo3 Missing Scene, Dancing, Pining Sherlock, URT/UST, Romance, Angst, POV John, Ambiguous Ending) – Sherlock teaches John to dip. Part 1 of Goodnight, Vienna

Carry On by Mazarin221b (M, 4,647 w. || 5 and Ones, H/C, Afghanistan, Frottage, Hand Jobs, First Time) – Five times John didn’t want to be carried, and one time he did.

There’s Something Living in These Lines by teahigh (orphan_account) (M, 4,676 w. || Mutual Pining, Love Letters, Angst, Mutual Pining, UST / URT, Dirty Talk) – Two men, complete opposites in almost every way, who speak only in letters and pages torn from books.

Facade by distantstarlight (M, 4,715 w. || Fluff, John’s Beard, No-Shave November, Grumpy Sherlock, Clueless Sherlock) – Sherlock is highly irritated with a challenge John has agreed to undertake. Why does he need to grow a beard anyway?

Unforgiven by 221b_hound (M, 4,721 w. || Marriage Proposal, Victor Trevor, Jealous / Protective John, Jealous Sherlock, Sherlock’s Past) – Sherlock’s latest case is for his ex boyfriend, the brilliant and handsome Professor Victor Trevor. John is not too happy about that. But things aren’t what they seem, an old friend of John’s is involved in the case, and John has a few surprises up his sleeve. Also - a proposal! Part 16 of Unkissed

This Time by Radon65 (T, 4,766 w. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship) – He has practically just finished talking to Lestrade when it happens. A sudden dizziness assaults his brain, things tip sideways, and he barely catches himself on the arm of the sofa to slow his descent before he collapses altogether to the floor.

You Can’t Always Get What You Want by hubblegleeflower (E, 4,804 w. || Sex, First Time, Pining John) – John wants. He always has, but now that he’s living with Sherlock again, it’s all he can do to hold it back. And Sherlock isn’t helping…

Wasted Hours by songlin (E, 4,973 w. || Omegaverse || O!John/A!Sherlock, Pining, UST, Angst & Porn) – John is respectful. John keeps his distance. He doesn’t look at Sherlock when Sherlock decides trousers are for dull people. He doesn’t breathe in and savor it when Sherlock flings himself onto the couch first thing in the morning, wafting alpha scent, dressing gown settling around him in a cloud of blue silk. He doesn’t linger when he’s piecing Sherlock back together after a fight, even though he’s half-dressed and beautiful and right there. He can ignore it. He can control it.

We Bleed into the Grey by QuinnAnderson (T, 4,989 w. || First Kiss, Supernatural Elements, Fluff & Angst) – It was stupid, really. What was the point of having an ability if it wasn’t even a useful one? Sherlock would just as soon be rid of his. Until he meets John Watson, that is.

Every Little Thing by the_beekeeper_of_sussex (E, 5,066 w. || First Time / Kiss, Fluff, Frottage, Come as Lube, Embarassed Sherlock, Porn With Feelings) – When Sherlock walks in on John making tea wearing nothing but a tight pair of boxer-briefs things get a little heated…physically and emotionally.

Winter of Life by You_Light_The_Sky (T, 5,178 w. || Christmas, Fluff & Angst, Magic Realism) – It was an experiment, really. On Christmas, Sherlock wrote to Santa asking for a friend. He got a broken toy soldier instead. This is the story of how he finds him again and again.

I think You Need A Doctor by TheGoodDirector (M, 5,254 w. || Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Sherlock Whump, Mistaken Couple, Humour, Platonics, Mary is Nice) – John’s not been to Baker Street in four months and returns to find a bleeding Consulting Detective. John can’t help but take care and put up with him. Set after The Sign of Three/Before His Last Vow.

The Only Available Transportation by blueink3 (T, 5,379 w. || Post S4, Fluff and Angst, Insecure Sherlock, Caring John, Parentlock, Sherlock’s Birthday, Family, Misunderstandings) – It’s possibly the desperation that’s seeped into his voice despite his best intentions, or perhaps it’s just a mother’s intuition, but she knows that whatever he’s calling about is Serious, hangover be damned. “What’s happened?” she asks, tone soft and as comforting as a hot cup of tea on a cold winter’s night. “Mummy,” he begins, voice catching. “I think John may be moving out.”

The Heart On Your Sleeve by flawedamythyst (T, 5,441 w. || Soulmate AU || Sherlock POV, Heartmarks, Pining, Fluff and Angst, Semi-S1 / S2 Canon Compliant, Reunion) – Sherlock stared at the imperfect circle on his left wrist in horror, then sat down on his bed with a bit of a thump. After over thirty years, his heartmark was finally showing activity. This was not good.

Finding John by orphan_account (T, 5,456 w. || Soul Bond AU, Symbolic Rings, Soul Mates) – Sherlock Holmes has met exactly twenty-four Johns in his life. They have all been the wrong John. He’s getting tired of waiting, staring at the inscription on his finger and wondering when his John will turn up, if ever. Part 1 of Inscriptions

Surprise Christmas by Ayakae (K, 6,093 w. || Friendship, Sherlock in Disguise, TRF Hiatus, Christmas, Fluff, Mary) – A year and a half after his death, Sherlock tries to give John Watson a happy Christmas without actually revealing himself. The consulting detective thinks his newfound friend can help. Epic friendship.

Same Same But Different by Kerkerian-Horizon (K+, 6,435 w. || Friendship, Angst, Post-TRF, Gladstone, John/Mary, Christmas, No Slash) – After Sherlock’s return, a lot of things have changed, things the detective has to learn to contend with- or rather, to accept. A sometime-post-Reichenbach story in two parts, no male pairing. Contains Mary, the puppy Gladstone and Christmas as well.

The Dying Detective Remix by SailorChibi (K, 6,563 w. || Friendship & Family) – No one hates admitting illness or wounds more than Sherlock… perhaps that’s why no one believes him when he actually gets sick. Fortunately, when he can’t do it himself any longer, John and Lestrade are there to pick up the slack. Features Paternal!Lestrade and Gen John and Sherlock. One-shot.

5687 (Approximately) by prettysailorsoldier (T, 6,771 w. || Alternate Canon, Christmas, Pining, Fluff, Soldier John) – When John’s leave request for Christmas is denied, Sherlock is nothing short of devastated, not that he’s letting it show. The holiday season now something he’s just waiting to end, Sherlock doesn’t think anything can possibly make it worse. That is, until he realizes no one in his life believes his army “boyfriend” is even real, but, luckily, everyone is in for a surprise. Part 13 of 25 Days of Johnlock

The Tip Over Into The Inevitable by ivyblossom (T, 6,894 w. || Grief, Cuddles, Insomnia, Hurt/Comfort, Friends to Lovers) - When his father dies, Sherlock avoids sleeping. Then discovers he can’t sleep at all. John finds a way to help.

Survival Instinct by shirleyholmes (T, 7,162 w. || Post-TRF, First Kiss, Schmoop, Nightmares, Fluff & Angst, Grief, Idiots in Love) – After Sherlock’s “comeback” John starts obsessing with constantly making sure he’s alive (checking his heartbeat etc.)

In Which “John” Becomes a Synonym for “Help” by asignoftwo (T, 7,391 w. || Injured John, Worried Sherlock, Fluff) – After the fall Sherlock returns to Baker Street and is reunited with John. When John is injured on a case Sherlock is faced with the reality that he could lose John again, and it tears him apart.

High and Tight, Soft and Loose by cwb (E, 7,429 w. || Jealous John, Miscommunications / Misunderstandings, First Kiss / Time, BAMF John, Insecure Sherlock, Clueless Sherlock, Junk Size, UST / RST) – John pressed the knuckle of his index finger against his mouth and sighed. “So, you’re coiled like a spring and ready to be … sprung?” “If you want to be pedestrian about it, yes.” “Like I said, you should do something about that.” “And like I said, pedestrian. What would you have me do? Take up jogging? Yoga? Oh! Unless you mean –” “I don’t mean anything. Let’s drop it.”

The T-Shirt Thief by allroadsleadbacktobakerstreet (T, 7,968 w. || Mutual Pining, Post Canon Fix It, Dev. Rel., First Kiss, Domestics) – Sherlock steals John’s t-shirt from the laundry. John catches him wearing it one evening, fluff ensues with an endeared yet teasing John?

The Engine by stitchy (T, 8,294 w. || Time Travel, Post-HLV, Sci-Fi, First Kiss) – Shortly after the events of His Last Vow, Sherlock has an opportunity to revisit the night of A Study in Pink and get some perspective on the destiny of he and John’s relationship.

Never Been This Swept Away by estalita11 (T, 8,531 w. || Post-TAB, Mary is Not Nice, Drug Use, First Kiss, Love Confessions) – Set immediately after TAB, Sherlock visits his brother to definitely not apologize about earlier and ends up finally learning a few things that would have been nice knowing about months ago. Mycroft never wants to deal with lovestruck idiots ever again.

Presence by LostGirl (M, 8,625 w. || Pre-Slash, First Time, Jealousy, Friends to Lovers) – Sherlock has recently noticed a shift in his own perceptions, but he can’t quite figure out when it started.

Let You Kiss Me (So Sweet and So Soft) by out_there (G, 8,659 w. || Fluff, Kisses, Stroppy Sherlock, Confused John) – The first time Sherlock kisses him, John keeps his eyes open, and so does Sherlock, and mostly, he wonders what Sherlock could possibly be up to. There’ll be some logic to this. Some ridiculous experiment about body warmth or respiratory rates or testing a new way of picking pockets. Sherlock does the unimaginable for bizarre reasons, but behind it, there’s always logic and curiosity. Sometimes, it just takes him a while to explain it to John.

The Painted Man by jinglebell (E, 9,894 w. || Tattoos, Scent / Tattoo Kink, Rough & Tender Sex, Fluff and Smut, Obsessive / Jealous Sherlock, Touch Starvation) – Here stood John Watson – middle name, Hamish, ex-RAMC captain and field medic, favourite brand of jam: Duerr’s, preferred toothpaste: Mentadent. Loyal, steadfast, interesting John had just done the most unpredictable thing merely by being. John’s body was covered, neck-to-waistband, shoulder-to-elbow, in tattoos.

Someone I Love by hudders-and-hiddles (M, 10,002 w. || Canon Compliant, HLV-Filler Fic, Pre-Slash, Jealous John, PIning Sherlock, Angst & Fluff, UST/URT, Dog Tags) – John gets married and Sherlock finds comfort in wearing John’s identity tags around his wrist.

Confidential by sussexbound (M, 10,654 w. || Epistolary, John’s Journal, First Kiss / Time, Fluff, Self-Acceptance/Discovery, John’s Sexuality) – When John accidentally stumbles upon the Confidential file Sherlock’s been keeping on him he is both angry and curious. What he learns about himself, though–well, that changes everything.

Never Have I Ever by hudders-and-hiddles (E, 10,655 w. || Pining Sherlock, First Kiss / Time, Drinking Games, Love Confessions, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers) – John and Sherlock tag along for the Met’s weekly night out, where the evening’s chosen drinking game is Never Have I Ever. Sherlock is reluctant to join in until he realizes he can learn all kinds of new things about John, but he forgets that John might learn a thing or two about him as well.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder by cypress_tree (E, 10,669 w. || UST/RST, For an Experiment) – John helps Sherlock with an experiment: for an entire month, they are not allowed to touch each other and must remain at least one metre apart at all times.

Of Course I Forgive You by allonsys_girl (E, 10,735 w. || Love Confessions, Canon Divergence, First Time, Frottage, Wall Sex, Infidelity) – What if things had gone differently on that train car?

John Watson’s Moon by patternofdefiance (E, 11,314 w. || Werewolf John, First Time, BAMF John, First Time) – Sherlock finds out John is a werewold and wants to see the transformation. It, uh, gets really kinky.

The Red Dianthus by kinklock (T, 11,382 w. || Supernatural Elements, BAMF!John, Misunderstandings, Fluff, Romance, Halloween, Dev. Rel., Case Fic) – The boys investigate a mysterious disappearance in a supposedly haunted house, and get much more than they bargained for.

Johnlock Ficlet Collection by Irrevocably_Sherlocked (E, 11,505+ w. [WiP] | Random Ficlets, Pining, Angst, Fluff & Smut, Parentlock, AU’s, First Kiss, Character POV’s) - Just a collection of Johnlock ficlets, originally posted on my Tumblr page.

Where the Sun Never Shines by teahigh (T, 11,634 w. || PTSD, Nightmares, H/C, Post-TRF, Implied Sex) – John is a mess. Sherlock can’t fix him, but he tries. That’s good enough, John thinks.

Rainbow Hearts Retreat by PajamaSecrets (E, 11,638 w. || Fake Relationship, Case Fic, Undercover, Fluff and Smut, Bed-Sharing, Therapy, Humour/Crack, First Time) – “It’s a same-sex couples retreat. For those experiencing troubles in their relationship. Consists of group and couples therapy as well as encouraging socialization between the couples. It’s all in their incredibly dull brochure.” “Rainbow Hearts Retreat,” John read. “Sounds… quite gay.”

the first day of forever by darcylindbergh (E, 11,850 w. || Est. Relationship, Domestics, Light Angst, Insecurity, Emotional H/C) – “I’m going to marry you,” John murmurs with against Sherlock’s smile, and they both giggle in the joy of it. “We’re getting married.”“Yes,” Sherlock says, just to hear himself say it out loud. “We are.” A June wedding. Part 4 of things fairy tales are made of

Take My Breath Away by Quesarasara (E, 14,240 w. || Emotional H/C, Angst & Fluff, Toplock, Smut, Lingerie) – Sherlock opens his eyes and looks at his friend—his best friend—and slowly tips his chin down until his forehead rests softly against John’s. They stay that way for a long moment, lips just a whisper apart, warm puffs of air mingling as each of them struggles to breathe. It’s no wonder they ended up here, really, locked in this breathless moment balanced on the cusp of something new. They’ve spent years taking each other’s breath away…

Your Eyes in Darkness Glowing by tamed_untranslatable (E, 14,686 w. || Est. Rel., Case Fic, Hotel Sex, Bottomlock, Anal, BJ’s, Porn With Feelings, Homophobia) – Sherlock gets roped into a case in Moscow on his brother’s insistence, but finds that he can’t do it without John.

Twelfth Night by yourdykeinshiningarmor (E, 15,139 w. || Fake Relationship, Christmas, Mutual Pining, Friends to Lovers, Angst & Fluff, BJ’s, Anal) – John is invited to his aunt’s Twelfth Night ball. Sherlock offers to attend with him as a friendly face among strangers, but John’s family force him to address his true feelings for Sherlock.

Till Death Do Us Part by prettysailorsoldier (M, 15,390 w. || Fake Relationship, Case Fic, Friends to Lovers, Fake Marriage, Christmas, Fluff) – When Sherlock links a recent spree of murder-suicides to a psychologist who specializes in marriage counseling, there’s really only one thing to do: Go undercover as a couple in hopes of drawing the killer out. Faking a relationship seems easy enough, but things take a turn when their real issues start to creep into the sessions, and, all the while, a killer is watching, waiting in the shadows for their chance to strike.

A Hundred Thousand Ways to Say the Name John by Jberry (E, 16,825 w. || Fake Relationship, Fake Marriage, POV John, Pining John, Cruise Ship, Angst & Fluff) – John Watson and Sherlock Holmes must solve a case on a cruise ship. To get close to the crew and passengers, they must get married for the case on the Baetica. However, their relationship hits rocky seas both due to the case and internal conflicts. Part 1 of Baetica

Everlasting by cypress_tree (M, 16,884 w. || Magical Realism, First Time, Immortality, Angst & Fluff) – Most lives end. A Tuck Everlasting fusion, in which the Holmes brothers have lived for a very, very long time.

Just a Kiss by emmagrant01 (E, 19,695 w. || 5+1, Case Fic) – Five times John and Sherlock kissed because of a case and one time they kissed for real.

Ghost Stories by SwissMiss (M, 22,256 w. || Pining, Holmes Family, Christmas, Friends to Lovers, Slow Burn, Bed Sharing, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, First Time) – Sherlock’s parents think he and John are a couple. They might be onto something.

You Can Imagine the Christmas Dinners by ardenteurophile (T, 23,584 w. || Pre-Slash, Drama, Fluff & Angst, Humour, Romance) – Sherlock takes John along for Christmas dinner with Mycroft and Mummy (And “Anthea”, too). Over the course of the evening, John realises that everyone in the room - apart from him - seems to think that he and Sherlock are a couple. Part 2 of Xmas Dinners Verse

26 Pieces by Lanning (E, 28,236 w. || H/C, Torture, First Time, Happy Ending, Schmoop) – Mycroft gives Sherlock the apparently simple task of solving a puzzle box containing a stolen microchip. It isn’t simple.

Our Enthusiasms Which Cannot Always Be Explained by withoutawish (M, 32,961 w. || Christmas, Fluff and Angst, H/C, Post-TRF, Case Fic, Mild Gore, Sherlock Whump) – The list that is tacked haphazardly on the refrigerator of 221B reads, ‘Kidney(s), and/or a full cadaver (preferably male, late 30s, under six feet tall), bag of fresh toes, sixteen cow’s eyes (corneas retained), dual exhaust hand –held flame thrower, an unopened first edition copy of Joseph Conrad’s ‘Heart of Darkness’, and no less than ten abhorrently gruesome murders in the upcoming month.” The one neatly hanging next to it simply reads, “Sex.” One of these lists is not John Watson’s. If John Watson were to put what he really wanted in list form, to live in a land somewhere beyond ‘almosts’ now that Sherlock Holmes has indeed returned to him, he would never be able to look his flatmate in the eye ever again.

Set in Stone by SilentAuror (E, 39,309 w. || Romance, Wedding, Therapy, Fluff and Angst) – Sherlock and John are back from Ravine Valley and planning their wedding. However, as they move past the trial of the human traffickers, Sherlock can’t help but wonder if he’s imagining that John is becoming a little distant. Surely he isn’t getting cold feet about the wedding… Part 2 of The Ravine Valley series

#steph replies #johnlock fic recs #my fic recs #angsty fluff #idontneednormal #midnightcat167

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futureteacher · 4 years ago

Text

Putting the 'Fin' in Finished

27 April, 2021

Practicum Final Blog

Today’s blog is the final one. I have done my 45+ hours of observation and will be graduating with my associates degree in just a couple weeks. That being said, this blog will be a little different than the last ones. We are going to do a review of my Intro to Ed class and see if I actually learned anything. Let’s all hope so.

Basically, I have this big long list of the things I should have learned about this semester. I have gone through and picked the ones I think are the most important. I would like to note that all of the things we have learned are important in some way, or we wouldn’t have learned about them. Right? Anyway, I chose ten (or fourteen and then deleted four randomly) I thought all teachers needed to know about. For each one, I will give you a description, an example, and what I think about the concept. Simple enough. I struggled to put these in any sort of ranking, so they’ll just be in alphabetical order.

1. Academic Engaged Time

· Academic engaged time is when the students are spending time being academically engaged. “The time a student spends on academically relevant activities or materials while experiencing a high rate of success.”

· In my experience, a lot of teachers use academically engaged time for review. For example, in high school, I had an English teacher that would play a team version of Jeopardy to review for any of our tests. We were all engaged, having fun, and wanting to be a part of the experience. He was evaluating if there was anything we should go over in more detail before the test.

· I love the idea of academically engaged time. The students are having fun. For some activities, they can be up and out of their seats. When the students are having fun, teaching is more fun. Plus, the students really absorb the information so much better when they are engaged, and not being lectured to.

2. Bloom’s Taxonomy

· Bloom’s Taxonomy is a chart that helps teachers with their lesson plans. Basically, it is broken into six different steps of learning, and for each there are a bunch of verbs to build your lesson plan with. For example, if your students are just starting to learn a subject, you want them to first remember the information (knowledge). You would want them to define terms, memorize a passage, or label a diagram. However, if they are more advanced in the subject, maybe just about to move on to a new subject, they should be at the create stage. They can collaborate with others on a project, compile information for a research project, or test their hypothesis.

· Bloom’s taxonomy is important and definitely something every teacher needs to understand and utilize. Mrs. E.’s exact words were: “Every teacher should use Bloom's Taxonomy. At the college we have to write our objectives (they call them course outcomes) for the syllabus using action verbs from Bloom's… Some teachers may not understand Bloom's or utilize the idea that students need to progress from lower order to higher order thinking, but they SHOULD understand it and be able to take almost any concept and write an objective at each level for it.”

· I used Bloom’s taxonomy for each of the lesson plans that I built. For me, it really did help to understand where my students should be in their understanding of a subject, and what sort of activities they may be able to do at that point.

3. Differentiated Instruction/ Scaffolding

· This is actually technically two different things, but they work so well together I couldn’t not include one of them. Differentiated instruction is “a variety of techniques used to adapt instruction to the individual ability levels and learning styles of each student in the classroom.” Scaffolding is one of these techniques. “Providing assistance-some structure, clues, help with remembering certain steps or procedures, or encouragement to try-when a learner is on the verge of solving a problem but cannot complete it independently.”

· I recently attended an online symposium/ caucus thing for KNEA in which there were two guest speakers, both of whom were special education instructors, who talked about how they implement differentiated instruction and scaffolding in their classrooms. One of them spoke about giving their students a ‘Love Language’ test at the beginning of the semester, keeping that info on file, and using it whenever the students need that help. This means the students who are Words of Affirmation need to hear “great job” and “I can tell you’re really working hard and I appreciate that”. Students who are Receiving Gifts may need gold stars and an award system. Either way, differentiated instruction and scaffolding are about getting to know your students as individuals and building a learning plan tailored to them.

· This one seems like one of those things that will begin as hard work but will turn into a “Why didn’t I do this sooner” kind of thing. Does that make sense? Students of all ages can tell when their teacher cares and when they are just collecting a paycheck. This one does take some effort, but will be worth it.

4. Diversity (In general and specific issues)/ Inclusion

· Having diversity in the classroom means to include students from all ethnic and demographic backgrounds. Basically, everyone has the right to an education and that means all kinds of students are going to mix together to learn and to teach. Inclusion, on the other hand, is often associated with students with disabilities (physical or learning). I have put them together on the list because I don’t think you can talk about one without talking about the other.

· When I was first assigned my practicum teachers, I noticed that two of them were English teachers with inclusion classrooms and the other was an English Special Education class. I was honestly a little nervous because Special Education is not something I had ever considered teaching. However, I loved the way the students in AA’s class. They felt more open to having discussions with each other and with AA. They were the only students who actually talked to me. AA does a great job tailoring her class lessons to include time to answer questions, she is patient in reviewing the information, and the students were excited to learn.

· Here’s the thing: I grew up in a mostly white town. Diversity (of any sort of demographic) wasn’t really discussed or something I ever really thought about until I moved into a larger city and worked with a wider range of people. Being able to meet these people and be exposed to these different cultures has really been a learning experience for me, one I wouldn’t trade. I love learning about the different places in the world and the different people out there. I really think exposing children to this kind of melting pot learning experience is important and shouldn’t be a novel idea. The world includes all kinds of humans, so many ethnicities, backgrounds, or even disabilities. Shouldn’t we be teaching our kids as soon as possible that all humans have value and should be included?

5. Lesson Planning

· To be honest with you, lesson planning may possibly be the most boring part of teaching. It is important, obviously, but it is kind of time consuming and monotonous as well. Lesson planning is sitting down with your curriculum, breaking it down to a day-to-day plan, and then breaking that down into daily activities and objectives. A lesson plan should include: a title, subject, rationale/goal, lesson’s learning objective (which needs to be written in a certain format), assessment/evaluation, introduction, teaching and learning activities, a check for understanding, closure/ conclusion, and your list of materials needed. It is how you, as a teacher, can be as prepared as possible for the day. Or, heaven forbid, you get sick and need a substitute, the lesson plan should be detailed enough for them to use.

· I haven’t actually seen a lot of examples of this in my practicum or in my student career. Because my practicum was online, I wasn’t able to see all of the materials the teachers used. I can tell which teachers used more detailed versions of them though. RG always knew how much time she could use on each task, was great with transitions, and had good classroom management skills. If I had to guess, she was the one who had the most detailed lesson plan. AA and I spoke briefly about her lesson plan. She told me she mostly uses the same ones she has used in previous years, just tweaking them as needed. Her lessons are structured a little more loosely, and you can tell sometimes one group will not be at the same point another group will be at. I know when you are making sure all of your students understand the lesson, each group may be a little different, but I can tell her lesson planning is a little more loosely structured.

· Lesson planning is boring and monotonous, but it must be done. It is important to know how one lesson is going to tie into the next, at what stage of learning your students are at, and what would happen if you needed a substitute. I am going to spend the next couple of years figuring out a way to make it fun, or at least more entertaining. Challenge accepted!

6. Philosophies of Educations

· A philosophy of education is basically a teacher’s letter to their future employers about what kind of teacher they will be. How they think, learn, instruct, and their values. A philosophy of education can be broken down into four basic schools of philosophy: Perennialism, essentialism, romanticism, and progressivism. There is technically also eclecticism, but that one means to systematically take pieces from the other philosophies until you are satisfied with your own style.

· I asked WG about her own philosophy of education, after we wrote ours in class. She told me she hadn’t written one since she got hired at her current job, a couple decades ago.

· From talking to WG, writing my own philosophy of education, and observing my practicum teachers, I believe each teacher’s philosophy is always changing. It is like the Constitution: a living, breathing document. It changes as needed. Teachers are constantly learning from their students, colleagues, and administration. They see the world in new ways with each new experience. Their philosophy of how to teach their students will change with their students. I don’t necessarily believe it will be easy to keep up on writing out a new philosophy every year, but maybe every couple of years evaluating yourself would be a good idea.

7. Planning/ Implementing/ Evaluating Decisions

· As we discussed, having a plan is important. Being able to implement it, and evaluate how well it works is a whole other beast. You need to be able to look at what you are doing, how well the students are doing, what administration sees, and then shift whatever isn’t working. It can be difficult to look at the plan you worked so hard on and then change it, but if it isn’t working for your students, then it isn’t working.

· WG and I had a great discussion about this a couple months ago. I asked her how she feels about evaluations from herself, administration, and her students. She told me that she loves what she does, has a mutual trust with the administration, and believes they will make the right decision for her students. The administration will give her constructive feedback that she can improve on and help her students. She also told me she isn’t great at purposeful reflection and tends to just change her plan in the moment instead of reflecting on it. Her students usually evaluate her pretty favorably, but sometimes it is hard for them to see the big picture of what she is teaching and why.

· I know that each teacher must be evaluated by their administration, and self-evaluation is something I do pretty regularly. However, the idea of having my students evaluate me intrigues me. Of course, I want them to like me, but whether or not they are learning is what I need to know. I think having my students fill out an anonymous survey, maybe once a month or so, to give general evaluations would be an interesting idea. Not necessarily a good idea, but we will see. Knowing how to critically, but kindly, evaluate others and themselves is a good skill to learn, right?

8. Relationship with Students

· A relationship with students is exactly what it sounds like. You need to have a relationship with your students. Now, every teacher takes a different approach to this, but the goal is to be friendly enough that they trust you, but not too friendly that they do not see you as an authority figure. You are their teacher, after all.

· AA has a great relationship with her students. They are very good at communicating openly with her during discussions, she can always tell when one of them is having an off day, and she knows which ones need special attention.

· I had some great teachers, and some not-so-great teachers, when I was younger, so I have some examples of what things to do and not to do. Be kind. Do not be overly friendly. Be respectful. Do not be their friend. Get to know them. Do not be condescending. Be the teacher you needed when you were their age.

9. Subject Matter

· Teachers need to understand the subject they are teaching well enough to analyze and convey their elements, logic, possible uses, and social biases. Teachers need to be able to understand the content of the school curriculum that pupils are expected to follow. Effective teachers must show pedagogical content knowledge, the knowledge that bridges content knowledge and the pedagogical.

· I think WG is a great example of this. I have made it pretty clear in the last several blogs how much I enjoy Oedipus and Julius Caesar. They are both great plays with the weirdest nonsense. I love them, but it was really clear WG does too. She is able to link the plays with an overall theme for her semester, and make it clear to her students what they mean. For Julius Caesar, she had a constant dialogue about the ethos, logos, pathos, and Kairos. That isn’t easy, but she has a thorough understanding of her subject material, so she is able to make these connections in a way her students understand.

· As I stated earlier, I am just about to graduate with my associates. This means I have two more years before I get to be a real teacher. Over the next couple of years, I will have to take all of the English courses. I have three just next semester. It will be my job to know what I am talking about. How can I expect my students to want to learn something if I didn’t take the time to learn it?

10. Teacher’s Attitude Toward Self, Students, Peers, Parents, and Subject Matter

· This one is a little complicated because there are so many parts to it. Despite that, they all break down to the basic treat others how you would want to be treated. That sounds cheesy, but it works. A teacher having the expectation that all of their students can and will succeed makes a difference in the students’ achievement. Reflection, study, and evaluation can determine the attitude you have with yourself. Using collaboration and open communication can determine the attitude you have with colleagues and parents. Your attitude toward subject matter, as we discussed, should be passionate and enthusiastic. Your positive can-do, not yet attitude will be contagious to your students and set high expectations for them.

· I have a mixed bag of examples for this one. All of the teachers I observed treated their students with respect. AA was great about joking with her class or setting the tone when they needed to be serious. You can tell her students respect her as well and want to succeed. In contrast, WG told me about the struggle she has had this year with communicating with parents. Especially since so many students have had to learn remotely, many of them are not paying attention in class or keeping up with their work. She sends out emails once a week to the students and the parents about missing assignments, but has a hard time getting back any replies with substance. I think this just goes to show that sometimes communication is difficult. WG is doing what she can to get the information to her students and their guardians, and they should show the same kind of respect by communicating with her as well.

· Both of these teachers are good examples of trying your best to have a good attitude, in and out of class, even when it is difficult. The pandemic has been difficult on students and teacher. Period. Everyone has had to work harder and learn differently. Being understanding of others’ circumstances, having mutual respect, and open communication are all vital to having a positive attitude with everyone you will be working with.

Those are my top ten most important things I have learned this semester. This is not a career that just anyone would be good at. I do not agree that ‘those who can’t, teach.’ I believe teaching is hard work. It is a labor of love, though.

#Future Teacher

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the-utmost-bound · 8 years ago

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The Happiness Hypothesis: Chapter 9, “Divinity with or without God”

This chapter was about our perception of divinity, which Haidt claims is an important part of human psychology whether or not God exists.

He starts with two quotes about how we need to seek nobility or divinity in order to live good lives:

Meng Tzu: We must not allow the ignoble to injure the noble, or the smaller to injure the greater. Those who nourish the smaller parts will become small men. Those who nourish the greater parts will become great men.

Muhammad: God created the angels from intellect without sensuality, the beasts from sensuality without intellect, and humanity from both intellect and sensuality. So when a person's intellect overcomes his sensuality, he is better than the angels, but when his sensuality overcomes his intellect, he is worse than the beasts.

But this chapter wasn't really about how to live a good life. It mostly just explained what the divinity dimension is, where it came from evolutionarily, and why it's important to human psychology.

According to Haidt, there are two familiar dimensions along which we relate to each other: closeness and hierarchy. These govern our interactions with one another (we behave differently to close friends than we do to strangers, and we behave differently to our superiors than we do to our subordinates).

But there's also a third dimension, a specifically moral dimension that he calls "divinity", that also affects how we relate to other people. To put it shortly, some people (regardless of their closeness to us or their social status) are simply more spiritually pure.

This "divinity" dimension appears cross-culturally, though WEIRDerners often have trouble perceiving it.

To be honest, I don't fully understand this chapter. This outline is an attempt to make sense of it to myself. For that reason, I'm not going to follow Haidt's chapter organization as closely as usual.

Apparently, the divinity dimension is rooted in our instinct towards disgust.

Disgust

Disgust, as an instinct, "is largely about animals and the products of animal bodies (few plants or inorganic materials are disgusting)". Disgusting things include blood, excrement, snot, vomit, and other bodily fluids.

Disgust spreads by contagion. Something that touched something disgusting is also, by extension, disgusting. For this reason we are grossed out by rats, cockroaches, and other animals that live in garbage.

Disgusting things make us want to perform purifying actions, "such as washing or, if it's too late, vomiting".

"Disgust has its evolutionary origins in helping people decide what to eat." As humans got smarter, we also started eating more meat (including scavenged carcasses), which exposed us to more disease. Plants can't contaminate other things by touching them ("[i]f a poisonous berry brushes up against your baked potato, it won't make the potato harmful or disgusting"), but rotting meat and excrement can. So the feeling of disgust helps us track this contamination. Haidt describes disgust as a "guardian of the mouth".

Disgust also protects us from disease. We're grossed out by bodily fluids like blood, excrement, and mucus, which are likely to be carrying disease.

Disgust "guards the body more generally". We're disgusted by unattractive, undesirable mates. We're also disgusted by "skin lesions, deformities, amputations, extreme obesity or thinness, and other violations of the culturally ideal outer envelope of the human body".

It makes sense that disgust would expand from guarding the mouth to guarding the rest of the body, since humans have always lived in dense groups where it's easy to spread disease.

Categories of disgust: "food, body products, animals, sex, death, body envelope violations, and hygiene".

Disgust and Morality

"But the most fascinating thing about disgust is that it is recruited to support so many of the norms, rituals, and beliefs that cultures use to define themselves."

The point seems to be that we use disgust when reasoning about morality.

Human and Animal

Humans are thought to be higher than animals along the dimension of divinity. And we measure how "animal" an action is by how much it disgusts us (e.g. eating with our hands). Therefore, every time we do something disgusting, it brings us closer to being animal, thereby reducing our divinity.

So in order to assert our humanness, we are careful to perform biological processes in cordoned-off, socially sanctioned ways. We wear clothes to cover the "animal" parts of our body. We pee and poop and have sex in private. We enforce table manners to make eating into a less animal thing. (My mom used to tell me to "eat like a human being".)

Disgust is the emotion that enforces these behaviors. People who break these norms are disgusting. If we do or see people violating these taboos, we feel degraded; we feel ourselves being lowered on the axis of divinity.

Purity and Pollution

Most cultures attach moral significance to physical pollution.

It's considered immoral to pollute the body in various ways (such as violating food taboos, or performing forbidden sexual acts). (I guess Haidt's argument is that violating these taboos makes us more animal, and lowers us on the scale of divinity, which reaches up from animal to god?) Haidt never mentions this, but the moral obsession with virginity seems like a good example of this.

People who are already polluted are forbidden from taking part in holy activities. For instance, "women in many cultures [are] forbidden to enter temples or touch religious artifcats while they are menstruating, or for a few weeks after giving birth". The Laws of Manu tells Brahmins that they shouldn't even think of reciting holy scripture while pooping or peeing, or "when food is still left on [their] mouth or hands", or when "in a cremation ground", or "while wearing a garment that [they have] worn in sexual union", etc.

Haidt tells of the temples in Bhubaneswar, which are sacred spaces in the Mircea Eliade sense. At most temples, Haidt was allowed into the courtyards, and he could enter the antechambers as long as he removed his shoes and any leather items. But because he is not a Hindu, he was not allowed into the inner sanctum. They weren't trying to keep it a secret, they were just trying to keep it from being polluted by "people such as [Haidt] who had not followed the proper procedures of bathing, diet, hygiene, and prayer for maintaining religious purity".

Everything in Bhubaneswar is suffused with this sacredness dimension. Places can be more or less sacred (the inner sancta of temples being the most sacred), and so can parts of the body (the head and right hand are more pure, the feet and left hand are polluted).

Other

Immoral acts evoke a disgust reaction, and make us feel less pure, even when they have nothing to do with the physical body or the distinction between humand and animal.

"When people use the ethic of divinity, their goal is to protect from degradation the divinity that exists in each person, and they value living in a pure and holy way, free from moral pollutants such as lust, greed, and hatred."

Physical pollution is thought of as akin to moral pollution.

Physical purity is thought of as akin to moral purity.

Sacred Intrusions

The dimension of divinity is prominent in Bhubaneswar where Haidt did fieldwork.

But it was also prominent in America in Victorian times.

According to Mircea Eliade, all cultures have an idea of sacred and profane space, time, and activities. Purity / pollution marks the boundary between the sacred and the profane.

WEIRD culture is the first culture to ignore sacredness, and to live in a world that is fully profane.

But even in modern America, we perceive sacredness in certain personally significant places ("a man's birthplace, or the scenes of his first love, or certain places in the first foreign city he visited in his youth").

But these are discovered by the individual, not specified by the culture.

Disgust and degradation are the emotions we feel when we see something low on the scale of divinity. But elevation and awe are the emotions we feel when we see something high on that dimension.

Elevation

Elevation is the feeling we experience when we see someone do a really good deed.

We tend to feel it in the heart, or as a "dilation" of the chest.

It sometimes involves feelings of chills, or of choking up.

When people experience elevation, they feel motivated to good deeds also, or to become a better person.

Haidt and his students have studied elevation in the lab.

They evoke it using "clips from documentaries about heroes and altruists, and selections from the Oprah Winfrey show".

Elevation is different than "admiration for nonmoral excellence".

"Subjects in the admiration condition were more likely to report feeling chills or tingles on their skin, and to report feeling energized or 'psyched up.' Witnessing extraordinarily skillfull actions gives people the drive and energy to try to copy those actions."

“Elevation, in contrast, is a calmer feeling, not associated with signs of physiological arousal."

People in the studies say they want to do good deeds, but they are no more likely than others to help a researcher who has dropped a stack of papers.

This may be because elevation influences the vagus nerve, which controls the parasympathetic nervous system, calming people down and making them less prone towards action.

This would explain why people associate elevation with the heart. "The vagus nerve is the main nerve that controls heart rate, and it has a variety of other effects on the heart and lungs, so if people feel something in the chest, the vagus nerve is the main suspect, and it has already been implicated in research on feelings of gratitude and 'appreciation.'"

(But the vagus nerve is hard to measure, so there's no conclusive evidence of this yet.)

The vagus nerve is associated with the hormone oxytocin. "The vagus nerve works with the hormone oxytocin to create feelings of calmness, love, and desire for contact that encourage bonding and attachment."

Haidt's student Jen Silvers wanted to see whether elevation influenced oxytocin. oxytocin is known to increase lactation, so Haidt and Silvers brought a bunch of lactating women into the lab and showed them a video that would induce elevation. almost half the women leaked milk, or nursed their babies after watching the video, and also played more warmly with their babies. whereas only a couple women in the control condition, where they watched an amusing video, leaked milk or fed their babies.

If elevation is associated with oxytocin, this could explain why people feel motivated to do good deeds but aren't actually more likely to do them. "Oxytocin causes bonding, not action. Elevation may fill people with feelings of love, trust, and openness, making them more receptive to new relationships; yet, given their feelings of relaxation and passitivty, they might be less liekly to engage in active altruism toward strangers."

A reader wrote Haidt a letter, saying he shed two kinds of tears in church. The first was tears of compassion, which felt like "'being pricked in the soul,' after which 'love pours out' for those who are suffering". But the other was tears of elevation or celebration, which "'is also like being pricked, only now the love pours in'".

This could explain what Christians mean by "referenes to Christ's love and love through Christ". Going to church could cause people to experience elevation, where they feel the goodness of Christ and feel his love pouring into them. "[B]ut it is not exactly the love that grows out of attachment relationships. That love has a specific object, and it turns to pain when the object is gone. This love has no specific object; it is agape. It feels like a love of all humankind, and because humans find it hard to believe that something comes from nothing, it seems natural to attribute the love to Christ, or to the Holy Spirit moving within one's heart."

Awe

Awe is the other emotion that moves us up on the dimension of divinity.

Awe is evoked by the vastness and beauty of nature, or by "viewing great art, hearing a symphony, or listening to an inspiring speaker".

Haidt says: "In chapter 1, I wrote about the divided self -- the many ways in which people feel as though they have multiple selves or intelligences that sometimes conflict. This division is often explained by positing a soul -- a higher, noble, spiritual self, which is tied down to a body -- a lower, base, carnal self. The soul escapes the body only at death; but before then, spiritual practices, great sermons, and awe at nature can give the soul a taste of the freedom to come."

Awe can also be evoked by psychedelic drugs, which make people feel like they are experiencing the presence of God.

Awe is "link[ed] to fear and submission in the presence of something much greater than the self".

"The emotion of awe happens when two conditions are met: a person perceives something vast (usually physically vast, but sometimes conceptually vast, such as a grand theory; or social vast, such as great fame or power); and the vast thing cannot be accommodated by the person's existing mental structures"

Awe opens people up, shows them how little they understand, and thereby makes them more receptive to change.

Awe is frequently a catalyst in stories of religious conversion (examples: the Bhagavad Gita, and the square in Flatland).

William James studied these stories of religious conversion and found that they contained many similarities, including a sense that the smaller self had been washed away in a moment of profound awe, leaving the larger self to flourish.

These experiences exist for secular people too; Maslow studied them, calling them "peak experiences", and found that they contain many common elements: "The universe is perceived as a unified whole where everything is accepted and nothing is judged or ranked; egocentrism and goal-striving disappear as a person feels merged with the universe (and often with God); perceptions of time and space are altered; and the person is flooded with feelings of wonder, awe, joy, love, and gratitude."

Maslow said that religions were founded on these peak experiences, though they could lose their vitality over time as they were taken over by bureaucrats.

Science, too, has lost its vitality and its ability to evoke wonder as scientists have emphasized the cold, objective study of facts over the experience of amazement at them.

The Satanic Self

The self is an important part of cognition: it helps us think about long-term goals, and create a narrative of who we are, and maintain internal consistency and self-control. It also helps us see from other people's perspectives, since we can model their selves.

But it also causes lots of problems.

Haidt associates the self with the internal chatter that often causes us a great deal of stress. This keeps us "locked in the material and profane world, unable to perceive sacredness and divinity".

Also, "spiritual transformation is essential the transformation of the self, weakening it, pruning it back -- in some sense, killing it -- and often the self objects". The self partially exists to maintain internal consistency, so it objects to efforts to change. Also, Haidt associates the self with the part that cares about prestige and status, so it objects to spiritual growth that tries to overcome these things.

According to Haidt, the self is also the part of us that has desires and needs, and the self doesn't like these desires to be denied. The self is the part that wants to give in to temptation. So it creates an obstacle to spiritual and moral growth that wants to overcome these selfish desires. This is why the self is often opposed to the ethic of divinity, and societies who value the ethic of divinity try to deemphasize the self and its needs.

The Culture War

The ethic of divinity can help us to understand the culture war.

Liberals primarily value the ethic of autonomy, and they see the ethic of divinity as reducing people's freedom, and making it hard for them to pursue the lives they choose.

Christian conservatives value the ethic of divinity, and think that a life of pure self-fulfillment is hollow, since it neglects higher spiritual pursuits. They are willing to reduce autonomy in order to preserve divinity.

"On issue after issue, liberals wnat to maximize autonomy by removing limits, barriers, and restrictions. The religious right, on the other hand, wants to structure personal, social, and political relationships in three dimensions and so create a landscape of purity and pollution where restrictions maintain the separation of the sacred and the profane. For the religious right, hell on earth is a flat land of unlimited freedom where selves roam around with no higher purpose than expressing and developing themselves."

Liberalism is good because it prevents people from being mistreated. "An unfortunate tendency of [societies that value divinity] is that they often include one or more groups that get pushed down on the [divinity] dimension and then treated badly, or worse. Look at the conditions of 'untouchables' in India until recently, or the plight of Jews in medieval Europe and in purity-obsessed Nazi Germany, or at the humiliation of African Americans in the segregated South."

But divinity adds a dimension of richness to human experience. "If the third dimension and perception of sacredness are an important part of human nature, then the scientific community should accept religiosity as a normal and healthy aspect of human nature -- an aspect that is as deep, important, and interesting as sexuality or language." "If religious people are right in believing that religion is the source of their greatest happiness, then maybe the rest of us who are looking for happiness and meaning can learn something from them, whether or not we believe in God."

Haidt doesn't really propose a solution or a synthesis of the worldviews. He just invites liberals (his intended audience) to think about the axis of divinity, both to understand the religious right better and to accept that it might have something important to say.

#books #jonathan haidt #the happiness hypothesis #divinity dimension

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