#and the existence of that one scroll that was clearly compiled after it died

[brooklynislandgirl]

Beth and UARF!Billy - ❤♡❥ღ💕💘💝💓💌💟💙💚💜💛

Heart-Eyes || -

Five A.M.

Beth’s barely awake as she comes into the office, coffee in hand, only to come face to face with the widest grin she has ever seen on Hal Gates’ face. Dark eyes dancing, he relieves her of her thermos cup, takes both her arms in his hands, and swing-dances her around the cramped space where they work.

“We’ve done it, girl!”

Though abjectly confused, Beth can’t help but grin in return. “Wha’ve we done?” She wants to be just as thrilled, wants to share in the old man’s joy. “We’ve got data on white pointer mating! I’m running the compile now, we should be able to parse it and watch the video footage within an hour or two!”

She’s floored.

The shock is clear on her face, even her mouth drops open a little. Often bandied about as the Holy Grail of marine biology, great-white mating is known to exist. Despite decades of research into the habits of the species, that particular bit of knowledge has eluded marine biologists.

“Wha...? How?”

“Mate of mine, Crawford down in New Zealand has taken a fisherman’s eye-witness account on our elusive little friends, and shared video. Crawford sent me all of the data.”

“Oh, Hal.”

Dr Gates nods at her eagerly and once again promenades her around some tables, brushing past a stack of hastily shoved aside folders with charts of migration patterns, weather reports, and feeding data. Then, far more carefully, he hands her into a seat and plops down into an office chair, slapping his knees in pleasure and pride.

“Speaking of mating rituals...”

Beth laughs but blushes at the same time, eyes askance. She suddenly knows what he’s going to ask, or at least of whom.

“...And since we have so little to do until all the research is collated and complied...”

“Must we?”

“No finer time, girl.”

She holds her hands up to stave him off until she gets up, crosses the room and takes a sip of her coffee. Not exactly how she wanted to start the day, but there’s no real reason not to humour her mentor.

“Have at, den.”

“Excellent.” Hal Gates really is an inveterate old gossip.

~*~

❤: who is more affectionate in public? in private?

Beth laughs. Okay, so this isn’t really so bad. “I t’ink I gotta say...I’m more affectionate in public. Mos’ of da time, Doctah Manderly... just doesn’t know what t’ do. Very stiff, hands in his pockets or stand at parade rest.”

The last cocktail party had been a half disaster, between trying to get William to mingle with the public attendees and not leave to check on his seals at first opportunity. The one time he surprised her was when he put a hand on the small of her back though the illusion was broken when she found that the six-foot-six man was trying to ultimately hide behind her. No amount of mock-tails were going to spare him any acute discomfort.

“Probably for da best. No offence, but he’s very definitely...ah....British.”

“None taken.” Hal offers her a wink and taps the side of his nose.

“But even behind close doors? He just... lil uptight, I guess. I sometimes wonder if mebbe he’s worried about havin’ an episode, and some affections are difficult when you have a service dog nearly t’ree-quarters ya size intent on doin’ her job, but I’d say he at least tries when it jus’ da two of us. Fingahs in my hair, brush against my arm. Da kine.”

Hal nods, knowing the specifics without having to drag them out of her.

♡: who is the bigger romantic openly? secretly?

"I t’ink,” she begins, carefully considering this one. “Dat anyone who loves da sea so much dat dey would give up a whole life to dedicate demself to it...got a big romantic soul. What is da ocean, if not love an’ life, an’ all dat we dream of in songs an’ poetry? I only t’ink it’s harder for him to express dat because well..”

She makes a dismissive gesture.

It isn’t that he grasps the concepts of language and expression, they’ve certainly entertained passionate arguments, verbal jousts that have filled the air with sign and countersign.

“Romantically speakin’ I jus’ don’ see him as da type dat I’m gonna find outside my window wi’ an ole boom box, playing In Ya Eyes by Petah Gabriel, ya know? But I also don’t believe he wouldn’t t’ink about it. So secretly? Him. Openly, me.”

❥: who is more likely to plan something big for valentine's day?

“Honestly, Hal...I’d have t’ say him. He’s a planner. Wants every detail to be perfect, will second guess himself a hundred times jus’ to make sure dere no wrinkle in the research. Me? Always been da spontaneous kine, except when it came to really wantin’ to work wit’ you.”

Hal pats her lap, his face soft.

ღ: who is more likely to initiate hand-holding in public?

“Again, it would be William. I don’ know wha’ he’s t’inkin’ a lot of da time, if he’s even aware dat I am dere sometimes. An’ I don’ really wanna make a big deal about it, don’ wanna ovahstep. For me, it’s a much more difficult proposition, is like...touch is where I’m most comfortable, outside of typing endless notes or readin’ data.”

She nods toward the words scrolling along the screen. She fully disclosed her disabilities when she applied for the position so thankfully she doesn’t have to explain now. Most of the other people at the facility don’t even really notice. Except for maybe Ben who sees too much and maybe says too little. That’s to be expected though when you gather a bunch of scientists and stick them in one beautiful place.

“You want him to initiate more, don’t you?”

“I would, yeah. But dere always more important kine and so really guess it nevah really matter.”

💕: who is more likely to make huge declarations of love in front of other people?

“Fair question an’ I guess dat would be me. We...we agreed not to make a big t’ing about any of dis, you know how quirky everyone here is, an’ in case it doesn’t work out, we don’ want da kine t’ get weird. Especially wi’ James an’ Miranda. So if somet’ing like dis were t’ happen it’s probably because he push all my buttons an’ my tempah got da best of me, right? Could see it happenin’ over breakfast. On da beach. Mebbe by da pools.”

Which is why she tries so hard to keep her passions in check. She doesn’t want to blurt out anything that can’t be taken back.

💘: who developed a crush on the other first?

“Couldn’t say,” and in those two words it is the breadth and depth of her honesty. Beth doesn’t have crushes in the same way most people do. She’s never seen anyone and instantly found herself immersed in fantasies, desires, a desperate need to be around them. She might find someone intellectually stimulating and enjoy the conversation. She might notice that something about them calls to her artist’s eye and be aesthetically pleasing in its symmetry, someone might make her laugh but she doesn’t dwell. And by the time there is the first inkling that she might want more out of a situation or relationship, she’s already become close friends. Or she watches as that object of her affection drifts beyond reach and she tells herself she’s happy because they clearly needed something more than she’s even capable of giving.

And sometimes, Beth wonders if she isn’t really broken or damaged in some way. Because she can’t even say she ever had a crush on Billy. She doesn’t know that she can say she has any expectations other than they look good together on paper, and it’s been drilled into her since birth that appearances *do* matter. “Mo’beddah you should ask him.” Gates doesn’t say anything, he only nods.

💝: who spends more time (possibly overthinking) what presents to get the other?

“William. For same-same reasons as Valentines Day, an’ da need for everyt’ing to be as exactin’ as he can make it. Like, how hard and how long it take him to find...or more likely, *breed* dem two purple neocardinas in my office?” Shrimp like the two in her tank, deliriously happy and spoiled and free of predators, are rare in size and colour, and yet… there they are. Then there’s the allegorical evidence of his severe and frothing dislike of mass consumption marketing, the complete commercialisation of every secular and religious holiday, the pastiche of feelings tacked on almost like an afterthought.

💓: who initiates most physical contact?

Beth hesitates. That’s slightly more personal than the other questions so far and truth be told she’s a little ashamed of having to answer without specific parameters. But it is a question, and she did agree to answer them with the same honesty as she offers Hal in all their other work and conversations. “I’ve always done well wi’ sensory input dat was based in kine oddah dan auditory. Smell, taste, seeing… but of alla dem, touch has always been important to me. Textures, near imperceptible data processed t’rough skin. An’ I guess dat I use dat wi’ him. Way to express ideas or sensations dat might not come across ordinarily. Enthusiasm, excitement, humour, rage, disappointment. I wan him to feel an’ understand when I don’ have da words in me, or know how to express. A lot of da time, it’s accidental or at least….subconscious.” A beat goes by. “I don’t believe he really cares much for it.”

💌: who is more likely to send cutesy texts to the other?

This one is hard for her to answer because they aren’t really cutesy text people. Most of their days are too filled with very real world drama, service to the greater good, the understanding and conservation of the most vulnerable environments and animals within. There’s weather, there’s reports, there’s an entire litany of experiences that don’t leave much time to play around until well after hours when they can finally seek well deserved liberty. However, Billy does sometimes send her pictures of the seals doing very cute seal things, or Annie shepherding him and his charges with the boss-vibes of the Queen Mother. In the end she only offers her mentor a smile and a shrug.

💟: who spends time reading their zodiac compatibilities?

“Oh absolutely I do. Find da whole pseudo-science of it fascinatin’, especially when da stars are not in da same position as dey were when it was invented an’ da psychological impact it has on our species is jus’ totally wild, you know?”

Beth knows that she’s the textbook definition of a Cancerian woman, and Billy does a good job providing a counter-argument on being a Libra. Further there’s a bit of an annoyance factor; he thinks junk science ‘belongs in the bottom of the bin with the rest of the rubbish.’ And he has a point, to some extent, even if she doesn’t agree with him. Not everything can be cold facts and numbers. Sometimes a little playfulness was in order and he absolutely needed to be reminded of that.

Hal laughs and shakes his head. “You’re going to do my chart then, aren’t you?” “Wit’out a doubt, Doctah Gates.” She wiggles her brows.

💙: who is more protective?

“I think objectively, I am. You know William’s troubles, and I have to keep them all in mind dough it’s not like he can forget dem, right? Some of his facts aren’t… I’ve consulted with some medical doctors and if we are careful, dere’s a lot he can experience dat he sees out of reach but I don’ like bringing dem up because I don’ want to agitate him. Only can lead t’ problems.” She does wish though that he’d trust her a little more, that he’d let go of some of his well deserved fears. That he’d let himself out of his shell and accept that even with limitations he can do many of the same things as the rest of the group does. But he seems content enough to hang back, ever the observer. And she doesn’t know if it’s her place to try to drag him into things though she might be better at it than anyone else. Miranda has told her as much.

💚: who tends to get sick more often? who is better at taking care of the other?

Hal’s question is really a continuation of the previous one and once again she has to call Billy out on it. Because she’s never really been sick a day in her life, not since early childhood and the culmination of that was the test bite that nearly lost her the leg she keeps tucked away, hidden out of sight whenever possible. “Dat seems a small kine ingenious, he no can help his seizure disorder. An’ I feel like he really ought to have a good psychologist. I t’ink some t’erapy would do him good. Spends too much time in his own head an’ mebbe not enough taking charge of his life. I know he can be afraid of lots of t’ings but it nevah really *has* to be dat way. But I also don’ wanna push him, for same-same reasons I mention before. You can lead a shark to chum but no can make him frenzy, know what I mean?” The analogy is silly. Billy wants so much more than what he feels he has. And a darker current in the back of her mind wonders if they would still be the same if he felt he could reasonably have them. That feels so selfish and toxic and she really has no place casting judgement on him when maybe she’s no better off than he is, only expressing it differently.

💜: who said "i love you" first? or, if neither has said it yet, who is more likely to say it first?

It’s strange how perceptive he is and goes in for the killing bite. The honest truth is that neither one has said it. And neither one likely will. Billy has layers of guilt and trauma, has beliefs that she cannot get a single foothold to try and tear apart. He doesn’t feel deserving of such a finer emotion. And Beth? She has her own reasons. She doesn’t even know if love is a thing that exists or if it’s some fairy-tale people tell themselves to make it easier to get by. She believes in affection, and she believes that people bond the same way packs and pods and herds do. But she feels the concept of love is poisonous. Ruinous in the way it can destroy someone from the inside out. And how any time she’s ever thought she’d felt it, it was ripped out from her grasp. She won’t say it. She won’t hear it.

She doesn’t answer him immediately, but instead gets up and paces away, appearing as though she’s checking on some of the cameras situated around the bay. The wall that she’d left down for Hal goes back up, slamming into place.

“Research from both psychology and neurology fields have found that there are twelve different areas of the brain that light up and work together when two people are attracted to one another, releasing chemicals like dopamine, adrenaline, oxytocin and vasopression. All the symptoms people experience are simply animal-instincts provided to guarantee that we as a species survive by either wanting to mate, or flee.”

💛: who believes in soulmates?

And Gates understands he’s made an error in judgement, though he’d only been trying to be helpful in a meddling kind of way. Anyone at the facility could see that Billy and Beth were two sides of a very quirky but ultimately needed coin. That they’d both changed each other in the two years she’d been a research fellow, and how they’d both blossomed for it. Well, anyone but the two of them. And this had seemed like such a good idea at first, tied into shark mating habits which he’d hoped she’d take better than she is.

Her answers have thus far matched up quite nicely with the boy’s.

Sadly, especially this one. She doesn’t turn to look at him. “There are no such things, Doctor Gates. And even if there were, statistically it would be almost impossible to meet a soul mate. Within the same general age group there are about a half a billion potential companions all over the world. One would have to travel the entirety of the world, every remote pocket of the planet. Secondly, there’s no scientific proof that souls even exist, and enough studies across various disciplines to prove that they don’t. Believing in such nonsense only makes a person unhappy. And all that aside, most mammals are not biologically programmed for monogamy and I doubt human beings are either.” Because if they were, why would anyone leave someone they claimed to love?

[morienmacbain]

The Blood Genealogy: A Tale of the Hagakure Rendered into Choka by Morien MacBain, esq.

There was a great scroll,

the Chiken Marokashi-

It told the story

Of Lord Soma's family;

All scholars agreed

Of all genealogies

It was the finest.

Then one night came a fire,

Through Lord Soma's home-

All was to be lost.

Lord Soma just sighed and said:

"I feel no regret

For this house and all in it

Can be built again,

Except for the scroll-

Great Chiken Marokashi,

Which none can replace."

One samurai said,

"I will go in and save it."

All who heard this laughed.

This man had never said much,

Or been of much use, 

But simply did his duty,

And so was kept on.

They asked of him then:

"The house is eaten by flames,

How can you save it?"

Then he said to Lord Soma:

"I have been no use,

Because I am so careless,

But I have resolved

That some day my life should serve;

Now that day is come."

And he leapt into the flames,

And was gone at once.

After the fire had died,

Lord Soma cried out:

"Pity! Find me his remains."

They looked all over, 

Until they reached the garden;

The samurai lay

Curled into a ball in death,

But when they turned him

They saw then what he had done.

He cut his belly

And had placed the scroll inside.

There it had been safe,

And had survived the fire.

From that day onward,

The scroll was called a new name:

The "Blood Genealogy".

                      ~Morien

     This is my attempt to render a prose story from Hagakure into a period Japanese verse form, the choka.

     The choka (long song)is a classical Japanese poetic form (waza). It flourished as the closest thing to epic narrative poetry in the Japanese tradition from the 1st through the 13th Centuries, although after the ninth century its popularity sharply declined as the tanka form gained cachet.

    A choka might run to over a hundred lines, would often have a heroic subject, and consisted of alternating lines/phrases of five and seven on (syllables), and would be  concluded with a final pair or seven-on lines (although variant forms existed)..  In some cases, a choka might be followed by an envoi in the form of a tanka (short song), consisting of five phrases with the on count of 5-7-5-7-7.

      Hagakure (Hidden By the Leaves) is a classic of the literary tradition of bushido (the way of the warrior).  It was compiled by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, a samurai scribe, based on extended conversations and verbal lessons he had received from his master, Nabeshima Mitsushige, daimyo (warlord) of Saga Prefecture.

      Hagakure takes the form of a collection of stories that illustrate various aspects of the way of the warrior. Although it is based on conversations which occured in the 17th Century, and is therefore post-period, it was written in the heart of feudal Japanese history, and reflects nostalgically on events in our period as a sort of golden age of warrior virtue (much as Scadians tend to do).   It sprang from a long period of peace, in which the ruling samurai elite was faced with the problem of retaining their warrior nature and virtue as generation after generation passed with no actual war.  It is, therefore, especially appropriate for a current Scadian audience, after the enforced peace of lockdown.  

     The selection I have adapted here is one of Hagakure's  key illustrations of samurai valor, loyalty, and heroic self-sacrifice, even in the absence of a human enemy.  It clearly articulates Hagakure’s central theme, that the way of the samurai is death (or rather the resolute acceptance of death that allows a samurai to maintain virtue and perform their duty in all circumstances).

     .

 Bibliography

 Carter, Steven D., editor and translator, Traditional Japanese Poetry: An Anthology. Stanford University Press, 1991

Hagakure: Spirit of Bushido, by Hideo Koga and Stacey B. Day. Hagakure Society, Saga, Japan, 1993. (University of Kyushu Press, Fukuoka, Japan). ISBN 4-87378-359-3 C1012.

Miner, Earl, An Introduction to Japanese Court Poetry, Stanford University Press, 1968

Yamamoto Tsunetomo (author), Alexander Bennet (translator). Hagakure: The Secret Wisdom of the Samurai. Tuttle: 2014. ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-4805311981

[kingdomstroops]

Understanding The Bible, It's Reliability And It's History

Understanding the Bible

For a believer, nothing is more important than understanding the Bible. It tells us about God, ourselves, the universe, and how to live life. It teaches us the greatest problem facing humanity (sin and separation from God) and the only solution (Jesus). As a child you accepted what adults told you, assuming it to be true. After all, adults know everything, right? If you grew up in a Christian family, authority figures taught you that the Bible is God’s Word and that you can trust it. Questions with Understanding the Bible However, as you grew older, you realized that you (an adult), didn’t know everything, which meant that your authorities didn’t know everything. In fact, you likely started wondering… Is the Bible even true? How long has it been the Bible? Did it become the Bible after the last book was written, or was it the Bible all along? Out of all the literary works from that time period, how can I be sure we have the right books in the Bible? Is it really a book from God or just another man-made religious book? What about all the mistakes people find in it? If you’ve thought these questions, or ones similar to them, good for you. When you allow doubts to challenge your faith, it helps you prove whether or not your faith is genuine. Don’t be afraid that you have these questions. It’s what you do with them that counts—do you bury them in fear, or do you face them and look for help? Let’s turn now to some of the most common (and important) questions about understanding the Bible.Question 1: How Did the Bible Become the Bible?  By God’s design and under His direction, His people the Israelites began compiling works of Scripture thousands of years ago (for two examples, see Deuteronomy 31:26 and Hebrews 9:4). Fast forward, and the early church fathers (as far back as 300 AD!) continued the task. To be clear, these people didn’t decide which books would be Scripture. Instead, they determined which books God had inspired and then compiled those into the canon. (“Canon” is just a fancy word for the books accepted as biblical).Question 2: How Do We Know the Right Books are in the Bible? Early church fathers used several tests to determine which books God had inspired. The first was to look at internal proofs. For example, many passages speak about God preserving His Word. For example, Psalm 119 says, Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven ~ Psalm 119:89 God values His Word too much to allow humans to mess it up. If we believe He is in control, we must also acknowledge that He guided our forefathers as they compiled the Bible. Additionally, certain biblical authors actually talk about other books and call them Scripture. Peter, speaking of Paul’s writings, says, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction. ~ 2 Peter 3:16 “So, you’re saying that to find out if it’s God’s Word, you look at what it says? And since the Bible says it’s God’s Word, that proves that it is? Isn’t that circular reasoning?” In reality, all worldviews come back to presuppositions, faith, and circular reasoning. Christians believe in the integrity of God's word when understanding the Bible—innocent until proven guilty. They believe God created the world because the Bible says so. Evolutionists, because they don’t believe God exists (or if He does, He’s not very involved), champion the theory of evolution. Their presupposition is “no God,” so their conclusion is evolution. The truth is that no one was there at the beginning of time, so we all have to choose to believe in something. The second type of test for canonicity is external proofs. Even over the last few decades, archaeological discoveries match biblical stories and genealogies. For instance, many believed the story of David and Goliath to be fictitious until an incredible discovery. Archaeologists found pottery with the name “Goliath” inscribed in it. The time period and location of this artifact matched up perfectly with the biblical account. This is just one example of thousands! One of the most astounding discoveries in this realm is the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1947, an unsuspecting shepherd threw a stone into some caves and heard the sound of shattering pottery. When he investigated further, he saw old scrolls rolled up inside pots. He brought them to a dealer to be appraised. They were passed from hand to hand as archaeologists and scholars began to realize their worth. Despite being a couple thousand years old, they matched up with almost the entirety of the modern Bible.  Finally, early church fathers analyzed the authority, uniqueness, and universal acceptance of books in order to determine whether or not they were of divine origin. Certain books, like the Apocrypha, failed these tests. While they were historical, they did not carry the same biblical authority, unique attributes, and international acceptance as the books that are now in the Bible. In addition, they contradicted books that God had clearly inspired.Question 3: How Do We Know It’s Not Just Another Book of Religion? One of the most incredible facts about the Bible is its internal unity. Despite its multiple authors across many centuries, it remains consistent to one storyline without contradicting itself. This points to God’s sovereign hand preserving His Word over thousands of years. Another reason the Bible is different from any other book is its transformative power throughout history. By it lives permanently change, fighting ceases, and kingdoms crumble. No other book can honestly boast such importance. Additionally, we see many biblical prophecies clearly fulfilled. The Messiah, Jesus, came born of a virgin (predicted in Isaiah 7:14; fulfilled in Luke 1:34). Cyrus, predicted hundreds of years earlier in Isaiah 45, unwittingly did exactly what God had promised (see 2 Chronicles 36:22-23). By the way, if you’re skeptical, remember that scholars and archaeologists have found external proof that Isaiah was written long before 2 Chronicles (click here for a list of dates).Question 4: What About All the Errors? Despite the Bible claiming that it is error-free (John 10:35), people still find what they believe to be errors in the Bible. While almost none of these affect any major doctrines, they are still important to look at. For instance, what do we do about the discrepancy between Numbers 25:9 and 1 Corinthians 10:8? One says that God killed 24,000 people, but the other says that 23,000 died. It does look like an error, doesn’t it? This could easily be an instance of rounding to the nearest thousand or describing how many died total versus how many died in one day. However, many other minor discrepancies like this occur in the Bible translations. What’s important to understand is that, while God inspired the original text of Scripture, not every copy of the Bible is inspired. Humans copied the text, and humans make mistakes. Another example of a potential problem in understanding the Bible is when it says that God repented or regretted making humanity before He sent the flood (Genesis 6:6). “If God is sovereign and never makes mistakes, how can He regret something?” many people ask. From man’s perspective, God sometimes appears to repent, because His disposition toward a person changes when that person disobeys. Because of the progression of the English language, the choice of the word “repent” in the King James Version could lead people today to believe that God repents in the way humans do (as if He had done something wrong). However, He is probably just using a term that we would understand, since we can’t fathom all the ways of an infinite, all-knowing God. We could tackle many different supposed errors and contradictions in Scripture, but we do not have the time or the space here. However, a serious student of the Scriptures will be able to respond to criticisms against the Bible with intelligence and confidence. While alleged discrepancies often shake a believer’s faith in the inerrancy and inspiration of God’s Word, they should actually engender the opposite mentality. If you just dig a little deeper into the original text, the historical background, and other passages of Scripture, you will come to the realization that God’s Word that spans the centuries is truly like no other book in its harmony, beauty, accuracy, and penetration. Most of the criticisms against it arise out of subjective, biased twisting of Scripture’s plain meaning.Question 5: Can I Understand A Book As Complex As the Bible? Thankfully, many helpful study tools exist for you as you study God’s Word. You don’t have to know Hebrew or Greek to understand it. Other believers have done deep study and compiled their findings in books and articles that are easy to digest. If you’re unsure of what theologians to read, ask your pastor or Christian friend who their favorites are. In conclusion, your quest to understand God’s Word will be lifelong. Thankfully, He doesn’t expect you to have all the answers. If you are a believer, you have the Holy Spirit who will guide you as you try to understand the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:15). Even if you’re not a believer, you can pray for God’s help to understand. He loves to answer humble prayers! But if any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all generously and without reproach, and it will be given to him. But he must ask in faith without any doubting, for the one who doubts is like the surf of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. ~ James 1:5-6 Go learn Everything You Need To Know About The Word Of God. Read the full article