#c: i object to intellect without reason

[anghraine]

I've got a much longer post in drafts about it, but something I've noticed and find kind of odd is how there's so much insistence on the absolute episodic inconsistency of TOS, and writers knowing absolutely nothing about any previous episodes and the production team not really caring about consistency. It seems like almost any time there's a post about repeated themes or characteristics or whatnot in TOS, you'll get "that episode was written and produced entirely after the episode it might superficially seem consistent with or internally related to, but WELL AKSHUALLY..."

Like, for instance, any discussion of Kirk's (very consistent!) backstory and youthful personality in light of his canonical age will almost always get some insistence on how his age is completely up in the air until "The Deadly Years" establishes him as 34 in S2, there's no real consistency about his age in TOS, the internal timeline especially can't be considered significant to any S1 episodes or backstory as originally envisioned, etc. Yet in the S1 episode "Shore Leave," it's clearly stated that a) 15 years before the events of the episode, Finnegan was an older upperclassman who bullied Kirk, who was a "plebe" (first year) at the Academy at the time, and b) Finnegan was 20 then, nailing down Kirk's current age as no more than 33 or 34 (33 seems more probable, syncing exactly with him being 34 in the next season), and as far as I recall, none of the aired episodes contradict this or suggest otherwise.

A scene in "The Conscience of the King" would have suggested he's significantly older, but this was removed and the scene didn't make a lot of sense in the first place. Other backstory details in TOS are consistent with this as well, like the young Lieutenant Kirk being on his first deep-space assignment 11 years earlier c. S2 (aged 23 by the other episodes' timeline).

The production staff actively forced removal of details they considered inconsistent with his characterization and function (often rightly—sorry, Ellison, they were dicks about it but correct dicks). Details established in earlier episodes do recur—the existence of Sam Kirk, his wife, and sons and their good relationship with Kirk are established many episodes before "Operation: Annihilate!", Spock's painful, unexpressed love for his mother is introduced long before "Journey to Babel," Christine Chapel's crush on him is explicitly stated or clearly referenced in background shots over and over in S1 and S2 and is only really resolved as a thread in "Plato's Stepchildren," well into S3. Even specific events in earlier episodes are sometimes explicitly referenced in other episodes, like the Horta and Spock's desperate attempts to save Kirk in the Tholian web.

But honestly, I'm just kind of puzzled about why there seems so much investment in the idea that TOS is purely episodic and lacks all consistency from episode to episode, nothing ever recurs, it's never implicitly or explicitly calling back to other episodes, character arcs don't really happen, and so on.

[anghraine]

I love this scene too, and Spock's addition before he closes out the call:

I remind you it's a proven killer. I'm on my way.

[vivianleighwishesshewasme]

Two sided coin- Au

Graces intelligence shines through this chapter.* She and Thomas get personal and he revels his vulnerability to her.

Grace wandered the grounds at dusk trying to clear her head. It had been a long week. So many things she'd been told she was doing wrong with the horses even though she'd been hired because her horse was top quality. Surely she knew a few things. The stable master seemed to think differently.

She also missed being a part of a large vibrant community. She used to be able to walk out her front door and be in a traveling village. Now she woke up to only song birds and the crunch of gravel under her feet. She didn't know how much isolation she could take.

Glaring yellow light poured out onto the path drawing Grace's up from the ground and to an open window. She walked slowly towards it, anticipation building as she heard a masculine voice clear his throat. It had to be Thomas. He was the only man on the property that would be in the main home.

Curiosity got the best of her. Grace leaned into the large open window. Her eyes scanned through the richly decorated room. Large high polished wood panels made the walls and gleamed in the firelight. He stood in front of the large marble hearth, his long shadow breaking up the light from the crackling hearth.

Grace's breath caught as she realized his dress shirt was fitted to show off his muscles in his lean back and strong shoulders. He'd rolled up his sleeves showing off his strong forearms. Grace wondered what he did to sculpt his body. She thought he'd sat at a desk all day but you didn't get toned like that without lifting strong objects.

He sighed and turned, amber liquid swirling in his cut crystal glass. Grace startled as his face went into shock upon seeing her halfway into his office.

“ Don't you ever stop plotting evil and sleep?” Grace had broken the awkward stare off they were having. He stood still like a stag, the smirk slowly spreading across his chiseled face betrayed his stillness.

“ No rest for the wicked Grace. That's what Father Hughes says ." He quipped back quickly but his tone was unusually playful. He slowly sauntered over to her. He leaned back against his desk watching her now.

She crawled through the window taking his interest as a sign of interest. She sat on the windowsill and stretched her legs out. His gaze wandered up and down slowly sweeping her body and relaxed posture.

“ Didn't take you as the type.” She hadn't thought of him as religious at all. Highly intelligent and a man who sought answers but rather he'd come across like a man of reason and tangible logic.

“ A man of God?" His deep voice rumbled out as he lowered his glass. The whiskey thickened his vocals as he contemplated what to say to her. "Because I'm not. I'm a man of intellect which means I listen to peoples views and look at actions.” He placed his glass down and picked up a cigarette. He ran it along his lower lip and his lighter hissed to life. Grace's breath was held in her chest waiting for him to continue. “ I like my vices: whiskey, cigarettes and…”

“ Women.” She finished for him. Her face held an air of knowing and feminine amusement . His face settled into a pleasant blankness. She considered it to be peace since a man as busy and burdened as him rarely stopped thinking or moving.

“ The women are bed warmers in my life, that's all.” He shrugged. His gaze was firmly on Grace watching her reaction to his words as they settled around in her brain. He asked for his cigarette on the detailed wooden floor.

“ How charming.” She kept her face and tone even. He was baiting her for some reason and knowing he was a man of reason she was going to make him say whatever it was he was getting to.

“ You were married before, correct? Don't you miss it?” His sudden turn threw Graces control over the conversation out the window. He'd tossed her a curve ball and she'd failed to catch it.

“ Being married?” She asked quietly, contemplating how to answer. It was truly a complex question. It had been arranged. She didn't hate the man but rather harbored a quiet contempt for him. When he'd died she'd felt an immense release from pressure.

He cleared his voice bringing her back into the moment and room with him. Was he asking because he was engaged?

“ Are you asking me if I miss the sex? The man? I don't know what you are asking.” She had baited him into sharing his thoughts. If he took the bait she'd be thrilled. She had a draw to him she couldn't explain and was interested to explore.

"All of it. Any of it." His husky reply sent a shiver through her. He'd turned the conversation back in on her so easily she hadn't realized until now that he'd slickly tricked her.

“ I like my freedom. The fact that all my decisions and consequences are my own. I'm fine being alone." She watched him carefully, he wasn't going to react. She rolled her eyes. "If you are also asking if I miss sex, then my answer is not enough to risk getting pregnant.” They both exchanged amused glances at each other with her cheeky comment.

He gave her a genuine smile. She felt like she could fall out the window. Her heart slammed into her chest. He was lovely when he smiled and she found herself wanting to see him like that more often.

“ How long were you married?” The calmness in his voice held a bit of genuine curiosity to it.

“ Are we becoming friends now? Awfully personal questions you're asking me Mr. Shelby. " The Irish lit was thick and heavy in her voice. He stood straighter. Another small smile playing on his face. A victory to her now that she understood how to bring out such a warm gentle look from him.

"Or are you getting cold feet about your pending nuptials?” His face faltered at her sharp intuition. She felt a stab of pain from being right. She didn't want him to close himself off to her again.

He shifted on his feet contemplating for several agonizing minutes. She wished she'd never asked now, afraid of what his answer might be.

“ Yes." The surety of his voice did indeed twist her heart.

"How long were you married?" She sighed at his question. Every step of progress with him was two large penalizing steps backwards.

"Two years, no children thankfully." she said coldly. She was aware of his piercing gaze. She had his own attention now.

"You didn't want any? Not every woman should be a mother, you strike me as the caring type though Grace." He was watching her with precision and high interest now. She wasn't sure she enjoyed his full attention on such a sensitive subject.

“ He told me I was the problem. The reason we weren't conceiving. Mounted me every chance he could. Can't ever be the man that can't reproduce, can it?” The bitterness that had swept into Grace's heart and tone had taken her off guard.

“ No, suppose not.” He gently spoke, letting the heaviness settle in the room.

“ Do you want children?” He was still interested in his personal line of questioning. Grace found herself getting tired.

“ Suppose so. I have an older brother and two younger brothers. All married. I enjoyed my nieces and nephews when we all got together. “ Her heart grew lighter at the thought of her family and the rambunctious children. She loved the lightness children had.

“Do you want to be married and have children?” she turned the question on him. He scowled and his features turned serious again.

“ I have three brothers and a sister. Do you see them caring for our mother? I run the business and finances. They benefit. We're just a normal aristocratic family Grace. What I want doesn't matter.” It was so matter of fact she wasn't sure if he was angry, regretful or at ease with his decision. She wasn't entirely sure he felt confident that he'd made his own decision rather that he was just reacting mechanically to his fate.

“ How do you know that you can't conceive if you haven't tried? I have a feeling the fault wasn't with you Grace.” Once again he turned on her. She was finding this more tedious by the minute.

She raises a sharp eyebrow at him.

" Are you propositioning me Mr. Shelby? because your mum is still awake and I'll….” Her aggression was rising as well as panic. He raised his hands in a gesture to indicate his innocence.

“ I'm just asking Grace. How do you know that you could be infertile? Sounds to me like if he took it personally…you weren't the known issue.” He turned his back facing her. She realized he was embarrassed by the depth of their conversation. She smirked, happy to know she could disarm him into being vulnerable and genuine with her.

“ We don't know. Have a good night.” She felt satisfied by what she'd seen in him and wandered back to her caravan giving him some privacy. _____________________________________________________

What do you think about their conversation?

[first-saturn-return]

Any tips for a Saturn return Gemini 12h? Or how to prepare in only 21 Turing 22 next month

Hi, there! 

Thank you so much for your message. 

You have a loaded question, so I’ll try my best to dissect it. 

First, I’ll start by the end. 

You are 21, so your Saturn return will happen 7 years from now. That’s kind of a long time. 

If you are feeling lost and lonely, the astrological reason may be connected with Saturn, but not exactly the Saturn return. 

Every 7 years, we experience a Saturn transit. Right now, the transiting Saturn in Pisces is squaring your natal Saturn in Gemini. 

This means that you are in a very SATURNIAN period of your life, where constraints and limits feel more pressing than ever. 

Some possible manifestations: 

• Topics associated with time and its inherent limitations become prominent 

• You may have more responsibilities at work, university, or caring for your loved ones

• Depending on your culture, you could get married, have your first child, or get a degree

• A revival of the experimentation of your teen years, but with more awareness and self-control

My tip for this period is to engage again in activities or hobbies you enjoyed in high school or as a child. 

Connect with pleasure and creativity in a sustainable way (not through substances that could cause addiction and problems in the long term.) 

Allow yourself to play and laugh. 

Corny, I know, but nonetheless true. 

If you still want to prepare for your Saturn return slowly but steadily, these are the tips that will bring you the most beneficial results: 

Organize your finances by paying debts, saving, and not overspending 

Take care of your health (teeth and bones specifically!)

Get a planner and become mindful of time management

Make decisions thinking about the long-term and not just instant gratification

Charge fair prices for your work and/or ask for a raise

Say “no” more often

Take responsibility for the issues you have to solve

Keep your word

Stop procrastinating to avoid moments of discomfort 

Journal about your values and the authentic path you want to follow

Also, besides the tasks associated with Saturn, start learning how to regulate your nervous system. 

Doing so will be beneficial during the Saturn return and every time you experience a hardship in life. 

Sometimes, we don’t know what life will throw at us, but if we are relaxed and grounded, we can handle the curve balls without burning out. 

Some suggestions: 

•Gardening 

•Cleaning

•Singing

•Dancing

•Running

•Grooming yourself 

•Playing with pets

•Going to a yoga class

•Taking a hot/cold shower

•Making playlists for different moods

•Having magnesium before bed

•Using calming essential oils in an oil diffuser 

•Engaging in chiropractic or massage sessions weekly

•Drinking natural probiotics such as kombucha and kefir

•Surrounding yourself with people who are regulated

•Decluttering and not hoarding objects that don’t bring you joy 

•Listening to your body’s natural rhythms and giving your body what it needs

This list is not exhaustive. Find what works for YOU. 

Next, you told me you have Saturn in Gemini. 

This placement could indicate that you are very serious about learning and managing information. 

You are not superficial. You go deep into the topics that interest you. 

Since Gemini is ruled by Mercury, having Saturn in this sign indicates that you must focus on organizing your ideas more coherently. 

You have an active intellect but can constantly chase new shiny objects. 

(I hope you don’t mind me asking, but do you have ADHD?) 

Regarding the 12th house, these are the meanings associated with it: 

The unconscious. Dreamworld. Spirituality. Psychism. Empathy. Intuition. Mysticism. Surrender. Prophetic vision. Detachment. Dissolution. Self-sabotage. Hidden enemies. Mental health. Envy. Betrayals. Sabotage. Confinement. Isolation. Loneliness. Loss. Withdrawal. Hibernation. Retraction. Harmful thoughts. Witchcraft. Spells. Evil eye. Shadow. Madness. Loss of agency. Restrictions. Conditioning. Invisible influences. Victimization.

People usually fear the 12th or consider it to be where everything goes to die. 

I disagree. I think it’s a very creative and intuitive area that not everyone engages with. 

You tend to do it. 

So, my tip for Saturn in Gemini on the 12th would be to learn about the esoteric and mystic topics that interest you. 

You’re different, and that’s OK. Embrace it. 

Don’t be your worst enemy. Don’t sabotage yourself. 

Your path is different. It doesn’t look conventional. 

Accept yourself so you don’t lose your mind. Take care of your physical and mental health (they are not so different after all.) 

You may need more alone time than your friends or family members, and that’s OK, too. 

Rest will regenerate you, allow you to daydream, and give you the necessary strength to keep learning and sharing what you have learned. 

(Are you a teacher of some kind, or have you considered this career? Maybe not a teacher in the traditional sense of the word, but someone who enjoys learning and spreading information to others.) 

I know this was a handful. I can’t be brief, LOL. 

If you want more (I know you do), here are some links that you might find useful: 

• Information about being 21 years old: https://shorturl.at/m7KPE 

• Answers to FAQs about the Saturn return: https://shorturl.at/hZFE4 

• Nervous system regulation: https://shorturl.at/WzbmP 

• Saturn in Gemini: https://shorturl.at/l4cwk 

• Saturn in the 12th house: https://shorturl.at/oewtb 

• Weekly newsletter: https://substack.com/@firstsaturnreturn 

Hope this was helpful! Let me know your thoughts. 

Thanks again for your message, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,   

Valentina

[anghraine]

On a more positive note, just thinking of another tenuous TOS-Star Wars association my brain is making:

EDITH: Did you do something wrong? Are you afraid of something? Whatever it is, let me help. KIRK: "Let me help." A hundred years or so from now, I believe, a famous novelist will write a classic using that theme. He'll recommend those three words even over I love you.

In literally the next episode to air:

SPOCK: I am a Vulcan, doctor. Pain is a thing of the mind. The mind can be controlled. KIRK: You're only half-Vulcan. What about the human half of you? SPOCK: It is proving to be an inconvenience, but it is manageable. And the creature, with all of its thousands of parts, even now is pressuring me. [The pain indicator hits the top of the monitor] It wants this ship, but I am resisting. KIRK: Can he control it the way he says, Bones? MCCOY: Who knows, Jim? I know the amount of pain the creature can inflict upon him, but whether he can control it hour to hour— SPOCK: I have my own will, captain. Let me help.

MCCOY: Jim, this is ridiculous. I don't want my patients running around. He should be in bed. SPOCK: I am in complete control of myself, doctor. The fact that I am here proves that I do not belong in bed. KIRK: Mr. Spock, your logic, as usual, is inescapable. Beam him down. Stay in constant touch with us.

Meanwhile, Rogue One trailer:

JYN: *heart eyes* CASSIAN: If you're really doing this, I want to help. JYN: *heart eyes intensify*

[giankumar-blog1]

Artificial Intelligence & Consciousness.

I have touched on a topic that is highly debatable and complex. Neither do we know much about AI's future potentiality, nor does science know enough about consciousness to be that divine within, as claimed by many spiritualists, or if it is a bio-energetic activity of the brain as professed by some scientists. Furthermore, AI means fake, but it becomes questionable when we state it as machine intelligence. On the other hand, human intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge and skills, which differs in intensity with every individual. 

Intelligence is that supreme quality of aware energy, which quantifies in your mind to be 'what you are' in consciousness from one moment to the next. It is related to subjective experiences from which you choose objectively to go deeper via consciousness into what you wish to explore and discover, from the subatomic to the stars, from machines to AI. Intelligence is the intrinsic essence of aware energy. Further, awareness is the nondual, spontaneous, and nonlocal ability of energy, the subject, or the quality of every individual. It manifests in the brain and connects with the universe through quantum waves, which are spontaneous intuitiveness. 

Awareness is an effortless state of non-being going beyond your body and mind, signifying in absoluteness of 'who you are' providing the human mind to discover, process, and solve all that we perceive and conceive. It provides intelligence to the mind purely from its observatory power or by witnessing the functioning of its mind. So, awareness is that stage within which intelligence is the tool that enables us to comprehend and experience through consciousness what life is all about. Consciousness is a dualistic and cognitive process of the brain emerging after the mind becomes aware. It is the objective of the subject of awareness. It is that quantum of 'what you are' inside your brain through thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

Besides awareness and intelligence, if we go deeper, we should also consider intellect, the ability of the mind to think, reason, analyze, learn, and evaluate information gathered from here and there provided by outside sources. Through intellect, one eventually becomes a scholar or an intellectual. However, intelligence is the authentic self in quantum waves, unique in over seven billion people. It embraces your intellect to doubt, question, and arrive at answers. You have that unique ability and intelligence to think differently from others, with the possibility of becoming a scientist, inventor, discoverer, etc., portraying your uniqueness with higher consciousness. 

I reiterate that you are a quantum wave of aware energy, neither body nor mind. Since you categorically always claim - body and mind are yours and not who you are. Awareness is divine; it is that spirit exhibiting through intelligence its being-ness that expresses your uniqueness in human experiences through body and mind. The presence of awareness within the mind existentially has enabled us to program and engineer machines to possess and function artificially. 

Now, returning to AI, it is more of an intellect system without the ability to become self-aware and conscious. It can perform impressive tasks lacking subjective experiences and self-awareness based on programmed algorithms and patterns. It can recognize, rearrange, or rewrite what is present in its vast, expansive memory. However, it lacks the uniqueness that we see in every biological creature from their aware, conscious energy. It is neither self-aware nor self-conscious of its prowess.

Until recently, science has been so busy configuring the physicality of all around it that it has ignored the metaphysical aspects of the environment. Hence, it is difficult to conclude whether machines could become conscious tomorrow. We as humans are superior to all other living creatures on our planet primarily because we have that individual unique power of choice to consciously select one out of the two, the divine or the devil in this or that, here and there, for the benefit of our body and mind consciously or subconsciously to evolve and transform from lower to higher levels. 

Further, within the mind, we also have a superconscious section called the soul. It can impartially witness its mind's thoughts, feelings, and emotions to be self-aware intuitively and spontaneously. In spiritualism, we refer to the soul as pure consciousness at par with awareness. Whether consciousness is neurobiological, cognitive, or a biological evolution is beyond science and philosophy's comprehension. However, I believe consciousness is the totality of the mind in super(pure), conscious(focused), and subconsciousness (lower or limited).

Exploring the nature of consciousness responsible for individually making over seven billion people uniquely aware and conscious is so complex that further replicating consciousness on machines simply increases this complexity. In Vedic Spiritualism, consciousness is that individual potency derived from the cosmic spirit of awareness, enabling the mind first to become aware and, after that, conscious to perceive and conceive all that the mind observes. 

Awareness, as mentioned earlier, is spiritually subjective, generating intelligence. In contrast, consciousness is its objective to enable the mind to become conscious and then intellectually further go into autopilot to live life in a sub or lower consciousness. Determining how to recreate machines to be conscious artificially will remain an arduous task.

However, the most enlightening component on this subject is when Indic Spiritualism declares "Prajnanam Brahma" – Intelligence is Divine. With this supreme ability of awareness, humans can transcend consciously toward the ultimate reality in selflessness, fearlessness, and godliness, which we refer to by many names as God, Truth, or love – that which remains absolute and unchanging. Yet, the wise refer to those qualities in many names.

For more information please visit www.giankumar.com

[number5theboy]

Please elaborate on how Five could've turned into the most insufferable character to watch

Thanks for asking me to elaborate on this text post:

@tessapercygranger​, @waywardd1​ and @margarita-umbrella​ also wanted to see a more detailed version of it, and I ended up writing an essay that’s longer than some of my actual academic essays. So buckle up.

WHY NUMBER FIVE SHOULD BE THE MOST OBNOXIOUS CHARACTER IN TV HISTORY, AND HOW HE MANAGES NOT TO BE

Number Five: The Concept That Could Go Horribly Wrong

Alright, let’s first look at Five in theory in an overarching way, without taking into account the execution of the show. The basic set-up of the character, of course, is being a 58-year-old consciousness in a teenager’s body, due to a miscalculation in time travel. Right off the bat, Five is bar none the most overpowered of the siblings; by the end of Season 2, no one has yet been able to defeat him in a fight. He is a master assassin – and not just any master assassin, but the best one there is – and a survival expert, able to do complex maths and physics without the aid of a calculator, shown to have knowledge of half a dozen languages, has very developed observational skills and, to top that all off, he can manipulate time and space to the point where he can literally erase events that happened and change the course of history. And Five knows how skilled he is; he is arrogant, self-assured and sarcastic, and his streak of goodness is buried deep inside. David Castañeda once described Five in an interview as 90% chocolate with a cherry in the middle, meaning that you have to get through a lot of darkness and bitterness before knowing there is a good core, and I think it’s an excellent metaphor. However, Five is also incredibly, fundamentally terrible at communicating with anyone, and, because he is the only one with time travel abilities, the character a lot of the actual plot - and the moving forward of it - centres around. Also he’s earnestly in love with a mannequin, who is pretty much a projection of his own consciousness that functions as a coping mechanism for all the trauma he has endured. All in all, this gives you a character who looks like a teenager, but with the smug superiority of a fifty-something, who a) is extremely skilled in many different things, b) has a superiority complex, is arrogant and vocal about it, and most of the superiority is expressed through cutting sarcasm, c) has one very hidden ounce of goodness that he is literally the worst at communicating to other human beings, d) is what moves the plot along but is also bad at talking to anyone else, meaning that the plot largely remains with him, and e) his love interest is essentially a projection of himself. Tell me that’s not a character who is destined to be just…obnoxious, annoying, egocentric, a necessary evil that one has to put up with to get through this show. There are so many elements of this characterisation that can and should easily make Five beyond insufferable, but the show manages to avoid it, and I’m putting this down to three aspects.

That Trick of Age and Appearance

Bluntly put, Five as a character would not work if he was anything else than an old man in a 13-year-old body. Imagine this character and all his skills and knowledge, but actually just…a teenager. Immediately insufferable. Same goes for him being around 30, like his siblings, all of which are stunted and traumatised by their father’s abuse. If Five, being comparatively unscathed by Reginald to the point where he explicitly does not want to be defined by his association with his father, were 30 like his siblings, it would just take the bite out of that plot point and also give him a lot less time in the apocalypse, reducing the impact it had on him as a person. And making Five his actual 58-year-old self would make him very similar to Reginald, at least on surface level, with the appearance and attitude. Five and Reginald are two fundamentally different people, but having one of the siblings being a senior citizen that’s dressed to the nines and bosses his siblings around in a relatively self-centred way does open up that parallel, and would take away from Five’s charm as a character. Because pairing the life experience of a 58-year-old with the appearance of a teenager gives you the best of both worlds. You get the other siblings (and a lot of the audience, from a glance in the tags of my gifsets) feeling protective and paternal about Five, but his age and experience also give the justifications for his many skills, his arrogance, in a way, and his ability to decimate a room full of people. It’s the very interesting and not new concept of someone dangerous with the appearance of something harmless, a child. This is also where Five’s singular outfit comes in. I know we like to clown on Five to get a new outfit, but I think what gets forgotten often is how effective this outfit is at making the viewer take him seriously. The preppy school uniform is the perfect encapsulation of the tension between old man in spirit and young teenager in appearance. The blazer, vest and especially the shirt and tie are quite formal, relatively grown up. They’re not something we, the audience, usually associate with a teenage boy wearing; it makes Five just a little bit more grown up. But there is also a reason characters in this show keep bringing up Five’s shorts and his socks, because those are not things that we associate with grown men wearing; they’re the unmistakably childish part of his school uniform. Take a moment and imagine Five wearing a hoodie or a t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers; would that outfit work for him as well as the uniform does? Would he be able to command the same kind of respect or seriousness as a character? I don’t think so; the outfit is a lot more pivotal in making Five believable than a lot of people give it credit for.

Writing Nuance

The other big building block in not making Five incredibly insufferable is the writing. Objectively speaking, I think Five is the most well-written, and, more importantly, most coherently written character on the show (which does have to do with the fact that the show’s events are all sequential for him), and his arc and personality remain relatively intact over the course of the two seasons. More to the point, a giant part of what makes Five bearable as a character is that he is allowed to fail. He is written to have high highs and low lows, big victories through his skills and his intelligence, but also catastrophic failures and the freedom to be wrong. His superior intellect and skillset are not the be-all end-all of the plot or his character, just something that influences both. His inability for communication has not (yet) been used to fabricate a contrived misunderstanding that derails the plot and left all of us seething; instead, it’s a characteristic that makes him fail to reconnect with the people he loves. This is a bit simplified, as he does find common ground with Luther, for example, but in general, a lot of the rift between Five and his siblings is that they can’t relate to his traumas and he does not understand the depth of Reginald’s abuse, which is an interesting conflict worth exploring. Another thing that really works in Five’s favour is that he is definitely written to be mean and sarcastic, but it is never driven to the point of complete unlikability, and a lot of the time, the context makes it understandable why he reacts the way he does. Most of the sarcastic lines he gets are actually funny, that certainly helps, but in general, Five is a good example of a bearable character whose default personality is sharp and relatively cold, because it is balanced out with many moments of vulnerability. Delores is incredibly important for this in the first season, she is the main focus of Five’s humanising moments, and well-written as she totes the line between clearly being a coping mechanism for an extremely traumatised man and still coming across to the viewer as the human contact Five needs her to be. In the second season, the vulnerability is about his guilt for his siblings, it’s about Five connecting a little bit better to them. There’s also his relationship with the Commission and the Handler specifically – which honestly could be an essay on its own – that deserves a mention, because the Handler is why Five became the man he is, and this dynamic between creator and creation is explored in a very interesting way – their scenes are some of the most well-written in the entire show. And TUA never falls into the trap of making Five a hero, he is always morally ambiguous at best, and it just makes for an interesting, multi-faceted character, well-written character, and none of the characteristics that should make him unlikeable are allowed to take centre-stage for long enough to be defining on their own. I know a lot of people especially champion the scenes where Five goes apeshit, but without his more nuanced characterisation, if he was like that all the time, those scenes would not hit as hard.

Aidan Gallagher’s Performance is Underrated

But honestly, none of the above would matter that much if the Umbrella Academy didn’t luck out hard with the casting of Aidan Gallagher. I think what he achieves as an actor in this show is genuinely underappreciated. Like, the first season set out to cast six adults having to deal with various ramifications of childhood trauma, and a literal child that had to be able to act smart and wise beyond his years, seamlessly integrate into a family of adults while seeming like an adult, traumatised by the literal end of the world, AND had to be able to create the romantic chemistry of a thirty-year-long marriage with a lifeless department store doll. The only role I could think of to compare is Kirsten Dunst in Interview with a Vampire, where she plays a vampire child who, because she is undead, doesn’t age physically, but does mentally, so she’s 400 in a child’s body. And Kirsten Dunst had to do that for a two-hour movie. Five is a main character in a show that spans 20 episodes now. That’s insane, and it’s a risk. Five is a character that can’t be allowed to go wrong; if you don’t buy Five as a character, the entire first season loses believability. And they found someone who could do that not only convincingly, but also likeably. As I said, he is incredibly helped by the costuming department and the script, but Aidan Gallager’s Five has so much personality, he’s threatening and funny and charming and arrogant and heartbreaking. He has the range to be convincing in the quiet moments where Five’s humanity comes to show and in the moments where Five goes completely off the rails. Most child actors act with other children, but he is the only child in the main cast, and holds his own in scenes with adults not as a child, but as an adult on equal footing with the other adult characters. That’s not something to be taken for granted. But even apart from the fact that it’s a child actor who carries a lot of the plot and the drama of a series for adults, Aidan Gallagher’s portrayal of Five is also just so much fun. The comedic timing is on point, he has the dramatic chops for the serious scenes, the mannerisms and visual ticks add to the character rather than distract from him, and his line deliveries, paired with his physical acting, make Five arrogant and smug but never outright malicious and unlikeable. It’s just some terrific acting that really does justice to the character as he is written, but the writing would not be as strong if it wasn’t delivered and acted out the way Aidan Gallagher does. He is an incredible asset for this show.

Alright, onto concluding this rambling. If you made it this far, I commend you, and thank you for it. The point of all of this is that Five, as a character, could have been an unmitigated disaster of a TV character. He is overpowered, arrogant, uncommunicative and could so easily have been either unconvincing or completely unlikeable, but he turned out to be neither. It’s a combination of choices in the costume department, decisions in the writing room, and Aidan Gallagher’s acting skills that make the things that should make him obnoxious and annoying incredibly entertaining, and I hope you liked my long-winded exploration of these. Some nuance was lost along the way, but if I had not stopped myself, this would’ve become a full-blown thesis.

[sly-merlin]

T h e      E n c h a n t e d      C a n v a s

Pairing :: doyoung x reader ft simmi and her moots

Word count :: ~4k

Genre :: Hogwarts soulmate strangers to ?? Fluff

Synopsis ::

Y/n , a muggle is called to Hogwarts not because of her exceptional talents but due to the fact that her soulmate is a pure/half blood studying in Hogwarts. Her destiny takes her from an average household to the enchanting world of spells and charms. Would she found the one she sought? or sh’d end up losing herself in the new world!

A/n :: this is a Christmas gift for lovely nini - @dvrlingrenjun​ under @neoculturechristmas​ event. Thank you admins for letting me talk to her. And nini!! I'd be happy if you enjoy this even a little bit. I hope you can get some time out from your responsibilities to relax and then we can cry over twice's beauty!! MERRY CHRISTMAS NINI.

With love ,

From simmi(stocking anon)

tagging :: lovely @danishmiilk​  ( warning :: donot expect too much) @astroboy-lele​ (oops! i opened discord and just remembered i was supposed to tag you furou! sowy)

networks :: @neowritingsnet​ @kafenetwork​ @nct-writers​ 

thank you aria @adamfoolcry​ for hyping me up!!!

"A MAGIC SCHOOL?DO I LOOK LIKE A FOOL TO YOU?" you screamed at your parents, their pleading eyes instantly making you guilty.

"Darling! That woman showed us what she's capable of. You can go and learn and it's not like you have much of an option." Your father said, caressing your arm.

They were right. The woman, who called herself the professor of Hogsy or something school, had explained to you the two tier unscripted path of your future. The first thing being that you were invited to study at an elite magic school, the evidence of which was provided by summoning your sketchbooks from your room. Second being, your soulmate was a boy of the magical community so you,inevitably, were a part of it and there was no escape from it. 

"I don't want to leave you alone!" Tears threatening to fall, you requested your parents. 

"Please sweetie. Don't make this harder than it already is. We do not have enough money to provide you with quality education. At least you are getting a chance to improve your life. Do not let this chance pass because of us. Besides it's like a boarding school. That lady did say you'd be visiting us twice a year and that too for two whole months! I see no harm sweetie. You possibly cannot refuse your soulmate right. They need you as much as you need them. So go and live your life. Make your parents proud!" 

Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry,

Year - third

"Then the battery is placed in this small compact space in a very specific way to make the clock work. This small cylindrical unit called battery has very complicated working so we'll discuss that next week. And this week,I won't be bothering you with any homework so go and enjoy. Have an enchanting day." Your professor dismissed the class with a brightening smile.

"Y/n" she called as you were packing your bag.

"Yes mam?" You asked her, hands respectfully crossed in front of your skirt.

"I just wanted to say thank you so much for the automated battery clock that you got. The ones we have are very old and it's a long and tiring process to ask for new ones. Do know how delighted i am to have you in my class. I'm glad you chose muggle studies as elective." She smiled at you and you bowed just a bit to show your gratitude and walked outside for your other classes.

Being a ravenclaw was all about wisdom, intellect, being sharp minded and laced with logic and creativity or this was what the book that prof McGonagall gave you read. The almighty sorting hat, the pillar on which walls of Hogwarts stood, had placed you in ravenclaw. Though the hat did contemplate between every single house, you ended up with ravenclaw. You believed neither in the semi-animate object nor the popular saying that Sorting hat knows you better than you do yourself for you failed to find your own kind. The smart ravenclaws were too bright for you. It didn't help that you were the only muggle in your year. You weren't able to keep up with them and if it haven't been for willy, your only friend in ravenclaw, you'd have ended up going home,without finding your destiny. Not that you were any better at the moment but life was fun with willy and aria, your hufflepuff friend. 

But nothing remains stationary right!

“How are you here already?” you questioned lazily.

“Arithmancy professor fell sick this morning. I've been free since then.” said Aria. You turned to William, who was busy toying with his alligator bracelet. “And you willy?” 

“Huh?” he mindlessly asked. 

“I asked, did you run away from divination again?” you repeated the question, changing the words to suit his ears. 

“Oh no! We just had a small accident in class today.” he giggled, his glasses falling off as he doubled over with laughter.

The potion classroom was soon jammed with third year fellows, all chatting in their own friend groups, enjoying the few minutes before they would be bombarded with over expectation of brewing a girding potion.  At the precise moment, the door was closed shut.

“STOP THE USELESS GOSSIP AND SPLIT INTO YOUR BREWING GROUPS. NOW!”

Prof. Snape thundered as all the students, without a second wasted, dispersed and settled. “Mr. brown.” he called a hufflepuff, “collect the ingredients and mr. kim, care to move yourself and help him.” he instructed two students who complied immediately. “Not that i expect any from you little incompetent students, you shall not prepare more than two vials of the potion or else i won’t hesitate to make you do your laundry in the same foul liquid. Understood!” his warning earned silent gagging from several students at the mention of the awful smell, of which you were not excluded. 

As you got busy in discussing the recipe, noise of shattering glass and a shrill cry pierced through your ears. Before you could raise your head to witness the happening, your left wrist burned as if it was set on fire. Knees buckling, you fell on the floor as sudden inflammation blocked your senses, heart wrenching screams leaving your throat.Your wailing alerted your friends as William instantly unbuttoned your sleeve to view the reason of your pain and gasped at the damage. 

“Prof. snape! Her soulmate mark is burning.” he shouted but your ears were too clogged due to choked sobs to feel the distress in his voice. You slowly opened your heavy eyelids as your wrist was pulled swiftly. With blurred vision, you saw prof. casting a spell,his wand releasing a blue light circling your mark which entered your wrist, momentarily soothing the pain. Your cries softened into tiny sniffles as the spell did it's work. You lifted yourself up with Willy's help while sloppily rubbing at the darkened spot. 

“Oh yes, it’d leave some itching and for the spot and further treatment, you need to immediately go to the hospital wing. Ms. y/l/n and mr. Kim, you both are excused and for your foolishness, 100 points from slytherin.” Upon his command, your head snapped towards the man standing across the room in dishevelled state,probably matching your own,his hand clutching his wrist, eyes holding your gaze.

“Out!” 

Nodding your head, you made your way out, the male following after you. 

Either you were too slow in your steps or he was too brisk, but he seemed to be way ahead of you. Gripping your tingling and heavy hand, you were tracing his path when a pair of shoes met your vision, halting you in the middle of the corridor. 

“It’s stinging y/n. We have to run!” and before you could reply, he was sprinting for the stairs, taking you with him.

“You both are in the same year?” the nurse asked, examining the burnt swans on your wrists. 

“Yes” you both replied in unison, eyes meeting for a second before you  averted your gazes. The head nurse noted something in her register before she went to extract some bandages and potions.

“is the skin still burning?" The nurse queried, taking doyoung's hand but he pulled his hand and pointed for you. 

"She's more hurt. Check her first please" he mumbled, noticing your incessant scratching and ragged breathing. She shook her head and proceeded with the treatment.

"Why were you playing with the potions?" She scolded Doyoung while applying the healing potion. 

"I wasn't!" Doyoung retorted as he straightened his back in defence. "It got spilled by mistake when I was finding seaho-RSES!" He screeched as the medicine stung.

"Seahorses are kept in see-through containers mr. Kim and don't you nincompoops know that golden marks are sensitive to heat. Why were you wearing a folded shirt in a potions class when clearly you were exposed t-

"The temperature madam!" Your eyes never left his face as you witnessed the misery he went through in the past few minutes and which you were going to experience in a few seconds. 

"Give me your hand miss y/n" 

The liquid ignited it again but as she massaged on it, the skin felt cooler than before and when she wrapped the white bandage, the sharp needles alleviated into cold jingling. You carefully glanced at doyoung through your peripheral vision only to find him staring at you with wide eyes. Saving yourself the humiliation, you tried to hide your face into your neck which only annoyed you further due to the wetness of your fresh tears mixing with sweaty moisture, creating what felt like a puddle but you endured it, calculating the weight of the outcomes.

"Do stop by every day for a change of bandage unless you want to live your whole life with black wrists which I clearly don't have any problem with kids!" She jested before leaving for her office. 

You stayed seated beside doyoung, the newfound soulmate, wondering if he was as nervous as you were. Fisting your clammy hands, you mustered all the courage you could, ready to introduce yourself but the greeting travelled back through your throat when he hopped off the hospital bed and departed without uttering anything. 

Your recently dried eyes were sprayed again with his callous action as millions thoughts ran through your throbbing head, heart constricting under the weight of silence. 

Did the man for whom you deserted the whole world for, rejected you?

"HE DID WHAT?" Aria hollered and looming forward, slamming her hands down on the table. At her reactions, you felt your own anger bubbling again but the disorder generated by the recent incident and William's reasoning, you stopped yourself from forming any conclusion.

"Will you calm down." 

"No willy, don't you want to rip that sly boy apart. How dare he! I’m going to- wait you told him before me! That's not fare." She whined, diverting her own attention.

“stop shouting aria. Let people eat in silence. An-and we don't know why he left. It could be--maybe he wanted to use the washroom or he wanted to hide his pai-

"Stop defending him willy or I'll pour this porridge over your head" willy pouted at her remark and slided down his chair to avoid her.

"Stop bickering and tell me what should i be doing now! I have a soulmate for god's sake!"

You had finally found the reason for your presence in the castle, your soulmate, kim doyoung and you didn’t know how to proceed.

"I guess wait y/n and at least you were saved from the awful odour of the gird today. Sicheng almost fainted in front of professor but that was a hilarious sight girl. You missed it" you saw rolling her eyes at the mention and you mirrored her reaction,resting your head on the table as Willy's ironic statement only intensified the pounding.

Wait! But for how long?

"YOUR FROG BRAIN DID WHAT?" Simmi jumped off the bed to face doyoung, her hand reaching for the transfiguration book.

"I-i- i got nervous!" He whined and cringed at his pathetic excuse. He was busy folding and unfolding his poor ear,apparently in nervousness, when his best friend thwacked his bicep with the heavy book.

He cried out loud, grasping his arm with one hand, “do you want to die!” he glowered at her. 

“How could you miss your soulmate when she was right there in front of you for two years." She said before working on his arm again. 

“I’m not the only one! She also missed me.” he reasoned, holding his hands up in refuge from her neverending attacks. “Wait!” he exclaimed, pondering over his words. “How could she not know I was her soulmate when almost everyone knows I've got a gold swan embroidered.” his face fell in despondency and the horrible and hurried conclusion his thoughts took him to. “Simmi what if she- what if she never wanted to find me and that-

“Merlin’s beard shut yourself up and mail your family. They need to know their baby boy is all grown up now!”

He nodded in acknowledgement of the suggestion but his wandering mind refused to rest until he was sure of his qualms. 

Maybe he should wait! But for how long?

My love was sleeping, but there was fragrance in the air

Doyoung roamed around in circles, his heart unevenly drumming, body so warm under the strain of muddled thoughts that the moisture was seeping through the bandage. The response of his parents, lying on his bed in the form of a letter, had relieved him of the worries of any prospective opposition. Not that he didn’t know his family, he wasn't too convinced how their family would address the sudden revelation of his soulmate being a muggle. You were going to be the first muggle in his family and the first ravenclaw after his great grandmother. The first line of the letter “we are elated to know that your soulmate is a human and not your piano” had eased him for the remaining part. Now that the dragon was out of the dungeon, the subsequent troubles were giving him splitting migrains. 

In the past week, he had tried to approach you after a painful shove from taeyong and simmi but he had to retreat due to your very malevolent comrades. The mental conversations he had with you continued to be in the confines of his head but nothing arrested him from searching for you in the crowds. You had always been there, in the same classes, in the great hall, in the corridors but you were nowhere when his eyes sought you. Just a week has passed and he found himself getting more and more conscious of your presence. He wanted to hijack and become a part of your convivial life yet he lacked the needed courage. 

So he resorted to wearying his legs by moving around. Maybe Some blood rush from his branches to brain would give him some clarity.

By degrees, the thumping of his spirit corresponded to the swooshing of the sea creatures.

He might have been too young to fall in true love but slowly, he knew, he was falling for that little golden swan.

Hidden from the rest, you were completing your assignment when the chair besides you was drawn out. You raised your head with the intention of getting the chair vacated for your friends but watching the Kim doyoung occupying the seat, you shot up instantly,ready for your escape. Fumbling with the ink and books, you whirled around only to be stopped by the boy.

 You glanced at him for a moment before pulling your hand ,which he was tugging at , back. 

"Stay. Your friends won't be coming today. I won't say anything. Please" he requested with his doe eyes looking up in a hope to catch yours. 

Wordlessly, you sat down.

He kept his promise. 

No word was spoken that day or the next day or the next week. 

The intense silence that engulfed you that day soon morphed into a tranquil one. The one of the familiarity, of the silent exchanges and of the growing unbreathed bond.

By the end of the month, the green leaves sacrificed themselves for the birth of fiery red ones as the days became shorter, the sun became mischievous and the gold on your wrists started gleaming more than ever.

One month later 

“Gamps’ law of transformation? Didn’t we read it last year?” doyoung asked perplexedly, taking the reins of the conversation, again.

“Prof. told me to prepare an assignment which would be used for the younger students.” you replied sheepishly, dipping the quill in the ink. 

“Pure ravenclaw” he muttered, looking lovingly at you. These days, he did it more often than he could count. He wanted to say more but the fear of your refusal always held him back.

“Not so much” 

you heard his muttering! He wanted to pry further but saved it for a later discussion. 

He shifted himself towards his own chair and worked on his sheet as the ticking of the grandfather clocks muddled with scratching of the quills filled the empty corner. 

It wasn't home but it certainly felt like one!

Two months later

“Give us our y/n back” aria whisper yelled to taeyong.

“She’s doyoung’s soulmate, doyoung is my best friend hence she is my best friend as well.” taeyong retorted, dramatically flaring his nostrils. 

“Don’t forget we live at the same place taeyong and simmi won’t be there to save you baboon face.” amused smiles adorned everyone’s faces as they saw both of them quarelling. Some things were always constant. 

You sipped on your hot chocolate that warmed you up as you and doyoung went through the revision for the last exam. Without being asked, he helped you with his encyclopedic knowledge. you were grateful for his assistance but never said anything for you felt like the feather silence between you was too delicate to breach. 

So you spoke through your eyes.

And he never failed to hear you.

Wrapping the scarf around your neck, you sprinted for the dining hall, tightly holding onto the white chocolates tightly. 

At the end of the hallway, you saw another figure running over in the same state as you.

“Did you get shorter?” he said, grinning ear to ear. Glancing up at him, you scanned through his features, in case you had forgotten in the christmas holidays. 

“This is for you!” you both said simultaneously, extending your hands

“Open it for me!” you requested.

Under the emerald covering was an elegant and vintage fountain pen, engraved and decorated with turquoise stones. “This is so beautiful.” you told him before taking it from him. You traced over the name kim carved onto the nib of the pen. You raised your brows in question to which he responded quickly , “it’s my great grandma’s. This is your Christmas gift from the Kim family. I know it’s small but you are invi-

“It’s precious. You are giving me a family heirloom when all i got are some homemade milk chocolates for you.” your smile faded as you avoided his sight.

“How did you know white chocolates are my favourite?” he exclaimed, a bit too loudly.

“Mom said you’d l-

Before you could complete your sentence, he prised the chocolate box out of your grip, sprinting for the great hall.

“OH KIM DOYOUNG! GIVE ME MY SHARE!” 

YEAR - FOURTH

“Why are you always so quiet?” 

“I’m never!” you defended yourself. 

Doyoung didn’t know why he was talking about it now and here, out of all places, in front of whomping willow.

“Tell me!” he pressed.

“I talk to a few and it’s enough.”

“Do you know you are intimidating?” you raised your chin to scrutinise the sincerity in his words.

“I am not!” 

“To those you don’t know you, you radiate passive energy. My slytherin friends wanted to introduce themselves but they got scared and ran away. Honestly, i was also a bit-

He trailed off, slouching on the bench as your eyes bored into his. His head hung low in apology for he knew, he must've crossed the line but for the first time, you decided to show him your dauntless side.

“Hogwarts did that to me.” you said, wearily. “I was happy with my parents, drawing and colouring in my art books when suddenly i was told that i’ve been living in a wrong way. That there is a secret magical place where i have a soulmate. I was angry because i had to leave everything behind. And then i was sorted into ravenclaw. And i was distorted when i found out that i wasn't smart enough for them. I couldn't solve the riddles! William was the one who showed me how to do it properly. It felt awful knowing that the only place that was supposed to be my home for next seven years wasn't the place where i belonged to.” you spoke calmly but doyoung felt your distress and let you continue without any interruptions. 

“I was an eleven year old. I never wanted to fend for myself in a place full of strangers. I -i imagined my life to be a canvas full of colours that i wanted to design for myself. The borders, the paint, the drawing, i wanted to design it for me. But then an owl screeched and i felt like someone had shortened my canvas and after all these years, i feel it’s completely disappearing.” it sounded like someone snatched the life out of your voice. But your visage remained soft, drawing doyoung in. 

“So you like art.” he asked with curiosity. 

“Yes. i love art.” you said, eyes fixed at the movements of the branches of whomping willow.

“Can you please teach me?” he urged and within a second , the air filled with the fragrance of your happiness.

“ why wouldn’t I. what do you wanna do in future doyong? Aria wants to arithmancer, william would be a healer and sicheng, he would be a star quidditch player.”

“I don't want to worry about it right now. Let’s just live in today.” he answered back, smile gracing his lips at the thought of a future with you.

You both relished each other’s company until the temperature froze the both of you.

Removing a  snowflake from your lashes, he made a promise to himself that he’d help you find something that’d put ice on all the bitter memories you had. 

YEAR - FIFTH

THE GREAT HALL

 “Doyoung’s got a howler!” yuta and simmi fist bumped each other, already too excited for the letter to be opened. Of all the howlers they have received, doyoung and yuta’s were record establishing and they expected mrs. kim to maintain the status quo this time as well.

The howler jumped in the air and as the seal opened, doyoung’s heart dropped at the voice. It was not from his mother but his sister and it shouted humiliation, if he was being polite towards her. 

“MS. Y/N!” 

You choked on the juice as you heard your name. 

“MY DEAR TO-BE-SISTER-IN-LAW, HELLO! I’M IVET, THAT DENSE DUDE’S LITTLE SISTER. MUM HAS SENT YOU SOME ART SUPPLIES AND SHE WANTS TO KNOW IF YOU COULD PAINT HER SOMETHING TO DECORATE THE EMPTY WALL IN HER ROOM. SHE’D BE DELIGHTED AND IF YOU GET TIME,PLEASE DRAW SOMETHING FOR ME TOO. AND DOYIE BRO! BRING ME CHOCOLATE FROGS FROM THE TRAIN! SHOP FROGS DOESN'T TASTE THE SAME. FORGET THIS TIME AND I’D MAKE SURE YOU REGRET YOUR EXISTENCE. I hope we can meet soon ms. y/n. By.”

The howler exploded and so did the whole room. Several snorts, chuckles, happy curses were exchanged as doyoung lowered himself under the table to avoid the shame. 

You checked your paint supplies attached with the howler and as your lips curved up, he knew what he was going to pursue in his life. 

Your happiness and immortality.

When i found you, there was magic 

“Mr. kim if you wish to ogle at ms.y/l/n instead of paying attention to my words then i’d suggest please fail your o.w.l.s so i don’t have to face your affection filled face from next year.” prof snape growled, throwing the head of vial on doyoung’s face. 

He was going to fail potions, you thought gesturing him to apologise.

“And 20 points from slytherin and 10 points from ravenclaw!” you both ducked your heads in an instant, forcing a poker face to save yourself from further trouble.

When i found you, rain smelled good

YEAR - SIXTH

When i found you, desires awakened

“No simmi! This is a slytherin dungeon. I cannot go inside!” you warned simmi, who, all of a sudden was adamant on showing you her room, at midnight. 

“I love you but please don’t call this a dungeon.” she held out her hand before you could correct her. “Yes i know this is practically a dungeon but we call it seascape.  Close your ears, you don’t wanna hear the password. You nodded, palming your ears.

“Yutaisthegreatestbeingintheworld” you snickered as she recited the words.

“Our prefect is a dung brain so please excuse.”

Door opened to darkness but a dim light slowly floated towards you as you walked inside “Nox”  your wand rose high up in the air. You made out doyoung’s figure and before you could calculate, the whole room resonated with a syncless birthday song.

And you knew, you were enthralled by this boy.

You heard my prayers, you answered my heart’s call

“I love you aria. Would you give me the honour of being the snitch of your life?” sicheng, aria’s ravenclaw soulmate confessed to her with a promise ring. 

“The ice prince finally melted!” You and william, hands joined, jumped in joy as you watched aria’s eyes glistened with glee.

You rushed upstairs to find doyoung as you forsaw the end of your wait.

Panting heavily, you dragged doyoung out of prof’s room, his step gracefully flowing with yours in a instant.

“What are yo-

“What do you smell in amortentia?” you stopped abruptly and asked him, gasping for air.

“Wh-a-t” he giggled nervously, his hand patting his chest to control his own breathing. “What has gotten ov-

“Answer me kim doyoung.” you whispered, strictly.

He was quiet but you understood the stillness of his heart veiled by the thumping and you felt him losing his composure when his hands cupped your face, 

"I-i smelled white chocolate, lovely lillies-

"Hurry up Kim." You hit his chest with your fist with requirement of the answer.

He chuckled, his bunny teeth enlightening his chiselled face while he looked at you like you were something special to him and you no more just wanted to feel it. You wanted him to say it, express it like he did when he read the poetry from your book or like the random scribbles on his notebooks. You wanted him to move on from the shy glances and profess that you were his and he was yours. 

he licked his lips as he gulped harshly before continuing,

"And you. You-your hair. Your lavender scent. Your innocence. Your d-dreams. Your colours. Your paints yo-

Pulling him by his tie, you placed your lips on his soft ones, leaving them with a smack. His hands wrapped around your waist to embrace you in the warmest hug you'd ever received from a loved one. As your head laid on his chest, you heard his heartbeat for the first time, making you feel closer to him than ever. 

"How would i ever requite your love Kim doyoung" you asked, closing your eyes.

"Maybe a portrait would do!" 

Kim doyoung became the canvas of your life,giving you the liberty to paint him in your colours and  your love and you became the smudged ink to his enchanted diary, without whom he would've failed to fill the pages.

You'd grow old but the swans born out of you would tell the stories of the years gone by.

[anghraine]

#i love the bi4gay scenes so much ajdfkja;kjfdkjlaf#<< prev#YES (@las-lus)

Reblogging for womanless Spock Wednesday :D

2x14 - Wolf in the Fold

[wisdomrays]

TAFAKKUR: Part 223

ACTION AND COINCIDENCE

It is not easy for people living today to believe that every object, every law and every incident in the universe is planned in a very detailed way. However, it is a fact that there is a seen and unseen algebraic reality to everything moving in the universe. This situation amazes the distinguished scholars roaming on the lace of science.

Physicists study on the biggest and smallest physical measures, on the strongest and weakest forces, and they have calculated the ratio between some of them and attained results close to 1040 several times. For example, it has been proven that “strong nuclear force,” which keeps protons and neutrons in the atomic nucleus together, is 1040 times stronger than the force of gravity. Although some consider this situation a result of coincidence, there are also some people who have shown the courage to question the accuracy of this result and open it to discussion. Since then, obtaining the same number several times has inevitably led to the belief that the number was determined and calculated before. This situation resembles the situation of a chess player who hears somebody telling him the opponent’s next move, or the situation of a composer who hears a melody from upstairs that perfectly fits his lyrics while he is trying to write the melody for his lyrics. Is it not amazing when somebody says what is going to be especially at a time when you least expect such a vision? Questions emerge: Have all actions and incidents in the universe and the values corresponding to them been determined in advance? Is there a certain logic behind the behavior of materials without intellect or consciousness?

Perhaps when Comte de Buffon (1707–1788) started to do research into probability calculations concerning falling matches and needles three centuries ago, he did not think that he would make such an astonishing discovery. According to his calculations, the probability of dropped needles hitting a pair of parallel lines that are drawn a certain distance apart is proportional to the number pi (&#960;) (Figure 1–2). When the distance between the parallel lines are drawn the length of a match, this probability becomes exactly 2/&#960;. This was a theoretical result that was calculated on paper, but trying it out would raise interesting results. In other words, when a certain number of tests were conducted, it could be expected that a number of matches equal to the number that was found through the theoretical calculations would hit the lines; and, indeed, that was what happened. In addition, mathematicians found another way to calculate pi by using this method since the ratio of the number of matches or needles that hits the lines to the total number of matches or needles should give a pi-proportioned number. In 1901, Mario Lazzarini threw one needle 3,408 times and, as a result, got the ratio 355/133 or 3.1415929; the difference between this value and the real value is only 0.0000003.

The experimental proof of this fact is not difficult. When the experiment, which has been conducted thousands of times up to today, was first tried by a group of mathematicians dropping 3,000 needles, the number of the needles that touched the lines was close to 1,900, which was the desired result, and the result was amazingly found to be proportionate to pi.

Although the real relation is like the equation given in, when the length of the needles and the distance between the lines are equalized, the desired ratio becomes 2/&#960;. What does this mean? Does the number pi, which was created with the universe and which we meet in different fields, play a role in showing the manifestation of the Majestic Will about where an object will fall-through having a result that can not be explained by coincidence? Is falling not an ordinary incident?

While this reality makes even falling an extraordinary incident, it opens a perspective on understanding the reality behind the verse: “…it was not you (O Messenger) who threw but God threw,” which was revealed about the Battle of Badr in the Qur’an. Actually, it is impossible even for a leaf to fall without the knowledge and the calculation of Our Lord, who is closer to us than our jugular vein.

Let us think about a group of creatures that lives with different physical laws in a different universe. Assume that they live on a flat, circular world and their steps get longer when they come close to the center. For this kind of creature, the shortest distance between two points is not a straight line as it is for us (A–B). Since their steps get longer as they get closer to the center, they travel close to the center. Yet, since they make the way a little longer in this way, the shortest distance would be an oblique line that takes these two variables into account and that passes by partially approaching the center. So, what would we think if we saw these creatures walking in this way all the time? Or if we knew that the creatures acting in this way were inanimate beings? In these circumstances, we might wonder whether these beings are very intelligent or whether One who knows and sees everything, and is present in every place at every time, directs them.

For a soccer forward to find the best time to attack when he is facing the goal keeper or for a tennis player to choose the best timing and position to hit the ball requires a fine calculation. In tennis, the player sometimes approaches very close to the net to meet the ball. In this way, the player gains great advantage since, by his or her positioning, the player reduces the area into which the ball can fall to the minimum, and increases his or her own chances of returning the ball. Nevertheless, since the ball reaches the player faster and harder, there is also a raised probability of the player’s failing to return the ball. Therefore, advancing right up to the net may not always be advantageous. Thus, the best position for the player may lie at any point between the net and the baseline when area and speed variables are considered. Similarly, the most advantageous point for the goal keeper lies between the attacking forward and the goal line, at a point which depends upon the variables of the speed of the ball and the area.

Naturally, we do not find tennis and soccer players’ positionings as described above strange since we expect them, as reasonable people, to play in this way. Yet, how would we interpret and explain it if we saw inanimate things acting in the same way? There is a phenomenon that applies this logic consciously but itself does not have consciousness. A phenomenon that astonishes people: light.

Let us think of a rectangular racetrack with points A, B, C, D. While the shortest distance for a horse that will run from one end of this racetrack to the other is the AC diagonal when the ground is homogenous, there will be a reroute if the ground is not homogenous. Assume the length of the racetrack is 80 meters and its width is 60 meters. Half of it is grass and the other half is sand. Also, assume the horse’s speed on the sand is half of its speed on the grass (it runs 10 meters in 1 unit of time on the grass). Under these circumstances, the horse will run the AC diagonal in 15 units of time while it will run AEC route in 14.5 units of time. The ABC route is much longer. Thus, any route which passes between these two routes will be shorter than these two. The point O, which the shortest route (AOC) passes, will be between the points M and E. When we look carefully, we understand that this is the route light follows as it enters environments of different densities; for example, the route it follows when passing from air to water (see a spoon’s broken image in a water-filled glass). As you see, light finds that specific mysterious point and follows that particular path. In other words, while entering different environments of varying densities, it finds the shortest way and follows it in an amazing way.

All these detailed calculations and functioning with great wisdom show that even inanimate beings and atoms are in the hands of a Majestic Will.

Every atom contains two truthful testimonies to the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence and Unity. Despite being powerless and insentient, it bears decisive witness to the Necessarily Existent Being’s Existence by carrying out important duties and functions as though it were conscious. It also testifies to the Unity of the same Being, Who owns all material and immaterial dominions, by conforming to the universal order in general, and to the rules of each place it enters in particular. It settles in every place as if it were its homeland. All of this shows that the One Who owns the atom owns all the places it enters. By carrying out very heavy duties incompatible with its size and weakness, the atom shows that it acts at the command and in the name of One with absolute power. (The Thirtieth Word, Second Point, Risale-i Nur Collection)

[fratresdei]

Spirituality Defined

Where did our working definition of spirituality come from? How has it evolved over centuries of research, ritual and belief? Philosophy grad Brayte Singletary stopped by the blog this week to take us on deep dive into the ever-elusive meaning of spirituality. Enjoy!

What even is spirituality? Rachel asks that very question in one of this blog’s first posts, and gives her answer there too. It’s one of the fundamental questions of spiritual direction. Those seeking or giving spiritual direction are liable to stumble on it sooner or later, through education or reflection. This post is one of those trips—and since it’s a bone we may need help chewing, I attempt to shine some Sirius-light on the best research I could dig up. Hopefully it’s illuminating.

In 2016 some researchers in Germany and the U.S. published the results of a formal investigation into the meaning of spirituality [A]. They based their investigation on a 2011 survey of Germans and Americans that asked, among other questions, “How would you define the term ‘spirituality’?” Approximately eighteen hundred different definitions came back, about forty percent German and sixty percent American. Quantifying these samples, the researchers started running statistical analysis.

First they looked for categories of response, grouping similar categories together and narrowing the list down to just those that make the most sense of overall response patterns [B]. They found that ten basically distinct concept clusters [C] come under the heading of spirituality, almost always in some combination [D]:

A keenly-felt connection to and harmony with nature, humanity, the world, the universe, or the whole of reality.

Dependence on, relationship to, or union with the divine; a part of religion, esp. Christianity.

A search for one’s higher or true inner self, meaning, purpose; knowledge of these things; attainment of peace or enlightenment, esp. in terms of a path or journey [E].

Holding and daily acting according to ethical values, especially in relation to others, one’s community, or humanity; a moral way of life [F].

Faith or belief in transmundane forces, energies, beings, a higher power, gods or God.

A noncommittal, indefinite, but intensely emotional, maybe loving sense that there is some thing(s) or being(s) higher than and beyond this world, this life, or oneself [G].

Experience and contemplation of reality and the truth, meaning, purpose, and wisdom, esp. if considered beyond scientific or rational understanding, inexplicable and indemonstrable.

Awareness of and attunement to another, immaterial or supernatural realm and its denizens (spirits, angels, ghosts, etc.); feeling their presence; using special techniques to perceive and interact with them (tarot, crystals, seances, etc.).

Opposite religion, dogma, rules, traditions; unstructured, irreverent, religious individualism.

Individual or private religious practice; prayer, worship, or meditation; relationship-deepening or connection-fostering personal rituals and devotional acts. 

Doing the same grouping and narrowing to unearth anything deeper, they found that all of these ten clusters fall somewhere on three scales, which they call the dimensions of spirituality [H]:

I. Vertical vs. horizontal general terminology for transcendence [I]

II. Theistic vs. non-theistic specific terminology for transcendence

III. Individual vs. institutional mediation of transcendence

Finally they found that this analysis confirms their larger research team’s theoretically-grounded hypothesis that the root definition of spirituality is:

Individually-mediated, experience-directed religion, esp. among religious nones [J]: i.e., religion oriented away from mediation through institutions, dependence on organizational structures and absolute authority claims, toward the immediacy of firsthand experience, emancipatory independence and value relative to the individual [K].

All this verbiage cries out for explanation. But for the moment let’s step back to marvel at our good luck in having research like this. Its conclusions about the meaning of spirituality—at least the ten concept clusters and three scales—came through something nearer experimentation in a laboratory than reflection in an armchair. In philosophical jargon, this argus-eyed approach was a posteriori rather than a priori; in anthropological jargon, emic rather than etic. As a result, we better see wrinkles in the meaning of spirituality, including internal inconsistencies that a cyclopic definitional scheme might smooth over, e.g., as a part of religion (2) and as opposite it (10).

For starters then, we see that this definition of spirituality is tripartite: “individually-mediated”, “experience-directed”, and “religion”. Since spirituality here is a kind of religion, religion is the core concept, so we’ll take it from there. That will lead to the three scales of spirituality, ‘vertical vs. horizontal terminology’ (I), ‘theistic vs. non-theistic terminology’ (II), and ‘individual vs. institutional mediation’ (III). “Individually-mediated” will come along with the third. That leaves only “experience-directed” and closing remarks. Now where did I put my patience for dry exposition…?

If none of it jibes with your own sense of spirituality, all the better! We all have much to learn, and outliers—you whose lives are led under stones yet unturned by science—have much to teach us.

First “religion”: For these researchers religion is any socially constructed system of symbols and rituals that interprets transcendent experience in ultimate terms [L]. This applies even to people who don’t consider themselves religious, including those who would self-describe as “spiritual but not religious”. But precisely what do transcendent experience and ultimate mean here? Transcendent experience—or simply ‘transcendence’—is any experience of “distance and departure from [the] everyday”, above and beyond the boundaries of ordinary experience [M]. More than just extraordinary, it exceeds our expectations of life and the world as we know it, e.g., by excelling in its class or defying classification (almost) altogether: the weirder and more wonderful, the more transcendent. So transcendent experience is often what we would traditionally call ‘religious experience’, but they make the distinction that it only counts as religious if on interpretation it’s cast in ultimate terms. Turning to “ultimate” then, here this is really elliptical for ‘of ultimate concern or importance to a person’. The ultimate is what “gives depth, direction and unity to all other concerns”, as theologian Paul Tillich puts it, from whom they draw the idea—e.g., our answers to basic questions about the world and our place in it [N]. Bringing these ideas together, a merely transcendent experience becomes genuinely religious when we see in it something all-important to us, and it becomes full-fledged religion when we build around it a symbolic-ritualistic framework of beliefs and practices. One’s framework needn’t be grand or widely-shared: it might be a slim private affair, like a single-person tent that’s as easy to pitch as to pack up and carry. Likewise a person can bring to transcendent experience a religious interpretive lens, or craft one afterwards just to come to terms with it. Either priority fits.

Before we move on to the next concept, let’s clear up some potentially misleading language in this definition of religion. To start, “socially constructed” here doesn’t necessarily mean ‘made up’, ‘fake’, or otherwise unreal. It just means that if nobody thought or talked about religion, there wouldn’t be any: its existence depends on its exercise. Likewise the claim that it “interprets” transcendent experience doesn't imply that it therefore misinterprets it. Indeed the opposite may well be true. Even elementary sense perception needs interpretation to become understanding: naked experience unclothed by categories or classifications is at best a muddle—e.g., in rounding an unfamiliar corner in the city or in coming out without warning on an open expanse in the country, when the sudden change of scenery produces a visual experience of undifferentiated shape and color, it’s all just optical nonsense until reason and intellect, as it were, catch up, and organize this sense data into a coherent picture: only then when interpretation goes to work does one finally know what she’s looking at. Although we may at times be apt to make meaning where there is none, often enough we find it right where it belongs. So this definition doesn’t debunk religion; it merely says that, assuming it has this experiential basis, it’s imbued with the meaning we give it, veracious or fallacious.

The terminology of our interpretation, i.e., our way of using terms for and ideas about the ultimate, admits of a couple distinctions. These are also the first and second scales of spirituality above (I-II): vertical-horizontal, and within that, theistic and non-theistic [O]. The former measures the metaphysical distance transcendent experience crosses. The latter measures the unity and personality and sometimes also the clarity of the religious object. Vertical terminology characteristically evokes what we would traditionally call the transcendent, e.g., God and heaven—generally, the otherworldly. It aims at things other than and over this world and oneself in it. Horizontal terminology tends the other way, toward the traditionally immanent, e.g., nature and humanity. Leaning this-worldly, it aims at things in and of the world and the world itself. Notably, whereas the vertical is often explicitly religious, the horizontal’s religiosity can even escape the notice of the person professing it [P]. Within this distinction is that between theistic and non-theistic terminology. The apparent presence of God, gods, and god-like beings or forces maps an important area of vertically transcendent experience, as their apparent absence does an antipodean area of horizontally transcendent experience. But this also sheds light on terminology between vertical and horizontal. This family of views sees the ultimate as in neither our world nor a world beyond, but rather in “a world behind”, i.e., behind and beneath the world’s surface appearances [Q]. Typically this is non-theistic, e.g., about ghosts, spirits, energies, or forces.

A gloss of the third scale (III) now moves into view, and with it “individually-mediated”: Individual-institutional mediation of transcendence measures the directness or indirectness of a person’s access to transcendent experience, i.e., the extent and power of the gatekeepers standing in her way. As these researchers put it, “Institutionalized mediation says that ... there is no other way to transcendence than through the church, sacraments, and priests; that there is no other truth than the sanctioned teachings; and that the ultimate concern is determined by the institution and its tradition” [R]. By contrast, and often in vociferous reply, individual-mediation says, “there is no or very little mediation of transcendence, but rather the experiential immediacy of the individual; there are no claims of absoluteness, but the individualistic evidence of experience; there is no or very little organization or structure" [S]. In this way, against so-called organized religion’s usual mediation by institutions, esp. hierarchical structures operating them, spirituality favors an unpatrolled, gates-wide-open setup. Yet it doesn’t follow from such independence that spirituality is therefore a lonely pursuit—though “flight of the alone to the Alone”, i.e., hermetic mysticism, is surely right at home here too [T]. We’re able to have experiences with others, just not for them, so it can be equally possible to pursue direct experience of transcendence with others as by oneself.

Lastly, “experience-directed”: This means that, whereas transcendent experience might play no ongoing role in a religion’s usual exercise, e.g., as none other than an oft-remembered historical event, in spirituality it takes the lead. Ritual, symbol, etc., become at best aids to pursuit of transcendence, but at worst impediments. Therefore spirituality in its purest, i.e., barest, form may focus on such experience exclusively; and since “directed” here means both ‘directed to’ and ‘directed by’, the religious ideal may resemble an upward spiral of being led from transcendence to transcendence by transcendence. Still this isn’t to say that spirituality takes direction from nothing else, or that by focusing on transcendence even exclusively, the rest of familiar religion vanishes. A spiritual purist may disavow religious side projects in pursuit of her wonted mode of transcendence, or she may simply subordinate them to it as various means to this end. Yet while she might style herself as therefore unencumbered in her pursuit of raw experience, her religious interpretive lens remains ever-present, however unwittingly. It must, or else her chase after the spiritual would be of the wild-goose variety. E.g., someone undergoing a crisis of faith might discover to her horror that she’s no longer able to participate in her favorite religious exercises, since the vinegar of doubt now spoils every well from which she used to draw joy. Since her experiences can’t mean what they used to, they can’t be what they used to either.

Let’s sum up with a little illustration. Consider this spiritual foil: one an atheistic nature lover, the other a Catholic anchoress. The former’s approach is thoroughly horizontal and non-theistic. She takes regular hikes to feast on natural beauty and sublimity, but deems it all mere serendipity in a chaotic cosmos. She’s a proficient adventurer, as comfortable with friends as without. She might not spurn a Beatrice to guide her through some earthly paradise, but her trust would be that when she came face to facelessness with wild abundance, her delight would need no shepherd. The abundance itself would call out of her everything necessary for its appreciation. In this way she mediates her own pursuit of these experiences. Their ultimacy for her comes not only from her denial of the otherworldly, but also from her judgment that nature is intrinsically, i.e., ultimately, good—or at least, that immersion in it stirs and sustains her is. Conversely, the latter’s approach is thoroughly theistic and vertical, and manifestly ultimate. She spends her life in solitary prayer. Sometimes during contemplation of the divine she has ecstatic visions or auditions. But whatever happens, her daily goal is total abandonment to God. Still even with the individuality of her self-mediating lifestyle, it retains considerable institutionality. She holds fast to piety towards the Church, its orthodoxy and orthopraxy. Yet despite this rigid adherence to ecclesiastical authority—or, she would say, because of it—, she lives as a recluse whose sole aim is attaining union with Him Whom she worships as Transcendence Itself. Both in their disparate ways are individually-mediated, experience-directed religion.

Here we are then! We’ve gained at long last the real meaning of spirituality, right? Well, maybe: We have to trust not only that German and American ideas of spirituality are the same as everybody else’s, but also that the notions of these particular people are the same as those of other Germans and Americans [U]. Moreover we must take for granted that what they put in Tweet-sized writing when a survey bluntly asked them their opinion is the same as what they think all the time, even when they’re not thinking about what they think [V]. Still science has yet to master the art of mind-reading. So even if this isn’t the definitive definition of ‘spirituality’, it’s got my money for our best guess yet.

In Rachel’s post, she’s wise to the width of variety, saying, “Spirituality has been defined and redefined throughout human history, and it is now my intention to shout yet another definition to the abyss.” For her, its definition is: “the practice of deriving any amount of meaning from any event, thought, or activity.” Looking back at the ten concept clusters above, this bears striking resemblance to parts of (3) and (7). She’s in good company. Clinicians and care professionals typically promote this conception: e.g., psychological measures of wellbeing that account for spirituality usually cast it in these terms, viz., purpose and meaning. Though some have wondered whether this confuses spirituality with a part of mental health, the findings above resoundingly vindicate it as an important part of the spiritual puzzle [W]. If they also solve that puzzle, hopefully they do so more in the spirit of Ariadne’s clue out of the Labyrinth than Alexander’s sword through the Knot. At the very least, such research is a waypoint on the path to understanding. If none of it jibes with your own sense of spirituality, all the better! We all have much to learn, and outliers—you whose lives are led under stones yet unturned by science—have much to teach us. So it’s still worth asking:

What does spirituality mean to you? Please share your definition in the comments.

Unpack what spirituality uniquely means to you through the ancient practice of spiritual direction. Schedule a free online session through the link in the comments.

Endnotes:

A. Eisenmann, Clemens, et al. “Dimensions of “Spirituality”: The Semantics of Subjective Definitions.” Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, ed. by Heinz Streib & Ralph Wood, Jr., Springer, 2016, p. 125.

B. Op. cit., pp.129-35. Before grouping and narrowing them together and down, these were the forty-four recurring categories they found:

Faith and belief, believing, belief system

Connectedness, relationship, in touch with, harmony

Individual, personal, private, subjective

Everyday, daily life, way of life, to act

Values, (higher) order, morals, karma

God (also the Father, Lord, Creator, the Divine)

Unspecified transcendent: something bigger, beyond, greater; “may be”

Feeling, emotion, intuition, empathy, heart, love

Within, self, higher Self, inner core, essence

Seeking, path, journey, reaching, to evolve, to achieve

Awareness, consciousness, sense of, feeling a presence, in tune

Supernatural, non-material, cannot see or touch

Transcendental higher power/forces/energy

Thinking about, to understand, to reflect, contemplation

Relation to the world, nature, environment, universe

Cannot be explained or scientifically proven, beyond understanding

Higher/beyond/greater/other than oneself/humans/this life

Relation to others, community, all humanity, humankind

Experience, sensory perception Spirit and mind

Rest (i.e., the remainder of uncategorized responses)

Practices, to practice (one’s faith), music, prayer, worship, meditation

(Inner) peace, enlightenment and other attitudes and states of being

Guided, destined, controlled, saved, healed, dependent

Part of religion, Christian, biblical

All-connectedness, part of something bigger

Meaning and (higher) purpose, questions and answers

Transcendental absolute, “unity of existence,” omnipresent and indiscriminate, the one

Otherworldly, beyond this world, “spiritual” realms Acknowledge, to recognize, to accept, to realize Vague, unclear, unsure; bullshit, fantasy, hocus pocus Without rules, tradition, norms, dogma, structure, directions (21) Something else than religion, without worship

Energies, vital principle, ghosts, angels and demons, spirits

The truth, true nature of existence, wisdom, reality (4) Jesus, Christ, Holy Spirit, the Son Greater being/person, deities, gods Soul

Universal category, basis of mankind Esoteric, occultism, spiritism, mystic, magic (39) Deal with, interest in, engagement, focus

Part and beyond religion Obedience and devotion Life after death.

C. I borrow the notion of concept clusters from passing familiarity with Ludwig Wittgenstein’s philosophy of language.

D. Op. cit., pp. 137-8. Paraphrase.

E. Whereas spirituality conceived of as a part of religion (2) fits nicely with its mostly premodern history as just that, the conception immediately following of it as a journey to one’s true inner self (3) sits well with modern social movements toward individualism and subjectivism: op. cit., p. 146.

F. Spirituality conceived of as living out one’s values may partly underlie the self-identification “spiritual but not religious”. Here ’spirituality’ primarily indicates an ethical concern that being merely ‘religious’ doesn’t—not just talking the talk but walking the walk: ibid. More clearly this identification involves some combination of clusters with (9).

G. The much-maligned vagueness of spirituality’s meaning may come from this conception of it as a sense of something indefinite and beyond: ibid. N.b., philosophers of language usually distinguish vagueness, i.e., unclear meaning due to imprecise extension over borderline cases, from ambiguity, i.e., unclear meaning due to polysemy—having multiple meanings.

H. Op. cit., p. 143. Paraphrase. Their dimensions are: (I) mystical vs. humanistic transcending; (II) theistic vs. non-theistic transcendence; and (III) individual “lived” experience vs. dogmatism.

I. I use “transcendence” and “transcendent experience” interchangeably throughout this post. Though there may be other forms of transcendence than experience, talk of ‘transcendence’ as an event and not, e.g., as a divine attribute, usually means ‘experience of transcendence’, i.e., ‘transcendent experience’.

J. Religious nones get their names from those who answer “none” to demographic polls asking their religious affiliation. In other words, they are the religiously unaffiliated. Cf. unchurched.

K. Op. cit., p. 148. Paraphrase. Their definition is privatized experience-oriented religion, following research by other members of their team: Streib, Heinz, & Wood, Jr., Ralph. “Understanding “Spirituality”—Conceputal Considerations.” Semantics and Psychology of Spirituality: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, ed. by Heinz Streib & Ralph Wood, Jr., Springer, 2016, p. 9. Ensuing fns. refer to that ch.

L. Op. cit., p. 11. Cf. Emile Durkheim’s definition of religion, popular esp. in U.S. religious studies depts.: “a unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set apart and forbidden—beliefs and practices which unite into one single moral community called a Church, all those who adhere to them”: The Elementary Forms of Religious Life. trans. Carol Cosman, Oxford Univ. Press, 2001, p. 46.

M. Op. cit., p. 10.

N. Op. cit., p. 11.

O. Strictly speaking, non-theistic terminology could be either vertical or horizontal, while theistic terminology is by definition vertical. As it happens however, or at least according to this research, our thinking about spirituality typically separates out the theistic and vertical from the non-theistic and horizontal.

P. Op. cit., p. 12.

Q. Ibid.

R. Op. cit. p. 14.

S. Ibid. They also mention here sectarian middle mediation “through a prophetic and charismatic person”.

T. Famous last words of the Neoplatonic classic: Plotinus. Enneads. VI.9.11. trans. Andrew Louth, qtd. in The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition: From Plato to Denys, Oxford Univ. Press, 1981, p. 51.

U. Cf. WEIRD bias (Western, educated, industrialized, rich, and democratic), an ongoing problem for representative sampling: Henrich, Joseph, Heine, Steven J., & Norenzayan, Ara. “The weirdest people in the world?” Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33, 2-3, 2010, 61–83. In fact there were some statistically significant differences between German and American responses: American definitions of spirituality were more Christian or otherwise traditionally religious, mentioning Jesus and the Holy Spirit much more, but God only a little more—presumably because theism goes beyond Christianity. Still when they did mention God it was more often in Christian terms of a personal and sovereign lord. Likewise they mentioned faith and belief much more often, and this was more often faith or belief in something beyond, higher power(s), god(s), or God (5). Their notions of spiritual power were also further outside and over themselves, as in talk of guidance or obedience. By contrast German definitions of spirituality were warier of dogma and authority, whether religious orthodoxy or scientific consensus. They mentioned experience, as opposed to belief, more often, and were generally more esoteric, occult, and magical in their terminology, talking of the otherworldly in more universal but impersonal or abstract, terms. They were also more critical of spirituality, oftener complaining of its vagueness or even dismissing it as bovine fecal material. Still despite all this the researchers noted that American and German definitions were much, much more alike than different. These differences should therefore be understood as in emphasis, not substance. Their considerable overlap, striking in itself, forms the basis of the ten concept clusters and the three scales.

V. We must also assume that the scientific method deserves our confidence, and that the concept of spirituality, if not spirituality itself, is amenable to investigation by it. Other assumptions include those about word meaning, natural kinds, and other hot topics of debate in the philosophy of language and science—all of which would take us far afield of the present discussion. May curious readers experience transcendence of this post!

W. Eisenmann, Clemens, et al., p. 147.

[anghraine]

I know it's well-understood at this point that Kirk/Spock is much more of a nerd4nerd ship than a nerd/jock thing, but it's just been kind of percolating around my mind that both of them aren't just space nerds but space nerds who were personally bullied.

Like, 18-year-old Kirk was targeted by an older bully who combines "total asshole" with "the most grating man in existence":

MCCOY: Well, yeah, I'm beginning to feel a little bit picked-on, if that's what you mean. KIRK: I know the feeling very well. I had it at the Academy. An upperclassman there. One practical joke after another, and always on me. My own personal devil. A guy by the name of Finnegan. MCCOY: And you being the very serious young— KIRK: Serious? I'll make a confession, Bones. I was absolutely grim, which delighted Finnegan no end.

This was five years after Kirk survived a genocide, btw, and likely well before his stint as an Academy instructor known to be strict and demanding (which is the period the "stack of books with legs" description of him comes from). By the time he's 33, fifteen years after all this, it turns out one of his deepest fantasies is just beating the shit out of his bully, but only if he can do it According To The Rules (the replica of Finnegan sneers, "Always fight fair, don't you? True officer and gentleman, you").

Spock, meanwhile, is viciously targeted by his Vulcan peers for being biracial from at least age 5; he's described as being tormented by other boys by that age, and "at home nowhere except Starfleet." I think he'd have been 18 or 19 when he left for Starfleet and it's... the least bad of his options, but he seems to have spent his entire career among humans and being persistently subjected to raw racism and profound disrespect for his culture at every turn.

Like, their histories of being metaphorically shoved into lockers are not identical or anything, but I think it's interesting that they both have them.

[livrelady]

#the reason leonard nimoy's 'if kirk died for real then spock would just. also drop dead soon' 70s headcanon is honestly a relief#yeah i'm watching tng. but it's like watching the movies and being like 'compelling iteration of trek that i have many feelings about#but i don't fully believe is actually the same people and universe as tos. they're more like interconnected pocket universes of trek'#70s nimoy headcanon reflecting spock's 'i shall do neither' in tos is the true tos future to ME. no characterization reboots. just#mission after mission for decades. another 5-year. a 20-year. they're starfleet legends at that point and medicine is wildly advanced#crew members come and go. each mission is more integrated with other cultures than the last. but it's always them until they retire#and finally get to ... stop. go to vulcan and at last listen to those silver birds and rest and take advantage of time.#figure out how to live with themselves without a critically important crisis or urgent problem to solve around every corner#and build a different life that wouldn't be particularly cinematic at all and eventually quietly die one after the other#but good lord. i also have many movie spirk feelings and just imagining spock's grief combined with knowing he just threw away#years they could have spent together. tmp is very very clear that spock's hang-ups are the reason for their estrangement#not reservations from kirk - /he/ obviously would be completely receptive and thrilled#imagine being movie/tng spock and carrying around the knowledge that they could have had years more if not for his own choices#like. damn.#spock#james t kirk#star trek: the original series#star trek films#otp: the premise#c: who do i have to be#c: i object to intellect without discipline#star peace (X)

i was trying to visually represent spock’s life in relation to jim and instead just make myself sad

[hades-999]

Ben not 10

I hope you guys liked my previeious post about Ben not used 10 aliens, here is another bounch of them. But before we start, I must confess; I'm gona cheat in the end, so I brought there one more, to be fair

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Rules:

Mutants and Reboot not count

I gona count aliens what's in the show, but we never saw Ben transmorms into them onsceen

Loophole; I gona count aliens what Ben couldn't use for some reason

So, let's counting

0. Slimebiot

These creatures are here from the begining of the time and spreadin, mixing and creating DNA across the whole universe (technically, they are God in Ben prime's reality)

They are feeding on any kind of DNA, and alo poses the power to shapesifting themeselfes into that creature's bodyparts

Also, attached to a DNA countainment (like the Nemetrix/ Omnitrix/ Ultimatrix/Omnimatrix) they can use as many samples as they want, even form tools with the given species' power

But with this incedible power come some great..... weakneses; because they are only single-cell, symbiosic life forms, they need a host or they could die in starving. And they can be separated and contained with the right tools. Also, they can't teleport without host, 'cause it would kill them

1. Anodite

It's a tricky one; because of Anodites lack of DNA, the Omnitrix can't scan them. However, Ben could use the Omnitrix to manipulates his own bio system, sets free his Anodite heritage and store in the watch, as a transformation (remember, not all Omnitrix creatures are 100% alien......Nanomech......)

Anodites poses the power to control life-energy (called Mana) and use it various ways; weapon manifestion, fly, teleport, shapesifting (only seen turn into humanoid form) and magic

However, this power has his own weakneses; Mana can't be used on everything, such as ectonorites, geocehelone aerios, robots or androids. Also, this species don't immunite to other magic users spells

In fandom, Ben already has Anodite form, called Anodman/ Man-a attack/Manodite

It's unkown if Ben ever could use his natural/Omnitrix given Anodite heritage, he would be purple or green

2. Psyphon's species

Despite of being the show's main villain's sidekick, we don't know this alien species' name. The only knowen one (Psyphon) cames from Murray (Vilgaxia) with Villgax

However, he poses a serious power arsenal; he is able to fly, can create energy beams and walls, has laser eyes and stronger than Ultimate Spidermonkey. Also, he showed great intellect

With these powers, he resemble to C-K civilians, so, he could be a mutant one, but (because of his whole appearance) I don't think so

3. Uxorite

This species is strongly resemble to lizard peaple from classical alien mythologi. They even have long toung and they laye eggs, but unlike cold bloodeds, they aren't bothered by cold enviroment.

They have powerful telekinetic abilityes what allows to them to fly and moveing other being or object, even instable material, like water. Also, they can grab things with their tail and tentacles

They agile and fast, but compare to their size they are physicaly weak and vulnerable

This species (or at least Xylen) is smart enought to be accepted as assistant by Azmusth when he created the Omnitrix, and Azmusth trusted her enought to gave it to her to deliver

In fandom Ben already has this transformation, called Neuro Lizard

4. Detrovite

One of the strongest and largest alien species in the show, wich one members are skilled fightres and talented miners in one

They posess some surpise-powers, like ability to breat underwater, space survivability, they are resistant to both hot or colder enviroment and they can regenerate from serious dammages (repleacing their missing body parts with proteic enchatments)

They are not very clever, but also not agressive species. Also, they honor the great champions and good sportmanship

5. Protost

Theis alien only apeared an took active role in the very first Ben 10 movei "Ben 10; Secret of the Omnitrix" , but it is still a mentionable one

This alien species resemble to the Polymorph with their shapesifting powers and slime like body, but unlike them, they are able to move without an Anti-graviti projector, but seemingly they are more limited and can't generate their body-mass (except while regenerating). However, they use some kind of containment armor to change place, but it's more a body enchantment than a nesecary tool

Their three eyes and shapesifting ability make them an extremly good pilots, 'cause they can focus on multiple thing and can control more machines at once

6. Levodan

Who don't remember for one of the cutest alien in the show; the Tiffin. He is a sweet alien and not just in the term of cutenes. This species' taste (at least as kid) so delicious the icecream makers makes a Tiffin-tast flavoured one (offically not from Tiffin......)

This species looks very peaceful but they actually an agressive one. Of course, not all of them and not all the time, they inteligent enought to make compromises with their enemies

They look weak, but don't let fool yourself; they are skilled in hand-to-hand combat (like Apoplexians) have enchanted flexibility and they are capable of use some short of electro-magnetic power, witch allows them to levitate and manipulate electronic devices

7. Ssspeace'sss Ssserpentsss

We can't be sssure Ssserpent wasss an alien or what, but becaussse sssome of hisss powersss, it doesssn't fit to be a mutant, ssso I think he isss an alien.

It never wass comfirm, but sssomewhere in fandom isss a theory he isss a ssspecisss of Snakepit, one off the mentioned but never ssshowen aliensss

Over hisss average sssnake powersss like enchanted flexibility/ agility/ reflex/ ssstrenght, unhingible jaw or acid ssspit, he posssesss a ssspecial one: mana immunity

He isss inteligent, clever and usssually hasss a good plan, but not Ben'sss mossst fearsssom enemi

8. / 9. Acrosians, Vreedle family

These two species not really showes any super power over enchanted strengh and space survivability

Ma Vreedle posess an extra pair of eyes in back of her head, it's unkown the males have too or not

Because acrosians are only heads with armor, possibly they are an inteligent species. We can't say the same thing about Vreedles, but they are good technicans, so they have the wist of themeself

Because we never saw other acrosian than Fistina, we can't know how would Ben looks like.

Ben actually have a Decagon Vreedle named transformation, but he would be freak out if he know about it

Vreedles are not a species but more a family, because Ma and Pa were breed in a lab

10. Chronian

I said I gona cheat here, cause Ben already transformed into this form but let me explain;

Eon is the only one movie special transformation, which one never was and never will be used

"Ben 10; Race against time" is playing in an alternative timeline, so Ben Prime never used this transformation

Because Chronians had closly omnipotent powers, Eon forced Ben to turn into this form, wich one was actually Eon himself, not Ben's alien

However Ben has the option to scan another Chronians and has his own form. In fandom this form sometimes called simply Eon, sometimes called Obliv-Eon (I personally prefer this one)

This transformation would be one of the most powerful one of Ben's, because Chronians are able to travel in time and space, can shoot energy or time beams from their hands, have a limited control over moleculas and technology and also posess enchanted strengh and durability

However, they can't use their powers limitles, because every time they use it, their body becames older and weaker

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Benus:

We could belive the levodans are whiped crem like humanoid specis, but actually we never saw more than their head and arms in part, cause their long, bluish coat

The uxorites' eyes glow pink when they use their telekinetic abilityes. It never saw comfirmed, but it could be a kind of Mana using....

I want to list Osmosians as well, but while I make search, I found the fact; Osmosians are mutants/superior humans, not aliens, and their home planet - Osmos V. - never existed

"Uxite" means "wife" in latin, a reference to Xylene x Max relationship

It's just funny, but both of Max's love intesests were telekinetic powered aliens

"Xylene" is actually a chemical with three isomer, so our alien's three eyes could be a reference for that. Also a funny thing; the chemical is extremly flamable, and Ben used Heatblast against Xylen

I don't showed a pictures of Hex and Charmchaster directly, because thye aren't anoditeds. They just humans, who can use magic

So, that was it girls and boys, leave a like/comment if you want the next part of this: No-metrix aliens

[livrelady]

#james 'let's do this by the book' kirk having to deal with people constantly acting like he's a wild maverick AND loving this man#spock pretends (even to himself) that he's not a loose cannon who will make wildly reckless decisions out of raw emotion#while simultaneously presenting himself as cold reason embodied - sometimes sincerely and sometimes just pure trolling#but kirk so obviously sees right through him while also finding him utterly charming and necessary to his life. incredible.#also this episode rules for both shipping reasons and just. in general.#spock#james t kirk#c: i object to intellect without discipline#c: who do i have to be#otp: the premise#star trek: the original series#star peace#gif (X)

STAR TREK: THE ORIGINAL SERIES season one | episode twenty-five; the devil in the dark Mister Spock, you are second in command. This will be a dangerous hunt. Either one of us by himself is expendable. Both of us are not. Captain, there are approximately one hundred of us engaged in this search, against one creature. The odds against you and I both being killed are 2,228.7 to 1. 2,228.7 to 1? Those are pretty good odds, Mister Spock. And they are of course accurate, Captain. Of course. Well, I hate to use the word, but logically, with those kind of odds, you might as well stay.

[nvcl347]

NANOPULUS Diagnosis (Original G/T Species)

(Updated as of 2/5/19)

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PASSAGE 1 : ORIGIN

May 27 was the day people all around the world suddenly vanished without a trace. Families messaged loved ones, schools and businesses were closed, and people shut themselves from society. Everyone was on edge on who may be next. Some people believed that perhaps this was Judgement Day, and chaos nearly flamed everywhere. The next day, suddenly everything went quiet. No missing person reports, no anything. Turning on your local news station would only be discussing what had happened the day before with the only minor, cut-short stories here and there. Search parties went out across countries, while the overall world government kept quiet. For conspiracists, it was a miner’s dreamed hit goldmine.

The people who went missing that day never came back. Not until decades later, when by then, the incident had been forgotten by the world. Only a select few could recollect it clearly, but they had no power in their hands to challenge the authorities in court, and their days were already numbered.

PASSAGE 2 : RECOVERED CASE FILES

DECEMBER 1996

ENGAGED HENRY C. LILIAM AND JESSIE I. LILIAM REPORT SMALL PRESENTS STOLEN OVERNIGHT

NO SIGNS OF FORCED BREAK-IN DISCOVERED

SLIM WRAPPING PAPER TEARS SCATTERED ACROSS FLOOR

NO FURTHER EVIDENCE COVERED

***CASE CLOSED AS OF JANUARY 1997***

FEBRUARY 1998

SCHOOL BUILDING HAVING CONSISTENT POWER OUTAGES

REASON: UNKNOWN

PLAYGROUND AREA GENERATOR REPAIRED MARCH 1998

NO FURTHER EVIDENCE COVERED

***CASE CLOSED AS OF APRIL 1998***

OCTOBER 2003

CHILD REPORT OF LIVE MINIATURE DOLL SNAGGING FOOD FROM LEFTOVER CANDY

CANDY WRAPPER GNAWING MARKS MATCH NO DISCOVERED ANATOMY OF CREATURE IN PRESENT-DAY RECORDS

NO FURTHER EVIDENCE COVERED

***CASE CLOSED AS OF NOVEMBER 2003***

JUNE 2004

ANIMAL CARETAKER EMPLOYEE SARAH J. MALLS REPORT OF TINY UNKNOWN CREATURE TAMPERING WITH RODENT CAGES

NO FURTHER EVIDENCE COVERED

***CASE CLOSED AS OF JUNE 2004***

APRIL 2007

SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT DAVID A. HAN PERSONAL BELONGINGS REPEATEDLY DISAPPEAR

ALL STUDENTS CLAIMED THEMSELVES INNOCENT

PLAYBACK QUALITY MODERATE

NO STUDENTS CAPTURED TAMPERING WITH LOCKER #34

NO FURTHER EVIDENCE COVERED

***CASE CLOSED AS OF JUNE 2007***

SEPTEMBER 2009

FAST FOOD STORE MONITOR #3 CAPTURES “AGILE SMALL PERSON” RUMMAGING THROUGH STORAGE CONTAINERS

PLAYBACK QUALITY DAMAGED

AUTHORITY CONCLUSION: “IT’S MERELY A MOUSE PASSING THROUGH”

***CASE CLOSED AS OF DECEMBER 2009***

JULY 2010

48% OF U.S. CHILDREN SUDDENLY REPORT “REAL” FAIRIES OCCASIONALLY ROAMING BACKYARDS

NO FURTHER EVIDENCE COVERED

***TREND IS RISING***

PASSAGE 3 : THE RELEASE

In November of 2013, the records of these incidents were released, alongside what had caused them. These creatures were sent across the world by an organization of unknown origins nor title and placed these creatures into the black market, other experimental agencies, or just out into the wild for a study of its survival in certain environments. As hypothesized, this species thrives best in forest-like environments, however, the species at the same time has no capabilities of reproduction, and cannot survive as a whole due to its weak state in natural selection. But, due to major injections of unknown chemicals, the species’ life expectancy (if healthy), is just about the same as a human’s is. Some hypothesize this may be an enhanced version of what may be the experiments causing longer mice life expectancy, which are open to the public.

The overall species according to the organizational records is titled NANOPULUS, as to which the general public has dubbed the species, “The Nano Creatures.”

PASSAGE 4 : APPEARANCE

Most reports find the species mythical or “unrealistic” due to the sheer size of these creatures. All Nanos have been recorded in the average height range of 1-3 inches tall. This has managed to give Nanos numerous places for them to sneak and hide, along with the pressure of gravity giving them no struggle to run nimble and quick from their small amount of weight. The heaviest Nano on record weighed around 12.5 grams (.44 oz), equivalent to holding a stack of around five pennies in your hand. According to the files, the experimentalists had predicted (or perhaps hoped for) a height range of 4-5 inches at average, but apparently, a certain overdose of an undefined chemical caused an overreaction to the shrinkage expectancies.

The facial features of a Nano aren’t much of a difference to a human appearance, that is until you really look at them. Their ears are sharp- much like what you’d imagine from an elf- but not very pointy at their ends, and more rounded like ours instead. Their ears will slightly shift and twitch to help pick up any signals of noise or movement.

The next thing you may notice if you look close enough at a Nano is their eyes. Their eye color is unnatural and seems to shift through every hue of the rainbow. Looking closer, unlike our round pupils, Nanos have more round oval-shaped pupils. The first thing you may think of at this is perhaps a slit cat-like eye, but it’s not exactly like that, however. The oval pupil of a Nano is wider than a cat’s and is not pointed at the top and bottom like a cat’s either. Rather, it is rounded, mirroring the sharp-but-rounded ears they have as well. It is also worth noting that when the pupil of a Nano dilates, although having a similar shape to a cat’s, it does not flatten itself into one slick line. Instead, the pupil just shrinks, like a normal round pupil as would like humans. The smaller the pupil, the more intently the Nano is concentrating.

The Nanos also heir mutated traits of sharper teeth and fingers (not to be confused with nails) for defense. Their fingers are only slightly pointed and barely can cause a bleeding scratch. This goes the same for the toes of their feet as well. They could cause a small, nagging scrape, though. As for the teeth, now they can cause some bleeding. Nothing fatal, of course, but definitely a scratch that of a paper cut for sure if they were really desperate. The teeth are only slightly pointed and are wide, too. They are also smoothly rounded, similar to how their fingers and toes are formed.

Every Nano has one thing in reference to their past: their branding. Not a burned-in branding, but a stitched branding- like a tattoo- but it’s not exactly the same thing; it’s permanent, even when damaged… it can be regenerated just like normal skin. Each symbol was made to represent the Nano’s personality, and it is made up of one single line, like cursive letters. They can depict harshness or intellect, based on the design. Wavy lines represented a calm persona, while jagged meant the opposite. The single line never overlaps with itself. Many Nanos’ brandings show depictions of animals, such as ocelots for speed, but wavy to show they were collected as well. Another branding occurrence may be a jagged alligator, representing a vicious and brash Nano. No single pair of Nanos have the same exact branding; every single one of them is different, like fingerprints. That doesn’t mean they can’t have the same meaning, though; they just don’t have the same visible imagery.

PASSAGE 5 : EYE COLOR DEFINING

The following image illustrates the colors as to which a Nano’s iris can shift between, alongside what the color represents/what the Nano at that current state is feeling/what a Nano senses somebody else is feeling. If a Nano has “mixed feelings,” the defined colors of those feelings in the irises will mix together.

PASSAGE 6 : ABILITIES

Studies show that their ears have a high sensibility to noise, capable of easily alerting them off as much as the dropping of a pen just rooms away from their position. This has assisted them in the warning of when oncoming threats are nearby way ahead of time, giving them a good amount of time to find a place to securely conceal themselves. Even if the threat was running as fast as they could, they’d be lucky to get a sly glimpse of these tiny human creatures with their swift movement.

Their nose is much similar to dogs’ as well. Not in shape, of course, but in sensibility. They are incredibly strong and can smell out a piece of pepperoni from rooms away.

Nanos, much like mice, can actually survive great falls in height as opposing to the common belief that they couldn’t even survive the fall from a countertop. A nano at the size of one inch could actually survive a fall as high as an eleven story window and get up with little-to-no damage at all. Answer? Terminal velocity. Due to their small weight and frail bone structure, they can survive great falls with minimal damage, much like mice and rats.

What if a Nano is deaf? What if they are nose blind? “Sense of Danger,” they call it. That swelling feeling in your gut that something isn’t right, is exactly what Nano’s feel when legitimate danger is nearby. Sometimes for humans, it’s an overreaction, but Nano’s instincts are incredibly accurate in this case scenario. The only downside is, this Sense of Danger is purely based off of movement. If a dangerous object is inanimate, a Nano wouldn’t be aware of it.

Nanos heir a venom in their teeth, which can be injected by bite if they feel threatened. This venom, dubbed “Nurnostium,” causes a numbing sensation upon the surrounding area of the bite, causing it to fall asleep for a short period of time (recorded 5-10 minute average lasting effect). There are no fatal effects to this bite, but in order to escape capture, it is highly effective. It takes about a full minute for the effect to fully kick in. The venom in itself is incredibly strong and could cause an entire human to fall unconscious with just a quarter of a cup's injection of it. Because the Nano is so small in size, let alone its bite, the tiny portion of venom cannot affect the threat at its entirety.

PASSAGE 7 : WEAKNESSES

One of a Nano’s biggest weaknesses, of course, would be their size. So incredibly small, they have little-to-no chance in physical combat, making them quite queasy and fearful creatures. This is why they are so distant from interaction of many other creatures besides themselves… and humans- which is where we lean into our next weakness.

Curiosity kills the cat. With no recollection of almost anything of their past, they have an IQ intelligence of as much as a newborn child. Some will learn naturally, others will need introduction of “good and bad,” if their Sense of Danger doesn’t do the trick for them. All in all, Nanos are quite stupid for their age, and need a little help.

Tagging along with curiosity, explains their interest of sociality between themselves and humans. This urge won’t exactly occur to them until Nanos get a good look at what their physical appearance looks like. This isn’t necessarily a “good look” type of thing where they stare at themselves in the mirror, but a good look where they care to inspect themselves in their own point of view and make comparisons. ‘Arms? Hands? The big creatures have them. Legs? Feet? They have those, and I do too.’ Because humans are so similar in physical appearance compared to Nanos (who socialize with each other very well), it drives their interest and mental questionnaire as to ‘why they’re so much bigger compared to us,’ and want to socialize with them as they would each other. However, then their fear-factor comes in as to how absolutely massive humans are, which is why Nanos abstain themselves from view despite their urge to interact with us… like a war is going inside themselves. Go with willful curiosity? Or go with natural instinct?

Why is this considered a weakness? Well, if a Nano does fuss up to interact with a human (intentionally or accidental), there of course will be humans that are kind, maybe confused, and gentle. Others, as we know, will just be assholes. You know exactly what I’m talking about, which is why this is considered a weakness, and needs no further explanation.

Next weakness, is manipulation. Because of their feeble minds, Nanos are incredibly vulnerable to misdirectory, as when someone gains a Nano’s trust, they gain their trust. Nanos when they allow someone/something into their comfort zone, signals strong loyalty and affection. But, as easily as it can be achieved is as easily as it can be lost.

Their final weakness, which really isn’t too severe in any way, is their vocals: so small in size, Nanos can only vocalize to one another like mice. Air pressure on their lungs causes their pitch to rise incredibly to inaudible, squeaky-grunty chipmunk babble. Gradually, as they do learn language, however, they can minimally speak basic words like “yes,” “no,” or other such words/names. But, their grammar isn’t the best, and will talk much like cavemen, and the factor of their high-pitched voice still stands.

On the topic of vocals: unnaturally, and without any logical explanation on record, Nanos never pronounce proper names correctly, and they never entirely learn how to pronounce them either. The only ones they ever seem to get right are their own and others’ in the Nano species. Sometimes, they’ll never even attempt to pronounce someone by their real name, and refer to them as a single adjective or descriptions along the lines of “bad man,” “big man,” “strong,” “loud,” etc. Once someone/something is given a name, it keeps that name throughout the Nano species.

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Feel free to use in writing/illustration. Do not steal or repost. Be sure to tag me so I can see your work!

Tags if interested - @anqshusxx @pizsospa @depressed-owl-in-narnia @cloud-addict @gianttol @mini-macaroon @tiny-artist-ace @gt-confessions @gt-handhelds @a-sweet-pea @lord-of-the-pastries @so-very-small @sawyergt @sadtinyissad @territorial-utopia