#embodied temporality

[raffaellopalandri]

Temporal Commodification and the Metaphysics of Rhythm: Capitalism’s Assault on Human Time and Dignity

It has become almost banal to say that we live in a time of exhaustion. Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com But this banality disguises the horror of what we are enduring: a sustained assault on time itself, not merely in its measurable, calendrical sense, but in its deeper, existential, and metaphysical reality. This essay is not about productivity, efficiency, or time management. It is about what…

[funeral]

Time destroys all that it creates, and the end of every temporal sequence is, for the entity involved in it, some form of death. Death is wholly transcended only when time is transcended; immortality is for the consciousness that has broken through the temporal into the timeless. For all other consciousnesses there is at best a survival or a rebirth; and these entail further temporal sequences and the periodical recurrence of yet other deaths and dissolutions. In all the traditional philosophies and religions of the world, time is regarded as the enemy and the deceiver, the prison and the torture chamber. It is only as an instrument, as the means to something else, that it possesses a positive value; for time provides the embodied soul with opportunities for transcending time; every instant of every temporal sequence is potentially the door through which we can, if we so desire, break through into the eternal.

Aldous Huxley, The Divine Within: Selected Writings on Enlightenment

[the-catch-center]

I. ORIGIN IDENTITY (2025)

Name: Nathaniel "Nate" Carter Date of Birth: March 12, 1993 Origin Point: Houston, Texas, United States Profession: Personal Trainer and Amateur Bodybuilder Psychological Profile: Highly ambitious, narcissistic tendencies, obsessive focus on physical perfection, and a deep-seated desire for recognition and fame.

Summary: Nathaniel Carter was a product of the 21st-century self-optimization culture. His life revolved around sculpting the ideal physique, not for health, but for adulation. Dissatisfied with his reality, he sought to rewrite his existence by exploiting temporal loopholes, aiming to implant himself into a past where his idealized version of success could be realized.

II. INTENDED TEMPORAL INSERTION (1975)

Alias: Chadwick "Chad" Thompson Target Date of Birth: June 6, 1957 Insertion Point: Des Moines, Iowa, United States Intended Role: High School Football Prodigy transitioning to a collegiate athletic career Physical Blueprint: 6'4", 245 lbs, muscular build, clean-cut appearance, embodying the archetype of the 1970s American football star. Psychological Conditioning: Assertive, competitive, disciplined, with a singular focus on athletic excellence and the pursuit of national recognition.

Summary: Carter's plan was to become the quintessential all-American athlete of the 1970s, leveraging his knowledge of future sports strategies and training methodologies to dominate the era's football scene. His ultimate goal was to secure a legacy as a sports icon, complete with endorsements, fame, and the adulation he craved.

III. INTERCEPTION AND REASSIGNMENT

Interception Date: April 14, 2025 Location: Temporal Transit Corridor 7B Reason for Interception: Unauthorized temporal insertion with high risk of causality disruption. Reassignment Protocol: Subject rerouted to a timeline and identity with minimal historical impact potential.

IV. ASSIGNED IDENTITY (1990s)

Name: Giovanni Bianchi Date of Birth: April 14, 1944 Assigned Location: Modena, Italy Profession: Opera Singer (Bass-Baritone) Physical Characteristics:

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 290 lbs

Build: Broad, burly, with a prominent abdomen

Hair: Sparse, with a receding hairline and balding crown

Facial Hair: Full beard stubble

Body Hair: Dense chest and shoulder hair

Feet: Size 28EE, intentionally disproportionate for biometric tracking

Psychological Profile: Grounded, passionate about music, family-oriented, with no recollection of previous identities.

Summary: Giovanni Bianchi is a respected opera singer known for his powerful bass-baritone voice that resonates with audiences. He leads a modest life, deeply rooted in Italian culture, with a loving wife and three children. His daily routine includes rehearsals, performances, and family gatherings, embodying a life of stability and artistic contribution.

V. TRANSFORMATION PROCESS

Mental Reconditioning: Subject's memories were systematically overwritten, replacing all traces of Nathaniel Carter and Chadwick Thompson with those of Giovanni Bianchi. This included fabricated memories of childhood in Italy, conservatory training in Vienna, and a flourishing opera career.

Physical Alteration: Utilizing advanced morphogenic technology, the subject's physique was transformed from a lean, athletic build to a robust, middle-aged form. The process included:

Redistribution of muscle mass to increase body girth

Induction of male pattern baldness

Enhancement of vocal cords to produce a deep, resonant voice

Augmentation of foot size to 28EE for identification purposes

Summary: The transformation was executed seamlessly, with the subject exhibiting no resistance due to the complete mental reconditioning. The new identity aligns with the SCC's objective of minimizing temporal disruptions by integrating deviants into low-impact societal roles.

VI. CURRENT STATUS

Family: Married to Lucia Bianchi; father to two daughters and one son. Career: Performs regularly at regional opera houses; teaches vocal techniques to aspiring singers. Community Standing: Well-respected figure in Modena's cultural scene; known for his generosity and mentorship.

Notable Irony: Giovanni's son, Marco Bianchi, exhibits exceptional talent in American football, eventually securing a scholarship to a U.S. university in the early 2010s. This unintended echo of the subject's original aspirations serves as a testament to the unpredictable nature of fate.

VII. OPERATIVE'S NOTES

Observations: The subject's transition from a self-absorbed fitness enthusiast to a humble opera singer is both effective and poetic. His current life, centered around art and family, stands in stark contrast to his previous narcissistic pursuits.

Commentary: It's almost amusing how the universe finds balance. Carter sought fame through physical prowess, yet now his voice—a tool he never valued—is his most celebrated attribute. The oversized feet, a permanent reminder of his temporal transgressions, ensure he remains grounded, both literally and metaphorically.

VIII. TERMINATION PROJECTION

Projected Date of Death: August 22, 2019 Cause: Natural causes (myocardial infarction) Location: Modena, Italy Remarks: Subject will pass away peacefully in his sleep, surrounded by family, leaving behind a legacy of music and mentorship.

[boredtechnologist]

Zero Time Dilemma: Where Free Will Dies Screaming

"If you remove all the pieces of a ship, one by one, is it still the same ship?"

That’s not just a dorm-room question for philosophy majors - it’s the silent scream at the heart of Zero Time Dilemma (2016). The third entry in Kotaro Uchikoshi’s Zero Escape trilogy isn't just the darkest - it’s the most disturbed, fragmented, and meta-aware. A game that doesn’t just tell a story - it gaslights you into questioning whether the story ever existed at all.

Beneath its pseudo-Saw setting and logic puzzles lies a game obsessed with one terrifying question:

What happens when a person becomes aware they are a variable in someone else's equation?

Fragmented Consciousness as Horror

Unlike its predecessors, Zero Time Dilemma doesn’t let you follow one linear path. Instead, you bounce between timelines and memory fragments - completely out of order. This isn’t just narrative novelty. It’s weaponized disorientation.

You, the player, are forced to simulate the experience of temporal dissociation - a horror that mirrors real-world psychological conditions like dissociative identity disorder, PTSD, or memory repression. You wake up in a new “fragment” without knowing what your past self did. You watch the same character die in three different ways. You solve puzzles to try to prevent an outcome you already witnessed.

You are complicit. And yet, never in control.

That’s the dread: Zero Time Dilemma doesn’t ask "What would you do?" It says: "You already did it. And it didn’t help."

Free Will as a Lab Experiment

The Decision Game - the core premise - operates on the illusion of choice. But like Schrödinger's cat, each decision you make is a quantum state: both right and wrong until observed. The real horror is realizing that even your agency is a variable in someone else’s algorithm.

Characters aren’t making decisions. They’re being watched, measured, split across timelines like cells under a microscope. Every death is an iteration. Every betrayal is a test result.

The mastermind Zero isn’t just an antagonist. He’s a surrogate for the player, the developer, and the narrative algorithm itself. The game hints that causality has collapsed. That time isn’t a line but a mobius strip soaked in blood.

If 999 was about survival, and Virtue's Last Reward about trust, then Zero Time Dilemma is about despair as design. It’s a world where your only role is to suffer well.

Identity Is a Lie Told by Continuity

Characters in ZTD begin to suspect they are not singular beings. This isn’t just sci-fi - it’s existential dread. Sigma and Diana face a future where their souls are uploaded, duplicated, fragmented. Phi is born of paradox. Akane becomes myth. Q isn’t even sure if he’s human.

The deeper horror? The more they learn, the less human they become. Knowledge severs their emotional grounding. In the real world, identity is formed by memory, morality, and embodiment. In ZTD, those are just file properties - subject to overwrite.

Ask yourself: If you're distributed across realities, and you only exist in pieces, are you still a person?

Or have you become a narrative function?

The Player as God - and Monster

This is where the meta-horror cuts deepest.

You, the player, are orchestrating this suffering. Your omniscient perspective gives you power - but it’s cold, detached, and amoral. You’re not solving for justice. You’re solving for completion. You need to unlock every outcome to unlock the truth. Which means forcing every character to endure every possible trauma.

Kidnapping. Betrayal. Murder. Regret. You press "Continue" as they scream, just to see what happens next.

You’re not playing God.

You’re playing Zero.

And the game knows it.

The Psychological Toll of Absolute Knowledge

The deeper you go, the worse it gets. ZTD reveals that full awareness across timelines is not empowerment - it’s psychic decay. Phi, Sigma, Akane - all show signs of wear. They become ritualistic, obsessed with timelines, detached from the emotional weight of death.

Their empathy erodes. They become more like the player.

It’s a rare game that dares to say this:

“Knowing everything will not save you. It will destroy you.”

Zero Is Not a Villain. Zero Is a Mirror.

In ZTD, the villain isn’t a twisted genius - it’s the system itself. The escape room. The timeline. The branching logic. It’s the framework of the narrative, and you, the player, are the one making sure it runs to completion.

In the final analysis, Zero Time Dilemma becomes a kind of theological horror. A game where God has been replaced by a sentient flowchart, where the soul is just a conditional flag, and where hell isn’t punishment - it’s repetition.

And maybe that’s the darkest thing of all:

You didn’t come here to save them. You came here to watch them suffer in every way possible. And the game made sure you had no choice.

[starlit1daydream]

Maids & Sylphs: Maintenance & Generation

There's no need to justify the meaningless destruction~...

Yeah, I love that song.

This is a little bit of a contentious one, since there's an extant debate about the Class pairings with these two; but Maid:Sylph works best for me, so that's what I'm going for.

The Maid:Sylph class dichotomy embodies maintenance, generation and responsibility. They operate alongside their Aspect to ensure it functions correctly, a caretaker for it; being able to both generate it freely and keep it from going awry after their arc is done.

They're also defined by quite an interesting and consistent character arc in two parts - that I'll go over in the narrative section. It involves a lot of denial of their Aspect.

Canonical Maid players are Jane Crocker (Maid of Life), Aradia Megido (Maid of Time) and Porrim Maryam (Maid of Space).

Canonical Sylph players are Kanaya Maryam (Sylph of Space) and Aranea Serket (Sylph of Light).

So, let's get to Point A - the Maid's narrative function.

The Maid is defined by an overworking at the hands of their Aspect; they are, simply put, made to use it and work with it tirelessly without ever being able to have it.

Their relationship with it is exclusively defined by others, with no opportunities being given for them to forge their own stance on their Aspect; it's alien to them, all they know of it is what they're made to use it for.

Jane Crocker, the Maid of Life, indoctrinated and kept in the dark thanks to an oppressive regime that would see her stripped of agency; her life under constant threat of assassination as she denies any and all conspiracies under her nose.

Aradia Megido, the Maid of Time, puppeteered by the deceased and the forces of death themselves, tossed around throughout states of mortality whilst forced to shelve her own intrigue in archaeology. No interest in the past is granted on her own merits.

Porrim Maryam, the Maid of Space, denied an intuitive chance to make her own way with femininity because of Beforus' oppressive patriarchy; her opinions left unheard as she slaves away in the jadeblood caverns. Her own gender and curation of the Space around her, inaccessible.

This is followed by a stage of personal growth wherein the Maid sheds the shackles and works with their Aspect independently. They awaken into a new power with their Aspect as their steward and responsibility; and now they work for it because they want to.

Jane Crocker ends the story having inherited control of her own Life; she's CEO of CrockerCorp and has no oppression left to control her and regulate her agency.

Aradia Megido ends the story having become a caretaker of the afterlife, Maid of Time taking responsibility to keep the deceased in check and fondly regard extermination.

Porrim Maryam ends her story having become a garrulous and opinionated advocate whose sexual freedom and comfort in her own gender identity goes hand in hand with her views on feminism and patriarchy. (she's also trans, but you didn't hear that from me)

Point B - the practical function of the Maid.

This one's fairly simple, given we have two whole examples to work with and they both have their own moments of badassery.

Jane can create Life. Though she expresses that, uh... questionably, with her rather clear-cut wishes towards Jake in Trickster Mode; she also expresses it literally. The overload of her Life powers leads her to turn the desolate and barren LOCAH into a thriving wilderness, teeming with Life. What's more, she can give Life to those who have lost it.

Aradia can create Time. We see her freeze Jack Noir in temporal stasis, using her Aspect and generating Time for her cohorts both literally and metaphorically after the fact.

Porrim, speculatively, could create Space. Think Jade, but less overpowered.

The creation of their Aspect leads directly to their maintenance of it, one does not just make something new and then leave it to rot; you have to take care of it, allow it to grow and keep to the right path.

Point C, the narrative function of the Sylph.

Like most other passive Classes, we're flipping the active counterpart on its head for this one.

Whereas a Maid is defined by a working relationship with an Aspect they never get to know, the Sylph is an opposite. They hold such a breadth of knowledge and desire to help with their Aspect, but nobody lets them.

Kanaya is desperate to curate the Space around her and meddle with it, through her fashion expression to her interest in gardening, and keeping her friends in check, but nobody allows her to. She's shunned merely as the auspistic 'vvillage twwo wwheel devvice' and decried as a meddler 'til she starts putting her foot down and sawing incels in half.

Aranea is desperate to be seen, to be given Light; she merely wants attention and acknowledgement from her friends - because she literally just fucking wants to talk about the things that interest her for more than five minutes. She keeps repositories of knowledge, adores giving exposition, and is pushed into ignorance and oblivion 'til she resorts to throwing planets with her brain.

This is not to say that the Sylphs are... completely justified; because their growth comes in the form of acknowledging that their Aspect needn't always be meddled with. The Maid allows their Aspect to grow on its own, but the Sylph is compelled to interfere and change it because 'they know best'.

Kanaya meddles even when it's condescending, unaware of her own shortcomings in that regard; making glaring errors in her curation of Space that lead to the termination of relationships (Vriska) that she refuses to even give an explanation for.

Aranea heals Light even when she shouldn't, intruding on personal boundaries and consent through her Aspect. She freely shares information about her cohorts that really should be left in the shadows, sometimes, and breaches both Jake & Terezi's wishes by 'fixing' their disabilities, per se.

...She was totally justified in throwing planets, though.

Point D, therein, is the practical function!

This is interesting, because Homestuck equates passive creation with healing. The Sylph less actively generates their Aspect and moreso fixes it, making them a sort of Anti-Prince in a sense.

Kanaya, we have less material to work with given her lack of a God Tier status; but it sounds to me like healing Space seems inherently tied to her awakening as a rainbow drinker (repairing her own role in the narrative after her death) and the curation of Space through removing things that could harm it.

Aranea, however, is clear-cut. She heals Light by healing any disabilities that would impair someone's desire to see or understand truth; Terezi's blindness leaves her unable to see, and Jake's brain injuries leave him unable to understand; in Aranea's eyes, anyways. (I'd argue she's a very reductive and possibly passively ableist viewpoint, but I digress).

It's a form of creation, for sure; but it's directed towards others just as a Passive player does. I find them really interesting, especially just because of the limited material we've got; I would've loved to see a God-Tiered Kanaya. Alas...

Anyway, by now, I'm sure you all know what's coming for you next week. I'll be on schedule this Time, so clear out some Space in your schedule.

(Oh, Lord, that was cheap. At least it was probably aMuseing to a few of you, hell if I know).

[chaolimez]

Here’s my newest Sonic-sona! I think she really embodies my personality haha

Meet Maven! A maned wolf who receives temporal hints where she can see possible outcomes of future events. However, these events are never guaranteed which causes her lots of stress. Although she’s a bit clumsy and stumbles through life, she has a kind soul and always helps her friends when they need her!💚

[sepublic]

The Titan paralleling Adam from the painting and not God is interesting to me, like it really emphasizes in the end that he was a mortal, just some guy, and the forebearer of other mortals; His direct descendant is ‘immortal’ in a lifespan sense but still very capable of dying and even human, for lack of a better term. One could say the Titan committed a ‘first sin’ by trapping the Collector, which then hurt her descendants (because being Bigender, the Titan would also be Eve wouldn’t she?) when the Collector was left vulnerable to Belos’ manipulations.

I think it emphasizes that the Titan is not God, she’s a flawed mortal, even after the comparisons to God and Jesus and whatnot with Luz’s resurrection; Because the reference are ultimately tongue in cheek, and about exploring the positives of Christianity and embodying the compassionate spirit, without being an actual official Christian and all of the other baggage that Dana criticized in Belos.

It was about Luz living the closest thing she can to her fantasy for a moment; But it can never truly happen and it shouldn’t, and she’s quite fine with that, after the guilt from the time loop Philip called ‘destiny’ and King’s existential crisis. Hence why Luz has to make being a Chosen One happen, rather than the Titan deciding it for her before Luz was born. There is no higher entity imbuing meaning or laying out destiny, the time loop was just temporal physics preventing a paradox, things just happen without any grand purpose or design to it.

Likewise, given my analysis on TOH expressing Dana’s relationship with Christianity, this could also be a nod to that; Dana having a complicated relationship with the idea of God in her life, and the Titan being a way to explore that. And fittingly it’s reiterated in the idea of a mortal reaching out to understand the connection there.

[geometrymatters]

The Polynon: A Geometry of Consciousness

How Consciousness is a fundamental substance and everything else, including the Observer, is it's function of self-reflection within a complex construct and hologram.

Introducing the polynon:

A polynon is a conceptual geometric entity, a polytope of which vertices are non-events and its edges, holograms. A polynon contains all the holograms of that which can be projected as a polytope. From tetranon to dodecanon, and special cases such as dinon and nullanon.

The epistemological foundation of the polynon is a non-event, hence multi (poly) non-events. The ontological foundation is a noumenon, both in its negative and its positive aspect.

Collapsing the noumenal realm into a single dimension results in the conceptual noumenal monad, where the perceptual border is equal to the infinity of noumenal possibilities, as well as the phenomenal something.

Or, as "a cercle with the centre everywhere and circumference nowhere". A monadic embodiment of the thing and the non-thing, the visual expression of the substance of consciousness.

The neutral monistic approach enfolds the ancient knowledge of the self, and the contemporary science of consciousness, from a Vedantic self reflected in Indra's net, to a multi-dimensional implicate and explicate construct of Bohmian orders.

Also encapsulated in the formulation f(f)=f, akin to an Ouroboros mathematical formulation symbolizing a form of autopoiesis or self-production ad infinitum, a self-referential Fichtean process where the self (I) is both the creator and subject of its reality.

The eternal aspect of consciousness, a timeless monadic essence, is described as the perceptual continuum of f=0, signifying pure, timeless potential.

"Eternity isn’t some later time. Eternity isn’t even a long time. Eternity has nothing to do with time. Eternity is that dimension of here and now that all thinking in temporal terms cuts off." - J. Campbell

The wavefunction is defined here as a layer of the noumenal monad, a transition between epistemological and ontological, given by the limits of the Observer's senses and perception.

In this context, |ψ(x)>*n, with n not strictly equal to 2, transcends its conventional mathematical role within Hilbert space and diverges from standard quantum mechanics, suggesting that different values of n represent distinct dimensions or layers of noumenal collapse.

Each wavefunction is a layer of the noumenal lens, of which border is (n+), or consciousness C; it’s contents are negative noumena (n-) and it’s holographic centre “collapsed” onto a phenomenal Observer O(n) as function of noumenal self-reflection of consciousness.

Furthermore, the Observer is envisioned as a holographic projection sitting at the core of the noumenal lens, emerging from the focus and diffraction of noumenal probabilities within the noumenal lens.

The perceptual border of positive noumena (n+) reflects and focuses noumenal probabilities (n-) into the hologram of the Observer O(n).

A rotation of noumenal lens reveals the noumenal essence (n+), hidden under the superposition of the noumenal lenses (n-) and the hologram of the Observer O(n).

The observer’s perceptual focus, directed through Cognitive Gravity G and visualized with noumenal g(n) and cognitive gradients g(r), refracts the essence of Consciousness, transforming noumenal vertices into discernible edges like light through a prism.

As the number of noumenal collapses increases, the complexity and breadth of the observer’s perceptual dimension diminishes, resulting in a progressive refinement and narrowing of perceptual prowess of the observable construct.

A cognitive threshold marks the evolution from a purely phenomenal observer to one with phantasiai and developed cognitive functions. This threshold varies according to the local conditions of the observer’s cognitive gradient and gravity and the overall noumenal function.

The hologram of a polynon enfolds within it the reflection of the noumenal substance, that both originates and reflects consciousness. It encapsulates the entirety of consciousness in each of its vertices and edges, as projections into a perceptual reality.

The concept of “consciousness nodes” describes (n+) zones between noumenal lenses (n−), revealed as vertices of the polynon, equal and identical in nature.

The Observer O(n) is in superposition with the phenomenal p+, epiphenomenal or phantasiai p-, negative noumena n- and noumenal vertices (and centre) n+ of the hexanon as a function for self-reflection of consciousness C.

The polynon is abstract and elusive, residing beyond human imagination yet within its grasp. No heavier than a fleeting idea, but far too heavy to be understood. A palindrome for language and thought, mirroring itself in perpetual paradox. Beginning the same way it ends.

From the "Polynon: A geometry of Consciousness", by Tib Roibu Read the paper here.

[deadpresidents]

"Lastly, I would like us all to consider some important tasks for the present historical moment, since we desire a positive change for the benefit of all our brothers and sisters. We know this. We desire change enriched by the collaboration of governments, popular movements, and other social forces. This too we know. But it is not so easy to define the content of change -- in other words, a social program which can embody this project of fraternity and justice which we are seeking. So don't expect a recipe from this Pope. Neither the Pope nor the Church have a monopoly on the interpretation of social reality or the proposal of solutions to contemporary issues. I dare say that no recipe exists. History is made by each generation as it follows in the footsteps of those preceding it, as it seeks its own path and respects the values which God has placed in the human heart.

I would like, all the same, to propose three great tasks which demand a decisive and shared contribution from popular movements:

The first task is to put the economy at the service of peoples. Human beings and nature must not be at the service of money. Let us say NO to an economy of exclusion and inequality, where money rules, rather than service. That economy kills. That economy excludes. That economy destroys Mother Earth.

The economy should not be a mechanism for accumulating goods, but rather the proper administration of our common home. This entails a commitment to care for that home and to the fitting distribution of goods among all. It is not only about ensuring a supply of food or "decent sustenance". Nor, although this is already a great step forward, is it to guarantee the three "L's" of Land, Lodging, and Labor for which you are working. A truly communitarian economy, one might say an economy of Christian inspiration, must ensure people's dignity and their "general, temporal welfare and prosperity." This includes the three "L's", but also access to education, health care, new technologies, artistic and cultural manifestations, communications, sports and recreation. A just economy must create the conditions for everyone to be able to enjoy a childhood without want, to develop their talents when young, to work with full rights during their active years and to enjoy a dignified retirement as they grow older. It is an economy where human beings, in harmony with nature, structure the entire system of production and distribution in such a way that the abilities and needs of each individual find suitable expression in social life. You, and other peoples as well, sum up this desire in a simple and beautiful expression: 'to live well'.

Such an economy is not only desirable and necessary, but also possible. It is no utopia or chimera. It is an extremely realistic prospect. We can achieve it. The available resources in our world, the fruit of the intergenerational labors of peoples, and the gifts of creation, more than suffice for the integral development of "each man and the whole man". The problem is of another kind. There exists a system with different aims. A system which, while irresponsibly accelerating the pace of production, while using industrial and agricultural methods which damage Mother Earth in the name of "productivity", continues to deny many millions of our brothers and sisters their most elementary economic, social, and cultural rights. This system runs counter to the plan of Jesus…

Along this path, popular movements play an essential role, not only by making demands and lodging protests, but even more basically by being creative. You are social poets: creators of work, builders of housing, producers of good, above all for people left behind by the world market….

Governments which make it their responsibility to put the economy at the service of peoples must promote the strengthening, improvement, coordination, and expansion of these forms of popular economy and communitarian production. This entails bettering the processes of work, providing adequate infrastructures, and guaranteeing workers their full rights in this alternative sector. When the state and social organizations join in working for the three "L's", the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity come into play; and these allow the common good to be achieved in a full and participatory democracy.

The second task is to unite our peoples on the path of peace and justice.

The world's peoples want to be artisans of their own destiny. They want to advance peacefully towards justice. They do not want forms of tutelage or interference by which those with greater power subordinate those with less. They want their culture, their language, their social processes, and their religious traditions to be respected. No actual or established power has the right to deprive peoples of the full exercise of their sovereignty. Whenever they do so, we see the rise of new forms of colonialism which seriously prejudice the possibility of peace and justice. For "peace is founded not only on respect for human rights but also on respect for the rights of peoples, in particular the right to independence.”…

Similarly, the monopolizing of the communications media, which would impose alienating examples of consumerism and a certain cultural uniformity, is another one of the forms taken by the new colonialism. It is ideological colonialism. As the African bishops have observed, poor countries are often treated like "parts of a machine, cogs on a gigantic wheel."

It must be acknowledged that none of the grave problems of humanity can be resolved without interaction between states and peoples at the international level. Every significant action carried out in one part of the planet has universal, ecological, social, and cultural repercussions. Even crime and violence have become globalized. Consequently, no government can act independently of a common responsibility. If we truly desire positive change, we have to humbly accept our interdependence. Interaction, however, is not the same as imposition; it is not the subordination of some to serve the interests of others. Colonialism, both old and new, which reduces poor countries to mere providers of raw material and cheap labor, engenders violence, poverty, forced migrations, and all the evils that go hand-in-hand with these, precisely because, by placing the periphery at the service of the center, it denies those countries the right to an integral development. That is inequality, and inequality generates a violence which no police, military, or intelligence resources can control.

Let us say NO to forms of colonialism, old and new. Let us say YES to the encounter between peoples and cultures. Blessed are the peacemakers.

Here I wish to bring up an important issue. Some may rightly say, "When the Pope speaks of colonialism, he overlooks certain actions of the Church." I say to you this: many grave sins were committed against the native peoples of America in the name of God. My predecessors acknowledged this, CELAM has said it, and I too wish to say it. Like Saint John Paul II, I ask that the Church "kneel before God and implore forgiveness for the past and present sins of her sons and daughters." I would also say, and here I wish to be quite clear, as was Saint John Paul II: I humble ask forgiveness, not only for the offenses of the Church herself, but also for crimes committed against the native peoples during the so-called conquest of America.

I also ask everyone, believers and non-believers alike, to think of those many bishops, priests, and laity who preached and continue to preach the Good News of Jesus with courage and meekness, respectfully and pacifically; who left behind them impressive works of human promotion and love, often standing alongside the native peoples or accompanying their popular movements even to the point of martyrdom. The Church, her sons and daughters, are part of the identity of the peoples of Latin America. An identity which here, as in other countries, some powers are committed to erasing, at times because our faith is revolutionary, because our faith challenges the tyranny of mammon. Today we are dismayed to see how in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world many of our brothers and sisters are persecuted, tortured, and killed for their faith in Jesus. This too needs to be denounced: in this third world war, waged piecemeal, which we are now experiencing, a form of genocide is taking place, and it must end.

To our brothers and sisters in the Latin American indigenous movement, allow me to express my deep affection and appreciation of their efforts to bring peoples and cultures together in a form of coexistence which I would call polyhedric, where each group preserves its own identity by building together a plurality which does not threaten but rather reinforces unity. Your quest for an interculturalism, which combines the defense of the rights of the native peoples with respect for the territorial integrity of states, is for all of us a source of enrichment and encouragement.

The third task, perhaps the most important facing us today, is to defend Mother Earth.

Our common home is being pillaged, laid waste, and harmed with impunity. Cowardice in defending it is a grave sin. We see with growing disappointment how one international summit after another takes place without any significant result. There exists a clear, definite, and pressing ethical imperative to implement what has not yet been done. We cannot allow certain interests -- interests which are global, but not universal -- to take over, to dominate states and international organizations, and to continue destroying creation. People and their movements are called to cry out, to mobilize, and to demand -- peacefully, but firmly -- that appropriate and urgently-needed measures be taken. I ask you, in the name of God, to defend Mother Earth. I have duly addressed this in my Encyclical Letter, Laudato Si'.

In conclusion, I would like to repeat: the future of humanity does not lie solely in the hands of great leaders, the great powers, and the elites. It is fundamentally in the hands of peoples and in their ability to organize. It is in their hands, which can guide with humility and conviction this process of change. I am with you. Let us together say from the heart: no family without lodging, no individual without dignity, no child without childhood, no young person without a future, no elderly person without a venerable old age. Keep up your struggle and, please, take great care of Mother Earth. I pray for you and with you, and I ask God our Father to accompany you and to bless you, to fill you with his love and defend you on your way by granting you in abundance that strength which keeps us on our feet: that strength is hope, the hope which does not disappoint. Thank you and I ask you, please, to pray for me."

-- Pope Francis, address to the World Meeting of Popular Movements, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, July 9, 2015.

[vindelllas]

a brief exploration of the atmakarakas 🪻

🩷 note: any information regarding atmakaraka placements should be treated lightly, as a good portion of these celebrities do not have verified birth information. i calculated all of the following celebrities with unverified birth times assuming they were born at noon their time!

brihaspati atmakaraka

🌾 aesthetic: model rockstar girlfriend x guilded glamour

🌾 key components: the femme fatale; the vampy embodiment of s*xuality. expanding on the divine intellect of cyclic and karmic law. "arge-bodied is jupiter, and also tawny haired and eyed, of kapha nature, intelligent and proficient in all shastras"

shani atmakaraka

🪐 aesthetic: the theatrical romantic

🪐 key components: the sensual hollywood starlet. learning how to acquire responsibility and remain afloat during the trials and tribulations of the body, mind, and spirit. "thin and long-bodied is saturn, and yellow-eyed, vata natured, large toothbed, indolent, lame and having coarse hair, o' twice born"

surya atmakaraka

🌞 aesthetic: the golden hour material girl

🌞 key components: of the outshining rays of surya, inspiring the growth in others. the center of the solar system and, thus, the center of attention. called to be the destined authoritative figure they were meant to me by finding humility and calming to their endless desires. "honey-yellow eyed is the sun, square and radiantly pure, o' twice born, of pitta nature, intelligent, masculine, with but little hair, o' twice born"

kuja atmakaraka

☄️ aesthetic: the magnificent mystique

☄️ key components: le féminin indépendant. their brimming beauty attracting vampiric envy from others and, thus, they must learn to set healthy boundaries and protect one's energy. "cruel with red eyes is mars, moving to and fro, of torn form, pitta nature, angry, with a lean medium-sized body, 'twice born"

buddha atmakaraka

🪻 aesthetic: the famed femme feminist

🪻 key components: embodying the misunderstood lalita. the most youthful appearing atmakaraka. fluent in intellect and ever-expanding in knowledge/femininity. "the most excellently formed, of metaphorical speech, and taking pleasure in laughter is mercury, having pitta, having kapha, o' wise, and of vata nature"

shukra atmakaraka

🍓 aesthetic: the renowned, infamous socialite

🍓 key components: the hollywood pin-up. embodying the epitome of venusian luxury and s*xual channeling, but eventually learning to channel their divine intellect away from the temporal/ tangible pursuits of the flesh. "pleasing, lovely formed, the most splendid and beautifully eyed is venus, who is poetical, abounding in kapha, of vata nature and curly haired"

chandra atmakaraka

🌙 aesthetic: the revolutionary (a vessel of subculture in the midst of pop culture)

🌙 key components: of the dark, yin waters of the moon. glimpsing into the realm of the obligatory pilgrimage of the soul. "abounding in vata and kapha and filled with knowing is the moon of round body, o' twice born, auspiciously eyed, of sweet speech, fluctuating and love sick"

🩷 all of these placements were found using astrotheme/.com and/or astro-charts/.com. it is important to note that some chandra (moon) placements may be off by up to 6 degrees and lagnas (ascendants/rising signs) as well, due to the fact that many websites do not have 100% accurate birth times for the given celebrities.

do not worry loves, uttara phlaguni post is on the horizon!

xoxo,

angel 💋

[themotherofrevelation]

Goddessless union is barren co-masturbation. The embodied womban is the living, loving temple of the Goddess. The Divine sustains/fulfills the human soul via love union. If She is not the cuore-croce of the relationship, there is no true fulfillment. Offer the union up to the Terrible Mother. She incinerates temporal illusion; She impregnates Herself with the ash of mortal ego.

[conceptionsofconciousness]

Bharani Nakshatra, the second lunar mansion in Vedic astrology, follows Ashwini, which embodies themes of new beginnings and vitality. While Ashwini symbolizes inspiration and potential, Bharani introduces a contrasting perspective by emphasizing life's limitations and the inevitability of endings.

Governed by Yama, the deity associated with death and transformation, Bharani serves as a poignant reminder that every beginning is accompanied by an end. This nakshatra encourages its natives to confront the fundamental truths of mortality and the ephemeral nature of existence. Through this lens, Bharani promotes a deep exploration of life’s cycles, fostering acceptance of the transition from life to death.

Individuals born under Bharani Nakshatra often experience an inherent struggle within their consciousness as they grapple with the weighty understanding that nothing lasts forever. These natives may face various challenges related to their personal growth, leading to a profound awareness of life's temporality.

The karmic lessons of Bharani require a recognition of the harsh realities that life presents and accepting loss as a natural aspect of growth. As they navigate these challenges, Bharani natives develop resilience and wisdom, ultimately cultivating a deeper appreciation for the fleeting moments that define their existence. This exploration shapes their character and enriches their interactions with the world around them. That is where the beauty associated with Bharani's ruling planet Venus comes into play.

More posts on Bharani Nakshatra

Nakshatra Notes Masterpost (Link collection of all 27 Nakshatras)

[redjademilktea]

Okay one of the few times that whole "PhD student in history" thing is going to be relevant to anything I post here but last night's C3 episode has me feeling some sort of wayyyyy.

Specifically the part where they found those incredibly ancient elven ruins within the cave they were exploring. After barely escaping near-death, and Laudna fresh from deliberately channeling the darkness within her, they stumble across these ruins. Deep within a dark cave where they sought refuge from the harsh storms that plague the unforgiving Ruidian surface. Geodes full of sharp and jagged crystal jut out from the walls of cold, ancient rock. A river coming from some unknown source pouring into a rushing waterfall, leading away further into the depths. Matt did a phenomenal job painting the scene.

There, in those ruins - in that tomb, that crypt - they run across a hauntingly serene sight. Bones from the presumable inhabitants are crushed into the walls, unmoving. Frozen. Sharing the same space in a wonderful, striking, tragic, serendipitous juxtaposition is an enchanted garden. There, in the derelict remains of this once-vibrant space, the vestiges of that past life hold strong. A small bastion of life and healing amidst the monument of death and destruction.

It's within this space of dizzying contrast - air thick with the practically tangible weight of past tragedies - that Laudna finds a doll. A simple doll, devoid of features beyond the bare minimum that helps identify it. A toy, a companion? A relic of some child from so long ago. Laudna likes dolls. She decides - after asking permission - to keep it.

Now within her possession is a ghost. Not a literal ghost, mind you, considering those are in fact a very literal thing in the world Laudna lives in, but a ghost all the same. Through that doll, a child from untold centuries before is reaching, grasping at Laudna. This child, whose entire life, history, and experienced are lost to time - trapped in the past - has managed to pierce that temporal barrier and make themselves known to her.

In addition to this framing of a ghost, the doll can represent another type of haunting. That of a reencounter. Through this doll, this mundane object that often is filed away under the folder of insignificance, Laudna is confronted with the complicated web of violence, trauma, and grief that wraps around both her and the space around her. Laudna loves children. She has a childlike innocence that constantly bubbles at the surface. Yet beneath that is 30 years of unfathomable pain and loneliness.

Laudna, much like the ruins, is at times also frozen. Both physically in her unaging visage and mentally in the way she seems to revert in response to intense trauma.

So, within the confines of this long-forgotten space, the woman who just hours before channelled 30 years of darkness, anger, and hurt into a spell that served to strengthen her tormentor, picked up a doll. A doll that in so many ways symbolizes the innocence and joy that Laudna embodies, surrounded by tragedy.

It was such a beautifully haunting scene.

**If folks are interested, I am referencing the wonderful works of Avery Gordon in her book Ghostly Matters (1997) and Crystal Baik in her book Reencounters: On the Korean War and Diasporic Memory Critique (2019)**

[mdzsxperience]

☾ Lan Wangji's names etymology

Here's a complete post on the etymology of our beloved Lan Wangji's various names. I've always appreciated how authors would give out names that fit their characters so well, which is why I chose to share this.

▷ Lan Wangji Master Profile.

Birth Name - Lan Zhan 藍湛

Lan 藍 (lán) – blue. In Chinese, Lan 藍 is literally blue.

Zhan 湛 (zhàn) – clear, deep. In Chinese, Zhan 湛 from 湛蓝 (zhànlán), azure blu

Lan Zhan’s formal name Zhan 湛 means deep or clear, without impurities. It is often prefixed to the front of the word “blue” to describe the color of sunny cloudless skies, azure. Wangji’s birth name 湛 (zhàn) derives from the 诗经 (Classic of Poetry), one of the Chinese ‘Five Classics’ dating back to the Zhou Dynasty and a core pillar of Confucian thinking, studied by scholars to this day. The common meanings of this word are “deep” or “crystal clear”. The phrase 湛清 (zhànqīng) is often used to describe a transparent personality or state of mind that is in its purest form, with no distractions or obscurities. The name is really perfect for Wangji, as the phrase 湛深 (zhànshēn) can be used to describe a person displaying profound knowledge and/or mastery of skills in a complex field. 精湛 (jingzhàn) also means to be deeply proficient and skilled at something, normally used to address masters and pioneers. Interestingly, 湛 has another pronunciation, dān, which means “happiness” or “indulgence”. A third, rarer way of pronouncing the word is chén, which means “to sink” or “to make extinct”. I think the multifaceted nature of the character 湛 perfectly embodies the deep and complicated being that resides within Wangji.

Birth name is rarely used by anyone other than close family members, teachers, and elders in the family, clan, or sect. Using it implies either a certain type of intimacy or a certain type of seniority over the person being spoken to. Side Note: The fact that Wei Wuxian addresses Lan Wangji as Lan Zhan so early on in their acquaintance would be considered rude.

Courtesy Name - Lan Wangji 忘機

Wangji 忘机 (wàngjī) – to be free of worldly concerns (a Daoist phrase) Wang 忘 means to forget. It may have negative connotations in English because it’s associated with a passive disease and loss of treasured memories. In Chinese, actively forgetting can also be a positive renunciation of worldly troubles, so the character is somewhat more romantic than an English speaker would assume. Ji 機 / 机 is typically used in common speech to refer to machines, mechanical things, opportunities, and worldly things that have many parts intricately connected with each other. In more metaphysical discussions, it implies the intertwined destinies and sophistication of the mundane. To forget the secular calculations and intricacies of the world is to live freely and without distractions; as an antonym of precision, it has heavy Taoist flavors because of its seclusive connotations.

There’s an interesting story behind Lan Wangji’s name. It comes from the last line of a poem by acclaimed Chinese poet Li Bai. The sentence reads “我醉君复乐 陶然共忘机” (wǒ zuì jūn fù lè, táo rán gòng wàng jī), which translates to “I become drunk and you’re merry; in our happiness we forget about all worldly matters”. In my mind, this scene perfectly brings to life Xianxian enjoying a jar of Emperor’s Smile with Wangji in the Cloud Recesses after his resurrection when he is no longer concerned with the vanities of the world. “Wangji” is a Taoist phrase that means “to hold oneself aloof from the world”. The direct translation is “to forget about worldly crafts”. Chinese fans often describe him as “一尘不染” (meaning not be soiled with even a particle of dust) and “不食人间烟火” (a Taoist phrase now used to describe a person who has otherworldly qualities, who does not associate himself with ordinary temporal matters).

The courtesy name, in The Untamed, is given early on. In many wuxia/xianxia novels, characters don’t receive their courtesy name until they are adults. This is a name friends, acquaintances, and peers (those of equal standing) use.

Title - Hanguang Jun 含光君

Hanguang Jun 含光君 (Hánguāng-jūn) 含 (hán) – to hold, to bring 光 (guāng) – light 君 (jūn) – honorific for a gentleman or man or noble character

Hanguang Jun is a title that praises Lan Zhan’s integrity. Jun 君 is a character (literally “lord”) with multiple meanings, but here it is attached to the end of a name to show respect. Wangji’s title directly translates to “noble bearer of light”. 含光 (hánguāng) is also the name of one of three of the most powerful swords in Chinese history/mythology, said to have been under the care of Shang Dynasty emperors. Its blade is described to be invisible, and a mortal cannot see it being wielded with their bare eyes. Later interpretations during the Warring States period described the three swords as symbolic stages of a person’s journey to finding the Taoist path, with Han Guang being the final stage of ‘preparedness to enter the Way’ (入道合体之状). The characters HanGuang 含光 separately and literally mean “hold/envelops light”, and in the novel, it is taken from a widely circulated legend about several of the main characters, which specifically goes like this about Lan Zhan: 景行含光藍忘機 (JingXing HanGuang Lan WangJi). The first two characters are taken from an ancient collection of poems, and describe a person of upright and faultless disposition. The next two characters, Han Guang, refer to a harboring of light. For me, it’s not the light part that’s interesting, but the state of harboring that defines the most significant cultural nuances. It is (or at least was) considered a form of virtue in China if you don’t flaunt your brightness in other people’s eyes; so the polite thing to do, if you’re brilliant as flames, is to shield that light so you aren’t so in-your-face about it.

The title is just what it says on the box. It is used to express respect, but also a certain amount of distance.  Side Note: The young disciples of the Gusu Lan call Lan Wangji Hanguang-Jun because it would be disrespectful for them to address him as Lan Wangji, as they are not of equal standing. When Wei Wuxian returns from the Burial Mounds, he addresses Lan Wangji as Hanguang-Jun because he wants to distance himself from their earlier intimacy to prevent being questioned about his methods. 

Extra thought:

I must give props to Lan Wangji’s actor Wang Yibo. Early reactions from the Chinese audience had some unfavorable reviews that criticized his lack of facial expressions, but later retracted their opinions, because they realized that he was actually doing a superb job with his eyes and his body, considering the limitations. The script gives him very few lines in most episodes. You can see how he looks directly at anyone in the eye unless he’s about to kill you, or (later on) if you’re Wei Ying. If you don’t know him well, he seems unconfrontational with those cold shielded eyes, but as soon as you step over the line (sometimes a line named Wei Ying), you’ll feel the sharpness of that fierce light in his eyes like a blade to your throat. Just ask Fairy the spiritual dog...

Author Note: I am not an expert in Chinese at all, English isn't my native language either - I hope everything is correct.

▷ MDZS Home Page

[ completed ; 17/07/2024]

★ ⁺. ໒꒰ྀི｡- ˕ -｡꒱ྀི১ ૮꒰˶ᵔ ᗜ ᵔ˶꒱ა ˖⁺‧₊˚

[girls--complex]

Say more about your favorite tarot card [ judgment]

It's my favorite because it corresponds to a certain quality of somatic-psychic-spiritual experience that I have been lucky enough to enjoy a few times in my life and I know it correlates because it always always finds me there. And trying to describe it verbally is maybe silly because it's an archetype.

Judgement traditionally depicts the mass resurrection at the end of days which in my mind is mythopoetic but was a literal eschatology to many medieval peeps and is to some contemporary peeps in a different shape. On a theological level I love that it is a corporate resurrection that includes the full scope of the earth (sometimes animals too) and suggests redeemed material creation-- mythopoetic expression of apokatastasis. The quality is joyful and not "Left Behind" scary and twisted.... These R things contemporary "rapture" mythos downplay I think 2 preserve a mindset of personal distinction? But from a natural law standpoint it's true, all things included in the body of God from eternity to eternity, all things redeemed together, all things burned up in Heaven together forever.

On the archetype level it shows us 2 visual planes, one of celestial beings and one of newly awakened dead. So represents a moment of tangible contact between earth and sky, quick and dead, temporal and eternal, natural and supernatural, matter anointed (or totally saturated saturated) with sacrosanct Mind. More rarely judgement has been depicted as a stampede under a prominent skyscape which represents meaty, epileptic movements of a heart momentarily unified and steadied together under a wide awareness that contains the animal bodies and so much more. Sooo it's a picture of integration that is both spiritual and lofty and also intellectual and illuminating and also embodied and tangible. And this is always when the card finds me when this is happening to me or within my sphere or to some psychic animal that I exist inside of.

I hesitate to say all this because bringing rationality into a nonrational process might hurt it, but I hope by sharing I can help someone become a better wizard. Yeah? I would love to read something like this about every card. I'm trying to understand Hanged Man and Justice on this level because they also like to attack me but their meaning is secret right now.

[whencyclopedia]

Wihio Tales

Wihio tales are the Cheyenne legends featuring the trickster figure Wihio, who appears, variously, as a wise man, fool, villain, or hero and is associated with the spider. Wihio Tales continue to be as popular with the Cheyenne today as they were in the past as they entertain while also teaching valuable cultural lessons.

The Wihio Tales of the Cheyenne are similar to the Iktomi tales of the Lakota Sioux nation, and both Wihio and Iktomi (also known as Unktomi) share similarities with trickster figures of other Native peoples of North America, including Coyote of the Navajo and Glooscap of the Algonquin. Like these others, Wihio may often be depicted as a fool who cannot understand the simplest instructions or as a clever clown or sage, but, in every case, his stories involve some form of transformation while also serving as teaching tools.

This transformation can be as simple as learning not to trust in the goodness of strangers or not counting on outcomes one is not certain of or the suggested change, while seeming simple enough, might suggest deeper themes of a higher nature.

Wihio the Spider

Wihio's name is related to the Cheyenne word for chief and is also part of the name of the Creator – Heammawihio (also known as Maheo/Ma'heo'o) – the Wise One Above. Anthropologist and historian George Bird Grinnell (l. 1849-1938), who wrote extensively on the Cheyenne, notes:

The dwelling place of Heammawihio is denoted by his name, which is composed of the adverb he'amma, above, and wihio, a word closely related to wi'hiu, chief. Wihio also means spider…and appears to embody the idea of mental ability of an order higher than common – superior intelligence. All its uses seem to refer to this mental power…The spider spins a web, and goes up and down, seemingly walking on nothing. It is more able than other insects, hence its name. (Cheyenne Indians, Vol. II, 88-89)

This being so, it may be surprising to read the Wihio tales in which the central character is so often depicted as a buffoon. In Wihio and Coyote, he victimizes the dogs and ducks and is then victimized himself by the coyote, and in The Wonderful Sack, he is both villain and fool as he steals the sack from the Man-of-Plenty but then cannot manage its use. In the Wihio tales presented here, he appears, more or less, this same way.

In Wihio Loses His Hair, he is fooled by two young girls and must think quickly to save face before his family. The Turning Stones and The Back Scraper both depict Wihio as too foolish to remember how to follow instructions. In other tales, however, he might appear wise or exceptionally clever, weaving his various webs of plans, which may – or may not – turn out as he hopes. Whether he wins or loses, though, he still imparts an important message; what that message is, is up to the individual to interpret.

The importance of the number four in the latter two stories here is also seen in other Wihio tales and in many of the stories of the Plains Indians as the number is associated with the four cardinal points of the compass, which were considered sacred. Wihio, in forgetting how many times he has performed the magic – whether in these stories or others such as The Wonderful Sack – suggests he has forgotten the sacred nature of the four directions and so, by extension, his Creator Heammawihio. According to the Cheyenne belief, in forgetting one's Creator, one forgets oneself and suffers the consequences.

Those consequences may be both temporal and eternal, according to the Cheyenne belief, in that those spirits of the departed who had forgotten their Creator – and what was due to others and the created world – could not find their way home to Heammawihio in the afterlife. There is no judgment in the Cheyenne afterlife; those souls who are not welcomed to eternity by the Creator could be said to be those who, in life, failed to remember and follow simple instructions.

In another Cheyenne tale, Enough is Enough, not included here, the character of the Cheyenne Man is associated with Wihio who teaches White Man how to jump into trees on hot days to rest in the shade. In this story, Cheyenne Man remembers the sacred number four, and it is White Man who forgets, becomes stuck in the tree, and eventually starves to death. Whether he is the teacher or the one being taught, the Wihio character reminds the Cheyenne of the importance of observing tradition, of the Creator who established those traditions, and, ultimately, of what is most important in life.

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