#the less sympathetic angle is important for her ability to engage

[renmorris]

I keep thinking about how Harrier's call sign is Firewalker. Not a coincidence in the game where there’s a skill called inland empire.

And I’m thinking how much Laura Palmer would’ve loved Disco. And about her penchant for identifying with violent men. (Her thing with Leo, in the diary)

What I’m saying is Harrier Du Bois would be Laura Palmer's blorbo, her poor little meow meow. She’d get a narrative about addiction and trauma and she’d have a nice shitty guy to safely identify with. She’d think Kim is too good for Harry, just like how she feels she’s not good enough for James and Donna.

[gascon-en-exil]

Oh, I’ve thought of something I can do as regards final(ish) evaluations of FE16. Last spring I made a personal tier list of the series’s lords, and I’m now familiar enough with the four lords of Three Houses to add them. Using the same categories as that earlier post:

S Tier - interesting, narratively engaging, and (usually) fun to use

Dimitri (probably above Micaiah, definitely above Eliwood) - It is so strange to me to see Dimitri end so high up overall, because going into the game there was a lot riding against him. Marth and his various imitators have never interested me much, and Dimitri’s post-timeskip design is so distastefully haggard that I guessed that he’d be distinguished from that lot in ways I didn’t care for either. But like Eliwood before him Dimitri makes the earnest all-loving hero work, splicing it with a lot of background trauma and even more moral greyness that gets to look and feel off-putting for a good half or more of his Part 2. Placing the onus for Dimitri’s change of heart on Byleth’s personality-deprived shoulders is a big letdown, more so when you realize just how much the writing of Azure Moon has to contort itself to make it happen, but at the end of the story he’s well on his way to recovery regardless with the potential for some happy years ahead of him that do not necessarily involve Byleth in any major personal capacity...which is more than you can say for Edelgard. He doesn’t want to conquer the continent but gets the whole thing dropped in his lap anyway, and we can hope he acquits himself better than the likes of Ephraim or Ike when placed in similar situations. And speaking of Ike, I like him less now that Dimitri exists as a same-sex-inclined male lord far more to my personal taste. He may have the marriage endings that Ike pointedly lacks, but not even the game can write around the bond he shares with Dedue without (sometimes temporarily) killing one of them off. Also, lance lord - not as sparkly as light magic, but he’s got some of that too if you’re determined enough.

A Tier - fun unit and may have interesting character potential, but I’m less invested in exploring them

Claude (between Hector and Lucina, approximately) - Delightfully broken as a unit, and even though I could do without the persistent fans that insist he’s got to be bi while ignoring that Dimitri already very much is that’s not so different from the issues I have with the fanboys of Sigurd and Hector and their spiritual successors. It occurs to me that, for all that his naked manipulation of the game’s self-insert is completely unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in a series protagonist, Claude effectively blends a bunch of traits from past characters and still comes out feeling fresh (and maybe just a little evil). He’s got Lyn’s biracial backstory, Quan’s ambitions of conquest with good PR, Lewyn’s wind association and carefree façade, Ike’s simplistic takes on how to fix racism, and the collective no homo-ing ability of the entire cast of Awakening. I like how he’s the quiet political threat waiting in the wings once Edelgard and the Agarthans have been dealt with in Azure Moon and Silver Snow, but it’s a threat the game never belabors since one supervillain house leader is more than enough. That he exists as such while also being the lord with the most effective in-game press and a clear, morally-driven goal in mind is nothing short of remarkable.

B Tier - either overwhelmingly average, or with both strong positive and strong negative aspects that balance each other out

Edelgard (above Corrin, if I’m being charitable) - Ugh. I was tempted to put her lower, but to her credit she is more compelling than Marth and the like. Too bad that half of why she’s so compelling is the inconsistency of her character; the way in which Edelgard is crippled by the game’s writing (a contractual requirement for female lords) is that it asks her to be both an imperialistic, dictatorial villain and a personally and politically sympathetic antiheroine. If only she’d been allowed to be a pure villain character she would have been fantastic, and I might have even ranked her above Claude. Her traumatic past feeds into her motivations such that it allows her to think that she’s doing the right thing even though she’s not (important for any well-written three-dimensional villain), and the revelation in Verdant Wind that her crusade was based almost entirely on false information adds to the dramatic irony and the inherent tragedy of her character. It is my personal belief that Crimson Flower is best approached by following Hubert’s example and going full Evil Overlord with it, and then it becomes so much easier to handle an ending where Edelgard has been set up by the very people who destroyed her family and childhood to throw Fódlan into chaos and replace the continent’s oldest institution and all its former governments with an alleged meritocracy where all her friends - most of them nobility - get to rule everything and she probably won’t live to see it all collapse. But no, on every route you’ve also got to deal with her bizarrely-expressed attraction to Byleth, and this just drags her overall presentation down even as it’s trying (very awkwardly) to humanize her. It’s little wonder that Edelgard is so polarizing, and I can’t say I’m a fan.

D Tier - OP unit, terrible character

Byleth (above Robin) - Like Edelgard, Byleth suffers because the developers couldn’t stick to one script on what to do with them. They’re less of a self-insert than previous Avatars on account of significantly limited customization options, and yet (in theory) more of one because the player can now choose dialogue options at points in the script, usually to no meaningful effect. They’re a mute amnesiac thrust into the role of teacher at a military academy, which lends itself to all sorts of wacky school shenanigans in fandom and allows the player to superimpose a personality onto a mostly blank slate - at least until Byleth is revealed to be the mortal vessel of a goddess and the child twice over/grandchild/sibling/parent of one of the game’s major players who they incidentally also have the option to sleep with. I’m not sure who Byleth is meant to appeal to, really; fans of Avatars will dislike their preset characteristics both as a self-insert and as a unit, while fans who dislike Avatars (like myself) will hate how the writing forces them to be important to the plot and to other characters’ arcs even outside the whole dragon/goddess angle. I would place Byleth over Robin, however, for two reasons. One is that their plot significance is telegraphed from the very first cutscene and not held off until the game’s final chapters, and that on three of the four routes they are clearly secondary to that route’s house leader in overall importance. The second is that their lack of a proper voice unlike all the other characters makes it less irksome than it otherwise would be for me to have to use f!Byleth to bang most of the male cast. In a game that almost completely flubbed its self-insert M/M options and left all the good stuff to Dimitri’s harem and a few miscellaneous guys, I’ll take what I can get.

[segadores-y-soldados]

Uprising: Retcons and Analyses

It’s my lunch so forgive the fast formatting but here we go: Retconning: 1. Jack’s reason for enlisting is now confirmed to be the Omnic Crisis.  Which changes a number of things.  In his original backstory, Jack “wanted to return to the family farm after a brief stint in the Army, but was swept up in SEP, where he met Reyes.”  But now that that’s gone, this makes Jack more “worldly” and more “motivated to fight for change” in the world.  “New” Jack is much bigger, much more global than “original” Jack was.  His sights are not set on returning to Indiana - his sights are set on saving humanity. 2. Genji was not in Blackwatch as far as I am aware.  What is interesting is that this proves that not all Blackwatch missions were undertaken alone, since Overwatch would have also been involved in his rescue (when know Angela was on-hand or close by).  Blackwatch and Overwatch also engage in joint training sessions.  We can see that even though Lena is the main focus of the training, someone is monitoring Genji’s systems in the background.  This effectively CONFIRMS that - at the very least - Jack Morrison was aware of SOME of the Blackwatch missions. This also heavily implies that - coupled with the “complaints by the Japanese government about Blackwatch” - Blackwatch was involved in the fall of the Shimada clan. 3. Liao is either entirely scrapped or has been reworked.  I personally think it’s the former.  They haven’t been mentioned in any comic thus far, and Torb and Rein consider “the old team” to consist of the Strike Team plus Angela. 4. I’m feeling fairly convinced that the promotion angle is getting massively reworked or toned down.  Gabriel’s light banter and sass over Jack’s statues, the lack of voicelines around the promotion, the fact that it is LITERALLY never mentioned anywhere outside of the “original” article makes it fairly clear that - at least on the surface - nobody thinks Gabriel is mad about it.  Gabriel himself acts nonchalant about the differences in their ranks. 5. Lena’s new timeline is VERY SHORT.  Her time as an active agent would have been relegated to the last year of Overwatch’s existence (Present time = 6 years since Fall of Overwatch, Comic takes place “7 years ago”).  This means that propaganda/promotional posters like the one in the Hero animation PROBABLY DON’T EXIST.  Which is like.  Really subtle next level retconning. Analyses 1. “They’re not extremists, Gabriel - they’re TERRORISTS.” How relevant.  I’m convinced Gabriel and subsequently Reaper are now firmly in the Chaotic Gool-Neutral-Evil alignment.  His whole speech about Omnic Rights is FASCINATING for his character because it shows that he is actually sympathetic or understanding of their behaviors on a different level than Reaper previously implied (“Tin cans, a dime a dozen”).  This is VERY GOOD.  His subtle implication that humanity - specifically the UK - has forgotten the origins of rights and freedoms is MASSIVE for him, and reflecting on that through a “minority being abused and denied rights” (a minority he ACTIVELY FOUGHT AND DEFEATED) is HUGE.  This really pushes the theories of Reaper as a “Chaotic Good-Neutral” agent much further, especially if we consider that he may see Talon less as terrorists and more as “extreme anarchists.”  This really greatly aligns with Sombra’s whole mortality alignment and Los Muertos’ “ideals.”  Gabriel is 100% aware (and self-aware) of the issues. 2. Gabriel almost certainly does not want Blackwatch directly involved in this uprising.  His crew is already in hot water, and he has to think about the safety of his agents and their plausible deniability in the face of a UN investigation.  Gabriel’s lines about McCree “being on vacation” and “nothing you need to know” reads as him trying to defend McCree in the event something goes awry with the higher ups, while also giving Jack and Ana the ability to deny information as well.  This, unfortunately, PUTS A MASSIVE TARGET ON HIM AND HIM ALONE.  Gabriel being blamed or implied to be responsible for the fall of Overwatch by other people (namely higher ups) looks more and more realistic and possible. 3. Jack and Gabriel’s relationship (along with their friendship with Ana) is indicated as being deeper and extremely intimate.  Things to note: Jack now being the only character to call him “Gabe” (which Sombra references), Jack being able to pull information out of Gabriel even after Gabriel and Ana engaged in some sassy banter, Jack referring to him as “Commander Reyes” in his discussion with Lena, Jack using the picture of the three of them to remind himself of “what’s important.”  I’m not gonna say this is confirmation of a full on relationship between them, but they are absolutely close.  This, combined with Reaper’s “I know your every move before you even think it” line from Old Soldiers and Reaper calling him “Jack” even after the fallout, is extremely telling.  This is not an ordinary relationship between “coworkers.” 4. Jack listening patiently and calmly to Lena’s speech, being reminded of himself and his passions for defending and helping others...is very good.  Very good for his character.  A little less revolutionary than Gabriel’s speech about Omnics, but good and grounding nonetheless.  This also helps humanize his whole “you need to slow down/okay dad” lines with Tracer in the game as more cute and familial than before. 5. The new timeline is BONKERS.  HOLY SHIT.  So things have started to break down - there’s investigations and complaints against Blackwatch, and growing criticisms against Overwatch.  Other people have speculated that Gerárd has recently died based on the news headlines, but what this means is that the collapse of Overwatch happened FAST: within at least a year, Lena has her temporal problems, McCree leaves, Genji leaves, Ana “dies,” Gabriel and Jack have their “falling out,” etc.  A YEAR.  That’s ridiculously fast for an organization that’s been around for nearly three decades.  This certainly implies that the conspiracy that brought Overwatch down was FAST and THOROUGH.  Sowing the seeds of discontent quickly and efficiently, almost certainly breaking up the “joint-relationship” between Overwatch and Blackwatch within months.  That’s insane.   6.  My friend Sami pointed out that Jack’s office is simple and small - not ostentatious or large.  He literally has nothing but a desk, a massive monitor, and some shelves in there. 7. Jack being willing to step out of line for “the greater good” makes him complicit in ignoring “orders” or breaking “the law.”  This sets up a great parallel between him and Reaper, and other characters like Lúcio, the Junkers, Mei, McCree, and Winston.  And we know that the “higher ups” spun this “overstepping his bounds” as forcing Overwatch as a policing agency onto the world.  Soldier: 76/Jack not being “respected” for his hard-but-morally-correct decisions lends itself well to his jaded, bitter manner later in life. 8. GOD.  DAMN.  TEAM.  UNIFORMS.  YES.  THANK YOU.

[deeppeaceyoga]

Being Luminous: Power, Freedom, and Focus

People Who Accomplish Things

Robert Benchley famously quipped “There are two kinds of people in this world: those who think there are two kinds of people in the world, and those who don’t.”

Many variations on our concepts of self/other are as wryly funny as they are sharply accurate when they pin down the ways we sort our world. For the moment, I’m taking my cue from Mark Twain, who offered this one: “There are basically two types of people. People who accomplish things, and people who claim to have accomplished things. The first group is less crowded.”

Why can’t we accomplish the things we want to accomplish? I’m not talking about a genie in a bottle or to do lists. I mean getting down to what we’re already supposedly doing: the stuff to which we’re sort of paying attention, and sort of really not. It moves around on the desk or in the garage, it keeps us awake at night, nagging us to guilt, anxiety or depression; it hangs around half begun, out of gas, getting dustier and less interesting to us by the day.

It may come as a surprise to hear that yoga is all about this question, especially surprising if you think of meditation as sitting still or somehow being above all that. Sri Swami Satchidananda, in his commentary on the Yoga Sutra, is deliciously mischievous on this point.

“If sitting like a statue is what you call samadhi,” he writes, “all the rocks in the garden must be in deep samadhi.”

Rather, he teaches, a yogi is involved. “You will be useful; you will be active — more active than other people.”

There are two kinds of enlightened people then, those who can turn their intentions into reality, and those who like the feeling of lighting candles. The third chapter of the yoga sutra, which is called vibhuti, or accomplishment, is an instruction manual for that first, less crowded group.

When it comes to taking action, there are several universal human tendencies that can keep us locked in the cage of thinking about a beautiful thing while it hangs out of reach. One of these tendencies is nonchalance, and another related one is overstimulation. In yoga these two states are referred to as

tamas and rajas, or inertia and excitability

We recognize nonchalance by the way we say “whatever” in answer to a question. (Those clever French call it “ennui” – an exceedingly concise word that comes from the Latin phrase mihi in odio est -”it is hateful to me”.) However, we may not recognize nonchalance or inertia when it shows up as doing what “they” tell us to do, punching the clock, taking our pills, and in general “doing our best.”

We know overstimulation when it shows up as wall-to-wall traffic, industrial or urban noise, or a troublesome series of cellphone ringtones and emails. Overstimulation or excitability is also there in buzzing enthusiasm that spends itself in talking or doing errands, or in the display of good intentions that keep us incontestably, busily working even though we’re not getting to what we say matters.

Patanjali’s chapter on vibhuti describes power as the capacity to make the things we see as necessary really happen. Everything that compromises our intelligence, our luminosity or clarity, in the same moment compromises our ability to make things happen.

Accomplishment rests on giving up everything that isn’t focus

everything that compromises us. Practice puts us in a position to see what isn’t focus, to see the point where wanting to do something and doing something part paths.

Dr. Moshe Feldenkrais was one of the earliest scientists to appreciate the “unity of psyche and soma as the ground of our living.”* As a result of his study of learning and the nervous system, he maintained that the ability to engage, disengage, or reverse any activity, even repeatedly, without being troubled by doing so was an important potential of human development.

Feldenkrais called this development “maturity,” and considered it “possible only when there is fine control of excitation and inhibition and a normal ebb and flow between the parasympathetic and sympathetic.”

What he seems to be saying is we’re fully ourselves when we’re not at the mercy of nonchalance or overstimulation, not occupied with fight or flight, calculation or manipulation: we’re flowing with what’s going on at the moment. Mark Reese, Feldenkrais’ biographer observed this “echoes Eastern practices like Tantra.”

Harvard University’s Dr. Joshua Greene published a fascinating paper this summer, “Patterns of neural activity associated with honest and dishonest moral decisions.” He and fellow scientists

designed a study in which participants were given the opportunity to cheat

if they chose to and make money at it without anybody knowing. Using control groups and statistical analysis, Greene distinguished “dishonest” participants by the high number of cash reward answers they gave. With functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) the researchers were able to observe what went on in the brains of people who were cheating, comparing this with the activity in the brains of a group who weren’t.

What Greene and his team found supports Feldenkrais’ “normal ebb and flow between the parasympathetic and sympathetic” as well as Patanjali’s description of vibhuti. In the neural activity of honest people, there was a simple pattern of direct response. However, in the brains of those Greene observed who were dishonest, there was extra activity in the brain not only when they were cheating, but even at the moments when they were answering honestly.

Greene’s work provides a view of ourselves we can all recognize and understand. The fMRIs display the activity of our constant entanglement with an internal version of things we’re justifying and modifying: the distraction and patterning Patanjali says yoga is designed to end.

Like circuitous decisions about when to tell the truth, the stuff on the desk, the stuff in the garage, and the stuff we believe are not separate issues from what we decide is worth doing with our lives – it is our lives. Once we decide we’re going to focus, not just try to focus, but focus without accepting any other result but focussing, we’re going to be dealing with stuff we’ve been really trying to avoid. Practice is a tool to train our attention and break down our faith in the angles we play and how we weigh the odds.

The most difficult thing about dealing with lack of focus is seeing it for what it is in the first place. Lack of focus is so subtly about this moment and so casually about the one after it.

It’s easy to find yourself thinking, how can this moment be the one that matters?

Alcoholics talk about the difference between deciding to stop drinking while continuing to experience the sensation of wanting to drink, and the idea that a medication will make the desire to drink go away. If you rely on the second, I’ve been told, you don’t stand a chance. Being present is accepting how things really are. That’s not done in the big picture, it’s done in this moment, just as Patanjali says, in discerning and giving up attachment to whatever this moment is not.

According to Swami Satchidanada, “One who has achieved this may look similar to anyone else. But the burnt nature of his or her mental seeds is the difference between ordinary people and the jivanmuktas (liberated beings). They also eat, sleep and do everything like everybody else.”

Liberated beings “may be doing anything,” he tells us, like Feldenkrais’ mature adults, “but they are not affected by what they do.” Practice that imagines another freedom, or freedom in another world misses the point. There are “living liberated people,” he says and we should be among them acting in this world. “Liberation is not something you experience when you die. While living, you should be liberated.”

Sober people talk about the only real kind of focus: the chosen and deliberate kind. They describe very well how it happens: you give it not just a lot of energy, but all the energy you’ve got, leaving none for the calculation of what it will take, or how much you can get away with holding back. You go around finding nonsense to cut out, old business to complete and connections to make because it’s going to take more energy to be free than it did to try to be free, and you’ve decided to make it happen.

Quoted and Cited * tamas and rajas translated as inertia and excitability from Dr. Vasant Lad, Textbook of Ayurveda: Fundamental Principles, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 2002.

Moshe Feldenkrais, Body and Mature Behavior: A Study of Anxiety, Sex, Gravitation, & Learning. Berkeley California, 1949, and 2005.

Dr. Joshua Greene, et.al.,Patterns of neural activity associated with honest and dishonest moral decisions. 12506 –12511 PNAS July 28, 2009 vol. 106 no. 30

Sri Swami Satchidananda, The Yoga Sutras of Patajali Translation and Commentary. Yogaville, Virginia, 1978, and 2003.

from Being Luminous: Power, Freedom, and Focus https://deeppeaceyoga.com/wellness/being-luminous-power-freedom-and-focus/