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heloflor · 3 years

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Rogue arc : An analysis of “Abducting Murphy’s law” ’s B plot

So, as I mentioned in one of my fics, I wanted to write a long ass thing about Cavendish’s arc in season 2. Well, here’s part one!

While I said that I wanted to talk about the arc, to be honest I mostly had this episode in mind. “Abducting Murphy’s Law” is not my favorite episode but it does have my favorite B plot (by B plot I mean Cavendish and Dakota). The reason why I love this plot so much is because there’s tons of stuff to talk about, hence this post. So yeah, when I said I wanted to talk about Cavendish’s arc, what I mostly meant was that I wanted to infodump about this episode. Although, I did make a second post about how the reconciliation didn’t feel earned, along with some comments about the arc in general, including how Dakota definitely has some dependance issues but, instead of addressing it, the show tends to validate his fears. I’ll make sure to post both parts around the same time so that, if anybody wants to add or talk about it, they already have all my arguments.

This first half will be in four parts : a short explanation of which scenes I will talk about, one small side note about Bob Block being the least trustable character in this show, one pretty long part about how Dakota is throughout the episode and finally another long part about Cavendish and his evolution during the episode. And yeah, I know I could’ve made the Bob Block part into its own post but for some reason my brain really wants to put it in this post so…

And because I don’t want people to scroll through such a long text to read a tl;dr , here it is now :

tl;dr : - Bob Block is an untrustworthy condescending creep.

- Dakota plays moral support and does seem to believe Cavendish but is mostly worried about what Cavendish is trying to do and is gently trying to get him to give up while trying to stay on his side, as if something like that happened before.

- Cavendish is desperate to prove himself and the world that he’s someone, so when nobody takes him seriously or believe him, he’s willing to take matter into his own hands to prove them wrong.

As for the full post (warning : it’s VERY long) :

So first off, I will talk about four scenes here : the scene on the parking lot, the three scenes at P.I.G. (warning Block, the computer room and the argument in the armory) and the scene with Cavendish leaving. So basically, every scene with the duo except for the dialogue between Dakota and Heinz, mostly because there isn’t really anything interesting to say about this scene, except maybe the fact that Dakota drowns his sorrows in food but that was pretty much expected given his personality and the fact that he literally says in “Missing Milo” that he eats when he’s stressed. Also, leave it to Doofenshmirtz to be vague about why Milo was missing, making it impossible for Dakota to know that there truly was an abduction; just like how in “The Last Day of Summer” in PnF, when he asks Candace if she saw his nemesis, he conveniently doesn’t describe Perry to her.

As for the small part about Bob Block : I don’t trust that guy in the slightest. Firstly, like basically everyone who watched the show already said, this guy gives off a very creepy vibe that makes him scream “villain”. And his design with his teeth + the voice actor’s former roles doesn’t help. Also, I recently re-watched the B plot of “Milo’s Shadow” and Cavendish calls P.I.G. a “clandestine government agency”, and I’m a bit curious about the “clandestine” part.

Secondly, I’ve seen a few people say that Block was hiding something darker because he was “too nice to be a good person” but like…he isn’t nice ??? Not in the slightest ??? Haven’t you heard him talk to Cavendish and Dakota in episodes like “Disco Do-Over”, “Lady Krillers” or “Field of Screams” ? He’s extremely condescending to them. Seriously, he talks to them like they were toddlers. Like, you know that “baby voice” you take to make kids feel excited about something ? He uses the exact same kind of voice with Cav and Vinnie. And the fact that he speaks slowly or him killing aliens while telling Cav that he’s doing the important job doesn’t help with the condescending aspect.

Another thing that I noticed about him is that he tends to be in control of every discussion he’s a part of. In particular, he has a tendency to cut off Dakota when the two are talking. I don’t know why Dakota specifically but in my rewatchs I didn’t notice him do the same with Cavendish. And since we’re on the topic of him being condescending and cutting off : first, in “Walker, Runner, Screamer”, he hangs up on Cavendish without listening to him and secondly and most importantly, in “Parks and Wreck”, not only does he cut Dakota again but he also goes from “I’m 100% listening to what you want to tell me” to “Sorry I’m too busy” in like 5 seconds. Bob Block doesn’t care about them. He isn’t being nice. He’s a condescending ass who borderline gaslight them by pretending to be nice.

Another thing that I’d like to discuss about him is the fact that I’m seriously doubting that he’s related to Mr. Block, which is not reassuring because it would mean that he somehow learned about time travel and time agents etc. But yeah, about the relation with Block : Thing is, Mr. Block is at the head of B.O.T.T. and one of the judges of whatever their court system is. So in other words, he knows about the rules better than anyone. And while he does seem a bit immature at times and in canon went back in time to watch a movie he missed, I don’t feel like going back to meet his ancestors is something he’ll do ? I mean, we know that “don’t cross your own timeline” is a pretty big rule for time agents, and in “A Christmas Peril”, Block seems genuinely surprised to see his future self, which makes me think that he doesn’t do this kind of time-travel much. Also, if he’s willing to go back in time to meet his ancestors, why doesn’t he go back to buy pistachios ? So yeah, I know this is all speculation and for all I know he could have gone back in the past but there’s just something about his character and the situation that makes me go “would he tho ?”.

Also, while I completely agree that it can be possible, I’m a bit surprised about the fact that the family managed to keep the same last name for over 120 years. Like, did every generation had sons ? I know it’s entirely possible but would it happen here ? Or were there daughters who kept their last name after getting married ? Did Block really go back in time to meet his ancestors, leading to them wishing to keep the last name ? As for the physical appearance, aside from the hair, they don’t really have anything in common but it’s expected given the number of years between the two.

One last thing about Bob Block : In “Abducting Murphy’s Law” (you know, the episode that’s supposed to be the main focus of this post), there’s that moment with the character “Toodles” and I genuinely wished I had something to say about this moment, especially with the “I need to look like I’m going somewhere” line but I have no idea how to interpret it (and it’s frustrating honestly). So yeah, this line is here and it’s weird but I don’t know what to do about it.

Now, onto the actual episode (this will be cut in different parts to make it easier on the read, especially for those who wish to read it but can’t take it all at once. So yes, this post is literally an actual essay) :

I. Dakota’s side

1. Emotional support

So in the first two scenes, Dakota does what he always does. I’ve mentioned it in this long-ass post but when Cavendish gets frustrated or angry, Dakota has a tendency to act more laid-back and chill as a counterpoint. I think a good example of that is at the end of “Walker, Runner, Screamer”.

During the entire episode, Dakota looks annoyed or unhappy and yet, in that scene, he’s suddenly smiling. And it’s something that he does throughout the entire show, as if it was his way of “soothing” Cav. And in “Abducting Murphy’s Law”, that’s what he does at first. If you notice, when Cavendish gets angry after Block’s call and throw that metallic pick-up thing on the ground, Dakota closes his eyes for a good second. And when he reopens them, he starts talking about his lunch, going back into his laid-back role as if to try calming Cav down. This is also what he does after his rant a few seconds later, when he immediately offers food to Cavendish after said rant.

And speaking of that rant, I have a few things to say about it. First off, I do believe that Cavendish needed to hear that. Yes, it hurt his feelings, but given what happens during the rest of the episode, it does feel like Cavendish needs a reality check. Also reminder that this is the man who spent years dying ever so often; and on the island, some Dakotas look older than the one we follow in the show. So you’d think that after knowing about all these deaths, he’ll try to be at least a bit more careful. So yeah, while Dakota could’ve phrased things differently, I feel like this is something Cavendish needed to hear at some point.

Secondly, I can understand why Dakota would rant like that. Ever since the beginning of season 2, Cavendish has been complaining about his new job, ever more than the pistachios mission (for which Dakota also didn’t seem really satisfied, given how he easily follows through with Cavendish in “Time Out” and how he complains at the beginning of “Perchance to Sleepwalk”.). And when Cavendish complains, there are a few times like in “Disco Do-Over” or “Walker, Runner, Screamer” in which Dakota doesn’t seem to be very happy having to deal with Cavendish’s mood. Also, keep in mind that we see the duo like every three episodes and that just because they aren’t on screen doesn’t mean that they aren’t working. So for at least a month, given how each “show season” takes place during an “earth season” (if that makes sense), Dakota had to deal with working a shit job with someone who’s constantly complaining about it.

I’d also like to point out that, in “Backwards to School Night”, the line about Dakota not wearing much on Sundays and Cavendish not knowing about it hints that they don’t live together in the future. So that “constant roommates” situation could be new to them; and given how little they probably earn, it’s understandable that they’d rather keep this small “apartment” and share rent rather than splitting to go live in a different place each. In other words, Dakota doesn’t really have much choice but to live with Cavendish and hear him talk about saving the world everyday. Given all that, I’m honestly not that surprised that Dakota ended up snapping and giving Cav a piece of his mind. His patience was bound to run out at one point.

Side note : I’m not saying that Dakota is an easy person to live with compared to Cavendish. Honestly, they probably argued about money at some point due to Dakota’s eating habits and the fact that neither of them seems to know how to cook, so they have to eat out every day. I’m just saying that Cavendish is seen always complaining about his job and Dakota most likely hears him complain much more than we do. And no matter how much you like someone, hearing them say the same things over and over again get tiring. And besides, the argument could work in the opposite direction too. Maybe Cav is tired of Dakota never taking everything seriously; but much like Dakota, he can’t just buy his own place and live alone easily.

Thirdly, I’d like to comment on this face :

Two things to say about this face. First, the most obvious, he’s sad for Cavendish. If the whole “being chill when Cav is angry” is any indicator, Dakota doesn’t like seeing Cavendish be sad or miserable. Besides, this guy didn’t spend years saving Cavendish and trying to always be by his side just to destroy his self-esteem later on.

Secondly, I can’t help but feel like Dakota is also thinking of his own emotions here. As said before, Dakota isn’t very happy with his new job either, as we clearly see in “Walker, Runner, Screamer” (I swear mentioning this episode is turning into a drinking game). While he’s still cheerful from time to time, he went from having a lazy smile as a resting face in season 1 to having a more neutral or tired expression.

But at the same time, Dakota doesn’t really express his frustrations, most likely because Cavendish is much more vocal than him and he’d rather help Cavendish with his emotions than work on his own, like a “you have enough frustration for the both of us” kind of way. After all, we see in season 1 that he tends to shut down and keep to himself, which led to all his frustration in the argument of “A Christmas Peril”, since he wasn’t able to tell Cav why his lack of consideration was making him so angry, especially when Cavendish calls him selfish.

So here, it feels like Dakota isn’t just feeling shitty because Cavendish feels shitty but he’s also dropping his mask and showing more of his emotions, here the fact that he isn’t happy about his current life either. But unlike Cavendish, he’s able to go with the flow and find some contentment in the smaller things.

Now, about the scene at P.I.G.’s office : For the “support” part, there isn’t that much to say. When Block turns Cavendish down and the guy starts feeling bad, Dakota goes back to his supporting role. In a way, he’s acting like in season 1. Except that this isn’t season 1 and he can’t time-travel anymore. So when Cav starts talking about breaking the rules and risking their jobs, Dakota immediately considers his words a mistake and try to stop Cavendish from thinking too much about it.

2. Opposition

So I’m going to cover a part of the last two scenes at P.I.G. . First off, the scene in the computer room. At the beginning, Dakota seems still pretty encouraging with how he reminds Cavendish of what he said about what the ship looks like. But quickly, he starts to make Cavendish doubt himself.

What’s really interesting though is Dakota’s phrasing. When he starts talking to Cav, he says “Maaayybe I suppose but are you really sure you saw what you saw ? I mean…” and then goes on with the reasons why Cavendish might have imagined it. But about that quote, what I find interesting is the amount of incertitude he puts there with the “maybe”, “I suppose”, “are you sure”. It really feels like Dakota is trying to discourage Cavendish from looking for the ship while at the same time trying to stay on his good side by doubting him but not too much. This actually makes me wonder if such a situation happened before, hence why Dakota tries to stay on Cav’s good side.

Side note : “This isn’t my running tracksuit, this is my eating tracksuit!”, he says as if his tracksuits weren’t all eating tracksuits.

Then there’s the scene in the armory. First off, this face :

He keeps that same expression throughout the entire moment, both when watching Cavendish and the guard, and I don’t know how to interpret it, which is frustrating. My best guess is that Cavendish seems in better spirits, which reassures him or something like that. Or maybe the fact that Cavendish still wants to hang out with him to try finding the ship makes him think that Cavendish won’t ghost him. Really, I don’t see why he would smile like that only to start being frustrated again ten seconds later.

As for the argument in the armory; here I’m not going to talk about the main parts of the argument but a few things that Dakota says. Firstly, he again seems to try being on Cavendish’s good side with him saying “I believe that you believe”, though this isn’t enough to convince Cavendish. He also says “maybe we shouldn’t touch those” (not a direct quote) instead of just saying “we can’t touch those” or something like that. So again, he’s more into the “maybe you’re right maybe you’re wrong” area of the argument.

Secondly, I find the line “We’re stuck here. We live here now” really interesting. Like for at the beginning of the episode, this seems like Dakota showing more of his feelings. The way he says “we’re stuck here” first before catching himself and saying “we live here” shows again that he’s not happy with his current situation. Heck, it also means that he’s not just unhappy about the job but also being forced to live in a different time period than his, given that he says “stuck”. So yeah, he’s not happy about the situation and tries to hide it to make Balth his priority.

Thirdly, there’s this expression when he leaves the room and tries to follow Cavendish :

(He looks like a kicked puppy I’m-)

So, when Cavendish leaves the room, he leaves behind an angry Dakota. And yet, barely a few seconds later, we see Dakota trying to follow Cav and his expression is filled with worry. This again makes me think that such a situation happened before, which would be why Dakota is so worried about not being at Cavendish’s side. Like, maybe at some point they had a mission that resulted in a terrible argument and Cavendish ended up trying to solve things alone, only to get injured or even die or something like that. And if something like that happened, that could explain why Dakota is now trying to convince Cavendish to stop looking for the ship without putting Cavendish against him and why he would look so worried when he realizes that he’s losing the battle; especially given how he can’t time-travel now. But again, this is all a complete speculation here. We have no concrete proof that such a thing happened before.

And since we’re on the topic of Dakota trying to be gentle in his approach : I’d argue that Dakota actually believes Cavendish when he says that he saw a ship. This is due to four reasons :

- They’ve been time-travelers for a while and probably saw a lot (just the “milk to death line”. Whatever this is, Dakota saw some shit.); the same way they met aliens a few episodes before this one. So seeing a spaceship wouldn’t be the most surprising thing in the world (Heck, P.I.G. literally has a computer showing all kind of ships they discovered; also the duo once went on the moon given the montage in “Island of the Lost Dakotas”).

- When they’re talking to Bob Block, the boss asks Dakota if he saw the abduction, and while Dakota says no, he starts saying “But if he says he saw it” before getting interrupted by Block.

- In the armory, when Dakota says “I didn’t saw what you saw but I believe that you believe and that’s” before getting interrupted. This line kind of gives off the impression that he does believe in Cavendish and so believe that Cav saw a ship. Though the “I believe that you believe” can definitely be seen as him not really believing him, just like with Cavendish saying “it’s like saying ‘I believe you’re hallucinating’ “

- In the scene when Cavendish leaves, Dakota says “I’m sorry I didn’t believe you in the way that you wanted me to.”. The fact that he adds the “in the way that you wanted me to” again gives the impression that he does think that Cavendish saw a spaceship. It’s just that Cav expects more than just a “I believe that you saw it”.

So overall, there’s the possibility that Dakota does believe in Cavendish. Honestly, the only thing that seems odd is the fact that Dakota doesn’t want to go and try to save the abductee. Though, given the fact that they’re risking their jobs and given the possibility of such a situation happening before, paired with Dakota’s fears for Cavendish’s life and the fact that he can’t time travel anymore, meaning that all of his actions have consequences; I guess it does make sense to some extent that Dakota doesn’t want to save the abductee. He worries more about Cavendish being alive and safe, especially now that he can’t go back. However, I’ll admit that the way Dakota just brushes off the possibility of someone being abducted and in danger does feel out of character. Although, watching “The Substitute” again, the two did leave the classroom without trying to do anything to help the kids against the blob; so honestly I don’t know.

This all leads us to the last part for Dakota :

3. The evolution throughout the scenes

So as I said, Dakota starts off trying to be supportive of Cavendish by being reassuring, but as Cav starts to be more and more absorbed by the idea of proving the ship exists, Dakota starts to distance himself from him by trying to convince him to stop looking. And then comes the last scene, in which all Dakota can do is try to convince Cavendish to stay with him.

Honestly, thinking about this scene, it feels like Dakota already knows that he lost the fight. When he asks “you say that sarcastically ?”, he just sounds tired. Also, there’s how his way of talking changes in the episode. At first, in the computer room, he tries to use facts to convince Cav to stop looking for the ship, talking about how there was some sunlight or how Cavendish got worked up. Then, during the argument on the armory, it’s kind of the same, although the facts that he gives are much more personal this time around with how he mentions that it’s a question of how their actions now have consequences and he can’t just fool around anymore.

Then, during the last scene at the “apartment”, he doesn’t even try to argue about the ship aside from his apology. Instead, he mentions his partnership with Cav and how they’re always able to talk things through, which actually reminds me of how in the scenes when they’re in private they act differently than in public, making it seem like they do communicate quite a lot by dropping their defenses around each other and vent to each other. Heck, the way Dakota says in this episode “We talk it out, we’re a team” really gives off the impression that yes, Cavendish and Dakota do talk things out when they have a big argument. And that’s what Dakota wants to do in this scene. He just wants the two of them to sit down and talk it out; no more running away, no more argument.

But yeah, in this scene, it’s not about the ship. It’s about Cavendish staying with him. And honestly, it feels like something that can be applied to how Dakota is throughout the entire episode. All he seems to care about is if Cavendish is going to stay with him or ghost him. Again, it kinds of falls into the idea that a similar situation happened before.

One last thing that I’ve written down is the fact that Dakota sutters while trying to convince Cav to stay in that last scene. But after watching a few of the previous episodes, Dakota actually has a tendency to sutter when he gets anxious or nervous. As a few examples : the ending of “A World Without Milo” at the beginning of his talk with Elliot, the crossover episode when Cav learns about the island, several scenes in “Escape” (Dakota’s such a mess in this episode).

So that’s all for my breakthrough of Dakota’s part in this episode. Overall, he seems like he just wants to be with Cavendish, and for some reason seems to believe him while at the same time not trying anything to help the abductee. He’s protective, most likely due to the trauma of seeing Cavendish die over and over again for years. In short, that man has some issues that the show should really consider mentioning if season 3 comes around. But I will discuss more about these issues in my second post on the topic.

Now, onto Cavendish :

II. Cavendish’s side

1. Insecurities and evolution before this episode

So let me get this out of the way first : Cavendish is a very insecure guy, and what happened in “Abducting Murphy’s Law” was bound to happen at some point. We see glimpses of it in “Time Out” and “Abducting Murphy’s Law” seems to revolve around it : Cavendish is a guy who seems to have a pretty low self-esteem and who tries to hide it in his way to act all professional and “know-it-all/all-mighty”. We see it in how easily he gets sad in “Time Out” when realizing that his job barely matters, and we also see it when he’s in private with how soft he becomes. Just look at how, at the beginning of the Halloween special, he very easily agrees to follow Dakota’s plan and only calls Dakota a “meanie” for steaking stuff, which contrasts with his “Doughty snackhound” from “We’re Going to the Zoo”. He also shows his anxiety in “Snow Way Out” and is very soft and calming in “Perchance to Sleepwalk”.

So yeah, his attitude outside is more of an act than anything, though I’m not denying that he also gets grumpy because that’s a side of his personality (I wish I had any artistic talent so I could draw Cavendish with John Mulaney’s “When I walk down the street, I need everybody, all day long, to like me so much. It’s exhausting !”, including John talking about his wife after this line).

So all this to say that Cavendish is insecure. And because of those insecurities, he feels the need to prove himself. He wants to be a hero, he wants to feel like a hero, but he also wants others to see him as a hero. Again, “Time Out” shows it well with how quickly he gets obsessed at the possibility of a counter-agent working against him, nevermind the fact that it’s a literal child.

And we see it even more in season 2. Every episode, he complains about how shitty his life became and how unfair it is. In particular, there’s the episode “Free Fall”, his last appearance before “Abducting Murphy’s Law”. In “Free Fall”, he seems even more fed up than usual about his job, and when a drone attacks him, he’s immediately happy that someone, anyone, noticed him. The ending of this episode actually makes me feel sad for him. He’s just so desperate for something good to finally happen to him; and he does deserve better than that. It’s just sad.

It also feels like he’s starting to distance himself from Dakota during the first half of season 2. By that, I mean that they don’t have as much interactions as they did in season 1, which was full of their banter (which is what made them so entertaining to watch). Heck, in “Milo’s Shadow”, Cavendish is shown alone, without Dakota. And in this episode, Cav tries to tell others about the aliens and get some people concerned about it.

Also, he clearly tries to impress the others when telling his story, even if he doesn’t consider them much. As for the other episodes, Cavendish and Dakota are mostly concerned over their mission and as such aren’t seen interact much, aside from like the beginning of “Lady Krillers”; which is a bit of a shame considering how their interactions are the best thing about their plot (but I already have another post ready that talks about season 2 and its issues so I won’t rant about it here).

So in short, Cavendish is desperate for good things to happen to him. He’s desperate to prove himself, he’s desperate to have other people take him seriously for once, he’s desperate to have a better life than that. During the first half of the season, it feels like this is what they were trying to show. And it all culminates in “Abducting Murphy’s Law”.

2. His evolution throughout the episode

So I’m going to do one big part here, going scene by scene.

Parking-lot scene :

So, in the first scene, Cavendish is the same as in previous episodes. He’s not satisfied with his job and wishes for more, in particular recognition for his previous actions in season 1. He’s (rightfully honestly) having a hard time accepting that this is all he gets, and when Dakota gives him a reality check, it only makes him feel worse.

Then there’s the encounter with Scott. This one’s pretty interesting. Alright so first off, it seems that Cavendish considered what both Dakota and Scott told him and decided to try and stop sulking, trying to see a more positive side of his situation. Though, it’s very interesting how he says “but how ?” right before seeing the UFO. In a way, it also really shows the difference of mentality between him and Dakota. Dakota has accepted that this is all he’ll get, and while he’s not happy about it, he decides to try seeing the good in smaller things. Cavendish on the other hand doesn’t seem to be able to do the same. Heck, when Dakota does it at the beginning of the episode, Cavendish sees it as Dakota lacking ambition; which in itself isn’t actually wrong since Dakota really doesn’t seem to want much from life aside from having fun and being with Cav.

Then, there’s also the line “Loss can lead to new adventures”. What I love about this is how, when we start the episode, the “loss” is more about how Cav is feeling. I mean, even Cavendish says that he needs to stop sulking after hearing this sentence. But then we watch the end of the episode and suddenly “Loss can lead to new adventures” has a brand-new meaning. And ouch. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love it, but still, ouch. Though, to be honest, I do wonder if at some point during the episode, Cavendish realized that “loss” could also mean leaving Dakota behind. Honestly tho if Cavendish repeated the sentence during the separation it would have been some amazing angst. But I’m getting off-topic.

Afterwards, there’s the abduction. When Cav sees it, he reacts exactly like he did at the end of “Time Out” and “Free Fall” : he gets excited and touchy, ignoring what Dakota says as he’s too taken from seeing this as a new opportunity to prove himself worthy of a better life. Thinking about it, it’s actually both funny and sad how he seems to care more about people seeing the ship and promoting him than the fact that someone was straight-up kidnapped by aliens (what’s up with Cavendish and Dakota not caring about people’s lives in this episode ? Though, given how they were in early season 1, I guess they just don’t care for the people they don’t know, do they ?).

Though, Cavendish mostly thinking about a promotion does fit his character. Again, he’s now desperate for recognition. In the spun of the moment, it isn’t about someone getting abducted, it’s about him being a hero again.

One last thing that I want to mention, mostly because I don’t really know where to put it otherwise : some scenery regarding Cavendish and Dakota at the end of the scenes. Every single scene with the two of them in this episode ends with Cavendish leaving the frame without Dakota, with Dakota trying to follow him in the first and second scene. Then, starting with the computer room scene, Dakota is left behind, the first time by his own volition as he’s starting to be less and less able to follow with Cavendish’s mindset and get angry about it, then left behind because Cavendish is too far gone into his ideas and prevents Dakota to stay with him, no matter how much Dakota tries to follow him, desperate to set things right. That’s all I have to say about how the characters move into the frames, but I found that to be a very interesting detail.

The P.I.G. desks + the computer room scenes :

Like for Dakota, I don’t have much to say about the second scene. Bob Block doesn’t believe Cavendish in the slightest (and is being a condescending smartass about it; god I hate this guy. He’s great as a character but my god I hate him as a person) and it leaves Cavendish sad and disappointed. But then, Dakota tries to cheer him up, which only prompts Cavendish to try acting against his boss’ wishes. It’s like I said earlier : they have the same mentality as in season 1 in which ignoring the rules had little to no consequences aside from a slap on the wrist, leading them to do what they wanted.

But here, this isn’t season 1 and their actions have consequences. Dakota had realized that and tries to call Cavendish off his goal, but Cavendish is too excited to listen to him. This is the same structure as “School Dance” or “The Little Engine that Couldn’t” in which Cavendish gets his mind set on something. And in these two episodes, Dakota simply follows him without complaining. Heck, in “School Dance”, when the kids confront them about the whole “vampire” business and say “We know what you’re up to”, Dakota replies “Really ? Cause I barely know” which shows that, in this episode, he basically blindly follows Cavendish around, not caring enough about his job to object when Cav wants to do something that goes against what their boss want.

So, because of how they were in season 1, Cavendish is used to act when his mind is set on something. And he’s also used to have Dakota follow him, which might explain why he sounds like he’s taking Dakota’s objections in this scene like a joke. After all, Dakota always let him have his way, even when he disagreed with it. So why should it be different this time around ?

In a way, Cavendish has a certain disconnect, not really realizing the consequences of his actions. I guess that may be due to his previous job or the fact that, with Dakota secretly protecting him all the time, it never occurred to him how badly things can turn out.

One last thing for this scene, about the dialogue with Block and Cav mentioning the need to save the abductee : it’s again a bit unclear whether Cavendish wants to save them because they’re a person in danger or if he’s only thinking about people discovering that he was right and making him a hero. Though, looking back at his facial expression, he does seem genuinely concerned for the person (and I’m actually starting to wonder how he would’ve reacted had he known that the abductee was Milo).

As for the computer scene, again, not much to say. It’s Cavendish focusing on the task he wants to accomplish while Dakota’s just there to be there. Again, we see Cavendish be too obsessed with his task to pay mind to Dakota’s objections. We also see him get irritated when Dakota objects, though not as much as later on, as if he could tell that Dakota wasn’t truly believing him but at the same time thinks that Dakota will keep following and supporting him.

Side note : Seeing Cavendish knowing how to use a computer feels really weird. Like, I know he’s from the future so obviously he knows how technology works without any problem, but this is a guy who walks around with an 1850s outfit and who keeps using outdated expressions. So seeing him use a computer just doesn’t feel right.

The armory scene :

Now we get into the juicy part.

Alright so first off, a side note : “I am a naughty boy !” Cavendish, buddy, please don’t ever say something like that again ! Although it’s pretty adorable to see that dork feeling like such a gangster after “breaking” one rule (I mean, he was allowed in by the guard so it’s not really breaking the rules).

Secondly, like in the first scene at the beginning of the episode, when talking about saving the abductee, he seems more focused on the fact that he’s a hero who needs to save the world. It really gives off the impression that he doesn’t care that much about what happened to this person. He just wants validation and uses the current circumstances to do so. Again, this is just sad (I swear making this analysis is starting to make me feel really bad for Balth).

Thirdly, the line “Come on, partner !”. At first, I thought Cavendish was trying to convince Dakota to help him by reminding him of how close they are. But thinking about it again, I can’t help but see it as Cavendish trying to convince himself that Dakota will help him. I mean, he definitely noticed that Dakota wasn’t ok with what he was doing, no matter how oblivious he seems to be to Dakota’s objections. But up until now, Dakota had a tendency to just shrug it off and follow. So seeing him be so insistent now may have made Cav realize that maybe Dakota won’t follow through this time. So he tries to convince himself that Dakota will come through for him, because they’re partners.

Fourthly, the argument itself. When Dakota starts to interject more seriously, Cavendish reminds him of the obvious : that, when they were time-travelers, Dakota couldn’t care less about the rules. But things are different for them now, actions have consequences, and Cavendish doesn’t seem to truly grasp that. Heck, after Dakota argues that they have responsibilities to keep, Cavendish immediately points the finger at him with the “You don’t believe me” line, which completely changes the direction of the argument. Seriously, Dakota was talking about how they needed to follow the rules to survive in this new time-period and Cavendish starts talking about something that has nothing to do with what Dakota just said. Although, given that these two have known each other for at least like 10 years or so, given how much Cav changed from his design in “First Impressions”, I guess him changing the topic like that might be due to him knowing Dakota well enough to understand that, when Dakota objects to him like that, it’s because there’s a lack of trust there.

As for the rest of the argument, I guess this is mostly Cavendish’s desperation and obsession that are speaking. I mean, Cavendish is never taken seriously by anyone aside from Dakota. So here, when Dakota doesn’t support him like he expected him to, this is probably the last straw for him. He isn’t willing to listen to Dakota’s excuses, cutting him mid-sentence. And if Dakota’s face is any indicator, he can clearly tell that Cav doesn’t want to listen and that he’s losing the battle.

Cavendish has made up his mind. He knows what he saw, he knows that aliens are on earth, kidnapping people; and if nobody, not even Dakota, is willing to listen to him, then he’ll have to prove them all himself, no matter the cost.

The ‘leaving’ scene :

Then comes the last scene, with Cavendish packing his bags. Again, he isn’t willing to listen to Dakota. He made up his mind and he’s determined to find the UFO. As he says it himself when Dakota tries to apologize : “It’s too late for that”.

Though, as I’ve seen mentioned in a fic that was basically an analysis of that last scene, we do have Cavendish leave a teddy bear behind. The bear wasn’t on the couch when he was packing, so it’s likely that he felt genuinely bad for ditching Dakota and decided to leave a plush behind to keep him company.

Also, a thing that I keep bringing up in my fics : I truly don’t think that Cavendish wanted to leave forever. I mean, he probably only took the essentials in the bag he used; he probably has much more than that stuff. Also, I highly doubt that he would wish to never see Dakota again. Heck, in “Escape”, when they reunite, Cavendish is pretty nonchalant about the whole thing, as if he expected to see Dakota again. Overall, it’s more that he thinks that Dakota’s going to try to stop him or slow him down since he doesn’t really believe in him, so he wants to do this rescue alone.

And one last thing regarding Dakota : the whole “It’s safer for you to stay here”. I find this line really interesting. Because thing is, no it’s not safer. Cavendish doesn’t go alone to protect Dakota, he does it to prove a point, to prove that he’s right and everyone else is wrong. But thing is, Cav already has some pretty low self-esteem, and accepting the fact that he’s being selfish by leaving wouldn’t help with it. Also, as I’ve mentioned in my long-ass “fun facts about these two” post, when Cavendish is in a situation that’s possibly dangerous, his first reflex is almost always to worry about Dakota’s well-being. So, in my interpretation, Cavendish knows that he’s being selfish by leaving like that and ghosting Dakota, so he tries to tell himself to leave by convincing himself that he’s leaving the guy behind to protect him; because there’s nothing more important to him than Dakota’s safety, so it’s much easier on the mind to tell himself that he’s doing it for Dakota.

Aaaand that’s pretty much all for this analysis, which is already a lot to take in (12 pages. This entire post is 12 pages long. 11 without the pictures).

Thanks for reading !

#Milo Murphy's Law #mml #Abducting Murphy's Law #Vinnie Dakota #Balthazar Cavendish #mml spoilers #season 2 spoilers #Flor talks #aka infodump #A LOT #I wish I was good at montages #or didn't have a monotone voice #that way I could've made a video #instead of a wall of text #long post #VERY LONG POST #rogue arc

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norowareshimono · 7 years

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Gray Log: Katsuna Hoshino Speaks! D.Gray-man’s Inside Stories

Hoshino reveals secret episodes that couldn’t be shared during serialization

Volume 1, Chapter 7: The prophecy was planned during serialization.

The truth is that Allen’s setup as the “Destroyer of Time” wasn’t planned (bitter laugh). In a briefing session, my editor told me he wanted “something impactful once Allen arrived at the Dark Order,” so I changed Hevlaska’s appearance to make her look eerie and hurriedly came up with the prophecy and the foreshadowing surrounding it. My first idea was to have Allen and Kanda fight each other in an enrollment test, but in the end I changed that into their first mission together.

Volume 3, Chapter 25: Foreshadowing for Allen’s withdrawal from the Order

By the time Road said “But an exorcist shouldn’t cry over a destroyed AKUMA. If you keep up like this, you’ll end up isolated someday,” I had already decided that Allen would end up abandoning the Order.

Volume 5, Chapter 44: His personality was the opposite…!?

My initial plan was to make Tiedoll a more heartless person. He would be crying and mourning his pupil on the surface, but deep down he would feel nothing. He was going forget about Daisya once he burned the drawing. However, I thought it over and realized a character like that is meaningless and not that interesting so I remade him and gave him his tender-hearted, sort of annoying personality. I thought too that Kanda, a cold lone wolf, and his teacher having opposite personalities would be fun.

Volume 5, Chapter 44: The panda’s (!?) true identity

The gaze that bothered Allen back then was in fact Suman’s. After that, Suman lost consciousness and a local family helped him out.

Volume 6, Chapter 52: Thanks to Suman, I found Johnny’s role

Ever since I was a newbie, I’ve had this habit of putting characters like Johnny by the protagonist’s side. I felt a strong affinity with him because of that and wondered if perhaps a day would come for him to play an active role in the story. From the start I was also choosing which character(s) would support and help Allen once he ended up isolated, and Johnny was one of my options. As I wondered about what to do with him, Johnny just started to talk on his own after being told about Suman’s betrayal. Everyone who learnt of Suman’s betrayal and future death due to his Innocence kept their feelings aside, but not Johnny. He cared for Suman and started to cry for him. Once I drew that scene, his role in D.Gray-man was decided.

Volume 6, Chapter 53: I wanted to show the Innocence’s frightening side

In the Fallen Arc, I wanted to show that “the Innocence has a frightening side too.” The Innocence may be a power to destroy “evil”, but I don’t think the “power” itself is “good.” Something like “power” isn’t by nature good or bad; it depends on the user. I’m glad I got to draw this, but it was a tough turn of events for Allen… If Timcanpy didn’t slap him, what would have happened to him?

Volume 7, Chapter 60: The planned event about Bak’s great-grandfather

At the start, I had the intention to include a brief story about Bak Chang’s great-grandfather concerning the “Sealed Gate”. However, I decided to delay it as the plot concerning the revival of Allen’s Innocence ended up being more complicated than expected. Because by that point I loved the Chang Clan and the Asian Branch, I thought there would be more chances to bring it up in the future.

Volume 7, Chapter 62: Bak Chang saved the struggling Hoshino!?

I was struggling and worrying as I progressed through the evolution of Allen’s Innocence into Crown Clown, exactly like he did. I just couldn’t think of anything that felt completely right, which annoyed me to the point that Allen’s irritation was a perfect match to my own. I have the feeling that back then I was 100% synchronized with Allen… I included the scene about Bak Chang’s peeping at that moment, intending him to buy me some time (bitter laugh).

Volume 7, Chapter 64: A part born from its last scene

Before drawing the battle with Eshi, an image of Lenalee extending her arm towards something came to my mind. I had this feeling, that she was extending it to the world she, together with Allen and the others, wanted to protect. In my desire to include this image, I created the scene in which Anita lends Lenalee hairbands. I’m glad it also gave me the chance to put Anita in another scene.

Volume 9, Chapter 77: Jasdevi exists in reality…!?

Jasdero is modelled after a friend, Adam, who made a drawing for D.Gray-Theatre. Both his appearance and personality were taken from her. For Devit I used Adam’s close friend, who was always with her. I’m really grateful I got to use such pretty and stylish women as models for the Noahs.

Volume 9, Chapter 83: The new Innocence, undecided until the last moment

I already decided that Crown Clown would look like a clown, but I was missing something essential: how to combine that with Allen himself. At the very last moment, the phrase “The left arm for the AKUMA,…” came to me and thanks to that I became confident with Allen’s Innocence being right as it is. I still remember how careful I was to not mix up the right and left arms back then.

Volume 12, Chapter 108: The unplanned return of Eliade

My idea was to never draw Eliade again, convinced that her never appearing again was for the better. Yet when I was working on the name for this chapter the characters just moved on their own and there she was. Perhaps it was Krokins who summoned her back. I left her face out intentionally in this part. I was sure readers would imagine what her expression was, so I tried not to draw her more than necessary.

Volume 12, Chapter 118: Troubled by Lavi’s one-to-one battle

At the Ark battle, there was something that I worried about a lot: how would I make Lavi, an observer, fight…? Being a Bookman, earnestly fighting to the death was out of the question, so I decided in the end for him to have the mind battle against Road. It gave me the chance to introduce an event about him as a “Bookman,” so I’m satisfied with the result. In fact, I was enjoying myself quite a bit as Lavi suffered over his exposed memories… Speaking of the Bookman Clan, it would be possible to fill one manga volume just with the material I have on them from the start, yet Lavi rarely talks about himself due to his situation. Even for me, the author, the Bookman Clan are difficult to handle because they have a tight guard. That made it impossible to bring up the depths of their story no matter how much I wanted to, and the reason why the battle against Road was so fun for me.

Volume 14, Chapter 135: Allen and Johnny’s chess practice

I wanted to include a scene with Johnny and Allen talking about Suman on page 122 of the volume 14, after the second panel. My wish was to make a short story about Allen, who saw all of Suman’s memories, “challenging Johnny to a chess match” after getting back to the Order. Sadly, as D,Gray-Man was serialized weekly back then, that story I would have filled a chapter’s worth of pages. That, combined with bad pacing, made me cut it. In the end I lost my chance to draw it, so I started to include in a casual manner the image of them playing chess together after the Fallen Arc.

Volume 14, Chapter 135: The “mark” in Link’s forehead was an insurance*!?

My plan was to make Leverrier appear as someone to represent Central, and at first I didn’t think much of Link’s existence. At first, I wasn’t even sure if there would be a chance to make use of his background as a skillful fighter and ex-CROW, so for the time being I put the meaningful “:” on his forehead. Afterwards, once it was decided that the story would develop in a way that made it possible to exhibit his skills as a CROW, I put the same mark on the other CROWs. So that mark was born as an “insurance*”.

* That’s the literal word she uses. I think she means it as a “reminder”, a sort of promise, but I didn’t feel with the confidence to change it

Volume 16, Chapter 157: Reconciliation out of nowhere?

At the exposition scene about crystal-type there was definitely a degree of reconciliation, but at that point I was thinking of drawing something on the topic of Komui and Lenalee’s strained relationship. Komui couldn’t accept the fact Lenalee drank the Innocence in front of his very eyes and became crystal type at the invasion, so he was putting distance between them… that’s what I had in mind. Yet I forgot it completely and the Komuvitan D situation started without me drawing it. Was I tired from the Invasion Arc…? (Bitter laugh). However, the ghost girl that appeared in that arc fixed it up nicely for me, giving me a way to dispel the bad feelings between those two. For those interested, you can read it at volume 17, pages 45-47.

Volume 17, Chapter 167: Allen’s hair partition, signifying his determination

I changed where Allen’s hair parts from the center to the left, over his curse, immediately after his meeting with Cross. Given that he is the type to conceal his feelings with a mask of gentlemanly manners and normalcy, I wanted something visual to represent his resolve. Finally, to show the changes in his mental state, I decided to put the pentacle, hidden until then, in the open. But when I went to draw it, I felt Allen’s turmoil. He was desperate after what happened, or so I think. I’m also sure Lenalee noticed the change, but said nothing about it. From that day on, Allen started to prove that “he was loved by Mana” by using the curse Mana gave him.

Volume 18, Chapter 179: The special!? Anti-AKUMA Weapon with Assistant included appears!

Thinking about child exorcist Timothy’s Innocence was fun, but it also brought me some mixed feelings. On top of being small, still a child, he is a “parasyte-type”. They have to send someone like him to the battlefield. What came up after wondering what kind of Innocence would be right for him was the Assistant “Tsukigami.” An Innocence with an Assistant like Timothy’s is a first in the history of the Order and so Tsukigami, who can only be seen by its accommodator Timothy, has become a new research object for the science division. I’m looking forward to this Innocence in the future.

Volume 19, Chapter 186: The illusionary third exorcists mission

I was thinking about making a mission for the third exorcists’ debut just after this chapter, but I was unable to do it in the end because of the magazine change. By the way, Tokusa being so talkative was a surprise even for me, the author (laughs). I would still like to include the scenes I had to set aside later on, whilst Tokusa and the others are working for the Earl. Of course, I want to do the same with their bond with Link too. The story of the thirds continues. I can’t wait.

Volume 20, Chapter 193: Alma’s omitted rampage scene

A lot was omitted in Alma’s rampage scene. I had it all thought out: in which order he had killed them and what he talked about with Edgar in the end, before impaling him. But my editor pointed out to me that the Reminiscence Arc was too long, so I hurried to the battle between Kanda and Alma. A part of me thinks it’s fine this way, but the other still has regrets over being unable to draw it. There was a lot I was unable to bring up: the depiction of the Asian Branch and Marie on the verge of death after the rampage, a scene about Bak on the other side of the wall and more.

Volume 24, Chapter 215: Tim’s unknown conflict!?

I’ve been desperate to show Tim’s conflict over Nea and Allen since I started with the “In Search of A.W.” Arc. I already knew Tim was going to be destroyed, so I thought about lots of “scenes to show Tim’s feelings” before that happened. However, Tim doesn’t talk so I struggled (?) a bit with ways to express his emotions. I wonder if the idea reached the readers… (sweats). In fact I also tried a scene of Tim flying at night, deep in thought, but I discarded it thinking that the readers wouldn’t get it (bitter laugh).

#dgm #D.Gray-Man #d.gray man #d gray man #gray record #DGM translations

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filmista · 7 years

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Not So Guilty Pleasure: Why I Love Legally Blonde 💋

I've always been quite feminine or as people call that when you're younger, girly. I own two books solely on fashion photography, and two on fashion and beauty history.

And I'm pretty sure an adult man could actually drown in the number of handbags (some of which are truly obscenely overpriced) I've got in my closet. I've always loved the entire process of dressing up: picking clothes and all, applying some makeup even the dousing of the rose scented perfume I've loved and used for years was and is a wonderful part of that.

And I've always had as much as a love of pink (I simply thought pink stuff was pretty) as I did one of my other favorite colors which is actually navy blue, ironically enough. However, the pink made me more ashamed, than the blue did, and I did not really dare to admit that or to very openly liking "traditionally girly things"

It's the film Legally Blonde that brought the revelation that there's nothing wrong with what loving these things mean or can mean about you, that’s why from the first minute that I saw it I loved it, Legally Blonde was the first feminist tinted film I saw, back when I didn't even know what the word meant at all, or what a feminist is...

While it is a film that I love, it was always more of a closeted love. Because of course, not many people take the film seriously, first of all with the name and all. The DVD cover is all hot pink, and it has a blonde with a beaming smile in a pink dress and a chihuahua in her arms, even I when I first got it as a gift (from one of my aunts, who I love dearly but who has terrible taste in movies) thought it was going to be a truly horrible, forgettable film, that I'd only watch one time in my life.

But ten minutes in I loved the film, and even though I knew it was a film that I know many people would also detract, a part of me also has always thought: "Your time will come one day, people will see your value one day".

And I wasn't wrong, the day you discover that many people, in fact, love one of your favourite films (that you were ashamed of loving) and that it's gathered quite the cult following and has in fact been hailed for its feminist qualities, is a joyous day and you can smile with relief, you're in fact not out of your mind, and don't see stuff in a film that's actually not there, it almost made me wanna get Champagne (actually cava), order pizza and call all my girl friends for a viewing of the film.

Now what I've always loved about the film, from the very first few minutes that you're in, is that it has as its protagonist a woman who is unapologetically a woman and embraces her femininity to the fullest, even if it is perhaps in a caricatural sense:

Her room is all pink, the brush with which she brushes her shiny, golden, luscious blonde hair has fake rhinestones on it. There are flower petals on the ever present Cosmopolitan magazines, a True Color blonde hair dye bottle, bright glittery pink heels in the corner (I'd buy em actually, not gonna lie) well you get the idea anything that could possibly be pink or remotely femininely tinted was.

But it was a revelation for me even when I was younger: A woman that actually loves being a woman and that also sees nothing wrong with it? She must be a unicorn or at least some mythical creature!! Right?! It was simply marvelous for me because I was always the girl that if I could choose between pants or a dress or a skirt I'd go for the latter, I simply felt better and more me that way.

We have as I said a woman that loves being a woman and that will never ever apologize for it and that will never ever tone down her feminity for anyone. She is openly and publicly emotional and enthusiastic about things.

The film sees her as a serious protagonist and we're not supposed to laugh at her or pity her, we're supposed to sympathise, to love her, to embrace her, which proves to be a challenge for many people, I've watched the film with plenty of people; everyone initially laughed, but who had the best laugh in the end? That's right Elle Woods.

It's a film that shows that knowing about things that are typically considered feminine and therefore quite useless or at least valued less, is also a form of valuable intelligence. We see this 4 four minutes into the film.

Elle goes shopping for a dress for her special date when she expects her boyfriend will propose, the saleswoman thinks she's an easy target as did I initially "a dumb blonde with daddy's plastic."

She tries to sell her a dress that is both last season and that is also made out of a fabric that tears easily, Elle asks the saleswoman a question and through that tricks her into admitting that the dress is in fact low quality.

It's tricking someone into thinking you are in fact clueless and dumb as they thought you were and that you buy anything that you're told and then BAM proving you had a clue the entire time, it is a smart, move and this is the minute my respect for her started growing.

It is also, in the end, her extensive beauty knowledge that solves a murder case, unrealistic maybe, but still, a very lovely touch, all sort of things can be involved in a murder case, stilettos could be a realistic weapon, as could a nail file if you think about it...

But my respect started swindling again, later on, she goes on that date, but instead of having her boyfriend propose to her he breaks up with her, because she is not serious enough which is code for "not smart enough" because duh blonde and feminine mean stupid.

And if you're a brunette you are of course immediately fiercely intelligent, I type (as I adjust my hot librarian glasses, and I don't have fun ever either, like ever, you'll never catch a cocktail in my hand...) It is of course but another dumb cliche.

But he breaks up with her because of this, because as he puts it, if I'm gonna be a senator by the time I'm 30 " I need a Jackie, not a Marilyn". So when she said you're breaking up with me "because I'm too blonde"? She was in fact not wrong, he broke up with her because of the cliches attached to being blonde and also to being an openly feminine woman because in his view you can't be both intelligent and feminine.

After the disastrous breakup, she breaks down, goes into full lockdown, doesn't go out for a week and of course eats a full box of chocolates...

However, she eventually collects herself with the help of her friends and become dead set against everyone's criticism and disbelief of making her way into Harvard Law School to gain back her man, there's no question in her mind that she will get in, she simply states "there are no backup plans, I'm going to Harvard law".

While that determination is admirable, I at first absolutely hated it, a woman going to study, not to better herself but to get a man, can you get anymore 18th century and sexist? It absolutely is determination but of the wrong kind.

Yet the film does something smart with it, it takes this as the basis for an evolution in its main character, instead of having him realize what he's been missing out on and admiring her intelligence and determination finally and them being disgustingly happy and all.

It has her realise that he is not worthy of her, instead, once she's gotten in at Harvard she stays true to herself, which means that she gathers many laughs at first, and while she does at first try to prove that she is worthy of being there, when she applies herself to the books it is at first, to impress her ex.

However she eventually realises, that even when she has been trying hard to impress him, and has been achieving visible results, he never will see her as more than a dumb blonde, and still seems to believe that she either cheated or either slept her way in, it's when she speaks the words "I'm never going to be good enough for you,? Am I?", that this realization finally kicks in.

He doesn't realise how valuable she is, until it is too late, when she doesn't want him back because she has better now found a better man, however this moment is but a briefly brushed over footnote, Legally Blonde is above all a love story of a woman that realises her own self-worth through falling in love with the law and yes also with herself.

From the moment she realizes he doesn't want her back, she briefly debates giving up but then decides that there's no reason to not value her own worth, she was already on her way to getting a law degree and was loving what she was doing, so why give that up?

She already had all of this potential in her, but she never believed in it herself, because she was never encouraged to cultivate it, which really teaches us that we should try new things for ourselves, open new horizons for ourselves, not for anyone, not to prove anyone wrong, but for the satisfaction that brings to our own image of ourselves.

A few honourable mentions in the film's storyline are, that also illustrate it's feminist undertones is that it has her become friends with the woman she initially fought over the same man with, it's realistically brought as well, it moves slowly and naturally, there's not a moment of sudden, random reconciliation, it starts with small acts of kindness.

They eventually both realize that man they both so coveted was not worth their energy and Vivian, the friend dumps him, and Elle decidedly rejects when he comes on to her, begging for a second chance. The one professor who initially seemed to fully believe in her turns out to be a perverted creep and him saying she should take a summer internship with him and that he admires her intelligence is but a way to get her into bed.

And here's a woman who has no problem dressing as a pink Playboy bunny, but she will never, ever sleep with a professor to advance in her future career and eliminate possible competition because she 100% believes in having integrity. And I love it!

Elle feels used and reduced to her looks after, she absent-mindedly and sadly says "he saw me as a piece of ass". But she weathers the storm thanks to the unwavering support of those around her who she can call her friends, all of them stick to her side of the story, minus one person who is later a big enough person to admit that she misinterpreted what she saw and apologizes for it.

If only it could always go like this in real life, the man who came on sexually to her unwantedly, finds himself cut off by those around him and publicly shamed for his misstep.

Elle did not give in to his offer; out of pride but also because she perceives it as something immoral, and she believes above all in being a kind and good person, and in not stepping on others, that's simply who she is.

And she's not ashamed of it even if she is seen as naive for it, she is always unapologetically herself and always unapologetically defends her own beliefs and values, even if it causes her temporary unhappiness and I have always found that truly admirable, it is sometimes much easier to undermine and diminish yourself, if it means fitting in, holding on to you who are that takes true conviction of character!

Now while it has all of this wonderfulness, the film would have likely been nothing or not as good without Reese Witherspoon, she's a joy to watch!

She took on the role of the bubbly blonde with the exact right amount of positive energy, confidence, and sass. She's also visibly enjoying herself and did truly outshine most of the other cast members.

But despite it's acting, that is of exceptional quality for a chick flick it also has an excellent soundtrack that actually brilliantly coheres to the film's subject and the emotional tone of some scenes.

While so many chick flicks aren't really that aesthetically pleasing, Legally Blonde was crafted with an admirable attention to detail, that renders it pleasing to the eye.

It's simply a film that's well worth the watch, it's well crafted and solid in all of its aspects and its message of self-love is believable as well as heartwarming and is not forced down your throat in such a cheesy manner that it makes you want to vomit.

“If you're going to let one stupid prick ruin your life... you're not the girl I thought you were.”

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mrwaluigi · 5 years

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Father François Brune: “The Bliss of Loving God”

Translated by myself, from French. Source: https://orthodoxe-ordinaire.blogspot.com/2019/08/le-bonheur-daimer-dieu-par-pere.html?fbclid=IwAR1xiPIu4266WWZh_w2jl_eTmXetVB6Ep1xndcMQgqPE-yGoZRLGzWH0Nf4

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Who am I? Who put me there? My parents, of course! But beyond this, before them, who did? And why? Why in that world, on that planet, in that country, in that culture, in that religion? Is there a meaning to all of this? What is it? And what must I do? All of this is something I have personally lived and experienced. It is not simply literature. I experienced it with particular intensity, since the world was barely coming out of the worst war in history. We were slowly discovering just how hateful powers can take over the hearts of human beings! The human being, the only living being on this planet that periodically slaughters its own species, together with acts of torture and the most refined studies on how much the adversary group can be humiliated and made to suffer before being extinguished! But, between two wars, there would always be times of reconciliation, of friendly relationships on new foundations. I would discover that the overall world, the overall creation, does not even know such times of peace. The world in which we live possesses two deeply opposed sides. On one hand it is marvelous: I will spare you having to hear lyrical praises of the beauty of nature, from mountains to plains, from rivers to oceans, from sunsets to northern lights. I will not tell you about the incredible fantasy of the many lifeforms on the earth, in the air, or in the waters... You know about all these things. But there is also another side: behind the foliage of the trees, through the varied birdsongs, in the ocean depths, all this abounding life is only a fearsome and giant hunt, each trying to escape from its predator, while also going after its prey for the sake of survival. Beyond the incredible peace of a beautiful sunset lis the transition between the hunt by day and the hunt by night, which is no less merciless. Even our own body is a fearsome battlefield, not only at its surface, but also in its depth, at the cellular level! I can accept that each, according to their character, may be more sensitive to either harmony or cruelty in nature. But, whether we like it or not, both sides are there. And I know that there is also the time of love and birth that is always shown in documentary on animals. But it is only a variant of the overall pattern, because those babies must then be fed! There are no vegan lions. Possibly, only herbivores are innocent victims in all of this, and even then we are beginning to think that maybe plants are not completely insensitive. And then what...? My character and my sensitivity have made it so that I have always been deeply moved by this mark of evil in the world. I would have probably slipped into complete nihilism, a bottomless despair, if I did not have from very early on a particular strength within myself that always permitted me to conquer over this deep pessimism. This little strength is called prayer! In the Roman Catholic Church, communion, the Body of Christ, is not given to newborns but only starting at the age of 7 or 8. In 1938, I was 7 and I was getting prepared for my first communion. In those times, we could also feel the nearness of war. I remember that, in the evening, in my bed, I would pray for the longest I could, until sleep would defeat me, so that this war may be avoided. I think that it is like this that a kind of encounter happened between myself and God. Nothing extraordinary, no ecstasy, no inner words, no vision of light or other phenomenons... But a knowledge of His presence and His listening to what I was telling Him, the knowledge that I mattered for Him because He loved me; yet I did not matter more than anyone else, but He loved us all, truly.

I believe that it is this encounter with God, with Jesus, that permitted me to go through all these years of trials without falling into despair. When I was 15 or 16, we used to live in a small town in the Paris suburbs. After afternoon classes, which ended at about 5 p.m., I would go almost daily to the the cathedral not far from school and I would stay there alone, silently, to pray. It was the chapel of the Virgin, the Mother of God, behind the choir of the cathedral, a wonderful gothic church from the 13th century that had survived to the bombings.

I was then in 12th grade and we were divided into two sections. Those in "scientific" studies only had three hours of philosophy per week, but as for us in the "literary" studies, we had 9 hours of it, with a teacher who was a Catholic believer, but became an atheist and a communist. I owe him much, but he is not the one who helped me find the meaning of this world. It was my little daily prayer that helped me, even as I was in absolute darkness, a complete lack of understanding of this world and even of the silence of God! I understood absolutely nothing at all, but I kept on trusting in Him, maybe only because I had no other help.

Philosophers have attempted to explain this horrifying state of the world though various theories which actually only end up being another way to accept the existing situation, that which we cannot change. They tell us that this world needs, for its existence, complex laws that are often contradictory. Without these laws and the tensions they create, this world could not exist. God Himself, with all His intelligence, could not have invented and created a more simple world, one without these conflicts. The cow, when it moves, necessarily crushes thousands of insects. The diversity of lifeforms necessarily creates all these conflicts. But this very diversity is why this universe is beautiful. Now, go and explain that to a mother who just lost her child! The French philosophe Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest and a paleontologist, completed these traditional explanations with the notion of evolution: It is physically (or metaphysically?) impossible for God to make a perfect world. If the world reaches a state of harmony and perfection, it can only be the result of a lengthy evolution. But until this ultimate state, evil and suffering continue their reign. Father Teilhard does not seem to explain, in any of his works, why it would be impossible for God to do otherwise. Seemingly, it was evident for him, who was trained in paleontology.

In this world that's constantly troubled by wars, revolutions, revolts, conspiracies, terrorism, how can we find a meaning to all this and find a meaning to one's own life?

"Oh, may we be our great-great-grandparents! The wing of a gull, the head of a dragonfly, that would already be too much and suffer too much", exclaimed Gottfried Benn, a great German poet, and a surgeon during the last war.

We remembr the apology imagined by the French philosopher Henri Bergson: The world would be happy, harmonious, but all this happiness would be possible because, somewhere, far from seeing eyes, someone would be forever horribly tortured. So the philosopher said: the lack of a happy world, the lack of anything, would be better than this monstrosity!

How many times I would have destroyed the world! Yes, nothingness is preferable to suffering!

This world is evidently not the one that God willed! It is a twisted world, it is disfunctional. Even this endless struggle to survive, to the detriment of others, saving one's life through the loss of others', this is proof that this world cannot have been created and willed by God like this.

I remember that, in his autobiography, Cardinal Newman (a theologian of the Anglican Church who became Catholic), seeking to make evident the tradition of "Paradise Lost" communicated in the first book of the Bible, came to a vey simple yet very efficient demonstration. Let me cover its point: Go into the street or the subway station and look at the faces around you. They are evidently the survivors of a terrible cosmic catastrophe, carrying on their faces its scars. They are not creatures that shine forth with happiness, they are not thankful for life, smiling, fulfilled, feeling protected by the benevolence of their peers, or attracted by God. This is not the world that God has made. This is impossible! Read the newspapers, watch TV shows, and you will hear about people killing and shooting each other. Even in operas: new composers replace music with the sounds of dishes being broken with a hammer, the sounds of doors creaking, and other disturbing noises. This is truly a reflection of our world!

In ancient literature, we find the texts of Stoics, in which one of these philosophers, consolating a father who had just lost his son, explains to him: "A beautiful vase broke! But you knew well that vases break easily!" The Buddhists, who seem to have had a link to the Stoics, likewise push their followers to not love too much those they share their life with. There will be less suffering when misfortune will happen. It is a refusal to live fully, a half-suicide! It explains nothing; it does not explain why the world is in such a state. It is a kind of attempt to "deal with it", to continue to live anyway.

All these attempts to explain the state of this world do not imply the existence and work of a creator God, at best they have a honorary God, with no real relationship to the world. Scientists today are more and more open to the idea of a God Who would have made the vastness of the universe. But their agreement is not what mattes. Paul Evdokimov, a French theologian from the Russian community, said it best: "One does not prove the existence of God, but experiences it." He agrees with the affirmation of Evagrius of Ponticus, a monk from the 4th century: "No one is a theologian if they have not seen God." To see God, to experience Him! It is the only true knowledge of God, far from all philosophical ideas. Yet, what all the mystics experience is not only His greatness and His power, but primarily His love. God is absolute love. He has therefore certainly not made a world that is halfway eroded by hate and suffering. Only love came out of Him. The experience of those mystics is today confirmed by the witness of millions and even dozens of millions of people who were thought to be dead for a few seconds or minutes, but who returned to life and communicated the extraordinary experience they had during this temporary death. I gathered an anthology of such stories in my book "The Dead Speak to Us". There are variations from one story to another, but the schema always stays the same: an encounter with love that's incomprehensible, perfect, infinite, no matter one's deeds. No reproach or the desire to humiliate. Sure, we discover all the path to take to reach this love, but there is only love. These witnesses do not know which words are strong enough. They felt "immersed" in love, "crushed" by love. The narrative in the Book of Genesis distords everything. God never chased us away from His love! That would be to reject Himself, to reject that which constitutes Him. This God did not create for us a world that is broken, rotten with evil, like a kind of trap set up to see our reaction. He does not experiment on us like we experiment on rats. The trials and horrors of this world do not come from God. No. From Him can only come love, without scheming, without trickery. God does not play with us, with our lives and feelings. The evil of this world cannot come from Him!

Unlike what is claimed by many philosophers and even theologians, God, the maker of billions of galaxies, knows very well how to make a world empty of suffering and of evil. He has done so, and millions of temporary dead and of mystics have witnessed it. They have seen, or rather discerned, during a short experience, those worlds from beyond, with harmony, joy, lack of suffering, but also without hate, rivalry, lust for power, or pride.

So then, where does this evil come from? Why are we not dwelling in those worlds yet? The issue is that, to be able to live in these worlds of love, we must be able to love in the same manner as those who already live there. Love is not forceful. It can only happen when there is absolute freedom. Yet, love is the only thing that God cannot make. He can suggest it, He can encourage it, He can inspire it, but He cannot create it. He could have made us a thousand times smarter and able to compute better than the world's most powerful machines. He could have made us able to fly like birds, or even to move in outer space like rockets. He could have made us immune to any danger from viruses, fire and water. God knew how to make flowers, billions of them, each different from the others. He even knew how to make the smile of a happy baby, which is probably the summit of creation. But he could not make machines programmed to love. This mysterious power that is the bliss of the saints, the mystics, and those temporary dead, is of a different nature from everything else. It cannot be created directly by God. This mysterious power can only come from within each one of ourselves, from our deepest. Robots can do extraordinary things, but they cannot love. God does not expect from us to be robots with mechanical obedience, nor even to be slaves or servants who expect for their obedience a little reward, maybe a raise or a promotion. Love is something so marvelous than not even God Himself can create it in us, make it spring forth from within us, without our input. He can offer us to participate in His love, to love with Him, in Him, but for this He needs our consent. Love always implies absolute freedom. God does not desire to be tolerated; He desires to be called for, expected, hoped for, sought after. If we do not seek Him, His love will not make us happy. This means that we can accept His love or reject it. And it seems that we, on this planet, have not really accepted or desired the love of God.

François Varillon, following Maurice Zundel, a great Swiss mystic from the previous century, analyzed very well what is implied by love:

"The lover tells their beloved: 'You are my joy', which means 'I am joyless without you'. Or else: 'You are my world', which means: 'I am nothing without you.' To love is to desire to exist through and for the other . . . Thus the one who loves the most is the most poor. God, Who loves infinitely, is infinitely poor . . .

"Love and the desire to be independant are incompatible, at least apparently. The one who loves the most is therefore the most dependant. God, Who loves infinitely, is infinitely dependant (which is unintelligible if God is not pure Love, by which I mean if we simply concede to the idea that love is an aspect of God and not His very being, as infinitely intense as it is infinitely pure). The lover says to the beloved: 'I cannot look down upon you without failing to fulfill love.' If the lover is in any manner greater than the beloved, their love is only love if they deny their superiority to make themself equal to their beloved. The one who loves the most is therefore the most humble. God, Who loves infinitely, is infinitely humble. That is why we can only see God in His true being by looking upon Christ, Who signifies divine humility through the washing of feet."

I am sure that many of the faithful pursue internally some dialogue with a deceased person whom they loved dearly, or with their guardian angel, the Mother of God, or God Himself. As for myself, it is usually directly with Christ. Oh, I am not a fool, I know very well that anybody would tell me that it is myself doing a back-and-forth discussion in my head. There is surely some truth to that. But the saints and the mystics have all known and practiced this kind of inner dialogue and often the following events in their lives proved this dialogue to be true. So, with Christ, with God, I pursue this internal dialogue, and I feel that He accepts it and responds to it. I believe in fact that I can feel when it is myself doing the responding, and when it is Him. It sounds wrong when I am the one responding to myself. So, with Him, I permit myself to be without shame, I joke around and say idiocies, He loves me so much that I can do and say anything with Him, like a child with its father or mother, like with somebody who has been following me in everything I do, not to control me but to protect me, even from myself if necessary, as with somebody who knows everything about me but loves me in spite of it. To love God in such a way is to share in the love that the three divine persons give to one another. All mystics, even non-Christian ones, have understood this, but this is evidently difficult to understand apart from a Trinitarian context.

I have therefore this incredible freedom with God within myself. But this is not a unique privilege. God loves you just as much, each one of you. You simply do not dare to believe it. Do not think either that, as long as you are a lower class citizen, God will not pay as much attention to you as He does for more distinguished characters. Whether you are a street cleaner or an emperor, God cares about you and loves you just as much and infinitely so. Accept the place in the world that was granted to you by God and, from there, seek to discover what it is that He expects from you. As incredible as it may seem, this God, the maker of billions of universes, is madly in love for each one of us. He is ready to die on the cross thousands of times, indefinitely, for each one of us, if it could help to save us. Such is what He affirmed to Julian of Norwich, an English mystic from the 14th century. She could ot see in God any anger toward us, not even a little resentfuless for our sins, but only boundless compassion.

God loves us all infinitely, despite what we may do, and when He forgives us it is always solely to bring us back to Himself, not to humiliate us. This is what was felt perfectly by Gabrielle Bossis, a French mystic of the past century. Gabrielle did not live in a convent, lost in prayer. She did not found any religious or charity organization. Nothing was extraordinary about her. She was a simple young woman, rather talented artistically: she would write short comedy sketches for female boarding schools, and she would also fabricate the backgrounds and costumes herself. But she simply pursued this internal and continuous dialogue with Jesus throughout her activites.

During one of those inner dialogues, here is how He forgave her: "Tell me about the pain of your faults, not because they sullied you as much as because they saddened Me. For you have had this unfortunate audacity to sadden the God-Man Who gave His life for you. And yet you knew about it. You ignored His pained stare toward you, you did everything that you wanted and that He did not want.

"Know the resulting sorrow—a sorrow without tears—that lies in your renewed will, and that will lead you to humble love, to knowledge of your nothingness. Then, I will rush to you like an eagle eager to ravish his prey, and I will take you to the solitary alleys of the walled-off garden. You will seek to talk to Me about the past. I will close your mouth with My hand. You will hear the gentle words of mercy that will melt your heart."

Our "faults" are not ignored, however they are not understood as "crimes", but as scars given to the love of God, and God does not wish that we would dwell on the past, even so that we may ask for forgiveness. "I will close your mouth with My hand."

But, obviously, such a love also implies, without even saying it, the fearsome expectation of the same love in return. Have we not, all of us, all of humanity, felt this love to be too oppressive, too absolute, too demanding? And yet this love also can be delicate, forebearing, discreet. God can encourage us to do something, but He cannnot force us. If we refuse to do it, He immediately withdraws. Observe it yourself, within yourself. You will feel it well, if you are sincere with yourself.

When does the rejection of this love begin? Is it the beginning of the creation of man, as in the symbolic story of the Book of Genesis in the Bible, as an initial cosmic catastophe like Cardinal Newman pictures it? But we know now that, at a deep level of reality, time is not real. So then, if evil is so powerful in the world, it may be because a great part of this world rejects the love of God, today, now, at any time. We should probably distinguish between cause and effects. The effects unfold within time. We can clearly see this.

But the cause, as modern physics permit us to understand, can be apart from time. The symbolic tale in the Bible about the sin of Adam and Eve probably represents a deep truth. In Hebrew "Adam" means "Man". We are all Adam. And if, on a level beyond our comprehension, there is no time, then there can be no reincarnation either. There cannot be an incarnation previous to this one, nor the passage from one incarnation to the other.

Men would have refused to play the game of the infinite love of God. They would have claimed the right to seek happiness on their own. We have seen it: love is not forceful.

Contemporary science comes closer and closer to admitting that matter and spirit are only two sides of the same coin. Some experts in quantum physics are beginning to suggest this hypothesis. One of them who is the farthest along researching this topic is certainly Emmanuel Ransford, an Australian scientist who usually writes in French. He speaks of "psychomatter" or "holomatter" to try to express this presence of spirit within matter and of matter within spirit.

Those who have read my books know that I give great importance to some messages from beyond that were given to us by people who were perfectly dead but who could communicate with us. They are always messages received by "automatic writing", an esoteric word referring to this process. The receiver holds their pen, but barely so, so that it may not fall while an invisible force moves this pen to write words, then messages. This usually begins with scribbles but, slowly, letters begin to appear, then entire words.

It is a subject I have well studied and that can be found in many languages. I could thus observe that most of the messages that are received, whether in German or Spanish, in English or in Italian, contain nothing of interest, not even in French. It is a real flood of "revelations", nonsensical fantasies, often useless, sometimes dangerous or even very dangerous, since the receivers do not have the ability to discern those messages themselves. It is a true revival of the "gnosis" of old.

Sometimes, however, some of these messages are exceptions and may even be of very great interest. This is notably the case of those messages given by Pierre Monnier, a young French officer who died in 1915 during World War I, to his mother, after his death, until 1937. These texts are known as the "Letters of Pierre". I have already discussed them in length in "The Dead Speak to Us" and "Christ and Karma". On April 14, 1920, Pierre explained from beyond to his mother that: "You do not know yet how to associate two manifestations that seem to be diametrically opposed to each other . . . Science will reveal to you the materiality of spirit, and the spirituality of matter, which will remove any barrier between the two worlds, separate in their visible results but identical in reality, matter and spirit being one and the same thing, condensed to different degrees."

If spirit and matter are really this close to each other, one implying the other, then we better understand the possibility of Christ's body passing from the carnal state to the spiritual state, and, inversely, matter and spirit being alternatively dominant, we better understand the various appearances to Mary Magdalene, to the pilgrims of Emmaus, in the upper room with the doors closed, and at the end of the Gospel of St. John—Christ, at the edge of the lake, waiting for His apostles who went fishing—and, finally, at the Ascension. All these back-and-forths between manifestations in fleshly matter and disappearance into the spiritual world then cease to be so extraordinary, and the Resurrection of Christ is nothing else than this passage from our carnal and material world to the spiritual world, the opposite phenomenon happening sometimes during some of Christ's appearances.

It is then not difficult to also understand that our thoughts and feelings can shape the world in which we live. The constitution of this world depends on the creative power of God, which is a power of love, but it also depends on our thoughts and feelings, and here it is too obvious that there is not only love. Very often, jealousy and hate come out as victorious, carried by selfishness. However, we are not totally depraved either. We are also able to produce a little love. But, among us, the great power of love is that of Christ, with and most importantly in ourselves. But, likewise, with and in ourselves, there is a power of hate, of pride, which is particularly strong. Tradition gives it several names: Satan, Lucifer, the devil, the evil one.

Permit me to quote Pierre Monnier again: "Then, brethren, return within yourselves and observe where is the crack from where the strength of your soul is leaking. This great wound has a cause: your selfishness, born from pride, the generator of sin on earth. The king of the world, the evil one, is pure pride and he is the one who attracts men to the path of perdition, by pernicious compliments that destroy the soul."

Take a look at the history of the world. You will quickly understand that civilizations were often pushed to massacres and atrocities by prideful fools such as Napoleon, Hitler, and many others. I will let you finish the list! But, these could have not done anything if there were not entire masses with the readiness to share into the same deluded pride as them.

The bliss of loving God! There is already the well known bliss of being loved by God. It is easy to understand that feeling loved by God is a wonderful experience, filled with sweetness. This love can even manifest itself sometimes with extreme strength, almost with violence, as witnessed to by all the mystics who have made the experience of this love in ecstasy, and by those who momentarily died. They felt "immersed", "crushed" with love. But those are very short experiences, almost instantaneous even. After this remains the memory of living them, but they are not experienced again. But the memory of them can suffice to sustain an entire lifetime of searching for God. They are like marvelous and fearsome nostalgia.

But, most often, God makes His love known in a simple manner, with wonderful gentleness. Oh! But of course, in this world we encounter pleasures of much greater intensity, such as the happiness of mutual love, or the love of a child one is raising. But in the love that God sometimes lets us known gently, there is an extraordinary purity that cannot be found in our human love, and this happiness increases little by little, to the measure of our own response to it. And then it can be greater than any pleasure of this world.

But this happiness of feeling truly loved by God is not given to everyone. Many faithful people, who have profund piety, who are men of prayer and charity, have not known it. But this does not mean that God does not love them as much. God gives to each what is proper, depending on their personal spiritual progress and on the mission given to them in their environment.

It remains necessary to open one's heart to God so that one may experience His love. Many men and women are like sleepwalkers. They work, they have fun, they entertain themselves without ever wondering why they are in this world or looking to know what they should expect after. It would seem that, as in a fairytale, an evil wizard cast a spell on them, not to freeze them with sleep like in "Sleeping Beauty", but to turn them into people who walk without being awake, into "zombies", as in some horror movies. Yes, that is right, and this wizard who uses every method to turn us away from what matters is somebody you know well: it is Satan, who always tries to corrupt the works of God, especially the greatest one: the heart of man.

It is essential to understand that God is absolutely not involved in this evil that eats away and slaughters His works. He is innocent! On the contrary, through His Incarnation, He came to share in our misery to help us out of it. He is not on the side of the executioner but on the side of the victim, with us and for us. It is absolutely important to understand that. I personally spent many years proving the innocence of God regarding that which destroys His world here or there. Intellectually, it was well understood to me, I was even convinced of it. But everytime I would learn about a new injustice, a new monstrosity, a new horror, I would feel within myself the rise of an inaudible accusation toward God which I was trying to suppress in vain. Why do You permit this? Why do You not act more? Yet, as long as one is not truly convinced of the innocence of God, one cannot truly love Him. When faced with all the horrors that are multiplying throughout the world, I know that God suffers more than I do, because He loves more than I do and that He suffers directly through those who suffer from them. This needs to be intellectually understood, but also, and most importantly, it must be psychologically acquired in depth. Our subconscious must be completely permeated with this affirmation, so that this vicious accusation toward God may not reach the depth of our heart. Then we can know a very deep happiness, we can let ourself be loved by God without restrain, we can enjoy the bliss of being loved by God even in the middle of all the suffering in this world. But we can also, little by little, know a happiness that will probably be new for most of us and that will be an extraordinary help to conquer all the obstacles of life: the bliss of loving God.

For there is a greater bliss than to know one is loved by God: it is to love God. This too was experienced by the mystics, and they felt that this pleased God. As incredible as it seems to be, here is God, the maker of billions upon billions of worlds, waiting humbly at our door, that we may open the door of our heart and love Him. Truly, this is insanity! To make God happy by loving Him! But such is the washing of feet that Father Varillon spoke about. Such a task was supposed to be for the wife of the head of the household. He could also demand it from his foreign slaves, but not from his other slaves, Jews (Hebrews) like himself. A small detail confirms this: Jesus first girded Himself with a towel and used it to wash the feet of His apostles, which the experts say was the characteristic role of the slave. Think about the power of such a gesture! God takes among us the role of the foreign slave, the one from whom anything can be demanded, even the most abasing services. It is St. John who conveys this scene, at the narrative point where the three other evangelists convey the Passover meal with the institution of the Eucharist. But, for St. John, this washing of feet, which he is alone to retell, is even more important. God, the maker of billions upon billions of worlds, shows us with this gesture that He is ready to kneel in front of each one of us to wash our feet. I am not making this up. I am only making explicit what is implicit in the story of St. John. Or else, for what purpose would he have recalled this scene? We are in the midst of folly here! We cannot comprehend the power of such a love. This is so much bigger than us! God is indeed infinite, almighty, but it is an infinity of love. The saints in their ecstases and those who have had a near death experience have begun, not to comprehend it, but to experience it.

The bliss of loving God! We can measure it from the pain of those who have known it and then lost it. It is this bliss that ceased to be felt by Mother Teresa of Calcutta, St. Teresa, now considered a saint in the Catholic Church. She had not at all lost faith in the existence of God, unlike what is often claimed, but she could not feel love for God anymore. She could very much say the loving words of the liturgy or the psalms, but these words did not have emotional weight anymore: they were as hollow as those of a phone book or of a train schedule. Such a horrific loss! Such a terrible trial! It is not that she had lost her reward from God. But it can happen that God associates His saints to His Passion, some of them sharing in His Crucifixion—as it happened for St. Francis of Assisis or Padre Pio—and some of them sharing in His abandonment on the cross.

He created us out of love for us. He desires to know that we are thankful for it and if we are really thankful for His love. He will know by the response of our love. This expectation of God has been felt by many mystics. This caused them to be completely surprised and troubled.

But sometimes God goes even farther. He calls for our love, He demands it; He almost begs for it. Thus was said to Gabrielle Bossis: "Are you still surprised by My love? Such is the folly of a God. It is the great explanation. Simply believe in this love from an Almighty Being and of another order than yourself . . . Be defeated by love and ask for grace. Take My love to love Me." He is indeed an Almighty Being, but "of another order"!

"Is this not a strange thing, that a creature could bring consolation to its God? My love reverses the roles like a new method given to you, like a protective gentlness to return to Me." Zundel and Varillon had well discerned this "reversal" of the roles that is implied by true love.

"Do not leave Me! I am as a terrified child who asks to not be left alone . . . I see hell unleashed and I am alone to defend Myself: pray with Me!"

This latter text may seem excessive, but let us not forget that, by His Incarnation, Christ is in all men and so in the heart of every monster of humanity, of every torturer from every concentration camp of every nation. The struggle between good and evil, betwee love and pride, is taking place within each one of us, between Christ and the evil one. It is up to us to choose who is our master and who is our enemy.

You too may pursue an inner dialogue with God throughout your life, through each circumstance you encounter, trying to fulfill the will that God has for you. It is the first way to love Him.

Accept fully the country and the language that you were given. Accept your social condition. You could maybe change all of this based on circumstances and on the will of God. I was born in a practicing Catholic family. I was ordained as a priest in the Catholic Church, and, after a lenghty road, I became an Orthodox priest. What matters is what happens within your heart. And this effects the fate of the world, whether you are a street cleaner or an emperor. What matters is to love God and to seek His will.

But to love Him also implies that we seek to please Him and thus to do what He would want us to do. This is what some of us, under the influence of Satan, have refused to do. And here we even find something like a progressive purification of the conscience. First we do what He wants for the major things, but then we do what we prefer for the things that appear to be minor to us. But everything is important in love. The love of God is wonderful, yet it is also consuming. He gives everything, but He also wants everything. So, progressively, we must learn to turn what we like into what He likes. This is the conversion of the heart, the replacement of the old man with the new man as St. Paul says.

So that the will of God may coincide with our own will, we must slowly get used to doing everything with Him, for Him, even the most insignificant things. Then this bliss of loving Him will become more and more evident and more and more intense, for it is participation to the love with which God loves Himself, the intra-Trinitarian love.

For as long as God will pemit you to, you must develop within you this bliss of loving God. Develop it for the sake of your own happiness, and, even further, develop it for the greater happiness, the overwhelming happiness of God which you could not imagine, that which He knows when He loves you and when He receives your love in return, because His love is of "another order".

#religion #eastern orthodox #jesus christ #god

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theamazingtrainernate-a · 6 years

Text

\Reconciliation: Test of Skill/

“This looks like an arena.” Nate observed, scanning the somewhat enclosed area. It ground was surprisingly flat, despite the fact that the surrounding cliffs had many dents, holes, and cracks in them. It looked natural, yet artificial at the same time. Yet this was on a part of the Island that was on the opposite side of any civilization. Heck, they had to climb up a small cliff to even get here! It was… definitely strange for Nate to see, especially since Riley hadn’t taken him to his part of the island before.

“You’d be correct,” Riley answered, “It is, made by the local pack of Lucario.” The aura guardian dusted off himself, then walked over to a spot in the floor. Placing his hand on it, he channeled his aura into what revealed to be a strange glyph, which in turn activated several other glyphs in the surrounding area. “It is also a location where Lucario and I practice various aura techniques. The runes here channel the flow of aura into the surrounding area, reinforcing the rock.” The guardian summoned an Aura Sphere in his hand and pointed it towards one of the cliff sides. Without any hesitation, he fired it off like it was a cannonball, forcing the sphere to collide into the rocky wall and explode, creating a gust of wind that forced both Nate and his Lucario to cover their eyes, expecting any possible debris. Yet, there was none, not even a cloud of dust. The wall was completely intact, without even a scratch. “Now we can battle safely without worrying about damaging the environment.”

The trainer and his partner stood in awe, amazed that something like that could be accomplished. Yet when Nate realized what this meant, he started to get pumped! “Wait, we’re battling right now? In this cool arena? Holy shit that’s awesome! Isn’t that great Lucario?” The trainer beamed towards the pokemon, only for him to react rather sheepish grin. Would the pokemon loved to battle with Nate here? Of course, yet… he was nervous. He still was upset from what happened earlier, and he knew that this would affect their synergy. Still, maybe this was going to be fine. Most of their battles, the two of them were able to set their differences aside and work together, so why not this time?

“Yes, both of you will be facing Lucario. I will be monitoring from the sidelines.” Riley took a step back towards one of the walls, as the more powerful Lucario took his place. “You will have to use your training if you wish to pass. I suggest the two of you work together if you plan on landing a hit.”

“Landing a hit?” Well that sounded familiar; didn’t that old man in Kalos give them the exact same challenge? Or well, similar, since it was more like a regular pokemon battle. Still, was this a common thing for Aura users? Well, they managed to land a hit back then; the Lucarionite proved that! Surely it can be done again, especially since Riley was implying that his Lucario would be going literally two on one! “Alright then, how about it buddy? We beat this kind of challenge bef”

Lucario looked at Nate and let out a sigh. He wasn’t liking his odds, especially since she was obviously much stronger than what Nate seemed to comprehend. If he had more training he would at least be taking this more seriously. Still, maybe they could pull it off…

The trainer and his partner assumed a fighting stance, waiting for the other Lucario to assume a stance, though instead she only nodded to Riley. “Alright, begin!”

Taking a moment to think up a situation, Nate realized that his buddy would have the best chance for this to happen, leaving him to think of a diversion! Quickly, Nate rushed over towards his opponent with Aura boosted speed, throwing a punch at the last possible moment! The powerful Lucario dodged with ease, taking advantage of that moment to sweep at his legs, only for her to sense Nate’s Lucario rushing in with a Bullet Punch! Ducking down just in time, she jammed her palm up into the opponent pokemon’s stomcach, activating a powerful Force Palm that sent Nate’s Lucario flying upwards.

No time to look surprised Nate! With that, Nate tried to sweep at Riley’s Lucario, forcing her to flip out of the way. “Lucario! Now’s your chance!” Nate yelled, and Lucario took the option, charging up an Aura Sphere as he locked onto her Aura. Her aura was powerful, and even though she started to move like she was dodging out of the way, he knew that she couldn’t run or dodge from it. Her only option was defense!

Lucario quickly hurled the Aura Sphere, which curved around and down to follow her path, yet what Lucario didn’t realize that was she was rushing towards Nate, and fast! Before Nate could even react to dodge out of her way, she quickly grabbed the trainer, using him as some sort of object to twirl around! Once she was in the right position, she kicked the nearly dumbfounded Nate away… right into the path of the Aura Sphere! He barely had any time to block, let alone set his balance right. The blast of the aura sphere threw him backwards, forcing him to land on his side as the fragile aura barrier disappeared.

Nate’s Lucario landed with a thud, his feet taking the brunt of his drop, his teeth baring as he started to growl. If Nate had better training he would have at least detected that and reacted to it better, and she was obviously taking advantage of that! He was looking like a complete idiot because of that now!

Still, Nate seemed to be just as confident as they got back up, which only made Lucario more upset. Was he not taking this situation seriously enough? “Well then, I guess it makes sense that you’re so strong now. Which means we gotta do better, right bud-“

“RAAH” Lucario rushed in with another Bullet Punch, which Riley’s Lucario dodged effortlessly, leaving Nate surprised in the wake. Still, Lucario didn’t relent, this time coming at her with a Bone Rush! With little effort, Riley’s Lucario dodged the first strike, then caught the next, using Lucario’s own move to swirl around her opponent, setting him off balance, then pushing him with another Force Palm!

Lucario landed at the wall with another thud, only for him to get up and rush toward his opponent again! This time with a powerful Close Combat! However, no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to land a hit, which made him even more frustrated! It was in that fury that he found himself forced back once again with another Force Palm, this time into Nate!

Nate let out a grunt as he hit the ground, forcing himself to get back up. “Lucario, come on buddy. We need to work together.” Unfortunately, that went of deaf ears, as Lucario began to get up again and rush towards his opponent. Panicking, Nate tried to think of a way to get them to work together, only for him to remember his keystone! Of course! Mega Evolution would give them the edge and might help Lucario snap out of it!

Quickly, Nate clutched the Keystone in the palm of his glove, as rainbow energy escaped from his fist. “Lucario! Snap out of it buddy! Let’s do this together with Mega Evolution!”

The energy began to take over Lucario; the two of them were had a strong enough bond to do it. Despite that, the Aura Pokemon could feel the more ferocious side of him taking over, feeding off of his anger… something that he realized he did not want. It was that same anger that he fell into when Nate fell unconscious once while Lucario was still mega evolved. It was too dangerous. Too scary. The beast inside him looming over him, and it was at that moment he needed to get out!

With a loud roar, Lucario broke free of the Mega Evolution, stopping it in his tracks and leaving Nate surprised, and concerned. The aura dog began to pant, catching his breath as he used much more energy than he desired. Yes, that did seem to stop him in his tracks, but it only made Lucario much more furious because Nate had made such a STUPID decision!

“WHAT DID YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING?” Lucario yelled, turning towards Nate in a fit of rage.

“What do ya mean? I was tryin to get ya to stop!”

“We were not in sync! You know what happens with Mega Evolution when we’re not in sync! If you had been actually PAYING ATTENTION today you would have realized that!”

“I’ve been paying attention! You’ve been actin weird this whole battle!”

“And you’ve been acting like a fool Nate!”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You should have been better prepared for this! Master Riley wanted to test our capabilities, yet you haven’t even realized what’s been going on! Arceus you can be so self-absorbed sometimes.”

“What has been going on is that you’ve been acting weird all day! First you ran away, and now you’ve been all pissed for no reason!”

“I’ve been pissed because the first thing you do when you came to Canalve was not to go see Master Riley, but court and then mate with another damn human!”

“What does me getting laid have to do with-“

“AND THEN YOU DID IT WITH FIVE MORE! IT’S LIKE YOU COULDN’T STOP! YOU KNOW HOW THAT MAKES ME FEEL!” With that, Lucario roared out and unleashed a burst of aura energy towards the wall, so powerful that it created a crack in the barrier.

“That’s enough you two.” Riley finally piped up. He had seen and heard enough to make his own conclusion. “I suggest the two of you separate and calm down.”

Lucario took a moment to pause, and then let out a frustrated sigh. He hated that he was angry at Nate for all of this, and that he let himself get that far. It was probably for the best that he calmed down by himself. Turning to look at Nate for a moment, Lucario sighed again before jumping down from the arena, heading off on his own.

Riley’s Lucario looked at her trainer in concern, as if she wanted to make sure he was ok. In return, Riley gave her a nod. The Lucario in turn nodded back, and then turned to follow Nate’s trusted partner.

Turning towards Nate now, Riley put his hand on the somewhat shaken trainer’s shoulder. “He’ll be fine. He cares about you a lot.”

“I know, but… I didn’t know that’s what he was mad about. I knew it made him uncomfortable, but still…”

“Well just be glad that he managed to tell you before things got even worse. Telepathically no less.”

Nate paused, rather surprised at the words that came out of Riley’s mouth. “… Telepathic? Like a powerful psychic type?”

“Yes. I’ll explain more at my cottage. Let’s go back.”

#\Reconciliation/#Man this was a ride #but now Lucario has unlocked telepathy... sort of #they'll work on it #\Guest Muse: thepowerofaura/

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skd2017 · 6 years

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(via The nature of conviction, and the certainty of belief) Why is a man convinced?Convictions arise for varying personal reasons for different people. There is however, simply more “apparent power” in convictions based on physical evidence. Physical evidence which, humans can study through their organs of perception provides the least challenge to the mind and heart. Yet, all conviction does not originate from physical evidence.In our time, the great debate about the superiority of the scientific method rests on its ability to provide verifiable, quantifiable, reproducible physical evidence. On the other hand, examinations of the abstract and spiritual do not give the same physical evidence; their evidence could be emotive and intellectual. Even though not all sciences are the same, in our physical existence in a physical world, the role of science and its investigative method must be respected as unique. It is unique in terms of the results produced before mankind, not in being a particularly benevolent or kind process. Science in its purest form has no passion, no preference, just a cold examination and reaching of objectives. This final outcome gives science its convictions.Spirituality and inquiries of a religious or moral nature seek to fulfill what science does not. Human need for companionship, for love, for empathy, for kindness, mercy, and generosity are fulfilled in ways that are not open to scientific investigations and quantification by means of math and instruments. The very examination of the abstract and spiritual by such methods, should it even be possible, is a cause for irritation.The great reconciliation between the physical sciences and spiritual pursuits is probably not an agreement, but a peaceful acceptance of coexistence and not stepping into each-other’s paths. Where their paths would cross, some conflict is bound to arise. Convictions exist on either side – science and religion (neither necessarily as a solitary source of spirituality) – and there will not be an agreement. The peace will be when, both stay out of each-other’s way. Public policies could possibly not be made that would bring about cohesion between such mutually opposing pursuits, and sources of conviction.It is desirable on a personal level to find in oneself the coexistence of scientific and spiritual convictions. The coexistence of scientific and religious convictions is much harder though, because there are numerous cases among both of looking at the same evidence and coming to incompatible conclusions – what is the age of the earth, was there ever a global flood, has evolution produced entirely new kinds of creatures etc.

#conviction #ruth #science #physical #certainty #beliefs #spirituality

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newageislam-blog · 7 years

Text

Role of Religions In Promoting Non-Violence: Islam’s Valuable Resources For Peacemaking By Sultan Shahin

Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to begin my talk with an entreaty that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) so earnestly used to make in his prayers several times every day:

“O God, You are the original source of Peace; from You is all Peace, and to You returns all Peace. So, make us live with Peace; and let us enter paradise: the House of Peace. Blessed be You, our Lord, to whom belongs all Majesty and Honour!”

Throughout history religions have played a rather ambivalent role in promoting both peace and violence. They have been used and misused by their supposed followers in both ways. Religious postulates from all religions have been misinterpreted in a variety of ways to promote violence rather than non-violence and peace, though establishing peace and harmony in society is in a sense the primary purpose of every religion. As His Holiness The Dalai Lama once said, answering a question, relating to Islam and violence: “(People of) all religions are violent. Even Buddhists!” [i] Indeed even the beautiful and thought-provoking Buddhist concept of “emptiness” has been misinterpreted to promote violence.[ii] The octogenarian leader of Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan, Syed Ali Shah Gilani quotes not only the Quran but even the Hindu scripture Bhagwat Gita to justify terrorism in the Kashmir valley. [iii] And yet, all scholars are agreed that religion provides “valuable resources for peacemaking”, [iv] and it is possible to give examples of how religions or peace-activists from within various religions have utilised these resources to promote peace and non-violence. “Within each of the great religions there is “a moral trajectory challenging adherents to greater acts of compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation”, Scott Appleby wrote, an “internal evolution” that offers hope for religiously inspired peacemaking.” [v]

One can indeed make this point without fear of contradiction on the basis of the teachings of all religions. Theologian Mark Juergensmeyer [vi] has identified three major aspects of non-violence within nearly all world religions:

a) Reverence for life and desire to avoid harm,

b) The ideal of social harmony and living peacefully with others,

c) The injunction to care for the other, especially for the one in need.

Distinguished scholar and peace activist David Cortright has tried to illustrate these points with examples from several religions. [vii] Illustrating the first point he says: All major religions have imperatives to love others and avoid taking of human life. In Buddhism, the rejection of killing is the first of the Five Precepts. Hinduism declares “the killing of living beings is not conducive to heaven.” [viii] Jainism rejects the taking of any form of life: “if someone kills living things…his sin increases.” [ix] The Quran states “slay not the life that God has made sacred.” [x] The Bible teaches you shall not murder.” [xi]

The second point is illustrated by the ideal of social harmony and living peacefully with other being frequently emphasized in the Old Testament and the Qur’an. Third is the willingness to sacrifice and suffer for the sake of expiating sin and avoiding injury to others, which is common in the Abrahamic traditions.

The third universally accepted norm at the core of all religious traditions is the injunction to care for the other, especially for the one in need. Cortright says: “Buddhism and Hinduism are founded on principles of compassion and empathy for those who suffer. Islam emerged out of the Prophet’s call to restore the tribal ethic of social egalitarianism and to end the mistreatment of the weak and the vulnerable. In the New Testament Jesus is depicted throughout as caring for and ministering to the needy. Compassion for the stranger is the litmus test of ethical conduct in all religions. So is the capacity to forgive, to repent and overcome past transgressions. The key to conflict prevention is extending the moral boundaries of one’s community and expressing compassion towards others.”[xii]

These factors apart, Cortright also finds other valuable resources. He writes: “There are many other religious principles that provide a foundation for creative peacemaking. Nonviolent values pervade the Eastern religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism and echo through the Gospel of Jesus. The religious emphasis on personal discipline and self-restraint also has value for peace-making. It provides a basis for constraining the impulses of vengeance and retaliation that arise from violent conflict. The power of imagination, to use John Paul Lederach’s term [xiii] , is necessary to envision a more just and peaceful order, to dream of a society that attempts to reflect religious teaching.” [xiv]

Clearly all religions from ancient eastern religions like Taoism to Buddhism, Jainism Hinduism, and Abrahamic religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam, all provide us with resources to work for peace and non-violence. Indeed, followers of all these religions and many of their sects have all worked at various times in their own ways in establishing peace. It is not possible in the time available to us here to make a detailed study but a lot of material is available in books and essays published in research journals on the subject.

Mr. President,

I would like to take this opportunity to make a special mention of Islam’s quest for peace and the possibility of using Islamic resources for peace-making and for a peaceful quest for justice. Unfortunately in our time a growing number of people look at Islam with fear and are considering it a violent religion or at least a religion that allows violence for its expansion. Nothing could be further from the truth. But we cannot blame people for fearing Islam as Muslim people in several parts of the world are indeed involved in wars and terrorism while Muslim religious scholars are not doing enough to stop these nefarious activities nor are they even condemning these war-mongers and seeking to delink Islam from them.

This makes it imperative for us to recall Islam’s repeated call for peace like the following:

The Qur’an calls its way ‘the paths of peace.’ [xv] It describes reconciliation as the best policy, [xvi] and states that God abhors any disturbance of peace.[xvii]

The root word of Islam is ‘silm’, which means peace. So the spirit of Islam is the spirit of peace. The first verse of the Qur’an breathes the spirit of peace. It reads:

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

This verse is repeated in the Qur’an no less than 113 times. It shows the great importance Islam attaches to such values as Mercy and Compassion. One of God’s names, according to the Qur’an, is As-Salam, which means peace. Moreover the Qur’an states that the Prophet Muhammad PBUH was sent to the world as a mercy to mankind. [xviii]

The ideal society, according to the Qur’an is Dar as-Salam, that is, the house of peace.[xix]

The Qur’an presents the universe as a model that is characterized by harmony and peace.[xx] When God created heaven and earth, He so ordered things that each part might perform its function peacefully without clashing with any other part.

Because of the importance of peace, the Qur’an has clearly declared that no aggressive war is permitted in Islam. Muslims can engage themselves only in a defensive, not in an offensive war, irrespective of the circumstances. [xxi]

The Qur’an has this to say of the mission of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh):

We have not sent you forth but as a mercy to mankind. [xxii]

That the holy Quran equates killing of one innocent person with the killing of humanity is well known. It also equates saving one person’s live with saving the entire humanity.[xxiii]

On that account We ordained for the Children of Isra`il that if any one slew a person – unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land – it would be as if he slew the whole humanity: and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he saved the whole humanity. Then although there came to them Our messengers with clear (guidance), yet, even after that, many of them continued to commit excesses in the land. [xxiv]

Islam also puts great emphasis on Justice. And since seeking justice may sometimes call for violence, some people think Islam allows violence in its quest for justice. This is not true. Two examples from the Life of the Prophet should suffice. The first is the treaty of Hudaibiya that the Prophet signed on terms that all his companions found humiliating for what was by then a powerful community which had fended off several attacks and could be expected to do so again. Hudaibiya was not a just treaty they all thought. But the Prophet accepted that as this was the only way to peace. Another example is Muslims victory over Mecca. The Prophet announced a general amnesty after this. Justice demanded that war criminals be punished. But this would have probably created bad blood and possibly led to counter-violence. The Prophet again delinked Justice with Peace. The requirement of peace was paramount in his view.

Following the Prophet’s example, in the last century, the great leader of the then united India’s northwest frontier province, which is now known as Pakistan’s province of Khyber-Pakhtunkwa, Badshah Khan devised a strategy that harmonised the demands of a quest for Justice with the interests of peace. He was inspired by the Mahatma and was his greatest, most unflinching ally. But he had worked out his strategy of non-violent struggle and started his unique movement before meeting him. He said he had learnt this from his study of Quran and Hadith. He found his nonviolent strategy in Islam’s call for an unrelenting struggle against injustice and the Prophet’s constant exhortation for patience and perseverance. He brought the two virtues together and thus was born his unique movement of non-violent resistance against British colonial rule. He told his 100,000 strong non-violent army of khudai khidmatgars (Servants of God):

“I am going to give you such a weapon that police and the army will not be able to stand against it. It is the weapon of the Prophet, but you are not aware of it. That weapon is patience and righteousness. No power on earth can stand against it. …tell your brethren that there is an army of God and its weapon is patience….” [xxv]

Many scholars and peace activists who have studied the Khudai Khidmatgar movement in detail consider this as an Islamic model for non-violent struggle against injustice. Let us hope that Muslims all over the world take this as a model that is as relevant today as it was a century ago. It has the force of truth and righteousness behind it. After all Mahatma Gandhi too had been able to work a miracle through this very model of Satyagraha or struggle for truth based on non-violence. The route through which Gandhiji reached this non-violent methodology of struggle was different. But the endpoint was so well fused together that Badshah khan was known throughout the length and breadth of then undivided India as the Frontier Gandhi. That it is the Frontier (NWFP) that is now the scene of a raging battle fought by Muslims who interpret Islam in a different and violent way is a tragedy of colossal proportions and has implications for Muslims the world over. The sooner they go back to Badshah Khan’s interpretation of Islam and perhaps renew the Khudai Khidmatgar movement the better for all.

For more details click here: Liberal Islam

Source URL: http://www.countercurrents.org/shahin011110.htm

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newageislam-blog · 7 years

Text

Role of Religions in Promoting Non-Violence: Islam’s Valuable Resources for Peacemaking

Full Text of a Speech delivered by Sultan Shahin, Editor, New Age Islam on 28 September 2010 at a parallel seminar organised by Al-Hakim Foundation and Himalayan Research in the UN Human Rights Council’s September 2010 session at Geneva:

International Day of non-violence:28 September 2010

Role of Religions in promoting non-violence: Islam’s valuable resources for peacemaking

Mr. President, Ladies and gentlemen,

I would like to begin my talk with an entreaty that Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) so earnestly used to make in his prayers several times every day:

Throughout history religions have played a rather ambivalent role in promoting both peace and violence. They have been used and misused by their supposed followers in both ways. Religious postulates from all religions have been misinterpreted in a variety of ways to promote violence rather than non-violence and peace, though establishing peace and harmony in society is in a sense the primary purpose of every religion. As His Holiness The Dalai Lama once said, answering a question, relating to Islam and violence: “(People of) all religions are violent. Even Buddhists!”[i] Indeed even the beautiful and thought-provoking Buddhist concept of “emptiness” has been misinterpreted to promote violence.[ii] The octogenarian leader of Jamaat-e-Islami in Pakistan, Syed Ali Shah Gilani quotes not only the Quran but even the Hindu scripture Bhagwat Gita to justify terrorism in the Kashmir valley.[iii] And yet, all scholars are agreed that religion provides “valuable resources for peacemaking”,[iv] and it is possible to give examples of how religions or peace-activists from within various religions have utilised these resources to promote peace and non-violence. “Within each of the great religions there is “a moral trajectory challenging adherents to greater acts of compassion, forgiveness and reconciliation”, Scott Appleby wrote, an “internal evolution” that offers hope for religiously inspired peacemaking.”[v]

One can indeed make this point without fear of contradiction on the basis of the teachings of all religions. Theologian Mark Juergensmeyer[vi] has identified three major aspects of non-violence within nearly all world religions:

a) Reverence for life and desire to avoid harm,

b) The ideal of social harmony and living peacefully with others,

c) The injunction to care for the other, especially for the one in need.

Distinguished scholar and peace activist David Cortright has tried to illustrate these points with examples from several religions.[vii] Illustrating the first point he says: All major religions have imperatives to love others and avoid taking of human life. In Buddhism, the rejection of killing is the first of the Five Precepts. Hinduism declares “the killing of living beings is not conducive to heaven.”[viii] Jainism rejects the taking of any form of life: “if someone kills living things…his sin increases.”[ix] The Quran states “slay not the life that God has made sacred.”[x] The Bible teaches you shall not murder.”[xi]

These factors apart, Cortright also finds other valuable resources. He writes: “There are many other religious principles that provide a foundation for creative peacemaking. Nonviolent values pervade the Eastern religious traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Jainism and echo through the Gospel of Jesus. The religious emphasis on personal discipline and self-restraint also has value for peace-making. It provides a basis for constraining the impulses of vengeance and retaliation that arise from violent conflict. The power of imagination, to use John Paul Lederach’s term[xiii], is necessary to envision a more just and peaceful order, to dream of a society that attempts to reflect religious teaching.”[xiv]

Mr. President,

This makes it imperative for us to recall Islam’s repeated call for peace like the following:

The Qur’an calls its way ‘the paths of peace.’[xv] It describes reconciliation as the best policy,[xvi] and states that God abhors any disturbance of peace.[xvii]

The root word of Islam is ‘silm’, which means peace. So the spirit of Islam is the spirit of peace. The first verse of the Qur’an breathes the spirit of peace. It reads:

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.

The ideal society, according to the Qur’an is Dar as-Salam, that is, the house of peace.[xix]

The Qur’an has this to say of the mission of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh):

We have not sent you forth but as a mercy to mankind.[xxii]

That the holy Quran equates killing of one innocent person with the killing of humanity is well known. It also equates saving one person’s live with saving the entire humanity.[xxiii]

For more details click here: Islamic Society

Source URL: http://newageislam.com/interfaith-dialogue/sultan-shahin,-editor,-new-age-islam/role-of-religions-in-promoting-non-violence–islam%E2%80%99s-valuable-resources-for-peacemaking/d/3606

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