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Yuletide Questions [Video, Open]
Merry Christmas, everyone; God bless.
[A shorter holiday greeting than years past, but Ted's been shrinking lately. Whether that's a general reduction towards nothing, or honing and transforming into a singular, purposeful point was difficult to tell. Either way, the holidays were a smaller matter, given his restraint. He was spending it as alone as he could, and had few gifts to give but the gift of philosophical discussion. Behold!]
For those who know some philosophy, I'd like to pick your brains on the subject of the soul and its powers and attributes. I know there are many here with strange spiritual capabilities, so let's limit the list to the general and universal. Here's what I know and hope to expand upon:
[He pauses there, thinking in what ways a corrupted soul's powers might be blunted or lost. His brow furrows for a few seconds before returning to holiday equability.]
[Again, another pause. Like many poor extroverts, Ted can't think much without talking; hence the habit of muttering to himself. So the thoughts this stirred brought troubling news and disturbed his countenance again. It would explain why disembodied spirits were so often troublesome; they weren't as they ought to be.]
And...suppose seven, being the perfect number, would be the perfect amount to end on.
[This is the most complicated, and once again, Ted's face shows his deepest doubt yet. Genessia had a lot of fun transplanting their souls into differing bodies with all the ease of drivers getting into new cars. He's read of princes becoming frogs, of course, but this wasn't that. Months ago he was a werewolf; well, was his human soul predisposed to the lupine? Or was it all simply farcical? More than that, they had the capacity to switch bodies altogether. Spiritually speaking, how could that be? If souls and bodies were as sympathetic and co-created as philosophy held, such a switch should've been far more violent than it was. Combine that with what they'd found out about their bodies by the GSRF experiments, as well as how easy it was to return to them upon death and the connection they supposedly had between soul and body...it was all looking very tenuous. Perhaps they weren't at all who they supposed.
The pause is awkward. If he's talking philosophy, shouldn't he share these thoughts? Well, it's Christmas, the season for cheer and goodwill. Not existential doubt. The clever would, no doubt, intuit all that anyway. No need to discomfort others.]
That should do for a foundation. Per the season, if you're in a charitable mood, I'd like little better than to contribute as you can. Go under the Mercy.
[A shorter holiday greeting than years past, but Ted's been shrinking lately. Whether that's a general reduction towards nothing, or honing and transforming into a singular, purposeful point was difficult to tell. Either way, the holidays were a smaller matter, given his restraint. He was spending it as alone as he could, and had few gifts to give but the gift of philosophical discussion. Behold!]
For those who know some philosophy, I'd like to pick your brains on the subject of the soul and its powers and attributes. I know there are many here with strange spiritual capabilities, so let's limit the list to the general and universal. Here's what I know and hope to expand upon:
- It is the seat of the will and makes all choice and decision possible. Granted, not all wills are free, but to have will, free or otherwise, the soul's required.
- The soul of men and creatures like men is de facto immortal, though not indestructible; God might annihilate one wicked enough.
- Sensitive powers require soul and body both; should they separate, out goes sense.
- The soul's powers are five: vegetative, sensitive, appetitive, locomotive, and intellectual.
[He pauses there, thinking in what ways a corrupted soul's powers might be blunted or lost. His brow furrows for a few seconds before returning to holiday equability.]
- All wills-slash-souls desire happiness, which is convenient, as that's their end.
- It is more perfect for a--mannish--soul to be composite; that is, joined to a body, and to understand with the body's aid. It may be separated from the body, and understand in a different way, but that is not ideal.
[Again, another pause. Like many poor extroverts, Ted can't think much without talking; hence the habit of muttering to himself. So the thoughts this stirred brought troubling news and disturbed his countenance again. It would explain why disembodied spirits were so often troublesome; they weren't as they ought to be.]
And...suppose seven, being the perfect number, would be the perfect amount to end on.
- The relation between soul and body is not accidental; again, for mannish creatures, they were...created together.
[This is the most complicated, and once again, Ted's face shows his deepest doubt yet. Genessia had a lot of fun transplanting their souls into differing bodies with all the ease of drivers getting into new cars. He's read of princes becoming frogs, of course, but this wasn't that. Months ago he was a werewolf; well, was his human soul predisposed to the lupine? Or was it all simply farcical? More than that, they had the capacity to switch bodies altogether. Spiritually speaking, how could that be? If souls and bodies were as sympathetic and co-created as philosophy held, such a switch should've been far more violent than it was. Combine that with what they'd found out about their bodies by the GSRF experiments, as well as how easy it was to return to them upon death and the connection they supposedly had between soul and body...it was all looking very tenuous. Perhaps they weren't at all who they supposed.
The pause is awkward. If he's talking philosophy, shouldn't he share these thoughts? Well, it's Christmas, the season for cheer and goodwill. Not existential doubt. The clever would, no doubt, intuit all that anyway. No need to discomfort others.]
That should do for a foundation. Per the season, if you're in a charitable mood, I'd like little better than to contribute as you can. Go under the Mercy.
video
Anyway, it sounds like you have it all figured out, I can't see what there is to add. Got a specific area you think you don't got?
Re: video
[As far as he knows, they're the only ones who care much for that one.]
You're certainly a flatterer, thank you. Well, what can't be known by novelty might be refreshed with repetition. So long as we're about the sensitive appetite, what do you know of the passions? Concupiscible or irascible. To what degree does the soul depend on them? How would its nature fare without?
Or, if you don't know that, elocution and verse would be fine. Philosophy so said is very dry, if just.
Re: video
[FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE.]
[He regrets speaking up.]
[ >:( ]
[PINCHES THE BRIDGE BETWEEN HIS EYES. HE HAS A HEADACHE, AND IT'S ONLY BEEN FIVE SECONDS!!!]
I was under the impression that those sprang more from chemical reactions and instincts.
Animals are ruled by passions, aren't they? And monsters even more so.
Re: video
I was...not aware of that distinction; animals seem so dominated by those it's difficult to imagine a control more comprehensive. But suppose one without passions whatever? Nothing either attractive or abhorrent. Naught to move towards or away. What would become of the denuded soul then?
Re: video
Re: video
no subject
I'm gonna have to disagree, because some robots do have souls, or whatever... fills it in.
And people who've been destroyed aren't soulless, just monstrous, although I can't think of anyone without-- unless they're in a coma, but then when they wake up, it's all still there.
no subject
[Pinocchio reference. He said bodies and souls were created at the same time, so he's curious to know the origin of robosouls. If they exist.
which they don't. Wait, stay on topic!]Destroyed? No, just...lost, somehow. Drained, perhaps. Anyway, we're talking about theoretical cases.
[Sort of. Not really.]
May I take that to mean that, without the passions, such a soul would be rendered comatose?
no subject
Without any form of emotion or inspiration? Yeah. Comatose or half dead. Something important being dead.
no subject
As the soul's surest mark is its intellectual powers, naught can be learned whatsoever without one.
[So correcting. So helpful.]
That's what I'd assume; that ought to mean a total spiritual surrender to sloth. So how the hell are they so active without---
[ALERT: thinking out loud! Abort!]
Er, aheh, sorry, rambled a bit. Thanks for conversing, Carver. Are you a Catholic, then? You make very Catholic asides.
no subject
[Quiet, but finally.] No, I'm divorced, and so are my parents.
In Gracepoint, it is such a tiny town there's only one church, Catholic, and the priest was one of my main suspects or witnesses, so I guess I was thinking of him and his positions. Unconsciously, of course.
[The discussion does intrigue him, but he wonders about lemenae, and therefore: angels and demons... what's a good way to approach that without giving Chrysalis away?]
I didn't used to believe in demons, but then I was one last Halloween. They have soul, or at least passions, but then, why hunger for the darker side or corrupting others?
no subject
[Like father like son, eh? Whatever minor gloom he feels upon the news (which explained a little about Carver, though even Ted's not blithe enough to say so), he laughs it off at talk of the demonic.]
Ahaha, is that what you think demons are like? More or less like us but with hooves and bat wings and other ugly appendages? That sort of "demon", rest assured, is too tame to be typical.
The real kind; those corrupted, angelic intellects who are never tempted by anything are far fiercer. I doubt you and I have ever encountered one. Not in the flesh, anyway. They tend to stick to the spiritual.
no subject
[And again, Carver just stares.]
[He's dating a succubus, but like fuck he'll say that.]
Sure.
[ :| ]
[Video]
You wanna talk about souls, huh? They all look like little puffy things at first! I guess that, once Enma's made his decision, they start lookin' like their old selves again.
[He knows that people get to keep their bodies if they've been really good, but Freeza got to keep his despite being pretty much the worst person in the entire universe. He's never thought about asking why, so he figures that's the case.]
Re: [Video]
[He's pre-tty sure they don't look like anything, being immaterial and all.]
Who's Enma? I must've missed an arrival.
[Video]
He's the judge of the afterlife! At least, he is back home - maybe it works differently in other universes.
Re: [Video]
And at least two, I suppose, of seeing Enma. Are you allowed to say his judgment of you?
[Video]
Re: [Video]
[Don't mind him, just laughing for another backstory delivered piecemeal.]
So the judge of the dead was less capable than that monarch, eh? I didn't know he offered lessons. What dire trouble needed after-life training?
[Video]
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