Ghanima Atreides (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
atreideslioness) wrote in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
fandomhigh2009-09-13 11:46 pm
atreideslioness) wrote in fandomhigh2009-09-13 11:46 pm
Entry tags:
Hubris from Revelation: the Social Engineering of Ultimate Truths [Monday, Period 2]
"Today we are looking at one of the more dominant faiths on this planet," Ghanima said crisply. "Or rather, four faiths that share one founder. Our focus today is on the Abrahamic religions."
"Abrahamic religions, "Abrahamic faiths" or "religions of Abraham" has become a popular and oft-used designation for the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, emphasizing their common origin and values. For some 1,300 years their histories and thought have been intertwined. The three are all considered inextricably linked to one another because of a ‘family likeness’ and a certain commonality in theology. They are faiths that recognize a spiritual tradition identified with Abraham. However, relationships among them have varied from time and place and have often been characterized by mistrust and even hatred," she continued. "Which, really, is not that shocking. Sometimes 'family' is the most vicious opponent of all; simply look at the tale of Cain and Abel."
"Even as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all acknowledge Abraham as an ancestor, members of the three traditions have also tried to claim him as exclusively theirs. Definition of the term "Abrahamic" is far from being universal and has been found to be problematic to some. Certain smaller religions, while not included in the main three Abrahamic faiths, claim to have Abrahamic tradition. An example is the Baha'i Faith which was born in the Middle East, founded within Islam, and recognizes the same prophets plus Bahá'u'llá'h. Today, there are an estimated 3.8 billion followers of the three largest Abrahamic religions, accounting for more than half of the world's population."
Ghanima scooped up handouts on the common aspects and basic overview of the three largest sects, and handed them to Savannahif she was there to pass out.
"Now, some of you may already be familiar of the concept of the divine right to rule," Ghanima stated. "This is a concept that has been largely abandoned in the Western countries, particularly the democratic ones, but still holds strong sway elsewhere. It has been extremely popular with Abrahamic rulers for hundreds of years, because it is a political and religious doctrine of royal absolutism. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm, including the church. The doctrine implies that any attempt to depose the king or to restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute heresy. Especially since revolution is never legitimate under the concept of the divine right of kings. While this is not a concept limited to the Abrahamic faiths -- at all -- it is notable that its counterpart in Eastern theology, the Mandate of Heaven, does allow for rebellion against an unjust ruler. This inflexibility in the divine right of kings may be attributed in-part to the fact that their God is often viewed as omniscient and omnipresent, and thus would not have put an unworthy ruler -- or someone who would become unworthy -- on the throne in the first place. Of course, usurpers can always claim they were the one with divine right, and the former king an impostor, but you'll always have loyalists holding out, and they'd have to woo the clergy to their side before any sort of legitimacy could be established."
[OCD up, beware the teal deer!]
"Abrahamic religions, "Abrahamic faiths" or "religions of Abraham" has become a popular and oft-used designation for the monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, emphasizing their common origin and values. For some 1,300 years their histories and thought have been intertwined. The three are all considered inextricably linked to one another because of a ‘family likeness’ and a certain commonality in theology. They are faiths that recognize a spiritual tradition identified with Abraham. However, relationships among them have varied from time and place and have often been characterized by mistrust and even hatred," she continued. "Which, really, is not that shocking. Sometimes 'family' is the most vicious opponent of all; simply look at the tale of Cain and Abel."
"Even as Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all acknowledge Abraham as an ancestor, members of the three traditions have also tried to claim him as exclusively theirs. Definition of the term "Abrahamic" is far from being universal and has been found to be problematic to some. Certain smaller religions, while not included in the main three Abrahamic faiths, claim to have Abrahamic tradition. An example is the Baha'i Faith which was born in the Middle East, founded within Islam, and recognizes the same prophets plus Bahá'u'llá'h. Today, there are an estimated 3.8 billion followers of the three largest Abrahamic religions, accounting for more than half of the world's population."
Ghanima scooped up handouts on the common aspects and basic overview of the three largest sects, and handed them to Savannah
"Now, some of you may already be familiar of the concept of the divine right to rule," Ghanima stated. "This is a concept that has been largely abandoned in the Western countries, particularly the democratic ones, but still holds strong sway elsewhere. It has been extremely popular with Abrahamic rulers for hundreds of years, because it is a political and religious doctrine of royal absolutism. It asserts that a monarch is subject to no earthly authority, deriving his right to rule directly from the will of God. The king is thus not subject to the will of his people, the aristocracy, or any other estate of the realm, including the church. The doctrine implies that any attempt to depose the king or to restrict his powers runs contrary to the will of God and may constitute heresy. Especially since revolution is never legitimate under the concept of the divine right of kings. While this is not a concept limited to the Abrahamic faiths -- at all -- it is notable that its counterpart in Eastern theology, the Mandate of Heaven, does allow for rebellion against an unjust ruler. This inflexibility in the divine right of kings may be attributed in-part to the fact that their God is often viewed as omniscient and omnipresent, and thus would not have put an unworthy ruler -- or someone who would become unworthy -- on the throne in the first place. Of course, usurpers can always claim they were the one with divine right, and the former king an impostor, but you'll always have loyalists holding out, and they'd have to woo the clergy to their side before any sort of legitimacy could be established."
[OCD up, beware the teal deer!]
Re: NFB please.
It had been a little more than that.
"My mother's family set up three challenges for my brother and I because of our mixed heritage. During one of them, I was forced to," and she swallowed a little because she wasn't proud of it, "slice something out of myself in order to save my life.
"Namely, my ability to hunger."
Fiona should have paused there, but she couldn't. She didn't want to answer questions on that, not until she got to the other parts.
"Which would have killed me. I was in the hospital for half a day and when my mother and my aunt came in and, well, I guess they--"
She chewed her lip and her fingers padded nervously against her thigh.
"My mother is Atropos. Her sister is Lachesis. They went into me and they... rewove me. So I'd be strong enough to go get the one thing that'd save my life."
Re: NFB please.
Re: NFB please.
"I don't know, exactly. I was only half awake. But it looked like they pulled out everything that makes me me and just... put it together differently."
Fiona looked down at her hands, trying to remember everything she could.
"There was all kinds of threads and strings, and it hurt as they tied knots where there weren't knots, cut some things, moved others. There was tugging and it felt like skin after a burn, only inside. Then it was all gone and they were smoothing the bed."
Her eyes lifted to meet Ghanima's now.
"I was a little different after I cut into myself, but after they did that stuff, I couldn't feel anything. I mean, there's sensation but emotion... I have to remind myself to feel anything at all. Except for anger. I get angry so much easier than I used to. I used to get frustrated, yes, but this is... it's like a tide. A big wave."
Re: NFB please.
"It sounds like we need to find out what they did, and if it can be undone," she replied smoothly, keeping her anger locked deep inside. "Meditation for sure, and you may want to speak to the clinic anyway about a basic physical if nothing else. It will help to know what your current 'normal' state is, in case of a change later on."
Re: NFB please.
Fiona decided to say nothing and just do as she'd been told. She didn't like going over the other part. She liked her father better, felt that he cared about her more than her mother did, but she liked her relatives on that side least.
"I'll do that this week, I promise."
Re: NFB please.
"What else?" she asked, prompting gently. She didn't want to scare the girl off when she clearly needed help, but if there was anything else, she needed to know before they started trying to work with repressed and potentially volatile emotions.
Re: NFB please.
The apple and Beal.
"There's the apple. It's why I'm not dead. It might have done something, I don't know. The Golden Apple of Immortality."
Hopefully Ghanima knew what she was talking about since the whole thing sounded somewhat ridiculous to her.
"I've eaten a piece. It's why I'm so hard to injure, why cold and hot don't bother me so much. I'm, um, technically a goddess."
Re: NFB please.
Re: NFB please.
"I don't know. I just know my title. My family left my brother and I in the dark for fifteen years and they haven't exactly explained much since then. All I know, I know from experience.
"It's hard to injure me, I don't get sick, I don't get tired easily, and my thread is, well, it's gold. Like my Aunt Dallas's. It just keeps going."
Once she'd gotten that out, she was able to really think.
"I know Immortals can die. There's stories in the Mythica about it. And one of the people at our induction ceremony mentioned that someone I think was Poseidon got blown up scuba diving in the wrong spot."
Re: NFB please.
"Well, in theory, meditation should work for an immortal-ish person as well as a mortal, so we'll definately see if that helps. Are you having any problems sleeping at all? That might explain the easy irritability."
Re: NFB please.
"They're not nice people."
She thought about what Robert had said the one time.
"They're not even really people at all, any of them."
She almost went on, but the creeping question of what that made her started to inch it's way up her brain and she didn't want to deal with it, not now. She had enough, thank you.
"And I sleep all right, really. Better now that I have a kitten. Nyx sleeps on my hip and it helps."
Re: NFB please.
"I ask about sleeping, because that's usually the easiest to fix. Cutting caffeine out of the diet, soothing teas, proper vitamins... while you may be most-immortal, it doesn't hurt to check for biological causes of your mood disorder."
Re: NFB please.
If her sentences were short, it had more to do with her nervousness than any kind of irritation.
"And I didn't-- I just don't want you hurt because of me."
She already felt terrible for all the trouble Robert had gotten into trying to help her and Eliot.
Re: NFB please.
Re: NFB please.
Then she shook her head.
"My family... no. I don't think so. I mean, you could try, but I think they'd be more likely to pull me out of school than answer."
Her head ducked a little.
"Or they might not know. My brother and I are kind of, um, a unique situation."
Re: NFB please.
"On account of your mixed heritage, I presume," she replied briskly. "While I presume you had an atypical upbringing of some sort, do you ever remember seeing any of them eat anything besides this 'nectar'? Or how often they drank it?"
The devil was in the details, as it were, and while meditation could potential help with the rage issues, there were deeper problems here that needed to be addressed.
Re: NFB please.
"Oh, no, sorry, I--"
This whole thing had her so nervous she wasn't thinking straight! Ugh, she hated that she did that sometimes. That, and her desire not to tell too much, was actually making things more difficult. She breathed out and settled into her seat for a bit of an
info dumpextended explanation."My brother eats. My mother eats. My whole family, on both sides, eat. The reason I don't eat is because during... a trial" which kept things nice and vague at least when it came to family politics "I had to cut something away from myself. I didn't know it at the time, but what I was cutting was my hunger. My ability to hunger. I nearly died because even if I eat, I don't get anything from it. My body doesn't take in nutrients. It can't hunger. Even when they tried an IV, I couldn't take it in. That's why I ate the Apple. That's why I would have died otherwise.
"The nectar is from someone else, someone from another universe, someone here. I don't know if I take in anything from it, nutritionally, but it tastes good to me and makes me feel good."
And finally, she got a breath.
"I don't mean to be difficult. Especially since I'm asking for help."
She just hadn't dealt with most of it. She'd ignored it to try and be normal, to fit in, to have fun in this place where she was away from her mother and away from the rules and hopefully, out from the middle of the conflict between her parents. It was stupid. It was dangerous, in a way.
She was a 15 year old girl.