The ways in which Second Apocalypse has influenced your life

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Cuttlefish

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« on: July 10, 2017, 10:31:41 pm »
I wasn't sure where precisely to put this thread, but this felt like as good a place as any.

I think plenty of people have taken a different look to fantasy genre after Bakker, so I'm not exactly asking about that. What I'm asking about is, how has reading the Second Apocalypse novels influenced your life directly?

For me, I can give two examples:

I'm a law student, whose main interest lies in positive law. So philosophy of law classes didn't ever do much to interest me, particularly because I had a dry, old teacher. He was the kind of teacher who seemed to grade better, the more you wrote, the better grade he gave. So, to make the paper fuller, and generally sound like I have any idea what I'm talking about, I've more than once wrote Dunyain axioms in his exams, most notably "what comes before determines what comes after". Funnily enough, I've gotten good grades with little to no study, so the creative ways in which I managed to bullshit seemed to work!

Anyway, another, more substanial example would be the way the books influenced my general outlook on life. Before reading them, I was a believer in free will for vanity's sake, if nothing else. The Dunyain description of the worldborn, as being slave to their urges and outside influences without ever realizing it, made a lot of sense to me. I think I've become something of a determinist as a consequence of this.

Wilshire

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« Reply #1 on: July 11, 2017, 01:55:51 pm »
Many ways.

Mainly, influences on how I think. And how I think about my thinking. And thinking about how other people think. And thinking about those thoughts...

Perspective is everything, the dangers of certainty, and how each person believes absolutely that their perspective is correct beyond all others.

Even with these thoughts its so easy to fall into that trap, but at least now I feel like I can sometimes see beyond my own ego from time to time. :)
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Monkhound

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« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2017, 06:33:24 am »
A different way of looking at the people and their behaviour in general.
Last Saturday, something different happened though and it's a bit hard for me to share.
I had an emotional breakdown after a day at a metal festival and pierced the veil hiding what has been determining a large part of my social behaviour since I was little. I think I get why the choice of words is "The darkness that comes before ". It's not the happy emotions that have determined these: It's mostly fear. It's a dark place full of darkest memories and fears that I never have a second thought, and that I never knew were there. So generally it feels like the explanations we got from the various  POVs in TGO are as accurate as can be. Ironically since then, every social interaction triggers doubt about why I act in a way a bit like Cnaiur and Akka about Kellhus.

Edit: The scary part is that nobody understands what you're going through and that you're all alone in the dark... Again, the ironic comparison with Akka and Cnaiur, and in a way Sorweel... Which does not feel like a coincidence either.
« Last Edit: July 18, 2017, 07:04:49 am by Monkhound »
Cuts and cuts and cuts...

H

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« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2017, 11:25:14 am »
Edit: The scary part is that nobody understands what you're going through and that you're all alone in the dark... Again, the ironic comparison with Akka and Cnaiur, and in a way Sorweel... Which does not feel like a coincidence either.

Well, sort of yes to the former, but no to the latter.

While no one can know exactly what it is you face, you aren't actually alone, it only feels that way.

"The darkness of the No-God is not all-encompassing. The Gods see us yet, dear friend."

If you need anything, or just want to talk, feel free to message me.
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

themerchant

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« Reply #4 on: July 18, 2017, 11:40:38 am »
Got me to read a lot of popular books on the mind.

Wilshire

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« Reply #5 on: July 18, 2017, 11:42:19 am »
...

Edit: The scary part is that nobody understands what you're going through and that you're all alone in the dark... Again, the ironic comparison with Akka and Cnaiur, and in a way Sorweel... Which does not feel like a coincidence either.

We're an interesting community of vagabonds, you never know what experiences you may share - in part or in whole - with someone here. Feel free to reach out.
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themerchant

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« Reply #6 on: July 18, 2017, 12:34:54 pm »
Yeah until I talked about my suicidal thoughts when i was in my 20's and crippling depression, i thought no one else had them really. Turned out 2 of my friends had the same thing going on and one of them already had lots of advice on how to go about it.

Me and one of my best friends were on the same anti-anxiety medication, and it took us 4 months to find out cause we didn't talk about it.


Madness

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« Reply #7 on: July 18, 2017, 02:48:43 pm »
...

Edit: The scary part is that nobody understands what you're going through and that you're all alone in the dark... Again, the ironic comparison with Akka and Cnaiur, and in a way Sorweel... Which does not feel like a coincidence either.

We're an interesting community of vagabonds, you never know what experiences you may share - in part or in whole - with someone here. Feel free to reach out.

Concur. Though I think I'm the only straight up vagabond ;).
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Woden

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« Reply #8 on: July 18, 2017, 04:06:03 pm »
In my job I try a pseudodunyain train of thought and it usually works. So the saga has improved my daily life, lol.


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Monkhound

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« Reply #9 on: July 18, 2017, 06:55:43 pm »
Thank you all for the very supportive replies. Even though it's rough unsuspectingly opening a closet and finding yourself confronted with ghosts from the past, I'm okay and non-suicidal :) I just need to find out how to deal with this.
The fact that the books helped me recognize the situation is I think the biggest way they have impacted my life, I suppose.
That and the philosophies within the book make you think, and really evaluate other lines of thinking instead of just vaguely defining an idea.

In response to H about my remark about  Sorweel: You can't get much more alone in the dark than Sorweel right before Oirunas "kills" him. He "dies" through the Amiolas, basically alone without anyone including the gods setting him. ;)
Cuts and cuts and cuts...

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« Reply #10 on: July 18, 2017, 07:09:28 pm »
In response to H about my remark about  Sorweel: You can't get much more alone in the dark than Sorweel right before Oirunas "kills" him. He "dies" through the Amiolas, basically alone without anyone including the gods setting him. ;)

Indeed, that was the first thing I thought of, but there wasn't a catchy quote I could find there, haha.
I am a warrior of ages, Anasurimbor. . . ages. I have dipped my nimil in a thousand hearts. I have ridden both against and for the No-God in the great wars that authored this wilderness. I have scaled the ramparts of great Golgotterath, watched the hearts of High Kings break for fury. -Cet'ingira

TaoHorror

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« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2017, 03:20:26 am »
While I have no plans of murdering my boss because he’s a skinspy ( which he clearly is ), the books have yielded  me great joy and have significantly impacted my thinking/awareness ( in my perception, for the better ). I have slowed down my exercises in self-reflection and take more time to think about what is going on and what other people are like without judging them – we all suffer from not knowing where our thoughts originate which yields a powerful path for us to connect and thrive together, share our wonder with each other.
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TLEILAXU

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« Reply #12 on: July 19, 2017, 07:23:26 am »
I'm more conscious about behavior and what it reveals, although this eye-opener was initiated when reading Dune.

TaoHorror

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« Reply #13 on: July 19, 2017, 03:54:49 pm »
I'm more conscious about behavior and what it reveals, although this eye-opener was initiated when reading Dune.

Same - my "path" to greater awareness of reality began with Herbert's works.
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Wilshire

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« Reply #14 on: July 19, 2017, 05:02:28 pm »
I'm more conscious about behavior and what it reveals, although this eye-opener was initiated when reading Dune.

Same - my "path" to greater awareness of reality began with Herbert's works.

I feel like I have missed out on something reading Herbert after Bakker :(
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