To circle back to the Cultivation problems we're having, I think most agree that the snarl is coming from a desire to endlessly go forward, while listening to family, while having them not get left behind.
Teacher has been suggested, and I like that. But it's not the only thing, because if we teach others too much and neglect ourselves we'll never find the new heights to help belay the others up to. Someone in the Belay reaches the top first, and helps pull the rest up. In my opinion we will have to find a way to either do these two things simultaneously, or do them alternatingly. I'm open to suggestions.
we are out of balance right now. We just had a very intense stakes-raising sequence of events that could derail short-term thoughts of Dreams and Art for Art's sake. Throwing them on the altar of War and Raw Direct Power, even for a short time . . . we should consider how Six feels. We know that cultivators get a warped sense of time as they progress, so saying that there is no time for dreams and art sometimes is . . . not comforting to the muse of Dreams and Art. Especially because they're confined to our dantian. With Six, we can see a microcosm of what I believe to be the snarl. It's not actually the insights at conflict, it's our Way. Yes, this sounds like a dumb redundant statement, but hear me out for a bit.
There are clearly some things about us that don't change regardless of what we're doing. We, of course, will pick up tools and patches where and when needed but these things are simply true about us.
1. We move. We move forward. Anything perceived as standing still is literally death, so even our standing still must be moving forward.
2. We care. We care deeply, and strongly, and if something is attempting to hurt our connections we will move to protect even if it'd be easier to flow around or lose the tie.
3. We're honest. We hate deception and illusion (having had many bad experiences with it in our formative years) and chose to cut out even our self-delusions. We prefer honest work to get to the top than cheating-grease and lies that smooth the journey.
4. We're greedy. When confronted with choices that tell us to pick one, we try to grab as many as we can and simply shoulder the burden of that choice. This includes "your family might have opinions differing from yours which will be an obstacle to your self-improvement". A response to that specific quote would be "self-improvement that would cost my family anything, when I could shoulder the load instead, is not worth doing."
Let me ask then, if these next statements are true:
5. We are curious. Even if it has an opportunity cost now, we still would prefer being tight on budget than low on information. Even if that budget is "health" and the knowledge is "could this assassin's alphastrike kill someone that wasn't me"
6. We are a dreamer. Even when cultivating with capital E the End, we derive hope and forward looking ideas. Even in the darkest of scenarios we attempt to spin beauty anyway. Do we make time for Art for the sake of Art even in times of trouble and hardship? Do we seek new paths and new ways to express what we feel and know?
in my opinion, these statements *should* be true but we haven't quite been acting these out. For example, if 5 were true we would have pursued the barbarians after they failed to find us with our new Fade tech. If 6 were true we wouldn't have been neglecting Six as well as *every* art related hook for the past however-many-updates. I know Art of War exists but come on, finding that from the War side and not the Art side isn't very Dreamer of us xD
What I'm trying to say, is that we have many tools and abilities to live our Grin side. We need to focus on what our Secrets and Dreams mean to us and better live those out too. Not only in moments, not only when we're safe, but as permanent facets of self. We should make promises as deeply committed to Zhengui and Hanyi to our patrons Secret Moon and Dreaming Moon. Grinning is currently the only one that is expressed at all times, with enough arguments for Dream and Secret that they didn't reject our idea at triple-patronage. However, I think that thinking of it in terms of "there's conflict between going forward and not abandoning family" is a little reductive. This is a magical world and we could simply do both if given the right path (assuming that it doesn't conflict with a fundamental law in setting) and enough power. I believe the conflict in our Way is that we Live Grinning and Greedy at all times but we don't seem to be vigorously pursuing Art for Art's sake nor Knowledge for Knowledge's sake. Let's put a little faith in our patrons just like we're putting faith in our spirits Hanyi and Zhengui. We won't let them fall behind just because they're our little siblings! Our patrons won't leave us behind just because we're a small mortal! Heck, they literally have gifted us pills in the past! Who needs to play pill gacha when you can pray and worship and grow through study and living both! With a lil bit of faith we could absolutely *wreck* the current math equations denying our free expression of exploration and art and knowledge-seeking.
let's go make art for art's sake, that will do Six some good. Let's learn for learning's sake, and talk long with Six to make plans to later teach the "kids". Let's seek songs of truth both emotional and technical, and perform them with a grin and a nod to the goddesses that got us here.
