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Vinyl Scratch.

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Posts posted by Vinyl Scratch.

    Are the alicorns archetypes of deities in religion?

    in Sugarcube Corner

    · Edited by Vinyl Scratch.

    (Apologies in advance for the wall of text but I don't really have the brain power to try and make this more concise right now.)

    I think there's some weight to this. I was thinking about this the other night when I was reading over one of your other threads, but I think it is potentially correct to consider the dynamics of at least the primary characters (maybe even just the Alicorn/Deitiy characters) of the show as a spiritual/religious canon or mythology (the other characters very well may represent the perspective of the human experience within this framework).

    I know that religion isn't really supposed to be discussed outside of the debate pit but I don't think I can really answer the question without at least partially doing so. (mods feel free to delete this reply if it breaks site guidelines)

    One way you can think about religious and spiritual mythologies is as a metaphorical description of the structure of the phenomenology of human experience. Take the Roman Pantheon for example, each deity can be seen to represent a different aspect of reality as experienced from the perspective of humanity (or any given human), and the mythological stories told about the dynamics and interactions of these deities can be seen as metaphorical descriptions of how these aspects interact with each other to create the reality we experience, and I think the same can be at least partly said about MLPFiM.

    It's been a long time since I've watched the show so I can't give a lot of examples here, but a big one that comes to mind which also fits the theme of this thread is the dynamic between Luna and Celestia. There's a myth which permeates many different religious and spiritual systems that describes the dynamics of what we consider to be good and evil (which in this context can also be described as what we consider to be of benefit to the project of perfected reality vs what we consider to be of determent to the project of perfected reality).

    In short, the myth essentially tells the story of how 'evil' is the manifestation of the dynamics of unaligned and uncontrolled aspects of reality which, in there unaligned state, cause destruction and chaos. These aspects however, if aligned properly, can be integrated and used in pursuit of what we consider to be good (one example of this is how uncontrolled aggression can be devastating, but when integrated and controlled correctly, this aggression can instead be channeled as assertiveness in the pursuit of good.)

    I think there is a case to be made that the dynamic of Luna and Celestia is a retelling of this myth (I think there dynamic is also used to retell other myths but that's outside the scope of this example). Think of S2 E4 (Lunar Eclipsed) where, to paraphrase, Nightmare Moon becomes Princess Luna. Nightmare Moon can be considered to represent the manifestation of the unaligned aspects of reality which, in there current form, cause chaos and destruction (later on the character Discord appears to represent chaos more generally but that's not really what I'm talking about here).

    In this episode, to quote the MLP wiki, "Twilight Sparkle helps Princess Luna change her frightening demeanor and become accepted by the other ponies.". To use the terminology I described above, Twilight helps the unaligned and destructive Nightmare Moon, who to the ponies at this point is considered an evil character, align and integrate with the 'good' reality of the ponies transforming her into the 'good' character Princess Luna, who still embodies the same aspects as she did before, but now they have been properly integrated and she is able to become a force which works with in line with the good.  (For those familiar with Jungian Psychodynamics this Myth can be described as the integration of the shadow)

     

    This isn't something that is exclusive to MLP. In fact, a large amount of popular media is contemporary retelling of myths. The Harry Potter series is a metaphorical archetypal mythology for example. I believe Rowling even said this herself.

    I apologies if some of the terminology I used here is confusing. I couldn't think of better words to use off the top of my head. But if you have any questions feel free to DM me and I can try to better clarify what I mean. I also don't claim to be 100% correct in what I say, this is all just based off my own understanding and interpretation.

    I also imagine there are people on the forums who will have great arguments to debate what I've tried to explain here but this thread is not the place for that discourse.

    • Brohoof 1

    Oreos

    in General Discussion

    · Edited by Vinyl Scratch.

    Huge fan of the Red Velvet Oreo's myself, don't eat them anywhere near enough. I've never seen those blackout cake ones before though, they look incredible! I'll have to be sure to pick some up if I ever encounter them :wacko:

    images.jpeg

    • Brohoof 1
    • Excited 1

    What book are you reading?

    in Media Discussion

    Not enough, I feel that there is not enough time left in my life to read all of the books that I would like to.

    But at the moment I am flip flopping between 'The Language of Creation' by Matthieu Pageau and 'The Middle Pillar' by Francis Israel Regardie.

    do you sleep in the complete dark?

    in General Discussion

    I wish, for the most part I fall asleep in a partially dark room illuminated by any assortment of LED's my desk is emitting at the time. I could technically get a completely dark room if I turned off my speakers completely and unplugged all of the peripherals from my laptop, but honestly that is too much work when I'm trying to claw my way into bed so I usually just put up with it. :please:

    • Brohoof 1

    Fan content that traumatized you back in the day?

    in Sugarcube Corner

    · Edited by Vinyl Scratch.

    The grimdark side of the fandom never really effected me that much, but being exposed to the more... "adult" side of MLP Fan content definitely did. It was never my thing but it definitely stripped away some of the innocence of MLP for me which I was never able to really get back if that makes sense.

    What are you listening to right now?

    in Forum Lounge

    Clowncore is definitely one of the bands of all time. And for some reason every time I listen to them, it always ends up being non-stop on repeat for weeks :please:
    Something about their style really gets stuck in my head like nothing else and this 1234 EP specifically I'm REALLY digging right now! :D

     

    What Is Your Favorite Pepper?

    in General Discussion

    Jalapenos for sure, especially the pickled kind! I used to always have a jar in the house. Nowadays I mostly eat them when I get a kebab or a pizza or something, still as delicious as ever though! Jalapeno Tobasco sauce is also insanely delicious :D

    MLP is humanity if humans never "fell"

    in Sugarcube Corner

    · Edited by Vinyl Scratch.
    Symantics

    This is an interesting theory, I don't think that I would necessarily agree exactly, I can sort of understand your train of though here though.
    I have a fair bit I would love to add to this topic but unfortunately I do not have the time right now to elaborate since it is rapidly approaching the end of the night where I live and bed is very much on the horizon. But I do intend on posting a much more extensive reply to this thread later though when I have the time to do so :)

    • Brohoof 1

    Who has studied or has an interest in studying magic?

    in General Discussion

    Me! I have a very strong interest in Magick, Mysticism, Religion, Occult Philosophy and general Esotericism as well as the more scientificly grounded side of things such as depth psychology and psychosystems analysis (honestly there's a pretty good argument to be made that a good way to think about magick is as 'metaphorical psychology'). In fact this stuff has quickly skyrocketed to one of my biggest interests in recent years.

    I've been on and off studying the theoretical side of things including different magickal systems and their associated philosophical frameworks on and off for the good part of the last 2-3 years, especially those of the Western mystery tradition such as Qabalah and Enochian Magick, and for what has essentially been cobbled together book learning, I feel like I've started to develop a pretty sophisticated understanding of at least the overarching theoretical and philosophical concepts which underpin all of this stuff, at least for someone who has only had a handful of serious spiritual experiences within my life so far. As far as practical magick, I am still very much a beginner having only begun to really experiment with some basic ritual and meditation over the past couple of months. It is something that I definitely plan to follow through seriously long term though as one of my primary pursuits, at least until the universe tells me otherwise ;)

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