The compassion thing drives me crazy. As soon as people talk about earning compassion I'm like...that's not compassion. It's supposed to be, like you said, feeling for the other person. You can't help but yourself in their shoes. If you're just granting leniency because they've earned it by doing something you approve of, that's looking at justice again. Also you're not supposed to be getting points for yourself. So whenever people talk about how great it is that X character, like, doesn't kill somebody in a scene it's like...um, you don't get a medal for doing the right thing just because you could do the wrong thing.
think in original stuff, I do write about it -because- it's so intimate & revealing of self, a mirror of desire-- if one uses writing in a cathartic manner, magic rivals dreams as a way to symbolize one's subconscious self. I think writing dream sequences gets a similar effect but is often 'too obvious' in a different way; magic is active rather than passive (dreams), also, and has the power of desire manifest, so it's dangerous in that sense, addictive & beguiling. I think a lot of people show how unimaginative or predictable their dreams are by the fact that their magic is boring.
Yes! And I love the way different writers obviously compare it to different things. Like Susan Cooper gets nothing out of the performance of magic, but she's really into the idea of knowing how to talk to things or understanding everything. It's based on something totally different than say, an author who makes magic about sacficing something to make something happen. In HP it's kind of connected to...I don't know how to explain it. It's about personal power, I think. Not always in a bad way, but the way that when Harry learns new magic it's like he's developing as a person, he's becoming competent. For other people it's communining with forces beyond our control, stuff like that.
Like... how would you say you were when we were talking recently? I'm curious about this :> I think there are percentages; not 100%, but somewhat present. I don't think I've ever -really- been 100% with another person, but then it's just sort of difficult because another person muddies my emotions & reactions a lot.
I think I was pretty present! *pats self on back* But probably because I was interested in the conversation and it was one-on-one. Like when I'm doing Meta I'm very focused on that, and the best conversations for me are like that, where I'm actually interested. So I wasn't, like, drifting off.:
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Date: 2006-04-28 04:38 pm (UTC)think in original stuff, I do write about it -because- it's so intimate & revealing of self, a mirror of desire-- if one uses writing in a cathartic manner, magic rivals dreams as a way to symbolize one's subconscious self. I think writing dream sequences gets a similar effect but is often 'too obvious' in a different way; magic is active rather than passive (dreams), also, and has the power of desire manifest, so it's dangerous in that sense, addictive & beguiling. I think a lot of people show how unimaginative or predictable their dreams are by the fact that their magic is boring.
Yes! And I love the way different writers obviously compare it to different things. Like Susan Cooper gets nothing out of the performance of magic, but she's really into the idea of knowing how to talk to things or understanding everything. It's based on something totally different than say, an author who makes magic about sacficing something to make something happen. In HP it's kind of connected to...I don't know how to explain it. It's about personal power, I think. Not always in a bad way, but the way that when Harry learns new magic it's like he's developing as a person, he's becoming competent. For other people it's communining with forces beyond our control, stuff like that.
Like... how would you say you were when we were talking recently? I'm curious about this :> I think there are percentages; not 100%, but somewhat present. I don't think I've ever -really- been 100% with another person, but then it's just sort of difficult because another person muddies my emotions & reactions a lot.
I think I was pretty present! *pats self on back* But probably because I was interested in the conversation and it was one-on-one. Like when I'm doing Meta I'm very focused on that, and the best conversations for me are like that, where I'm actually interested. So I wasn't, like, drifting off.: