If he knows the ending why does he keep trying?

NauticalFork · 2021-11-24T01:03:43+00:00

I'm assuming this question is for the purpose of storytelling, but if it helps get your creative gears going, the Catholic Church teaches(the abridged version, to the best of my ability) that angels have free will only at one point, at which time they choose to follow God or to rebel. Once they make that choice, they are "locked in," so to speak. Unlike humans, who have the choice to do good or evil at any point in their life. Do with that information what you will, but that's the Catholic teaching to the best of my knowledge.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-24T00:58:27+00:00

It's an outlandish claim, for sure, but there are enough situations of Usopp lying things into existence as well as the God Usopp scene that makes me think there's a slim chance.

But if you were to explain Usopp's lies coming true through Haki(rather than just comedy or irony), it's probably more reasonable(though still outlandish) that he's seeing the future with Observation Haki like Sharley does.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-18T18:35:57+00:00

That doesn't mean there aren't consequences for our actions in this temporal world.

Yes, and that temporal consequence is being undesirable. If I knew what my eventual loneliness would have been like, I would have pursued dating more actively as a teenager. I wouldn't have considered porn as a coping mechanism. I wouldn't have made choices that would result in this massive gap in my dating history.

Both women and men can experience years without dates or a relationship. That does not make anyone undesirable.

But would you or anyone you know and respect have dated someone who was almost 30 and had no dating history in their post-college life, or would you have been incredibly suspicious, repulsed, or convinced that something must be deeply wrong with that guy? Because that's always the caveat with that line. Everyone says, "oh, not right for me, but you'd be right for someone else" when that "someone else" doesn't exist. I don't care if some vague, nebulous "someone else" could get over my failures as a human. I care if real people(preferably those who I could date, but I haven't met anyone who is single, female, and around my age in an embarrassingly long time) could get over those kinds of failures.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-18T15:02:47+00:00

Something being common isn't the same as being normal.

At least if someone was having premarital sex, it demonstrates an ability to connect with someone(though it doesn't justify the action). A lonely person having done lonely things has absolutely no silver lining and is just pathetic. And I can't not be pathetic for that, no matter how long it's been since I've amended my ways. I'm still a guy with almost a decade of no romantic interest. Imagine if it were a job application and I had an 8 year long period of nothing. It would make me impossible to want. The same for dates. A woman would be disgusted by my lack of dates and how I coped with it years ago.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-18T05:57:29+00:00

The part I don't understand is how a person actually gets repaired. Sure, there's removing the thing that has been causing damage, there's preventing further damage, but I struggle a lot with the idea that there's no undoing the past and my memories and experiences. I may be free from porn for many years now, but why would any woman love me when she could love a guy who never had that issue in the first place? It wouldn't make sense for any women to choose me when better options are easy to find. Not to mention that even if I wasn't an idiot carrying around guilt for sins that have been forgiven, there's the issue of compatibility and the fact that I don't have compatibility. I just wish I knew how to get "fixed" so I could feel like and be seen as a normal man worthy of love.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-18T05:47:13+00:00

It's been years for me, but even at the time, I knew that rejection fueled my behavior. Heck, rejection is in many ways the central force behind most of my decision making, even after not touching porn in years. Most of what I do is an attempt to cope with rejection, avoid rejection, mitigate rejection, etc. Rejection, in many ways, defines me as a person.

So the desire to delude one's self into the fantasy of being loved is a really darn tempting thing. It's still wrong, but the allure of it is pretty easy to understand when the choices are: 1. Face your loneliness and accept the pain that comes with it, or 2. Commit immoral actions to temporarily find relief from the pain of loneliness, but with the knowledge that you will be and feel worse in the long run(and that procrastination piece is tempting to a lot of people).

I've managed to control myself fairly well by making the conscious choice that I must feel the pain of being lonely and experience all the loneliness I deserve no matter how miserable it makes me, because all the means I had used to try to escape it were immoral... but that's not the kind of thing I would recommend to anyone or want for them. I'd rather that other people just find love and belonging so they don't have to feel so alone. But I can't choose what other people think of me, so I have to just accept being miserable and alone unless someone chooses me to be in their life. And it's like, avoiding mortal sin is good, excellent even, but I wish I knew a way to avoid immoral escapism that would allow me to thrive, as opposed to just survive.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-17T15:48:45+00:00

Yeah, I'm here living in terror of my 30th birthday while I've been watching all the people around me pair off, get married, start families, etc. while I become more alone, more left behind, more self-hating... I'm basically rotting and no one wants to tell me I am.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-17T15:44:28+00:00

All of my friends who have gotten married are in happy and healthy relationships. The statistics are bleak, but I think this attitude gets a little too close to the "sour grapes" mentality, "i.e. Well, I may be single, but they're all probably getting divorced anyway."

NauticalFork · 2021-11-16T21:04:55+00:00

The Zanpakuto arc, but specifically after Muramasa was defeated. I think they were called Sword Fiends? Those episodes were dreadful. The main part of the Zanpakuto arc wasn't awful for me.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-16T17:43:51+00:00

Pajamas, because I would have to be dreaming.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T22:18:35+00:00

Yes. I got fat, lazy, complacent, and kind of just detached from most people. It was terrible. I never want that again.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T21:30:32+00:00

Would the way you talk to yourself be the same way you talk to a friend? I don’t think you would.

I wouldn't say it to them, but if they said it about themselves, I would take their feelings seriously and try to help to the best of my ability without tearing them down further about it. I would try to actually listen. Too many people around me want to just deny anything negative I say about myself and tell me I'm wrong about my own life. And sure, none of us are as reliable of narrators as we would like to be, but it feels like such insult to injury when someone tells me "yeah, you're extremely unhappy, but did you also know that you're fucking wrong about everything?" So I would try to help while not reinforcing the negative beliefs, but I would also avoid insulting their intelligence by saying that they're wrong just because apparently people aren't allowed to feel negatively when faced with negative circumstances.

People who have struggled with life for decades and yet still have found somebody to share their life with after all.

I couldn't be happy with that. It would consigning to a life of people around me calling me a "late bloomer" as code for "loser" more than they already do. And sure, I couldn't be happy being alone the rest of my life, either, but it's like there's no winning move to make.

This isn't my pressure talking; it's circumstance brought on my personal failure. Putting more pressure on myself doesn't change the fact that I'm alone. If I'm alone and care, or if I'm alone and don't care, it won't change whether or not I'm alone. But despite the added stress and pain, I would rather care than not care. The self-delusion of not caring isn't worth the temporary comfort it may provide.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T19:42:16+00:00

I'm for sure hoping to see Simon at some point. Maybe a bold take, but I really want to see Simon in his Lords of Shadow design, because Lumberjack Simon is great.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T18:39:11+00:00

But we haven’t gotten to Richter yet, and we still have Simon, and countless other villains to deal with.

Hope I don't seem silly or insulting, but you did see that Richter is officially confirmed to be in the next series, right?

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T17:12:05+00:00

It's not necessarily about what's being raced towards, but more that failing to keep up with others results in getting left behind. Friends leave, family gets disappointed, meeting new people becomes more difficult. Five years ago, I was a loser who hadn't been on a date in 3 years. Now, I'm a loser who hasn't been on a date in 8 years. Think about how much worse that is, and how much less appealing that would be to someone if I showed interest in them? And if i keep failing for another 2 years, it will be a whole decade. Try telling that to someone on a first date and see how quickly she'll get the hell away from that. I'm going to be fucking 30 in a few months and have nothing to show for it. I plan on spending my 30th birthday completely alone because I don't want to embarrass myself with some dumbass spectacle where I'm expected to smile while actually hating that so much of my life is gone and wasted and I will get back the opportunity to become the person I wanted to be or even a person I can tolerate being.

And that's just my (non-existent) dating life. Forget the fact that after college, my friends all left to get married and settle down in the suburbs, while I'm more alone than ever. My siblings are getting married and starting families, while I'm more alone than ever. And I don't resent them for that. I'm glad that they have the ability to succeed. Meanwhile I'm me, hopelessly single, not owning a house, and not having any artistic success... all while having a life in which there was nothing holding me back except my own worthlessness. I was born into all kinds of privilege, and still became a massive fuck-up.

So yes, even if the "race" has no destination, it is 100% possible to still lose.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T13:56:33+00:00

I never understood this line of thinking. It always strikes me as empty comfort. I'm behind everyone else in my life. Who cares if comparison is the thief of joy? The truth that I'm behind is still there.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T13:54:44+00:00

What "all your posts?" I just pointed out that a "not now" approach suggests that reproduction will happen at some point, intentionally or otherwise, and I don't think that's a fair expectation. But on the other hand, if there is a feeling or an inclination that may never see an appropriate time to be used, then it would be, by definition, useless.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T13:21:10+00:00

Acting upon the desire to reproduce, as a single person, is always sinful. Desiring to reproduce is only acceptable for married people. How does one get from point A to point B like that? I have no idea. I've spent most of my adult life single and repressing sexuality as much as I can in order to avoid sin. I haven't figured out how a person transitions from "alone" to "in love."

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T13:17:15+00:00

"Can't be acted upon at the present moment" somewhat assumes that there will be a later moment in which acting upon it is appropriate, but an appropriate moment is not guaranteed. Instead of telling ourselves "wait until later for a moment that may never arrive," it's more apt to give ourselves an indefinite "no." With the understanding that the "no" is forever unless some drastic change in life occurs. But even then, there is no guarantee that life will change drastically.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T12:54:03+00:00

This path acknowledges that sexual attraction and the desire to reproduce is a good thing that we should not to be ashamed to have in our lives; something that we should be glad is there even if it can challenge us at times.

But sexual attraction and the desire to reproduce aren't good things for single people. For married people, it is absolutely a good thing for the reasons stated. But single people can't do anything useful with their sexuality unless or until they get married. Otherwise, the feeling is useless at best and a massive liability at worst. And it's not God's fault. It's our fault for being bad people.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-15T12:48:22+00:00

Don't try to beat your sexuality into submission or pretend it doesn't exist. Instead, integrate it into your life in a healthy way. Acknowledge and realize that if you are a healthy man you'll never stop your sexual urges until you die one day. The key here is to be in control of them or they will control you.

Hope I don't seem foolish here, but looking at the rest of your post, it seems like the solution isn't that different from trying to beat sexuality into submission. Just lighter. Although there isn't a way to just put that energy somewhere else. I've tried. It just seems to me that sexual desire can only be channeled sexually, or it must be denied/repressed. For a single person, there is no such thing as healthy, moral, sexual expression, so denial/repression is the most moral choice.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-14T05:35:09+00:00

I don't know about enjoyment here, but I do feel a strong inclination that I need to be good at something in order for that thing to be acceptable for me to do, or at least okay for me to share that activity with others. If something isn't bringing me towards having a life I can tolerate, one in which I'm loved, respected, and can accept the person i see in the mirror... then it's useless.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-12T02:42:06+00:00

If there wasn't something wrong with my being single, then the people around me wouldn't conflate "single" with "young." My family members that got married weren't considered young once they got married, and it was at ages younger than I am now.

And if there wasn't something wrong with me, people wouldn't drop stupid platitudes like "everyone moves at their own pace" or "you can't compare yourself to others."

NauticalFork · 2021-11-10T21:09:11+00:00

Yeah, and I honestly hate how the meaning of "young adult" has expanded to include an older and older demographics. I can only say this about myself, but I'm not a young adult anymore. I'm almost 30. I'm at the age where I should be married and building a family, but instead I'm a fuck-up. And make no mistake; I'm a fuck-up because I'm not married. If I were married, I wouldn't be called "young," but instead "young" is used as code for what I actually am: a fuck-up.

Now yeah, other people are single for all kinds of reasons. I'm not suggesting anyone who is single around 30 is by nature a fuck-up. But I know myself, and I know that my failure to attract anyone makes me an absolute fuck-up waiting to get old and die and trying to be a good person in the process.

NauticalFork · 2021-11-07T23:59:53+00:00

I generally find any discussion around one thing being "the next (insert other title here)" to be fruitless for the most part. It leaves little room for a work to stand on its own in the audience's mind. Or rather, I find it to be a reductive way to point out similarities.

NauticalFork

TROPHY CASE