Trust | Guide of the Aether

The Original | A friend described me as "...an enigmatic being... (who) was created directly from the light of Truth" | #VTuber | 🎨#TrustArt

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

I'm back from the Gulag mfs!

[The Culturist @the_culturist_]

Why are some characters in Tolkien consumed by pessimism, while others are eternal optimists?

The key is to compare Denethor and Samwise. When it appears that resisting Sauron's hordes is futile, the Steward of Gondor despairs:

"The West has failed. It shall all go up in a great fire and all shall be ended. Ash! Ash and smoke blown away on the wind!… It is time for all to depart who would not be slaves."

Denethor is right. If one were to calculate the likelihood of success in his position, it would be impossible to envision any outcome beyond total annihilation.

But Denethor's problem is that hope in anything requires complete knowledge of and mastery over it. When he gazes into his palantír for insights, he witnesses the overwhelming might of Mordor's fleet, and sees Frodo captured by the enemy at Cirith Ungol.

This, he believes, is the whole truth, and it appears to be the end of all hope.

In reality, Denethor only sees what Sauron permits him to see. His knowledge is partial, but because he trusts his intellect absolutely, he assumes he has total vision. If the outcome is foreclosed as it appears to be, why bother upholding one's duty to the bitter end? Why go down with the ship?

But of course, no future outcome is ever foreclosed, and it requires a different ethic to acknowledge that. Had Denethor trusted a "foolish" hope, he would have lived on to learn of Frodo's escape from the tower, and see Aragorn sail to Minas Tirith on the ships he earlier believed to be Sauron's. Denethor should have considered the limits of worldly wisdom/power to predict/command the future.

The first step to resisting despair is to admit that you cannot know the end of anything beyond doubt, and you certainly cannot control it.

Conversely, when Sam sits at the brink of destruction, he clings to the idea that "the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."

It is not just incidental that Samwise is a gardener. This choice communicates the nature of his relationship with the world: Sam seeks not to control the world he inhabits, but only to cultivate and steward it. To set the conditions for good things to flourish, then to step back and let them do so.

When Sam is tempted by Sauron's Ring, his prideful vision is that of a great garden enveloping Mordor:

"…at his command the vale of Gorgoroth became a garden of flowers and trees and brought forth fruit. He had only to put on the Ring and claim it for his own, and all this could be."

Sam counters this vision with his "hobbit-sense"…

"…he knew in the core of his heart that he was not large enough to bear such a burden, even if such visions were not a mere cheat to betray him. The one small garden of a free gardener was all his need and due, not a garden swollen to a realm; his own hands to use, not the hands of others to command."

So, Sam is able to keep his mind on the light beyond the shadow because he sees the world through the lens of a grateful participant. He is no power-seeker. Even in his temptation, he is not really looking to control Mordor, but only to plant seeds in its barren earth.

Relinquishing control over the world frees him to stay focused on the true, good, and beautiful things immediately around him.

Denethor was never able to believe that the Fellowship could succeed, and he was right in that assessment. The Fellowship did not succeed. Frodo capitulated at the last hurdle, and his foolish trust in Gollum allowed the creature to betray and almost ruin him.

But the Ring was destroyed. In a final twist, the Ring fell into the fires of Mount Doom and was unmade — perhaps by luck, perhaps by divine providence, but not by Frodo's strength of will.

The truth that you must accept — if you're to live with Sam's mindset and not Denethor's — is that the power of a finite, earthly creature cannot overcome all evil. Tolkien writes in a letter:

"But one must face the fact: the power of Evil in the world is not finally resistible by incarnate creatures, however ‘good’; and the Writer of the Story is not one of us."

You are not here on Earth to guarantee a favorable outcome. You are called only to do your best, to live for the good and to help good things flourish around you. In another letter, Tolkien reflects on Frodo's failure to destroy the Ring:

"Frodo undertook his quest out of love – to save the world he knew from disaster at his own expense, if he could; and also in complete humility, acknowledging that he was wholly inadequate to the task."

[Eva Vlaardingerbroek @EvaVlaar]

Dries has just been convicted again: This time for speaking the truth about the disastrous consequences of mass migration.

The most insane part is that the Belgian court even admitted Dries spoke the truth, as what he said was factual, but deems it a crime because it could incite hatred. Let that sink in.

They’re criminalizing the truth and they’re using Dries to set an example.

Let’s come together to help him. Dries is a young father, a brave patriot and the Belgian establishment has been trying to destroy him for years. He’s taken so many hits, he really deserves our help.

[Financial Physics @FinancialPhys]

Coming to America… as soon as

they

conjure more fake doctors, or import “doctors” from india

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@ChibiReviews A true artist to be sure

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@Thomasdelvasto_ why not?

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@FinancialPhys My thoughts on it are probably the same as anyone else here. The proposition presented by the modern workforce is bleak at best.

You can't be average and succeed. That inherently means the majority will fail

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@EkkoTheNeekoTW Endless hunger = 15% omnivamp for 8 seconds after scoring a takedown. + DD cleanses dmg on takedown

Not only was he helped by his support,

but his self-healing only went so high bc everything happened in a short window of his 1st takedown.

[Just Peachy Liberty @JPeachyLiberty]

We’re not voting our way out of this.

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@ChibiReviews It is entirely possible to make 50 posts in an hour, just posting whatever random thoughts occur to you.

You're being awfully judgemental about how strangers spend their free time

[Not A Number @myhiddenvalue]

IT expert on Flock Cameras data gathering and infrastructure.

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@Thomasdelvasto_ 1. Pretty sure only a small percentage of the painkiller addicted pop. is poor.

2. Perhaps we are solving a cultural problem with legal enforcement, but any society with as much abundance as ours that turns away the sick and dying is an abhorrent and ungodly society.

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@user_ruser @NarutoDaily_ Minato, Itachi, and Obito are my favorite characters, for many reason, but the biggest reason is what they all have in common.

They all dared more than anyone else and they all were insurmountable obstacles for a long time in their own unique way

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@Thomasdelvasto_ walking an hour a day and being alone with my thoughts the entire time is one of the best habits I've ever built

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@NarutoDaily_ Fuck I'm old

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@philosophymeme0 Absurdism is the post-hoc explanation of the certainty of soul, the indomitable human spirit, for those who have blinded themselves to the abundant meaning of existence

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@Thomasdelvasto_ It's surprising how often ppl just need some1 to really act like they care once for them to turn their life around.

Sometimes there's nothing u can do that will genuinely help, but u should try if you can.

One thing is for sure, anyone panhandling is suffering 1 way or another.

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@Thomasdelvasto_ The best thing to do is to talk to them. You show them that you see them as a person and gather information on their situation.

Then you can decide how you can help. Maybe give em a buck, buy em food, help get em into a shelter, get em a gym membership (for showers), etc

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

@Thomasdelvasto_ It's something like God = meaning, suffering = meaning, God = suffering.

To further clarify, suffering = meaning bc suffering is the felt sense of sacrifice which is the key element of becoming and becoming is our inherent purpose.

[Trust | Guide of the Aether @TrustOriginal]

Purpose = perseverance

[narsa.🪺 @rathor7_]

a random broken TREE on internet can make a grown man cry