Ink & Hearth

Growing up in the art world, competitive nature and imposter syndrome reign free. Art changes as you grow up. All my friends did portraits and fine detail work, which I suck at. My jealous ass really wanted to compete. I do not have the raw talent of my friends. Art needs raw talent. I took professional classes, all of which are pointless because they don't really teach you how to use the material. They don't teach you the difference between cheap and expensive materials or basic techniques. They also don't guide you on how to express an idea. I think some sort of guide would be interesting. How do you convey a feeling into physicality? 

I cannot express myself physically through art. I express through writing. I excel in writing, probably because I read so much. I'm an intellectual at heart.

I think in an era of short form content and scrolling and adulting, there is no time for art. I'm exhausted when I come home from work. But then I realized all the new things I have learned. My creativity transposed into cooking and gaming and this very blog. Instead of lengthy novels on Amazon, (because my college self only thought an author was someone who writes novels), I write blog posts. Even micro-blogging is being an author. Cooking and gaming and journaling are all forms of creativity and I think its not acknowledged in the same way as something like acrylic painting or sketching or sculpting. 

My relationship to art has changed. It has grown. I see art in places that are not traditionally considered art. I think I tried to prove my talent through art when that was not where my talent lied. I consider writing a form of art and I'm better at that than painting. I envy the raw, natural talent honed by others. Obviously, practice helps. As you grow and change and your perspective on life changes, the way you view and relate to art changes. The way you create changes. Be creative! 

Terry Goodkind is a seemingly controversial author, but in my opinion, he has some of the best female representation in fantasy. I love Kahlan and the Mord-Sith. Kahlan, the Mother Confessor, can brainwash her victims with a single touch. The Mord-Sith, tragically are tortured until the break and become the best killing machines, feared throughout the land. And in both cases, it can only be women because only women have the strength and ability to handle these powers. Men and women are given sex-specific powers in Sword of Truth. I haven’t come across that in other fantasy novels. It's an interesting concept. 

The women are extremely powerful and honestly more powerful and smarter than the main character Richard. Richard only gets out of situations because he is the MC and without him there is no story. The women from Nicci, to Kahlan, to Addie, are powerful in their own right and don’t act clueless. I find in a lot of fantasy and romantasy the female MC is whiny, clingy, or powerful just because they are the MC. (Violet from Fourth Wing or Persephone in Touch of Darkness) In SOT, the women are not naïve and if you mess with them you will die instantly and they will not regret it. 

My favorite scenes are when Kahlan slaughters an entire army naked on horseback, and when the Mord-Sith are in love and they feed the squirrels. Other favorite scenes include when Kahlan was recovering and the pain that was described in the first half of Faith of the Fallen. Even how the Mord-Sith use the Agiel and it causes pain each time but they are used to it, reminds me of how women with period pains are brushed off as being “used to it”, that pain and being a woman is a part of life. That women have pain built in, so we know how to handle it. Even the leather being "blood red" reminds me of how women bleed for the majority of their lives and many women are not bothered by the sight of blood because we see it every four weeks. Regardless of whether or not that was Goodkind’s intention, that was the way I interpreted that.

The power that these women have is unmatched. I also like that they are distinctly feminine and want to feel beautiful occasionally and want to “feel like a woman”. As a woman, I understand this sentiment completely. Beauty and power go hand-in-hand and while occasionally they use their beauty to seduce, it is then followed by unbelievable power. The Richard and Kahlan love story is amazing and those two would do anything for each other. Kahlan may be a Queen and army general but she also has a soft side and the nuance of identity is shown within the series. People want many things and Kahlan longs to be a mother and leader of her people and partner to Richard. The Mord-Sith go from being ruthless killers to laughing and feeding squirrels and even a lesbian relationship with Raina! 

The women are not less feminine for having power. Usually women in fantasy are depicted as brains vs beauty (Daphne and Velma from Scooby Doo) or they are "manly" as in they compete physically with men and have a trauma which makes them emotionless and cold until a man comes along and thaws the "ice queen" trope (Natasha Romanoff). Or super aggressive and can only feel anger and sadness (Jessica Jones) Or they hate being a woman, in the "Not Like Other Girls" trope (Arya Stark). Girliness doesn't mean weakness and manliness doesn't mean being angry/stoic/violent. 

In Sword of Truth, they are everything at once. They are beautiful women but seduction/sex/romance is not their power nor a plot point. They don't feel the need to prove themselves to others by beating characters up constantly or being abrasive (looking at you Korra). They are confident because they control the room. Most importantly, sexual violence is not their character development catalyst. 

These women like doing their hair and destroying armies. They aren't submissive but they aren't aggressively strong. They love being women but aren't reduced to vanity. They aren't one dimensional. They do not have to act like men to be powerful. The men in the series fear and respect the Confessors and Mord-Sith. Women are given equal footing in this fantasy world. The women are only seen as sex-objects by the bad guys. (there is a lot of rape) The heroes of the world see the women as partners and assets of which they cannot turn the tide of battle otherwise. The women take command and lead without Richard, even defying his orders, and Richard even admits they were right to do so. I have yet to find a series that depicts women in the fantasy setting in this way. Women who are strong and loving and ruthless and smart and who get their own story in tandem with the man. Not a side piece, or a romance plot point or hero's trophy.

 (I low-key ship Nicci and Richard but Richard's love and loyalty and dedication to Kahlan is outmatched lol.)

See here for another blog's take on this!

The antidote to social media is real life community which is difficult when all local events and pop ups are advertised only on Instagram. Its the new community message board. But even irl we copy each other. The same way an abused child becomes an abuser. We psychologically mirror.  Mirroring 

The Instagramification of restaurants has changed literally the way we want food we go to restaurants specifically because they are Instagram available and the food is beautiful but tasteless and this is similar to how Michelin restaurants plate gourmet food and how things switch in society, how bone marrow used to be for poor people but now it’s an elevated and luxury food.

People copy each other. Which isn’t bad in itself. Imitation is the highest form of flattery after all. It becomes malicious when you resent who you are copying. Sometimes people get mad if you copy them and I only get mad if I know you want to become me, to subsume my identity and you don’t have your own. Little kids or immature adults copy quite frequently, even in social contagion phenomenon. Copy a few things but when it starts to be everything from the type of car you drive to fashion to even disorders, its creepy. It becomes detrimental when you center your entire identity around one facet.

Think about Disney adults or people who define themselves by their chronic illness or ADHD. Identities are multi-faceted. A woman can be a mother, an aunt, a writer, enjoy Disney and more. Identity is not static. But by saying “I am X” only, I think it perpetuates a feeling of self worth tied to a changing reality. Its self-obsession. You are not X. You are you. 

I think social media has heightened this identity crisis through aesthetics and niches. Now I enjoy reading, gaming, interior design and I follow many influencers. The concept of “aesthetic” has now blown up. I think doing things in your life to copy an aesthetic for the sake of Instagram is sad and slightly pathetic. If you don’t do it for love, why are you doing it?

I started a gaming journal because i saw @GaminginYellow and admired it so much. I wanted the same thing. While I cannot make the page art spreads like her, I liked the printing of screenshots and did that instead with minimal writing because of my dyspraxia. If my hands didn’t cramp, you could bet your ass I would be journaling all the time. I love that aesthetic. But its only one facet of my life. The other facets are the actions that are not photographed; taking care of sick family members or hanging with friends until midnight. 

I enjoy reading and the dark academia aesthetic. My home and life is not ruled by this aesthetic. I enjoy my kindle and coffee table books but I don’t revolve my whole clothing collection or interior design to fit an aesthetic. Aesthetics used to be a subculture but are now a lifestyle. Take the clean girl aesthetic, there are girls getting their tattoos removed in order to fit an aesthetic on the internet that most likely came from Tumblr. 

Tumblr and Instagram and Reddit are the fuel of the internet and the fuel is drivel and brain rot. The internet has leaked into physical life. Pokemon cards, dumpling squishies, and even bath products are an aesthetic or a collection. Call it what it is: hoarding and loneliness. 

I think aesthetics are fun to look at and yeah like anyone else, I feel inadequate with my non-aesthetic Instagram feed, but life is not an aesthetic. Its just life.

We compete with and copy our society. Our society is now the internet. I have nothing against the internet. I love it. I’ve learned so much and I love going down a Wikipedia rabbit hole. The internet’s greatest strength is knowledge. I have access to scientific journals and the ability to articulate to my doctors about my conditions. I can research deep sea creatures until I feel dizzy. I learn so much about the world through YouTubers that go to North Korea or explore the Paris Catacombs. 

The romanticization of certain cultures and countries plays into this as well. Tourism has experienced a huge boom because of Instagram and the aesthetic of Tumblr. We love to romanticize Japan but hate on India. Tumblr and anime have fueled as renaissance for Japan. A love that is mentally hard to shake. The aesthetic and romanticism surrounding Japanese culture as being clean, polite, respectful, kawaii, and exotic is similar to the European romanticism. Western Europe is considered beautiful, old, historic, and deeply cultural vs Eastern Europe. The idea we have is created by the visuals we read and see. The movies we watch and the fantasy in our heads. But fantasy is different from reality. Many people love Japan, but the reality of 18 hours work days and drinking every night and high rates of suicide are brushed under the rug for an aesthetic. For the romantic notion of the exotic. Exoticism - Wikipedia

This is nothing new. During the olden days when cultures and people were more isolated, all you had were stories to go off of. Someone visited Arabia or Japan and told stories of a culture so different, it seems alien. The visual differences and lack of translation made other cultures seem romantic and this is where racism steps in. Inferiority and yet they would copy. Think about white actors in black face but refusal to hire black actors. Or dressing up as Geisha for Halloween. Etc.

I don’t believe in cultural appropriation. But racism is exists everywhere. Anyways, I’m getting off point. The internet has taught me a lot. Copying each other will always exist. “There is no original thought” after all. I will come up with a cool idea for a story, only to realize it has already been written. Just don’t be malicious about it. We copy society and friends and they copy us. We feed off each other and there is nothing wrong with that. 

I think having an aesthetic can have meaning. It gives a sense of purpose. And in your head, you know there are other people out there doing the same thing. It can create a mentally linked community. I enjoy my aesthetic, knowing others enjoy the same thing. Its weird and good and inspiring. And it shows how social media can live in the brain. We crave human connection. 

(There is no morality to this article. Just observation of society.)

I learned to fight for you

Mouths sticky with honey and fig juice

Spears polished in the gleaming sun

Sparkling rivers lined with orange groves

Blood painted the cobblestone and your cheeks

I wiped them away with my thumb

I wanted to lick the blood off your face; pink, wet, and hot

The very foundations of Troy can be erased from existence 

The supposed beauty of Helen is sickly compared to your salt-blue eyes

I long for your lips

The days we spent under orange blossom trees

The nights we spent slick and slippery with olive oil

Bandaging your precious hands from battle

Bronze tipped swords never fared well against you

Armor shining in the sunlight defiant and triumphant

Dipped in the holy river of Death

You could not die

Until you did

Crowned and revered in glory and rage

Turning into your ash

Our names etched in history as the moon and sun

An ode to naivete.

Demeter's mercurial moods; is it a mother's grief at the loss of innocence or is it grief at the loss of control?

The flowers wither.

Is it rapture or seduction?

Blood-stained sheets.

You start to notice the details

The sun-dappled shadows of the house

The fly twitching and crawling its way across the floor

The way the wind hits your garden flowers like an abusive lover

You count rain droplets on your windows

Life whizzes by in an instant - kid school schedules, one last drink, one-pot meals, unfolds into a long exposure photograph

As a kid, adults were boring, but now you understand their life wasn't boring, just detailed like a mosaic; each piece an important, bigger part of a whole picture that cannot be seen until finished

The mental prep of everyday living

Consuming our own thoughts like food

Wrestling with propriety notions of need

Each heartbeat a dark cherry red moment

You notice the veins on your hands seem more vine-like and your skin the texture of leather as if you are a tree 

With experience comes stubbornness of thought - you know what you like, you do not need to try new things when your imagination and senses have stretched into innate understanding

 I'll cook my meals at home, thanks. The chef puts too much oil as if he personally wants to clog my arteries

Working with your hands feels good instead of staring dumbly at the screen

I yearn for connection but I am invisible 

Patronized as cute instead of wizened 

I thought Elders were respected 

But the world has developed

We do not hang chili's on the doorway to ward off spirits - we take a Tylenol instead 

I wonder how many spirits roam the Earth in crevices untouched by man

I wonder how far the Ocean depths go and what manner of strange creature we have not discovered

I creak and crack and ache for mental fortitude of my ancestors 

I watch the fly finally crawl into the shadowed corner 

The sunlight breezes through the curtains and with a gust, its gone

I will stick between stone and shadow and let the darkness devour me.

You were right

The only one who understood me

She poisoned my brain in her favor

An Eldritch entity that commands absolute obedience

Everything is inconsequential before Him

“I knew that something would always rule me. I knew the scent was mine alone” –Hozier  (Arsonist’s Lullaby)

You were right

They don’t sit in the silence that creeps around you like a python. Strangling your air.

Power that slams you to your knees and makes you wail wretchedly. 

"With each grave, I think of loss and I can only think of you. I couldn't measure it" -  Hozier (Through Me The Flood) 

Hospital light are cold, fluorescent beasts.

The blankets are heated.

The drugs make you forget your reality.

 “Why would you play it all on somethin' as hollow as trust? What if you gave it all to find that it wasn't enough?” – Hozier (Why Would You Be Loved)

Combined – a warm, darkness.

Like gently slipping underwater.

Acceptance and surrender all at once.

It is as close to God as the living can come to.

A twisted and gnarled oak tree and a mind as moldable as clay.

I thought I was an angel only to look into the mirror and see a naive monster.

Thinking a positive quote could fix depression. 

I would drown myself in the thought of others reactions. 

I fell from the sky and straight into fire.

Magical thinking. 

A beautiful mask for the psychological horrors beneath. 

Being gaslit for being too sensitive.

And then being kept from the truth, only to then be blamed for being naive, 

If you don’t tell me, I won’t know. 

A child is not a secret keeper.

The lock and the key are the same. I couldn’t see the forest for the trees.

Underneath the gnarled oak tree, I wept.

The sun peeked through the clouds.

As it warmed my cold face, I knew it would be alright. 

I think the traditional model of Karma is extremely flawed. It is not about the past/next life. There is only THIS LIFE. Karma is like the Butterfly Effect.  Karma is every single thought, intent, or action creates an impression in your subconscious mind which then ripples out into the universe in your current life. The universe is like a flowing stream, ever changing, so what you put it you get out.  A minor habit formed today alters a decision you make next month, which completely changes the trajectory of your life next year.

It is not a Cosmic Ledger. Hitler doesn't come back as a quadriplegic. This is incredibly cruel and does nothing to fix the Problem of Evil. It causes inaction. Hitler's soul coming back as a child solider in Uganda, places the blame on the victim and causes more "bad karmic debt" as the cycle of negativity would continue. If Hitler reincarnated, with no memory of his previous life, his suffering as an abused African child wouldn't have any meaning because he had no memory. Saying "the soul remembers" also doesn't track because not all suffering equals growth. Instead, it creates a passive, cruel society like we see in India today. People complain about "their lot in life" while doing nothing to change it. Or if a family member dies, people say "it is their karma" or if multiple family members die they call it "collective karma". Instead of having empathy for a family with many misfortunes, they say "they are cursed". This is wrong. This is how society has weaponized Hinduism against itself.

Settling past karmic debts, doesn't make sense. Doing good just because you want a "good life" or when people say "you suffered in this life so the next life will be good" that is bullshit. That is passive living and victim blaming. It is the opposite of Seva. Instead of seeing the Dalit cleaning the sewer and helping him, you are saying "that is his karma". You have blamed him and abused the circumstances of his birth to make yourself feel better. Karma is not about past lives. It is about the current life. Think about those random interactions you have with society. That one compliment a person gave you that is stuck in your head 7 years later, or momentary bonding with a passerby as you wait for the bus, that is Karma; the little things. 

Karma is not the classic, "I must've done something in a previous life to deserve this suffering" that would be cruel and unusual punishment. Are you telling me victims of the Holocaust "deserved it" or a child with cancer has "bad karma"? This is why this interpretation of karma is flawed. Karma is similar to Newton's Law of  "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction". There is no morality to it. Don't tie the caste system to Karma. Karma is current and ever changing; Your mindset is how you see the world. You are drop in the Ocean. Karma is the threads of connection and we as humans can control it through love, service, kindness. There is no fate or destiny. We choose how to shape our lives. 

Reincarnation or rebirth is not literal but spiritual/psychological. Like when someone says "I've changed" or "I am a new man". Or when they say you will change and grow from high school to college as a person. We are not static beings in any stage of life. Reincarnation is a metaphor for the continual rebirth of ego rather than the literal soul. The ego isn't a fixed, permanent entity but a constantly changing stream of consciousness. By letting go of outdated attachments in daily life, the ego "dies" and is repeatedly reborn as a more mindful, present version of yourself aka when you change and grow as a person. 

The Universe is Energy or Consciousness and everything within is Energy. When you die, you become Energy. Your Soul becomes One with Truth or the Universe. God is Formless and there are many ways to worship and express this (Krishna, Kali, Shiva, Jesus, Allah, etc). God is the fabric of existence. We are part of that tapestry. God is neutral like a mirror. We are a part of God and God is within the Self. See What is God? (Hinduism)

Karma is viewed not as a cosmic ledger tracking you across lifetimes, but as the immediate psychological consequences of your actions (e.g., kindness breeds peace of mind; cruelty breeds anxiety). 

Righteous living (Dharma) is pursued to create a just and harmonious society for current and future generations, rather than to secure a better next life.

Evil is caused by human free will. If we view karma as a "butterfly effect" or natural causality, evil is not a theological problem because there is no personal God to blame. The universe operates on the laws of physics, cause, and effect. Fire burns a saint just as easily as it burns a criminal. What we call "evil" is simply humans causing destructive actions, which ripple out into social suffering. Just as a hurricane or a falling rock isn't "evil", human suffering is the natural culmination of past interconnected actions, not a punishment from a deity. 

Death and Disease is a natural part of the world, war is a human made evil, genetics is natural, medicine is a human made good. 

God is pure light of consciousness. Whether a human uses their life to heal people or to harm people, the moral consequences belong entirely to the human ego. You do not look to heaven for God; you look into your own heart, your own consciousness, and there you find the same infinite Energy that holds the galaxies together. Your morality is not rooted in fear of punishment, but in the recognition that harming another is harming yourself, because we are all threads of the same divine fabric. Your spiritual practice is not about appeasing a distant deity, but about awakening to the truth that you have never been separate from God and that the ultimate justice, healing, and liberation are not gifts given by an external being, but the natural, inevitable unfolding of the universe itself, which is Love. 

Bhakti-Advaita confronts the Problem of Evil with honesty and compassion. It does not claim that suffering is an illusion to be dismissed, nor does it blame the victim. The tradition teaches that evil and suffering arise from three sources: human free will, the mechanical laws of nature, and the chaos inherent in a world of change. God does not cause evil. A rapist is using his free will to commit an atrocity; God does not stop him because to do so would destroy the very possibility of human freedom and moral growth.

Suffering is not a punishment from God, nor is it a "test" designed by a manipulative deity. It is the tragic byproduct of a world where free beings can choose cruelty, where nature operates through impersonal laws, and where impermanence guarantees loss. The appropriate response to suffering is not theological explanation but active compassion—we are called to be God's hands in this world, fighting injustice and heal wounds.

The universe operates on natural, mechanical laws—including the law of free will. When Hitler chose to commit genocide, he set in motion a chain of cause and effect that God does not arbitrarily override. To do so would be to destroy the fabric of the cosmos.

If God stopped every genocide, He would also have to stop every car accident, every disease, every natural disaster—because why draw the line at human evil? Where does divine intervention begin and end? The moment God becomes a cosmic "fixer," He becomes arbitrary. Why save one child and not another? Why stop one rapist and not the next?

Non-intervention is not indifference; it is the structural price of a world where love, courage, and moral consequences are real. Because a world without the possibility of evil is a world without the possibility of genuine love, freedom, or spiritual evolution. If God created a world where no one could ever hurt anyone, He would have to remove human free will entirely. You would be a robot—safe, but incapable of love, compassion, or moral choice.  Courage is only meaningful if danger is real. Forgiveness is only meaningful if betrayal happened. Love is only meaningful if it is chosen.

My favorite book: Why I Am a Hindu: Tharoor, Shashi: 9781947534551: Amazon.com: Books

Before the clock struck thirteen, the little girl with black hair grabbed a vial. 

She threw it as hard as she could into the fire. Nothing happened. She grabbed all the vials her arms were able to carry. She went as fast as her mother told her she could. She could go faster of course, but her mother told her not to. The same mother who was burning in the fire. Magic was forbidden and this was the price. Her mother warned her, so why did she do it? The scream came in earnest now. The people gathered around her mother and watched the little girl run. Sweat beaded down her back like water drops on a leaf. She needed to put out the fire before the clock struck upon the thirteenth hour otherwise…well she didn’t want to think about what would happen. The vials fell from her arms but did nothing to quell the flames. Tears filled her eyes. She had no choice. She had to use magic in front of all these people, if she didn’t, she would become just like all the rest of her friends. Alone. Clenching her fists, the little girl summoned courage like thunderstorms bring clouds. How dare they do this? They did it to her aunt, her friend, and all the other witches. The people always said that witches were better off dead. But the little girl was determined to make sure no one died today.

Power rolled through her. Water lifted from the earth and covered the fire the way a mother places a blanket on her child. Gasps arose from the crowd along with the wisps of smoke. The woman stepped out of the embers. People shouted for justice. The woman simply grabbed her daughter’s hand and took a step forward. The surge of anger faded and the people whispered. There were now two witches. There was only supposed to be one. The two witches took another step. The people became quiet. Another step. Fear entered their eyes the way a snake slithers into its hole. The chiming of a clock broke the thick silence. 

The thirteenth hour had struck.

Cultural appropriation is supposed to be a power dynamic of a majority culture taking from a minority culture. This is where things become interesting. Culture is made by people and people are made by their culture aka culture is a social construct. Culture is what we make it and while it shapes us, we also have the power to change culture.

Not everything a culture does is good either. Slavery used to be a cultural norm and now it's not. Sati used to be widely practiced but now it's not. Culture can be bad, like how India is very patriarchal and rape is very common and considered the woman's fault. Or how Jehovah's Witness's do not take blood transfusions even if a child needs it, they would rather let the child die. Or even cultures in cults where maiming and cannibalism is acceptable and normal.

Culture is pieces of many things. Food, music, clothing, rituals, and beliefs are all parts of a culture. To say you can't use another person's culture means you can't have access to any of it. That means you can't go get Thai food for breakfast, then go shopping for jeans, and drive home listening to rap music. Everything contains meaning at some level. They are all part of culture. Pieces of a whole. Pieces which have been mixed, shared, and redefined throughout the centuries, and will continue to be long after you're gone. Language is a great example. English borrows words from many different languages. Holidays have changed over the years as well. The Day of the Dead is a mix of ancient Aztec traditions and assimilation to colonization. Yule is now Christmas. Oysters used to be for poor people, but now considered luxury food. The Japanese used do Seppuku but don't anymore. East Africans preform genital mutilation which is a disgusting cultural practice. These beliefs change with time. People rebel against their own cultures too. 

Also, nobody owns a culture. Cultures have mixed since the beginning of time. Silk Road - Wikipedia Even Third-culture kids are proof of that. Whether through conquest, trade, or war. There is no "pure" culture. We are all influenced by each other and will continue to be. Spanish tile designs have Islamic influence, Buddhism came out of India and it's influence mixed with Japanese culture and now it's all over Japan, and Malaysia is a complete mix of Indian, Chinese, and European cultures. The Taj Mahal, the very symbol of India, isn't even Indian. It was created by the Mughals. Cultures change and evolve. The meanings can change too sometimes. Lolita fashion was created in Japan but it heavily draws on elements of Victorian clothing. Now Lolita fashion is everywhere and people style how they see fit.

To say that "appropriation" is an unequal exchange of power, then you need to be specific. Every group has been oppressed at some point in time. If you are going off of historically, then at what point in history are you going off of? If you are talking about today, then today is based off of the culmination of history. There is nothing wrong with changing cultures, even if that culture was changed through power. Change is always inevitable. Hijras used to be respected until the British showed up. Things change, not always for the better but it cannot be stopped. Hijras are now slowly gaining respect. The caste system is also a British invention of exoticism. This will change in the future again. 

Culture is made up of many things. Geography affects the food we eat. Religion can affect the way we dress. Language effects the music we make. War and conquest create new ways of living. Technology and globalization connected us more than ever before. In one click I can fly around the world. I can order Japanese food and read Plato at the same time. If I study abroad or live somewhere else for a period of time, I will likely adopt that culture, their mannerisms, and quirks. Like how in Spain they eat late compared to America or how in Japan, they bow out of propriety.

Cultures have disappeared and been changed and erased over the years. The meaning of certain things will fade or change with time. Foot-binding used to mean that you were beautiful and now it is looked on as a shameful historical practice. Different things have different meanings to different people. Things have meaning because we give them meaning. It truly is as simple as that. Things that mean a lot to us, we will fight to protect. Things that don't mean anything to us, we will let go. Every culture has mixed and changed meaning so much that today's culture would probably unrecognizable to our ancestors.

Wear your hair in braids, get Henna done, eat Chinese food, and listen to K-pop. At the end of the day, we are all human. We should treat each other with respect and help each other out instead of dividing ourselves. You make your own culture.

Interesting Wiki articles:

Pizza effect - Wikipedia

Japonisme - Wikipedia

Occidentalism - Wikipedia

Orientalism - Wikipedia

Japanese street fashion - Wikipedia

Level 1: Brahman (The Passive, Formless Fabric)

What it is: The ultimate, unchanging ground of all existence. Pure energy, It does not think, need, judge, or intervene. It has no emotions, no gender, no plan. It is simply the substance of reality and space time, It is completely passive. It is not above the Devas in a commanding sense; it is deeper than them, like the ocean floor is deeper than the waves. Omniscience is the very fabric of reality, not a property belonging to a divine being. 

Level 2: The Devas (The Cosmic Emotional Engines)

What they are: Powerful, sentient forces that govern the macro-universe. Think of Shiva (destruction/entropy), Parvati (fierce maternal energy/volcanic nature), Indra (storms/rain), Surya (the sun's raw power). They are not all-good, all-knowing, or all-loving. They are wild, emotional, and indifferent to human morality. Parvati threatening to destroy Earth is her doing her cosmic duty as the force of dissolution, she doesn't care about your personal suffering. They emerged from Brahman's energy but now act autonomously. God includes destruction, death, chaos, and evil within His being—just as Shiva is both the cosmic destroyer and the beneficent yogi. In Hinduism, ultimate goodness is not a moral trait; it is wholeness, the realization that all opposites (good/evil, pleasure/pain) are ultimately one in the Divine. When Hindus worship Ganesha or Narayana as the Ishta Devata (chosen deity), they are often recognizing them not as a deva, but as Brahman itself.

Level 3: Demons / Asuras (The Disruptive Forces)

What they are: Entropy, ignorance, greed, and systemic chaos given cosmic form. They are the constant opposition to cosmic order. They are not evil in a Biblical sense, they are simply the universe's tendency to fall apart and corrupt. They run wild because the Devas are busy fighting them in an eternal, messy cosmic war. Neither side is good or bad in a human moral sense; they are just opposing natural forces (order vs. chaos). Humans get caught in the crossfire.

Level 4: The Atman (The Individual Soul)

What it is: The spark of Brahman's fabric that lives inside your consciousness. It is not your ego, your memories, or your trauma, it is the silent witness watching your thoughts. The Atman is identical to Brahman, just small. Like a glass of water instead of the ocean. It is eternal, untouched by the Devas' anger or the demons' chaos. It does not reincarnate literally into another baby; rather, the same Atman remains present as your ego-layer shifts and reincarnates throughout your single lifetime.

Level 5: Personal / Folk Gods (The Village-Level Helpers)

What they are: Local deities, spirits of a specific river, a mountain, a village guardian, or an ancestor worshipped for generations. These are much lower than the Devas. They are like middle-management or local mayors. They are intensely personal, have strong personalities, and actually care about your daily problems (crops, marriage, illness). God is personal and what you make of it. They are the faces you project your personal needs onto. They are real, but they are not the ultimate reality.

Level 6: Nature / Prakriti (The Physical World)

What it is: Trees, rivers, animals, rocks, air, your physical body, your brain chemistry, your genetics, and systemic social structures. Nature is the physical manifestation of Brahman. It is sacred because it is made of the fabric, but it is the lowest in the hierarchy because it is the most conditioned, most limited, and most prone to decay. The Devas affect nature (storms, earthquakes), but humans manipulate nature through technology, slavery, and economics, which brings us to the final, most important layer.

Level 7: Humanity (The Free-Will Agents)

Where you sit: You are sandwiched between Nature (Level 6) and the Atman (Level 4). You have a physical body (Nature) and a divine spark (Atman), but you also have a mind and ego that the Devas and demons do not have. Because of your free will, you are the only entity in this hierarchy capable of moral evil (like slavery) and moral heroism (like abolition). Brahman doesn't care. The Devas don't intervene. Folk gods give you comfort but can't stop your actions. You take the passive energy of Brahman and turn it into meaning through your choices.

Brahman is the Substance; Shiva/Vishnu are the First Ripples. Brahman is the infinite, formless, passive ocean. But an ocean that is perfectly still has no movement, no heat, no color. Out of that ocean, the very first ripples to emerge are Shiva, Vishnu, and Devi (Parvati). They are not separate from the ocean, they are made of ocean water. But they are the active, conscious, vibrating part of the ocean.

Because Brahman is pure potential, it has no mind, no heart, no brain. Shiva and Vishnu are the first minds that crystallized from that potential. They are the cosmic operating system of the universe. They are cosmic functions wearing the mask of personality. They feel because they have to act, and action requires intent, and intent requires feeling. Brahman doesn't act; it just is. Shiva and Vishnu bow to Brahman, not the other way around. Shiva meditates on Brahman for eons, because even the Destroyer knows he is not the final truth. Vishnu rests on the cosmic serpent, but his ultimate goal is to lead souls back to the silent Brahman.

They are the bridge between the passive infinite (Brahman) and the chaotic physical world (nature, demons, humans). They take the silent energy of Brahman and translate it into drama, justice, and cosmic law, complete with anger, tears, and laughter.

The Devas are Mithya: Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, and all the other gods with their emotions and personalities are powerful and real within the context of the material world and human experience. They are the active forces that create, preserve, and destroy the universe.

Brahman is Satya: Brahman is the ultimate, unchanging reality that underlies everything. The Devas, the world, and even our own individual souls (Atman) are ultimately expressions of this one fundamental reality.

Myth as a Vehicle: Hindu myths, which are full of stories about the Devas and their emotions, are not meant to be literal history. Instead, they are vehicles for conveying Mithya, culturally embedded truths about life, death, nature, and culture. They help us understand the world around us.