Divination Class

[edomedpeddler.livejournal.com]

((OOC: This lesson diverges from and ties together the other lessons. You don't have to have participated in previous lessons or have signed up. There are two activities...do as much of them as you wish or just describe what would be done is fine. Just because the mun is a nutcase who does research doesn't mean you're expected to :) and I just realized I was supposed to put this up yesterday, but I got tied up with things...sorry.))

The room is again prepared. Parchment and quills on the desks, Kusuriyuri kneels at the front of the room, waiting. The Western style of teaching still seems a bit scattered to him, but he is coming to understand it better. He nods at each student as they arrive.

When it seems all have gathered, he stands.

Welcome. On the paper before you, please describe the relationship between reason and regret.

Regret and reason are points on a continuous scale. Mindfulness, your emotions, responsibilities, your suffering all contribute to them. What then separates them?

Let us begin by examining the components.

Mindfulness is perhaps the simplest and most difficult. It is awareness of the world, of surroundings, of the self. It is the ability, the possibility of knowing all that motivates action. Frequently, however, mindfulness is directed only at particular items that do not capture the right information. Rather than being aware, mindful, of what is presently, the mind wanders onto what has been or what will be. By focusing on that which is not, we lose track of that which is. This allows regret to grow from reason.

Responsibilities are based upon perception, upon mindfulness of the present. Among these are not to force or allow force to be used to change someone’s perception of reality, to seek out truth and to deal with the results of actions taken.

It is not given any particular person to determine the reality of another person, nor to force present mindfulness upon them. Guiding someone to mindfulness, when they are seeking it is the alternate to seeking truth. Willingness to accept the truth must be present. Force and refusal to seek or give the truth all lead to regret.

Actions have natural consequences, things that will naturally follow them. If a rock is released, it will fall. In the same way, if a person acts, there will be reactions. If these actions are not properly dealt with, the result will be regret. This is a natural outcome.

Suffering is the natural state of living. Birth is suffering, aging is suffering, illness is suffering, death is suffering, grief is suffering. There are things that are pleasant, but these are transient and their leaving is suffering. By clinging to that which is either pleasant or unpleasant, regret beings to form.

Life is the flow of energy through everything. By allowing regret to clog our minds, by focusing on the strong emotions that arise from regret, we can leave an imprint on this energy. We can give form to our regret.

With your neighbors, please discuss how reason and regret give rise to form and how form influences reason and regret. Also discuss how it is possible to reduce regret.

((OOC, again: If you need Kusuriyuri to respond, please place it in the subject of the reply.

Reference links
http://hushicho.captainn.net/onmy/onmyintro.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shingon_Buddhism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sa%E1%B9%85kh%C4%81ra
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prajna
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacca
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skandha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dukkha
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mindfulness ))

Comments

[fiercefluffy.livejournal.com]

Professor Kusuriyuri sounds like a philosopher. Octavian's brow furrows as he takes in the lecture.

Frequently, however, mindfulness is directed only at particular items that do not capture the right information. Rather than being aware, mindful, of what is presently, the mind wanders onto what has been or what will be. By focusing on that which is not, we lose track of that which is.

It's an unintentional indictment of Octavian's activities at Hogwarts. From the beginning, he's been fascinated by what this world's histories claim he, Octavian, Caesar Augustus, will and will not accomplish. He knows it's probably different from what will happen in his world, because there are points of divergence between his past and the recorded past of historical Octavian; but those points of divergence are often so minor, he's sure the same must be true for the future Octavian. The Encyclopaedia Britannica and Edward Gibbon have become his oracles.

Kusuriyuri's words make him think about what he's been trying to minimize.

He writes on his parchment:

The unexamined life is to be regretted. Reason makes possible self-scrutiny.

[hellminxmel.livejournal.com]

'I'm glad you understand what he's going on about.'

What? Yes, that's Maia there, leaning back in her chair, clothed in dark red top and very tight leather trousers and shining boots. Her eyes have rather deep circles under them, but on the whole she looks happy. Happy to be back at Hogwarts, maybe, happy she's next to him, perhaps.

'It's all Greek to me.'

...did she just crack a joke?

[fiercefluffy.livejournal.com]

Octavian shoots a sideways glance at the demon he sometimes considers a friend. "Actually it is a bit Greek (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greco-Buddhism#Cynicism.2C_Madhyamaka_and_Zen), I suppose. What is it that you don't understand?"

[hellminxmel.livejournal.com]

'I don't like to think about regret, and reason for a demon's a fairly odd concept.' Maia props her head on her hand, and her elbow on the desk. 'But don't try to explain it. I'll figure it out when I want to.'

There's a long pause.

'Plus, I don't get on with Buddhism.' Not since that sodding boddhisattva mission. Not since they failed. That might be the reason for her ringed eyes.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

A listens closely throughout the lecture; not only is it a class, after all, it's Kusuriyuri's class. He thinks long and hard as he starts to write.

Reason and regret are different in what drives them. Reason is a mental process, and while one's reasoning might be flawed, it can usually be explained. Regret is an emotional process, and as such may not be as simple to delineate...

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Wishbone was stumped. Plain and simple. Then again, he didn't have many regrets.

[i-am-an-hero.livejournal.com]

A looked up briefly from his paper to smile at Wishbone. The classwork may be taking up most of his attention but that's no reason to be unfriendly.

[woocha.livejournal.com]

Hey, A? What did you write? I'm confused by this question.

[misoramassacre.livejournal.com]

Reason, Naomi wrote after due consideration, is a method of deciding belief and action. Regret comes from the belief that reasoning has failed.

[noseymaddie.livejournal.com]

"What is all this rot about?" Maddie asks softly of one of the only people in the room she recognizes. Great thinker, she is not. Her mind is often more occupied with cases than philosophy.

[misoramassacre.livejournal.com]

Did this qualify as discussion? In any case... "The theoretical part of divination, I think."

[daisy-inthesun.livejournal.com]

Daisy stumbles into the classroom, looks around helplessly and takes a seat, catching just the ending description. Looking down at the parchment, she nods at it, lips tight, enabling her brain to function, after so many years of being off. Reason., she thinks, Reason is what your mind tells you. Regret is the consequences that come from the heart reacting to the brain. When Reason is the guiding principle, all is rational and makes perfect sense. When you factor in regret, it becomes muddy waters and nothing is as black and white as it would be without regret. Reasonably, I know I am here and alive. When Regret rears its ugly head, I feel where I am is not equal to the place I feel I should be, even though this place is a much better outcome."

Daisy nods, happily, though not entirely sure her answer is what the professor was looking for. Regret floods her mind and the question internalizes itself, making the lesson worthy of her time.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

"This lecture is producing more long faces than usual," observes L, quietly.

[daisy-inthesun.livejournal.com]

Daisy glances up and smiles politely. "To think about regret brings back memories of regrets, I suppose. Everyone has something they wished had not occurred."

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

Sitting at his desk, Near thinks carefully about each word as he writes it. Philosophy's never really been his field, but he's been paying attention.

[mello-n-choco.livejournal.com]

I'm working on the assignment and lean over. "I missed something, didn't I?" I ask.

On the paper, I write Reason is regret divorced from emotion.

[cardarchitect.livejournal.com]

"Hmm?" The assignment isn't taking up his entire attention, perhaps, but he's focused on it at the moment.

[charlesofdensen.livejournal.com]

There must be a reason to regret something. You can't just regret for the sake of regretting.

Well, you can't.

[relentlesssoul.livejournal.com]

Roxas touched his pen to the paper in front of him, pondering slightly over ever word before it was imprinted onto the blank sheet.

Reason is what accounted for an action you take. Regret is guilt that settles in after the action has been taken.

That sounded reasonable. He turned to see a familiar face sitting near him and smiled at Charles, tapping his pen on the table subconsciously.

[charlesofdensen.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Roxas. That kid who could fight well.

"So what's your opinion?"

[ringo-raver.livejournal.com]

A reason is why something is done. Regretting something means you wish you didn't think of that reason.

Ryuk had a little philosophy in him, who knew?

[vislor-turlough.livejournal.com]

Regret comes about because something caused it. Someone must have had to have a reason to cause something that was regretted.

[methleigh.livejournal.com]

Severus stands quietly in the back and writes on a parchment.
You use reason is determine what it is best to do based on logic, future goals and past experiences.
Regret is what you feel when you discover you were wrong.

[ijk-mno.livejournal.com]

Reason is why something is happening, did happen, or had to happen. Regret is why it hurts that it did.

L listens to the corresponding lecture, trying to fit it in to what he knows of Kusuriyuri's philosophy. He can't help but apply it to A and B, to some degree.

[drunkexguardian.livejournal.com]

Lee sat at the back of the classroom, arms folded tightly and scowling furiously. She still wasn't sure why she'd agreed to sign up for the stupid class. Self-hatred, she supposed. And a good dose of boredom.

They're both curses. If you're damned enough to know what you're doing, you're more than damned enough to feel bad about things that didn't go so well for you later. She stabbed the quill hard into the paper, making a large blot that obscured part of the word "later", and sat back again.

"So, what, are you going to make us measure our body thetans now?"