Seikou-Kishi
3rd May 2014, 04:04
A Million Points of Light
I must preface this thread with a little disclaimer: I was not sure when I decided that I must create this thread where on earth it should go. In the end I settled for the subforum with the broadest scope. This is a thread that may or may not seem a little out of step. I am moved to created it after communication with a member in which I used the phrase "a million points of light" to describe the way in which those who are awake and aware seem very dispersed throughout the globe.
It is a phrase I have used before and I am sure I will use it again, but perhaps it is time to share the origin of the phrase. It is a message, I think, worthy of any "revealed text" and yet it does not come from anything pretending to such heights. Instead, it comes from a work of fiction intended only as entertainment. I have never shared the opinion of the Abrahamic religions that inspiration is a rare phenomenon. I do not believe that only the bible is inspired or only the qur'an is inspired. Frankly, I believe these books are somewhat less inspired than your average, run-of-the-mill cookery book.
This form of entertainment is a child's TV show, an anime. I watched the original series when I was child and when the second series came out, I gathered up the episodes like a forager picking berries and shared them with the younger children in my family. To them, it was a fun and dramatic form of entertainment, but there were so many good messages in them that they would thoroughly dissect them afterwards and mull over the themes portrayed in their childish sincerity.
This TV programme was "Digimon Adventure 02". Many of you, through younger relatives, will be acquainted with "Pokémon", but perhaps fewer of you will have heard of this. Certainly, there is much in the show that can be written off as childish and, of course, it is childish because it is aimed squarely at children. However, the themes it discusses are the same themes you are likely to find in any book by Dolores Cannon and it only goes to show how most adults will struggle to get their heads around concepts which are readily accepted by children.
The eponymous "digimon" are monsters. Digital monsters. They're beings whose bodies and even the world in which they live are just data that has gathered together. When a digimon dies, his body dissolves and each bit of data, every 0 and 1, disperses throughout the world where it is recycled into new things. In one part of the original series, one of the digimon dies saving his friends from evil and his data, his lifeforce, disperses into the world. In time, the child destined to be friends with this digimon finds an egg and from it hatches another being just like the one that had died: the being had been reincarnated.
In order to overcome the sequential and incrementally stronger opponents threatening harm to this world, these digimon must become stronger through their connections with their human allies. In order to reach what they call their "ultimate form", each of the digimon requires a certain kind of virtue. One requires a bond of unbreakable friendship, another requires selfless courage. A third requires love and a fourth requires sincerity. As these humans realise these parts of themselves and their bond grows, they find it in them to overthrow the evil that has seized that world made of energy. In the original series, one such enemy was a vampire called "Myotismon" who invaded the physical world (the "real world") and attempted to destroy both worlds. He was defeated and, like all digimon, his energy dispersed.
Anyway, the following three videos are the last three episodes in the (second) series. Well worth just less than an hour. Oikawa is a man eaten up by bitterness. He so longs to go and join this world of brilliance and energy but was never able to go. As Oikawa witnessed the original "digidestined" returning to the digital world, he desperately called out to that world, asking it to allow him to go too. A voice answered and it was the disembodied data of the fallen Myotismon, his spirit. This spirit told Oikawa he could sooth his pained heart with darkness and when Oikawa agreed, the disembodied Myotismon entered his body.
This has so many parallels with the way humans can become host to dark entities that play upon bitterness, anger and fear — any negative or hateful emotion. Oikawa, possessed by Myotismon, worked to change one of the new generation of "digidestined" to the darkside and he became a maniacal despot intent on becoming the evil emperor of the digital world. He persuaded him to this darkness by latching onto the person's pain and negative emotions. In the end, he is helped to overcome the darkness in him by the good example of others and the selfless devotion of his partner. This has so many parallels for the present situation, too, in which people are simply here to be, to uplift the world by their presence, to give an example.
So Oikawa believes that by putting a seed of evil in the hearts of children who have abandoned their dreams, he will open a path into that world for himself. It is a world into which only children, ordinarily, can pass and he believes that by leeching off their pure energy, he can force the world to allow him entry. The idea of dark, twisted beings draining the pure energy of children is not one that is new to the people here.
It turns out that all this was actually doing was providing energy for Myotismon who possessed Oikawa. The energy was never intended to help Oikawa, but to provide the energy for Myotismon to rebuild his body and manifest again. He does this in the following videos. He re-emerges as the much more powerful form "Malomyotismon". The doorway Oikawa opens doesn't actually lead to the world he wanted to go to, the digital world, and instead it is a world in which wishes have the power to come true. It is a world in which emotions become real, and just by thinking something, it will happen.
Malomyotismon intends to use the power of this world to conquer both the digital and real worlds. He sets about engulfing both the digital and "real" world in darkness, fed by the hopelessness and despair of those children who had been implanted with the dark seeds. Eventually, the kids realise they can use that power to overcome him, and they knock him straight through the boundary of that world back into the digital world. The children's rekindling hope generates enough light to drive away the darkness and Malomyotismon is finished for good.
In the world in which wishes manifest, Malomyotismon takes one of his servants and kills her, taking her data, her energy as a way of gaining strength. When the servant objects, Malomyotismon says he is only doing what she thought he was going to do anyway, and is that so wrong? She thought that would happen to her and so it did. In other words, her thoughts manifested. She caused to happen to her what she expected to happen. Again the parallel is strong. These two servants, whom Oikawa made, were made when Oikawa took his own DNA and transformed the data — another parallel, showing how the DNA is information, energy, solidified into a solid form. It also shows that even in the "real" world, where everything is physical, everything is really just a compilation of energy-data.
So I include below the last three episodes of that series. They're not even 20 minutes long each and, I would say, worth the watch. If you can only spare the time for one video, though, make it the last. I was about 13 when these came out and I remember discussing them avidly with my friends. I also remember sitting with the younger kids while they watched and they too would discuss the show. I remember them taking away lessons like never being ashamed of their dreams and how friendship and compassion overcome darkness.
In the end, Malomyotismon's attack on the worlds did so much damage that the digital world was gravely wounded and would take a long time to recover. Oikawa's almost lifeless body was only a few feet away in the other dimension in which thought becomes reality. He realised that in the end he could go to the digital world and he willed himself to dissolve too and dispersed his energy throughout the world where it would replenish and revitalise the digital world. Like Ken's overcoming the darkness in him and casting off the persona of the Emperor, Oikawa's final moments were moments of redemption in which he joined the very fabric of the digital world and uplifted it from its broken state.
I do not mind saying that, all those years ago, these final episodes were very emotional. Perhaps, the juvenile form being innocuous to my juvenile mind, I was able to see the content and the message unhindered. Perhaps, even as an adult, I will see the same. In the end, it wasn't fighting Malomyotismon that defeated him, it was the defiant refusal of all the children to succumb to hopelessness and despair that caused Malomyotismon to wither into nothingness.
So now I have to ask the parents on the forum: is it strange to think that your own children might be having similar thoughts? Is it strange to think of them enjoying entertainment that is not just compelling viewing (for them at least lol), but also full of themes an adult would enjoy in a good story? Many years ago my nascent love of all things science fiction and fantasy was fuelled by a woman I knew who said those forms have greater power than any other to relay profound concepts and insight. They take those concepts into the abstract where they can be assessed and considered without regard to material details.
Young or old, I hope you enjoy this. I hope you can see through the childish form and appreciate the message it relays. Coming from a family in which I'm as likely to find my 90-year-old elders watching cartoons as our 9-year-old younglings, I can't help but think there is something in this for everyone. Because of that, I want to share the following videos with TOT's small collection of some of those million points of light.
"The darkness has not been conquered and it will continue to fight against the light forever, but as long as people continue to follow their dreams, evil will be kept at bay."
"I know you're afraid, but you can't give into it. You can't let fear control you."
"The only person who can take your dreams away is you by giving up on them."
"As long as we believe in ourselves and our dreams, the dark spores will remain powerless against us."
Episode 48: Oikawa's Shame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw1EO3xeKDo
Episode 49: The Last Temptation of the DigiDestined
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJ2IgeRYnE
Episode 50: A Million Points of Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4M9CO73kFE
Ok, ok, so — childish delivery aside — I loved every minute of it at least as much as I did all those years ago. That bit at the end — the "Oh, the series has finished and now let's all feel really lovely about it" bit — it just seems like a whole alien contact scenario and like I say, I could easily imagine reading this in a Dolores Cannon book. Just replace "digital world" with "convoluted universe" and "partner digimon" with "alien friend":
"There have been a lot of big changes in the world and in us since then. So you can see we're still having adventures. They're just a little different than the ones we used to have when we were kids. Now everybody on the planet knows about the digital world and has their own partner digimon. But despite all the changes that contact with the digital world has brought, one thing has remained the same..."
I must preface this thread with a little disclaimer: I was not sure when I decided that I must create this thread where on earth it should go. In the end I settled for the subforum with the broadest scope. This is a thread that may or may not seem a little out of step. I am moved to created it after communication with a member in which I used the phrase "a million points of light" to describe the way in which those who are awake and aware seem very dispersed throughout the globe.
It is a phrase I have used before and I am sure I will use it again, but perhaps it is time to share the origin of the phrase. It is a message, I think, worthy of any "revealed text" and yet it does not come from anything pretending to such heights. Instead, it comes from a work of fiction intended only as entertainment. I have never shared the opinion of the Abrahamic religions that inspiration is a rare phenomenon. I do not believe that only the bible is inspired or only the qur'an is inspired. Frankly, I believe these books are somewhat less inspired than your average, run-of-the-mill cookery book.
This form of entertainment is a child's TV show, an anime. I watched the original series when I was child and when the second series came out, I gathered up the episodes like a forager picking berries and shared them with the younger children in my family. To them, it was a fun and dramatic form of entertainment, but there were so many good messages in them that they would thoroughly dissect them afterwards and mull over the themes portrayed in their childish sincerity.
This TV programme was "Digimon Adventure 02". Many of you, through younger relatives, will be acquainted with "Pokémon", but perhaps fewer of you will have heard of this. Certainly, there is much in the show that can be written off as childish and, of course, it is childish because it is aimed squarely at children. However, the themes it discusses are the same themes you are likely to find in any book by Dolores Cannon and it only goes to show how most adults will struggle to get their heads around concepts which are readily accepted by children.
The eponymous "digimon" are monsters. Digital monsters. They're beings whose bodies and even the world in which they live are just data that has gathered together. When a digimon dies, his body dissolves and each bit of data, every 0 and 1, disperses throughout the world where it is recycled into new things. In one part of the original series, one of the digimon dies saving his friends from evil and his data, his lifeforce, disperses into the world. In time, the child destined to be friends with this digimon finds an egg and from it hatches another being just like the one that had died: the being had been reincarnated.
In order to overcome the sequential and incrementally stronger opponents threatening harm to this world, these digimon must become stronger through their connections with their human allies. In order to reach what they call their "ultimate form", each of the digimon requires a certain kind of virtue. One requires a bond of unbreakable friendship, another requires selfless courage. A third requires love and a fourth requires sincerity. As these humans realise these parts of themselves and their bond grows, they find it in them to overthrow the evil that has seized that world made of energy. In the original series, one such enemy was a vampire called "Myotismon" who invaded the physical world (the "real world") and attempted to destroy both worlds. He was defeated and, like all digimon, his energy dispersed.
Anyway, the following three videos are the last three episodes in the (second) series. Well worth just less than an hour. Oikawa is a man eaten up by bitterness. He so longs to go and join this world of brilliance and energy but was never able to go. As Oikawa witnessed the original "digidestined" returning to the digital world, he desperately called out to that world, asking it to allow him to go too. A voice answered and it was the disembodied data of the fallen Myotismon, his spirit. This spirit told Oikawa he could sooth his pained heart with darkness and when Oikawa agreed, the disembodied Myotismon entered his body.
This has so many parallels with the way humans can become host to dark entities that play upon bitterness, anger and fear — any negative or hateful emotion. Oikawa, possessed by Myotismon, worked to change one of the new generation of "digidestined" to the darkside and he became a maniacal despot intent on becoming the evil emperor of the digital world. He persuaded him to this darkness by latching onto the person's pain and negative emotions. In the end, he is helped to overcome the darkness in him by the good example of others and the selfless devotion of his partner. This has so many parallels for the present situation, too, in which people are simply here to be, to uplift the world by their presence, to give an example.
So Oikawa believes that by putting a seed of evil in the hearts of children who have abandoned their dreams, he will open a path into that world for himself. It is a world into which only children, ordinarily, can pass and he believes that by leeching off their pure energy, he can force the world to allow him entry. The idea of dark, twisted beings draining the pure energy of children is not one that is new to the people here.
It turns out that all this was actually doing was providing energy for Myotismon who possessed Oikawa. The energy was never intended to help Oikawa, but to provide the energy for Myotismon to rebuild his body and manifest again. He does this in the following videos. He re-emerges as the much more powerful form "Malomyotismon". The doorway Oikawa opens doesn't actually lead to the world he wanted to go to, the digital world, and instead it is a world in which wishes have the power to come true. It is a world in which emotions become real, and just by thinking something, it will happen.
Malomyotismon intends to use the power of this world to conquer both the digital and real worlds. He sets about engulfing both the digital and "real" world in darkness, fed by the hopelessness and despair of those children who had been implanted with the dark seeds. Eventually, the kids realise they can use that power to overcome him, and they knock him straight through the boundary of that world back into the digital world. The children's rekindling hope generates enough light to drive away the darkness and Malomyotismon is finished for good.
In the world in which wishes manifest, Malomyotismon takes one of his servants and kills her, taking her data, her energy as a way of gaining strength. When the servant objects, Malomyotismon says he is only doing what she thought he was going to do anyway, and is that so wrong? She thought that would happen to her and so it did. In other words, her thoughts manifested. She caused to happen to her what she expected to happen. Again the parallel is strong. These two servants, whom Oikawa made, were made when Oikawa took his own DNA and transformed the data — another parallel, showing how the DNA is information, energy, solidified into a solid form. It also shows that even in the "real" world, where everything is physical, everything is really just a compilation of energy-data.
So I include below the last three episodes of that series. They're not even 20 minutes long each and, I would say, worth the watch. If you can only spare the time for one video, though, make it the last. I was about 13 when these came out and I remember discussing them avidly with my friends. I also remember sitting with the younger kids while they watched and they too would discuss the show. I remember them taking away lessons like never being ashamed of their dreams and how friendship and compassion overcome darkness.
In the end, Malomyotismon's attack on the worlds did so much damage that the digital world was gravely wounded and would take a long time to recover. Oikawa's almost lifeless body was only a few feet away in the other dimension in which thought becomes reality. He realised that in the end he could go to the digital world and he willed himself to dissolve too and dispersed his energy throughout the world where it would replenish and revitalise the digital world. Like Ken's overcoming the darkness in him and casting off the persona of the Emperor, Oikawa's final moments were moments of redemption in which he joined the very fabric of the digital world and uplifted it from its broken state.
I do not mind saying that, all those years ago, these final episodes were very emotional. Perhaps, the juvenile form being innocuous to my juvenile mind, I was able to see the content and the message unhindered. Perhaps, even as an adult, I will see the same. In the end, it wasn't fighting Malomyotismon that defeated him, it was the defiant refusal of all the children to succumb to hopelessness and despair that caused Malomyotismon to wither into nothingness.
So now I have to ask the parents on the forum: is it strange to think that your own children might be having similar thoughts? Is it strange to think of them enjoying entertainment that is not just compelling viewing (for them at least lol), but also full of themes an adult would enjoy in a good story? Many years ago my nascent love of all things science fiction and fantasy was fuelled by a woman I knew who said those forms have greater power than any other to relay profound concepts and insight. They take those concepts into the abstract where they can be assessed and considered without regard to material details.
Young or old, I hope you enjoy this. I hope you can see through the childish form and appreciate the message it relays. Coming from a family in which I'm as likely to find my 90-year-old elders watching cartoons as our 9-year-old younglings, I can't help but think there is something in this for everyone. Because of that, I want to share the following videos with TOT's small collection of some of those million points of light.
"The darkness has not been conquered and it will continue to fight against the light forever, but as long as people continue to follow their dreams, evil will be kept at bay."
"I know you're afraid, but you can't give into it. You can't let fear control you."
"The only person who can take your dreams away is you by giving up on them."
"As long as we believe in ourselves and our dreams, the dark spores will remain powerless against us."
Episode 48: Oikawa's Shame
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aw1EO3xeKDo
Episode 49: The Last Temptation of the DigiDestined
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJ2IgeRYnE
Episode 50: A Million Points of Light
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4M9CO73kFE
Ok, ok, so — childish delivery aside — I loved every minute of it at least as much as I did all those years ago. That bit at the end — the "Oh, the series has finished and now let's all feel really lovely about it" bit — it just seems like a whole alien contact scenario and like I say, I could easily imagine reading this in a Dolores Cannon book. Just replace "digital world" with "convoluted universe" and "partner digimon" with "alien friend":
"There have been a lot of big changes in the world and in us since then. So you can see we're still having adventures. They're just a little different than the ones we used to have when we were kids. Now everybody on the planet knows about the digital world and has their own partner digimon. But despite all the changes that contact with the digital world has brought, one thing has remained the same..."