Some People Think Writers Are So Eloquent And Good With Words, But The Reality Is That We Can Sit There

no more girl boss

now it's time for girl moss

I don't know if I just haven't encountered it yet, but I haven't really seen anyone talking about or acknowledging something that's neither Unverified Personal Gnosis or Shared Personal Gnosis, but rather a third thing: Personal Group Gnosis.

PGG emerges from a small group of people having similar experiences to each other, which may or may not resemble anything that people outside of the group are experiencing.

This isn't inherently a bad thing. But among those who lack critical thinking skills, it can lead to some real trouble if they conclude that their similar experiences means that they're uncovering an actual objective truth, regardless of whether it's congruent with anything anyone outside of the group is experiencing.

One thing that many people fail to account for is the fact that they and their group generally share many of the same preconceptions and biases. For example, a group of younger Wiccans are very likely to believe in now-debunked ideas such as the great goddess hypothesis and the witch cult hypothesis. They'll believe in the existence of pagan gods, but they'll probably have a Christian-influenced understanding of divinity and morality, with little to no comprehension of the role that animism played in the development of pre-Christian traditions, nor with any real appreciation for how different values influenced the stories that people told about gods and other spirits.

They might even be exposed to similar media, which gives them all similar ideas about gods, spirits, and history. Even if they don't directly engage with the most popular media, it can still reach them through second or third hand exposure.

They're also likely reading the same spiritual, occult, and esoteric writers; or at least, reading people who have very similar ideas to one another.

And finally, since they're most likely friends and therefore trust each other, they are naturally biased toward accepting each other's experiences as valid, and working them into their own mental maps of the spiritual or metaphysical world.

In short, they're all primed to have very similar experiences to each other.

Without awareness that exposure to similar ideas can influence similar mystical experiences, it's very easy for a small group like this to generate a sort of shared map of reality that they feel justified in regarding as absolutely, objectively true.

It's at this point that people begin to feel confident telling you that if you just talked to your gods about what they're claiming, your gods would absolutely confirm them to be true. And if they don't, you were never really talking to those gods.

Having one's entire internal map of reality dictated by Personal Group Gnosis can be incredibly dangerous. It alienates you from the rest of the world by making you feel as if the only people you can trust are those who agree with your PGG. It can make you see outsiders as spiritually inferior, especially if they disagree with you outright. It can even encourage conspiracy thinking, because attributing what outsiders believe (or apparently believe) to the actions of a malicious conspiracy is a very common rationalization.

In other words, this is how you get a cult.

Now, a lot of people won't recognize it as a cult (and some will vehemently deny it's a cult) because it might not have a clear leader (though there's almost certainly a small number of people who have the most influence), and it probably doesn't have a financial goal. However, the destructive capacities of small groups of people living in their own reality cannot be denied. Members who don't go along with the group's accepted model of reality are often treated harshly, and are frequently targets for harassment. They may say that if you don't like it you can just leave, but let's be real, that's no simple matter if you believe that these are the only people with a real grip on reality, or if these people are basically your only friends, or even just your only friends who share your spiritual beliefs.

(If you're in this kind of situation? My advice is to start making more friends outside of this group. You don't have to cut yourself off from this group cold turkey; you can just start hanging out with other people more.)

Now, I'd like to emphasize that none of this is to say that PGG is inherently bad; I am only pointing out that it can be incredibly dangerous for people who lack knowledge, perspective, and critical thinking skills. Additionally, a group where there's a lot of this going on can be very dangerous for those who desperately just want to belong and get along, and push themselves to adopt their groups popular beliefs for fear of consequences.

Just like a single person's UPG doesn't dictate reality for everyone, neither does a single group's gnosis. PGG isn't inherently any better or more "correct" than UPG.

I support women's rights but also women's decades long revenge plots

yes ! definitely agree 100% on the sentiment that stp does a great job at portraying traits to be neutral. even in the way the shifting mound chooses her words, there's a noticeable neutrality in which she views and describes her vessels' experiences. it was something that really stuck with me when i was watching a therapist playing the game and pointing it out !

I think what I’m seeing with the Slay The Princess fan base is that not enough people recognize that ALL the voices are a neutral force. Both positive and negative in their own ways.

I’ve seen people talk about Smitten showing love just as a thing, and I just saw a post talking about Paranoid needing to be written in fan content with his more negative side as well as his capabilities, but it’s actually like that for all of them! The voices are, quite literally, reflections of The Long Quiet— and they are their definition in every way it can be.

Smitten loves, and sometimes that love happens to hurt because he just wants what’s best for the Princess but she wants the same for tlq so it spirals and no one is happy.

I was thinking about Hunted, especially in the Den, where he is instinct and that instinct is to survive, but when he sees someone else also fighting to survive, he looks out for them and works as a team.

Cold is notorious for brushing off any emotions and with the mirror he will tell the decider that you don’t need to comfort the other voices. But he’s pushing for numbness so that it hurts less, so that you can handle it easier, so you aren’t paralyzed by guilt or by the decisions you have to make.

Opportunist is constantly changing his mind, trying to be on the “winning” side, and this causes him to be a jerk, pull the knife on the princess when it suits him and if you don’t want to hurt the princess he’ll then try to play it off. But he’s also got ways to keep you safe, know when something will turn on you because that’s what he would do, and he just wants the safety and security.

I could write them all out to be honest, but it’s about just taking their names at face value because that is literally what they are, and Slay the Princess does a really damn good job at portraying these traits as completely neutral. And it’s a game about perception, so depending on what choices you make, these neutral traits will seem more positive or negative, and I really think that’s a great message that can be done so so well and I honestly love it.

Absolutely no one is doing it like the Long Quiet and the Shifting Mound.

They’re nascent gods. They’re the embodiments of change and stagnation, and as such are in constant opposition. They used to be one. They were torn from each other, edges purposefully left bloody and ragged. They feel each other’s absence like a wound. They love each other, because all that is not one is the other. They love each other, because to love the other is to love what once was theirs. They are beyond human comprehension, and yet their relationship encompasses all the brightest and strangest and most grotesque human emotions. They flirt awkwardly with each other. They threaten each other. They trick each other. They have erotic knife fights. They have intense philosophical debates. They make each other better. They mutilate each other. They are the universe itself, perceiving itself, ever evolving and self-immolating and expanding as they discover new avenues of expression and experience. They destroy each other, over and over again. They forgive each other every time.

This is a love story, and they are love.

Mitski, "I'm Your Man" | Aesop, The Wolf and the Lamb | Susitse.art, Parasite | Franz Kafka, Letters to Milena | Konstantin Korobov, Agnus

he's a pirate. he's exiled from fictional italy. he's a theater kid. his best friend has anxiety and lives in a suitcase. he's wanted by the catholic church for being too silly. he calls you "my dear boy." he was banished for being a fool and decided to start a circus called the troupe of fools. his main mode of transportation is a turtle. he dual wields pistols and a sword. he has beef with a giant whale. he lives on the ocean and has fire powers.

he's even italian.

"I should kill myself": self-serving, reactionary

"we should all kill ourselves": building community and connection, ideologically correct

me, a supposed writer, when i can’t find the very specific scenario i made up in my head in any fanfic: am i- am i supposed to write it myself??