022. [Text]

[explosivecombat]

With matters of one's heart and soul so close in mind, due to the recent holiday and all the romantic connotations therein, I ask that you forgive the possibly morbid nature of the question I have for you tonight:

The state or condition of one's soul is often brought into question when their deeds are brought to light or held up for scrutiny; the concept of the damned and those destined for salvation aren't new concepts by far. However, I have to ask what that means for all of you - do you accept your soul as existing only as a metaphysical concept, a matter of faith, something unproven and intangible? Or is it something undeniable where you come from, not a matter of faith but rather proven to exist? Does it fail to exist for you at all?

Or, perhaps, is it something else entirely - something that was rendered from one of the above options into another?

I suppose I should apologize for such heavy subject matter; I imagine some will find it rude to attempt to quantify such a thing. However, it's been something I've had reason to consider lately, so no apology is forthcoming.

Comments

[explosivecombat]

That's an interesting way of defining it; I'll agree that the soul and matters of emotion are separate things, as that's how it is where I'm from, though in our case the heart isn't given nearly as much emphasis. The center of emotion and morality is agreed to be the mind, back in Amestris; the heart has little to do with it besides being what keeps you alive on a purely physical level. Remove or destroy the heart, kill the individual. However, removing the soul would be just as fatal as removing one's heart; the soul is just as much a life-force as any physical component of the body, if not more so.

I take it those without their hearts are entirely emotionless beings, then? Or are they varying degrees of mad?

[islandshore]

I don't know if I'd describe them as mad, exactly. Sora's Nobody seemed pretty normal, but he might be some kind of weird exception. Chances are, being a Nobody means either no emotions or seriously watered down feelings. I'd have to check with Sora for more details, since he's had hands-on experience with them.

As for Heartless... I encountered a few during that weird weekend in November. One look at them, and you'd never think they came from humans or human hearts. They acted more like mindless monsters and looked like living shadows.

As for morality and stuff... it's definitely all about the heart where I'm from. Sora'd probably even argue that there's nothing stronger.

[explosivecombat]

Interesting...we obviously do have references to love and devotion and what have you originating from the heart, as that seems to be a common theme in all worlds - and it seems to be prevalent here of all places - but that's generally accepted as a metaphor. I can't say I've heard of anyone managing to survive in any form without their heart; were it not horribly intrusive against what seems to be another sentient being, I'd be curious to see how such a thing works.

[Not like that's really stopped him before, but. Details...]

[islandshore]

Well, even if it wasn't, it's not like this place'd let it slide. Anything otherwordly's strictly off-limits until somebody finds a way to break the limits long term.

Then again, if all the limits went away, you'd have talking ponies and aliens running around, not to mention super powers and weapons that'd make the locals tear their hair out.

[explosivecombat]

Oh, believe me, I'm well aware; I've had my own talents removed from me for the duration of my stay, and I can't say I'm terribly pleased about it.

...admittedly, I'm somewhat grateful for the lack of talking ponies. The aliens have potential to be fascinating, however.

[islandshore]

I don't see the harm in them, but I've always found otherworldly stuff like that fascinating. Guessing you wouldn't be too keen on something like a talking Weavile either, though.

[Heh. Even he's still baffled by Slash's weird ambitions.]

But I definitely wouldn't mind seeing those aliens in their real forms. Better them than that raving turtle guy.

[explosivecombat]

I wouldn't be as bothered by the talking Weavile, actually, simply because this world is full of strange things in general, and there's evidence that the Pokémon here can, at the very least, comprehend human speech and the Psychic ones can communicate in a way that we can understand. If they're capable of vocalizing, I don't see why they wouldn't be capable of being trained into speech; it wouldn't be much different than teaching a very small child, really. I just don't have the patience to do it myself.

The ponies, on the other hand, are things that are just familiar enough to be bizarre; we have horses in my world, but they don't...do any of that. I vaguely remember a pink one shooting party favors out of cannons; that's pushing my suspension of disbelief just a bit.

Although I admit that they don't usually do things like breathe fire, either, and I seem to have adapted to that well enough; at the same time, it's decidedly easier to talk to people on an even level when they appear to be...well, people. I don't know how to describe that very well, but my world isn't one with many fantastical creatures and the like. Those that are generally have a human form that makes it far easier to talk to them; animals are...exactly that, where I come from, and even if they have human characteristics they're assumed to be less intelligent and possessing of less of an emotional range. I don't think that's something I could move past easily.

Although this "raving turtle guy" sounds interesting, I must admit, simply because those that show up on the network with...ah, memorable enough posts for it to be considered "raving" tend to be. For example, Cobra Commander is likewise a very interesting person; I wouldn't go so far as to say it's a good sort of interesting, but he is undeniably interesting.