#bibliotheca

[the-spirit-of-yore]

Temple de Diane ou bibliothèque de l’Augusteum, Nîmes, Région Occitanie, France

[etherealdaydreams1]

Alterreality Coining Post 3.0

On August 9th, 2023, I posted “AlterReality: A Coining Essay”. The purpose of that post was to coin a term that describes my personal experience while getting out my thoughts on metaphysics, imagination, and perception in writing. However, due to the personal nature of that essay, I wanted to make this post in collaboration with Lav (@WinreyPlace) and others to clearly and plainly state what alterreality is. While it is a broad term, there are limits to what it does and does not include.

As defined by someone else in the alterreality server: “Alterreality is a process of creating one’s unique sense of reality via imagination and belief. It can be described as a lifestyle or a philosophy, with one central idea: what makes something ‘real’ is nothing but the belief that it is real.”

Another definition Lav gave was “imagination as a lifestyle”. Alterreality can also be interpreted as daydreaming or imagination-based fantasies overlaying or interacting with consensus reality.

What alterreality covers:

Many experiences of those in the self-shipping community, such as going on dates with your f/o in the “real world”

Adding a fantasy narrative to your life (i.e. tests at school becoming monster fights) as long as you choose to believe in the fantasy narrative as part of your perceived reality

Many experiences are classified as roleplay, again, as long as you choose to incorporate the roleplay into your perception of what’s happening in your own life

What alterreality doesn’t cover:

Involuntary spiritual, psychological, or metaphysical experiences 

Any alternative reality experiences you were born with or had awakened within you

Identifying as something while living a non-altered life (i.e. if you’re wolfkin and you are going to mundane human school while only experiencing that physical reality, that's not alterreality)

Manifestation and law of attraction concepts. Alterreality, while it interacts with the shared reality we all experience, doesn’t change its course; instead it builds onto or reframes it. Alterrealizing should not and does not make struggles in consensus reality disappear or cause the universe to provide a more positive life. 

In short, alterreality has three aspects: intentionality, imagination, and belief. Alterreal experiences are incredibly varied and diverse; however, they all require these elements. 

Now, with the above fully explained, let’s understand the why and how. Starting with the why.

There are infinite reasons as to why one would alterrealize their own life. I do it because I find mundane existence to be boring, and I want to engage with something that is beyond mundane human life without believing in anything, particularly spiritual or supernatural. Any reason is a valid reason to create alterreality. You can do it for fun, as a coping mechanism, to connect better with your alterhuman identities, because you love fictional characters or worlds, to help you understand complex things better, as a tool of exploration, personal growth, and creativity, and so much more. You don't even need to have a why at all! There is nothing wrong with fucking around and finding out with your life :3. 

In terms of how to do alterreality, I repeat, there is no one way. I’m still figuring out all the ins and outs of doing it myself. But my best piece of advice is to give yourself permission to fully live inside of whatever fantasy narrative you choose to and let yourself believe in it. This can sometimes be a demanding or difficult process, especially if everyone and everything around you is conforming to consensus reality, but just like they find meaning existing in consensus reality, you are allowed to find meaning existing in alterreality! Another way to phrase all this is to just “fake it until you make it”. Ask yourself questions like  “What world or narrative do I live in?”, “What form does my alterrealized self take?”, “How would I act and speak in my alterreality?”, “What would my tasks, goals, or challenges be?”, and things like that. If you cannot do something in shared, mundane reality for whatever reason, make-believe a reason why you cannot do it in your alterreality too! As you develop your alterreality and discover what works and what doesn’t for your brain, you’ll find it will come more naturally to live out your imagination-fueled life. 

This world is in desperate need of whimsy and wonder. While there are various ways to make your life more whimsical, there are not many that involve actively living a lifestyle of fantasy. In a world where time is a finite resource, where the “have-tos” outweigh the “want-tos”, and where playing pretend is shunned once you age out of childhood, alterreality is a way to live in the physical realm, while embracing the fantastical. So, what are you waiting for, step into a world of your wildest dreams!

On Quoilterreality, Imagireality, and the origins of alterreality

Many people feel that the term alterreality intuitively implies any altering of reality, and not only altering via imagination. These people...are correct! I originally coined the term talking about my own imagination based experiences, however, the term has grown into its own little community, and as such it must adapt and change. If you feel this term applies to you and you use it in good faith, I welcome you to use it. I would also not wish for conflict or drama over any definitions hereon out.

However for me, alterreality will always be about the power of imagination at its core. I would kindly ask the community to not lose sight of this, and to always remember the power of making your beliefs and "playing pretend" things into existence. I want everyone here to know that yes, you can engage in alterreality even if you do not have any spiritual experiences or if you are not a spiritual person. Your solo ttrpg games (or group ones if they are all down for it!) can be real, and you can roleplay your magic into existence. Before we go, just a quick refresher on terms:

Alterreality: any reality experience altered by ones subjective perception, that cannot be explained by organized religion

Imagireality: The standard alterreality experience, coming from ones imagination. Exclusively voluntary

Quoilterreality: any alterreality that is unlabeled by voluntary/involuntary, or seen on the spectrum of voluntariness but not quite one or the other

[flicorian]

Denver Public Library

[itsallinm3]

I’m so glad I’m at a point in my journey of emotional maturity where someone being obsessed W me is in no way a compliment or something I desire from the people in my life. I want to experience genuine human connection, not have sycophants.

[evergreenalice]

I'm going to do something controversial

and defend Paris of Troy (well... sort of... he's still a dick, fuck that guy... but like... also in a very unenviable position)

reminder, there isn't really a mythological "canon", I do not intend to deliver to you the 100% canon accurate interpretation of the story of Paris, because there is no such thing.

Moving on, Paris' situation was kinda fucked, and I think there's some interesting things to be said

let us first explain who Paris is for those unaware, most of what I'm about to say is recounted in PseudoApollodorus' Bibliotheca

Paris was born to Hecuba and Priam, queen and king of the city of Troy

before he was born his mother had a nightmare that she would birth a torch that consumed the city in flame, and it was decided that this meant her son would bring the downfall of Troy

they wanted to kill him, but the guy they had kill him chickened out and chose the human option... of leaving him in the wilderness to die, as one does. You know what they say, if can't use Plan B, Plan C it is.

now luckily (or rather unluckily) he survived, and came to be raised as a shepherd. Interestingly according to Ovid, and I believe nobody else, Paris actually was a slave during this period of his life, though it makes sense, many abandoned children did get enslaved, to my knowledge, this was especially common in Rome, so this may be Ovid viewing this through a particularly Roman lens here.

According to PseudoApollodorus, Paris was pretty cool in his childhood, getting the name Alexandros, "defender of men" for being cool, and fighting off bandits and shit.

Eventually, through details we sadly lack to my knowledge, Paris fell in love with a nymph, Oenone. Sadly, there's not a ton attested about her, but what we do have seems to portray a genuinely positive relationship, though Oenone prophesied its eventually end due to the love he would develop for a foreign princess which would be his undoing.

moving on to the famous Judgement of Paris. Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena appear before the young Paris, and ask him which goddess is the most beautiful, and each offered him something in return for his answer being them. I want to note... there was no good answer here, I've seen people say "well [insert answer] would've been better." there wasn't a good answer, it would always have pissed off two of these goddesses, and also most certainly lead to Paris' and Troy's downfall, because that is what the Fates foretold, you can't just get out of a prophesy, any action would just lead you back to it.

In many ways, his choice of Aphrodite for the hand of Helen is actually a really genre-savvy answer from one perspective. He's promised power, glory, or love, and he chooses love. In many stories this would be the right answer, forsaking those other things for what really matters, love. Of course, this ends up being bad because... well first of he's cheating on Oenone, and, oopsies, Helen is married, and anyone who kidnaps her is going to be invaded by basically every Greek!

Thing is... did Paris know this? Did the shepherd/maybe slave know who tf Helen was? Realistically no. It's very possible in this situation to with no context, think, "Oh the last one seems like the least likely to blow up in my face."

as for the cheating thing, let me remind you... Aphrodite is the goddess of love, her retinue, the Erotes were generally believed to be able to overcome people with immense romantic feelings

In the Fall of Troy by Quintus Smyrnaeus, Paris tells Oenone as he dies, that it was not of his will that he abandoned her

now, the easiest way to take this is Paris is begging for his life, and is trying to present himself as a victim to evoke empathy to convince her to help him

however... considering the gods involved... yeah no it's possible he's being genuine here

In Ovid's Heroides, Oenone says this "Your tears fell as you left me – this, at least, deny not! We mingled our weeping, each a prey to grief; the elm is not so closely clasped by the clinging vine as was my neck by your embracing arms." which certainly strengthens the idea that Paris was heavily conflicted but moved by divine will

admittedly, I don't have much else to say, but idk, just some interesting things I don't see mentioned that often in reference to Paris (I also learned that Ovid called him a slave once? I did not know this, I learned this while looking for sources, oddly I've never seen anyone talk about this, I'm more interested in this now than anything else, like, I know it's just one line, but damn now I'm really curious what stories Ovid had access to that are today lost that made him say that.)

oh yeah also, you're welcome for siting my sources, because so many other sites I found talking about Paris that I read as a refresher, just didn't have sources, not even Wikipedia for a lot of that! I'm still mad about that so I made sure to mention my sources, if anything due to being petty and wanting to be better

[kurzler]

Hi, I recently saw your post of your rant about Greek Mythology and I'm recently interested in getting into it.

I know a bit about some myths from school, we read versions of Pandora's box, the Minotaur, Heracules, and the Odyssey. This was Year 4 so I was around 8-9, so there all probably a version for a child to read and understand. I also listened to Epic the Musical. I am fully aware of the inaccuracies of it from the original.

I'm just so overwhelmed on where do I start? Also I want to read the Iliad and Odyssey do have any recommendations for any versions?

hi! thank you for the ask, i'm gonna try my best to be helpful

disclaimer: i'm not a classicist nor a professional, this is just a passion of mine, so if anyone who has more credentials than me wants to chime in i'd be more than happy!

so! im gonna be listing some texts to look into, most of them i think are easily found on the internet, since they are so ancient and iconic. but before getting into that, i've found some helpful sites:

this site is a collection of classical texts: of course i'm not gonna be able to list every classical text here, i'm gonna recommend a few, so this is a good place to look if you want more, but i don't necessarily recommend reading them directly from here, since i know some of the translations are a bit outdated

this site, part of the same project, serves as a guide to gods, creatures, and heroes: again, some information may be a bit outdated, but it's a good place if you want to get a general idea

now, onto the texts themselves, there are a few i would recommend:

-the theogony by hesiod tells the origin of the gods and their genealogy

-works and days also by hesiod might be a little harder to get through, since it's mostly hesiod telling his brother how to work a farm, but it also contains the story of prometheus and pandora, and the myth of five ages

-the bibliotheca by pseudo-apollodorus is a collection of myths from the events of the theogony to odysseus, and it contains many famous myths, like those of the argonauts, perseus, heracles, theseus and various others

-the homeric hymns are useful it you want to know more about the gods, they are 33 and tell the stories of the birth of some gods or the establishment of their cult. they are 33, but some of the most famous are the hymn to demeter (the story of persephone's abduction), the hymn to athena (her birth from zeus' head) and the hymn to hermes (him stealing apollo's cows and creating the lyre)

-of course, the iliad and the odyssey by homer. the iliad comes chronologically before the odyssey and, contrary to popular belief, it isn't the story of the trojan war, but it covers a part of the last year of the war. the odyssey also isn't the linear journey of odysseus, it's mostly told in flashbacks

-the iliad and the odyssey are part of the epic cycle, a collection of works that tells a story that spans from the events leading up to the trojan war, the war itself, and the aftermath. apart from the iliad and the odyssey, the other works only survive in fragments, but they're worth looking into if you're curious about the trojan war

-finally, i also recommend reading some theatrical plays

from euridipus i recommend: medea, iphigenia in aulis, the trojan women

from sophocles i recommend: oedipus rex, antigone

from aeschylus i recommend: prometheus bound, the oresteia

now, as for what translation/version to read for the iliad and the odyssey, i'm afraid i can't be of much help because english isn't my first language, so i haven't read them in english and i can't offer firsthand advice, i've searched online and this is what i've found:

this is a collection of translations of the iliad and this is a collection of translations of the odyssey. overall, i've seen that the three translations that are most commonly suggested are by robert fagles, emily wilson and e.v. rieu. again, i haven't read these translations firsthand so if i'm mistaken, let me know!

i hope this helps you🫶

[blueberry-tiles]

okay follow up on this post

Post by @blueberry-tiles

💬 5  🔁 2  ❤️ 13 · Thetis parallels both Demeter and Persephone, if you include a wide range of authors. Need to elaborate but am Sleepy.

Starting with Demeter, the first parallel shows up between the Homeric hymn to Demeter, where Demeter, grieving the kidnapping of Persephone, attempts to make Demophoon immortal by burning away his mortality with fire but is interrupted before the process is complete. Likewise, Thetis, fearing and (in a way) preemptively grieving the loss of her child to Hades (death, more literally) attempts to burn away Achilles' mortality in Argonautica, but is interrupted by Peleus. In most modern pop culture, they are both known from their myths of motherhood and loss of a rather famous child. In both cases we can also largely associate the loss of this child with Zeus, who persued each goddess, and who has sway over the outcomes of each child's life. He orchestrates the division of Persephone's time, and tilts the war in Achilles' favor. Throughout the Iliad we see Thetis operating in multiple maternal roles (advises Achilles, raised Hephaestus, comforted Dionysus and let him flee to the sea) so she's a foster parent of sorts to at least two others, while also having a child of her own, in a way it is like Demeter looking after Demophoon for a short time.

But she also paralells Persephone, for starters, she is given away to Peleus in marriage by a ruler of Olympus (though it is Hera who orchestrates it in the Iliad, and Zeus and Poseidon together in Bibliotheca). Much like how Persephone was given away by Zeus. When Ovid writes of how exactly they came to be together, it is brutal and disturbing. Peleus essentially kidnaps her, taking her from her realm to his. It is entirely without her consent and nothing short of sexual assault. Given that her dolphins are described in a way that almost implies companionship in both Metamorphoses and Achilleid, it creates a slightly weaker but still present parallel between Persephone and the nymphs playing, and Thetis spending her time with her dolphins.

Furthermore her presence in Phthia almost mirrors that of Persephone's time in the underworld, in the sense that the underworld is obviously a place of death and suffering, and those are two things which became present in Thetis' life following her marriage. And her time on land is inconsistent. Argonautica says she fled and never returned after failing to make Achilles immortal. But the Iliad mentions her being present and ruling in Phthia alongside Peleus in book sixteen. Statius adds to the complexity by having her appear to take Achilles to Skyros, and writes that she is aware of the events of his life. She also spends the Iliad traveling between land and sea. So, in a way (and a reach, honestly) her going back and forth between sea and land parallels Persephone going back and forth between the underworld and her home.

So yeah, she paralells both mother and daughter, in my uneducated opinion. Pretty neat. But she never got her baby back from Hades and her mom never sent anyone for her after she was taken.

[dvasva]

tiresias in epic the musical: visions of past and future swirl in my unseeing eyes, i am mysterious and cryptic.

tiresias in the odyssey: listen, ur gonna find an island covered with cows, those are helios' cows. dont kill them. here are the exact directions to ithaca

tiresias in bibliotheca: so, yeah, after 7 years of being a woman and now that im back to my original body, having sex as a woman is like 10 times nicer than having sex as a man.