(no subject)
I will be sooooo happy when the next week and a half have gone by. There's just too much crap going on right now.
However, the storm of stuff going on doesn't prevent me from taking a little time to update the old LJ, as these little "sanity breaks" tend to keep one lucid and functional.
WARNING: This piece contains Harry Potter spoilers, so if you have not read the series, or at bare minimum, have not read book five and still wish to be surprized by the happenings therein, don't read this.
Ms. Rowling has given rise to a slew of good characters with her Harry Potter series. All of her readers tend to have a favorite character. There's some people who love Harry, others who identify with Hagrid, and strangely enough, a strong bevvy of female fans that harbor a near-sexual attraction to Severus Snape.
I won't speculate as to the origins of that last one, but I will identify my favorite character: Albus Dumbledore.
Dumbledore is pretty much everything I aspire to be in my life: educated, wise, gentle, independent, powerful, and above all else, courteous.
Yes, you heard me. Courteous.
Sure, you can marvel at Dumbledore's impressive magical talents, but I am honestly more taken by his genteel manner. In a universe peopled almost exclusively with curmudgeons, Albus Dumbledore's polished demeanor and gentle behavior stick out like a diamond in a midden heap.
Unlike some of the other "nice" characters in the series, Dumbledore stays that way, even when the pressure is on. That is so incredibly hard to do. I know that when I'm scared shitless, "nice" is about the last thing that crosses my mind. Dumbledore's ability to remain courteous bespeaks of mental discipline and spiritual growth that are truly remarkable.
Most striking to me is the end battle in the fifth book, when Dumbledore kindly addresses Voldemort even as Voldemort is trying to kill him. Dumbledore brushes aside killing spells and casually calls Voldemort by his proper name, Thomas Riddle. He reasons as Voldemort desperately and angrily hurts spells and insults.
There's a lot of folks that read that and think, "Man, Dumbledore must sure be powerful to be so calm and nice right then!"
I think the reverse: He must be that calm and nice in order to be so powerful.
That level of effectiveness and subtlety can only flow from a truly calm and lucid mind, reinforced by a forged spirit.
When you think about it, Dumbledore's heiho (strategy) in that encounter was brilliant. Instead of confronting Voldemort on purely magical and violent grounds (which is what Voldemort wanted), he appealed to Voldemort's humanity by addressing him as a former student and more importantly, a fellow human being.
Treating violent criminals as human beings is one of the most effective ways you can deal with them. If you shake their hand, remember their name, look them in the eye, and chat about the weather, it forces them to recognize a common humanity they must often suppress to carry out their violent acts.
It is intensely painful and unsettling for them to do this, because recognizing this empathy with one human plants the seeds for recognizing it the other ones that they hurt. They have to, if only for a moment, tear down the walls they've built around the reality of their actions.
This is jodan heiho (highest level strategy), and I've only seen very skillful people do it effectively. Most people, feeling their own deep insecurities, are much more comfortable turning violent criminals into something "other than human" in their minds.
Many perceive courtesty as weakness or softness, but it is, in actuality, evidence of strength most profound. It is a paradox similar to what we struggle with in Aikijutsu; that softness overcomes hardness and strength flows from the gentle body.
One must experience the reality of both of these paradoxes from a competent person many times in order to start believing in it.
That's why I like Dumbledore so much, really. He reminds me of many of my teachers. While he is a fictional wizard and I'm a real person, I think our beliefs about how to effect people are much the same.
-Kenshusei
However, the storm of stuff going on doesn't prevent me from taking a little time to update the old LJ, as these little "sanity breaks" tend to keep one lucid and functional.
WARNING: This piece contains Harry Potter spoilers, so if you have not read the series, or at bare minimum, have not read book five and still wish to be surprized by the happenings therein, don't read this.
Ms. Rowling has given rise to a slew of good characters with her Harry Potter series. All of her readers tend to have a favorite character. There's some people who love Harry, others who identify with Hagrid, and strangely enough, a strong bevvy of female fans that harbor a near-sexual attraction to Severus Snape.
I won't speculate as to the origins of that last one, but I will identify my favorite character: Albus Dumbledore.
Dumbledore is pretty much everything I aspire to be in my life: educated, wise, gentle, independent, powerful, and above all else, courteous.
Yes, you heard me. Courteous.
Sure, you can marvel at Dumbledore's impressive magical talents, but I am honestly more taken by his genteel manner. In a universe peopled almost exclusively with curmudgeons, Albus Dumbledore's polished demeanor and gentle behavior stick out like a diamond in a midden heap.
Unlike some of the other "nice" characters in the series, Dumbledore stays that way, even when the pressure is on. That is so incredibly hard to do. I know that when I'm scared shitless, "nice" is about the last thing that crosses my mind. Dumbledore's ability to remain courteous bespeaks of mental discipline and spiritual growth that are truly remarkable.
Most striking to me is the end battle in the fifth book, when Dumbledore kindly addresses Voldemort even as Voldemort is trying to kill him. Dumbledore brushes aside killing spells and casually calls Voldemort by his proper name, Thomas Riddle. He reasons as Voldemort desperately and angrily hurts spells and insults.
There's a lot of folks that read that and think, "Man, Dumbledore must sure be powerful to be so calm and nice right then!"
I think the reverse: He must be that calm and nice in order to be so powerful.
That level of effectiveness and subtlety can only flow from a truly calm and lucid mind, reinforced by a forged spirit.
When you think about it, Dumbledore's heiho (strategy) in that encounter was brilliant. Instead of confronting Voldemort on purely magical and violent grounds (which is what Voldemort wanted), he appealed to Voldemort's humanity by addressing him as a former student and more importantly, a fellow human being.
Treating violent criminals as human beings is one of the most effective ways you can deal with them. If you shake their hand, remember their name, look them in the eye, and chat about the weather, it forces them to recognize a common humanity they must often suppress to carry out their violent acts.
It is intensely painful and unsettling for them to do this, because recognizing this empathy with one human plants the seeds for recognizing it the other ones that they hurt. They have to, if only for a moment, tear down the walls they've built around the reality of their actions.
This is jodan heiho (highest level strategy), and I've only seen very skillful people do it effectively. Most people, feeling their own deep insecurities, are much more comfortable turning violent criminals into something "other than human" in their minds.
Many perceive courtesty as weakness or softness, but it is, in actuality, evidence of strength most profound. It is a paradox similar to what we struggle with in Aikijutsu; that softness overcomes hardness and strength flows from the gentle body.
One must experience the reality of both of these paradoxes from a competent person many times in order to start believing in it.
That's why I like Dumbledore so much, really. He reminds me of many of my teachers. While he is a fictional wizard and I'm a real person, I think our beliefs about how to effect people are much the same.
-Kenshusei