Orion Sandstorrm ([info]waywind) wrote in [info]therithere,
@ 2008-06-09 10:27:00
Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend  Next Entry
Entry tags:format: multiple panels, post: this is a comic

Exposition
Read today's comic.
Read today's comic.

It takes so many years to get to know one another... everyone keeps so much locked up inside. There are all these things that are so important to us, and yet so vulnerable, and so we are made up of secrets. When meeting one another, we see only a superficial, outward persona. What if we could reveal, in an instant, all that we really are? If that was possible, would anyone be brave enough to do so, or to look when someone did? Could people survive an exposure so deep?

Further reading: an illuminated quotation, Secret Worlds, on xkcd... the Shout It Out Project originated by liliy and perpetuated by hundreds... the artistic anonymous confessions in Post Secret... and the surreal book Finder: Dream Sequence by Carla Speed McNeil. (Please note that each of these links have some contents that are not to be viewed by children, or are not safe for viewing at work.)


(31 comments) - (Post a new comment)


[info]rainsonggryphon
2008-06-09 05:44 pm UTC (link)
Hehe... wow. Just... wow. This is definitely one or your better strips. Thoughtful, deep and funny at the same time. ^_^ I wonder if it's illegal to show off your chakras in public now...

(Reply to this)


[info]eclective
2008-06-09 06:54 pm UTC (link)
That's simply beautiful. One of your best comics yet.

I think personally, if we could all see inside each other, truly, we'd know beauty without bound. But at the same time, it would blow away so many of our preconceptions... and I think people would be afraid to let go of those.

Well done for baring a little of your soul, here.

(Reply to this)


[info]laurenmitchell
2008-06-09 08:37 pm UTC (link)
I really like this comic. It's very inspiring. Maybe I'll actually finish that other guest comic I was going to do for you.

I am going to spend the rest of my life reading the Shout It Out Project.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]waywind
2008-06-10 02:49 am UTC (link)
Thank you!

"Maybe I'll actually finish that other guest comic I was going to do for you."

A guest comic would be great! I'll be looking forward to it. Do you want to talk about it over e-mail?

"I am going to spend the rest of my life reading the Shout It Out Project."

Oh my gosh, yeah... there are so many entries in the project, and each one is so text-heavy! I've only read a small number of them, and hadn't thought of trying to read through them all... but that would be a pretty awesome endeavor. Good luck!

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]jrrhack
2008-06-09 10:36 pm UTC (link)
Neatly done and very true. We today do not care for others or oneself, everything is shameful, have we forgot our meaning?

(Reply to this)


[info]a_leprechaun
2008-06-09 11:48 pm UTC (link)
Wonderful, wonderful, and yet again wonderful.

(Reply to this)


[info]lunar_dragoness
2008-06-10 12:47 am UTC (link)
How dare someone bare themselves in public!

At least, that seems to be what most people would think. Certainly a good point you're making here. :)

(Reply to this)


[info]aerofox
2008-06-10 12:58 am UTC (link)
Wow, hits home on so many levels.

For years and years I never thought I could ever reveal who I really am to anyone. Thanks to the Internet, I find kindred spirits ^_^

Thank you!

(Reply to this)


[info]jolantru
2008-06-10 01:07 am UTC (link)
*nods* Very true. Good panel!

(Reply to this)


[info]eredien
2008-06-10 02:54 am UTC (link)
This is lovely.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]eredien
2008-06-10 03:22 am UTC (link)
*cough* Did you realize you misspelled "bearing?" (Unless the person in question is an ursine fur, or has particularly good posture).

(Reply to this) (Parent)(Thread)

[info]siege
2008-06-10 04:41 am UTC (link)
I was gonna say, but you said, so.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]waywind
2008-06-10 05:02 am UTC (link)
Oh, OBSCENITIES. *head-desk*

*checking Dictionary.com...* Sigh. I didn't know "bearing" and "baring" were homonyms of different meanings.

I'll edit the comic and fix the spelling...

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]felstatsu
2008-06-10 10:21 am UTC (link)
I think there would be people brave enough, both to show their true self and to see what others truly are. Not many, but I know some people who don't like dealing in secrets about themselves and have basically done this in their lives. Granted, it's not something they go do in a busy mall, but some of them I've been with for less than a year but know more about them than some lifelong friends.

(Reply to this) (Thread)
I strive to be one of those people.
(Anonymous)
2008-12-02 04:19 am UTC (link)
I strive to be one of those people you speak about, however it has been an arduously painful and traumatic journey.

As someone said below, people with any degree of autism (I have a HFA NOS diagnosis, very close but not quite asperger's) it is not something that we really have a choice in exposing our true selves to people even complete strangers as we are simply incapable of knowing what is socially appropriate to say and what is not.

That said, I strive to be open and honest about myself wherever I go and whomever I speak with to the point I feel I do not endanger myself doing so. There are some things however about many otherkin that many are afraid to even explore of themselves let alone show others. I just went through telling my life mate about the innermost things I have found about myself which I don't think I could tell hardly anyone, ever... this kind of soul exposition combined with my extreme sensetivity to such things at the very core of my soul would render me totally vulnerable to even the slightest verbal misstep let alone attack on these aspects of myself that it would shatter my soul if someone did, which is why this kind of thing is something that I honestly do not think anyone could survive (showing every single thing in their soul to the public at large). Sadly, it seems to me that it is something that must be done in moderation just like everything else in this particular corner of this universe as either extreme is ultimately destructive to the soul.

As I said, everything in moderation. A couple of the "less intimate" things about myself to give everyone reading this a bearing on the level of exposition I am speaking of: I am a woman dealing with the birth defect of transsexualism, and a mostly fox otherkin very similar in appearance to "Lorelei" in black tapestries webcomic (google it, if you are interested).

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]xiphias
2008-06-10 01:36 pm UTC (link)
Personally, I have sympathy for the folks on the park bench.

If people showed their true selves in public, what would be the joy in making friends? One of the joys in making friends is discovering each other. How can you discover that which is blatant?

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]candiedmouth
2008-06-20 01:31 pm UTC (link)
I think you've missed the point :/

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]ladyfox7oaks
2008-06-11 12:20 am UTC (link)
Brilliant. Simply brilliant, and BEAUTIFUL.

(Reply to this)


[info]aubri
2008-06-14 05:14 am UTC (link)
This is actually touched on in the Dresden Files. Locking eyes with a wizard gives you a look at his soul, and vice versa -- and for most people that's an unpleasantly intense experience. Imaging being forced to experience someone else's inner demons, worst experiences, darkest thoughts... for most people it would probably be positive on the whole, but I think it'd be a bit like getting punched and hugged at the same time.

That said, I like the use of the chakras, there. :)

(Reply to this)


[info]ishaniveus
2008-06-14 09:41 pm UTC (link)
I suppose the fear of having your soft underbelly ripped to shreds by an ill-meaning stranger is the reason why some of us keep our souls to ourselves. Something is preventing us from having a common desire to teach ourselves and others willingly to become more courageous in the face of this fear, as well as resilient and perseverant enough in the event that we do fall victim to such attacks.

I thought I could talk to my dad about it buuuuut I was wrong. :P I gotta get out of this place, if it's the last thing I ever do.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]ishaniveus
2008-06-14 09:43 pm UTC (link)
I suppose it might be the common marketing strategy of "they are different, which means they are bad; their government did bad things, which means they are all evil; stick with us and we will protect you and keep you from harm" and other such fundamentalist demonizing that separates people more often than brings them together.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

[info]candiedmouth
2008-06-20 01:38 pm UTC (link)
I've long been an advocate of this sort of thing, if one can be said to be that. I read post secret religiously, followed Shout It Out whenever I had time to... however, I do not feel the need to participate in them myself because I already attempt to make my life and personality as open as possible... I don't hold back, I don't play social 'games', I don't lie or hide if I can at all help it.

Sadly, speaking from the experience of living this way, your comic is upsettingly accurate. While many people react positively to personal honesty, straightforwardness, even bluntness, there have always been a large section of the populace which respond as though it were something crude, indecent, as if I were somehow lacking in social graces simply because I choose not to employ the more manipulative side of them. However, I have noticed that the majority of those who react in that way are very closed-up people, all windows to the soul shuttered... people who revel in social 'politics' and don't even know, themselves, who they are. Over time, my outlook on these sorts has changed from hurt, to confusion, to amusement, and finally to pity. I have a hard enough time lying to people I barely know - hiding my true self from people I love, and worse, from myself, is unthinkable.

(Reply to this)


[info]aliahonegger
2008-07-15 10:11 am UTC (link)
I don't have the courage to expose myself in any sort of intimate way. I am a very reclusive person away from the internet and even online I'm not sociable and open with what's going on inside me.
The thought of exposing my soul to such a degree is actually quite frightening to me.

(Reply to this)


[info]teacup_werewolf
2008-07-21 12:26 am UTC (link)
It gets worse if your autisic.

Because of you social blindness you tend to vent a lot and put yourself out to strangers accedently. Even online it can be difficult to know what is appropriate.

Autistics ands aspies like myself tent to be emotionally naked a lot because we simply don't know how to b discreet

(Reply to this)

... Are you still there?
[info]cheerfuldragon
2008-10-06 08:39 pm UTC (link)
... is there more coming? Please?

(Reply to this) (Thread)
Re: ... Are you still there?
[info]theriansammy
2008-10-09 01:14 pm UTC (link)
I'm also eagerly awaiting the next strip.

Btw: I really like this panel; it's a wonderful depiction of the somewhat sad, but nevertheless true fact that the society we're living in is not yet ready (and will perhaps never be?) to get to know some of our true thoughts and feelings.

(Reply to this) (Parent)
wanderer
(Anonymous)
2009-05-16 09:16 am UTC (link)
hiya i was wondering it was typical for people with borderline split personality to have more the one animalistical sides. I only really asking because I am fairly afraid of one of my sides.

(Reply to this)


[info]bear_helms
2009-06-01 04:14 am UTC (link)
As a bipolar person, I wonder if I'd show a waveform diagram, and you'd be peeking at today's slice expanded outwards to an exploded view. The peak or shallow depending on my polarity of the moment.

I think we have insufficient senses to gather in the gestalt of the soul bared in a fashion like this. The energy, life, mind, spirit, otherkin, existance, being, pain, pleasure, dreams, drives, gestalt of these and many more things that define a soul do not express themselves in terms of photons, tactile matter, smells, tastes, sounds, and thought.

The literal baring probably would be invisible, or would have to be symbolic in a fashion like depicted here. Or would fry everyone within a given radius like a nuclear detonation! Soulburn. It really depends on how close to the physical plane you work at baring it, if you could manage it at all...

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2009-06-09 03:32 am UTC (link)
I love the message, it's so beautiful!

And the artwork is awesome too; the combination kept me staring for ages.

(Reply to this)


(Anonymous)
2009-07-03 08:36 pm UTC (link)
Hey, what happened to Theri There? :( I miss that comic.

(Reply to this) (Thread)

[info]kallie_h
2009-07-13 09:51 pm UTC (link)
exactly, where did this comic go?
i miss it.

(Reply to this) (Parent)

(31 comments) - (Post a new comment)

Create an Account
Forgot your login or password?
Login w/ OpenID
English • Español • Deutsch • Русский…