#either-or

Imagine you’re the leper in today’s Gospel.

You know the consequences of leprosy. It’s a slow, horrible death sentence. With no cure.

Because it’s so contagious, society demands that you separate yourself from everyone else. So you don’t spread it. With other lepers as your only company. It seems like an easy road to despair. Or worse.

Which means there’s a strong temptation to cover up the signs of leprosy. To ignore the danger. So you can be with other people. Friends and family. Try to have a normal life. Even though it means risking their lives.

It’s an “either/or” trap. It traps us into thinking that if we don’t do one thing, then we have to do the other.

Which makes the actions of the leper so remarkable.

The leper ignores both options of the “either/or” that he’s stuck in. And chooses a third way. The best possible third way. Going to God.

If this dynamic – of an “either/or” trap that pushes us into thinking that if we don’t do one thing, then we have to do the other – seems familiar to us? It should.

Social media provides us with some of the most obvious examples, but our lives are loaded with it.

Why? Because it’s one of the Enemy’s most over-used sucker plays.

And we fall for it. All. The Time. C.S. Lewis explains,

“The devil always sends errors into the world in pairs – pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worst.

You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one.

But do not let us be fooled.

We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.”

Something to keep in mind. Whenever we’re loading up to go off on “those people.”

Czesław Miłosz, from “Either-Or.”

Currently, as of 12/9/22, the poll is still open, but here are some rules regardless of what comes on top:

Suggesting:

You can suggest themes for certain types of recs/rec lists for that week in question via my ask box. (I.e. “Snotlout-based works”, “multi chapter works”, “Snotlout one shots”, whatever.)

You can also suggest specific fics (preferably with links) if you want to see them recommended! Please note that everyone’s opinions are different and sometimes the fic you’ve recommended might not make it on a list immediately or I’ve already recced the fic before.

Asks are always encouraged here, and they will most certainly help with motivation as well as content for the weekly lists.

(ETA: While the main focus is fanfiction, if you ever want to recommend a fan-artist then please feel free! With links of course.)

What I will not be recommending:

My own works (discussion of them will be kept separate from this project)

Works that are recommended by the author and not a fan of the work(s) (this is because this project is about community and fandom and not self-promotion.) (Example: Person A can’t recommend Person A’s fics but Person B can.)

Works that are rated “explicit”. Mature works are acceptable (if they are merely mature and not incorrectly labelled so), but explicit porn for example is not. The same goes for NSFW pieces of art/artists.

AO3 works that have a dozen fandom tags and barely any HTTYD content. (Crossovers also have a less likely chance to be recommended.)

Works that aren’t written in English won’t be accepted because I won’t be able to read them. Authorised translations of an originally non-English fic are fine.

Unauthorised reposts of another’s fics or art.

Works about SH, SA, pedophilia, non-con, rape, gore, etc. won’t be accepted but the first two have a slim chance of being skimmed in case there is an exception to be made.

Works that ship the dragons with their riders. This goes for “dragon-shifter” fics as well.

Additionally, asks/requests with the terms “Snotfang” or “Hicctooth” will be taken with a grain of salt because of the many connotations surrounding the terms. Tone tags are always encouraged.

Questions? / Where to block me:

If you have any questions, I’d encourage going to my ask box so that questions may be answered publicly for communal understanding.

If you don’t agree with the fics I recommend* or the rules established above, feel free to block me at @eemoo1o-tfrmoo to stop seeing my posts, and my main blog @eemoo1o to stop interaction. Very simple.

Asks that bypass these established rules will be deleted. Spam is not appreciated and could either cause a blocking or jeopardise the anon-feature for others if need be.

I work on GMT time so if you find that posts come out the day before or after the day it is supposed to (aka. Wednesday or Friday, depending on the still-active poll), that is why. I also function on opportunistic posting, so a scheduled time is not set, only the day!

Also, if it turns out that I was unable to post the recommendations that day, it may be that I have to post them either a day or two after. I am human after all.

Kind regards,

Her dad’s the obviously-suspicious red herring.

But she’s the cunning one.

Imagine you’re the leper in today’s Gospel.

You know the consequences of leprosy. It’s a slow, horrible death sentence. With no cure.

Because it’s so contagious, society demands that you separate yourself from everyone else. So you don’t spread it. With other lepers as your only company. It seems like an easy road to despair. Or worse.

Which means there’s a strong temptation to cover up the signs of leprosy. To ignore the danger. So you can be with other people. Friends and family. Try to have a normal life. Even though it means risking their lives.

It’s an “either/or” trap. It traps us into thinking that if we don’t do one thing, then we have to do the other.

Which makes the actions of the leper so remarkable.

The leper ignores both options of the “either/or” that he’s stuck in. And chooses a third way. The best possible third way. Going to God.

If this dynamic – of an “either/or” trap that pushes us into thinking that if we don’t do one thing, then we have to do the other – seems familiar to us? It should.

Social media provides us with some of the most obvious examples, but our lives are loaded with it.

Why? Because it’s one of the Enemy’s most over-used sucker plays.

And we fall for it. All. The Time. C.S. Lewis explains,

“The devil always sends errors into the world in pairs – pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worst.

You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one.

But do not let us be fooled.

We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.”

Something to keep in mind. Whenever we’re loading up to go off on “those people.”

Imagine you’re the leper in today’s Gospel.

You know the consequences of leprosy. It’s a slow, horrible death sentence. With no cure.

Because it’s so contagious, society demands that you separate yourself from everyone else. So you don’t spread it. With other lepers as your only company. It seems like an easy road to despair. Or worse.

Which means there’s a strong temptation to cover up the signs of leprosy. To ignore the danger. So you can be with other people. Friends and family. Try to have a normal life. Even though it means risking their lives.

It’s an “either/or” trap. The kind that traps us into thinking that if we don’t do one thing, then we have no choice but to do the other.

Which makes the actions of the leper in today’s Gospel so remarkable.

The leper ignores both options of the “either/or” that he’s stuck in. And chooses a third way. The best possible third way. By going to God.

If this dynamic – of an “either/or” trap that pushes us into thinking that if we don’t do one thing, then we have no choice but to do the other – seems familiar to us. It should.

Social media provides us with some of the most obvious examples, but our lives are loaded with it.

Why? Because it’s one of the Enemy’s most over-used sucker plays.

And we fall for it. All. The Time. C.S. Lewis explains,

“The devil always sends errors into the world in pairs – pairs of opposites. And he always encourages us to spend a lot of time thinking which is the worst.

You see why, of course? He relies on your extra dislike of the one error to draw you gradually into the opposite one.

But do not let us be fooled.

We have to keep our eyes on the goal and go straight through between both errors. We have no other concern than that with either of them.”

Something to keep in mind. Whenever we’re loading up to go off on “those people.”

“Human beings have a strong dramatic instinct toward binary thinking, a basic urge to divide things into two distinct groups, with nothing but an empty gap in between. We love to dichotomize. Good versus bad. Heroes versus villains. My country versus the rest.

Dividing the world into two distinct sides is simple and intuitive, and also dramatic because it implies conflict, and we do it without thinking, all the time.”

Hans Rosling’s take on our unthinking desire for things to be either/or is dead on. That’s because (although only a handful of things actually are either/or) we love the simplicity. And the drama.

But I would add one thought. Binary thinking doesn’t just imply conflict.

When we force things into either/or, we create conflict.

How else can you understand the killing of George Floyd? The only way that a human being can be capable of the slow, deliberate horror that was done to George Floyd? You need an either/or view of humanity. Us versus them.

With George Floyd as them.

If you’re thinking, what does this have to do with a blog that’s all about the love of God and living the Faith?

This is what today’s Gospel is all about. Where Jesus rejects the either/or trap set for Him.

The usual fools try to force Jesus into a false either/or. In order to create conflict.

Jesus rejects their conflict. And their false either/or thinking.

Think about that for a second. The Second Person of the Trinity, God Incarnate, rejects false either/or thinking.

That should tell us something about where false either/or thinking comes from. Hint - it’s not God.

Jesus’ answer to them, and to us? The truth.

That this – like most things in life – is harder, more complicated than the toxic simplicity of a false either/or.

That this – like most things in life – is a both/and.

Which means what?

If you and I are going to be Christians in more than name, then we live the both/and.

It doesn’t matter that we didn’t meet George Floyd until we saw the video of the life being crushed out of him.

Because he is both someone that we just met, and part of our family.

Which means that it is incumbent upon each of us to do what we can to ensure that his death is the last.

Forgive me if I am not myself today. There has been a death in the family.