I feel so impure…

[Alexander Nicholi]

Purity, perfection, holiness…
Clearer, higher, better…
Hard to see, hard to reach…

The meaning of those words (apologies for my inaccuracy)... what are they to you? What do you think of when you think of purity? What comes to mind with things that seem higher than you, or on a holier tier? Are purities and impurities abstract to you, or are they more directly part of things around you? What do you see in things that are good?


When I think of purity, I see white. I sense quietness, I sense love. I also see indifference, and balance. In my mind I picture a thin body with the whitest of white skin, long silver hair, blue eyes, and… a smile. I see the good in balance, I see true perfection. I see compassion, respect, benevolence, beauty, pity, all wrapped together in a manifestation of a better person – a person humans ought to be.

What do you think of?

 

[Bellsprout]

When I think of something truly pure I just think of peacefulness. More like a feeling of certainty and relaxation than any kind of image.

 

[Oryx]

I'm not sure I see it in such a positive light - I see purity as someone with as little human emotion as possible, basically the less you feel, the more pure you are. Thus it isn't a necessarily good thing, more like an empty thing. The term pure to me relates directly to the idea of a pure gem, something free of anything that is not what it is. A pure person is free of anything beyond the most basic needs.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

I'm not sure I see it in such a positive light - I see purity as someone with as little human emotion as possible, basically the less you feel, the more pure you are. Thus it isn't a necessarily good thing, more like an empty thing. The term pure to me relates directly to the idea of a pure gem, something free of anything that is not what it is. A pure person is free of anything beyond the most basic needs.

Oh my... how did you come up with that? That's so good, I can't believe I didn't think of it in that way...

Purity means lacking taintedness, and taintedness is imbalance... it's a lot better than what I had. My thought of purity was missing a good bit of balance, apparently. I like yours.

 

[Nolafus]

What first comes to mind is the lack of corruption. Like this being free of all darkness and taint. I don't really see a figure for it, it's just an idea.

Although I really like Oryx's interpretation.

 

[Legobricks]

Can't say I have a concept of holiness or purity, nor any understanding of them, now you bring it up. To me, whatever is, will be; everything extant is equal in that sense.

What do I see in things that are good? What things are good, even? Morality is making what suits your purposes out of matters. Is that a virtuous thing to be, I wonder, and is it then worth defining good and evil for one's betterment? Depends what to you makes a better person, I suppose. A 'good' person to me is one with understanding whom does not interfere. But, probably, that's only what I like and what it suits me to be, and not all people, or even many, or even few.


I don't think I've written this as well as I'd like, so I may edit it when I get my PC back.

 

[Corvus of the Black Night]

I don't really think about purity or spiritual cleanliness. I guess if you're a good person then you're "spiritually clean" I suppose. I'm a pretty down to earth individual though so I don't really think that much about "being pure" and just try to be a decent human being.

Most of my deeply rooted symbolism has nothing to do with purity but rather facing the unknown and dichotomies. White and Red are colours that pierce the darkness, while Black and Blue are that darkness. Life is about being able to navigate that darkness and be safe while doing so. Equal and opposites, that's my deep symbolic imagery, that perpetuates through everything that I produce.

 

[Alfieri]

Purity sounds boring. You can't do anything, you can't have any quirks that make you special. It's just a bland thing to be.

 

[Astraea]

For me purity means, pure mind, no bad PR dirty thinking about anyone

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

Can't say I have a concept of holiness or purity, nor any understanding of them, now you bring it up. To me, whatever is, will be; everything extant is equal in that sense.

What do I see in things that are good? What things are good, even? Morality is making what suits your purposes out of matters. Is that a virtuous thing to be, I wonder, and is it then worth defining good and evil for one's betterment? Depends what to you makes a better person, I suppose. A 'good' person to me is one with understanding whom does not interfere. But, probably, that's only what I like and what it suits me to be, and not all people, or even many, or even few.

I hope you don't mind if I quote you here given you may edit this later, having it reflect the past and all, but I want to say this just kind of threw my mind to shreds for a minute. I don't know exactly what it is, but somehow this put my mind somewhere really strange, a good bit farther than what Oryx's thoughts did. It's not so much the first few sentences you wrote as it is the last few but what you wrote is incredibly profound, if I may say so. It's hard for me to say much else as I lack the language to do so.

 

[Arylett Charnoa]

Oryx's idea was kind of similar to something I came up with a few years ago. I created two versions of myself that represented the evils of black-and-white thinking. One that is based on pure emotion, and another that is based on pursuing purity through eliminating them, and becoming nothing.

Purity like that is something that can never be attained. A kind of tortuous perfection. To be completely free of all taint, to be free of all distracting thoughts, and to act in a way of pure good... it would kill us on the inside. I have tried to act like that, and it hasn't left much way in the room of balance. I wanted to be an angelic, perfect creature as per this vision of purity.

However, that's not quite what my view of purity is.

I believe that purity is like a state of nirvana that can only happen temporarily. A time when your thoughts are at their clearest, and you are able to make decisions which are for the best, impartially, without judgement. It is that god or goddess that is within, and one that I believe is inside of me. In that moment that you become pure, you are kind, you are light, and you are free of the darknesses. But we cannot be free forever, because we'll always be broken. And that's fine, because being broken is something that is beautiful itself. All of these jagged edges produce something that is more interesting, and things to overcome rather than constant perfection. It's just nice when I can achieve a temporary state of purity. And I always try to be as pure as I can, whilst trying not to torture myself when my jagged edges make me fall short.

 

[Alexander Nicholi]

Maybe purity is a higher sense of thinking about the world around us - a sense of enlightenment if you will. For the longest time I've been trying to grasp that higher kind of thinking, that idea... I can't even describe it at all in any way, sorry. I've held onto that kind of thought for moments on end on multiple occasions but English prevents me from accurately describing it in less than a long paragraph or essay.

I have no words for it, but it's that notion of intellectual completeness that I'm thinking of. It's a lot to do with an understanding of the Tao, likely. That's the best way I can put it.

 

[Her]

i've never particularly thought about purity as opposed to impurity, impurity is something i can answer a lot easier
this is totally due to my rather... restrictive catholic upbringing and the two or three years of looseness i had after i left the church, but impurity has always had sexual connotations to me
and purity... well, i suppose when i try to think of it right now it all just seems rather dead to me
devoid of life
ergo, unattainable for us who are still living
and thus i do not care for what is considered pure

 

[Legobricks]

I hope you don't mind if I quote you here given you may edit this later, having it reflect the past and all, but I want to say this just kind of threw my mind to shreds for a minute. I don't know exactly what it is, but somehow this put my mind somewhere really strange, a good bit farther than what Oryx's thoughts did. It's not so much the first few sentences you wrote as it is the last few but what you wrote is incredibly profound, if I may say so. It's hard for me to say much else as I lack the language to do so.

That's quite alright; I'd withhold my post completely if I were so-concerned. Given your reaction I suppose it makes enough sense that it can be left as it is.

Maybe purity is a higher sense of thinking about the world around us - a sense of enlightenment if you will. For the longest time I've been trying to grasp that higher kind of thinking, that idea... I can't even describe it at all in any way, sorry. I've held onto that kind of thought for moments on end on multiple occasions but English prevents me from accurately describing it in less than a long paragraph or essay.

I have no words for it, but it's that notion of intellectual completeness that I'm thinking of. It's a lot to do with an understanding of the Tao, likely. That's the best way I can put it.

I've felt that way for some years now, as a constant — like I've reached a point of intelligence whence I feel sure I could, in time, come to understand anything. I think it comes from being able to think objectively, and break down any matter (for example: "why do I have friends?") into a rational sequence or hierarchy of reasons for it being... or at least that's my experience of it. So I may suggest you not look upon purity like it pertains to benevolence and other such virtues. If I have the right idea about what you're getting at, it pertains rather to consequentialism... or so go my thoughts; I can only hope they're useful to you.

 

[Poki]

I'm anything but pure. #dirty4life

 

[twocows]

I think the problem is that the word is too ambiguous, but if I had to associate something with it, I think I would just associate it with good. Someone who is pure is absolutely and perfectly good, a paragon of humanity, a shining of example of the best in all of us. Perhaps this is someone who primarily spends their life working to forge what they believe to be a better way forward for all of us, or maybe it's someone who simply tries to inspire the rest of us to do what is right. This is someone whose life work it is to make things better in their own way. I think that would be what it would mean to be pure: to have a pure ethos.