What I Learned From Evangelion

[Mightier Than The Sword]

One day, I sat thinking for a few hours like I often do. I was thinking about my favorite anime of all time, Evangelion. In particular, I thought of all the things I learned from Asuka, Rei, Shinji, Gendo, Misato, Yui, Ritsuko, and all the rest. I have drawn up a list of 20 things that I thought key. I hope these help you.

1. Quiet is key. By staying quiet you can shelter yourself from hurt. This does not mean that you cannot speak your mind. Watch for qualifiers from the other rules to help you understand this one.

2. Speak only to respond. Do not initiate conversation with those who may judge you. Judgement only serves to hurt others, so to save them from that, only respond.

Qualifier: Speak when it is vital to speak. Your opinion is only worthwhile if somebody listens to it.

3. Spend time alone. Spend at least two hours each day thinking. Put on some music, turn off the lights, anything, but think about yourself, others, and the world around you.

4. 3 Straights- Stare straight ahead, keep a straight face, hold a straight posture. By staring straight ahead, you gain strength in the horizontal. By keeping a straight posture, you gain strength in the vertical. By keeping a straight face, you establish mental strength. Without speaking or moving you can gain the upper hand.

5. Do not seek acceptance in the rabble. The rabble conform to the lowest standards. You do not need to be accepted by them.

6. Seek acceptance in the independent. The independent are generally non-conformists or hold themselves to a high standard. If you crave acceptance, seek it there.

7. Show no emotions around those who will use them against you. It is okay to cry and rage, but that gets you nowhere and only knocks yourself from strength if you do it around those who will fight you with it.

8. Anger redoubles. Under no circumstances allow your anger to get the better of you, lest it control you.

9. Avoid dangerous social situations. You are setting yourself up for failure by joining in them.

10. Be what you are. Self explanatory.

11. Be what you are, nothing more. Do not attempt to impress others. They will see straight through you.

12. Be what you are, nothing less. Do not attempt to weaken yourself to console others.

13. Follow orders unfailingly. It allows you to remain strong.

Qualifier: Unless the orders are wrong.

14. Respect is of the UTMOST importance. Have respect for everyone, even if they do not respect you. This keeps you in a calm and powerful state.

15. Never respond physically. No matter how frustrated you get, never lay a hand on your rival. Only fools fight.

16. You cannot understand love. Love is a strange and powerful thing, but it is beyond the true grasp of mere mortals.

17. You cannot understand hate. Hate is a terrible and awful thing, and is beyond the true grasp of mere mortals.

18. Everyone has feelings. No matter who you are or what you do, you and everyone else has feelings. Respect them.

19. Those who attack you hurt themselves. Shameless attack policies get you nowhere. No matter how hard they try, if you do not let yourself become bothered, they will only hurt themselves.

20. Place all others before yourself. It is not okay to be glad you are not the recipient of misfortune if another is. Even in a life or death situation, you are the least important, subordinate to all others.

This is what I beleive, and I am not trying to convert anyone. I hope this list allows you to reflect upon your own beleifs, and above all, THINK.

Mighty out.

[retro]

Why don't you just call that 20 Things I've learnt from Rei.

[rayven]

I think the signature makes that pretty clear ;) I'm more of a Lain person myself...

[lain]

lain all the way baby!
if everyone acted like that we would be just keeping it in rather than releasing and that would be stupid we'd all become suicidle for crying out loud!
were only human and we are ruled by emotions,emotions we shouldnt keep in

[TerraN EmpirE]

ahh well wow sure i love :wub: Rei :wub: but ahh this list is a good way to become a social out cast i should know i lived like that until freshman year of high school after being put in theripy when i was fine (it probolbly did not help that i wore all black battle dress uniforms) i figered it was time for a change so i opened up to people and well i am a much happer person becuse of this i relate to sousuke from full metal panic more than Rei but Rei i still adore you

[Mightier Than The Sword]

Because they're not all from Rei.

[Pakachu]

you forgot #21
the best way to screw with peoples' heads is to have endless amounts of clones sitting in a fish tank so that everytime you get torn the heck up by giant aliens you can show up the very next day with nothing more than a couple bandages wrapped around you.

btw.
YAAAAAY LAIN FANS!!!!!!!!!!
XP

[white magician]

THANKS TO YOU MIGHTIER THAN THE SOWRD I LEARNED ALOT OF THINGS AND I CHANGED MY PERSONALITY YOUR A GREAT PERSON :D

[Mightier Than The Sword]

I'm not suggesting you change your personality. These are just ideas to help you calm and think better.

But you're welcome, although I'm not sure I actually did anything :)

[.com person]

Frist of all some of these may be a bit bad to follow but being yourself that is most important. And your a social outcast because of being your self? then so be it. You can really have guts to be a social outcast. I'm not really a social outcast but I've friends with them and that will be mean it is not to long till I am one myself but still I raise to the top but on the internet thats a different story.

[enigma unit 01]

does any of you understand what the hell the last two episodes of eva where about?

[[BlackDeath]]

In reponse to the post above, the answer is yes, i understand the eps, and its rather simple, maybe my post on what ive learnt will enlighten you some bare in mind its only what ive learnt from Shinji!

This is gonna be interesting for me to answer xD, this is what ive learnt from Shinji ( if i post rei and asuka my post is gonna be massive ^^;

Shinji represents the Ego. This is the part of the mind that defines
our sense of self. (Where we end and the rest of reality begins, and
also what we are capable of, what our role in existence is.)

The Ego also manages disputes between the other parts of the mind. A
strong (healthy) Ego will have a clear sense of identity and purpose,
and can manage the other parts of the mind with little difficulty.

Shinji, however, is originally very weak in his role, as shown by his
inability to deal with the differences between Rei (the superego) and
Asuka (the Id), which is one of the largest parts of the Ego's
responsibilities in the mind.

This changes slightly, as he grows as a person, but it is not until
the End Of Evangelion that he realises the different struggles inside
his mind and begins to understand how to deal with them. Gendou and
Yui Ikari are also examples of the Ego, and show how different the
same part of the mind can be, whilst still being the same at core.

The Ego is represented by the colour brown. ID by red and SuperEgo bule, notice that each of the colours are the colours of Asuka, Shinji and Rei' hair!

In general terms, Shinji is a troubled child. Distraught over the
absence of his father, and the death of his mother, he became very
insecure of his role in life as a child. According to leading
psychologists, it is the empathy of parents that teaches children how
to interact with others and, more importantly, how to be aware of and
understand ones self. Without parents from a young age, but too old to
truly accept any substitutes, Shinji's sense of self, and social
interaction skills are very poor.

This is a direct antithesis of what Shinji, the Ego's, role would be
in a healthy and normal setting. As the Ego he would have to manage,
co ordinate, and settle disputes between all other parts of the mind,
whilst still retaining a strong sense of self.

Shinji's Superego is stronger than his Id, and his Thanatos stronger
than his Libido. In layman's terms, he places a higher value than is
healthy on conforming to society's conventions over his personal
desires, and his desire for death (in order to stop suffering) is
stronger than his desire for life. The only reason he is still alive,
and not suicidal, with this psychological make-up is because the
society he was brought up in told him that suicide is bad. So, his
Superego reinforces his Libido, and represses his Thanatos. This is
very unhealthy, and leads to huge amounts of pent up frustration.
While it is possible to fully repress the Thanatos, and the following
frustration of the repression, with a strong enough Superego, it also
requires a very strong Ego, which Shinji lacks. This is part of why
Shinji is so unusual.

His overly strong Superego is why he is usually so anxious. When the
Superego feels that it is contradicting parental/societal conventions,
it responds with the creation of anxiety. Fighting against the Angels,
an enemy he does not understand, with the Eva's, weapons he does not
understand, in a war to which he can see no purpose, he has no idea
what is expected of him. Normally the Id would be responsible for
increasing his confidence, but with a weaker than normal Id, that does
not happen. The result is a nervous wreck, again held together by the
Superego.

While it may seem like Shinji is dominated by the Superego, that is
not actually the case. The Superego is simply all he properly
understands and is sure that no one will criticise him for, and is
therefore his escape from reality. Proof that it is not his true
nature lie in actions such as his mantra '"I mustn't run away". He
doesn't want to follow the conventions of his Superego, but he's
scared of what will happen if he does not, to the point that he will
disobey and ignore direct orders from figures of authority to calm his
fear.

The term 'Beast that shouts I at the heart of the world' is further
proof that he is the Ego. With all of humanity considered one entity
(the 18th angel), then dissected and represented piecemeal in
different characters, Shinji's role as the Ego is to define the sense
of self. In other words, to tell all of himself (in the world of Eva,
with all humans being one angel, that means the entire world) what the
term I means. He tells the world what the world is. Therefore, Shinji
is the core of all humanity, and the part that is I. He, through
Eva-01, a monster made in mans own image, shouts 1 at the heart of the
world.

Ultimately, Shinji must achieve a balance between all parts of his
mind. Otherwise, he would not be able to synchronise with Eva-01, and
come Instrumentality, he would be unable to decide upon his choice of
action. His mind would be so unstable that it would be lost completely
to the nothingness that is the 'perfect' form of the 18th angel.

[Vandire]

Black Death- I would appreciate it if you would not plagiarise incomplete work that i gave you to Beta, especially without beta-ing it, or even reading it all :P

It's not very nice. Plus some of the stuff in there is wrong anyways, as you would have noticed if you'd read it, and i would have noticed when writing it if i wasnt perpetually extremely sleep deprived.

Besides, that stuff isn't even intended as what you can learn from Shinji- its simply an explanation of his psych-profile and what he accomplishes in the series. There really isn't all that much you can learn from Shinji aside from basic empathy- good, self-martydom = bad, running away = usually bad, daddy issues = painful, life = antithesis, freudian psychodynamics= overrated and insubstantiated.

(PS: Anyone who replies mentioning revisionists will be shot into space- there are 1000001 different "revisions" of Freuds work, and funnily enough, none of thme step forward to answer any of the most basic criticisms pointed at Freud in manners any different to the other, unless they are in company they don't think will be able to object :P For more information on what could win you a free (one way) trip to outer space, please consult the book "Unauthorised Freud", by Frederick Crews :) )

[Deathscythe]

Black Death- I would appreciate it if you would not plagiarise incomplete work that i gave you to Beta, especially without beta-ing it, or even reading it all :P

It's not very nice. Plus some of the stuff in there is wrong anyways, as you would have noticed if you'd read it, and i would have noticed when writing it if i wasnt perpetually extremely sleep deprived.

Besides, that stuff isn't even intended as what you can learn from Shinji- its simply an explanation of his psych-profile and what he accomplishes in the series.

..just...

LMAO!!!!!!!!

[Vandire]

Oh... and in response to the main point of this topic, i would like to say that according to freud, who Rei and all the other main Eva characters are based on the theories of, the human psyche is constantly creating conflicting thoughts, feelings and emotions, which need to be released. Freud believed the way to do so was by Catharsis (which has been widely criticised and is impossible to argue for (successfuly) given current information, in its original form) through personal action, or through umm.. gratification of some nature.

Therefore, saying that you learnt that say "under no circumstances let your anger get the better of you"... the only people who can do this are peopel with waaaay overly strong Superegos (superego: the part of your mind that is the embodiment of parental and sociaetal values you are told you should conform to, or believe there would be some benefit to conforming to, or some negative aspect to not cnoforming to.), which happens to be the reason Rei was so depressed throughout the series- that was her main psych-problem.

(When the superego disagrees with a possible course of action you are considering, in a normal person it creates anxiety. A persno with an overly strong superego would, according to freud, feel anxious all the time, unsure how to conform to each social situation the best, and so opt out to avoid the anxiety, and pain, it causes.)

So saynig that you should imitate a serious form of psychological illness? It all sounds very nice, and would probably be useful most of the time, but ultimately it would kinda kill you. bottled up thanatos and Id result in all kinds of crazy happenings, like bungee jumping without the rope.

In short, in a perfect world we would all conform to (most of) those points and ideas you listed. But we arent perfect. Trying to do so would kill us. Slowly. Painfully. Not really a very nice thought...

(But then, freud is certainly no be-all end-all of psychology- your ideas might have merit of their own, but since Rei and the other Eva characters are based on freuds theories, they seem the appropriate format to reply in, since they must have been what you based them on.)

[[BlackDeath]]

Shush, have you copyright-ed it? The answer is no, so that would make me entitled to use this how i see fit! xP

[Vandire]

No, it doesnt. Being online im not sure if it comes under libel or slander, but its still against the law pretty much everywhere in the world to claim you wrote something that you didnt. (i study law as well as psychology, remember)

so although i have no legal right to stop you reproducing it, thats as far as your 'however you see fit' goes. sorry :p

[[BlackDeath]]

who said i claimed to wright it? i didn't, its's just things i learnt form eva, being things i learnt from you, or your guide, anyway this thread has been dead for so long y'know, no use digging up the dead now!

[Deathscythe]

who said i claimed to wright it? i didn't, its's just things i learnt form eva, being things i learnt from you, or your guide, anyway this thread has been dead for so long y'know, no use digging up the dead now!

i really gotta hand it to you ^_^ hahah!! you did get out of it lol

and yeah this thread is sorta dead lol xD died after black's post lmao

[Vandire]

how can you learn anything from smoething you didnt even read?

and if it were somrthing you learnt from me, then you would also know that connotations are as important as denotations in the eyes of the law regarding slander and libel, so you are still in the wrong, and your just making up face-saving excuses at this point.

[Deathscythe]

how can you learn anything from smoething you didnt even read?

and if it were somrthing you learnt from me, then you would also know that connotations are as important as denotations in the eyes of the law regarding slander and libel, so you are still in the wrong, and your just making up face-saving excuses at this point.

wow this is just the best ^_^ how will Black work his way out of this one.. maybe with a "friendly" insult

LMAO!!

<goes back to topic>

i learnt quite a few things from Evangelion some things were confusing like the last two episodes but i sorta got it xD then ACTUALLY reading through Vandires Shinji thingie O_O (yesh.. i read it xD) i learnt quite abit about Shinji, there isnt that much about him exactly but there is some stuff and yeah ^_^ so guess i never exactly learnt it from Evangelion x.x more from what someone had typed up about Evangelion which they learnt.. sorta xD but you know ^_^

[Vandire]

Like i said earlier, that was just a basic version- i wouldnt really reccomend anyone reading it because it is incomplete, and although i cant really remember what i changed, theres probably some stuff in it thats just plain wrong. The finished version will be published eventually, along with the stuff on Rei, the angels, the evangelions etc... :)