Death Realm Research and Being a Sorry Cop

Playing With Fire

I'm reading my first non-fiction book I've read for a long time. The book is Playing With Fire by Billy Hallowell. It's "A modern investigation into demons, exorcism, and ghosts". I picked this one up in particular because in my world, Guardious, there's a Death Realm where the dragons have the ability to communicate with the dead and use the spirits of the dead under certain conditions. I wanted to get a better feel for how people in the past have tried to communicate with spirits to make the story be loosely based on methods used in the real world. 

The book ended up being a Christian view into demons and ghosts. I hadn't expected that and it was interesting looking at it through that lens. Certain parts have felt a bit didactic but it was a fun read nonetheless. I did pick up some ideas for how death dragons can communicate with spirits and what motivation spirits could have to obey their wishes. 

Ah, so this is what it feels like to not be the hero

I've most recently been playing Disco Elysium on the Nintendo switch.  The game has such wonderful writing. The dialogue with everyone is varied and unique and it really brings to light some heavy themes. At the beginning of the game, I was honestly mortified to discover a lot of the choices my character could make all felt bad to me. In games, being a lover of JRPGs, I'm used to being the nearly infallible hero who does good simply because I'm a good person in the game. In Disco Elysium your character is having a hard time... and that's putting it lightly and they don't really feel fit to be a hero or even to do their job really. 

I liked this more realistic view of an individual placed in a difficult position because in the real world there are barriers, whether it be race, gender, mental illness and so forth that can unjustly make one feel helpless and unable to be this truly elusive hero. I find myself saying sorry to everyone for my past behaviors and so I was given the condition sorry cop. At first it made me sad and then I thought, yeah, that would be me in real life honestly. 

The game has caused me to see and be more aware of unjust things I notice in society and culture and also see them from other points of view. I feel like a terrible person while playing at times but now that I've gotten over some of the JRPG perfect hero mindset it's become a fun game to reflect on the choices I would make and the issues I'm unwilling to budge on... even if it seems an NPC would like me more if I voiced otherwise. 

Do you believe in demons? Do you believe in ghosts? What are some books and games that made you reflect on what you believe in? 

Thanks for reading my thoughts. It's been fun being able to put into words the things one naturally internalizes as they read and play. Keep dreaming and day dreaming about the spectacular worlds you create.