The Lifestream, Game Art and Reality

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Mayaserena Moonchild

Stiltzkin's Apprentice
Sep 1, 2015
5
2
49
Los Angeles, California
#1
"The Lifestream. That's what we call the river of life that circles our planet, giving life to the world and everything in it." —Marlene, prologue to Advent Children

What would you say or think if I told you the Lifestream is something real, all around us, but unseen by almost all human eyes? Would you write me off as a delusional idiot? Would you argue religion with me and preach your savior? Would you get excited at the thought of materia, magic and monsters?

The Lifestream is a concept that seems to be exclusive to the Final Fantasy franchise. If it were real, wouldn't it show up in more places? Wouldn't more humans have perceived it? Perhaps not. Knowing what I know, and going by hidden messages I have found through the games and various pieces of fiction, there is an explanation.

Through deep meditation, enjoying game, book and movie art, and exploration of my memories of past times and events, I have come to the conclusion that The Lifestream, I also call it The Stream of Life and Death, is real. So real, that if challenged to recant by an inescapable threat to my life, I would have to choose death rather than lie.

I know the fact of the Lifestream so thoroughly, I left behind my old self, family and friends. I could no longer communicate with them. Their delusions were getting in my way. They wouldn't even listen enough to have a legitimate conversation about my perceptions and discovery. THEY wanted to be right, they wanted to dictate to me what I should believe to maintain relationships with them.

I said, "Goodbye." Now here I am, a reclusive homeless woman, looking for a way to rightness. I have no recourse but to try and communicate with other gamers whose minds may be open to the concept of Lifestream, since the depictions of it artistically in FF7 and Advent children, are somewhat close to reality.

So why aren't other humans able to perceive the Lifestream? Several reasons. First, we as humans are taught by our elders what to believe and how to perceive the world. If we don't believe and behave how our elders have taught us, we are punished until we do. This is called, "conditioning". This conditioning damages the mako that surrounds us, making it less perceivable, and we do not develop the brain capacity to perceive it.

The second reason (actually a number of them) is illustrated in warnings in the plot of FF7, as well as the other games in this series.

The universe, really a multiverse- many universes, almost independent of each other is very old. There have been past times and places with experiments that have resulted in planet death. There have been attempts at making Materia and Mako Reactors, which has damaged the Lifestream even further than goofy religions that attempt to explain the creation of the universe. (Religion is dangerous.)

What happens in the game and movie to those who use materia? They develop Geostigma and die. Materia was a lazy jerk's attempt at a shortcut to magic, which got out of hand before it could be stopped.

Is 'magic' possible? Well, that depends on your definition of magic. Something like 'magic' is possible, but requires meditation and enlightenment to access. There are no shortcuts.

What happened to that world when they used Mako Reactors to make electricity? The planet began to die, and monsters grew to kill away the offending humans.

As long as we have false beliefs, and lazy natures, it is going to be very hard to access the Lifestream, and yet it must be known. NOT being perceived is killing it.

Most of the Lifestream is no longer liquid, or even electrical in appearance as depicted in the game and movie. Instead it's dark, murky, hard and stringy- filled with diseases and demons. This causes the human race to have more wars, violence and disease than would happen if the Lifestream were healthy.

Aerith's death in the game has been a mystery for a long time. But now it makes sense; she was wrong. Instead of helping the planet to shed away evil humans and damaged land with Meteor, so there could be a planetary rebirth, she fell for the Holy trap and tried to prolong corrupt life so her little friends could live longer, causing more planetary suffering. So Sephiroth killed her. She had to die.

FF10 has something that ties into this. There was an attempt to make a fantasy world that strongly resembled FF10's Zanarkand, by manipulating ancient artifacts of a dead civilization. In the game, Sin comes along and destroys reality. This is very similar to the way Fantastica of The Neverending Story was destroyed by The Nothing. Never be lazy and take shortcuts. Realities based on artificial creation and beliefs always shatter. The Nothing, or Sin, is real.

I don't know how to teach others how to perceive the Lifestream, but at the risk of starting a religious argument, I'll list some pointers than might help:

-Conceive of the Lifestream being there, yet empty your mind of the preconceived notions of fantasy magic and ideas illustrated in the game.

-Drop all notion of Great Creator deity, worship, prayer and faith.

-Be open to the idea of meditation and enlightenment, only vaguely of a Buddhist-like nature.

End of part one. Any questions or comments? I really need to discuss this.
 

LeonBlade

Administrator
Administrator
Moderator
Site Staff
Oct 25, 2013
2,026
1,864
32
Blossvale, New York
#3
The Lifestream is a concept that seems to be exclusive to the Final Fantasy franchise. If it were real, wouldn't it show up in more places?
The Lifestream is loosely based around the idea of all life on the planet cycles back into itself (which is technically true to some degree). I think reincarnation is fairly close to the idea of a Lifestream. Here is a quote from the Final Fantasy Wikia describing the Origins of Lifestream. Note, this is mostly speculation, not based on anything quoted from anyone from Square.

Many world cultures contain beliefs of a natural force that transcends all life. Japan's native religion, Shinto, purports that all things have souls. In traditional Chinese culture, is an active principle forming part of any living thing and is frequently translated as "natural energy", "life force", or "energy flow".

The Lifestream is also an iteration of the ancient Hellenic philosophical concept of the Absolute or the World-Soul, an infinite wellspring of spiritual energy. All human beings possess a fragment of it which returns upon death. The description of the Lifestream's afterlife is also consistent with Neo-Platonic belief. This concept of the Absolute would, over a millennium later, become part of Jewish Kabbalist belief, which factors heavily into the game.

All living things contribute to the overall soul of the Planet after they depart and "return to the Lifestream". The Planet breeds new life from this soul in a process similar to reincarnation.
The idea that the Lifestream is an idea exclusive to Final Fantasy isn't really true.

So why aren't other humans able to perceive the Lifestream? Several reasons. First, we as humans are taught by our elders what to believe and how to perceive the world. If we don't believe and behave how our elders have taught us, we are punished until we do. This is called, "conditioning".
While I agree that religion's only way of manifesting itself in common day society is due to conditioning, I think the idea that humans cannot perceive the Lifestream is due to conditioning is far fetched. I am fairly open minded to the point where I could accept just about any idea if you can substantiate its existence On a micro level, energy itself does cycle through our own planet, so it's not exactly fiction, it's just on what level is this really working. I think on a level to where your soul can transcend beyond this mortal plane of existence isn't something you can really prove without some sign from the Planet itself, and really not worth debating.

They develop Geostigma and die.
Geostigma has to do with Jenova tainting the Lifestream, not just using materia or something.

Is 'magic' possible? Well, that depends on your definition of magic. Something like 'magic' is possible, but requires meditation and enlightenment to access. There are no shortcuts.
What proof of this do you have though? There are Monks that meditate and there are claims of many people throughout history that have gone on record for doing miraculous things that to some degree could be considered "magic", but there isn't exactly proof of any of these either.

As long as we have false beliefs, and lazy natures, it is going to be very hard to access the Lifestream, and yet it must be known. NOT being perceived is killing it.
Isn't this a stretch? How does this relate to Mako Reactors? Or does it? I'm kind of having a hard time following you here...

Most of the Lifestream is no longer liquid, or even electrical in appearance as depicted in the game and movie. Instead it's dark, murky, hard and stringy- filled with diseases and demons. This causes the human race to have more wars, violence and disease than would happen if the Lifestream were healthy.
So, the Lifestream is tar?

Aerith's death in the game has been a mystery for a long time. But now it makes sense; she was wrong. Instead of helping the planet to shed away evil humans and damaged land with Meteor, so there could be a planetary rebirth, she fell for the Holy trap and tried to prolong corrupt life so her little friends could live longer, causing more planetary suffering. So Sephiroth killed her. She had to die.
It's been a mystery? To who? She fell for the, ah yes... what a classic, fell for the ol' Holy trap! This was not at all what was happening here, I don't think you played the game. I will quote the events from the game thanks to the FF Wikia.

Aeris was praying for Holy, the ultimate White Magic to defend against Meteor, called by the White Materia she had worn in her hair. The party later learns Aeris had succeeded in calling it prior to her demise, but Sephiroth is blocking its power. Cloud's party descends to the center of the Planet to defeat him, and after the battle Cloud has an out of body experience during which he faces off against Sephiroth's spirit alone. Vanquishing his nemesis, Cloud finds himself among the Lifestream with Aeris extending her hand to him. As Cloud tries to grasp it he returns to his body and saves Tifa as the cave begins to crumble. He tells her he can meet Aeris again in the Promised Land. Sephiroth's defeat releases Holy, but by this time the Meteor has fallen too close and Holy's energy is unfocused by its gravity. Within the Lifestream, Aeris's spirit commands it to emerge from the Planet and push Meteor back allowing Holy to fully focus its energy, and in January of 0008, Holy and the Lifestream destroy Meteor and save the Planet.
Aeris was trying to save the planet from Meteor, nothing more.

-Be open to the idea of meditation and enlightenment, only vaguely of a Buddhist-like nature.
I think this sums up entirely what you're going on about here. Buddhism. Not so much about the Lifestream itself, just Buddhism ideologies. Nothing wrong with that, but you make yourself out to seem a bit... well, I don't think people will react well when they read this:

I know the fact of the Lifestream so thoroughly, I left behind my old self, family and friends. I could no longer communicate with them. Their delusions were getting in my way. They wouldn't even listen enough to have a legitimate conversation about my perceptions and discovery. THEY wanted to be right, they wanted to dictate to me what I should believe to maintain relationships with them.

I said, "Goodbye." Now here I am, a reclusive homeless woman, looking for a way to rightness. I have no recourse but to try and communicate with other gamers whose minds may be open to the concept of Lifestream, since the depictions of it artistically in FF7 and Advent children, are somewhat close to reality.
 

Crystal Power

Keyblade Master
Nov 29, 2013
712
243
United States
#5
I will say it is an intriguing concept, though it is far to far-fetched. Also as LeonBlade pointed, the Lifestream lore is not something that is exclusive to FF7, or even video games in general...

You do seem to investigate and dig into stories for better meaning, but I'm sad to say you are looking in the wrong place. And I can see why this would be taken as a joke. But just so happen you are indeed serious, please invest your time of finding the purpose of our world through something more meaningful. While games do encourage and motivate me, this is getting in the line of nonsense. I would suggest science and astronomy. :)
 

Mayaserena Moonchild

Stiltzkin's Apprentice
Sep 1, 2015
5
2
49
Los Angeles, California
#6
Wow... know-it-alls. So because you don't perceive it, I am wrong? No, no this is not it.... Yes, I have played the game, several times. This game is fiction, and something is attempting to be expressed through fiction, something I do not own. I am trying to express something very difficult to explain here, using the only references I have: this game. Exact reality could not be expressed through art, and going by stiff, game-only definitions doesn't open up the understanding needed.

This isn't conversation. Saying "far-fetched" blocks communication, that conditioning is exactly why you would not be able to perceive it. Believing you are open minded does not mean you are open-minded. These argumentative statements that have been blasted at me are attempts to have a final word on something, not engage in legitimate communication. You are not getting more information that might open up a perception by un-communicating this way.

Tar, that's so funny you said that. Tar is involved in the whole negativity, in a very weird way.

Well, some of you might see the truth one day. It's coming, whether you believe or not. I have proof that deepens my convictions every single day of my life. I need communication, not know-it-alls. Why are so many humans this way?

Is there really no hope?
 

LeonBlade

Administrator
Administrator
Moderator
Site Staff
Oct 25, 2013
2,026
1,864
32
Blossvale, New York
#8
Wow... know-it-alls. So because you don't perceive it, I am wrong? No, no this is not it.... Yes, I have played the game, several times. This game is fiction, and something is attempting to be expressed through fiction, something I do not own. I am trying to express something very difficult to explain here, using the only references I have: this game. Exact reality could not be expressed through art, and going by stiff, game-only definitions doesn't open up the understanding needed.

This isn't conversation. Saying "far-fetched" blocks communication, that conditioning is exactly why you would not be able to perceive it. Believing you are open minded does not mean you are open-minded. These argumentative statements that have been blasted at me are attempts to have a final word on something, not engage in legitimate communication. You are not getting more information that might open up a perception by un-communicating this way.

Tar, that's so funny you said that. Tar is involved in the whole negativity, in a very weird way.

Well, some of you might see the truth one day. It's coming, whether you believe or not. I have proof that deepens my convictions every single day of my life. I need communication, not know-it-alls. Why are so many humans this way?

Is there really no hope?
Way to be dismissive of the counterpoints I gave you when I replied. Let's completely ignore the part where Geostigma has everything to do with Jenova infecting the Lifestream and nothing to do with its overuse because that doesn't fit your argument... right?

You mention that the game is just a way of referencing this concept, yet you said in the beginning of your post that the concept of a Lifestream doesn't exist outside of Final Fantasy and how strange that is, yet I point out where it actually does exist outside of Final Fantasy in things like... Buddhism (which you actually reference in the end of your post), yet you seem to completely dismiss these points.

It's not about creating argumentative statements in an attempt to have a final word, it's about correcting your mistakes you made when formulating your post.

As for "believing you're open minded doesn't mean you're open minded", I can assure you I'm very open minded. You never really gave me any reason to be though. You effectively said "the Lifestream is a real thing, you just have to believe in it" without providing any substantial evidence. I even said that the idea that energy flows in a cycle throughout the planet is in fact a real concept that does take place. The idea of matter decomposing into the earth and sprouting up new life in other forms, there are a lot of changes on a molecular level that take place.

I'm not sure what you're ultimately asking for in this thread. This is supposed to be a place of discussion for Final Fantasy, not metaphysical ideologies. While I think it's interesting to entertain these ideas, I'm not really sure what you're looking for posting these here. I don't say this to dismiss you or shun you away from these forums, I completely openly accept anyone to join as I love this community. However, I don't really see what you're trying to achieve other than creating a hive-mind of people that will just agree with what you have to say. Am I a know-it-all for dismissing your claims? In that respect, are you a know-it-all for being so self proclaiming of what you say is true and not fiction.

Well, some of you might see the truth one day. It's coming, whether you believe or not.
It's coming how? What is coming exactly? The truth? Of the Lifestream? In what way? Is it similar to the Rapture?

I have proof that deepens my convictions every single day of my life.
Would you care to actually post some of this proof that you get on a daily basis, perhaps then you could convert some people... uh, I mean, convince some people to believe what you have to say.

Let me just go back to your first post for some remarks I never made previously.
-Conceive of the Lifestream being there, yet empty your mind of the preconceived notions of fantasy magic and ideas illustrated in the game.
Believe in Buddhism, check.

-Drop all notion of Great Creator deity, worship, prayer and faith.
Already an Agnostic Atheist, check.

-Be open to the idea of meditation and enlightenment, only vaguely of a Buddhist-like nature.
Oh, okay, so pretend to be a Buddhist but don't actually believe in Buddha, okay got it.

Finally, let me just say that I made counterarguments to your claims only based on the actual in-game references you made and statements you made that were factually incorrect. I never dismissed your ideas or claimed to be a know-it-all. Does that mean I believe you? Of course not, because there's no reason to.

What would believing in the Lifestream do for me? Even if the Lifestream was real and I believed in it, because it's not a God or some higher deity that wants to be worshiped for my salvation into some promise land, there seems to be no reason for me to really give a shit.

You also completely ignored any of my questions, for example, about "magic" as you call it. If you want discussion, I suggest you actually respond to people when then ask you questions, that's a good way to create discussion. I went point by point that you made and responded, if you'd like to have a discussion with me, please do the following in return from my previous post and I'll gladly entertain your ideas and listen to you.

If you truly are a 41 year old women who is now homeless after leaving her friends and family because of this, I think you should seek help, unless of course you're perfectly fine... living on the streets or whatever.