this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2024
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Lovecraft Mythos - Cosmic Horror

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H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos is a shared universe far larger and more terrifying than that of humanity, where ancient, malevolent beings known as the Great Old Ones slumber in the depths of space or time. After Lovecraft's death, the Mythos has been expanded and developed by many authors, including August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, and Robert E. Howard. These and many other authors have helped to flesh out the Mythos into a rich and complex Dark Universe.

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And this is why I fear Cthulhu [Discussion] (startrek.website)
submitted 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) by eZen52@lemm.ee to c/lovecraft_mythos@lemmy.world
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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 51 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I mean, Lovecraft just went with OG Abrhamic stuff.

When they talk about angels in the Bible, they weren't talking about beautiful elves from Lotr with wings.

They were something that interacting with would break your mind. Because the people claiming to see them had broken minds already, that's why they were "seeing" them in the first place.

Which makes sense because what started the Abrhamic religions was a schizophrenic hearing voices to murder his family to appease the voice(s) in their head.

It's been whitewashed over the centuries, but that's all it is. The followers of a schizophrenic carrying on his delusions that began with murdering his brother. And they're still being told if they ever experience those symptoms, they should fucking listen instead of getting mental health treatment.

[–] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 28 points 4 months ago

Also see the Oracle (s) of Pythia/Delphi.

Go into cave

Breathe fumes

Hallucinate

Tell local King he'll be victorious in upcoming battle

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 16 points 4 months ago (2 children)

And ergotism. Don't forget ergotism.

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 29 points 4 months ago

I'm sure it happened some before, but the earliest known case was like, a thousand years or so after.

The danger of the Abrahamic religions is people who did experience hallucinations from things like ergot poisoning saw the similarities to the schizophrenic hallucinations their religions are based on.

So instead of their first thought being "clearly I'm seeing/hearing things that aren't there like a dream" it was "God has chosen me and is commanding me to do ____".

Like, under no circumstances is a higher power providing instructions, guidance, advice, anything.

And it's incredibly dangerous when people believe it's possible. Because if they experience hallucinations for any reason, there's a chance they treat it like a command.

[–] nokturne213@sopuli.xyz 7 points 4 months ago

It’s always ergotism.

[–] half_built_pyramids@lemmy.world 46 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

~~The~~ Then the ant realizes these humming monoliths are used to play hentai games and be a sex pest on insta, and then the ant goes even more mad trying to learn what loss is.

[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 30 points 4 months ago (2 children)

This was what doing acid was like for me. I was already a pretty existential person but things like knowing your just a brain recieving electrical signals and interpreting them as reality didn't really click until I did acid and changed that perception.

It was like I looked behind the curtain, saw the source code of reality, could perceive the true fractal nature of the universe.

And after I did it once my brain perceived things fundamentally differently, but I couldn't really explain it I couldn't get other people to try and it really felt like I was the only person on earth that really understood this truth.

Good shit.

[–] AnalogyAddict@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Some people don't need to trip for this.

[–] JPSound@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

A wise man stood at the edge of a river in the town he'd lived all his life. Day after day monks gathered along the bank meditating, praying, citing ancient incantations and performing sacred rituals. The wise man asked the monks why they were dedicating their their entire lives repeating these things day after day. On of the elder monks says, "we learning how to walk on water to cross the mighty river." The wise man says, "but the fairy is only a nickel."

[–] considine@lemmy.ml 7 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Very wise. He spent his nights with the fairy by the river.

[–] JPSound@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

And they always did shrooms during their fabulous nights of passion.

[–] Rai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Acid didn’t do this to me, and I’ve done a bunch… but everyone has a different experience.

I’ve been in a fair few K-Holes though, and one single experience where lines were laid out for a hotel room of myself and closest friends… it felt like too much powder to fit in my nose, but I did it anyway. By the time I laid down on one of the beds, my body?mind?spirit? Was being pulled downwards faster and faster, more quickly than any K-Hole I had ever experience. I have no way to explain the next hour; it would have been the most horrifying thing I could ever experience but I lost all concept of what horror could feel like. Time was visible and invisible and nonexistent. I knew in my brain that this wouldn’t be happening to me forever, but forever didn’t mean anything. I could look around and see all of my friends, but friends didn’t exist and I didn’t exist. I could move around but there was no point—physical reality wasn’t real anymore.

It was neat. I’ll never do it again.

[–] gmtom@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago (1 children)

When I broke my arm I was given a healthy dose of K intravenously. That was a pretty fun experience, but I felt more like being trapped in a labyrinth of new realities inside my own mind vs acid where I was much more... external? If that makes sense.

Also good shit.

[–] JudahBenHur@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

yeah of course- I mean your experiences here are so different neurobiologically.. acid makes regions of your brain that normally dont communicate start sending signals to each other, wheras a serious dose of a dissasociative is going to be seriously dissasocative .. just radically differen't experiences. they used to call acid "instant zen"

for what its worth I understand what you mean. I had a friend who used to say that acid was like becoming a child neurologically again, suddenly able to reassess everything you've seen a million times

[–] ekZepp@lemmy.world 28 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Nice post, it remembers me a quote from the cosmic horror movie Black Mountain Side (2014)

"Deer God: When an animal looks up at the night sky, what does it see? Thousands and thousands of tiny points. Then a man looks up at the same points and sees millions of stars; galaxies, within which are billions of planets. Do you want to know what I see? Were you there when I created the stars?"

[–] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Worth the watch? I see it doesn’t have great reviews but that’s not uncommon with Cosmic Horror since it tends not to have much in the way of resolution or typical story beats

[–] ekZepp@lemmy.world 14 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

Don't expect any big monster scene. It's more like a paranormal thriller, but the atmosphere is something else. Especially the sounds effects, they get under your skin.

[–] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 14 points 4 months ago (1 children)

That makes sense though. The horror of cosmic horror is often too nebulous for many audiences and reviewers. I get why that’s not to everyone’s taste, but that’s also just a staple of the genre

[–] ekZepp@lemmy.world 7 points 4 months ago

Still i love the movie. Worth watching 👍

[–] rickyrigatoni@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

Big monster scenes ruin cosmic horror most times. So this is good.

[–] Seleni@lemmy.world 3 points 4 months ago

Wow, and they made it for around $30,000? Think I need to check it out.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 18 points 4 months ago (2 children)

But I'm still going to vote for him. Why settle for a lesser evil?

[–] nature_man@lemmy.world 17 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

If I had a quarter for each time someone has explained eldritch/other-worldly concepts to me via an analogy using ants I'd have a dollar, which isn't a lot but it's strange that it's happened 4 times

[–] refurbishedrefurbisher@lemmy.sdf.org 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Basically Flat Lands

[–] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

Singular, one word, but a good observation.

[–] MeDuViNoX@sh.itjust.works 10 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like mushrooms.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

Any psychedelic, really. I've had these kind of revelations on 25i, for example, which is one of the more visual, less enlightening psychs. It's literally like what people who have never touched the stuff think LSD is like, but I still had thoughts like this on the stuff.

[–] dotslashme@infosec.pub 8 points 4 months ago

Some call it madness, others call it a life of purpose.

[–] Hupf@feddit.de 5 points 4 months ago

G'Kar approves

[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 4 months ago

Thankfully for that ant, ants are stupid.

[–] acockworkorange@mander.xyz 3 points 4 months ago

They did this rather well in Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. That uncle Whatshisface did a good job portraying eldritch madness.

[–] PraiseTheSoup@lemm.ee 2 points 4 months ago

Madness?!

.

.

.

This is SPARTA!

[–] lauha@lemmy.one 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

THIS IS MADNESS!

[–] Noodle07@lemmy.world 1 points 4 months ago

No!