Friday, April 16, 2021

O for Occlumency : O for Order

 Harry Potter has a sort of telepathic connection with the antagonist Voldemort also known as You-Know-Who. Every time the latter experiences extreme emotions like anger, rage , excitement or hatred, Harry's lightning scar starts hurting and he kind sees visions as if he is seeing things through Voldemort s eyes. The science or art of breaking this sort of psychological control is called Occlumency. Harry is given training in the same but he struggles to gain mastery over it . 

As humans we also have our opinions and views and perspectives influenced by other people quite often. Such influences could be positive if the person is a mature individual and is attempting to make us better people. There are of course influences that dont come from the best of interests . There are times it is done with ulterior motives or due to character traits like jealousy or envy or pure nastiness. We need something like Occlumency  to shield and guard ourselves. 

The fifth book in the Potter series is the Order of the Phoenix. It is a secret organization of the good wizards and witches who team up to fight against their dark sided counterparts. 

The word order reminds me of the judge's gavel. After seeing a few movies as a small kid, I thought the only job a judge in court had was to bang this yelling order order ! 

"Out of order" was a term we often used to refer to telephone connections that were you know, out of order ! Imagine a time without cellphones, internet, whatsapp ! It was there three decades ago and life was still beautiful !

These days with a lot of transactions happening online , internet is abuzz with orders - for pizza, grocery, clothes , electronic equipment and what not. I love the pizza delivery websites that pictorially show what stage our order is in ! Your pizza is being prepared or Your pizza is being baked etc .... 

Another place where the word order is often used is in military stories. "And that is an order" adds a lot of drama to those scenes in military movies . 

We all prefer order of some sort in our lives . But the definition of order differs from person to person . What would you define as things being in order ? 

9 comments:

  1. The first time I read the series Order of the Phoenix was my least favorite book but after repeated readings it's now one of my favorites. Interesting how it can change like that. Weekends In Maine

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  2. Order brings to my mind 'discipline', 'pattern' etc. That makes the association with the military quite obvious.
    O for Obbuttu

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  3. Things being order for me would be when everything happens as per my plan. Doesn't work in real life, but I sure try. :)

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  4. In order = as they should be, according to our values

    These values can be influenced as you were saying.

    It bugs me how easily people will follow a "hype" without reflecting on what it really means. Like going vegan and believing by doing so they will save the planet and live sustainably. Where do they think their avocado and quinoa come from, and under what conditions they were planted, harvested and transported?

    https://thethreegerbers.blogspot.com/2021/04/a-z-2021-odds-are-one-in-million.html

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  5. For me, at home (where I am spending so much time these days), my stuff is in order when I can find it when I want it. This includes computer files, art and craft supplies, recipes... the list goes on and on. Though my house is a clutter castle, I'd say it's 75% in order.
    https://www.anne-m-bray.com/blog/167361/atozchallenge-2021-c-is-for-clutter

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  6. I do like setting things out in an orderly manner, not higgledy-piggledy!
    A thought provoking piece inded!

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  7. Oh hey Harry Potter stuff! Yay! I really loved those books, though I haven't seen the movies. But I've forgotten a lot about them, including the whole Occlumency thing. Neat!
    And yes, I think a lot of us grew up thinking that the gavel-banging thing was a judge's main job. I know I did!
    When I think of order in my life, I think of my messy home. I love it, but it is also difficult to find what I want at any given time. And sometimes the chaos means that things I want to do get crowded out. Like, we can't play that board game on our table, because it is covered with stuff.

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  8. Order to me means tranquility -- with everything in its place and no discordant visual distractions. Very important as we spend so much time on our own space these days. https://mollyscanopy.com/2021/04/orange-juice-can-curlers-and-on-the-roof-suntans-atozchallenge/#comments

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  9. I love order in my life, sadly it never seems to happen. Order means things getting done when they need to be and being on top of the to-do list!

    Returning A to Z visit from AJ Blythe

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