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No. 112227
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>>112219 >>112223
wow, it's weird that you say that cause I actually created my own version of the FN's religion for that exact purpose and it was more or less how you described, a mixture of elements of Hinduism, Islam, Zoroastrianism and Buddhism. I had them come from a similar school of thought as the Air Nomads but were directly opposed to them in a number of ways that led to religious friction between the two. The Fire Nation sects believed in a powerful immaterial shapeless Cosmic Spirit who was the Supreme Sage or Para-Brahman and also believed the world they lived in was made to be a battleground between the spiritual forces of good and evil, which have shaped the very nature of living and inanimate things in the world, in addition to the world being a prison for human souls. They also believed in a successive order of sensual paradises awaiting man after the final battle against the evil powers of the world during a great day of reckoning. Paradises where people could enjoy the pleasures of the world without the fear of being able to abuse them. The Air Nomads, would have a more generally agnostic view on the great god-spirit, and would only believe in the existence of an Avatar Hades where souls of the dead slept awaiting their turn in the reincarnation cycle. The Fire Nation believed that a great rebirth would come one day in which the human souls would be freed from this cycle and the imperfect world, led by a great savior figure. The Air Nomads believed that freedom from the cycle could only be achieved through annihilation of the self through rigorous ascetic practice. The Fire Nation believed that everyone who, with passion and drive, strove to "do good," and "fight evil" would eventually be rewarded with freedom from the cycle of death and reincarnation, even if they didn't achieve annihilation (a state which FN groups believe lasts only as long as the god-spirit wills it). Struggle is the Fire Nation motto, not complacency. Passion, not apathy.
Indulge yourself a little now and then, they say, just beware of excesses. Enjoy the warmth of the flames of your passions, just don't get so swept up in them that the whole forest burns to the ground. Balancing things out with ascetic/religious ritual helps keep emotions in check and retain focus. This would be the traditional view among religious groups in the FN and the idea I had was that that these kinds of ideas set them at odds with the Air Nomads at times. I thought that maybe guys like Gyatso could've thought the Air Nomads might benefit from keeping a more open mind tho.
How does all this relate to Mai? Well, I was thinking that Mai's story could actually have her wanting to retreat. Maybe Mai wants to just "get away from it all" and is looking to escape from the world she hates with all its drama and stupidity that is just making her life worse. Her attitude could be "Forget my dad, forget Zuko, forget everyone and their problems, leave me out of it." Mai could slowly realize that she has responsibilities as an individual and as a human being and can't just run away from the world and sit and brood all day and night alone someplace far off for the rest of her life. So maybe she could slowly learn to reconnect to and find wisdom in her ancestral religion which she didn't take seriously growing up. She could also maybe argue a little with holy men, trying to justify her running away or her jaded personality by casually mentioning some proverb from the Agni Vedas about the bleak nature of the world, which a sage says she doesn't fully understand because of her cynicism. She could start burning offerings too.
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