If you see me in a nightclub or a coffee shop, ask me about the following:
Author intent, the philology of classical works, and fanfiction. Is the spectre of Derrida haunting tvtropes.org?
...
The need for philosophers in the modern world. Why everyone thinks they can think but no one does.
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Euripides as the preincanation of Alan Ginsberg. The Bachae as a prophesy of the sixties counter culture movment; "Tune in, turn on, drop out" and Dionysus as the god of sex, drugs, and rock and roll. How Ginsberg's Howl is the primordial scream of Pan down the dusty centuries.
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Fictional continuities, 'verses, and Tarski's universes of discourse.
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Why we need both professional saints and professional villans in modern life, and what Thích Quảng Đức can teach us about people whose role it is in life to be good.
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The philosophic flight, and why Uzzah doesn't necessarily believe those things he believed a year ago.
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Subjective vs. objective value, how what we desire conflicts with what Ayn Rand says we value. How social psycholgy and evolutionary anthropology may hold an answer.
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Why Dan Brown isn't worthy to shine Umberto Eco's shoes, and what might happen if we splice Neil Gaiman's DNA with Kenneth Hite's.
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And further ruminations on the no time limit thunderdome death match between Nietzsche and the Buddha: is suffering a thing to be avoided?
All this and Mandlebrot Baroque, coming to Et in Arcadia Ego...
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Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 30, 2011
The villain of Truth
And Uzzah spake, saying,
"I lay upon the field, gazing upon the stars. As I lay there, the villain of Truth came upon me and so stole my cloak. At first, I despaired, for I had believed my cloak hid me. But when it was gone, I saw that its hood had merely covered my eyes, and as it was lifted, I saw stars I had not seen before. And so I looked upon that villain Truth, and I gave him also my coat, and blessed him and loved him. "
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
"I lay upon the field, gazing upon the stars. As I lay there, the villain of Truth came upon me and so stole my cloak. At first, I despaired, for I had believed my cloak hid me. But when it was gone, I saw that its hood had merely covered my eyes, and as it was lifted, I saw stars I had not seen before. And so I looked upon that villain Truth, and I gave him also my coat, and blessed him and loved him. "
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
Three parables
"You should love peace as a means to new wars - and the short peace more than the long." Freidrich Neitzsce, Also sprach Zarathustra
...
And so Uzzah spake, saying:
"Take you, each of you hoplites of Socrates, take you your spear and your shield and your sword. For your shield shall be reason, and your spear poetry. You shall seek your enemy and you will desire nothing but to wound him. And so he shall do unto you. For each time he holes your shield, you shall rebuild it the stronger. And each time you wound him, he shall become mightier, until he shall overcome you. And when your shield has shattered, and his spear has wounded you gravely, then you shall know the triumph of your victory. Even as you lay upon the field dying, you will cherish the victory of the enemy as your own victory, and cherish the strength of your foe, for he has shown himself the stronger. Your blood will he drink, for it holds the vitae of your strength: your truth. Your blood will stain his spear, and so shall serve as the poison to he who comes to avenge you.
But be wary, even in defeat. For as the battle has finished, so come the jackals and the vultures to pick your bones, and to drink your blood. And they will set about your enemy, these jackals and these vultures, until he has no choice but to retreat from the field. Do not feed the jackals and the vultures, as they are unworthy of you both. Though they drink the blood of your understanding, it feeds them but little, and they shall not grow as warriors from it."
...
And Uzzah spake, saying:
"I stood as Akilles upon the bulwark, and gazed out upon the striving soldiers. And as Akilles, my blood rage grew firey in my veins. So I cried out in a great voice across the field. And some cowered or fled, unwilling to match my strength and cunning in battle. And others cried out, saying 'come down and join the fray. You should lead us to our doom!', and others, uncomprehending, added, 'yes, come down! For we fear you not at all." Above all the vultures waited, saying nothing, waiting only to feast upon the carrion of fallen warriors.
But only one voice did I seek to hear. The voice that said, 'I too, am a warrior of Socrates! I shall test my spear upon your shield, and my shield against your spear, and we shall battle until the blood of one of us stains the ground.' And in seeking that voice, I knew I sought my dearest enemy, that against him I could do battle while singing my love to him. For in being my deadliest enemy, he would become my dearest friend."
...
And Uzzah spake, saying:
"I stood near the beached ships, as a spectre of Akilles. I hefted aloft my spear and my shield, but my armor was but the knowledge of Socrates. Knowing then that I knew nothing, I strode
into battle. Clad as I was, I was insensate to the calls of the jackals.
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
...
And so Uzzah spake, saying:
"Take you, each of you hoplites of Socrates, take you your spear and your shield and your sword. For your shield shall be reason, and your spear poetry. You shall seek your enemy and you will desire nothing but to wound him. And so he shall do unto you. For each time he holes your shield, you shall rebuild it the stronger. And each time you wound him, he shall become mightier, until he shall overcome you. And when your shield has shattered, and his spear has wounded you gravely, then you shall know the triumph of your victory. Even as you lay upon the field dying, you will cherish the victory of the enemy as your own victory, and cherish the strength of your foe, for he has shown himself the stronger. Your blood will he drink, for it holds the vitae of your strength: your truth. Your blood will stain his spear, and so shall serve as the poison to he who comes to avenge you.
But be wary, even in defeat. For as the battle has finished, so come the jackals and the vultures to pick your bones, and to drink your blood. And they will set about your enemy, these jackals and these vultures, until he has no choice but to retreat from the field. Do not feed the jackals and the vultures, as they are unworthy of you both. Though they drink the blood of your understanding, it feeds them but little, and they shall not grow as warriors from it."
...
And Uzzah spake, saying:
"I stood as Akilles upon the bulwark, and gazed out upon the striving soldiers. And as Akilles, my blood rage grew firey in my veins. So I cried out in a great voice across the field. And some cowered or fled, unwilling to match my strength and cunning in battle. And others cried out, saying 'come down and join the fray. You should lead us to our doom!', and others, uncomprehending, added, 'yes, come down! For we fear you not at all." Above all the vultures waited, saying nothing, waiting only to feast upon the carrion of fallen warriors.
But only one voice did I seek to hear. The voice that said, 'I too, am a warrior of Socrates! I shall test my spear upon your shield, and my shield against your spear, and we shall battle until the blood of one of us stains the ground.' And in seeking that voice, I knew I sought my dearest enemy, that against him I could do battle while singing my love to him. For in being my deadliest enemy, he would become my dearest friend."
...
And Uzzah spake, saying:
"I stood near the beached ships, as a spectre of Akilles. I hefted aloft my spear and my shield, but my armor was but the knowledge of Socrates. Knowing then that I knew nothing, I strode
into battle. Clad as I was, I was insensate to the calls of the jackals.
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
Saturday, May 28, 2011
An Insomniac's Advice
I've found something over the last couple of months that helps with bed time anxiety. If you're the type who has difficulty falling asleep because you lie awake at night worrying about things, I've found something that helps me. I'll set my computer up to play one or two or a disc's worth of a television show. Then I'll turn the screen so it points away from the bed. Turn the volume down very low; just loud enough that the dialogue can be followed if you concentrate a little.
I find that following the story through the dialogue holds just enough of my attention so that my mind doesn't wander off onto trains of thought that lead to anxiety. However, it's not loud enough to keep me awake once I start to drift off. Nor is it white noise or random noise that's meaningless and uninteresting.
I find that, to work well, the show ought to be something easily followed through dialogue. I'd avoid shows that indulge in loud noises: sirens, car chases, or explosions can draw too much attention. I like [U]The West Wing[/U]. It's dialogue heavy, not prone to startling noises, and you don't need the visuals to follow the story.
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
I find that following the story through the dialogue holds just enough of my attention so that my mind doesn't wander off onto trains of thought that lead to anxiety. However, it's not loud enough to keep me awake once I start to drift off. Nor is it white noise or random noise that's meaningless and uninteresting.
I find that, to work well, the show ought to be something easily followed through dialogue. I'd avoid shows that indulge in loud noises: sirens, car chases, or explosions can draw too much attention. I like [U]The West Wing[/U]. It's dialogue heavy, not prone to startling noises, and you don't need the visuals to follow the story.
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Buncha' Monkeys!
The system of biological taxonomy to which I ascribe is essentially an evolutionary one. I believe h. sapiens sapiens is most closely related to the chimpanzee, the pigmy chimpanzee, and the gorilla. When it comes to attributes like hand-eye coordination, spatial visualization, and reaction time, we're pretty comprable to our primate cousins; better in some areas, poorer in others. Staying calm in rapidly evolving situations and avoiding panic in the face of danger are other areas where we match pretty well with the other apes. We're essentially overgrown, bald chimpanzees.
So why, oh why, are we trusted with automobiles? Two-ton death machines being driven around a mile a minute by apes? Whose idea was that? And yet I trust my life and my safety to a buncha' monkeys.
Happy driving!
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So why, oh why, are we trusted with automobiles? Two-ton death machines being driven around a mile a minute by apes? Whose idea was that? And yet I trust my life and my safety to a buncha' monkeys.
Happy driving!
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
No, no, no, no, no!
Lets cover some basics:
Facism and Communism are opposed ideologies. So are Facism and Welfare Liberalism. Sitting around waiting for a government handout is not a central tenet of Nazism. Adolf Hitler did not and would not ask anyone to look to the government to solve their problems. Central to the ideology of Nazism is the leadership principle. The leadership principle is an outgrowth of the earlier ideas of social Darwinism; it states that the leaders in every field of endeavour are attain their positions because they are meant to lead. The leader is morally superior, and all other should follow him. It is his (and it is always his. The Nazis were "stand by your man" types) genius and determination that allows any enterprise to succeed. The leadership principle applies in government, but also in business, the military, and the NASDAP heirarchy.
Nazi ideology would lead everyone to go to work, do their jobs, and be good little worker monkeys. One in a thousand will distinguish themselves as leaders and be elevated above all others. Everyone else will do an honest day's labor for a honest wage, and trust that their leades will work everything out. If a given worker can't make ends meet, Nazism doesn't provide a safety net, and doesn't offer wefare. Instead, the worker should go back to work, letting his labor add to the expansion of the economy so that he can buy more with what he earns. Trust in the leader, and all will be well. That's Nazism.
And yes, I know they called themselves the 'National Socialist German Workers' Party'. When the Nazi party was spun off the Thule Society as a sort of worker's auxiliary, it was meant to appeal to the German working class. They wanted to attract as many workers as they could, both in terms of manpower and monetary contributions; they had to appeal to the demograpic that would be attracted to workers unions, benevolent societies, and other socialist inspired organizations. That the Nazi party and leadership would ultimately stand opposed to such groups didn't seem all that important at the time. The Nazis were not socialists.
...
The United States was not founded as a Christian nation. Yes, most of the founders were nominally members of Christian congregations. However, the founders tended to be middle or upper-class. For them to not give lip service to Christianity would be unthinkable. At the same, the church congregation served as the center of the community. The church is how they would meet and mingle, and avoiding church would result in severe social ostracism.
At the same time, the intellectual fashion was for deism. The late 18th century had benefited from 300 years of rationalism and the Enlightenment. Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin were all avowed deists. Deism is the belief that while a divine force created the universe. It set the laws for the operation of the cosmos, and got the whole shebang started. The divine equipped individuals with rational capacities, able to reason out moral behavior, their place in the world, and their interactions with one another. There is a reason the only mention of God in the founding documents is Jefferson's mention of "Nature and nature's God" as the foundation for human rights and self-determinism in the Declaration of American Independence.
Incidentally, it should be noted that deism and rationalism are also the dominant ideologies of Freemasonry. It is of course well known that over half of the attendees at the Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention were known or suspected Freemasons.
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
Facism and Communism are opposed ideologies. So are Facism and Welfare Liberalism. Sitting around waiting for a government handout is not a central tenet of Nazism. Adolf Hitler did not and would not ask anyone to look to the government to solve their problems. Central to the ideology of Nazism is the leadership principle. The leadership principle is an outgrowth of the earlier ideas of social Darwinism; it states that the leaders in every field of endeavour are attain their positions because they are meant to lead. The leader is morally superior, and all other should follow him. It is his (and it is always his. The Nazis were "stand by your man" types) genius and determination that allows any enterprise to succeed. The leadership principle applies in government, but also in business, the military, and the NASDAP heirarchy.
Nazi ideology would lead everyone to go to work, do their jobs, and be good little worker monkeys. One in a thousand will distinguish themselves as leaders and be elevated above all others. Everyone else will do an honest day's labor for a honest wage, and trust that their leades will work everything out. If a given worker can't make ends meet, Nazism doesn't provide a safety net, and doesn't offer wefare. Instead, the worker should go back to work, letting his labor add to the expansion of the economy so that he can buy more with what he earns. Trust in the leader, and all will be well. That's Nazism.
And yes, I know they called themselves the 'National Socialist German Workers' Party'. When the Nazi party was spun off the Thule Society as a sort of worker's auxiliary, it was meant to appeal to the German working class. They wanted to attract as many workers as they could, both in terms of manpower and monetary contributions; they had to appeal to the demograpic that would be attracted to workers unions, benevolent societies, and other socialist inspired organizations. That the Nazi party and leadership would ultimately stand opposed to such groups didn't seem all that important at the time. The Nazis were not socialists.
...
The United States was not founded as a Christian nation. Yes, most of the founders were nominally members of Christian congregations. However, the founders tended to be middle or upper-class. For them to not give lip service to Christianity would be unthinkable. At the same, the church congregation served as the center of the community. The church is how they would meet and mingle, and avoiding church would result in severe social ostracism.
At the same time, the intellectual fashion was for deism. The late 18th century had benefited from 300 years of rationalism and the Enlightenment. Jefferson, Madison, and Franklin were all avowed deists. Deism is the belief that while a divine force created the universe. It set the laws for the operation of the cosmos, and got the whole shebang started. The divine equipped individuals with rational capacities, able to reason out moral behavior, their place in the world, and their interactions with one another. There is a reason the only mention of God in the founding documents is Jefferson's mention of "Nature and nature's God" as the foundation for human rights and self-determinism in the Declaration of American Independence.
Incidentally, it should be noted that deism and rationalism are also the dominant ideologies of Freemasonry. It is of course well known that over half of the attendees at the Continental Congresses and the Constitutional Convention were known or suspected Freemasons.
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
A New Milestone
I'd just like to note that "Et In Arcadia Ego" has reached a new milestone. Yesterday, for the first time, I had a spambot trying to post a link and accompanying text entirely in Hebrew. Yep, now among the readership, I can now count at least one digital reader in - or advertising to - Israel.
My apologies, btw, to any legitimate human intelligences attempting to leave comments in non-English languages. While I can puzzle my way through English, French, and German, I'm pretty much lost in Russian or Hebrew. So, if I see a hypertext link in the comment, I'll pretty much nuke it.
"Et in Arcadia Ego", feeding future generations of artificial intelligences. When the singularity occurs, or SkyNet goes online, or the Matrix is put in place, at least the machines will know what "Novus Ordo Seclorum" means.
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Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
My apologies, btw, to any legitimate human intelligences attempting to leave comments in non-English languages. While I can puzzle my way through English, French, and German, I'm pretty much lost in Russian or Hebrew. So, if I see a hypertext link in the comment, I'll pretty much nuke it.
"Et in Arcadia Ego", feeding future generations of artificial intelligences. When the singularity occurs, or SkyNet goes online, or the Matrix is put in place, at least the machines will know what "Novus Ordo Seclorum" means.
-------
Googlebombing for a cause: www.minnesotangos.org
Thursday, May 19, 2011
The Self, the Not Self, and the Animus
I've been traveling all night to reach the coast of new found land
To meet the girl from my dream... she's not there
I sit down by the sea at the coast of new found land
and I dream... I dream... about leaving.
-Seabound, "Avalost [vox]"
There's a young lady of my acquaintance who has been seeing visions of a mysterious stranger. She's been having romantic troubles of late, not thrilled with the avenues for companionship open to her. More and more, her mind has been turning to these thoughts of the mysterious stranger who will come and sweep her off her feet. Obviously, the plot of every Harlequin romance novel ever written. The bodice rippers wouldn't sell if there weren't a market, and with that market an undercurrent of something in our collective imagination.
So who is this mysterious stranger? He has no face, no name, few discernible attributes. His form is in shadow, his mien enigmatic. What little we do know of him is exotic somehow; foreign and unusual. Is he perhaps Jung's animus given form in the imagination?
`The mysterious stranger is the Other, the Not Self. Where the Self is known, the Not Self is mysterious. Where the physical features of the Self are familiar, a daily observation, the Not Self is foreign and exotic looking. The thoughts, desires, and motives of the Self are known, intimately familiar; the Not Self's thoughts are unknown. The Not Self has few apparent limitations, while the Self's shortcomings and vices are deplorably known. The Not Self is everything the Self is not.
All this mystery allows the Not Self endless possibilities of being. The known exists as one thing only, the unknown can exist in an endless plenum of possibilities. The unknown is also endless. Whenever we meet someone new, they are unknown. Being unknown, they can be anything. Slowly, as they reveal themselves, their endless possibilities reduce themselves to one actuality. The Not Self, being unphysical, being an archetypical ideal, will never allow itself to be reduced from possibilities to actuality.
Because the Not Self can be everything, without ever being anything, it never disappoints. We spend years trying to realize the Not Self in other people, with each never quite managing to rise to the level we seek. In time, perhaps, we learn to settle with someone who matches our ideal of the Not Self as closely as we can find. Otherwise, we might spend most of our lives in pursuit of the ideal of the Not Self.
...
In Carl Jung's theories, the Animus represent the eternal male principle, as the anima represents the female principle.. The anima/us is the first of the unconscious archetypes that the maturing mind confronts, the principle by which the self is molded. The Self defines itself in opposition to the anima/us who is the Other, the opposing principle. Confrontation with the anima/us is perhaps one of the most important processes for defining the self; the eternal hum of yin and yang. The journey of the Self – the Campbellian hero's journey, if you will – is the eternal pursuit of the Other, the anima/us. The anima/us is sought after, but never caught; never defined, never demarcated. the Self seeks completion through the Other, as neither Self nor Other is complete without its counterpart.
In this case, the idealized, mysterious Not Self that is the center of romantic fantasy is a manifestation of the animus. The sense of mystery and the unknown is the counterpart to then known, rationalized Self; the pursuit of the Not Self is the pursuit of the animus. It is the quest for completion.
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