Discussion:
Medicine of the soul.
(too old to reply)
D
2024-05-26 14:28:55 UTC
Permalink
"To lie still and think little is the cheapest medicine for all diseases
of the soul, and, with the aid of good-will, becomes pleasanter every hour
that it is used."

-Nietzsche, Human, all too human, part 2.2.361.
oldernow
2024-05-28 01:21:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by D
"To lie still and think little is the cheapest medicine for
all diseases of the soul, and, with the aid of good-will,
becomes pleasanter every hour that it is used."
-Nietzsche, Human, all too human, part 2.2.361.
Be still and know I AM.
--
oldernow
xyz001 at nym.hush.com
D
2024-05-28 10:05:30 UTC
Permalink
Post by oldernow
Post by D
"To lie still and think little is the cheapest medicine for
all diseases of the soul, and, with the aid of good-will,
becomes pleasanter every hour that it is used."
-Nietzsche, Human, all too human, part 2.2.361.
Be still and know I AM.
Yes, that's exactly why I sent it. I thought you'd bite! ;)
oldernow
2024-05-28 11:20:09 UTC
Permalink
Post by D
Post by oldernow
Post by D
"To lie still and think little is the cheapest medicine for
all diseases of the soul, and, with the aid of good-will,
becomes pleasanter every hour that it is used."
-Nietzsche, Human, all too human, part 2.2.361.
Be still and know I AM.
Yes, that's exactly why I sent it. I thought you'd bite! ;)
Why you *scoundrel*, you!

It's been a combination of being super "real" world busy, and my faith in word-based interaction continuing to crumble (or is it plummet?).

But I've been having much fun/satisfaction writing a few tools facilitating publishing textural insanity to an http place, and reading others' html/gopher/gemini insanity.

That is what this is, you know - the keyboard/screen playing one heck of a good straitjacket role....
--
oldernow
xyz001 at nym.hush.com
D
2024-05-28 16:47:15 UTC
Permalink
Post by oldernow
Post by D
Post by oldernow
Post by D
"To lie still and think little is the cheapest medicine for
all diseases of the soul, and, with the aid of good-will,
becomes pleasanter every hour that it is used."
-Nietzsche, Human, all too human, part 2.2.361.
Be still and know I AM.
Yes, that's exactly why I sent it. I thought you'd bite! ;)
Why you *scoundrel*, you!
It's been a combination of being super "real" world busy, and my faith in word-based interaction continuing to crumble (or is it plummet?).
But I've been having much fun/satisfaction writing a few tools facilitating publishing textural insanity to an http place, and reading others' html/gopher/gemini insanity.
That is what this is, you know - the keyboard/screen playing one heck of a good straitjacket role....
Happy to hear that real life keeps you busy instead of the pretend-life
we're creating here in this shared illusion! ;)

Do you have any reviews of any good html/gopher sites lately? I did enjoy
the russian religious studies guy.
oldernow
2024-05-28 23:05:20 UTC
Permalink
Post by D
Happy to hear that real life keeps you busy instead
of the pretend-life we're creating here in this shared
illusion! ;)
The convincingness of the illusion comes and goes.
Post by D
Do you have any reviews of any good html/gopher sites
lately? I did enjoy the russian religious studies guy.
I'd thought you'd either died or became one of Jehovah's Witnesses, so I stopped saving links. :-)

You've been to https://midnight.pub before, right? I've chanced upon wonderful stuff there from time to time.
--
oldernow
xyz001 at nym.hush.com
D
2024-05-29 08:52:02 UTC
Permalink
Post by oldernow
Post by D
Happy to hear that real life keeps you busy instead
of the pretend-life we're creating here in this shared
illusion! ;)
The convincingness of the illusion comes and goes.
Post by D
Do you have any reviews of any good html/gopher sites
lately? I did enjoy the russian religious studies guy.
I'd thought you'd either died or became one of Jehovah's Witnesses, so I stopped saving links. :-)
Haha, no... haven't found god yet, but had a 4 week vacation and a
Nietzsche deep dive, now followed with an Epicurus deep dive, to seek out
Nietzsches sources. ;)

In terms of this place, there is a natural ebb and flow of the threads, so
after rising to the ethereal transcendence, all words became meaningless.

Maybe we should start a _philosophical_ thread about Trump? Maybe that
would take us back to planet earth? ;)
Post by oldernow
You've been to https://midnight.pub before, right? I've chanced upon wonderful stuff there from time to time.
Never seen, but now it's saved in a browser tab for slow moments at work.
Thank you very much for the recommendation!
oldernow
2024-05-29 11:42:41 UTC
Permalink
Post by D
Haha, no... haven't found god yet, but had a 4 week
vacation and a Nietzsche deep dive, now followed with an
Epicurus deep dive, to seek out Nietzsches sources. ;)
Leave it to deep dives to undo vacation benefits! :-)
Post by D
In terms of this place, there is a natural ebb and flow of
the threads, so after rising to the ethereal transcendence,
all words became meaningless.
Indeed.
Post by D
Maybe we should start a _philosophical_ thread about
Trump? Maybe that would take us back to planet earth? ;)
Amidst a whole lot of yawning on my end....

I'm fine with the topic, but I feel confident in having
concluded he's mostly a story of finding a way to reveal
how a large block of humans took stupidity to new levels
by perpetually repeating to themselves the same fictions
amplified by a large sector of the "news" media, while
refusing to even consider alternative takes.

I mean, I was already convinced most humans were idiots.
But liberals spiraled downwardly several orders of
magnitude beneath stupidity, actually acting
proud/smug when answering decent arguments
with tripe like "But Russia!" or "But
'fine people'!" or "But bleach!"

I mean.. seriously?
Post by D
Post by oldernow
You've been to https://midnight.pub before, right? I've
chanced upon wonderful stuff there from time to time.
Never seen, but now it's saved in a browser tab for
slow moments at work. Thank you very much for the
recommendation!
I chanced upon the following entitled "Human Un-nature"
last night, which I found considerably more interesting
than most of what I encounter anymore:

gemini://beyondneolithic.life/posts/human_un-nature.gmi
Post by D
# Human Un-nature
Everyone has gotten into some kinbd of argument or
disagreement about "human nature," which is supposed to
be the one true thing that makes humans actually human if
you dig deep enough through all the layers of society,
relationships, morals, etc. Or if you haven't had an
argument about it, you've at least had someone bring it up
as some kind of self evident explanation for something in
the world, usually something they take to be unfortunate
but unavvoidable. "I don't really like the police either,
but humans are naturally violent and greedy, so we need
them." "My boss is a dick too, but the sad truth is that
humans are naturally lazy, so what are you gonna do?"
Of course, this supposedly essential, core element of our
species called "human natures" has a funny way of changing
depending on the time, the place, and whoever's in charge
of something. In medieval Europe, humans were naturally
servile which is why we needed lords and ultimatyely kings
to keep everything going. In the contemporary U.S., humans
are naturally greedy, which is why we need capitalism to
turn that greed into wealth for all. And so on.
I think we ought to take a different view entirely, and
one that's actually really simple. Humans, and (so far)
*only* humans, are those animals which are precisely
*unnatural* to the core. There is absolutely nothing
natural about humans. We are that species that presisely
*does not* have a particular way to be, and in fact there
might be as many ways to be human as there are humans
themselves. There is no human nature, nothing at the core
of the species, all of our manifold histories, cultures,
societies, etc. might just be the various ways we've tried
to fill in the essential *gap* that constitutes us all,
individually and collectively.
I think starting from this point gets us a lot further than
essentializing the values of a given era and calling it
"human nature." It helps us get out of the trap (at least
conceptually) of neoliberalism, which tells us that this,
right now, the way things currently are, is the only
possible way things could be, give or take a few minor
modifications here and there. No: My thesis is that we are
only what we chose to be exactly because there is nothing
essential about us. We are only what we practice, what we
do. We are what we choose to build for oursleves. Which
means we *can* change *everything*, if we wanted to.
There is no human nature, there is only human un-nature. I
should come up with a better turn of phrase, but for now
this is what I've got.
--
oldernow
xyz001 at nym.hush.com
D
2024-05-29 16:48:22 UTC
Permalink
Post by oldernow
Post by D
Maybe we should start a _philosophical_ thread about
Trump? Maybe that would take us back to planet earth? ;)
Amidst a whole lot of yawning on my end....
Come on... wake up! Isn't now the time when the temperature is slowly
increasing to culminate in a political election frenzy after the summer?
Don't you feel the adrenaline? The unstoppable urge to vote to make
society a better place? ;)
Post by oldernow
I mean, I was already convinced most humans were idiots.
But isn't that why Trump is needed? The idiots needs a strong leader to
guide them! ;)
Post by oldernow
I chanced upon the following entitled "Human Un-nature"
last night, which I found considerably more interesting
gemini://beyondneolithic.life/posts/human_un-nature.gmi
Thank you very much!

I don't know what to believe. On the one hand, my favourite argument
against wokeness and identity politics is that if you sub-divide enough
times, you end up with _individualism_. ;) So the below could be looked
at from that angle.

Then you have the teasing angle of human unnaturalness being the nature
of humans. In fact, since it is nature, we have no other choice. ;)

Then you have the boring path of the fact that we have common biologies,
organs, and common feelings and ways to react. Common feelings and for
instance, habits such as gift giving, or responding in kind, being
things which have repeated across numerous cultures and peoples.

Just some interpretations that come to mind. =)
Post by oldernow
Post by D
# Human Un-nature
Everyone has gotten into some kinbd of argument or
disagreement about "human nature," which is supposed to
be the one true thing that makes humans actually human if
you dig deep enough through all the layers of society,
relationships, morals, etc. Or if you haven't had an
argument about it, you've at least had someone bring it up
as some kind of self evident explanation for something in
the world, usually something they take to be unfortunate
but unavvoidable. "I don't really like the police either,
but humans are naturally violent and greedy, so we need
them." "My boss is a dick too, but the sad truth is that
humans are naturally lazy, so what are you gonna do?"
Of course, this supposedly essential, core element of our
species called "human natures" has a funny way of changing
depending on the time, the place, and whoever's in charge
of something. In medieval Europe, humans were naturally
servile which is why we needed lords and ultimatyely kings
to keep everything going. In the contemporary U.S., humans
are naturally greedy, which is why we need capitalism to
turn that greed into wealth for all. And so on.
I think we ought to take a different view entirely, and
one that's actually really simple. Humans, and (so far)
*only* humans, are those animals which are precisely
*unnatural* to the core. There is absolutely nothing
natural about humans. We are that species that presisely
*does not* have a particular way to be, and in fact there
might be as many ways to be human as there are humans
themselves. There is no human nature, nothing at the core
of the species, all of our manifold histories, cultures,
societies, etc. might just be the various ways we've tried
to fill in the essential *gap* that constitutes us all,
individually and collectively.
I think starting from this point gets us a lot further than
essentializing the values of a given era and calling it
"human nature." It helps us get out of the trap (at least
conceptually) of neoliberalism, which tells us that this,
right now, the way things currently are, is the only
possible way things could be, give or take a few minor
modifications here and there. No: My thesis is that we are
only what we chose to be exactly because there is nothing
essential about us. We are only what we practice, what we
do. We are what we choose to build for oursleves. Which
means we *can* change *everything*, if we wanted to.
There is no human nature, there is only human un-nature. I
should come up with a better turn of phrase, but for now
this is what I've got.
oldernow
2024-05-29 17:24:54 UTC
Permalink
Post by D
Post by oldernow
Post by D
Maybe we should start a _philosophical_ thread about
Trump? Maybe that would take us back to planet earth? ;)
Amidst a whole lot of yawning on my end....
Come on... wake up! Isn't now the time when the
temperature is slowly increasing to culminate in a
political election frenzy after the summer? Don't you
feel the adrenaline? The unstoppable urge to vote to make
society a better place? ;)
That seems too much like joining the circus to transmute
the three rings to pentagrams.
Post by D
Post by oldernow
I mean, I was already convinced most humans were idiots.
But isn't that why Trump is needed? The idiots needs a
strong leader to guide them! ;)
That covers half of the idiots. The rest apparently need
a senile, lying sack of corruption shit to guide them.

And you do understand I'm being generous, right? :-)
Post by D
Thank you very much!
I don't know what to believe. On the one hand, my
favourite argument against wokeness and identity politics
is that if you sub-divide enough times, you end up with
_individualism_. ;) So the below could be looked at from
that angle.
Then you have the teasing angle of human unnaturalness
being the nature of humans. In fact, since it is nature,
we have no other choice. ;)
Then you have the boring path of the fact that we have
common biologies, organs, and common feelings and ways
to react. Common feelings and for instance, habits such
as gift giving, or responding in kind, being things which
have repeated across numerous cultures and peoples.
Just some interpretations that come to mind. =)
I think (haha) the biologies / organs / feelings /
reactions / etc. are concomitant with <ineffable>. *But*
once named/labeled, said names/labels somehow become
standin's for them in an emerging re-presentational
dream - but specific to each representational context,
i.e. seeming individual mind. That's the slippery slope
to babble on. Once the words/names/labels become more
important than the underlying ineffable realities, the
situation is necessarily the madness of the same words
meaning different things to/in different minds - a madness
nourished by every embracing of words as though realities.

Like writing USENET newsgroup posts, for example....
<coughs>
--
oldernow
xyz001 at nym.hush.com
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