68 sats \ 0 replies \ @SilkyNinja 1 May \ on: Philosophers Are Studying Reddit’s "Am I the Asshole?" alter_native
Super fascinating article (though the writing was tedious as heck). I think when we are encouraged to value a utilitarian perspective over the sanctity of the individual perspective, there isn't an actual moral fabric to rest on or start from. It's my understanding that ethics are handed down from other people, and morality depends on individual perspective & choice.
My impression is #1 is trying to elevate his idol; #2 is seeking refuge/relief; #3 is seeking sanctuary. My perceptions here (on #1 and #2 particularly) are highly influenced by my cultural/political upbringing. #4 is smugly pleased, although he appears ready for action in the world.
In other words, 1-3 are more/less asking for something and probably also “giving” something back - to ask is to concede inferiority/lack. That act of giving power to the “worshipped” is I think what is colloquially understood as religious worship. I just wonder if these examples are bit anemic compared to the otherwise secular use of the word as in “to worship a lover.”
If we could be a little liberal and imaginative, could we make up a story where #4 actually “worships” life because he is willing to do what it takes to act within it and fulfill life’s desires?
I got myself a copy of Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith for my birthday because I want to get more visually creative with my work. I remember when I first saw this book, before I started a serious artistic journey, I just didn’t get it. I felt inspired the other day to look it up and now I totally get it; it seems like the perfect antidote to my visual/plastic art “perfectionism” (which means not getting anything even started).
Her mantra is “to create is to destroy.” So badass.
If Bitcoin is very important to you, you might want to think of your “life story” as a science fiction. Science fiction has certain “genre rules”, as do all genres. Science fiction, more expressly than fantasy, emphasizes social slavery (pretty beautiful when you remark on that alongside Bitcoin values); fantasy is more about individual liberation.
Some interesting notes flipping through the chapter “Science Fiction” in Anatomy of Genre by John Truby:
- SF is about social systems. All social systems have elements of freedom and imprisonment, so the story isn’t about a free system vs an enslaving system, but all social systems have elements of both.
- SF says the most profound choices we make are influenced by the technology we have invented
- The best SF writers compare, in detail, the opponent’s vision of the future with the hero’s vision
- Like Fantasy, there are symbolic/allegorical relations between the hero’s internal state/character and the visual/physical world. In SF, “often the hero’s weaknesses turn on what it means to be human” and “stories connect the hero’s lack of evolution with the planet’s lack of evolution.”
100 sats \ 0 replies \ @SilkyNinja OP 23 Apr \ parent \ on: Make Aerial Yoga Masculine mostly_harmless
For some reason we started gendering exercise types.
This sparked a lot of interesting thoughts in me that are all half-baked, but I hope get cooked all the way someday.
I think the idea of "masculine" exercise needing to be expressions of aggression is a narrow-minded perspective of the human experience.
I learned how to do a single leg sumo squat (shiko) today. It was pretty cool. I might want to take a sumo wrestling class one day.
I think it's beautiful how much (and how quickly) your perspective can shift on what's right in front of you. How do you have moments like that all the time, where you fall in love with life all over again?
@plebpoet have you done any reading on the "culture war" within academic poetry? It's pretty hilarious and frustrating actually.
I have a lot complicated thoughts and feelings about contemporary poetry, but this Wikipedia article filled in the gaps of the actual history of it for me to have some serious ideas.
My prediction of an optimistic end result is that poetry will be revitalized the same way dance has been revitalized - after modern dancers rejected the strict form of ballet, contemporary dancers were like hold on a minute! ballet taught us some good things too! but also we want freedom!
and thus American poetry will be revitalized :)
Do people have an overabundance of options or do they just not know how to choose? I've met a lot of people who are emotionally anemic - I've suffered emotional anemia - and the denial of fundamental unhappiness leads to greater lifetime unhappiness more than whatever is the mad dash and struggle it takes to find happiness.
I think about how people are sometimes encouraged to not trust themselves and I wonder if that is a greater force attributing to the degradation of culture rather than an overabundance of options. Even out of the top songs today, what percentage of them encourage the (presumably teenaged listener) to stop listening to other people and start listening to themselves?
Say there were only ten musicians to listen to, and only in their music only were you inspired in how to live. Seems like you'd have less options about who to actually grow up to be than if you had, say, 100.
I think advertising and the machine of consumer culture has something to do with this, though I hesitate to make a formal argument as I haven't done all the research and I'd rather not paint myself as anti-capitalist. But if culture is made by the choices taken by individuals based on what is in front of them, the incentives of who makes those choices attractive to the average person need to be checked. Largely I think what makes a choice attractive for less experienced people ("the youth") comes down to marketing/emotional appeal. Generally, what incentivizes a person in charge of making any of these choices more appealing than the other?
And to a point of the options kids are presented with being "bad" - banning books (or music, or video games) does not stop people from reading (listening/playing) them. You need to write better books.
I've been playing with the chords D - Am - F - Dm - Am - A (in various combinations) on my uke with some finger plucking patterns (2-3-4, 3-2-4, 3-2-4-2-3, 4-2-3) to practice easier chord switching (and that darned D chord). Finger plucking patterns are a fun way to explore math and sound.
I am not a dev! I found this post on the front page.
Something that crosses my mind is the benefit specialization brings to the species in a super-wide spectrum.
I am very interested in cutting edge exercise science as it relates to my work (physical/performing arts). If we were not so specialized across a wide spectrum, professional athleticism, potential later-career applications of that athleticism, and even adjacent fields of study of the human body to develop new perspectives of exercise science would (potentially) not exist.
IMO, new perspectives in exercise science lead to better conclusions about what is physical health, which benefit every body!
Not sure if that helps your problem! Just something I’ve realized - my work benefits greatly from an ecosystem of great athleticism and scientific study of the mechanisms of the human body - neither of those two fields I could fully investigate alone.
As far as my application, I like working on “what’s new” as an artist but in the arts if you don’t understand, appreciate and STUDY the canon of what exists you can get lost. IME, even when working on what’s new you end up iterating a lot on what exists - celebrating what works and iterating on or tinkering with what doesn’t. So I think I would say somewhere between A and B for me, and I’m going to vote B because I imagine that’s an option that’s not going to get a lot of love :)
Some ideas that've been digesting in my mind are finally converging into a real piece of writing! I credit my Shakespeare post yesterday :)
Who do you think is the greatest Shakespearean villain of all time?
Also, I don't know if you're familiar with it, but I recently was acquainted with Cymbeline. Online it's called a tragedy, but my Pelican Shakespeare calls it a comedy...(and it reads as a comedy).
Anyway, it's now one of my favorites and IMO highly underrated. It's got a little blood :)
To be clear, that is me inferring what Shakespeare was "really talking about" Richard III 4.4 128-129. But it is pretty funny :)
I ate some al pastor tacos that were much spicier than expected.
BUT I also learned a new way to play the D chord on the ukulele that is much easier on my clumsy fingers.
It is a vision which speaks to me a greater fulfillment of my life than I ever thought possible as a younger person. It is one particular image which is a greater anchor to my actions than any other fleeting image that speaks success.
I am swept up in a passion for what I do. I value creating cohesion across the vision of my life over a grindset. If you have a real passion, grinding can lead to an early grave.
I tend to capitalize on training my strength-skills daily and view my weaknesses strategically: what can I get better at today that will serve me best in the long-run and that is most readily applicable to a short-term goal?
Cohesion as a guidepost leads me to spiral around the same things that endlessly fascinate, interest, and motivate. Finding connections and patterns gives me direction, which illuminates my purpose and adds more fuel to the passion fire.
I highly value base skill/craft development (of the "passion") as the axis for creating passion about life. Passion --> Passion
It's not at all a trivial thing. In a context where "self-actualizing" is your primary concern, it could be said that is what you need to survive. We're always becoming is the thing; this is why I prefer to think in terms of cohesion and vision.