Hahaha. I think it's wonderful that you wrote that article. I was just about to write an article about the Principle Hope myself and then got sidetracked by the AI Conference that just took place in Germany - I am especially happy that you brought up the Hope and Duty question again, since I had forgotten who that quote was from and wanted to ask you on our next phonecall.
And since I also believe in being absolutely unapologetically cheese I will also add this strip on the topic of hope and adjacent to the topic of this post.
Thank you for doing what you do , and for writing about it. I don't have a sense of whether my approach to moving onward has a philosophical label or famous person's name who thought to write it down first. Maybe your readers can tell me in the comments. I'm also a very upbeat, smiley person so people often get confused that I can talk about my misery with a grin. What I do have a sense of is that my approach never stops changing. There is no one approach because the world never stops changing. The approach IS to never stop changing.
We have strange cultures that encourage & reinforce the notion that one day we can just stop and be content if we do X,Y,Z perfectly. But that is incompatible with how I perceive reality. Every day we wake up, the world we knew yesterday is gone and it is our burden to adjust to the fine tuning. The longer we spend saying goodbye to yesterday, the harder it becomes to be part of today. As the ocean of humanity churns with death and birth, destruction and creation, we flex and bend or we break. We build gimbals for all the elements of our lives that keep us steady enough to withstand the next change. But we must also be prepared to tear them all down. To be directionless for a time while the gimbals are rebuilt to counter the new waves, while also acknowledging that being directionless is not the same as being lifeless or meaningless. It is a temporary state as all other states.
I’ve been depressed the past few days and I found reading this very therapeutic. Thank you for sharing. "Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" rings true as always.
I think a lot about these questions, for what it’s worth. I’ve had some extremely tough times in the past few years, extremely. To add to your aphorisms, or to put my own spin on them, I have the following:
1. You can’t always get what you want, or even what you need, but you can always live according to your own values and that’s more of a comfort than you think it’s gonna be.
2. There’s nothing wrong with just being a mammal on this planet. The same things comfort us as comfort the other mammals: warmth, shelter, physical closeness, the sight of beauty. There’s nothing wrong and taking comfort in those things.
3. From Spinoza: “No deity, nor anyone else, save the envious, takes pleasure in my infirmity and discomfort, nor sets down to my virtue the tears, sobs, fear, and the like, which are signs of infirmity of spirit; on the contrary, the greater the pleasure wherewith we are affected, the greater the perfection whereto we pass; in other words, the more must we necessarily partake of the divine nature. Therefore, to make use of what comes in our way, and to enjoy it as much as possible (not to the point of satiety, for that would not be enjoyment) is the part of a wise man.
I say it is the part of a wise man to refresh and recreate himself with moderate and pleasant food and drink, and also with perfumes, with the soft beauty of growing plants, with dress, with music, with many sports, with theatres, and the like, such as every man may make use of without injury to his neighbour. For the human body is composed of very numerous parts, of diverse nature, which continually stand in need of fresh and varied nourishment, so that the whole body may be equally capable of performing all the actions, which follow from the necessity of its own nature; and, consequently, so that the mind may also be equally capable of understanding many things simultaneously.”
I should probably just write a post about this, rather than continuing in your comments!
I didn’t know about your personal experience although I have enjoyed your work. You may… like (?)/find commonality in this very beautiful and sad documentary about the documentary-maker’s experience of being ghosted by her husband: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0834084 - it is unthinkable that people are actually capable of this but it seems some of them definitely are
Hahaha. I think it's wonderful that you wrote that article. I was just about to write an article about the Principle Hope myself and then got sidetracked by the AI Conference that just took place in Germany - I am especially happy that you brought up the Hope and Duty question again, since I had forgotten who that quote was from and wanted to ask you on our next phonecall.
Also: Thanks for the shout out. :)
And to adequately credit the original source of this:
https://www.asofterworld.com/clean/lurid.jpg
And since I also believe in being absolutely unapologetically cheese I will also add this strip on the topic of hope and adjacent to the topic of this post.
https://www.asofterworld.com/clean/slingshots.jpg
Thank you for doing what you do , and for writing about it. I don't have a sense of whether my approach to moving onward has a philosophical label or famous person's name who thought to write it down first. Maybe your readers can tell me in the comments. I'm also a very upbeat, smiley person so people often get confused that I can talk about my misery with a grin. What I do have a sense of is that my approach never stops changing. There is no one approach because the world never stops changing. The approach IS to never stop changing.
We have strange cultures that encourage & reinforce the notion that one day we can just stop and be content if we do X,Y,Z perfectly. But that is incompatible with how I perceive reality. Every day we wake up, the world we knew yesterday is gone and it is our burden to adjust to the fine tuning. The longer we spend saying goodbye to yesterday, the harder it becomes to be part of today. As the ocean of humanity churns with death and birth, destruction and creation, we flex and bend or we break. We build gimbals for all the elements of our lives that keep us steady enough to withstand the next change. But we must also be prepared to tear them all down. To be directionless for a time while the gimbals are rebuilt to counter the new waves, while also acknowledging that being directionless is not the same as being lifeless or meaningless. It is a temporary state as all other states.
I’ve been depressed the past few days and I found reading this very therapeutic. Thank you for sharing. "Pessimism of the intellect, optimism of the will" rings true as always.
I think a lot about these questions, for what it’s worth. I’ve had some extremely tough times in the past few years, extremely. To add to your aphorisms, or to put my own spin on them, I have the following:
1. You can’t always get what you want, or even what you need, but you can always live according to your own values and that’s more of a comfort than you think it’s gonna be.
2. There’s nothing wrong with just being a mammal on this planet. The same things comfort us as comfort the other mammals: warmth, shelter, physical closeness, the sight of beauty. There’s nothing wrong and taking comfort in those things.
3. From Spinoza: “No deity, nor anyone else, save the envious, takes pleasure in my infirmity and discomfort, nor sets down to my virtue the tears, sobs, fear, and the like, which are signs of infirmity of spirit; on the contrary, the greater the pleasure wherewith we are affected, the greater the perfection whereto we pass; in other words, the more must we necessarily partake of the divine nature. Therefore, to make use of what comes in our way, and to enjoy it as much as possible (not to the point of satiety, for that would not be enjoyment) is the part of a wise man.
I say it is the part of a wise man to refresh and recreate himself with moderate and pleasant food and drink, and also with perfumes, with the soft beauty of growing plants, with dress, with music, with many sports, with theatres, and the like, such as every man may make use of without injury to his neighbour. For the human body is composed of very numerous parts, of diverse nature, which continually stand in need of fresh and varied nourishment, so that the whole body may be equally capable of performing all the actions, which follow from the necessity of its own nature; and, consequently, so that the mind may also be equally capable of understanding many things simultaneously.”
I should probably just write a post about this, rather than continuing in your comments!
I didn’t know about your personal experience although I have enjoyed your work. You may… like (?)/find commonality in this very beautiful and sad documentary about the documentary-maker’s experience of being ghosted by her husband: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0834084 - it is unthinkable that people are actually capable of this but it seems some of them definitely are
Looks like that link is broken but it’s on Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/mZoADgehjrCraQPhq5