Auditory imagery in poetry

The Hyper Acute Senses People of Reddit

2018.09.08 00:07 SharpenedStinger The Hyper Acute Senses People of Reddit

Hyperphantasia is a relatively new term used to describe extreme or far above average mental sensory imagery occurring both when we imagine and when we recreate memories stored in our brains.
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2013.06.14 00:56 gandalfthenerd Cradle of Filth

The unofficial subreddit for fans of the UK metal band Cradle of Filth.
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2013.04.13 21:27 magnicity Taking control of the music in your head

Is there a song or jingle that just won't go away? Do you need to go places and get things done and you want that sound gone? maybe we can help you here.
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2024.05.13 12:15 JG98 Shiv Kumar Batalvi, the most prolific Panjabi poet in modern history.

Shiv Kumar Batalvi, the most prolific Panjabi poet in modern history.
Shiv Kumar Batalvi (July 23 1936 - May 6 1973) was a Panjabi poet, writer, and playwright who left an undeniable mark on Panjabi literature despite his short life. He was born in Bara Pind Lohtian, situated in the Shakargarh Tehsil of Gurdaspur (now Narowal District). His father, Pandit Krishan Gopal Sharma, served as the village tehsildar in the revenue department, while his mother, Shanti Devi, was a homemaker.
From a young age, Shiv displayed a unique personality. He would often vanish for entire days, only to be found lying under trees by the riverbank near the local Mandir outside the village. He was deeply connected to nature. This fascination with the natural world, along with exposure to local renditions of the Hindu epic Ramayana, would later find expression in his poetry's rich imagery.
Batalvi appears to have been captivated by the sights and sounds of his rural surroundings. Wandering minstrel singers, snake charmers, and the like left a lasting impression on him. These elements would later become recurring metaphors in his poetry, imbuing it with a distinctly rural flavor and a deep connection to the Panjabi cultural landscape.
His idyllic childhood in rural Panjab was disrupted by the trauma of Partition in 1947. At the tender age of 11, he was uprooted from his birthplace and relocated with his family to Batala, Gurdaspur district in India. Here, his father continued his work as a patwari, a revenue official.
Following Partition, Shiv received his primary education in Batala. Though a bright student, his education lead him down an unconventional path. He completed his matriculation exams at Panjab University in 1953, showcasing his academic potential. However, his passion for writing and a restless spirit clashed with the confines of formal education. He embarked on a series of college enrollments, seeking an outlet for his creativity.
First, he enrolled in the F.Sc. program at Baring Union Christian College in Batala. However, his artistic temperament soon led him to S.N. College in Qadian, where he joined the Arts program, a better fit for his literary aspirations. Yet, even this program couldn't hold his attention for long, and he left in his second year.
Batalvi's search for the right educational path continued. He enrolled in a school at Baijnath, Himachal Pradesh, to pursue a diploma in Civil Engineering, seeking a more practical skillset. This venture also proved short-lived. Finally, he attempted to continue his studies at Govt. Ripudaman College in Nabha, but eventually left there as well.
Through these educational explorations, it's evident that Batalvi struggled to find a balance between societal expectations and his own artistic calling. Despite the lack of a traditional degree, his literary pursuits during this period flourished. He found his voice within the literary community and began composing and performing his emotionally charged ghazals and songs. These works, characterized by raw talent and deep emotion, captivated audiences and laid the foundation for his future success.
While still at Baijnath, Shiv had a life changing event that would shape the rest of his poetic career. At a fair, he met a young woman named Maina. Deeply affected by her, he later sought her out in her hometown, only to be met with the tragic news of her death. This profound loss inspired his elegy "Maina" and became a recurring theme in his work. The experience of separation and grief would fuel many of his future poems.
The 1950s saw Batalvi fully immerse himself in the world of poetry. He honed his craft, experimenting with different styles and gaining recognition for his romantic verses. By the 1960s, he had become a rising star. His magnum opus, the epic verse play "Loona" based on the legend of Puran Bhagat, was released in 1965. "Loona" became a masterpiece, establishing a new genre of modern Panjabi kissa (narrative poem). This critical acclaim culminated in 1967 when, at the young age of 31, Batalvi became the youngest recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award.
While Shiv Kumar Batalvi's poetry wasn't just about heartbreak, it was a prominent theme. One of his most celebrated poems, "Main ik shikra yaar banaya" ("I made a hawk, my beloved"), was inspired by his unrequited love for the daughter of writer Gurbaksh Singh Preetlari. This young woman Panjab and married someone else. The poem's creation was sparked by the bittersweet news of her first child's birth. Interestingly, when asked if another poem would follow her second child's birth, Batalvi displayed his wit: "Have I become responsible for her? Am I to write a poem on her every time she gives birth to a child?" This anecdote highlights his artistic independence.
Batalvi's talent transcended language barriers. "Main ik shikra yaar banaya" is a Panjabi masterpiece, but its translations retain their beauty. Legendary singers like Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Jagjit Singh were drawn to his work, bringing his poetry to life through song.
Despite the themes of separation and longing in his poems, Batalvi found personal happiness. He married Aruna, a woman from Kiri Mangyal, Gurdaspur, in 1967. Shortly after his marriage, in 1968, Shiv relocated to Chandigarh where he began working as a professional for the State Bank of India. The couple would go onto have two children, named Meharban (1968) and Puja (1969).
Eager for a break from his routine life in Chandigarh, Batalvi eagerly accepted an invitation to visit England in May 1972. Upon arrival, he was met with celebrity status within the Panjabi community. Local Indian newspapers announced his visit with fanfare, and a series of public functions and private parties were organized in his honor.
Dr. Gupal Puri hosted the first major event in Coventry, attracting fans, fellow Panjabi poets, and even renowned artist S. Sobha Singh who traveled specifically to see Batalvi. The BBC even interviewed him during his stay.
While these events provided opportunities for the Panjabi community to connect with Batalvi, his health unfortunately took a turn for the worse. This trip, highlighted the struggles with alcoholism that had plagued him for some time. Late nights fueled by alcohol at parties and gatherings became a pattern. Despite waking up early and attempting to resume his day with "a couple of sips of Scotch," his habits seemed to exacerbate his existing health issues. This glimpse into his struggles in England foreshadowed the tragic toll his drinking would take on him soon thereafter.
Shiv Kumar Batalvi's return from England in September 1972 marked a turning point. His health had visibly deteriorated, and he became increasingly critical of what he perceived as unfair criticism of his poetry by some writers. Financial troubles added to his woes, and he felt a sense of abandonment from some friends.
Despite attempts to get medical treatment in Chandigarh and Amritsar, his health continued to decline. Unwilling to die in a hospital, he left against medical advice, seeking solace first in his family home in Batala and then in his wife's village, Kiri Mangial. Tragically, Shiv Kumar Batalvi succumbed to his illness, likely liver cirrhosis, in the early hours of May 6, 1973, in Kiri Mangial.
Even after his passing, Shiv Kumar Batalvi's legacy continued to grow. One of his poetry collections, titled "Alvida" (Farewell), was posthumously published in 1974 by Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar. His enduring impact is further reflected by the "Shiv Kumar Batalvi Award" for Best Writer, presented annually.
In Batala, the Shiv Kumar Batalvi Auditorium was constructed to commemorate the 75th anniversary of his birth. This world-class facility serves as a lasting tribute to his influence and aims to inspire future generations of Panjabi artists.
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2024.05.13 08:23 Funny-Barnacle1291 The Mad Woman in The Attic: WAOLOM, mad woman, Jane Eyre and the Eras tour WAOLOM visuals

The Mad Woman in The Attic: WAOLOM, mad woman, Jane Eyre and the Eras tour WAOLOM visuals
Taylor is now repeatedly drawing us back to lesbian and queer poetry and literature, which consistently has themes of madness, sickness, and suppression. I feel that she is telling us over and over that she is sick from closeting, and she can't take it anymore.
When I saw the WAOLOM visuals for Eras tour, I thought Taylor is meant to be in an attic. I've come across 'The Mad Woman in the Attic' by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar before, but I have never read it all the way through. I believe Taylor is directly referencing this book, and Jane Eyre, to inform us all that she resonates with this story as a queer woman, and that she is stuck in her own attic - her closeted life - and she wants to burn it all down (with Karma, imho).
The WAOLOM visuals
https://preview.redd.it/t65tjj0sq40d1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=0b67556a1c3a40b003758021bfb3f2ea0bd621bc
https://preview.redd.it/z6an5k0sq40d1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=5e94d7826f38733daf436aa64884dbbffba286b3
https://preview.redd.it/kzrelk0sq40d1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=e781aa36535a50ba101d59a22f982f29aa741411
To me, this house either looks like the Lovers House or her childhood home - or it represents both, amalgamated. The reason I'm drawn to the Lovers House is because of the very obvious triangular imagery as we zoom in, showing her in the attic. She is also using a lot of mirrored images, something that's important when considering The Mad Woman in the Attic. However, it's also possible the Lovers house is drawn from her childhood home, which I have no doubt has been theorised before. Another alternative is through suppressed intergenerational trauma, Taylor is realising themes of her childhood home have been bleeding into her work.
The two houses for reference
https://preview.redd.it/figix1har40d1.jpg?width=500&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81f8f09ca909b246debbe72428e2dd64985f0f7c
https://preview.redd.it/5c2mnihar40d1.png?width=400&format=png&auto=webp&s=f73fb08b2cbd159b3d2f3377a1c96176f291d63f
The Mad Woman in the Attic
WAOLOM is directly related to mad woman, made very clear during the Eras tour (if it wasn’t already!) by the imagery.
Taylor is in the attic, the mad woman in the attic, which is also the title of a book by Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar analysing Victorian literature through the lense of Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë), and it's worth noting Taylor repeatedly makes references to Jane Eyre throughout Folklore and within mad woman. In Jane Eyre, Bertha Mason is locked in an attic by her husband Mr Rochester, and in the mad woman in the attic, Gilbert and Gubar use this as a frame of analysis to explore madness and angelicness in the works of Victorian women authors from a feminist perspective. The book examines work from Charlotte and Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Virginia Woolf, Mary Shelley, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, and Christina Rossetti. What do all of these women have in common, beyond being literary authors? They’re all rumoured, or essentially confirmed (in the case of Christina Rossetti and Emily Dickinson) of being queer, particularly lesbian. It is a very key and formative piece of feminist literature.
The premise of the book is the authors explore how women writers were forced to make the women in their books one of two things: angel, or monster. They argue this is imposed by a “reductionist, patriachal view of women’s roles”; they have, from what I understand, received some critisism for not saying the quiet part out loud here: under cisheteronormative patriachy, women are defined in relation to, by and for men – - and so lesbians and lesbian identity is alienated, hidden, erased. The book does not make the obvious connection here - these writers were forced to closet themselves for their own protection in Victorian society. Gilbert and Gubar draw on what Virginia Woolf said for their argument: “[women writers] must "kill the aesthetic ideal through which they themselves have been 'killed' into art". Let’s not forget here, the connections between WAOLOM and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, posts on this sub with this theory here from u/throw_ra878, here from u/slejeunesse and here from u/AliceStanleyJr. Gilbert and Gubar do argue that men originally set up the dichotomy of female characters as either pure, virginal, angelic or rebelillious, mad, ‘hysterical’. A direct quote that jumped out from me from the Preface is “for just as women have been repeatedly defined by male authors, they seem in reaction to have found it necessary to act out male metaphors in their own texts, as if trying to understand their impliciations.” Indeed.
Crucially, the book describes “a female schizophrenia of authorship” or a “split”: as a representation of themselves, authors would write, process and act out their own suppressed nature and emotions through the process of ‘employed mirrors’; and thus create the image of the mad woman. A direct quote: "these madwomen emerge "over and over again from the mirrors women writers hold up both to their own natures and to their own visions of nature,"..."they appear from a silence in which neither [they] nor [their] author[s] can continue to acquiesce"". The book fails to really dig into this silence: the silence, and the common nature, is that of holding a queer or lesbian identity, and all of these women were forced to suppress it. This draws me to the lesbian memoir from Glennon Doyle, Untamed, in which she talks of how suppressing your true, queer self leads to sickness and ill-health, including mental health issues, and Taylor has links to this book too - she has credited it as being a "huge help" during 2020.
I will say, it is hard to miss what Gilbert and Gubar are getting at, especially is queer, or even only familiar with just two or three of these authors work (which we know Taylor is); it's natural to ascertain that what these women were hiding was their queerness, and this is specifically a consequence of cisheteronormative society. It is also a widely discussed critisism.
I can’t think why Taylor could be drawing from a text like this…
mad woman and Jane Eyre
A lot of Folklore is littered with references to Jane Eyre, that lots of people have noticed. A really good summary of all the references in Folklore can be found here from @/Karisma Takhar on medium. Here is what they wrote about man woman and references to Jane Eyre
"The Jaye Eyre references continue in ‘mad woman’, the track title a reference to who the literary world now refers to as the ‘Madwoman in the Attic’ thanks to Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar. On Jane and Mr Rochester’s wedding day, it is revealed the latter is married to Bertha Mason, whose mental health deteriorated rapidly after the wedding. Mr Rochester decides to lock his wife away in the attic of their home, leaving Grace Poole to care for her, though Grace’s drinking occasionally leads Bertha to escape and roam the hallways. She rips Jane’s wedding veil in half the night before the wedding, an incident Mr Rochester blames on one of maids. When Mr Rochester formally introduces his wife to Jane, she ‘scratched and growled like some strange animal’; Taylor makes similar statements in the song, likening the ‘mad woman’ to both a scorpian and a bear in its defence."
I think this makes it incredibly likely Taylor is not just drawing from Jane Eyre but she is aware of how her sub-conscious suppressed is spilling out into her work, and she is choosing to deliberately make this bigger and louder.
I think the strongest links to this theory are 1989 onwards, which I believe is partly linked to Karma the lost album, the album I do believe is going to 'burn it all down' in order for Taylor to rebuild as an artist who is out and proudly queer.
Here are some lyrics which link to this theme of the 'mad woman, with themes of madness, craziness, rebellion and hysteria - and a process of ‘splitting’ in Taylor’s work, where her suppressed desires come through in her lyrics, leading to consistent themes of madness:
· Treachourous (Red): "This slope is treacherous, this path is reckless, this slope is treacherous, and I, I, I like it"
· Say Don’t Go (1989): “the waiting is a sadness, fading into madness, oh no, oh no, it won't stop, i'm standin' on a tightrope alone, I hold my breath a little bit longer, halfway out the door, but it won't close”
· I Did Something Bad (Reputation): "I never trust a narcissist, but they love me, so I play 'em like a violin, and I make it look oh so easy, 'Cause for every lie I tell them, they tell me three, this is how the world works" / "I can feel the flames on my skin, crimson red paint on my lips, if a man talks shit, then I owe him nothing, I don't regret it one bit, 'cause he had it comingThey say I did something bad, then why's it feel so good?" / "And I let them think they saved me" / "You gotta leave before you get left" / "They're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one, they got their pitchforks and proof, their receipts and reasons, they're burning all the witches, even if you aren't one, so light me up (light me up), light me up (light me up), light me up, go ahead and light me up (light me up)"
· Look What You Made Me Do (Reputation): "But I got smarter, I got harder in the nick of time, honey, I rose up from the dead, I do it all the time, I got a list of names, and yours is in red, underlined, I check it once, then I check it twice" / "I don't trust nobody and nobody trusts me, I'll be the actress starring in your bad dreams"
· End Game (Reputation): "“I hit you like, "Bang", we tried to forget it, but we just couldn't, and I bury hatchets but I keep maps of where I put 'em, reputation precedes me, they told you I'm crazy”
· Getaway Car (Reputation): "It was the best of times, the worst of crimes, I struck a match and blew your mind, but I didn't mean it, and you didn't see it, The ties were black, the lies were white, In shades of gray in candlelight, I wanted to leave him, I needed a reason, "X" marks the spot where we fell apart, he poisoned the well, I was lyin' to myself, I knew it from the first Old Fashioned, we were cursed, we never had a shotgun shot in the dark" / "There were sirens in the beat of your heart, should've known I'd be the first to leave, think about the place where you first met me, in a getaway car, no, they never get far, no, nothin' good starts in a getaway car, It was the great escape, the prison break, the light of freedom on my face, but you weren't thinkin' and I was just drinkin', while he was runnin' after us, I was screamin', "Go, go, go!", but with three of us, honey, it's a sideshow, and a circus ain't a love story, and now we're both sorry", "We were jet-set, Bonnie and Clyde, until I switched to the other side, to the other side, it's no surprise I turned you in, 'Cause us traitors never win"
· The Man (Lover): “they paint me out to be bad, so it's okay that I'm mad, I'm so sick of running as fast as I can, wondering if I'd get there quicker if I was a man (you know that), and I'm so sick of them coming at me again (coming at me again)” “I’m so sick” is repeated 8 times, which just so happens to be the number representing infinity.
· The Archer (Lover): "Combat, I'm ready for combat, I say I don't want that, but what if I do? 'Cause cruelty wins in the movies" / "I've been the archer, I've been the prey, who could ever leave me, darling? But who could stay?" / "And I cut off my nose just to spite my face, then I hate my reflection for years and yearsI wake in the night, I pace like a ghost, the room is on fire, invisible smoke, and all of my heroes die all alone"
· The Last American Dynasty (Folklore): “Holiday House sat quietly on that beach, free of women with madness, their men and bad habits, and then it was bought by me, who knows, if I never showed up, what could've been, there goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen, I had a marvelous time ruinin' everything”
· Seven (Folklore): “I think your house is haunted, your dad is always mad and that must be why, and I think you should come live with, me and we can be pirates, then you won't have to cry, or hide in the closet, and just like a folk song, our love will be passed on, please picture me, in the weeds, before I learned civility, I used to scream ferociously, any time I wanted”
· mad woman obviously, just the whole thing!
· Champagne Problems (Evermore): ““This dorm was once a madhouse”, I made a joke, "Well, it's made for me"” // “"She would've made such a lovely bride, what a shame she's fucked in the head, " they said, but you'll find the real thing instead, she'll patch up your tapestry that I shred”
· Anti-Hero (Midnights): “Midnights become my afternoons, when my depression works the graveyard shift, all of the people I've ghosted stand there in the room” / “I should not be left to my own devices, they come with prices and vices, I end up in crisis (tale as old as time)” / Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism, like some kind of congressman? (Tale as old as time), I wake up screaming from dreaming, one day I'll watch as you're leaving”
· WAOLOM ofcourse, just the whole thing.
Interestingly, Taylor's references to virtue, or themes of angelic, virginity, are pre-1989.
· Hey Stephen (Fearless): "'Cause I can't help it if you look like an angel, can't help it if I wanna kiss you in the rain, so come feel this magic I've been feeling since I met you, can't help it if there's no one else, mmm, I can't help myself"
· White Horse (Fearless): "Say you're sorry, that face of an angel, comes out just when you need it to, as I paced back and forth all this time, 'Cause I honestly believed in you, holdin' on, the days drag on, stupid girl, I should've known, I should've known, that I'm not a princess, this ain't a fairy tale, I'm not the one you'll sweep off her feet, lead her up the stairwell, this ain't Hollywood, this is a small town, I was a dreamer before you went and let me down, now it's too late for you and your white horse, to come around"
· The Lucky One (Red): "New to town with a made-up name, in the angel's city, chasing fortune and fame, and the camera flashes make it look like a dream" I think this whole song is really interesting to read when considering this idea of beasts versus angels, madness versus virtue, and the idea of her having been sold a lie.
In Summary
Taylor is using imagery of herself in an attic to imply she is aware her true self, her closeted and suppressed self, is coming through in her music, and she is saying she directly relates to Jane Eyre - she feels trapped by her closeted life, by the "1950s shit they want from me", she wants to be free, healthy, out. She is telling us all that these themes of madness are a direct result of all she is suppressing, a direct result of living in a cisheteronormative patriachy, and it is stifling her, ruining her life.
Taylor has got to a stage where she is now deliberately referencing queer media, authors and literature, knowing full well it will be looked into. These consistent themes are not accidental; she is saying through her art and her music that she is queer and she doesn't want to hide it anymore. I partially think a lot of the themes of death are about how she doesn't want to die in the closet and her work be analysed years later, to them be summarised as possibly gay later on. She wants to be known, now, as queer, as her true self, to cure her sickness of suppression.
She is also implying she is an unreliable narrator and there are certain parts of her music you can't trust at face value; that she is suppressing a huge part of herself and it is presenting in her lyrics, it is filled with queer closeted trauma and comphet as a manifestation of the suppression of her true identity, and she needs people to know.
I truly think she is ready to burn it all down, with Karma. In the words of Taylor, "all I think about is Karma".
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2024.05.13 07:48 Sausage_fingies Space Struck by Paige Lewis

Space struck is a debut collection of poetry from Paige Lewis, and also my first time reading an entire book of poetry.
I just read Space Struck in its entirety one last time, this is my 3rd time. I listened to the audiobook while reading the book in tandem, and omg it was so immersive. I honestly would be content to read this book over and over again for months, it's just so good. And I'm not going to fully "finish" it, Space Struck gives me something I need so dearly and I will revisit many of these poems over and over again until I understand them as I understand my own heart beat. So it's not goodbye, not really. Just time to move on.
This was the first collection of poetry I've ever read and I'm, well, space struck. It was gorgeous. Paige's use of language is just incredible, it's so seemingly simple and minimalistic and yet their imagery is extremely inventive and they manage to say so so much. These poems really really struck my soul. Every one just means so damn much to me, I've let this book become a part of my heart for the past week and I'm so incredibly glad I did.
Another thing that was really cool was the formatting. Most of the poems have a specific shape to each stanza that they adhere to throughout the poem, and I just find that so interesting. It really redirects the flow of the reading, and also gives it such a cool sense of structure.
The heart. The love. The meaning and the depth. Every one of these works I felt so deeply, and I feel like I've come out of reading this book with more of myself than when I went into it. I bathed in Paige's words, I let them infiltrate my mind and unpack their suitcase. Several poems inspired my own work, and the narrative voice really deepened my own, I think.
It's rather crazy just how personal this poetry is to me. I wouldn't feel the same way sharing a paragraph from my favorite book as I do sharing a poem from this. They resonated with me so deeply and changed me and I feel so...not different—I feel so much more. I never knew words could have this much power.
I'm so so happy I read this. It was my first book of poetry, but it will most certainly not be the last I read. Poetry is going to become a part of my life now, I can't believe it hasn't been for so long.
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2024.05.12 20:02 SexxxMelaneexxx Similies

Illuminating Insights with Similes**
Summary:
A simile is a figure of speech comparing two unlike things using "like" or "as." It enhances descriptions, providing vivid imagery and aiding readers in making connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.
Examples:
  1. Classical: "O my Luve is like a red, red rose / That’s newly sprung in June." - Robert Burns, "A Red, Red Rose."
  2. Modern: "She dealt with moral problems as a cleaver deals with meat." - James Joyce, "Dubliners."
  3. Modern: "The water is as clear as crystal, reflecting the vibrant colors of the fish like a living kaleidoscope." - Travel blog post.
Tips for Creative Writing:
Questions for Exploration:
  1. How does a simile differ from a metaphor in terms of structure?
  2. Can you think of situations where a simile might be more effective than a metaphor, and vice versa?
Additional Resources:
Creative Writing Prompt:
Step 1: Choose a common object or experience (e.g., rain, laughter).
Step 2: Compare it to something unexpected, using "like" or "as."
Step 3: Craft a sentence incorporating your simile.
Example: Laughter echoed through the room like a chorus of joyful bells, resonating with warmth and delight.
Remember: Similes add layers to your writing by drawing parallels between familiar and unfamiliar concepts.
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2024.05.12 15:01 Shaper15 How to Survive in Broken Worlds: Jesmyn Ward on Octavia Butler’s Empathy and Optimism (2022, Literary Hub)

How to Survive in Broken Worlds: Jesmyn Ward on Octavia Butler’s Empathy and Optimism (2022, Literary Hub)
LINK: https://lithub.com/how-to-survive-in-broken-worlds-jesmyn-ward-on-octavia-butlers-empathy-and-optimism/

How to Survive in Broken Worlds: Jesmyn Ward on Octavia Butler’s Empathy and Optimism

“When I discovered Butler’s work, I discovered myself.”
By Jesmyn Ward 20221207
​
https://preview.redd.it/dsr4y2qkuhxc1.png?width=799&format=png&auto=webp&s=39d9d4b6764dd15ed81d376a04d636cc7438536e
I can’t remember when I first read Octavia Butler’s work. It wasn’t in high school. I never encountered her in my coursework, as my required reading looked nothing like the books I found in my personal reading: I read The Last of the Mohicans, Catch-22, and The Catcher in the Rye and little there resonated with the world I knew.
I had grown up in a pooworking-class family in rural Mississippi, where I spent years eating government cheese, red beans, and rice, and drinking powdered milk. I lived in my grandmother’s four-bedroom house with fourteen other relatives and watched my extended family bear the brunt of poverty and racism through my childhood and adolescence.
I spent those years wandering through my school library stacks, finding books by Toni Morrison, Alice Walker, Ntozake Shange, Richard Wright, Gabriel García Márquez, and Margaret Atwood. I found sustenance in literary writers and in science fiction and fantasy writers, too, needing the escapism of that kind of storytelling, which I had been drawn to since I was a small child and first read Tamora Pierce and Robin McKinley—but the only science fiction and fantasy I could find in my school library were by Frank Herbert, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Isaac Asimov.
I didn’t encounter Octavia Butler’s fiction in university, either. I majored in English, and I sought creative writing classes and literature classes that specialized in the African Diaspora. I read African writers and Black British writers and Black American writers and Black Caribbean writers, but all the work I read was poetry and literary fiction. It was good to study these artists, to seriously consider the kind of work I had been starving for in high school, but even though I attended school in mid- to late 1990s, when Octavia Butler was a living writer, full in her artistic flowering, I never found her work in the bookstore stacks or on the syllabi of my courses.
Even though I attended school in mid- to late 1990s, when Octavia Butler was a living writer, full in her artistic flowering, I never found her work in the bookstore stacks or on the syllabi of my courses.
I never really encountered any sci-fi or speculative fiction: when students submitted science fiction short stories or fantasy in creative writing workshops, my peers shunned them. They said the work was amateur, not serious, wasn’t about real people and therefore, real issues. I sat quietly at my desk, swallowing their critiques whole, quietly ashamed of the pleasure I got from reading sci-fi and fantasy.
I must have read Octavia Butler’s work for the first time in the early 2000s, when I was living in New York City as a young twenty-something, working as a publishing assistant. I had more money, not much, but more than I’d had in college and high school, so I’d take the train to The Strand, where the stacks stretched on and on. My browsing blossomed; I needed that.
I was floundering through life. Tragedy had loosed me from my moorings, my understanding of what the world was and how it worked, and it sent me spinning: a drunk river killed my brother Joshua in October 2000, and his killer was never held accountable for his death. I’d voted in my first presidential election and watched in confused horror as Bush was appointed by Supreme Court ruling.
I’d watched smoke billow from the Twin Towers on 9/11 and then spent hours walking from midtown to Brooklyn, peppered in ash. I’d marched through Manhattan to protest Bush’s preemptive war with Iraq, foolishly thinking our collective uprising would have some kine of impact, bitterly disappointed when I discovered it did not. I’d visited home and jumped from my car’s window and swum through the floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina, and then lived in shock in the desolation of the aftermath.
Her character development was disturbingly true to what I knew of the world, of poverty, of desperate human beings.
I found Parable of the Sower by chance in The Strand’s stacks. I devoured it. Butler’s prose was forthright and rhythmic. Her imagery was stark and startling. Her character development was disturbingly true to what I knew of the world, of poverty, of desperate human beings. It was harrowing and dark, and it seemed to reflect some ineffable terrible truth I found mirrored in the world. It reminded me that worse presents were possible. I sought out more of her books and found Parable of the Talents, the Lilith’s Brood trilogy, and Bloodchild and Other Stories. In Bloodchild, Butler says this about readers: “Actually, I feel that what people bring to my work is at least as important to them as what I put into it.”
In my twenties, I found this to be true, sunk in grief, bewildered at the savagery and terror of the 2000s; when I discovered Butler’s work, I discovered myself. I saw myself in her characters, empathized with them as they struggled to live in untenable worlds: in untenable circumstances. I knew they knew the taste of ash, the black scramble of floodwater.
I’m in my mid-forties now. If life revolves in cycles, I find myself in another crucible, another terrible span of time. The COVID-19 pandemic lingers and evolves, leaving weakened immune systems and millions of bodies in its wake. The Supreme Court struck down Roe, and the politicians in power can’t seem to grasp the urgency of the moment, to understand that not only are childbearing people uniquely disenfranchised by this ruling, but that we will die without access to abortion health care.
My partner of thirteen years died at the beginning of the COVID pandemic, leaving me with two grieving children and the charge of living in a fractured, unthinkable present. His death tasks me with this: every day I must wake and live. I must choose to move and breathe and speak and believe that there can be good in this world, in humanity, even though this fresh grief invites a drift toward despair, even though, as the ill characters do in “The Evening and the Morning and the Night,” I have wanted to claw out my own heart in hopelessness.
I saw myself in her characters, empathized with them as they struggled to live in untenable worlds: in untenable circumstances.
In multiple allusions in the preface and afterwords in Bloodchild, Butler alludes to the despair and bewilderment she encounters in her own life, and how she wrestles with it in her work. “Amnesty” is about an interpreter, kidnapped and tortured by aliens as a child, who works for and with that same alien race as an adult to improve communication between humans and their visitors. In the afterword to “Amnesty,” Butler writes that the story was inspired by “the things that happened to Doctor Wen Ho Lee of Los Alamos—back in the 1990s when I could still be shocked that a person could have his profession and his freedom taken away and his reputation damaged all without proof he’d actually done anything wrong.”
“Speech Sounds” follows a pandemic survivor who has witnessed the devolution of humanity after a fast-spreading disease robs those left of speech or the ability to read and write. In the afterword to “Speech Sounds,” Butler writes: “’Speech Sounds’ was conceived in weariness, depression, and sorrow. I began the story feeling little hope or liking for the human species, but by the time I reached the end of it, my hope had come back. It always seems to do that.” She elaborates on this in the afterword to “Bloodchild,” the title story, with:
When I have to deal with something that disturbs me … I write about it. I sort out my problems by writing about them. In a high school classroom on November 22, 1963, I remember grabbing a notebook and beginning to write my response to news of John Kennedy’s assassination. Whether I write journal pages, an essay, a short story, or weave my problems into a novel, I find the writing helps me get through the trouble and get on with my life.
This is how Butler finds her way in a world that perpetually demoralizes, confounds, and browbeats: she writes her way to hope. This is how she confronts darkness and persists in the face of her own despair.
This is the real gift of her work, a gift that shines in Bloodchild: in inviting her readers to engage with darker realities, to immerse themselves in worlds more disturbing and complex than our own, she asks readers to acknowledge the costs of our collective inaction, our collective bowing to depravity, to tribalism, to easy ignorance and violence. Her primary characters refuse all of that. Her primary characters refuse to deny the better aspects of their humanity. They insist on embracing tenderness and empathy, and in doing so, they invite readers to realize that we might do so as well. Butler makes hope possible.
The hope might be tenuous, and our lives might not be what we envisioned in these ruptured realities, but new ways of being are near. These are futures where we might turn from despair and build another family after a pandemic. Where we might elect to foster life and connection. Where we might wake every day and choose to breathe, to walk, to do work and heal ourselves and others even though we struggle with suicidal ideation, with nihilism, with grief. Bloodchild is a template for how to survive, how to thrive, in broken worlds, and Butler’s work is ever prescient, ever powerful. Her voice: a rough balm.
submitted by Shaper15 to EarthseedParables [link] [comments]

2024.05.12 05:49 adulting4kids Subgenres Prompts

  1. Dreadpunk:
Dear Writer,
Emphasize a sense of dread and unease within a gothic horror narrative within a letter. Craft an atmospheric and chilling story that immerses readers in a world where fear and apprehension lurk in every shadow, creating an unsettling and haunting experience.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Decopunk:
Dear Writer,
Set your narrative in the Art Deco era within a letter. Explore the sleek design, glamour, and distinctive aesthetics of this period, incorporating these elements into the characters' lives and surroundings to create a visually striking and stylish world.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Dying Earth Subgenre:
Dear Writer,
Immerse characters in the last days of a dying world within a letter. Portray a world on the brink of collapse, with a pervasive sense of decay and decline that shapes the characters' experiences and actions as they navigate a fading existence.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Mannerpunk:
Dear Writer,
Focus on manners, social structures, and etiquette within a fantastical setting within a letter. Craft a narrative that revolves around societal norms, manners, and the complexities of social structures, exploring how these elements shape characters' interactions and aspirations.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Slipstream:
Dear Writer,
Blur the boundaries between mainstream and speculative fiction within a letter. Create a narrative that incorporates elements of the surreal and the unusual, challenging readers' perceptions of reality through a blend of unconventional storytelling.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Cattlepunk:
Dear Writer,
Incorporate advanced technology and cattle-centric themes within a western-inspired narrative within a letter. Explore a world where technological innovations and cattle-related elements shape characters' lives, societal dynamics, or conflicts in this unique setting.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Oceanpunk:
Dear Writer,
Feature maritime and underwater settings with a focus on oceanic technology within a letter. Transport characters to a world where ocean-based technology and seafaring adventures play a central role, shaping their experiences amidst the vastness of the seas.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Dolphin Poetry:
Dear Writer,
Craft poetry inspired by or featuring dolphins as a prominent theme within a collection of verses. Dive into the elegance, beauty, and mystique of dolphins, weaving their essence into poetic imagery that captivates the reader's imagination.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
  1. Cat Poetry:
Dear Writer,
Compose poetry centered around cats as a significant subject within a collection of verses. Capture the enigmatic charm, grace, and whimsy of cats in your poetry, painting vivid pictures through words that celebrate these captivating feline creatures.
Best Regards, [Your Name]
submitted by adulting4kids to writingthruit [link] [comments]

2024.05.12 05:43 15tatt Lowly intl’ school name+irrelevant major to top10 neuro program?

I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN PLS SPANK MY FACE IF U FEEL LIKE I SHOULDNT EVEN THINK ABOUT THIS
Background:
Was at Florida State U majoring in music as an international, due to mental health issue returned to my home country （Taiwan), planning to complete my undergrad music composition and psychology degree here. (Currently sophomore) My GPA at FSU is under 3.0 but back home I pull it up to 4.0/4.0. Also currently a part-time research assistant at my country’s national research institution, focusing on brain-computer interface (BCI) projects. Just submitted my first abstract to a big conference 🤞
Why am I posting this?
I'm aiming for top 10 neuroscience PhD programs (MIT, Stanford smth like that), also open to neuroscience branches under biomed/psychology programs. I understand that this sounds utterly ridiculous and impossible as my school/profile is really nothing compared to all those shockingly prestigious class profiles of neuroscience programs. Plus I am just a music composition student not even starting to double major in psychology(will def do). The only advantage is that I have a clear vision of what I want to do, combining neuroimaging and neural decoding with auditory imagery as brain computer interfaces has always been my dream. (Another thing is that I literally haven’t found any prof. that’s been mainly doing imagery research. If anyone could tell me it would be helpful🫡)
What is the plan?
To publish as much as I can before applying. My current PI is the best I could met. With less than three months, I've already got an abstract submitted. And I still got three summer breaks left, planning to spend the last two in the U.S. for research experience. However, I'm facing rejection from summer schools, planned for four summer schools and got rejected by two of them which is frustrating.
What do I want to know?
I’m also open to getting a master's or a post-bacc research program like REACH initiative in Stanford. Or even some crazy ideas like quit college to be a full time RA then apply to top30 college in the U.S. for better connections and education. But aside from doing research and sending cold emails for summer research opportunities, I'm not sure what else to do, especially for this summer. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance. 🙏
submitted by 15tatt to PhD [link] [comments]

2024.05.11 14:41 adulting4kids Poetry Class Week Three

Week 3: Villanelles and Ekphrastic Poetry - Lecture and Discussion
Objective: - Explore the structured repetition of villanelles and the visual inspiration of ekphrastic poetry. - Understand the fixed form of villanelles and their emotional impact. - Discuss the interplay between visual art and written expression in ekphrastic poetry.
Day 1: Introduction to Villanelles - Lecture: - Definition and characteristics of villanelles. - Explanation of the ABA ABA ABA ABA ABA ABAA rhyme scheme.
Day 2: Analyzing Villanelles - Part 1 - Lecture: - In-depth analysis of classic villanelles. - Exploration of the emotional impact through repetition.
Day 3: Analyzing Villanelles - Part 2 - Lecture: - Discussing modern variations and themes in villanelles. - Exploring the versatility of the form.
Day 4: Crafting Villanelles - Part 1 - Lecture: - Step-by-step guide on crafting the first four lines of a villanelle. - Emphasis on creating a strong thematic foundation.
Day 5: Crafting Villanelles - Part 2 - Lecture: - Step-by-step guide on crafting the final three lines of a villanelle. - Emphasis on creating resolution and impact.
Homework Assignment: - Craft a villanelle focusing on a theme or emotion that lends itself well to repetition.
Study Guide Questions: 1. Reflect on the challenges of crafting the first four lines of your villanelle. How did you establish a strong thematic foundation? 2. How did you approach creating resolution and impact in the final three lines of your villanelle? 3. What insights did you gain from the process of crafting a villanelle?
Quiz: Assessment on the understanding of villanelles, the ABA rhyme scheme, and the emotional impact of repetition.
Day 6: Introduction to Ekphrastic Poetry - Lecture: - Definition and characteristics of ekphrastic poetry. - Explanation of the relationship between visual art and written expression.
Day 7: Analyzing Ekphrastic Poetry - Part 1 - Lecture: - In-depth analysis of classic ekphrastic poems. - Exploration of how poets respond to visual stimuli.
Day 8: Analyzing Ekphrastic Poetry - Part 2 - Lecture: - Discussing modern variations and themes in ekphrastic poetry. - Exploring the diverse ways poets engage with visual art.
Day 9: Crafting Ekphrastic Poetry - Part 1 - Lecture: - Step-by-step guide on responding to visual art in writing. - Emphasis on capturing the essence and emotion of the artwork.
Day 10: Crafting Ekphrastic Poetry - Part 2 - Lecture: - Discussing the role of personal interpretation and creativity in ekphrastic poetry. - Exploring the potential for multiple ekphrastic responses to a single artwork.
Homework Assignment: - Craft an ekphrastic poem in response to a chosen piece of visual art.
Study Guide Questions: 1. Reflect on the challenges of responding to visual art with written expression in your ekphrastic poem. How did you capture the essence and emotion? 2. How did personal interpretation shape your creative process in crafting an ekphrastic poem? 3. What insights did you gain from the process of crafting an ekphrastic poem?
Quiz: Assessment on the understanding of ekphrastic poetry, the relationship between visual art and written expression, and the creative possibilities in responding to visual stimuli.
submitted by adulting4kids to writingthruit [link] [comments]

2024.05.11 12:21 15tatt Lowly school name intl’+irrelevant major to t10 neuro program?!

I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN PLS SPANK MY FACE IF U FEEL LIKE I SHOULDNT EVEN THINK ABOUT THIS
Background:
Was at Florida State U majoring in music as an international, due to mental health issue returned to my home country, planning to complete my undergrad music composition and psychology degree here. (Currently sophomore) My GPA at FSU is under 3.0 but back home I pull it up to 4.0/4.0. Also currently a part-time research assistant at my country’s national research institution, focusing on brain-computer interface (BCI) projects. Just submitted my first abstract to a big conference 🤞
Why am I posting this?
I'm aiming for top 10 neuroscience PhD programs (MIT, Stanford smth like that), also open to neuroscience branches under biomed/psychology programs. I understand that this sounds utterly ridiculous and impossible as my school/profile is really nothing compared to all those shockingly prestigious class profiles of neuroscience programs. Plus I am just a music composition student not even starting to double major in psychology(will def do). The only advantage is that I have a clear vision of what I want to do, combining neuroimaging and neural decoding with auditory imagery as brain computer interfaces has always been my dream. (Another thing is that I literally haven’t found any prof. that’s been mainly doing imagery research. If anyone could tell me it would be helpful🫡)
What is the plan?
To publish as much as I can before applying. My current PI is the best I could met. With less than three months, I've already got an abstract submitted. And I still got three summer breaks left, planning to spend the last two in the U.S. for research experience. However, I'm facing rejection from summer schools, planned for four summer schools and got rejected by two of them which is frustrating.
What do I want to know?
I’m also open to getting a master's or a post-bacc research program like REACH initiative in Stanford. Or even some crazy ideas like quit college to be a full time RA then apply to top30 college in the U.S. for better connections and education. But aside from doing research and sending cold emails for summer research opportunities, I'm not sure what else to do, especially for this summer. Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance. 🙏
submitted by 15tatt to gradadmissions [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 22:13 Comfortable_Bad_2975 call for artist: Chroma art film festival 2024

Miami, FL – The Chroma Art Film Festival (CAFF),
Rainbow Oasiiis and Superblue Miami are excited to embark and bring back year 2 CAFF with a new array of new installation and artistic innovation, immersive experiences, and the power of storytelling. Miami’s most exciting immersive art experience, the festival will take place at Superblue’s Allapattah location supported by Miami-Dade County.
a premier event celebrating the intersection of immersive art, color, and cinema, is thrilled to announce an expanded lineup of film categories for its upcoming edition. With a focus on innovation, diversity, and the pioneering use of technology in filmmaking, CAFF invites artists and filmmakers from around the globe to submit their most visionary works.
A Platform for Dialogue and Discovery
CAFF's expanded film categories reflect its commitment to celebrating artistic diversity and its role in driving social change in an immersive artistic experience . By spotlighting these diverse narratives, the festival offers attendees an immersive experience that celebrates the transformative power of film as a medium for storytelling, cultural expression, and community building.
Filmmakers are encouraged to visit the festival's submission portal on FilmFreeway for detailed information on submission deadlines, fees, and guidelines. Join us in shaping the future of cinema at the Chroma Art Film Festival.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
About Chroma Art Film Festival
Presented by Rainbow Oasiiis and Superblue, the Chroma Art Film Festival, is an annual event based in Miami, FL, dedicated to exploring the creative intersections of immersive art, technology, and cinema. With a mission to showcase innovative and thought-provoking installations and films from around the world, CAFF provides a vibrant platform for artistic expression and cultural exchange.
For more information, please visit Chroma Art Film Festival's official website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for the latest updates.

FilmMakers submit Now :

wwww.filmfreeway.com/chromaartfilmfestival
New Categories Sparking Innovation and Dialogue

Open call to visual artist :

https://chromaartfilmfestival.org/24-visual-artist-open-call/

Application to the Chroma Art Film Festival 2024 is completely free for visual artists. We invite artists working in all mediums and formats to apply, whether your work is traditional, contemporary, or experimental.
  1. Visit Our Website: Head to the Chroma Art Film Festival’s official website and navigate to the “Artists’ Open Call” section.
  2. Submission Guidelines: Carefully read through the submission guidelines to ensure your application meets all the necessary criteria.
  3. Apply: Fill out the online application form, including details about your artistic practice, and upload images or links to your work.
  4. Submit: Review your application for completeness and accuracy before submitting.
submitted by Comfortable_Bad_2975 to animation [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 20:03 Wandering_Scarabs Tangential but... Postmodernism.

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.
submitted by Wandering_Scarabs to Setianism [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 20:00 Wandering_Scarabs Postmodernism (written or audio)

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.
submitted by Wandering_Scarabs to EsotericOccult [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 19:59 Wandering_Scarabs Postmodernism (written or audio)

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.
submitted by Wandering_Scarabs to LeftHandPath [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 19:59 Wandering_Scarabs Postmodernism (written or audio)

Audio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l42yKCnUBa0
Jean Baudrillard, a famous writer on the topic of “postmodernism,” explained postmodernism by means of four stages that symbols and objects have progressed through.
Stage 1: “Basic reflection of reality.” Here, symbols and objects attempt to create an objective reflection of reality. For example a chair is made to be sat on and is valuable if it fulfills its purpose, and a shirt is valuable if it covers your skin. The symbols, stories, myths, etc. of our ancestors were an attempt to describe reality as best they could (agree with the results or not). A symbol or image of a god was meant to represent an objectively existent force in reality. Here I see a comparison to very early Polytheism and the Stellar Tradition, where we accepted the objective, dualistic and spiritual nature of reality, the existence of the gods, and so on, with very complex systems that understood reality itself is complex. Inherently this can only ever be, at best, an attempt at metaphysical knowledge about reality, but it is an honest attempt.
Stage 2: "Perversion of reality.” Here the relationship between value and objective reality begins to shift, for example a chair may still serve its primary function, but be more valuable if made with a rare material, by someone of note, and/or for someone of great importance. There may be no practical difference between the stage 1 and stage 2 chairs, and yet the stage 2 chair is given more value. Symbols (perhaps most famously the serpent) are also twisted, for example as a means to control people, or even by demonizing all gods and saying there is only One True God. The complexity of reality is ignored, in favor of a simple “good vs. evil” breakdown, where everything is either Godly or Demonic. The comparison here is the SolaAgricultural tradition and, especially, Monotheism. There is an acceptance of some sort of reality, but that reality is twisted intentionally, whether that be to control people, confuse them, or anything of the sort.
Stage 3: “Pretense of reality.” Here we have the appearance of reality, but much more of a detachment from it. The idea that gods are "just archetypes," or that magic is “just psychology,” illustrate this, along with Physicalism at large. People pretend these are the totality of reality, of which they consider themselves to be the "true seekers," but in the end they outright ignore the most important aspects of our reality. Christian Nationalism is another illustration, where leaders outright lie and fabricate history under the pretense of truth, such as the U.S. being founded as a Christian nation. Objects mainly have value thanks to Materialism and Consumerism, not to mention advertising, and the rejection of higher reality makes such things easier to fall for.
Stage 4: "Bears no relation to any reality whatsoever." This is what may be called "postmodernism," total detachment from reality. An very worrying illustration is the democratization of science, where politics and public opinion now hold as much (or more) sway as empirical evidence (with strict empiricism or “scientism” already falling under "stage 3,” since there are so many other forms of knowledge than empirical knowledge.). Here, a shirt or chair like from stage 1 may be significantly less valuable than an identical shirt or chair endorsed by a famous celebrity. We all know politicians lie when they make promises and yet cheer any time they make one anyways. Our symbols only represent our made up realities: watered-down Christianized ideology such as we see running rampant in polytheistic revival, or modern pop-cultural fictions and multiverses, for example.
Baudrillard gives the example of Main Street at Disney Parks. Not only do we spend more time and money on these fabrications than reality (e.g. replacing the gods on our altars with Disney stuff), but our very differentiation between the "real world" and "Disney world" is a delusion. Disneyland is part of the “real world”. There is no inner child to most adults which is in hiding and in need of release, rather they are very outwardly children yet still wield great power. The world is childish and run by mental and spiritual children. The "perfect world" of Disney is still draining your so-called "real" money (which itself belongs to stage 3, as paper money has no objective value).How often do we obsess over the lives and stories of fictional people, such as families in TV shows, meant purely as consumer content? Even I am guilty of this. Our biggest "influencers" are literal morons on terrible platforms, platforms which encourage us to pretend our true selves are only the best moments we choose to share online.
Stage 5: To these 4 stages I propose adding a 5th in the 21st century: “replacement of reality.” Artificial intelligence, virtual and alternate realities, one of the most recent symbols of status at the time of writing this is the new Apple headset, costing thousands of dollars, people just walking around and existing in a totally manufactured reality, one which will inevitably be shaped by those in positions of power and wealth. The popularity of fake news also may deserve ranking in this new, 5th stage, perhaps even something like plastic surgery.
It is important to note that I do not believe we necessarily pass linearly through these stages. For example there are currently people whose beliefs and practices conform to any one of these 4+ stages, or they fit different stages depending on the context.
Morality is another way to look at the stages, and for this I will use the modern example of the debate on abortion. In stage 1, morality is a quest for objective truth, so for instance with abortion we would realize that the issue is objectively complicated.
In stage 2, morality is twisted to fit the reality promoted by those in power, so for us this would be that abortion is always wrong. They still believe in an objective morality in theory, but twist and simplify that morality.
Stage 3 brings us Moral Relativism, whether abortion is right or wrong depends on who you ask, what culture you were raised in, etc. There is no objective morality, but this itself is an objective truth in a way. This is opposed to the second stage Monotheists who believe abortion is objectively wrong all together, or first stage folks who know the topic can be more complicated than black and white. Basically whatever the culture says is moral, is. Whatever morals the Relativist has, they do not believe them to be more correct than any other morals.
Finally in stage 4+, morality is completely dependent on what those in power (politicians, corporations, influencers, etc.) say is moral. It's a warped form of Moral Relativism, really. This individual believes that morals are relative, but not to culture or anything of the sort. Instead, morals are relative to whatever suits them best at the time, and whatever they are told by "authorities" of high symbol/object value. They do not believe the values and morals of others are equally valid to theirs (stage 3), nor do their actions suggest any belief in a consistent objective morality, warped or otherwise (stage 1 and 2). Instead, their morals are relative to whatever their own pseudo-reality is, whatever is to their benefit, and this itself mainly stems from the aforementioned authorities. And note that someone may be, say, a stage 2 monotheist when it comes to religion, but a stage 4 on morality, and so on.
"Whataboutism" is another illustration of moral Postmodern manipulation. Say a person is telling you how evil the current president of the U.S. is because they do X. You ask, "what about the fact that your favorite president did X too, were they also evil?" The Postmodernist will then say you are engaging in "whataboutism." To one who accepts Moral Realism it is immediately clear why the question is valid though: the answer determines if the person is truly opposed to X or simply using it against those they don’t like, special pleading. Postmodernists simply believe whatever they need or want to at the time to support their own biases, not that X is actually immoral.
Our paper money is another example of stage 3, “pretense of reality.” The paper money system is entirely theoretical, in reality the paper is worth very, very little. It's just tied to this conceptual system that, were it to be cast aside, would make all cash meaningless paper. Stage 1 would be things like services, sustenance, shelter, useful things, symbols that were thought to impact reality, etc., objective things all people need. Stage 2 is illustrated by gold, we give it meaning beyond what it has, but it's a real thing with a limited amount of it in the world, you cannot get trillions in debt just printing new gold into existence as with stage 3 cash. And for stage 4+, what better example than NFTs and Bitcoin, or views, likes, and upvotes?
Social media gives us insight into the world of stage 4 / Postmodernism. All the big-name forums or social media platforms, as well as many smaller ones, are oversaturated with advertisements, these new religious symbols and their new valuable objects, to the point where advertisers choose which platforms or outlets survive and which crash and burn. Whole sites wield the power to silence dissenters of whichever ideologies they find unappealing. In many cases people are extremely limited in the number of characters they can use at once, making true discourse impossible. People live entirely fake lives to instill jealousy in others, who go on to lie to themselves and others as well, and groupthink is encouraged through voting systems which create hiveminds and drive out any independent thought. All these fit with Baudrillard’s fourth stage - none of this is reality. Consumerism is objectively less valuable than individuation and freedom, it is not a valid way to live life, it only wastes life, time, and resources. Human thought is not limited by a character count, this does not describe reality in any way, instead creating a new "reality" where any idea longer than a few sentences is a "word salad" and cannot hold one's attention. There are fewer and fewer "great thinkers," and they are not the ones being heard and viewed. The endless, manufactured, touched up selfies, vacations wasted taking pictures instead of living, time lost in the imagery rather than the real event - this is not objective reality. It not only rejects reality but twists and perverts it, replacing it with a manufactured (simulated) one.
Cancel culture is another unfortunate offspring of Postmodernist thought. Due to the power held and used by the creators and maintainers of all these stage 4 images and objects, "reality" is now defined by such entities. A famous actor was fired from all his roles including a massive franchise on mere accusations of abuse, before the crimes were even brought to court (where it turned out things were not so clear cut). If it can happen to a rich, beloved movie star, imagine what could happen to you. I am not suggesting you feel bad for a billionaire who helps fabricate reality, nor do I believe we have a great and trustworthy justice system in place. All I want to illustrate is how a mere accusation led to guilt and punishment because corporations and the more popular political party said they were guilty, and culture followed blindly, before it even reached the justice system at all. Even in cases where someone ends up being guilty, they cannot be found guilty before investigation and judgment. But this does not matter in a world where reality is whatever is most popular at the time.
All forms of media contribute to this, there is no longer any reality in culture outside of the images and realities created for us, created to distract us from this disturbing rejection of reality. Games, shows, movies, children’s content, fiction and non-fiction works, governments, news outlets… not every single individual instance of these may be wholly negative, but the positive ones are becoming more and more rare. I’ve found an interesting source of philosophy on this matter in the poetry of Jim Morrison, famously known as the singer of The Doors, whose father was all too familiar with the fabrication of reality. Morrison wrote about how the powers that be use content from films to museums (where we simulate history) and everything in between to blind citizens to their power over us, our values, even our own meanings regarding life. He feared that humans had become simple spectators, staring blankly into the screen, letting it write their reality for them. He even predicted the "meta" nature of our modern culture, where everything has become self-referential, filled with cameos and easter eggs, dead actors resurrected and old ones de-aged, because media-created reality is now the only reality. All it can reference is itself, lest it shatter the illusion or acknowledge reality. Just look at how our culture cannot even create new content, just remakes, sequels, shared universes, etc.
"There are no longer “dancers,” the possessed. The cleavage of men into actor and spectators is the central fact of our time. We are obsessed with heroes who live for us and whom we punish. If all the radios and televisions were deprived of their sources of power, all the books and paintings burned tomorrow, all shows and cinemas closed, all the arts of vicarious existence… We are content with the “given” in sensation’s quest. We have been metamorphosized from a mad body dancing on hillsides to a pair of eyes staring in the dark." - Jim Morrison
Another great example of postmodernism is the idea of secularism, that we can separate the public from the religious, or that there are actually people who have no religion whatsoever. This rejects the reality that religion applies to many aspects of life, that someone who is non-theistic or simply “spiritual” still is often religious. For example we can look to sports, where all sorts of weird rituals and ceremonies take place that have nothing to do with the layman understanding of religion, gods, the divine, etc, but are studied as such by religious scholars nonetheless. It can even tie back to the Disneyland example, such as how we pretend America is a secular country, or delude ourselves into thinking the hateful Atheism of France (or places like the USSR before it) is somehow not its own form of religion. In stage 1 we recognized there was no separating the spiritual and religious from daily life. Stage 2 keeps this mostly in place but twists it to fit monotheism. It's not until stage 3 that this really changes to keeping religion “private,” and stage 4 flips the whole thing on its head to where the state and corporations have become god, and the gods have become fantasy.
Postmodernism has even seeped into the WLHP to a great extent. For example, with the identification of the Christian entity Satan with all sorts of beings that have no correlation to him. The Satanist who says that The Devil is Setesh, the Serpent, Prometheus, or any other such deity is placing objective reality on the backburner in favor of a popular cultural meme - that all these beings are Satan, despite their histories, characteristics, mythologies, etc. It is Postmodernism which allows certain groups from the late 1900s to claim absurd things like being the first and only Satanists with no regard for objective reality, or which allows organizations to claim the title of Romantic Satanists when their values and acts fly in the face of that literary movement. It's why people who think they are on the WLHP can still fall for things like Physicalism against all evidence and reason. It's how occultists can create completely made up identities for themselves that, even after being exposed as fraudulent, are still parroted blindly by their followers. And in a wider sense it applies to modern polytheism overall, where new age, fluff bunny occultists come in changing polytheism to monotheism, or saying all male and female goddesses are just a manifestation of duo-theism. There is no escaping Postmodern irrationality.
Our symbols of the divine, of deeper spiritual meanings and truths, of a reality beyond this one, have all been replaced with corporate logos, meme templates, and easter eggs. Like me, many others also have altars in every room of the house, their altars are simply shrines to brands, consumer content, companies, political parties, famous actors, etc. The utility of an object no longer defines it, but instead it is the fabricated social status a thing is supposed to create, such as an uncomfortable designer chair being ten times the cost of a more comfortable and practical one. If your car can reliably get you place to place, but isn’t sporting the right hood ornament, or a fresh coat of paint, all the fancy add ons and a high floor price, then the object simply is not as valuable as if it had these entirely unnecessary things, and therefore the individual themselves is judged as less valuable. Two identical shirts can vary in price by hundreds of dollars based solely on the name printed on the tag inside. All of these values are entirely manufactured and completely detached from objective reality.
Perhaps worst of all is that people and objects have become harder to tell apart, as best exemplified with celebrities. They are fake people with false personalities who we are supposed to see as the ideal human beings. All of their flaws are edited and filtered out, and then we are condemned for not being on par. To postmodern companies, the individual is literally just an object to be used as a means to an end, a cog in a machine rather than an individual with needs, goals, drives, etc. Politicians are themselves celebrities now, and I do not only mean literal actors running for office, but rather that people cheer for them like they do a rock star, consume their media like it is a drug, defend them as if they were their favorite comic character… What gives these politicians and celebrities their power? An association with the new system of symbols and objects of value, the system which disregards reality all together in order to encourage things like Consumerism and obedience.
Postmodernism has an influence over almost every aspect of our lives. It encourages people to believe any fleeting thing they want, or more often are told to want, is of foremost importance or value. It allows constant advertising to empty us of any "inconvenient" meaning or value and fill the void with Consumerism and material things, or to fill it with work lives that are ultimately pointless and amount to nothing more than some conceptual material wage (money itself not even being "real"). The value of objects defines and overtakes the value of the individual. A disregard for objectivity means a disregard for the scientific method itself, allowing science to become a process of authoritarianism at worst and democracy at best, a process of media propaganda rather than a quest for truth. Whatever facts benefit the high-object-value people and the symbols they associate with are true, and facts which do not are false, being able to change at the drop of a hat as needed.
Postmodernism is clearly the natural outcome of our move from profound reality to a fabricated simulation of reality created to control, stifle, and subdue human beings… an immoral and dangerous metaphysics too blind to see that without any objective reality nobody can ever be correct, including themselves.
submitted by Wandering_Scarabs to WanderingInDarkness [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 15:59 adulting4kids Psychic Abilities

In my book, I delve into the concept of seeing through the mind's eye, emphasizing the importance of cultivating intuition. One exercise involves quieting the mind through meditation, allowing space for subtle impressions. Another is keeping a dream journal to enhance dream recall, fostering a deeper connection to subconscious insights. These practices can aid in developing your unique intuitive abilities.
Additionally, exploring mindfulness exercises like focused breathing and observation of surroundings can heighten sensory awareness. Engaging in regular self-reflection encourages understanding and recognition of intuitive nudges. Embracing creativity, such as through art or journaling, serves as a gateway to accessing and interpreting the intuitive realm. The journey toward honing these skills involves patience, openness, and trust in the subtle signals from the mind's eye.
Further, I explore the power of connecting with nature to amplify intuitive senses. Spending time outdoors, observing patterns and energies in natural settings, can enhance one's attunement to intuitive information. Developing empathy and active listening skills in daily interactions with others also plays a crucial role in honing intuitive abilities, fostering a deeper understanding of non-verbal cues and energies. These practices collectively contribute to unlocking and embracing the innate gifts within each individual.
  1. Meditation: Start with regular meditation to quiet the mind. Focus on deep, rhythmic breathing to create mental stillness and openness.
  2. Dream Journaling: Keep a journal by your bedside and record your dreams. This helps in remembering and deciphering subconscious messages.
  3. Mindfulness Exercises: Practice mindfulness by engaging in activities like focused breathing, observing your surroundings, or mindful walking. Heightened awareness can lead to intuitive insights.
  4. Nature Connection: Spend time in nature regularly. Observe natural patterns, energy flows, and the environment to enhance your intuitive connection with the world around you.
  5. Creativity Exploration: Embrace creative outlets such as art, writing, or music. These activities stimulate the imagination and open channels for intuitive expression.
  6. Self-Reflection: Set aside time for introspection. Reflect on your thoughts, emotions, and experiences. This helps in understanding and recognizing your own intuitive signals.
  7. Empathy Development: Cultivate empathy in your interactions. Actively listen to others, pay attention to non-verbal cues, and connect on a deeper level to sharpen your intuitive understanding.
  8. Trusting Intuition: Practice trusting your instincts in everyday decisions. Start with small choices and gradually build confidence in relying on your intuitive guidance.
  9. Positive Intentions: Set positive intentions for your psychic development. Approach the process with openness, curiosity, and a desire to use your abilities for the greater good.
  10. Patience and Consistency: Psychic development is a gradual process. Be patient with yourself, stay consistent in your practices, and remain open to the unique journey of uncovering your psychic abilities.
    Cultivating empathy involves being present and attuned to others, understanding their emotions beyond words. Actively listening and observing non-verbal cues, such as body language and tone of voice, deepens your connection with people.
Trusting intuition is a gradual process. Begin with small decisions, like choosing what to wear or deciding on a route to take. Reflect on the outcomes and how your intuition guided you. Over time, as you build confidence, you'll naturally integrate intuitive decision-making into more significant aspects of your life.
Positive Intentions: Approach your psychic development with a mindset focused on positivity and benevolence. Before engaging in any exercises, set an intention to use your abilities for the greater good. Cultivate openness, curiosity, and a genuine desire to bring positive insights into your life and the lives of others.
Patience and Consistency: 1. Start Small: Begin with bite-sized practices. Don't overwhelm yourself with too much too soon. Gradually increase the complexity of your exercises as you feel more comfortable.
  1. Create a Routine: Establish a regular routine for your psychic development activities. Consistency is key in reinforcing new habits and allowing your intuition to naturally unfold.
  2. Reflect Regularly: Take time to reflect on your experiences. Acknowledge any progress, no matter how small. Reflection enhances self-awareness and keeps you attuned to changes in your intuitive abilities.
  3. Adapt and Adjust: Be flexible in your approach. If certain exercises or methods aren't resonating with you, feel free to explore alternatives. The key is finding what works best for your unique journey.
  4. Seek Support: Connect with like-minded individuals or seek guidance from mentors experienced in psychic development. Sharing experiences and insights with others can provide valuable perspectives and encouragement.
  5. Celebrate Milestones: Acknowledge and celebrate your achievements along the way. Whether it's a heightened intuitive moment or a successful exercise, positive reinforcement reinforces your commitment to the process.
Remember, psychic development is personal and varies for each individual. By approaching it with positive intentions, patience, and consistency, you'll create a foundation for a transformative and fulfilling journey.
Create a Psychic Development Routine:
  1. Morning Meditation: Start your day with a brief meditation session. Focus on deep, intentional breathing to clear your mind and create a receptive mental space for intuitive insights.
  2. Dream Journaling: Dedicate a few minutes each morning to record any dreams or impressions from the night. This practice enhances your connection to subconscious messages.
  3. Midday Mindfulness Break: Take a short break during your day for mindfulness. Practice deep breathing or engage in a brief observation of your surroundings, tuning in to the present moment.
  4. Nature Connection: Incorporate nature into your routine. Whether it's a daily walk in the park or a few moments in your garden, observe natural patterns and energy to strengthen your intuitive connection.
  5. Creative Expression: Set aside time for creative activities. This could be drawing, writing, or any form of expression that sparks your imagination and taps into intuitive channels.
  6. Evening Reflection: Before bedtime, reflect on your day. Consider any intuitive nudges or insights you may have experienced. This reflection enhances self-awareness and intuitive recognition.
  7. Empathy Exercise: During social interactions, consciously practice empathy. Actively listen, observe non-verbal cues, and aim to connect on a deeper level with others.
  8. Trusting Intuition Practice: Choose a small decision each day to make based on your intuition. Reflect on the outcome and how it aligns with your intuitive guidance.
  9. Positive Intention Setting: Begin and end your day by setting positive intentions for your psychic development journey. Cultivate openness, curiosity, and a desire to use your abilities for the greater good.
  10. Weekly Review: Reserve time at the end of each week to review your experiences, insights, and any changes in your intuitive abilities. Adjust your routine as needed to accommodate your evolving journey.
Consistency in following this routine will contribute to the natural unfolding of your intuitive abilities over time. Adapt it to suit your lifestyle and preferences, making it a personalized and effective guide for your psychic development journey.
Here's a list of creative activities that can spark your imagination and tap into intuitive channels:
  1. Artistic Journaling: Combine drawing, painting, and written reflections in a dedicated journal. Express your thoughts and feelings through a combination of images and words.
  2. Collage Creation: Gather magazines, newspapers, and images. Create collages that represent your emotions, desires, or intuitive impressions.
  3. Mandalas: Design intricate mandalas using geometric patterns and colors. The meditative process can enhance your intuitive connection.
  4. Poetry Writing: Explore poetry as a form of expression. Allow your emotions and intuitions to flow through carefully chosen words and rhythms.
  5. Freeform Writing: Write without constraints or structure. Let your thoughts flow freely, tapping into your subconscious and intuitive insights.
  6. Visual Storytelling: Craft visual stories through photography or creating a series of drawings that convey a narrative related to your intuitive experiences.
  7. Symbol Exploration: Experiment with creating personal symbols or sigils. These symbols can represent aspects of your intuition or serve as guides in your psychic development.
  8. Found Object Art: Collect interesting objects and arrange them in artistic ways. Pay attention to the intuitive associations that arise during the process.
  9. Nature-Inspired Art: Use elements from nature as inspiration. Create art that reflects the patterns, colors, and energy you observe in the natural world.
  10. Music Exploration: Experiment with creating music or playlists that evoke certain emotions or states of mind. Pay attention to the intuitive responses music elicits.
  11. Dance and Movement: Express yourself through dance or movement. Allow your body to move freely, tapping into intuitive impulses.
  12. Mind Mapping: Create visual mind maps to explore connections between different thoughts, ideas, and intuitive impressions.
  13. Automatic Writing: Set a timer and let your hand move across the page without consciously guiding it. Allow intuitive thoughts to flow through the writing.
  14. Symbolic Drawing: Draw symbols that represent aspects of your psychic development journey. Reflect on the meaning behind each symbol.
  15. Color Exploration: Experiment with colors that resonate with your emotions and intuitive experiences. Create artwork focused on exploring the emotional impact of different colors.
Remember, the goal is not perfection but self-expression and exploration. Choose activities that resonate with you, and don't be afraid to try new things to discover what sparks your creative and intuitive channels.
Automatic Writing Activity:
  1. Preparation:
    • Find a quiet and comfortable space.
    • Set a timer for 10-15 minutes.
    • Have a pen and paper ready.
  2. Relaxation Exercise:
    • Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths.
    • Focus on calming your mind and letting go of any immediate thoughts.
  3. Start Writing:
    • Begin writing without a specific topic or direction.
    • Allow your hand to move freely, capturing whatever thoughts come to mind.
  4. No Judgment:
    • Resist the urge to edit or judge your writing during the process.
    • Embrace the flow of thoughts, even if they seem unrelated or nonsensical.
  5. Reflection:
    • After the timer stops, read through what you've written.
    • Look for patterns, recurring themes, or any intuitive insights that emerged.
  6. Journal Entry:
    • Record your observations and any notable insights in your psychic development journal.
Symbolic Drawing Activity:
  1. Gather Materials:
    • Get a sketchbook or paper and drawing tools.
    • Choose colors that resonate with your emotions and intentions.
  2. Set Intentions:
    • Reflect on aspects of your psychic development journey you want to explore.
    • Set intentions for the symbols you'll create to represent these aspects.
  3. Drawing Session:
    • Start drawing symbols without overthinking.
    • Let your intuition guide the shapes, lines, and patterns that emerge.
  4. Reflect on Each Symbol:
    • After creating the symbols, reflect on each one individually.
    • Consider the emotions, thoughts, or memories associated with them.
  5. Create a Symbol Map:
    • Arrange the symbols on a page, creating a symbolic map of your psychic development journey.
    • Note any connections or relationships between symbols.
  6. Write About Each Symbol:
    • Write a brief description or narrative for each symbol, explaining its significance in your psychic development.
  7. Integration:
    • Find ways to incorporate these symbols into your daily life or use them as a visual representation during meditation or reflection.
These activities are designed to tap into your subconscious and intuitive insights. Enjoy the process, and don't be concerned about creating something aesthetically perfect—focus on the personal meaning and connection to your psychic journey.
When setting intentions for symbolic drawing in your psychic development journey, consider the following steps:
  1. Self-Reflection:
    • Take a moment to reflect on your current stage of psychic development.
    • Consider any specific areas or aspects you wish to explore or enhance.
  2. Identify Goals:
    • Define clear goals for your psychic development journey. For example, it could be improving intuitive insights, connecting with higher consciousness, or understanding energy dynamics.
  3. Emotional Exploration:
    • Explore your emotions related to psychic development. Identify feelings of curiosity, excitement, or any apprehensions you may have.
  4. Connection with Symbols:
    • Think about symbols or imagery that resonate with your goals and emotions. These could be traditional symbols, personal objects, or abstract representations.
  5. Intentions Setting:
    • Write down your intentions for the symbolic drawing. Be specific about what each symbol represents in relation to your psychic development journey.
  6. Affirmations:
    • Create positive affirmations that align with your intentions. These can reinforce your commitment to the goals you've set.
  7. Visualize Success:
    • Close your eyes and visualize yourself successfully progressing in your psychic development. Imagine the positive impact on your life and well-being.
  8. Openness and Receptivity:
    • Cultivate an attitude of openness and receptivity to intuitive guidance. Express a willingness to explore and learn throughout your journey.
  9. Write It Down:
    • Record your intentions in your psychic development journal. This serves as a reference point for your symbolic drawing session.
  10. Stay Open to Changes:
    • Be open to the possibility that your intentions may evolve as you progress. Allow room for changes and new insights to shape your psychic development journey.
By setting clear intentions, you provide a focused direction for your symbolic drawing, making it a powerful tool for self-discovery and intuitive exploration.
In this conversation, we discussed various aspects of psychic development and provided guidance on cultivating intuitive abilities. The key points include:
  1. Mind's Eye and Intuition:
    • Explored the concept of seeing through the mind's eye and the importance of intuition in psychic development.
  2. Exercises for Development:
    • Discussed exercises such as meditation, dream journaling, mindfulness, and creativity to enhance intuitive senses.
  3. Nature Connection and Empathy:
    • Emphasized the role of nature connection and empathy in strengthening intuitive connections with the environment and others.
  4. Positive Intentions and Patience:
    • Encouraged setting positive intentions, approaching the journey with openness, and maintaining patience and consistency in the development process.
  5. Creating a Routine:
    • Provided a suggested routine involving meditation, dream journaling, mindfulness, nature connection, creativity, reflection, empathy, and trusting intuition.
  6. Creative Activities:
    • Shared ideas for creative activities, including art journaling, collages, mandalas, poetry writing, and symbolic drawing, to tap into intuitive channels.
  7. Automatic Writing and Symbolic Drawing Activities:
    • Explained specific activities for automatic writing and symbolic drawing, guiding individuals to allow intuitive thoughts to flow and create symbols reflecting aspects of their psychic journey.
  8. Setting Intentions for Symbolic Drawing:
    • Advised on the importance of reflecting on psychic development goals, identifying emotions, connecting with symbols, and setting clear intentions before engaging in symbolic drawing.
This comprehensive summary provides insights into developing psychic abilities, incorporating mindfulness practices, and fostering a deeper connection with intuition for personal growth.
This is a good look at some of the things I discuss in my ebook, which I self published in 2020. It's a guided journey into creating a different type of psychic gift, without the modern world looking at this "gift" as a way to take advantage of others. This is book about how to be more in tune with your own instincts and using these to benefit your own life. If you're willing and interested in trying to bring your gifts into the public sphere, do so with caution, because there is balence in the universe, and you're always welcome to provide a balance ⚖️ in life, but try to avoid distractions and disruptive things in your life. Karma exists. Do proceed with caution when exposed. People aren't always good at accepting these gifts.
To read this ebook, simply go to my website and download the free version. Print version is no longer available. If there's a demand, I might rerelease it in the future. But there's a free version, so I don't think it's a good idea to rerelease it now.
Thanks for letting me share this with you!
Holly
submitted by adulting4kids to tarotjourneys [link] [comments]

2024.05.10 00:44 Tuikord Trying may be counter productive.

This study has not been published yet but it is quite interesting.
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.01.10.574972v1.full.pdf
The basics are that they took a group of aphantasics (24, defined as VVIQ < 32) and visualizers (26), blindfolded them and put them in fMRI machines. They then played evocative sounds (cat meowing, dog barking, traffic noises, etc) and measured activity in the primary visual cortex (V1, involved in vision and thought to be involved in visualization), precurneus (PC, thought to connect auditory and visual and linked to a variety of phenomena related to internally-generated representations) and the early auditory cortex (EAC). Afterward, they asked if any visuals presented and how vivid they were. None of the aphantasics had any visuals and 22 of the visualizers had visuals.
Next they repeated the experiment with the instruction to visualize in relation to the sound. The same regions were observed and subjective vividness of imagery was recorded. All the visualizers had images and apparently a few of the aphantasics had something weak some of the time.
There is a lot to this study and I'll only touch on a small part. One interesting part is this is the first study to match V1 activation data with reports of quasi-sensory experiences. Evidently there are quite a few studies out there which assume that if there is V1 activation then there are visuals. This study found that is not the case! If validated, this would at least force changes in some theories of visualization.
They matched activation patterns to the sounds and looked for "decoding accuracy." If you see a dog, that produces a pattern different from seeing a cat. Oddly, in the passive listenting test, the aphantasics group had much better decoding accuracy than the visualizing group, even though the aphantasics saw nothing and most of the controls reported imagery. When trying to visualize, the decoding accuracy for the controls increased significantly while for the aphantasics it dropped to no different than chance. Hence the title that trying may be counter productive.
submitted by Tuikord to Aphantasia [link] [comments]

2024.05.09 13:59 adulting4kids Esoteric Subgenres Two

11. Postmodern Fairytales:
Freewrite a modern reinterpretation of a classic fairy tale, blending postmodern elements. Consider how the characters navigate a narrative that challenges traditional storytelling conventions and incorporates metafictional aspects.
12. Astral Dystopia:
Write a freewrite set in a dystopian future where societal collapse extends beyond Earth, into the cosmic realms. Explore how a character grapples with the challenges of survival and identity against the backdrop of a dystopian, astral setting.
13. Biohazard Bop:
Create a freewrite featuring a character in a world plagued by biohazards, navigating the challenges of daily life with a lively and rhythmic energy. Explore how the character copes with the dangers and uncertainties through their unique approach to the biohazardous world.
14. Algorithmic Allegory:
Freewrite a story that allegorically explores societal or philosophical themes using algorithms or computer code as central elements. Consider how the characters interact with and interpret the algorithmic elements in their world, reflecting broader meanings.
15. Transcendental Drabbles:
Write a series of extremely short stories (100 words or less each) that collectively explore a character's journey toward transcendence. Capture poignant moments and reflections as the character undergoes a transformative experience.
16. Nanopunk Poetry:
Freewrite a poem that delves into the microscopic world of advanced nanotechnology. Explore the character's perspective as they navigate and interact with the nano-level elements, and consider how these interactions shape their understanding of the world.
17. Cogwheel Sonnets:
Craft a freewrite in the form of a series of sonnets set in a steampunk-inspired world. Explore how the characters and their relationships unfold within the constraints of a traditional sonnet structure while incorporating cogwheel imagery.
18. Esoteric Erotica:
Write a freewrite that explores the sensuality and spirituality of a character's intimate experiences, infused with esoteric and mysterious elements. Consider how the character's connections transcend the physical, entering realms of profound intimacy.
19. Apocalyptic Epigrams:
Freewrite a series of epigrams that capture the essence of characters' lives in a post-apocalyptic world. Explore the emotional and existential challenges faced by characters in succinct, impactful verses.
20. Subterranean Satire:
Craft a satirical freewrite featuring characters navigating an underground or hidden society. Explore the humorous critique of societal norms and conventions, using satire to shed light on the absurdities within the subterranean setting.
Feel free to let me know if you'd like more prompts or if there's a specific subgenre you'd like to focus on!
submitted by adulting4kids to writingthruit [link] [comments]

2024.05.09 09:54 Cav3manDave Xpost as a supplement to my question about Fi

21M with autism/Asperger's (diagnosed), depression (diagnosed), and possible BPD (suspected by psychologist) uncertain of type here. Virtually every test I have taken doesn't give an exact match to any type in terms of the rank ordering of cognitive functions (8! = 40320 >> 16); most tests seem to say xNTP. My Fi appears to me to be far stronger than either of these types classically has, although still not quite as strong as Ti. I tend to identify most with type descriptions of the ENTP (socionics-wise ILE, enneagram-wise 4w5 sx/so); secondarily with INTP, ENFP, and INFP (in that order).
My upbringing involved a substantial amount of school-related trauma; however, my parents were highly secular, laissez-faire, and encouraged my early interests in literature and the sciences. As a child I was abused in school and checked out mentally 99% of the time, yet outside the classroom proved quite capable in areas that could have benefited me within it had I cared. I created a JSTOR account to read paleontological papers and monographs -- in the process discovering several new species on digs, which I donated to my local museum -- and had a professor tell me that I knew more than his graduate students as a nine-year-old. I was pulled out of school in fourth grade, read my father's college chemistry textbooks, and begin doing experiments in the backyard. My parents were perfectly fine with my attempts (and eventual success) at designing novel explosives. I abhorred math until I read an email from a teacher citing the discrepancy in my performance between it and verbal subjects, which prompted me to self-study with online resources. I taught myself calculus when I was 11 before falling in love with the subject.
I am now studying to be a mathematics professor at university, where I began doing graduate work at 15. Recently, I've found myself struggling to maintain interest in pure math, given that ultra-niche specialization is the field's general (but not absolute) paradigm rather than networking knowledge. I don't want to introject an advisor's preference for, say, spending every day of his life working on infinity-categories with no reference to the real world and resign myself to aping it. I'd much rather have the freedom to do whatever I damn well please, including pure math, applied math, physics, biochemistry, paleontology, poetry, music, origami, painting, writing fiction, linguistics, philosophy, hell -- even critical theory.
How I'd feel spending an entire weekend by myself would depend on the weekend. Sometimes I prefer to completely immerse myself in novel information to see how it interconnects, but more often I enjoy honing my ideas through debate. I retreated from people as a teenager, struggling with psychological issues and substance abuse, but the necessity of conversation is an integral part of who I am. A frequent criticism I have encountered as far back as I can recall is that I never shut up.
I enjoy physical activities as a natural complement to mental ones. When I am more depressed, I tend to lose interest in both. Judo and anything outdoors both revitalize me.
Curiosity is the most salient feature of my personality. If it's in any way stifled, I readily become depressed. There are no qualitative limits in the breadth of it -- virtually any topic is fair game. This becomes problematic whenever I need to focus on a specific project, because I'm constantly reminded of how it relates to other things. For the specifics of interests, cf. above and below. My ideas are primarily but not exclusively conceptual, although many of these concepts derive (ultimately) from the real world. I would say that my understanding of the respective limitations of observation and symbolic systems is well balanced.
When I assume positions of leadership, I appreciate the freedom to bring my ideas to fruition. I do not appreciate responsibility for the errors of others, or how they might slow my working process down in a way that doesn't apply when simply bouncing ideas off them. In general, I have been characterized as a good (if nitpicking and critical) leader.
My fine motor coordination is far superior to my gross motor coordination. I have zero difficulty with complex origami, shading a charcoal drawing exactly as I visualize it in my mind's eye, soldering a PCB, or other crafts. Conversely, I often bump into things or trip over my own shoes, which difference I attribute to concentration/how much I care.
I consider myself very artistic. To me there is no hard line between art and science, so I frequently find myself approaching scientific problems in an artistic way or artistic challenges in a scientific way. I compose, play electric guitar, write poetry and short stories, draw with charcoal, design and fold origami, and occasionally paint.
Regarding past, present, and future, I live in the present while fretting about the other two.
If I'm asked to help with something, I first evaluate if I'm being conned (with the level of trust depending on the person), but usually do so if I see no reason not to. I particularly enjoy making learning new things interesting for others, which is one reason to become a professor.
Novelty in life is more important than routine, but a logical consistency to my actions (that is, that they are not contradictory or hypocritical) is important, and it irritates me to no end when others behave illogically or inconsistently.
Productivity is important insofar as it confers a sense of novelty, but not for its own sake. I'd rather investigate new ideas than meet a quota.
In the past I have been accused of emotional manipulation, which may be true, but which seems to be the only way to operate in the world as it is; you can't exactly expect someone you disagree with to change his mind unless he thinks it's his own idea to do so.
I've listed some of my hobbies above. Others include mountain-climbing, learning foreign languages (including dead ones like Sanskrit and Latin), and solving puzzles. The hobbies I like generally expose me to new, intense experiences and/or provide avenues for interdisciplinary thought.
Although I consider learning styles to be pseudoscience (which, as with Jungian cognitive functions, doesn't imply zero value to the individual in interpreting them; it implies they're not objectively falsifiable), the common way to describe this would be a mixture of auditory and visual learning. I despise memorization and prefer a mixture of analytical and creative thought. Bonus points for being able to argue my case or approach the subject from several directions.
I am good at strategizing in the abstract (e.g. in a chess game) but terrible at implementing plans. "First contact with the enemy" for me is first contact with reality. I improvise everything and constantly procrastinate.
My aspirations include being able to do fundamental research in areas of my choosing, which will likely shift rapidly from field to field, communicating abstract topics to the general public in a way that is engaging without sacrificing informativeness, and to promote social changes I believe are necessary for the continued survival of humanity (on issues such as AI, bioengineering, and climate change). Richard Feynman is a personal idol.
My (twin) greatest fears/bugbears/hatreds are human irrationality and human apathy. I do not believe that humans are fundamentally good, quite the opposite. A tremendous degree of often irreparable harm is done by ignorant, conservative, closed-minded people who care so little for others or for logical validity that they don't bother to think more cogently or compassionately.
"Highs" in my life are caused by self-actualization, freedom, intellectual stimulation, and social environments where these needs are met. They present as outgoingness, extreme energy verging on hypomania, and a compulsive drive to generate new ideas. "Lows" in my life are caused by the absence of these factors. They manifest as lethargy, depression, misanthropy, withdrawal from others and from projects, "clinging" to specific people, wallowing in pain, addiction, drive for excessive unhealthy stimulation, a kind of persecution-fetishizing covert narcissism, self-indulgence, and forming broad judgments about society. Sometimes I pick on my own insecurities. For instance, I know my IQ is around 170 from testing as both a child and an adult, but I used to take many different experimental cognitive assessments to "prove" what I already knew but couldn't accept.
I daydream incessantly and frequently lose all awareness of my surroundings, even if someone is speaking directly to me.
If I am alone in a blank, empty room with nothing to do and nobody to talk to, it will probably take about five seconds for it to start driving me mad. I'd be thinking about how to escape.
I put off important decisions so that I don't have too much time to vacillate, which I inevitably do anyway. Changing my mind is inescapable.
Emotions are very... uhh... do I say important or not? I don't believe that it is possible to make decisions without both emotions and logic -- emotions to provide a hierarchy of values that can be used in evaluating the preferability of outcomes, and logic to evaluate the paths to those outcomes. I have a very intense emotional experience, which I frequently cannot control. In the past I have sometimes wished I could entirely eliminate my emotions. Authenticity is important to me, but the experience is overwhelming, and I am unduly impulsive. I appeal first to logic on considered decisions but never fail to consult my values.
In general, if I disagree with someone I'll make it clear. This has led to the blowtorching of multiple relationships where I was entirely unwilling to back down in an argument. I might nod along in a casual conversation, but once a disagreement begins I do not know when to quit.
I constantly break any and all rules I disagree with, because I believe it would be idiocy not to. In my opinion, all authority should be questioned. Authority rests on the fluctuating foundation of reasonability, not the other way around.
Bonus points: my sense of humor consists of sarcastic quips, puns, dark post-irony, morbid shock value, ribaldry, and obscure references. The rest are clear enough, but an example of the last category would be randomly interjecting that Bedrich Smetana's last name means "sour cream" in a conversation that has nothing to do with classical music or dairy products. Absurdism, Dadaism, and surrealism all appeal to me. My tastes in anything cultural (such as music, art, and literature) are highly eclectic -- from Dead Can Dance to Scriabin to Cannibal Corpse and Animals as Leaders, from Seurat and Monet to Magritte, from Homer to Ted Chiang and Greg Egan.
submitted by Cav3manDave to entp [link] [comments]

2024.05.08 18:10 TRAIANVS Walking the Cracked Pot Trail 19 - Brash Phluster

Previous post

The upstart

Arch rival to Calap Roud was the illimitable, ambitious, inexcusably young Brash Phluster. That he delighted in the old bastard’s presence on this journey could hardly be refuted, for Brash so wanted Calap to witness youth’s triumph in Farrog. With luck, it would kill him.
Next on the chopping block is Brash Phluster, and what a masterpiece that name is. Brash means many things, including overly confident and lacking respect. Clearly that's how Calap views him at least. And Phluster just looks so much funnier than "fluster". It's as subtle as a brick to the face, but we really get everything we need to know about Brash from just the name.
Note that like with Purse we begin Brash's introduction by pointing out his relationship with Calap Roud. But whereas Purse was Calap's object of lust, Brash is his nemesis. We get a list of Brash's characteristics. He is illimitable, ambitious, and inexcusably young. This is definitely describing Brash as Calap sees him. The tell is the "inexcusably young" bit, but we also see a subtle jab with the way Flicker uses both illimitable and ambitious, words that have very similar meanings. He's definitely imitating Calap here, so it's like he's so incensed at Brash that he's stumbling for whatever word he can find. And accidentally goes for two words that mean basically the same thing.
Then we get Brash being happy at Calap's presence, which makes us think that perhaps the rivalry is one sided. But then we see that it's just because Brash wants to rub it in Calap's face, so the rivalry is definitely a thing. And finally there's the hope that Calap's defeat would kill him. So there's clearly an underlying hatred that runs deeper than a normal rivalry. The rivalry also seems to be generational. Brash represents the younger generation of artists, and he sees this as a conflict between young and old.

Fake it 'til you make it

Seven years Calap had been defecating on Brash, trying to keep him down on the crusty floor, but Brash was not one to let a rain of guano discourage his destiny. He knew he was brilliant in most things, and where he lacked brilliance he could fill those spaces with bold bluster and entirely unfounded arrogance. A sneer was as good as an answer. A writhe of the lip could slice throats across the room. He eyed Calap as would a wolf eye a dog, appalled at a shared pedigree and determined to tear the sad thing to pieces at the first opportunity.
We continue with the Calap/Brash beef, bringing back the metaphor from Calap's introduction with the gilded cage. There we got a brief mention of the "white-headed fools" that Calap shat on, and now we learn that Brash was indeed one of those fools. The imagery here is absolutely foul, with the floor crusted with bird shit and the rain of guano. There's a really nice alliteration here too. We get "defecating" and "down", and then a bit later "discourage" and "destiny". I love how it's all these really negative and nasty words, before flipping it with "destiny".
Flicker is definitely putting himself in Brash's head as he's done many times before, as we get this view of his inflated self image. We get a lot of Bs and Ls here with two instances of "brilliant" before we get "bold bluster". I love how he seems to be just blatantly in fake-it-until-you-make-it mode. And then Flicker dips out of Brash's head to provide his own commentary with "entirely unfounded arrogance".
And then we continue with Flicker giving his not-quite-charitable reading of Brash's character with this quick flurry of sentences. When confronted, Brash doesn't really respond, but just pretends like answering is beneath him. Like Calap he's willing to play the social game in order to get ahead. And that is made clear with the comparison. They're different, but also in some fundamental way they "share the same pedigree", which I think is their mutual willingness to pull all sorts of dirty tricks to get rid of rivals. And Brash is ready to do just that to Calap.

Master of disguises

True talent was found in the successful disguise of genius, and Brash accounted himself a master of disguises. His future was glory, but he would reveal not a single hint, not one that some cragged critic1 or presumptuous rival might close in on, stoat fangs bared. No, they could dismiss him each and every day for the time being. He would unveil himself in Farrog, and then they would all see. Calap Roud, that stunning watery-eyed dancer, Purse Snippet, and the Entourage too—
Right off the bat I want to say that I love this first sentence. Flicker mentioned Brash's fake-it-until-you-make-it attitude in the previous paragraph, but here we get a hint that perhaps Brash is faking more than he'd care to admit. But he doesn't care, because he's so confident in his disguises.
Erikson has on many occasions remarked upon (and lamented) that many authors are incredibly secretive about their craft. He's mentioned authors on panels whose answers amount to basically just an advertisement for their book rather than an examination of their process. I think here he is poking fun at that attitude. Brash is established as being extremely tight lipped, because he doesn't want the critics or his competitors to find out his secret sauce. Admittedly, since he's traveling with Calap Roud that attitude may not be simple paranoia.
I also love that he calls his rivals stoats, calling back to the weasel analogy from a few weeks ago. Stoats are of course2 a kind of weasel (or at least a weasel-like mammal). So we're still not letting go of these metaphors.
We also get a glance at the way Brash is seen by others. He's dismissed by them. Clearly, Brash thinks they're underestimating him, but are they? We'll find out in time when we get some of Brash's poetry. The alliteration here is also nice, with each and every framed by dismiss and day.
He ends with a declaration that he's not even begun to peak. That he's saving the best for last, and he's savoring that. He mentions Calap Roud, who he wants to destroy, and Purse Snippet who he likely wants to impress. Here we also see the difference between Flicker and Brash in action. Flicker saw through to the core of Purse's being. Brash, on the other hand, just sees a pretty dancer. He even notes that her eyes are always watery, but he doesn't even seem to consider that they might be like that for a reason.
And finally, the Entourage...
But we'll get to them next time. That's it for Brash's introduction. See you next week!
1 There's some nice alliteration here. The word "cragged", itself onomatopoeic, adds that onomatopoeia to the word "critic".
2 I say as if I didn't have to look that up myself
submitted by TRAIANVS to Malazan [link] [comments]

2024.05.08 08:41 SurrealistRevolution Before the real flag was found, many illustrations used a free hanging southern cross on a blue background. I like this red one.

Before the real flag was found, many illustrations used a free hanging southern cross on a blue background. I like this red one.
Due to the red, this may have been published by the Communist Party or an affiliate some time during the peak of it’s embrace of Australian republicanism, trade union history and arts as an attempt to resist both British and American cultural hegemony. Bush Ballads, both in folk music and poetry, bushrangers, Eureka and the big strikes of 1880/81, bush imagery etc were common images.
If anyone would like to recreate this, that’d be great!
submitted by SurrealistRevolution to leftistvexillology [link] [comments]

2024.05.08 07:14 Cav3manDave Wall of text based on the pinned post (sorry!)

21M with autism/Asperger's (diagnosed), depression (diagnosed), and possible BPD (suspected by psychologist) uncertain of type here. Virtually every test I have taken doesn't give an exact match to any type in terms of the rank ordering of cognitive functions (8! = 40320 >> 16); most tests seem to say xNTP. My Fi appears to me to be far stronger than either of these types classically has, although still not quite as strong as Ti. I tend to identify most with type descriptions of the ENTP (socionics-wise ILE, enneagram-wise 4w5 sx/so); secondarily with INTP, ENFP, and INFP (in that order).
My upbringing involved a substantial amount of school-related trauma; however, my parents were highly secular, laissez-faire, and encouraged my early interests in literature and the sciences. As a child I was abused in school and checked out mentally 99% of the time, yet outside the classroom proved quite capable in areas that could have benefited me within it had I cared. I created a JSTOR account to read paleontological papers and monographs -- in the process discovering several new species on digs, which I donated to my local museum -- and had a professor tell me that I knew more than his graduate students as a nine-year-old. I was pulled out of school in fourth grade, read my father's college chemistry textbooks, and begin doing experiments in the backyard. My parents were perfectly fine with my attempts (and eventual success) at designing novel explosives. I abhorred math until I read an email from a teacher citing the discrepancy in my performance between it and verbal subjects, which prompted me to self-study with online resources. I taught myself calculus when I was 11 before falling in love with the subject.
I am now studying to be a mathematics professor at university, where I began doing graduate work at 15. Recently, I've found myself struggling to maintain interest in pure math, given that ultra-niche specialization is the field's general (but not absolute) paradigm rather than networking knowledge. I don't want to introject an advisor's preference for, say, spending every day of his life working on infinity-categories with no reference to the real world and resign myself to aping it. I'd much rather have the freedom to do whatever I damn well please, including pure math, applied math, physics, biochemistry, paleontology, poetry, music, origami, painting, writing fiction, linguistics, philosophy, hell -- even critical theory.
How I'd feel spending an entire weekend by myself would depend on the weekend. Sometimes I prefer to completely immerse myself in novel information to see how it interconnects, but more often I enjoy honing my ideas through debate. I retreated from people as a teenager, struggling with psychological issues and substance abuse, but the necessity of conversation is an integral part of who I am. A frequent criticism I have encountered as far back as I can recall is that I never shut up.
I enjoy physical activities as a natural complement to mental ones. When I am more depressed, I tend to lose interest in both. Judo and anything outdoors both revitalize me.
Curiosity is the most salient feature of my personality. If it's in any way stifled, I readily become depressed. There are no qualitative limits in the breadth of it -- virtually any topic is fair game. This becomes problematic whenever I need to focus on a specific project, because I'm constantly reminded of how it relates to other things. For the specifics of interests, cf. above and below. My ideas are primarily but not exclusively conceptual, although many of these concepts derive (ultimately) from the real world. I would say that my understanding of the respective limitations of observation and symbolic systems is well balanced.
When I assume positions of leadership, I appreciate the freedom to bring my ideas to fruition. I do not appreciate responsibility for the errors of others, or how they might slow my working process down in a way that doesn't apply when simply bouncing ideas off them. In general, I have been characterized as a good (if nitpicking and critical) leader.
My fine motor coordination is far superior to my gross motor coordination. I have zero difficulty with complex origami, shading a charcoal drawing exactly as I visualize it in my mind's eye, soldering a PCB, or other crafts. Conversely, I often bump into things or trip over my own shoes, which difference I attribute to concentration/how much I care.
I consider myself very artistic. To me there is no hard line between art and science, so I frequently find myself approaching scientific problems in an artistic way or artistic challenges in a scientific way. I compose, play electric guitar, write poetry and short stories, draw with charcoal, design and fold origami, and occasionally paint.
Regarding past, present, and future, I live in the present while fretting about the other two.
If I'm asked to help with something, I first evaluate if I'm being conned (with the level of trust depending on the person), but usually do so if I see no reason not to. I particularly enjoy making learning new things interesting for others, which is one reason to become a professor.
Novelty in life is more important than routine, but a logical consistency to my actions (that is, that they are not contradictory or hypocritical) is important, and it irritates me to no end when others behave illogically or inconsistently.
Productivity is important insofar as it confers a sense of novelty, but not for its own sake. I'd rather investigate new ideas than meet a quota.
In the past I have been accused of emotional manipulation, which may be true, but which seems to be the only way to operate in the world as it is; you can't exactly expect someone you disagree with to change his mind unless he thinks it's his own idea to do so.
I've listed some of my hobbies above. Others include mountain-climbing, learning foreign languages (including dead ones like Sanskrit and Latin), and solving puzzles. The hobbies I like generally expose me to new, intense experiences and/or provide avenues for interdisciplinary thought.
Although I consider learning styles to be pseudoscience (which, as with Jungian cognitive functions, doesn't imply zero value to the individual in interpreting them; it implies they're not objectively falsifiable), the common way to describe this would be a mixture of auditory and visual learning. I despise memorization and prefer a mixture of analytical and creative thought. Bonus points for being able to argue my case or approach the subject from several directions.
I am good at strategizing in the abstract (e.g. in a chess game) but terrible at implementing plans. "First contact with the enemy" for me is first contact with reality. I improvise everything and constantly procrastinate.
My aspirations include being able to do fundamental research in areas of my choosing, which will likely shift rapidly from field to field, communicating abstract topics to the general public in a way that is engaging without sacrificing informativeness, and to promote social changes I believe are necessary for the continued survival of humanity (on issues such as AI, bioengineering, and climate change). Richard Feynman is a personal idol.
My (twin) greatest fears/bugbears/hatreds are human irrationality and human apathy. I do not believe that humans are fundamentally good, quite the opposite. A tremendous degree of often irreparable harm is done by ignorant, conservative, closed-minded people who care so little for others or for logical validity that they don't bother to think more cogently or compassionately.
"Highs" in my life are caused by self-actualization, freedom, intellectual stimulation, and social environments where these needs are met. They present as outgoingness, extreme energy verging on hypomania, and a compulsive drive to generate new ideas. "Lows" in my life are caused by the absence of these factors. They manifest as lethargy, depression, misanthropy, withdrawal from others and from projects, "clinging" to specific people, wallowing in pain, addiction, drive for excessive unhealthy stimulation, a kind of persecution-fetishizing covert narcissism, self-indulgence, and forming broad judgments about society. Sometimes I pick on my own insecurities. For instance, I know my IQ is around 170 from testing as both a child and an adult, but I used to take many different experimental cognitive assessments to "prove" what I already knew but couldn't accept.
I daydream incessantly and frequently lose all awareness of my surroundings, even if someone is speaking directly to me.
If I am alone in a blank, empty room with nothing to do and nobody to talk to, it will probably take about five seconds for it to start driving me mad. I'd be thinking about how to escape.
I put off important decisions so that I don't have too much time to vacillate, which I inevitably do anyway. Changing my mind is inescapable.
Emotions are very... uhh... do I say important or not? I don't believe that it is possible to make decisions without both emotions and logic -- emotions to provide a hierarchy of values that can be used in evaluating the preferability of outcomes, and logic to evaluate the paths to those outcomes. I have a very intense emotional experience, which I frequently cannot control. In the past I have sometimes wished I could entirely eliminate my emotions. Authenticity is important to me, but the experience is overwhelming, and I am unduly impulsive. I appeal first to logic on considered decisions but never fail to consult my values.
In general, if I disagree with someone I'll make it clear. This has led to the blowtorching of multiple relationships where I was entirely unwilling to back down in an argument. I might nod along in a casual conversation, but once a disagreement begins I do not know when to quit.
I constantly break any and all rules I disagree with, because I believe it would be idiocy not to. In my opinion, all authority should be questioned. Authority rests on the fluctuating foundation of reasonability, not the other way around.
Bonus points: my sense of humor consists of sarcastic quips, puns, dark post-irony, morbid shock value, ribaldry, and obscure references. The rest are clear enough, but an example of the last category would be randomly interjecting that Bedrich Smetana's last name means "sour cream" in a conversation that has nothing to do with classical music or dairy products. Absurdism, Dadaism, and surrealism all appeal to me. My tastes in anything cultural (such as music, art, and literature) are highly eclectic -- from Dead Can Dance to Scriabin to Cannibal Corpse and Animals as Leaders, from Seurat and Monet to Magritte, from Homer to Ted Chiang and Greg Egan.
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2024.05.08 04:27 1111222tl My TTPD synopsis 😜

I’m not completely convinced this Travis thing is real. Main reason: he’s a dumb jock, and she is an extremely intelligent poet. And that’s why she and Matty Healy connected so well because he is her twin flame. She loved Joe and thought that was her forever, but Matt Healy was the person that lit a fire in her soul and broadened her thoughts and poetry. Like she said, I’ve woven you into all of my poems; when you start listening to things, this girl definitely, definitely thought that this guy could be her savior, her guy that she meshed with so well, that she could have these intense conversations and he killed it. That could be THE ONE if she and Joe didn’t make it. If you go back to listen to some of the music that she’s made, I can see that. I actually think that some of the music that is on TTPD, she wrote before and then finished because she couldn’t put it out at any other time but this girl has been thinking about him for 10 years (his music as well - he’s been thinking about her too) And honestly it doesn’t matter because I connect with this album on such a very personal level. It came out the night I had to commit my teenage son to a mental facility. And what’s the imagery of Fornight?? 😭 (he’s doing great btw). My boyfriend and I haven’t known each other for 10 years lol, but he has brought something out in me. I didn’t even know existed. My ex-husband (been together for 25yrs) will be the love of my life (or one of them 🙏🏻), the loss of my life, but there is just something very very special about my relationship with my boyfriend , even though it hasn’t been as long and it’s had its ups and downs. This album is manic, crazy, passionate and just REAL in a very fake world. I truly love that she went all in. All feelings we’ve had. Let’s just enjoy it ❤️
submitted by 1111222tl to TTPD [link] [comments]

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