Author Topic: Karnak [Marvel] Comic (for Holden, a Vessel of Cthulhu)  (Read 702 times)

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Nation of One

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Karnak [Marvel] Comic (for Holden, a Vessel of Cthulhu)
« on: January 20, 2019, 11:45:52 am »
In the spirit of unearthing disillusionment and seeing the world as it is rather than how we think it is, I was looking into the work of Peter Sjöstedt-H, specifically a book called Neo-Nihilism.   I also checked out his website and found the transcript of a talk he did: Schopenhauer and the Philosophy of Mind.   It was also on the website that I learned that Sjöstedt-H may be the inspiration behind a Marvel Comics character created by Warren Ellis called KARNAK [see Karnak: The Flaw in All Things]:







I immediately, of course, thought of Holden and how such a character might inspire him on his quest to 'see the flaw in all things'.

Related: The Art of Comics: A Philosophical Approach

By the way, I think that what you relayed to Raul is a great direction for you to take, in fact, it most likely has already been determined that you are destined to do so:

Quote from: Holden
I am thinking of studying Indian philosophy and then would  try to related  it with  what Schopenhauer has to say.

I will add that it is not simply because you have been born into a culture which has records of articulating philosophically that which Schopenhauer was attempting to impart to "the Western world," but also your interest in the Lovecraftian "Old Ones," Cthulhu Mythos deities, may be a sufficient component which enables you to articulate the "inhuman" into human terms.   Evidently, the indifference of the "universe" to the aspirations of mankind may be key to neutralizing the egotistical, anthropomorphic hubris of our "great thinkers," and you may be in a unique position to help explain to the rest of us ways in which we might come to fathom the disturbing nature of our pernicious predicament.

Perhaps I am oversimplifying your task, since my mathematical tendencies seek to simplify that which is complex by discovering patterns; but I would suggest that in your research of ancient Indian philosophical records, keeping in mind your knowledge of the Cthulhu Mythos deities, you might discover some patterns which could reveal that the deities of the one are one in the same as the deities of the other.  Forgive me if this is a grotesque over-simplification.  Of course, if I know you, you will want to de-anthropomorphicize the dieites into THINGS more reminicient of Lovecraft's non-human entities/creatures.

The gnostics may have been on to something, but as they were working from within a Judeo-Christian tradition, their approach was in terms of being anti-thetical to that mythos, referring to the God of Israel as the Devil.  It may be high time to take a gnostic approach to interpreting the ancient philosophical records of your own ancestors, records which predate those of the Hebrews.

In the meantime, as a kind of humble spiritual practice, I will continue to focus primarily on some fundamental mathematical concepts with some attention given to the philosophical significance of what has been termed "depression" by the medical professions.

Depression is not merely a most philosophical emotion; but, moreover, it may be the most appropriate emotion to feel once one begins to fathom just how indifferent the riddle of existence is to our personal preferences.

Maybe, taking these separate paths, we might literally exchange notes in the distant future.

Thank you for keeping us posted.  You are quite an interesting character.

« Last Edit: January 22, 2019, 11:26:33 am by Kaspar the Jaded »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

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Holden

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Herr Kaspar,

Thank you for your post.One question  for  you-if hard  determinism is right and everything in existence is indeed the result of the principle of cause and effect,then, how does one go about justifying Schopenhauer's pessimistic stance towards existence?Is value judgement valid?
Thanks .
Take  care.
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

Nation of One

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Did you read the paper I left a link to in this post

The inconceivability of pessimistic determinism by J.E. Llewelyn

As you might have guessed from the title of this 6 page essay, he argues that pessimistic determinism is inconceivable. 

I don't know how to justify Schopenhauer's pessimistic stance toward existence other than that it agrees with my own personal experience.   Would the deterministic nature of existence deny one the right to have an opinion about it?   

Is value judgment valid?  Do you mean, such as morality, that is, isn't existence beyond good and evil?  It is what it is, whether we like it or not?

In the 6 page paper I linked to,
Quote from: Llewelyn
Two questions are then put.

(a) Could the acceptance of the determinist thesis lead us to adopt the objective attitude and suspend the personal and/or moral attitudes to everyone always ?

(b) If we accepted the determinist thesis would it be rational for us to adopt the objective attitude and suspend the personal and/or moral attitudes to everyone always ?

The determinist who answers this second question in the affirmative is the pessimistic determinist. My comments are restricted to his predicament.

... I suppose this discussion is to be continued.

Please do not be under any kind of illusion that I have any more insight into this predicament than you do.  Also, since our communication is limited to alphanumeric language, we are bound to run into some contradictions and paradoxes. 
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

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Holden

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Schopenhauer's  philosophy is apparently similar to pantheism and  panentheism.Universe/Nature/God-they use different words but generally mean the same thing.They believe in hard determinism.

However,and  this is the significant point-some  of the prominent  adherents  of  Panentheism also admit that our day  today knowledge   is  highly  faulty and cannot be trusted,much like Schopenhauer.That much is evident.

I'd try,with your permission, to channel  Schopenhauer's  spirit and try and  reconcile  hard determinism with pessimism( I  have downloaded the monograph you have suggested and will  try to read it soon).Now,here is the thing,the pantheists and the panentheists  say that everything  is determined  and adheres   to the principle of cause of effect.Fine. Schopenhauer agrees  too.These folks then say that   relief could be obtained by  trying to truly understand and properly comprehend the causes of  a mishap as  one comes  to see the inevitability of the mishap.One gets to see the necessitarian aspect.  That is also true   in  my personal  experience and do  not see Schopenhauer  disagreeing.But,and this is the catch, the thought pattern that brings about relief as regards the necessitarian aspect  also challenges pessimism.

Can we meet  this   challenge?Well, that's the sixty-four-thousand-dollar question, isn't it? I  think ,yes, it can be met.
Here is the crux  of the matter.The use of  one's powers of  understanding  to look at the necessitarian aspect   is a kind of  assertion of our  being.Of our Will, in a round about way ,really.And  Schopenhauer is all about  the denial of the will.

Here's what I suggest-the the denial  of the will is only valid  so long as one thinks under the domain of   principium individuationis.And so is pessimism.That is to say, one is pessimistic as long as one is an  individual.

(Well, I cannot finish this post tonight,way too   tired-will try to do  that  tomorrow)

To  be continued..ceteris paribus.
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

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Thank you, Holden.  That phrase hit me like a ton of bricks ... reconcile hard determinism with pessimism :

Quote from: Holden
I'd try,with your permission, to channel  Schopenhauer's  spirit and try and  reconcile  hard determinism with pessimism.

Unearthing Disillusionment: An Attempt to Reconcile Hard Determinism with Schopenhauerian Pessimism
« Last Edit: January 22, 2019, 07:57:16 pm by Kaspar the Jaded »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Silenus

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Now,here is the thing,the pantheists and the panentheists  say that everything  is determined  and adheres   to the principle of cause of effect.Fine. Schopenhauer agrees  too.These folks then say that   relief could be obtained by  trying to truly understand and properly comprehend the causes of  a mishap as  one comes  to see the inevitability of the mishap.One gets to see the necessitarian aspect.  That is also true   in  my personal  experience and do  not see Schopenhauer  disagreeing.But,and this is the catch, the thought pattern that brings about relief as regards the necessitarian aspect  also challenges pessimism.

This is very interesting Holden, and I believe I can understand what you are purposing. I believe, and correct me if I'm wrong, you are asking "How can one reconcile objective hard determinism / necessitarianism with subjective pessimism?"

You go on to say the following:

Quote
Here's what I suggest-the the denial  of the will is only valid  so long as one thinks under the domain of   principium individuationis.And so is pessimism.That is to say, one is pessimistic as long as one is an  individual.

So with all of this being said, I simply do not have an answer at this moment.  I personally can accept that physical existence is deterministic without direction towards a "destiny." At the same time, I subjectively take the view that, although I can accept this, I emotionally feel bound by the shackles of physical law and biochemical function. It is a personal gripe of mine.

Here I think we run into a species-old issue: that of salvation. I can wholeheartly wish for escape from this prison of a body-mind; yet I do not "yearn" or wish for a "spiritual" or any kind of release "beyond this world." So the only solution for me is: salvation through my individual death (is this what Mainlander gets to?). My pessimistic stance on determinism leads to the conclusion that death is the only way out. One may, as an individual, deny the will to live in order to prepare for death, or to go so far as to live as though one was already dead.

So, I am unsure, for now, that determinism can be reconciled with pessimism. My pessimism is purely a subjective and individual (and yes, egotistic) reaction to acceptable objective fact. I do not have the same kind of relief as the panthiests; my relief is in the cessation of the body, not in the anticipation of inevitability. Maybe it all depends on the temperament that is developed over time in the specific person.

I apologize for any confusion here.

Edit: I arrogantly forgot to add that accepting determinism implies accepting that this pessimistic subjectivity is part and parcel of the cause and effect.  To reconcile determinism and pessimism, maybe all one needs to do is understand that they are one in the same, or the Will, or however you wish to  phrase it.
« Last Edit: January 22, 2019, 10:33:55 pm by Silenus »

"And the strict master Death bids them dance."

Holden

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Thank you Herr Kaspar and Mr.Silenus  for your responses.
(Mr.Silenus, I'd  really like to address the issues you have raised in the next post).
I will try to pick up the thread of my last post  again:What  I find really intriguing is that even the  pantheists,these apostles of the Law of  Causality write something like this:

Quote
After experience had taught me that all the usual surroundings of social life are vain and futile....

The point is that even the Pantheists recognise that the everyday life is "vain" and "futile".When I first read Schopenhauer what  surprised me was not his pessimism but his suggestion that in aesthetic experiences and severe asceticism a way out might  be discerned.So long as I am Holden,I am surrounded by entities that are Not-Holden.Even,   my own body parts often show their true colours. When my pancreas malfunctioned,they became the Other.

Schopenhauer  ,not once in his entire oeuvre ,comes close to saying that once one is dead that is pretty much  the end of it all,for he never believed that, & I  think rightly  so.I think its about time I put to rest all the fantasies of getting submerged  into  "nothingness"after my demise. 

However,  as long as I am  an individual I am well within my rights to continue to be pessimistic.Objectively pessimistic.It is only when I am everywhere and in all things and at all times ,that "I" truly get to comprehend the law of Causality.I can be  the murdered and the murderer,the hunter and the hunted  at once. The King and the  Slave  together.Then, it all gets neutralised. Then,  I am everything. And   Nothing. Then, I am Everywhere,  and Nowhere.

La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

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Maybe I'm more simple-minded than I thought, but, I don't see a conflict between hard determinism and pessimism.  We are wired to want, to need to eat, to need to sleep, to want to be safe and sound, and we are also wired to become bored when our needs are met - Schopenhauer declares such boredom as evidence that life itself has no real meaning or purpose, that it is empty, vain, futile.

Anyone who is honest will admit to themselves at least that day to day living finds them on the verge of continual depression.  We do not choose to be born as these individuals who must eat food, excrete waste, and eventually, sooner or later, decompose.

At least when I drank booze continually or smoked a lot of herb, I could blame the chemicals when I noticed my brain not "working".   Now, I just accept that there is much I do not understand.   All I know is that I suspect many professionals, even the "heroic" medical professionals, may simply be ambitious careerists who can memorize the required information and jump through the necessary hoops.

I see things and sense things ... and I witness the kinds of "career ambition" and "marriage bound," vacationing, money-spending, and eventual baby-breeding values that are upheld by the status quo - and I feel utterly negative, an old grouch long before reaching old age.

I don't see how being of the opinion that it would be better if the universe were never to have come into existence and the sense that everything that happens occurs by necessity, that is, has a cause, but not necessarily a purpose or meaning, are in conflict.

Evidently I am overlooking something quite important.

I feel that maybe I am rather intelligent for a stupid man, but a stupid man, nonetheless.   No, stupid is not the right word.   I feel that I am rather intelligent for a human being, but a human being nonetheless; which means I walk around most of the time feeling rather stupid.

And yet, I refuse to believe the lie that my lack of money is a consequence of some kind of flaw, or that those with money or careers are somehow more intelligent than I am (or any happier).  The most "successful" - in terms of resources and financial security - may actually be less intelligent and far more miserable.

So, when I feel stupid, it is mostly because I am an honest man who does not understand a great deal, although I do try to understand, always trying to make sense of something that confuses me.   The thing is, I do not believe the Great Lies.   In the United States, people are supposed to envy the wealthy, and we are supposed to pay deference to professionals and careerists ... and yet, there is a good chance that someone holding a certain position in society can do so only because they have trained themselves like soldiers to rise early and go into automaton mode.

Waking up early and reporting somewhere on time is not a sign of intelligence.  It is called obedience --- well-trained, that is.

And yet, as Holden says, "someone has to build the structures we dwell in (or not)," someone runs the pipes, the wires, someone designs the computers, loads the barrels of oil onto the boats ...

If more people were like me, I'm afraid civilization would come to a halt ... and perhaps a great many millions would starve to death.
« Last Edit: January 24, 2019, 12:56:58 am by Kaspar the Jaded »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Holden

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Mr.Silenus,

Your write:
Quote
"How can one reconcile objective hard determinism / necessitarianism with subjective pessimism?"
 "My pessimism is purely a subjective and individual (and yes, egotistic) reaction to acceptable objective fact. I do not have the same kind of relief as the panthiests; my relief is in the cessation of the body, not in the anticipation of inevitability. Maybe it all depends on the temperament that is developed over time in the specific person."

With respect, "our" pessimism is really objective  because  it is  "ours"-not  yours or Herr Hentrich's or  Senor  Raul's or Schopenhauer's
 or Cioran's or mine.However, temperament  does  play a vital  role.Some are more sensitive than the others.
               
Emotions,sentiments,can also be studied in the way  one goes about  studying geometry.I have know emotions and have know people who have  felt  emotions which really can  drive one  insane.

https://www.yourtango.com/2012128420/heartbreak-real-says-new-research

Herr Hentrich has been kind enough to appreciate  my understanding of Lovecraft's work&  when Lovecraft writes something like this:
Quote
Our brains deliberately make us forget things, to prevent insanity.
HPL  actually means it.This  is a dangerous  world ,Mr.Silenus and as Herr Kaspar says-"souls  get  eaten here".
As the Christians say- The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.
La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
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Holden

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                                          200 Years of Die Welt als Wille und Vorstellung(To Schopenhauer)
                                                                 A  Testimony of Pessimism
 
A few weeks back I was in a terrible state of mind.I every so often end up feeling so very down that it literally becomes extremely difficult for  me to so much as draw a breath.My head was  almost on fire due to agony.

Anyway,I said to myself that this is really a "nice moment " for me to test the veracity of different philosophies as regards their effectiveness in mitigating my pain. First off,I focussed  on Naturalism/Panentheism.  It did not work in  that I felt no difference in the intensity of agony.

Then, I focussed my mind squarely on Schopenhauer's ideas and ,believe you me,the relief was palpable.I could almost see Schopenhauer there,travelling across the oceans  of time to bring me relief.No, it was not just me who was suffering,for  he suffered a great deal  too.And  his philosophy was a response to that agony, to that  misery  which  he felt.

I have seen  critics  saying he was wealthy and never did any  "real  work"  in his  whole life  and enjoyed leisure. But they overlook his rejection by his own  blood  mother,his father's apparent suicide when  he was still a teenager, and his defeat ,yes,his  defeat   after defeat ,in the matters of the heart.He knew what  suffering is.He knew  how  it can drive  a man to the very brink of insanity.

They say he never did any real work,well,I say phooey to such  "real work".What exactly do  they mean by "real work"?  Nothing  other  than being a  lackey in the employ of some sadist, being  a  breeder and being sheeple.

I think  Schopenhauer's  philosophy  is the closest  I  would ever  come  to "the truth".

I thank Schopenhauer for  never concerning himself with any"real work".

Thank you,Schopenhauer, for  everything.


(I have  a feeling he would have liked this  song)
« Last Edit: January 26, 2019, 11:33:46 am by Holden »
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WARNING: Long-winded post.   

I hope I have not become a windbag.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
I have also experienced the pain of defeat in matters of the heart, repeatedly; hence "the Jaded."

It's as though I am living in the realm between the living and the dead.

I appreciate your view of what the world considers "real work," that is, being a lackey in the employ of some sadist ... do this, don't do that, etc and so forth --- subjecting yourself to to the will of another; obedience - something held in high regard by the likes of John F. Kennedy (the saint?) ["It's not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country."] ::)  (WAY OFF TOPIC, sorry)

It's all in vain.   Political leaders rely on people's gullibility, whereas police are trained, I suppose, to curb what they see as "man's natural tendencies."

During hurricanes or other natural disasters, one hears the officials speak of "people reverting to their natural state."   

So, there is a huge gulf between the image of the supposed audience of John F. Kennedy [cult of personality] who are supposedly prepared to contribute to this abstract concept of "a country," you know - a nation, the masses of other human beings, each of which is likely to call the police should you approach their domicile asking for some food or money AND "the natural state of man."

We can imagine masses of hungry bodies ... dangerous situations ... the ugly reality.

And even in ideal conditions, where mostly everyone is well fed, then there is all the vanity. Like the Hollywood rewards ceremonies.  What a ridiculous spectacle of blowing smoke up their own asses!  Wooooo-Hooooo!

Yes, Schopenhauer is one underestimated bad ass, par excellence.  Some of my favorite truths from Schopenhauer jump out from the incidental comments, such as his view of there not being such a thing as "the white race," that all human beings born out of the womb of nature are dark-skinned.   Having depigmented skin is a mutation of some kind, maybe having to do with climate, but, regardless, not a trait found in "the original prototype." 

In matters of the heart, countless will endure defeat.  Nay, even those who have been fortunate in this regard, may suffer from heartbreak still.  No one can know what another has endured.

There are the deeper truths as well. I found Kant's work confusing, but Schopenhauer helped me decipher it by saying, "Before Kant, we existed in time.  After Kant, time exists in us."

There is no need for me to compete with Schopenhauer or to be his "successor,"  nor to even become some kind of half-crazed apostle.  I am content to be a self-ordained disciple.  And, yes, I am comfortable using the kind of terminology normally reserved for the religious.   

In the introduction to the English translation of Mainlander's, "Philosophy of Redemption," in the very first sentence:

Schopenhauer is not merely a figure in the history of philosophy: his philosophy has the potential to replace religion. Mainländer wants to be his “Paul” and saw it as his life-task to purify Schopenhauer's immortal thoughts.

Quote
Mainländer saw his philosophy of redemption as timely, as the solution to the most urgent problem of modern humanity. This problem came from a terrible tension in  the modern soul:  on the one hand, a deep need for religion; on the other hand, a loss of religious faith. Since suffering is the eternal fate of mankind, there is still the great need for deliverance from it; but the traditional sources of religious belief are no longer credible to the general educated public. No one believed anymore in the existence of a heaven beyond the earth where a paternal God rewarded the virtuous and punished the wicked. Hence Mainländer saw the purpose of his philosophy as the formulation of a modern doctrine of redemption, a doctrine that should be completely consistent with the naturalistic worldview of modern science. His philosophy, he was proud to say, would be the first attempt to ground the essential truths of salvation on the basis of nature alone.

Myself, I do not wish to be such an apostle, although I suspect that you, Holden, might be well-suited to the task of constructing such a doctrine.   I am relieved to know that you have been leaning in the direction of giving up hope on salvation.   I mean, it would be great were we able to appreciate Schopenhauer's attempt to satisfy man's metaphysical need for salvation, while at the same time, being able to come to terms with the absence of such salvation in the Natural World.

Maybe it is as simple as imagining that the materials constituting our animal bodies return into the earth and air, and our ego-identity is no more, it vanishes, it is annihilated as it had only been a narrative constructed by the living organism to unify its imperative to sustain itself as an organism-as-a-whole.  That could be seen as a kind of salvation, that this ego-self will be annihilated, and that, just maybe, we might return to an inorganic state, more fit for enduring itself than we presently are as these bundles of nerves, these anxious nervous wrecks ...

It is easy to speak of such things as if "I" know, as if "I" even could know.

The truth is what we stand in, and it does not depend on being known in order to be; and yet even our own bodies, according to Schopenhauer's doctrine (via Kant), are experienced as representations extended in space, and so, in effect, are known.   We stand in truth, we do not know truth ----- AND YET!   Do you notice the circle of thought we get trapped in?  This animal body I experience as myself, extended in space, is a representation (in my head, which is on the shoulders of and part of the body extended in space).  Can I have that drink now?   :D

It is great for all those who find in Schopenhauer's work something that may be considered their own personal and private non-religious religion, which is what I have found.

On the other hand, as far as my own personal contribution to "the future" goes, as you know, I am only trying to reach those who, like myself, may wish to make mathematics a life-time study, as opposed to how it has been presented to me, and most likely will continue to be presented, as training for the scientific professions.

Schopnehauer was interested in physics, as he is usually referring to the problems presented in physics when he talks about Qualitates Occultae (plural of qualitas occulta?).

I always write as a layman, that is, I fully concede that I am neither mathematician nor physicist.  Hell, even though I have written some beautiful computer programs, I still consider myself a novice hobbyist programmer.  Consequently, my notes to the future may be cherished by certain like-minded individuals, mainly adults, who may wish to make the study of mathematics a lifelong passion, even when their formal education leaves them standing in line at the unemployment office or even at the food bank.   :-\

Come to think of it, this encyclopedic series of notebooks might be embraced in the future only by an older, more tired version of myself.  The secret to the riddle of existence will certainly not be found in its pages; but, taken as a whole, there will be evidence of one man, one non-professional, non-academic man, who approached the foundations and fundamentals of a vast discipline, and attempted to leave organized notes of the process of covering a small amount of material, which, in effect, takes many years, even decades.    This might serve as some kind of example of how an autodidact might stubbornly pursue self-education even long after being processed through compulsory education to be fed into the wage-slavery market of lackeys, gofers, and general maintenance "employment opportunities" available.

None of my math notes include any reference to the work of Arthur Schopenhauer.  I only wish that he would have written a little more about basic mathematics and what he referred to as "the drudgery of arithmetic."   

You mention the agony you have been experiencing.  I wish there were a way to sneak into the margins of my math notes some comments concerning the agony of day to day existence, or how sometimes everything seems to be done in vain; but, as you know, it is an art form just to keep one's "work" organized, and, as it is, much verbiage is left out, using various notations which say a lot in the shortest amount of space.

When writing computer programs, I inject many lengthy comments which the machine ignores.  These comments are written for others, but mainly for myself so that I better understand what it is I was doing, what the code "means to do."   Unsurprisingly, we forget what we were up to even after a week or a month passes, let alone a year or two.

The manner in which we express ourselves is significant.  Just maybe, writing in a free style, allowing ourselves to speak plainly, has been "inherited" from the master, Schopenhauer.  What I mean is, even if we are not able to defend, justify, or "purify" Schopenhauer's main doctrine (as some kind of apostles), it may be enough that we have picked up his habit of writing as naively as possible, that is, in an opposite way that one would present oneself to a potential employer - frankly, as brutally honest as possible.

Maybe this is exactly how I am constructing "the encyclopedic series of mathematics notebooks," naively ... as an old-timer novice, as a mere mortal, as a non-mathematician, non-academic, as a non-professional.  I am not of a priestly class, not in the Priest Caste. 

Thanks to the writings of Arthur Schopenhauer, I have, over my lifetime, developed the confidence to apply myself to what interests me.   There was a time when I applied myself strictly to drinking alcohol and going on long philosophical rants (with background music, of course).  Similarly to Doug Standhope, I drank because I was me.  The implication is that others would also seek inebriation if they found themselves with this contradictory and chaotic brain inside their skulls.   

Now that I am able to hold a pencil and write legibly, and think coherently for this long stretch of time, I am glad I have been compiling these notebooks.  I can look at them and know that I have been up to something over the past few years, something quite different than reading book after book on critical social theory or "phenomenology."

Don't get me wrong.  I have been reading some phenomenological writings on depression, and I am always interested when Husserl or Merleau-Ponty are mentioned anywhere.   It's just that, well, the epoche (the phenomenological reduction) seems almost quasi-mystical ... a suspension of believing in the objective "world."   It's interesting, yes; but there is an entirely different kind of thinking required to, say, apply a matrix to a vector space, as in a transformation.   The first is rather vague and even might be called "touchy-feely," whereas the latter is "hard" --- that is, as abstract a notion that a vector space is, it still has the feel of something SOLID ... a space with a certain number of dimensions.

Thanks for the interaction, Holden.  It is no little blessing to have someone in this mad world who takes some kind of interest in what our personal and private "irreligious religion" is.

As Senor Raul has pointed out:  re- (again) + lego in the sense of "choose", "go over again" or "consider carefully".

Unfortunately, the common understanding of the word religion would forbid me using it since I am pretty much against what most would consider religiosity.  I do, however, CHOOSE to GO OVER AGAIN and CONSIDER CAREFULLY, not only the writings of Schopenhauer, but some fairly fundamental and even elementary ideas of mathematics as well.

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a collection of portraits of "the master"
« Last Edit: January 27, 2019, 10:49:08 pm by Kaspar the Jaded »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Holden

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Thank  you for your very rich post ,Herr Kaspar.Let me  quote Samkara,a philosopher  in ancient India.He is writing about the
 human  life-how we were not around  before our birth as an individual and soon will disappear  again:

"That  which is non-existent at the beginning  and in  the   end,is necessarily so  in  the middle."


La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

Holden

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Thanks for the comic book suggestion.

La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.

Nation of One

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  • Life teaches me not to want it.
    • What Now?
"Nature is harsh enough without the interference of man."

Wow.  That kind of puts things into perspective, huh?    :-\

Watching it made me think of how hungry the woodpecker must have been.   The babies were also hungry all the time.  Do you think the two that escaped got away, or did they end up in the belly of the woodpecker?
« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 01:30:06 am by Kaspar the Jaded »
Things They Will Never Tell YouArthur Schopenhauer has been the most radical and defiant of all troublemakers.

Gorticide @ Nothing that is so, is so DOT edu

~ Tabak und Kaffee Süchtigen ~

Holden

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You once  wrote that  Schopenhauer  says that people from  India do not need  to read Kant.I  think  he might have said  it because  he would have assumed  that the Upanishads  are  as widely available and taught and read here as the New Testament is in  the  West.

I  am  not sure  how   things  were  in the 19th century India,perhaps they did teach Indian philosophy to the youth then, but in the late  20th century and the early 21st  century, Hinduism has been reduced to nothing more  than a bunch of rituals  which became  increasingly meaningless to me as I  grew up. Second, apart  from Gita in its overly religious and obscure language, I  did not get to read  ANY philosophy(Indian or  otherwise) at  all.

In every town(even the smallest) there are scores of coaching centres for these four subject-Maths,Physics,Chemistry (for Engineering Stream),  and for Biology (Medicine Stream). These streams are for the high fliers.


Philosophy is strictly for people who wish to either  remain unemployed  for the rest of their lives ,crazies and those women who want a nominal (easy?) degree  before they spend the rest of their lives as house-wives  ???

Yes,my friend,such are the successors of the authors of the  Upanishads so loved by Schopenhauer,in the present day.

A father in India would  rather see his son dead than allow him  to  study something so "menial"  as philosophy.Only the outcasts  do it here( or those who do it,end up becoming outcasts).

I could study it only after getting acquainted with you and after getting chewed out by the  academic system.As one of the crazies.



La Tristesse Durera Toujours                                  (The Sadness Lasts Forever ...)
-van Gogh.