tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post1671711992979489520..comments2024-03-27T11:16:36.951-07:00Comments on One Cʘsmos: Ravenous Emptiness and Existential HungerGagdad Bobhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comBlogger27125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-79053115735566695552019-11-24T09:00:04.688-08:002019-11-24T09:00:04.688-08:00Oh look, a time traveler!
Thanks for this little ...Oh look, a time traveler!<br /><br />Thanks for this little window into the past, Brian.<br /><br />Never fear, all you 2011 commenters - Whatever anyone might say about President Donald Trump (I know!!), rest assured that Hillary Clinton Will Never Be President. You still have to suffer through the rest of Obama's term, but all is not lost yet.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-38658012152980175392019-11-24T06:17:33.290-08:002019-11-24T06:17:33.290-08:00The narcissist imagines himself to be perfectly co...The narcissist imagines himself to be perfectly complete -- except his painful lack of completion unconsciously leaks out in the need to be noticed, admired, and idealized.<br /><br />For the narcissist, the world becomes the infantile mother who registers in her face the wonderfulness of the baby. Which explains the infantile rage of the narcissist when the world-mother fails to mirror their grandiosity.<br /><br />Remind you of anyone? If not, see Trump, President.Briannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-57366224717754930732011-02-14T15:23:57.767-08:002011-02-14T15:23:57.767-08:00Hello Bob, I saw this yesterday - better late than...Hello Bob, I saw this yesterday - better late than never! Looking forward to working my way through your whole Dante series. Wanted to let you know I've <a href="http://pecancorner.blogspot.com/2011/02/no-secrets-some-conversations-on.html" rel="nofollow"> linked to this </a> from my own little blog & added a link to One Cosmos to my sidebar. :-)Tinahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06049681622118832305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-85966510889664363372011-02-10T05:32:57.719-08:002011-02-10T05:32:57.719-08:00I wrote this recently on another forum under anoth...I wrote this recently on another forum under another name. It seems appropriate here.<br /><br />--------<br /><br />An actor plays Aragorn, a man fighting an evil that threatens the world. But the same actor points to the people trying to unseat a ruler who picks women out of crowds to rape them while their husbands are made to watch, a ruler who is part of an unholy arc in the most unstable part of the world, and that actor declares that the people trying to unseat this man are evil. Not misguided, not in grave error as to means and ends, but evil.<br /><br />Pol Pot was evil. Stalin was evil. Every ruler whose goal is to reduce people to cogs in his machine is evil, though perhaps in a lesser degree, and the business of ruling is often trying to find the least evil path through a maze of evil actors. (Not for nothing did John Adams declare that the Constitution of the USA is only suited for the governing of a moral people.)<br /><br />I recently saw Tron Legacy several times. Several because I'm not skilled enough to pick it apart while on the thrill ride that is the IMAX 3D presentation. At one point in the film, the character who has just entered the virtual reality gets to tell the one trapped in it what's been happening. He runs down a list of popular (and mostly discredited) talking points: glaciers melting (some, and others are growing, and we've just discovered a new mechanism that dominates the slight changes in temperature), rich getting richer/poor getting poorer (in the USA, only happens in high-tax States) .... But in spite of that, the core themes of the film are rock-solid conservative: genocide in the attempt to create a perfect society from above and the Law of Unintended Consequences, which the Old Guy faces by diving into Zen, and finally expiates himself by personal sacrifice.<br /><br />A while ago I quoted Chesteron: Literature is a luxury, fiction a necessity. It is by exploring fiction that we learn to exercise our moral judgement and our capacity to predict what evil people will do.<br /><br />We have a disconnect, I think, between the fiction in which we recognize and explore our natures and their moral dimension, and our approach to reality. And those most skilled in fiction seem to suffer the most from the disconnect. Until we recognize, as Chesterton did, that "literature" must have a deeply moral dimension and discard Oscar Wilde's declaration that "books are well written or badly written, that is all", we will live under that disconnect, paying among us a terrible price.<br /><br />We can't help writing myth—fiction—into our stories. It's who we are. It's what we are. I rather doubt that the authors of Tron Legacy actually wanted to play the Earth Mother/Sky Father myth, but "Q"'s ontology practically demands it. And if either Old Man or Old Man's creation is her Earth-Mother, then the her relationship to Young Man at the end is bordering on creepy.<br /><br />I conclude this undisguised opinion on the moral value of fiction and its links to reality with three successive articles by Gagdad Bob.<br /><br />[[The links didn't survive the cut-and-paste and as we've all read them I didn't bother to copy them.]]njcommuternoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-29713135703343151662011-02-10T02:59:58.309-08:002011-02-10T02:59:58.309-08:00I worked with Skunk Baxter briefly a few years ago...I worked with Skunk Baxter briefly a few years ago during my stint in ______. Simply an amazing human being.Stephen Macdonaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13474300559219020772noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-4758380521601824422011-02-09T16:51:29.832-08:002011-02-09T16:51:29.832-08:00On the insight that 12 Step is a spiritual program...On the insight that 12 Step is a spiritual program of recovery (that saved my own life) and that alcohol is called "spirits"...alcohol is also referred to as "false courage."<br /><br />. . .the beauty of the 12 step program is similar to the beauty of this site. . .so thanks for keeping it real one day at a time.....<br /><br />...oh a final note on spiritual revovery being the most effective....on some 12-step meeting room walls it says "Your best THINKING got you here."Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-74142556518582801142011-02-09T15:58:04.415-08:002011-02-09T15:58:04.415-08:00By inverting virtue, it lives off an energy not it...<i>By inverting virtue, it lives off an energy not its own. Thus it always seems so wan and cold at heart and often in appearance. Often frantic, too, in its search for new energy sources lest it die on the vine.</i><br /><br />Goes back to the idea of trying to get more [fun, pleasure, vitality, etc.] out of something than there ever actually is in it.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-65176558983879888632011-02-09T15:52:50.464-08:002011-02-09T15:52:50.464-08:00Will says:
"There are vampiric individuals w...Will says:<br /><br />"There are vampiric individuals who can actually drain energy, albeit unwittingly."<br /><br />Some do it willingly.<br /><br />It's one of those things that's a bad idea to attempt or actually accomplish.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-52592428421683642322011-02-09T15:43:11.087-08:002011-02-09T15:43:11.087-08:00<<psychic cannibalism<<
I think this ...<<psychic cannibalism<<<br /><br />I think this can serve as metaphor and as "reality". There are vampiric individuals who can actually drain energy, albeit unwittingly. Who knows, this may have something to do with the enabling/enabled dynamic and why so many criminals come in pairs. <br /><br />I'm thinking that the left "progressive" cause is almost an entirely vampiric enterprise. By inverting virtue, it lives off an energy not its own. Thus it always seems so wan and cold at heart and often in appearance. Often frantic, too, in its search for new energy sources lest it die on the vine.willnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-46346663020813322272011-02-09T13:40:17.957-08:002011-02-09T13:40:17.957-08:00JP said:
"In any event, there needs to be som...JP said:<br />"In any event, there needs to be some sort of DSM-type book that actually has value within the world of psychology."<br /><br />There's always last year's model.<br />I mean, edition.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589423819039764711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-25678053751903517822011-02-09T13:27:07.288-08:002011-02-09T13:27:07.288-08:00I thought narcissism was going to be stripped from...I thought narcissism was going to be stripped from the DSM-V.<br /><br />In any event, there needs to be some sort of DSM-type book that actually has value within the world of psychology.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-14198943923014304512011-02-09T13:25:51.687-08:002011-02-09T13:25:51.687-08:00Obesity is recognized as a psychospiritual problem...Obesity is recognized as a psychospiritual problem.<br /><br />That is to say, that people who have enough experience with certain obesity clinics are apparently able to tell whether a potential client will be successful or not on intake.<br /><br />So, there are psychological/behavioral tells for people who want to deal with obesity vs. those who are entrapped by their obesity.JPhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11126071014909954387noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-77416073941811921712011-02-09T12:08:05.778-08:002011-02-09T12:08:05.778-08:00Or, had I read a bit further first, "As Upton...Or, had I read a bit further first, "As Upton writes, gluttony is "a perversion of a natural instinct" rooted in "an attempt to become complete, to fill an empty place in one's soul.... [F]or the damned the quality of fulfillment, which is based on a spiritual ascent they cannot accomplish, only intensifies their peculiar distortions.""<br /><br />They want to have, without acheiving... and will accept any and all substitutes, as long as they come in party-pak quanties.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-2821149134466824842011-02-09T11:53:37.519-08:002011-02-09T11:53:37.519-08:00Julie said "... the revelers in inverted virt...Julie said "... the revelers in inverted virtue long for that which is higher than themselves, but at the same time can't bear for it to be higher, brighter, cleaner, because it reveals their lowly state for what it truly is."<br /><br />I think so, that is the core method of the left, to take and vertical ideal, and particularize it into a horizontal thing. <br /><br />Education changes from understanding the good ideas that liberate, to training you how to gather a liberal amount of goods;<br /><br />Property Rights change from having a property right in that which has been produced through your life, to being given property you have a 'right' to expect just for living;<br /><br />Free Speech goes from the freedom to speak your mind on an issue which others may or not choose to listen to, to having a right to hear only those things you want to hear - and the right to expect everyone to listen to your words on what you know they should hear, and not be confused by hateful speech opposing you.<br /><br />They always transform the conceptual, virtuous, into particulars - what might have begun as reverence for the vertical, is transformed through avarice for what they can't obtain, into the horizontal to be consumed, and "Therefore they must bring it down and cover it in filth, perverting it so that it becomes the opposite of what it was meant to be.".Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-35000476546627059242011-02-09T11:19:20.653-08:002011-02-09T11:19:20.653-08:00Human beings never stop needing the translinguisti...<i>Human beings never stop needing the translinguistic experience of emotional/spiritual fulfillment.</i><br /><br />Along those lines, I've found it interesting over the past few months to see, in other people, the almost overpowering desire they have to connect with a baby. The old need the young in an essential way that our society, with its lowering birth rate and segregated communities, actively inhibits. As evidence, first there's <a href="http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/08/fake-robot-baby-provokes-real-screams-video/" rel="nofollow">Japan</a>. More personally, there's the horde of Friday grandparents who whisk the baby away as soon as I show up for portrait sketching. As well as virtual strangers. I know, I know - everyone loves a baby, but at times there just seems to be this almost desperation, like they haven't seen one in years. I've had at least a couple of people tell me that they never see young people and children, living in their retirement communities, and the impression is they really suffer from the lack.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-78964445961297178032011-02-09T11:09:29.298-08:002011-02-09T11:09:29.298-08:00Van,
What if you're in the gutter, staring up...Van,<br /><br /><i>What if you're in the gutter, staring up at the fruit of the tree, and decided not just to moon upon it, but to pluck it, bring it down from above and into your grasp?</i><br /><br />Seems to me there's a vital bit of info there. Namely, the revelers in inverted virtue long for that which is higher than themselves, but at the same time can't bear for it to <i>be</i> higher, brighter, cleaner, because it reveals their lowly state for what it truly is. Therefore they must bring it down and cover it in filth, perverting it so that it becomes the opposite of what it was meant to be.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-11846051298582101642011-02-09T11:03:59.919-08:002011-02-09T11:03:59.919-08:00"Progressives also transmogrify actual justic..."Progressives also transmogrify actual justice into the totalitarian monster of "social justice" -- a justice which is simply subordinate to their justice-denying policy preferences. "<br /><br />Vanderleun's Oscar Wilde quote, "“We are all lying in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” comes to mind. What if you're in the gutter, staring up at the fruit of the tree, and decided not just to moon upon it, but to pluck it, bring it down from above and into your grasp? What is the proregressives 'social justice', but attempting to turn the virtue of Justice, into some vital vittles to be taken, distributed and et up? <br /><br />When you get the notiion into your head that the ideal can be transformed into a particular pleasing something defined by you, that you can have and eat the fruit of the tree of good and evil, pluck it, hold it, shine it, admire it and eat it up... You fall.Van Harveyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08470413719262297062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-23276037800838234572011-02-09T10:43:58.624-08:002011-02-09T10:43:58.624-08:00Cure for what ales ya.
Anyway, have you seen the ...Cure for what ales ya.<br /><br />Anyway, have you seen the Simpson's episode where Barney's (belching bar guy) affliction begins? He appears to be doing better-than-fine until someone gives him a taste.<br />They totally ripped-off the Ignatowski (Taxi) episode.<br /><br />I may have watched too much TV once.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589423819039764711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-2718590336003346022011-02-09T10:27:47.289-08:002011-02-09T10:27:47.289-08:00Well, the only consistently successful treatment f...Well, the only consistently successful treatment for alcohol is a spiritual one, i.e., AA. Not for nothing is booze called "spirits."Gagdad Bobhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14249005793605006679noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-59647355017059883542011-02-09T10:25:41.817-08:002011-02-09T10:25:41.817-08:00"psychic cannibalism"
Just read that la..."psychic cannibalism"<br /><br />Just read that last night in Upton. Was in one of the last circles if not the last. Now I'm wondering if she also mentioned it earlier and I missed that.<br /><br />Anyway, certain overdone activities may look like gluttony externally but I'm wondering if they always are. In other words, not always caused by a "missing whole". Alcoholism comes to mind. Many say some who suffer from it may be due to their genetics or otherwise some biological tendency.<br />Not to cause a disturbance in the force but, I've seen explanations for homo(and hetero)sexual activity described as a type of consumption (devouring)...which implies a psychic need rather than somatic.Rickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10589423819039764711noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-25361578717113488312011-02-09T09:58:33.161-08:002011-02-09T09:58:33.161-08:00razor-laser sharp guitar lines of Steely at their ...razor-laser sharp guitar lines of Steely at their finest: by Jeff Skunk Baxter, who has Rumsfeld's home phone # [he became selftaught expert in Missile defense]<br /><br />wv<br />dumsin [!]<br />what to do after dim sum?gehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02015936407999495181noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-35390171932561268862011-02-09T09:46:38.365-08:002011-02-09T09:46:38.365-08:00Re. the Nazi article, how bizarre. Does the Anti-D...Re. the Nazi article, how bizarre. Does the Anti-Defamation League have no bigger concerns these days, that they can worry that people aren't saying nice enough things about genocidal maniacs? What's next, a praise of the Hussein brothers' use of sustainable power in their human shredding machines?<br /><br />Back to the post,<br /><br /><i>It may be at either extreme; for example, one patient may want to "devour" the therapist... </i><br /><br />I think I've met a few people like that. So overwhelmingly needy and desperate for attention that they're like emotional vampires. On the one hand, you pity them because they so obviously need healthy relationships, but on the other hand they are unbearable to be around because there's no boundary, and thus a healthy relationship is literally impossible. Just saying "hello" upon making their acquaintance becomes an offer to be best friends for life, and subsequently trying to maintain a healthier distance becomes a stab in the back. There's no middle ground.juliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15975754287030568726noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-49473717946373182302011-02-09T09:21:05.170-08:002011-02-09T09:21:05.170-08:00"That being the case, I wonder if it is also ..."That being the case, I wonder if it is also true that progressives regard the classical virtues as sins?"<br /><br />Well, they never seem to get tired of mocking the classical virtues and anyone that is trying to live them.<br /><br />I believe that's what progressives call "courage."<br /><br />Of course, they would never go so far as to mock Muslims or Islam. <br />I guess they don't wanna overdo this "courageous" thing.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-61710144424636847842011-02-09T09:15:32.784-08:002011-02-09T09:15:32.784-08:00My Steely Dan koan of the day is:
He say
I detect...My Steely Dan koan of the day is:<br /><br />He say<br />I detect <br />the El Supremo.<br />Redundant <br />is <br />is not<br />isvanderleunnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8580258.post-6569100421761220092011-02-09T09:10:36.200-08:002011-02-09T09:10:36.200-08:00"For the narcissist, the world becomes the in..."For the narcissist, the world becomes the infantile mother who registers in her face the wonderfulness of the baby. Which explains the infantile rage of the narcissist when the world-mother fails to mirror their grandiosity."<br /><br />That also explains most trolls. <br />HEY! LOOK AT ME! I SAID LOOK AT ME!! HOW DARE YOU NOT LOOK AT ME?!! DAMNIT! WHY DON'T YOU LISTEN TO ME?!! <br /><br />Of course, that also explains most politicians, particularly leftist ones. Oh, and "journalists," celebrities, the NY Times.<br /><br />Speaking of hives like the NY Times, I reckon these deadly sins can operate on a collectrive level as well as an individual one.<br />Certainly the NY Times, San Francisco Comical, Huffing and really Pissed now!, DKos, MediaMatters, Hollywood, democrats, etc., exhibit all the symptoms.USS Ben USN (Ret)https://www.blogger.com/profile/07492369604790651538noreply@blogger.com