.diminished discords (ix)

this week, on Laeth's mind

for most of human history literacy was a privilege of a few. maybe to believe it can ever be otherwise is foolish. still, the attempt to educate broadly is commendable, and probably good for the soul of a nation, civilization to attempt it.

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you can’t oppose tribalism with humanity, since humanity is just a larger tribe. and the larger it is, the more meaningless.

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if you have a problem with elitism, consider that around eighty five percent of sperm and eggs do not result in a baby. whether you think it's God or nature or both, it's a clear case of many are called but few are chosen. elitism, in other words. but really every human act is an implicit affirmation of choice, and thus elitist. because you always choose one thing among a potentially endless list of things. i don't see any reason why selection for the next life should be any less rigorous. on the contrary.

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the next based book sale is dedicated to romance, and it's described as being 'for the ladies'. Laeth chick lit confirmed. while it made me decide not to participate in the sale anymore, as they’re just not my crowd, i am quite happy to be the guy who writes for intelligent feminine women. most persecuted minority in history. the second most persecuted minority is guys who like intelligent feminine women. i write for them also.

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how do we know our proper place. only by testing the limits.

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people made fun of Jordan Peterson for it, but it actually helps a lot to state upfront what is meant by God, and by belief. the 'you' part is what made it laughable, and just a cop out. not because our self is not subject to definition, but because it's not going to be the other person telling us who we are, especially not in such a context.

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this meme from Arrested Development is a fundamental principle of metaphysics, whether people are aware or not. it’s better to be aware.

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mirror mirror on the wall
can you make a summary of it all

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romance comes from rome. bohemian comes from bohemia. places have feelings.
that feeling of sad happiness or happy sadness is called olisipian. you heard it here first. olisipo is a very slice of life city. especially the west. read my books for more information.

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based on his writings, one can see that the areopagite didn't really get what Paul said to him. not to exculpate Paul. it's his fault for talking that nonsense about the unknown god. at least we can see in Acts that he learned his lesson pretty quick.

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that Jesus died for everyone (whatever that means) is contradicted openly by the godman himself in John 15:13. but sure, it sounds great if you don't think about it for two seconds.

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machine vomit enthusiasts are developing being stupid from first principles.

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as a european i know the figurative meaning of touching base but not the literal one. please do not try to explain. my blood makes it impossible for me to understand.

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it's faith that is the mystery, not the content of faith. just like love is the mystery, not the concreteness of the person you love.

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the falsely so called elites don't want you to know that the true elites do.

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i much rather be an idiot than a koinot.

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reading recommendation: a brilliant piece by WmJas on why taking the resurrection of Jesus seriously implies something like Kolob.

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i never write much in these long, dry summers, so i must prepare mentally to endure the inner drought that goes with the outer one. or to break the cycle and make it rain with a carefully conducted ritual dance. whatever.

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when i started gardening i found lots of specific tips about the right way of doing things. most of them didn't work. because each place, each weather, each soil is different. the right way depends on too many things and it's a process of discovery and adaptation.

(did i say gardening. i meant religion.)

the most spectacular failure was lasagna gardening. it sounds so perfect and simple. but it just doesn't work at all where i am. the summer is too dry. in retrospect it makes sense. but i had to try it to really understand.

lots of these organic techniques are good in theory but need lots of adaptations outside the place they were first developed. plus, a lot depends on what the goal of your garden is. that is actually the most important question. what do you want out of your garden.

like a lot of people i started gardening to relax. but there was a point when i remembered this and noticed it was stressing me, trying to do things right. that's what made me take a step back. that and Masanobu Fukuoka.

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changing the words art and science to its synonyms skill and knowledge dispels quite a lot of silly misunderstandings and empty rhetoric.

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fun (?) etymon fact: gymnasium means literally place to be naked, because the athenians exercised in the nude. now, this is the part that turns it from fun fact to pure horror: it was all and only dudes.

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it's funny doing our expenses. i still use the same template from ten years ago so it still has categories like 'uber', but i now have to change it to stuff like 'firewood'. improvement.

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everyone used to rightly and logically believe in something like mormonism until the nerds (theologians, scientists) got involved.

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religion has served many purposes. what purpose it serves for you is a question only you can answer, and it has nothing to do with other people, past or present.

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christians read Paul as if he's a gay monk, and by all indication have done so even when he was alive, hence a lot of his polemics. poor guy. but he's actually the opposite of a gay monk. he's a romantic comedian. basically Woody Allen.

a similar thing happens with Joseph Smith. people think he's a sex pervert (and much like the churches support the gay monk Paul theory, LDS supports in part the sex pervert theory). but he's the opposite of a sex pervert. he's a romantic comedian. basically Woody Allen.

(aside: no, Woody is not a sex pervert, despite what the journalists say. it's funny that the kind of people who distrust the journalists on everything, and rightly so, tend to believe them about Woody, or Jackson.)

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we’re officially patrons of the arts after having acquired this piece from an artist we met on twitter (https://x.com/selflessfish_).

but this is not all. she included a bonus drawing of a scene from Powerless. a beautiful and generous surprise.

it's amazing how much movement her pieces have. and it feels pretty good to have something i wrote inspire someone else to practice their art. and even better when it's an artist with so much talent, and whose work never fails to move me. i keep pestering her to have some page to display all her works, instead of just having them disappear into the nothingness of social media, but no luck so far. anyway, these are mine now, and i’ll treasure them.

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musical portion today is an album i’ll be talking about in the next installment of Laeth’s very obscure favorites. it’s afrocuban jazz, maybe? it’s great. especially in the summer. enjoy.

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mMwLofkVDkUHuFLHna87DNXeqN0GrLyf4&si=F8Lb8b-jSY1nzhRQ

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here’s a very generous review of my new book Powerless by my friend (and here also beta reader) Susana Imaginário . it would make me happy coming from a friend and/or a beta reader, but coming from someone who has written i don’t even know how many books (and all of them good, if not very good, if not stupidly good), it means that much more:

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my first ever corn. the cob is so weird, looks like a sea creature. i love it. also first time trying the three sisters method. the beans gave up pretty quick, but i’m planting more just for free fertilizer. but also i went with thirteen sisters instead and have a bunch of other stuff around it. plants like to be with their friends.

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i swear the moon was immense. but obviously i couldn’t capture it. she doesn’t like to be seen through the eye of a phone. anyway, the sky was beautiful.

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