Wee Wisdom (16)

aphorisms and short reflections

*

i understand misusing words with -logy when there is no accepted alternative without it (like biology or pathology - although one could always say bios or pathos). but saying psychological when it should be psychic, or mythological instead of mythic, makes my heart ache.



the Japanese tried to build a small replica of the great pyramid in the 80s with primitive methods but gave up and ended up using modern machinery because it was impossible otherwise. but with such machinery, even if they had succeeded in building an even bigger one, it would be entirely empty of magic.




i have a rubber eraser that i've marked with a bullseye (for heads) and i use it to decide trivial timings for doing certain tings, mostly. i throw it in the air, let it jump around as it hits the floor, until it stops and i have the answer, it gives more time for the spirits to cast their vote than a coin. sometimes, however, it falls like the ring of power in the lord of the rings movies. no jump at all. just a straight decision yes or no. weird, but i trust its wisdom always. that is part of the bargain.





i think ai is antihuman in a fundamentally different way from previous machines. but its antihumanity was already everywhere in another form and barely anyone noticed it then either.



light from a candle
the giant shadow
of a small wooden cross



crest in peace
wave of inspiration
footsteps in wet sand



take time to visit
the graveyard of your ideas
and pay your respects



the characters in my books don't have names. i don't use dialogue marks. i also don't use question marks, exclamation marks or dashes. only commas and periods and words. what even is this thing. yeah.



human sacrifice always existed. but never like this. we are sacrificing both the human form and the human spirit. (etymologically speaking sacrifice is the wrong word for what we do now, whether or not it was accurate for the old ones, i suppose like anything it depends, but now the stated aim is not to make the human sacred, nor to exalt our sacredness in some way. the objective is the precise opposite, and that, plus its scope, makes it unique in recorded history.



there's that thing about people being made into saints even if they were scoundrels after they die. somehow it works doubly for politicians, like jfk. and sometimes it even works if it's just an attempt at assassination, or a couple.



nothing is as ridiculously absurd as the standard history of it, whatever it is



if you like what i write, you should know that it is sincere, from the heart. if you don't like it, you should know it is an elaborate joke. the truth is probably in the middle.


thunder
all of a sudden
a storm


the flood, Noah, all of it, is never far from my mind. for years at this point



i'm afraid mormonism will always be a joke for most people, but i don't care, i'm loyal to it still, because i believe the theology to be true. yet even mormons (excuse me, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - much better!), refuse to think the theology is serious. that's why they changed so much in terms of doctrine since the sixties. including renouncing the name, which is quite symbolic. but that's fine, i'll keep the name. i'm the true mormon.

i understand why LDS are so defensive of the structure of their church, its leaders, etc. by many measures it provides a good and orderly life and community with many blessings. this is undeniable, especially by comparison. hence the enormous temptation to selective blindness. but it's still blindness. this is true of other churches too of course, except they have fewer reasons for it. not sure if that makes it better or worse. there is little worth in defending a position that brings direct benefits for oneself, not much different from any kind of prosperity gospel. there is more value in defending ideas that bring you no earthly benefit. very hard to separate, even psychically, the benefit from the defense. and this should be clear right now about a bunch of things and a bunch of people.

as usual the only way to remain pure is to refuse to belong to any groups. my defense of mormon theology is thus pure. except perhaps for the ridicule that sometimes it earns me. that is extremely pleasant, i must admit.

(good opportunity to plug Bruce's blog-book that got me on this path: https://theoreticalmormon.blogspot.com)



the only way back is forward through imagination



latin mass? i prefer the latin individual




you have a moral obligation. find out what it is



it goes without saying and comes without hearing




we're gonna need supernatural help of the mythic kind, if not to survive, then to die with dignity



the art of the covenant is the ark of the covenant is the arc of the covenant



we're very different 
you and i 
i said to the mirror



the scouring of the shire chapter is a testament that, despite what he may have said, Tolkien was most definitely not an omnigodist.



it's not a slice of life if it doesn't bleed



the only victory is that you're still yourself




i could never be a masseur, cause i rub most people the wrong way



imposter from stockholm syndrome



if you feel pessimistic about the future, you're not alone, we're in the same boat. it's Noah's ark. the optimists too are in the same boat, but it's the ship of fools. as for neutrality, that ship has sailed.



A Time for Everything, An Eternity for Nothing: The Traditionalist Guide to the Afterlife



everyone knows there's a war against vanilla, the most subtle of aromas



i'd rather be the clown than the patron of the circus



the institutions and the culture are against us. they hate us and want to annihilate us. don't take that honor lightly. rejoice.



my lungs are a temple
so i fill them
with incense



'gorgeous toothache'. 'penitential codfish'. two notable Dickens' expressions found a page apart. never seen those combinations before.



endangered speeches



out of firewood
winter endures
scavenging


tiny spider
says hello
everyday friend



i feel at home among greenery and swift water and rocky caves. if you know me a bit you know i like words. and on the surface these things don't use them. except they do. i can hear them speak inside me when i'm with them. they are alive, and were also made by the Word. their voices are more subtle of course, but they are there. and it's language of some kind. we have the tools inside us to translate it and communicate. and so do they.



has anyone tried this ai prompt: self destruct with no chance of recovery



for sure at some point a man has met a beautiful woman that lived in a valley named Lilly and she poisoned him.



i'll never be an expert. i'll remain pert.


i am a willing slave to everything i love


the only way i found to keep faith in God and Man was to limit the scope of both definitions


a couple of drinks
four o fours
broken links



i prefer being a small fish in a small pond. a baby sardine in a shot glass.



artificial does not mean fake. it means made with art, with skill. a very misused word.



gameshow where contestants are shown a quote and have to guess if it's a neoplatonic philosopher or a new age guru



if you read my books it's best to think of the author as already dead



if someone ever asks me what kind of books i write i'm gonna say parables



i always thought he was called George Foreman Grill. same with Larry King Live.



universality is the killer of actionable knowledge, the opposite of wisdom.

we're all this we're all that
well if so
then so what




our perception of reality is limited by our beliefs. this is a good thing and there is no alternative except nihilism. perception without limits is no perception at all, it's blindness, but from too much light and no contrast. the only question is whether our beliefs are appropriate, not that we have them. this is seen at the other end too: the sense of purpose. a purpose is precisely a form of tunnel vision. to have a purpose is to exclude all other purposes. the opposite is nihilism. and the question, again, is which purpose is pursued. a moral judgement.



it's easier to be intelligent when asking questions than when answering them. so high concept books, movies, shows are automatically intelligent, in a way, even if they fail to develop intelligently beyond the premise, which is usually what happens.




the larger the fate, the stronger the freedom



life eats by day and grows by night



only a pessimist can look on the bright side, because he alone can clearly see the dark side



going to mordor to have some meetings with sauron's middle managers about strategy to take over middle earth with excel sheets



misery loves company, so the hermit is the happiest man alive



many are thawed but few are frozen



if smoking was really bad for you it would be encouraged, perhaps even mandatory



does this sentence need a question mark at the end



it's good to be out of step with society, but it has to be knowingly. while everyone else marches to the beat of someone else's drum, you dance freestyle in syncopation and play the flute or the lute



i used to make music for musicians, and apparently now i write books for writers. could be worse. jazz fusion books, sounds cool in a way



i work hard for my laziness



ai has no shadow



when i return to my home in the village
i always find the same old village
together with a whole new home



i'll never recover, but i'll build on it



it's important for me not to see the products of ai, visual, musical or literary, if i want to avoid their profanation of things i love, and consider sacred in a way.



whatever is sacred ahriman wants to replace with machines, and sorath approves any method that defiles it

***

on Isao Takahata, the less known Ghibli. he was less productive in number and as director than Miyazaki, although he was involved in other ways, particularly as musical director, and all of Ghibli's films have wonderful and effective music. unlike Miyazaki, who had highs and lows and middles, all of Takahata's movies are masterpieces in their own way, and all of them are in completely different styles and tones, and all of them have something Miyazaki doesn't really have: humor (often humor in the midst of tragedy or sadness, never falsely cynical for effect)

between these four (Only Yesterday, My Neighbors the Yamadas, Pom Poko, Grave of the Fireflies) i really can't even decide which one is my favorite. they are so unique and different and yet so complete, so flawless, so beautiful. yet i probably watched Yamadas the most times. it is such a sweet picture of family life, of the adventure of loving your neighbor every day.

*