a thread for mundane ironists

[b]Philosophy Tweets

“The future has no other reality than as present hope, and the past is no more than present memory.” Jorge Luis Borges[/b]

And then right up to the day we die.

“To be aware of limitations is already to be beyond them.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Of course he’s only paraphrasing Slavoj Žižek.

“Genuine tragedies in the world are not conflicts between right and wrong. They are conflicts between two rights.” Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Of course he’s only paraphrasing me paraphrasing William Barrett.

“Some other faculty than the intellect is necessary for the apprehension of reality.” Henri Bergson

Uh, no shit?

“To exist is to change, to change is to mature, to mature is to go on creating oneself endlessly.” Henri Bergson

Of course we’ll need to redefine endlessly here.

“The greater part of mankind may be divided into two classes; that of shallow thinkers who fall short of the truth; and that of abstruse thinkers who go beyond it.” David Hume

Let’s not mention any names, okay Fixed Cross?

[b]Neal Stephenson

In your Primer you have a resource that will make you highly educated, but it will never make you intelligent. That comes from life. Your life up to this point has given you all the experience you need to be intelligent, but you have to think about those experiences.[/b]

It would have to be that, right Kids?

So which theory did Lagos believe in? The relativist or the universalist?
He did not seem to think there was much of a difference. In the end, they are both somewhat mystical. Lagos believed that both schools of thought had essentially arrived at the same place by different lines of reasoning.

I dare you to bring this down to earth.Or, sure, you can dare me to.

…to insist on everything’s being reasonable, in a world that wasn’t, was, in itself, unreasonable.

And that’s only up until breakfast.

These simple terms—“come about,” for example—denote procedures that are as complicated and tradition-bound as the installation of a new Pope.

I know: Go figure.

Arguing with anonymous strangers on the Internet is a sucker’s game because they almost always turn out to be—or to be indistinguishable from—self-righteous sixteen-year-olds possessing infinite amounts of free time.

Someone run this by Pedro I Rengel. How about you, Ecmandu?

…he stands there reading statistics about his own death even as it’s happening to him. Very post-modern.

If not downright fucking weird.

[b]Miles Davis

With “We Are The World,” I can’t even eat when I watch that on television. If I’m eatin’ some food, I have to put it down. I feel very strongly about that. [/b]

Of course there are white folks who feel the same.

Sometimes [playing free] doesn’t happen, because maybe a guy’s wife’ll come in, you know, and his ego will catch him. If everybody’s completely just straight-without any old ladies over here, a fourth of whisky over there; if it’s balanced right, it’ll come off. It has to be. But when you get egos involved with playing free, you can’t do it.

Not to worry: We’re not expected to understand it.

The music has gotten thick. Guys give me tunes and they’re full of chords. I can’t play them…I think a movement in jazz is beginning away from the conventional string of chords, and a return to emphasis on melodic rather than harmonic variation. There will be fewer chords but infinite possibilities as to what to do with them.

Well, I think I do understand this. Though, sure, what are the odds?

It takes you years to learn how to play like yourself.

Or, here, to post like yourself.

In Europe, they like everything you do. The mistakes and everything. That’s a little bit too much.

The Woody Allen Syndrome some call it.

If I hear a song like “Time After Time.” I’m sittin’ there lookin’ at video and Cindy Lauper comes on singin’ this song. I said, “God damnnnnn!”

youtu.be/aBsCqTlepPs How about you?

[b]Joan Baez

You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die, or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live.[/b]

Of course now that is just a cliche.

The easiest kind of relationship for me is with ten thousand people. The hardest is with one.

Of course now that is just a cliche.

Action is the antidote to despair.

You know, if that is actually an option.

As long as one keeps searching, the answers will come.

If only back in the Sixties.

I’ve never had a humble opinion. If you’ve got an opinion, why be humble about it?

Right, Kids?

Someone had to change the world. And obviously I was the one for the job.

Right, and look where we are now.

[b]Philosophy Tweets

“All knowledge degenerates into probability.” David Hume[/b]

Except of course when it’s the other way around.

“The life of man is of no greater importance to the universe than that of an oyster.” David Hume

Only the oyster doesn’t know it.

“It is not reason which is the guide of life, but custom.” David Hume

That stands to reason of course.

“Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.” Albert Einstein

I dare you to believe that.

“There is no need to build a labyrinth when the entire universe is one.” Jorge Luis Borges

You know, whatever that means.

“The original is unfaithful to the translation.” Jorge Luis Borges

Once in a blue moon for example. Or twice.

[b]André Aciman

Did I want him to act? Or would I prefer a lifetime of longing provided we both kept this little Ping-Pong game going: not knowing, not-not-knowing, not-not-not-knowing? Just be quiet, say nothing, and if you can’t say “yes,” don’t say “no,” say “later.” Is this why people say “maybe” when they mean “yes,” but hope you’ll think it’s “no” when all they really mean is, Please, just ask me once more, and once more after that?” [/b]

Pathetic, isn’t it?

I’m not wise at all. I told you, I know nothing. I know books, and I know how to string words together–it doesn’t mean I know how to speak about the things that matter most to me.
But you’re doing it now–in a way.
Yes, in a way–that’s how I always say things: in a way.

In a way, that’s applicable here too.

Everyone goes through a period of Traviamento - when we take, say, a different turn in life, the other via. Dante himself did. Some recover, some pretend to recover, some never come back, some chicken out before even starting, and some, for fear of taking any turns, find themselves leading the wrong life all life long.

That’s me, he thought.

Twenty years was yesterday, and yesterday was just earlier this morning, and morning seemed light-years away.

Time playing tricks on us.

We are not written for one instrument alone; I am not, neither are you.

Let’s trade instruments.

Time makes us sentimental. Perhaps, in the end, it is because of time that we suffer.

Next up: Time makes us bitter.

[b]Nein

Dystopia. I thought it’d be smarter.[/b]

Well, Trump is one in a million.

The poets regret to inform you that truth is beauty. Beauty is truth. And the ugly truth is, well, philosophy.

Seriously.

If you need me, I’ll be spending some quality time. With space.

From dust to dust as it were.

I’m just here for the ontological uncertainty.

Teleologically as it were.

Friday. Casual capitalism.

Not counting the sweatshops of course.

A gentle reminder to look on the bright side. And take note of how dark it is.

If only all the way to the grave.

[b]Margaret Atwood from The Testaments

Keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Having no friends, I must make do with enemies.[/b]

I hear that!
You know, for better or worse.

One person alone is not a full person: we exist in relation to others. I was one person: I risked becoming no person.

A risk that some are willing to take, he noted.

I always made dough men, I never made dough women, because after they were baked I would eat them, and that made me feel I had a secret power over men. It was becoming clear to me that, despite the urges Aunt Vidala said I aroused in them, I had no power over them otherwise.

On the other hand, how far removed is this from living in la la land.

What good is it to throw yourself in front of a steamroller out of moral principles and then be crushed flat like a sock emptied of its foot?

Yet they’ll do it every time.

Wedlock: it had a dull metallic sound, like an iron door clicking shut.

You know, eventually.

The corrupt and blood-smeared fingerprints of the past must be wiped away to create a clean space for the morally pure generation that is surely about to arrive. Such is the theory.

So, don’t forget to vote!

[b]Robert Pirsig

This inner peace of mind occurs on three levels of understanding. Physical quietness seems the easiest to achieve, although there are levels and levels of this too, as attested by the ability of Hindu mystics to live buried alive for many days. Mental quietness, in which one has no wandering thoughts at all, seems more difficult, but can be achieved. But value quietness, in which one has no wandering desires at all but simply performs the acts of his life without desire, that seems the hardest.[/b]

It sort of works that way, right?

[b]What was behind this smug presumption that what pleased you was bad or at least unimportant in comparison to other things?

Little children were trained not to do “just what they liked’ but … but what? … Of course! What others liked. And which others? Parents, teachers, supervisors, policemen, judges, officials, kings, dictators. All authorities.

When you are trained to despise “just what you like” then, of course, you become a much more obedient servant of others — a good slave. When you learn not to do “just what you like” then the System loves you.[/b]

It sort of works that way, right?

When you live in the shadow of insanity, the appearance of another mind that thinks and talks as yours does is something close to a blessed event.

Reminds me of a few folks here…

There is a perennial classical question that asks which part of the motorcycle, which grain of sand in which pile, is the Buddha. Obviously to ask that question is to look in the wrong direction, for the Buddha is everywhere. But just as obviously to ask the question is to look in the right direction, for the Buddha is everwhere.

Of course here he is competing with God.

The range of human knowledge today is so great that we’re all specialists and the distance between specializations has become so great that anyone who seeks to wander freely between them almost has to forego closeness with the people around him.

Let me guess: For better or for worse.

The cause of our current social crises, he would have said, is a genetic defect within the nature of reason itself. And until this genetic defect is cleared, the crises will continue. Our current modes of rationality are not moving society forward into a better world. They are taking it further and further from that better world. Since the Renaissance these modes have worked. As long as the need for food, clothing and shelter is dominant they will continue to work. But now that for huge masses of people these needs no longer overwhelm everything else, the whole structure of reason, handed down to us from ancient times, is no longer adequate. It begins to be seen for what it really is…emotionally hollow, esthetically meaningless and spiritually empty.[

There must be thousands of assessment like this one to choose from now.

[b]Werner Twertzog

We became larger to escape the horrors of the microbial world. We clambered onto the land to escape the horrors of the sea. We created technology to escape the horrors of nature. Finally, we invented heaven, because, as we all know, there is no escape.[/b]

Hell, that about sums up everything.

Man is born free.
But, everywhere,
He is checking work-related email.

That or posting here.

Klaus Kinski never declined the role of Harriet Tubman, I am told.

Let’s at least imagine it.

I do not believe in “method acting.” I starved and brutalized Christian Bale for other reasons, as we all know.

You tell me: youtu.be/6kktAYxwo7M

I am not good enough.
I am not smart enough.
I am not liked.
But I endure.

Like that’s a good thing.

How about instead of playing the National Anthem before U.S. sporting events, there could be an inspirational reading of the Bill of Rights?

Cue Colin Kaepernick.

[b]Julian Assange

Facebook in particular is the most appalling spying machine that has ever been invented. [/b]

Let’s just say it wouldn’t surprise me.

The penetration of society by the Internet and the penetration of the Internet by society is the best thing that has ever happened to global human civilisation.

He means the worst thing of course.

There is unity in the oppression. There must be absolute unity and determination, in the response.

We’ll definitely need a context here, right?

The US presidency will continue to represent the major power groups of the United States - big business and the military - regardless of who the talking head is.

Say it ain’t so, Bernie!

People love WikiLeaks when it is exposing corruption in their opponents. People oppose WikiLeaks when it is exposing corruption or dangerous behavior in themselves.

Now that is a universal truth, Faust.

Trump doesn’t have one establishment, maybe with the exception of the Evangelicals, if you can call them an establishment, but banks, intelligence agencies, arms companies, big foreign money, are all united behind Hillary Clinton, and the media as well, media owners and even journalists themselves.

The part the liberal media always leaves out.

[b]Thales

The most difficult thing in life is to know yourself. [/b]

He means impossible of course.

Avoid doing what you would blame others for doing.

Okay, but first they have to catch you.

The past is certain, the future obscure.

Back then in other words.

Nothing is more active than thought, for it travels over the universe, and nothing is stronger than necessity for all must submit to it.

Back then in other words.

We live not, in reality, on the summit of a solid earth but at the bottom of an ocean of air.

And we now know what’s beyond that. Or think we do.

Time is the wisest of all things that are; for it brings everything to light.

You know, if one of the Gods exist.

[b]Werner Twertzog

As a director, you have to know the human heart, and be willing to carve it free, still beating, and offer it, proudly, to the gods of cinema.[/b]

Let’s think of one.

Do not correct the foolish.

Put them on auto-correct instead.

If you sing to the bears, they will devour you with indifference nonetheless.

You and your girlfriend.

The will that has been broken and repaired is more beautiful than one that has never been so tested.

The will. Is that anything like the soul?

Those who can, do. Those who can’t, major in communication.

That or philosophy.

Thrown from the deck of a Norwegian ice-breaker, I encountered a great whale, and rode upon its back, into caverns of ice, brilliant blue, and ere long, as I renounced life once again, I was cast upon a sandy shore, bruised, beaten, yet freed, like Jonah, from worldly deceptions.

Not a documentary one suspects.

[b]Anaximander

The source from which existing things derive their existence is also that to which they return at their destruction. [/b]

Star stuff!! Only they didn’t call it that back then.

There are many worlds and many systems of Universes existing all at the same time, all of them perishable.

You know, as far as he knew.

The Earth is cylindrical, three times as wide as it is deep, and only the upper part is inhabited. But this Earth is isolated in space, and the sky is a complete sphere in the center of which is located, unsupported, our cylinder, the Earth, situated at an equal distance from all the points of the sky.

At least it’s closer than Scientology. Or astrology.

Immortal and indestructible, surrounds all and directs all.

Let’s call it God.

All Things are Full of God.

Or, as some insist, shit.

The undefined is divine because it is immortal and imperishable.

See, I told you.

[b]Heraclitus

The content of your character is your choice. Day by day, what you choose, what you think and what you do is who you become. [/b]

And then the part I suggest.

There is nothing permanent except change.

For example, from the cradle to the grave.

The world is nothing but a great desire to live and a great dissatisfaction with living.

For example, from the cradle to the grave.

No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.

This still isn’t understood.

If you do not expect the unexpected, you will not recognize it when it arrives.

You know, if you’re lucky.

Dogs bark at what they don’t understand.

Here, of course, Kids post.

[b]God

Time is money.
Money talks.
So time talks.
But talk is cheap.
So time is cheap.
But time is money.
So money is cheap.
Which it’s not.[/b]

God the philosopher. Or social critic.

Jesus asked Me to tell Kanye to fuck off.

Someone explain this please.

I genuinely am God. You can tell because I’m genuinely not helping you in any way.

Now that’s what I mean by demonstrable proof.

You won’t save yourselves because deep down you don’t want to.

Well, He is omniscient.

I have chosen Donald Trump to be President because I strongly dislike Western civilization and wish it to end.

Well, that is one possible explanation.

You are a device for your phone.

You meaning not me.

[b]Kathy Acker

The only reaction against an unbearable society is equally unbearable nonsense.[/b]

So, how am I doing, he asked.

If you ask me what I want, I’ll tell you. I want everything.

Next up: Asking her what she got.

Pain is the world. I don’t have anywhere to run.

In a word: oblivion.
At least I hope so.

]We don’t have a clue what it is to be male or female, or if there are intermediate genders. Male and female might be fields which overlap into androgyny or different kinds of sexual desires. But because we live in a Western, patriarchal world, we have very little chance of exploring these gender possibilities.

On the other hand, let’s not forget: “We’ve come a long way, baby.”

Well, I think writing is basically about time and rhythm. Like with jazz. You have your basic melody and then you just riff off of it. And the riffs are about timing.

Not counting Faust’s philosophy of course.

Literature is that which denounces and slashes apart the repressing machine at the level of the signified.

If only in our postmodern world.

[b]Phil Ochs

Step outside the guidelines of the official umpires and make your own rules and your own reality. [/b]

You know, if you’re “one of us”.

A protest song is a song that’s so specific that you cannot mistake it for bullshit.

You know, if you’re “one of us”.

I wonder who I left behind on the other side of fame.

Well, Bob Dylan for one.

God help the troubadour who tries to be a star. The more that you try to find success, the more that you will fail.

youtu.be/_bmUQMDrep0

Call it peace or call it treason
Call it love or call it reason
But I ain’t marching anymore

Unless of course you volunteer.

Mother Goose is on the loose
Stealing lines from Lenny Bruce

Procreating [among other things] flower children and hippies…

[b]God

You’re either part of the problem or the entire problem.[/b]

You may well have even caused it.

The President of the United States is insane.

What then does that tell us of his Creator?

The human race is at 2% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Remember back when it was just 1%?

Deep down in your soul, you need more money.

Now He tells us.

I don’t exist. What’s your excuse?

Sorry, but I don’t need one.

Want to honor veterans? Stop making them.

Though, sure, it’s too late for me.

[b]Abbie Hoffman

You measure a democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists. [/b]

So, how do we measure up here?
Pretty good. Not counting the Kids of course.

You are talking to a leftist. I believe in the redistribution of wealth and power in the world. I believe in universal hospital care for everyone. I believe that we should not have a single homeless person in the richest country in the world. And I believe that we should not have a C.I.A. that goes around overwhelming governments and assassinating political leaders, working for tight oligarchies around the world to protect the tight oligarchy here at home.

Wow, he thought, does that bring back memories.

Sacred cows make the tastiest hamburger.

Of course back then PETA probably wasn’t around.

I believe in compulsory cannibalism. If people were forced to eat what they killed, there would be no more wars.

You know, leaving aside the military industrial complex and the war economy.

Peace is a very complicated concept. When the lion gobbles up the lamb and wipes his lips, then there’s peace. Well, I ain’t for that peace at all.

Tell that to, among others, the ubermen.

The idea that media is there to educate us, or to inform us, is ridiculous because that’s about tenth or eleventh on their list.

In other words, show them the money.