Saturday 28 April 2018

Thought 624: Tempting Fruit


Tempting Fruit or how
we have happily eaten
from the Tree of Knowledge
for the sake of hedonistic
and materialist fulfilment.

Monday 23 April 2018

Thought 623: Two Ideas

 

(1)

The desire
for power is
often rooted
in impotence
and weakness:
me.

(2)

The desire
for one-size
fit all is rooted
in truth understood
as universal validity.

Sunday 22 April 2018

Thought 622: The Godlike Quality of Camera and Screen


The artificial eye of the camera
that is then projected onto a 
screen is godlike in its
omniscience.

Saturday 21 April 2018

Thought 621: The Most Powerful Words


I would prefer not to.

Friday 20 April 2018

Thought 620: Heidegger's Silence


Heidegger's silence
about the the Final 
Solution Holocaust
was a loud statement
that something
essential had
to be kept
quiet: the
unspeakableness
of hell.

Thursday 19 April 2018

Thought 619: The Batty-Man


Batman is batty
—mad and
possibly
homosexual.

Wednesday 18 April 2018

Thought 618: Talking to Oneself

'Talking to oneself is the first sign of madness,' says the herd.
'Talking to oneself is the first sign you have depth,' says I. 

Tuesday 17 April 2018

Thought 617: Nietzsche's Fiery Zarathustra and Tolkien's Hobbling Hobbits



Nietzsche's Zarathustra and Tolkien's Hobbits
offer a nice contrast in archetypes.

For as the Persian thinker states:

'I walk among this people and keep my eyes open:
they have become smaller and are becoming smaller still:—
but this comes from their doctrine of happiness and virtue.
For they are modest in virtue too—because they want
contentment. But with contentment only a modest
virtue is compatible. To be sure, even they learn 
in their own way how to stride and stride forward: 
I call it their hobblingThey thereby become 
an obstacle for anyone in a hurry.'

Thus Spoke Zarathustra
On the Virtue That 
Makes Smaller, 
§.2

Monday 16 April 2018

Sunday 15 April 2018

Thought 616: Words and Peoples


Words divide and bring together.

A people is a group of human
beings who trust each other.

Saturday 14 April 2018

Thought 615: Anti-Zionists Ought Blame Antisemites


Antisemitism fuels Zionism,
the self-assertion of the
scapegoat/salvaged people.

Friday 13 April 2018

Thought 614: Remnants of the American Dream in The Disaster Artist


The nobody Tommy
became the somebody 
Johnny.

Wednesday 11 April 2018

Thought 613: Market Victory


It would seem that, by and large,
the market is today's victor.

Things, even fine things,
need buyers.

Should you wish to set up shop,
like I have, outside the marketplace,
be sure to have a private 
or public income. 


Addendum: Zarathustra's Prologue

For all his reservations about
the marketplace, Zarathustra's
most powerful speech is 
his opening one addressed
to those assembled 
in the market.

Monday 9 April 2018

Sunday 8 April 2018

French 7: L'élevage des élèves


L'élève : l'enfant qui est (bien ou mal) élevé 
par l'élevage tant familial, 
environnemental-social, 
qu'écolier.   

Saturday 7 April 2018

French 6: Se livrer — Être délivré


Se livrer en tant qu'individu — par exemple sur les réseaux sociaux ou aux médias tant de masse que (dits) alternatifs — signifie à la fois se donner dans la forme d'une livraison personnelle et, en quelque sorte, s'emprisonner, si on considère le sens et le fait d'être dé-livré, c'est à dire libéré de la pression des autres permettant à nouveau d'être maître de soi-même et de sa destinée.

Ainsi, pour me prendre en exemple, le fait que je me livre spirituellement sur ce blog me rend à la merci du jugement, favorable ou défavorable, de tout internaute et co-habitant planétaire, bien que je suis en réalité fort bien protégé, d'abord, par l'anonymat de l'internet en tant que vaste banque de données numériques où pratiquement tout se perd, ensuite, par le fait que la lecture philosophique n'est pas une (pré)occupation de masse et, finalement, par le fait que j'ai désactivé la possibilité du commentaire par souci de minimiser la tendance à l'hostilité verbale envers laquelle est proie toute pensée ou action autonome et ce, sans doute, depuis le commencement.

En anglais, livraison, dans le sens où par exemple un paquet est livré, se dit delivery et la délivrance, comme celui que Nietzsche préconisait dans son Ainsi Parlait Zarathoustra au sujet du « ressentiment contre le temps et son « il était » », se dit, de façon analogue, deliverance.  

La distinction riche-en-pensée entre se livrer et être dé-livré, entre la livraison et la délivrance, est pour moi un joli détail de la langue française, d'autant plus qu'elle peut être liée au livre, l'objet dans lequel l'un s'est livré pour en délivrer un autre.

Ainsi, ma livraison à moi — puisse-t-elle ou non délivrer des âmes autres que la mienne — s'intitule ScruffyOwlet's Tree qui, abrégé en initiales, nous donne le mot : SOT. 

Et oui, je suis sot, et fier de l'être.

Friday 6 April 2018

Thought 612: Six Ideas


(1) 

The paradox
of the film Amadeus
is that only the genius
of Salieri is such as to
first recognise the
genius of Mozart.

(2) 

Natural:
what owes itself
to Nature.

Artificial:
what owes itself
to Artifice.

Should technology
be regarded as
nature, a 
homogeneity is 
gained between
the natural and
artificial worlds.

(3) 

Revolution
implies a rotation
that goes from A to B
all the way back to A.

(5) 

Elections offer
a catharsis after
weeks of campaign
poison by giving the
impression that 
something has
been decided.

(6) 

The more
the politics,
the less the
philosophy,
the more the
philosophy, the
less the politics.

Thursday 5 April 2018

Thought 611: Four Ideas (2)


(1) 

False morality
passes judgement.

True morality 
is self-transparency.

Am I passing
judgement or
am I being
self-transparent?

(2) 

To be one's own
master is to be
one's own
servant.

(3)

Philosophy
entangles
as much 
as it sets
free.

(4) 

If everything that
can happen does
happen, then heaven
and hell, the best and
worst of worlds, must
permeate the human
condition.

Wednesday 4 April 2018

Thought 610: Negotiation


Negotiation in my
life is the non-leisure
required to be at leisure.

Tuesday 3 April 2018

Thought 609: The Meaning of CV


One's Life-Path—
Curriculum Vitae— 
where Capital is
Victorious— 
Caput Victor.