Death of Hypatia®

Category: Know Thyself

  • Know Thyself #109

    Know Thyself through Quotes, YOURS:

    After reflecting on the many dystopian novels I have written, I’ve noticed a common thread. Evil takes away those things that make the population at large think. Individual thought is the most dangerous idea to the status quo, its downfall normally comes when likeminded individuals think about, and act upon a common goal. This is what needs to be destroyed by evil forces in all dystopian novels and movies.

    The first thing removed are books. These are the most corrupting of vices among humans. Next is art and anything construed as beautiful and thought-provoking. Next crush all individuality, distract, and above all else, do not allow them to learn.

    I like quotes because quotes represent that someone thought about a subject and summed up their thoughts in a quick muse bouche bite.

    Good are those who are interested in expanding horizons; they want to see what you are capable of.

    Evil are those who wish to control or contract horizons; they fear you will see what they are capable of.

    -me

     … more “Know Thyself #109”

  • Know Thyself #108

    Know Thyself through WHAT YOU WOULD ‘TAKE’ WITH YOU

    What if you COULD take one thing with you?

    Just one thing.

    What would YOURs be?

    I bet it wouldn’t be money, or making it, or spending it.

     

    Mine would be the memories of moments I paid attention to. If this wish were to come true, I would pay even more attention to my real life and build up the bank.

    Maybe I will regardless.… more “Know Thyself #108”

  • Know Thyself #107

    Know Thyself through LYRICS:

    “On The Turning Away” is a song from Pink Floyd’s 1987 album, A Momentary Lapse of Reason, and was written by David Gilmore and Anthony Moore

    On the turning away
    From the pale and downtrodden
    And the words they say
    Which we won’t understand
    “Don’t accept that what’s happening
    Is just a case of others’ suffering
    Or you’ll find that you’re joining in
    The turning away”It’s a sin that somehow
    Light is changing to shadow
    And casting its shroud
    Over all we have known
    Unaware how the ranks have grown
    Driven on by a heart of stone
    We could find that we’re all alone
    In the dream of the proudOn the wings of the night
    As the daytime is stirring
    Where the speechless unite
    In a silent accord
    Using words you will find are strange
    Mesmerized as they light the flame
    Feel the new wind of change
    On the wings of the night

    No more turning away
    From the weak and the weary
    No more turning away
    From the coldness inside
    Just a world that we all must share
    It’s not enough just to stand and stare
    Is it only a dream that there’ll be
    No more turning away?

    What does this mean to YOU? What do YOU think ‘Turning Away’ means? Who do YOU think are today’s ‘weak and weary’?
    This song was on Pink Floyd’s 1987 album Momentary Lapse of Reason and Wikipedia describes it as: The song has often been described as a protest song and is one of the more political tracks Pink Floyd released after the departure of Roger Waters.
    Where are OUR protest songs? You know those present day songs about angst voiced through poets and musicians for the masses? Best we could use some…..

     … more “Know Thyself #107”

  • Know Thyself #106

    Know Thyself through LYRICS:

    “She’s So High” by Talmage Bachman:

    She’s blood, flesh and bone
    No tucks or silicone
    She’s touch, smell, sight, taste, and sound
    But somehow I can’t believe
    That anything should happen
    I know where I belong
    And nothing’s going to happen, yeah’Cause she’s so high
    High above me
    She’s so lovely
    She’s so high
    Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite
    Da da-da da da
    She’s so high
    High above me

    First class and fancy free
    She’s high society
    She’s got the best of everything
    What could a guy like me
    Ever really offer?
    She’s perfect as she can be
    Why should I even bother?

    ‘Cause she’s so high
    High above me
    She’s so lovely
    She’s so high
    Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite
    Da da-da da da
    She’s so high
    High above me

    She calls to speak to me
    I freeze immediately
    ‘Cause what she says sounds so unreal
    ‘Cause somehow I can’t believe
    That anything should happen
    I know where I belong
    And nothing’s going to happen, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

    ‘Cause she’s so high
    High above me
    She’s so lovely
    She’s so high
    Like Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, or Aphrodite, oh yeah
    She’s so high
    High above me

    This was on an album in 1999, there is a phrase for this feeling now:
    Impostor syndrome, also known as impostor phenomenon or impostorism, is a psychological experience in which a person suffers from feelings of intellectual and/or professional fraudulence.[1] One source defines it as “the subjective experience of perceived self-doubt in one’s abilities and accomplishments compared with others, despite evidence to suggest the contrary”.[2]
    By comparing a woman to the Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, a French folk heroine and saint from the early 1400’s, and the ancient Greek goddess of love, Talmage Bachman has a rather aggrandized view of this individual he is ‘not good enough for’. If his description is accurate it is doubtful many humans would be worthy.
    Have YOU ever felt this way? Looking back, how do you feel now about that person?
    Do you think anyone has ever thought this way about YOU?
    … more “Know Thyself #106”

  • Know Thyself #105

    Know Thyself through YOUR Holidays:

    What were you taught about Thanksgiving? Does it involve grateful pilgrims in stiff hats offering cornucopias of food to kind Native Americans? Apparently this common US version has been derived from ancient harvest festivals, English traditions dating from the Protestant Reformation, and softened versions of American history.

    But apart from the history you learned, what does YOUR Thanksgivings mean to YOU. a.k.a. if you had a foreign exchange student, say an 8th grader, and had to explain what the holiday has meant and still means to YOUR family, limiting your explanation only to what happens in the home you celebrate it in, what would YOU say?… more “Know Thyself #105”

  • Know Thyself #104

    Know Thyself through how you spend your TIME:

    Hummingbirds have an average life expectancy of 3-5 years.

    Humans have an average life expectancy of 78-80 years, or roughly 20 times longer than that of a hummingbird. It is almost like one hour of our lives equals an entire day for a hummingbird.

    Look at your phone and see how many hours you spent on it yesterday. Imagine if you saw a hummingbird spend approximately that # of days staring at something, not doing anything else, just staring at the same shiny thing.

    If it survived long enough for you to notice this, you would probably find it odd, no?… more “Know Thyself #104”

  • Know Thyself #103

    Know Thyself:

    My newest favorite quote is:

    ‘The more you know,
    the more you see.’

    – Aldous Huxley

    I believe I had heard about it before now but it wasn’t until recently that I started to think about why I like this quote. Obvious reasons were:

    • It makes you think
    • I believe that ‘The more you know’ means the more you have thought about your thoughts, the clearer you can see the world for what it is. In my mind, a.k.a./= Wisdom
    • Aldous Huxley who said this was also the author of Brave New World; a book that had a profound impact on me

    But after nerdily looking into the quote, I liked it more when, according to topessaywriting.org on May 10, 2023*:

    ‘Huxley came up with the remark after losing his vision and embarking on a journey to understand how humans see.’

    So add this to the list:

    • Quote was uttered AFTER the philosopher, writer, ethicist, and scientist became blind and: ‘embarking on a journey to understand how humans see.’

    I read on…..:

    ‘The remark implies that in order for individuals to see properly, they must also thinkclearly. According to Huxley’s theory, sight and cognition cannot be separated. Through combing the three aspects: sensation, selection, and perception, one is able to make sense of objects within (‘objects within is maybe a mistype of ‘world around us’ maybe?), thus making Huxley’s formula simple but lucid. The statement shows that once you have an understanding of different things you get to realize deeper aspects of those things, thus: beyond what the human eye can see, since you will have a different perspective due to your high(tend?) knowledge level…. it shows knowledge has great power to help people in understanding things which may at times appear complicated or hidden.*

    So this amazing thinker took a situation that would have broken most people’s spirit and made lemonade?! He discovered that NOTICING more increases one’s capacity for WISDOM.

    So in essence they are saying that Noticing allows you to know, which in turn allows you to see, which in turn allows you to notice, which allows you to know, which allows you to see, which allows you to notice…..

     

    Damn.

     

     

     

    *Topessay.org references: Lester, P.M. (2014), Visual Communication: Images with messages, Boston: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning Aldous Huxley

     

    … more “Know Thyself #103”

  • Know Thyself #102

    Know Thyself through LYRICS:

    ‘What I Am’ written by Edie Brickell and Kenny Withrow and recorded by Edie Brickell & New Bohemians:

    I’m not aware of too many things, I know what I know, if you know what I mean
    Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box
    Religion is the smile on a dog
    I’m not aware of too many things, I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah

    Shove me in the shallow waters, before I get too deep

    What I am is what I am, Are you what you are or what?
    What I am is what I am, Are you what you are, or?

    Oh, I’m not aware of too many things, I know what I know, if you know what I mean

    Philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks
    Religion is a light in the fog
    I’m not aware of too many things, I know what I know, if you know what I mean, d-doo yeah

    Shove me in the shallow water before I get too deep

    What I am is what I am, Are you what you are or what?
    What I am is what I am, Are you what you are or what?
    (repeats)

    Don’t let me get too deep
    (repeats)

    Shove me in the shallow water before I get too deep
    (repeats)

    What do YOU think the song is about?

    What do you think they meant by: ‘Philosophy is a walk on slippery rocks’ or that ‘Religion is the smile on a dog’? Do YOU agree?

     

    Are YOU what YOU are, or what?

     … more “Know Thyself #102”

  • Know Thyself #101

    Know Thyself

    I’ve spent a considerable amount of time around children recently and I’ve found that my face hurts. I’ve spent an increased amount of time smiling, making faces, and over over-exaggerated expressions. I’ve also found myself laughing more often. I’ve thought about this because my facial muscles, specifically in the cheek area, are sore. It pleases me to think that around non-adults I find myself happier; yet at the same time I’m saddened that apparently my smiling muscles are out of shape.

    Try this: Close your eyes and scan your body for sore muscles. Do your forearms hurt from making something? Quads sore from swatting? Hands hurt from writing?

    Or, shoulders hurt from stressing?… more “Know Thyself #101”

  • Know Thyself #100

    Know Thyself

    After writing 200 daily blog posts (including 2x’s a day for the first few weeks), I now know myself well enough to know that for the next 200, I wish to write them every other day.… more “Know Thyself #100”

  • Know Thyself #99

    Know Thyself through CONSIDERATION:

    Time:

    In YOUR opinion, do you arrive:

    • always early
    • impeccably on time
    • always late

    In YOUR FRIENDS/FAMILY’S opinion, can they expect you:

    • inappropriately early
    • impeccably on time
    • so late they lie to you per start times

    What do YOU think this says about you?… more “Know Thyself #99”

  • Know Thyself #98

    Know Thyself through MONEY:

    If I won a monster lottery, I would give away 4/5ths of it. Anyone who knows me wouldn’t think twice about that statement. I don’t feel that way because I want to be seen as a saint of philanthropy, in fact, I wouldn’t want anyone to know. There are two reasons why I would give most of it away:

    • I bet it feels pretty good to give money away
    • Money seems to make people dickheads
    … more “Know Thyself #98”

  • Know Thyself #97

    Know Thyself through DREAMS:

    Are you the kind of person why remembers their dreams? I was told as a kid that you can remember your dreams in the morning until you touch/rub your head and the best thing you can do is immediately write down what you remember. Per Wikipedia: Freud believed dreams were the window to the unconscious mind; ‘serving as a means to fulfill repressed wishes and desires. …containing both manifest content (the literal storyline) and latent content (the hidden psychological meaning) that can be interpreted to gain insight into a person’s inner thoughts and conflicts. I have recurring nightmares and dreams. In the nightmares I’m walking on a college campus when a fellow classmate asks me where I was for the final exam that has now concluded. From here there is racing across a confusing campus, trying to find a classroom whose number and location have eluded me, I cannot remember my locker combination, and sometimes find myself not wearing any clothes. This can easily be interpreted as an anxiety dream and often happen before I’m to do something important.

    My recurring dream involves me in a wide-open field. When I run really fast I can jump into the air and ‘fly’. Maybe flying isn’t the right verb, it is more like bounding. The faster I run, the further and higher I soar horizontally with arms outstretched like wings on an airplane. I control the speed, altitude, spins, turns, dips and dives before gently returning my feet to the ground where, still running, I can leap once again into the air. I float controlling my altitude, trajectory, and speed. It feels amazing….free. I think these are my potential dreams, and oddly enough, they often happen before I’m to do something important.

    What do YOU think your dreams say about YOU?… more “Know Thyself #97”

  • Know Thyself #96

    Know Thyself through YOUR BODY:

    Freeze your body exactly how it is right now. Notice your shoulders, don’t move them, just notice them. Are they stressing or chilling? Are they scrunched up about your ears? Can you feel the muscles across them and your neck working when they shouldn’t be? You are just reading a blog post, not taking a test, so why the stress? When you put your body and mind through the anxiety of worrying you are doing yourself a disservice, twice. Stressing our before something MAY happen, will definitely age you, yet almost never helps you handle it if it does happen. So why do it? Lose/Lose. Try this; check in on your shoulders every once in a while. If you find them not in their proper state of rest, ask yourself if it is worth the wrinkles, lower your shoulders, roll them around, and move on.… more “Know Thyself #96”

  • Know Thyself #95

    Know Thyself through PRESENTS:

    I take gift giving very seriously. No one could accuse me of having a good memory, but for some reason I remember every gift I have ever been given and who it came from. To me, the gifts someone gives me says a lot about that person as well as shows me what they think of me, ex.: what they think I would like, where they think my interests lie, what they think I would want to receive.

    When it comes to receiving gifts, sometimes I feel there is an inverse relationship between money spent and thought put into it. Not all the time, but some of the time.

    For me, there is a direct relationship between the amount of time and energy that someone took out of their life thinking about me and how much I appreciate the gift. My scale goes from gift registries to handmade.

    How do YOU rank as a gift giver?… more “Know Thyself #95”

→←