Death of Hypatia®

Category: Know Thyself

  • 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”

  • Know Thyself #94

    Know Thyself: PDA

    I found myself considering what I think of Public Display’s of Affection.

    I learned that positive/negative/indifferent feelings were dependent on four factors:

    • Setting (notice your audience and where you are): child’s birthday party, bouncy house…nope. Christmas party, beneath Mistletoe…yep.
    • Intensity (Motion Picture Association Film Ratings): PG13/R seem a good bar.
    • Duration (really?):  No need to breath in/out of the nose for survival, cute. Someone(s) is/are timing you, why?
    • Disruptive level (degree to which PDA interferes/suspends and/or influences the enjoyment of other humans): Private Gondola ride slipping through the canals of Venice at sunset…doesn’t bother me. Adjourning seat on any mode of transport….bothered. Also bothersome: on-line, while operating heavy machinery, physically touching anyone not involved, and/or in the direct sightline between a stage and a ticket holder.

    Where’s your bar?… more “Know Thyself #94”

  • Know Thyself #93

    Know Thyself by Noticing:

    I was standing outside in a hushed space, ready to notice something beautiful. The area I was in was the perfect blend of open areas and screening fauna, where you felt unnoticed in the open. The nagging voices in my head that bully fun away, can be quieted in places like this.

    A huge gust of wind swirls through and mini cyclones of leaves rain down thick as snowflakes for an elongated moment.

    In that moment I noticed and felt connected; for a moment I was truly awake and alive. (In Your Eyes is obviously still on my mind).

    Try it for yourself; find time, and go outside until you notice something.… more “Know Thyself #93”

  • Know Thyself #92

    Know Thyself.

    I dislike my fridge.

    I feel it embodies all that is bad about technology. It is allegedly ‘smart’, yet undeniably unhelpful.

    It can heat water, but your choices are not limited to cold or hot water, no! What do I think it is? A plebeian 1990’s water cooler?! Hell, my bougie appliance can warm water to the proper temperature for tea, cocoa, OR soup.

    You know what would be helpful? If I could know how much water was dispensed. The appliance knows it, but chooses not share it. The water has a constant flow, yet the ounces displayed increase like a free jazz base line. It knows how much it has disbursed, why not let us in on it? I’ll take it one further, could it not only display the proper amount, but HOLD it for two seconds so our tiny human brains have enough time to recognize and compute? AND dare I ask that we are given a two second grace period to decide and possibly choose to add to the amount already dispensed without having to do math in our heads?!

    My fridge can show a slideshow of pictures but it can’t tell me how much water is in my glass.

    I shit you not.

    Did the pitch for such a useless perk include homeowners gathering friends and relatives around the 4″ diagonal to view sunglassful family selfies in front of things in Florida?

    My fridge is a jerkstore. I know it and it knows I know it. And according to the immortal words of GI Joe, knowing is half the battle.

     … more “Know Thyself #92”

  • Know Thyself #91

    Know Thyself through SAMENESS and DIFFERENCES:

     

    It’s the sameness that I’m talking about now. Sameness in spite of difference or different sounds of the word. The same ideas, a different color, but the same spirit; different churches, but the same faith; different liquor, but the same hangovers; different jokes, but the same laughter; different faces, but the same humanity.

    Thank God for the differences! Cause it is out of those differences that culture grows, and grows big in all directions at once.  

    -Orson Welles

    I think it means it is in our differences and similarities where we discover our true selves. One requires perspective and empathy to truly be a part of this world. If you are only focused on yourself, if you judge people depending on whether they agree with you or not, and/or if you are for things that are advantageous for you regardless of impact to others….you are missing the big picture, the variety of life, and the whole point.

    What does this mean to YOU?… more “Know Thyself #91”

  • Know Thyself Post #90

    Know Thyself through what words MEAN to you:

    I believe in the antithesis of some words, where the amount of one is due to the lack of the opposite. I find this action/reaction negative relationship especially true in terms of character or morality.

    Not all words but some words.

    For instance STRONG and WEAK:

    STRONG: / strawng / adj. /: having, showing, or able to exert great bodily or muscular power; physically vigorous or robust.

    WEAK: / week / adj. /: not strong; liable to yield, break, or collapse under pressure or strain; fragile; frail.

     

    I think intimidation is a STRONG reaction of WEAK character. Someone with STRONG principles does not need to silence critics. STONG convictions eliminate the need to manipulate the populace’s opinions through Gerrymandering or making it difficult to vote.

    Those whom are WEAK deceive, distort, and evade, those who are STONG have no need to.

    What do YOU think? What is STRONG to you, what is WEAK?… more “Know Thyself Post #90”

  • Know Thyself Post #89

    Know Thyself by paying attention to your stream of consciousness….

    I like storms. I like to be as close to them as possible, during the worse of it, while remaining dry.

    I was recently watching a storm and realizing I enjoyed it when I thought of the animals in my hood. There are no open ranges in sight where I call home, but as it also is not Times Square, we have wildlife. As I have mentioned in an earlier post we have a copious amounts of birds that like to welcome the day all together each morning at 4am. But where do they go during unusually aggressive weather? There aren’t a ton of wise-owl sized holes in 400 year old oak trees that I can see from my porch. Where do they go? I know they make it through the worst of the storms due to the aforementioned daily 4am singalong, but I’m confused as to where and how. I’ve seen some of these flimsy things y’all call nests, one ambitious squirrel or a microburst and it’s toast. Do they have an agreement like emergency sleepovers where they bunk with the larger animals in dens? Somewhere there is a place big enough for the massive raccoons and enormous turkeys to lay their substantial heads. Do the little birds jam themselves in tailpipes or form little bird chains holding onto one another beak to claw through hurricanes in holly bushes?

    Anyways, that’s where my mind went. Day dreaming is underrated in my opinion.

    Sit down and see where yours goes.… more “Know Thyself Post #89”

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