Death of Hypatia®

Category: Know Thyself

  • Know Thyself Post #54

    Know Thyself through LITERATURE:

    Think before you speak. Read before you think.

    – Fran Lebowitz

    I couldn’t agree more, in fact, it is kinda the whole point of this site….

    Read before you think….

    Know YOU; and nothing gets YOU knowing YOU better, than reading books that make YOU think.

    Most of the day you are doing, worrying about what you need to do, multitasking (and probably not doing any one thing awesome) and forgetting to live, like right now. I bet you could tell me 5 things you did yesterday, but not 5 conversations, not 5 feelings and I’m certain you didn’t learn 5 things.

    Start living by knowing where you stand, by thinking.

    Have YOU ever read a book that made you see YOU differently, get you to feel like you know YOU better? It’s cool.… more “Know Thyself Post #54”

  • Know Thyself Post #53

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY/LITERATURE:

    Jackson Browne in the documentary Billy Joel: And So It Goes Part I, says:

    What people were trying to do, wherever they were, whether it was in Laurel Canyon or it was Greenich Village, they were trying to find out who they are.

    And I think a lot of that involves leaving where you’re from and going somewhere else.

    But I think what you find is something about where you’re from.

     

    Ernest Hemingway often wrote novels set in places he lived, but wrote them WHILE he lived in other places.

    He wrote about Spain (The Sun Also Rises) when he lived in France, Began writing about France when he lived in Cuba (Garden of Eden) and he wrote about Italy (Farewell to Arms) when he lived in the United States.

     

    Why do YOU think these two storytellers were able to write of places so vividly, when they were away from them? How did they seemingly know more about the places they lived and themselves, in retrospect?

    Assuming YOU ‘relocated’ at some point in your life, if YOU were to write about one of the places YOU lived, what would YOU write about….who would your characters be……what would the vibe be that would sum up that time, in that place?… more “Know Thyself Post #53”

  • Know Thyself Post #52

    Know Thyself through POLITICS:

    Jean Jacques Rousseau believed:

    a free society must be dominated by its middle class; which when prosperous, keeps the gulf between rich and poor in check.

    ‘It forestalls the development of a two class society which can become a civil war waiting to happen and Rousseau notes that civil strife always takes liberty as its first casualty.’

    -Charles Sherover Voltaire and Rousseau

     

    Do YOU feel our leaders know this?

    What do you think about this way of thinking (in the 1700’s….)?… more “Know Thyself Post #52”

  • Know Thyself Post #51

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY….mine:

    I think people would be happier if they focused more energy on communicating their message and less on worrying how the message will be received.

    If what YOU are communicating is the truth, and YOU weren’t a dick about it, why would it matter how they took it?… more “Know Thyself Post #51”

  • Know Thyself Post #50

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

    Have you heard of Voltaire?

    Voltaire is a fascinating guy worth checking out, I will attempt to tempt you into learning more about him in a post-sized nutshell: François-Marie Arouet, aka, Voltaire, was a French philosopher/writer/historian during the Age of Enlightenment (late 17th – early 19th century), known for: hating slavery, Christianity, Rousseau, and, the suppression of free thought. He was arrested and thrown into the Bastille for accusing a French prince of incest in a satirical verse, exiled for challenging a rich guy to a duel (whom consequently wussed out, didn’t show and paid for/had Voltaire arrested), and. wrote a book that praised the government of England over that of France (a book which was thereby, publicly burned and banned). He did science experiments with his lover, (whose husband sometimes stayed with them in their chateau), was pro-Free Speech, not afraid to criticize authority, and, wrote a science fiction novel called Micromégas in 1751 that is worth the read/listen, in my opinion.

    According to the Philisophical Dictionary: English Conversationalist about religion Voltaire said:

    ….let us be just and do good,  THAT, is the essential point.

    That’s the end to every argument.

    Let intolerant barbarians be execrated by mankind, and let everybody think as he likes.

    -Voltaire

    • Do you agree with Voltaire’s ‘essential point’ to life?
      • If yes, why and what does it mean to YOU?
      • If no, what would YOU replace ‘be just and do good with?’
    … more “Know Thyself Post #50”

  • Know Thyself Post #49

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

    To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most People exist, that is all.

    -Oscar Wilde

    Do YOU live or exist? What do YOU think the difference is?… more “Know Thyself Post #49”

  • Know Thyself Post #48

    Know Thyself through HISTORY:

    Paul Strathern wrote:

    The first people to come up with philosophical answers–that is, those who used reason and observation unclouded by metaphysical mumbo jumbo-were the ancient Greeks, in the sixth century B.C. Precisely why this major step in human evolution should have taken place at this time on the obscure shores of the Aegean remains a mystery.

    Fact:

    The Hellenistic period (323- 30 BC) when Greek cultural influence reached its peak within and beyond its own borders. This was a time of great progress in philosophy, science, the arts, architecture, and music influencing readers, writers, artists and scientists ever since and is considered the foundation for Western culture.

    Fact:

    The Ancient Greek world never hosted a state religion.

     

    Coincidence, cause and effect, ingredients but not the full recipe?

    What do YOU think?… more “Know Thyself Post #48”

  • Know Thyself Post #47

    Know Thyself through LITERATURE:

    Again, lyrics, to me, are literature; they are poems of someone’s feelings put to music.

    The things, you say
    Your purple prose just give you away
    The things, you say
    You’re Unbelievable
    (What the)

    Seemingly lastless, don’t mean
    You can ask us
    Pushing down the relative
    Bringing out your higher self
    Think of the fine times, pushing
    Down the better few, instead of
    Bringing out the clues, to what the
    World and everything anger to, brace
    Yourself with the grace of ease
    I know this world ain’t what it seems
    (What the)
    It’s unbelievable

    -EMF

    Who would YOU say this to if YOU could?… more “Know Thyself Post #47”

  • Know Thyself Post #46

    Know Thyself through HISTORY:

    Out of the 50 States only 10 names have an association with the English language.

    Wonderful, descriptive and meaningful for future generations names, like, Mary-land which is named after the wife of King Charles I. Or how about North Carolina AND South Carolina, whose names, according to Wikipedia, have the exact same definition?: After King Charles I of England and his son, King Charles II of England.  The name Charles itself is derived from Frankish karl, ‘man, husband’.

    I think the states have all made their names have meaning rather than their meaning coming from their names but….for me, I prefer the 40 names that came from native languages; like Michigan which means Large Water in Ojibwe, or South Dakota meaning Ally or Friend in Sioux.

    Why aren’t we taught this? I find more AMERICAN pride in a name that stands for friendship by a people who actually lived here, than a label whore king 6,000 miles away. Just me?

    Do YOU know the language origin of YOUR state’s name and what it means? that is….assuming residence in the 50 US states, if not, pick one, there’s 50 of them.… more “Know Thyself Post #46”

  • Know Thyself Post #45

    Know Thyself through YOUR HISTORY:

    What was one of YOUR favorite ‘things’, something that was all yours when you were a kid?

    Mine was a bike. It had a name (one given by the maker, and one it earned from me:), a banana seat, no stupid bell, but I did used to put playing cards in the spokes of the wheels.  And when I raced down that Franklin Street hill near my house, I felt free.

    Do any of YOUR present day possessions make YOU feel like that?… more “Know Thyself Post #45”

  • Know Thyself Post #44

    Know Thyself through PHILOSOPHY:

    “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter’

                -Martin Luther King Jr.

    What do YOU think about this statement?

    Have YOU been silent about anything?… more “Know Thyself Post #44”

  • Know Thyself Post #43

    Know Thyself…

    Do YOU know how to whistle?

    Did you know that you can’t be taught how to whistle? You have to figure it out yourself, and if you don’t have an uncle or neighbor that was a whistler, you may not have been exposed.

    But YOU can learn how to whistle, YOU just need to take the time and try.… more “Know Thyself Post #43”

  • Know Thyself Post #42

    Know Thyself:

    If YOU had three minutes to take three possessions from YOUR home in an emergency, what would they be?

    Mine =

    -my dog

    -my pictures and my writings (aka laptop)

    -jewelry (my dad’s watch etc.)

    What would YOU take? Why?… more “Know Thyself Post #42”

  • Know Thyself Post #41

    Know Thyself Through LITERATURE:

    Try this:

    Look on your phone and see how long you spent on this screen yesterday.

    In the X hours and X minutes you spent looking at your phone yesterday, what did you learn about what YOU think?

    This could be difficult as, I’m making the assumption that what you looked at were other people’s opinions or regurgitated propaganda. Did you learn about YOU?

     

    You can listen to Animal Farm by George Orwell in about 3 hours and 10 minutes.

    In 3 Hours and 10 minutes you could learn what YOU think about: Equality, Inequality, Fraternity, The Nature of Man, Society, Dictatorships, Class Divide, Socialism, Communism, Greed, Commercialism, Democracy, Propaganda, History, Community, and The Banning of Books (Between 1952 and 1957, the CIA, in an operation codenamed Aedinosaur, sent millions of balloons carrying copies of the novel into Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, whose air forces tried to shoot the balloons down, the SAME book that was ‘challenged’ multiple times in the US and was banned 1987 by A superintendent in Bay County, Florida, at the middle school and high school levels. Which the Board overturned due to complaints per the Constitution)

    Bonus, in a fraction of the time you wasted yesterday, tomorrow you could learn what YOU think about a lot of shit without commercial interruption, at YOUR pace, and without giving a flying f%$^ about what other people thought about it.

     … more “Know Thyself Post #41”

  • Know Thyself Post #40

    Know Thyself….

    Have YOU ever REALLY looked at YOU own eyes? Go to a mirror and really stare into them. Study them.

    Do you think there is anyone whose eyes you’ve REALLY looked at like this? Is there anyone whom you could recognize just from their eyes? Next time you are sharing personal space with someone whom you really like, study their eyes and see if you really ‘recognize’ them, and will you from here on out?… more “Know Thyself Post #40”

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