Selfhood
Three-fourths of philosophy and literature is the talk of people trying to convince themselves that they really like the cage they were tricked into entering.
Gary Snyder — poet, anthropologist and ecological steward
“A different view into this, a more optimistic one which i choose to adopt, has to do with what being online helps people do. The original piece in The New Consumer talks about how "younger consumers are also more likely to say they feel “more valued for their talents” online than offline, feel “more appreciated” online, and feel “more creative” online." Which suggests to me the problem isn't necessarily how addictive being online is, it's how unappreciated people feel in the offline world. The internet helps us find our people.
I recently heard a great quote about what is the opposite of depression. It's not happiness. It's expression. And so when you have people say they effectively feel more expressive online, and can bond with others more attuned to their needs and points of view, then this gives me hope that there is a net positive effect of all this time we spend online.
Looking at it this way, i see great news in the idea that people have places where they can feel more like themselves, even if it may not fit into our current worldviews of what personal and collective flourishing looks like. When i grew up, playing video games was going to be the ruin of us all, and yet statistically speaking the vast majority of our generation turned out well enough (if anything, the lack of an economic and social safety net fucked us up later).
So it's entirely possible that a whole generation who feel better online than offline will turn out somehow ok as well. Better or worse than us? Impossible to tell. Different? Most likely.”
I am sensitive, finely attuned, and as soon as I experience suffering, I have to pivot. I have no ability to stick it out. A quitter, you might call me. Undisciplined, Lazy, Child like, Weak, You might call me.
I certainly called myself those things.
I now realise that my intolerance for suffering is one of my greatest gifts.
I watch people who have a... See more
I certainly called myself those things.
I now realise that my intolerance for suffering is one of my greatest gifts.
I watch people who have a... See more
“The great miracle is that we understand each other at all.”
Martha said to me, very quietly: “There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your... See more
Choreographer Agnes de Mille
When Do We Stop Finding New Music? A Statistical Analysis
statsignificant.com
‘music paralysis’, or when and why our music tastes stagnate as we get older.
Here is something I wrote years ago about ~creative despair~ (I wrote it a couple years before I started Strange Planet) I am reposting this again - Creative despair is an emotion that I feel sometimes. It is not a place devoid of creativity. ❤️
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