Fat Tails.
-NASSIM TALEB
THE BOOK CLUB: Fat Tales from Taleb’s ‘Incerto’
SLEEP: The Oddly Obscure History of Bed.
“Anything that can’t be done in bed isn’t worth doing at all.” You might think he was referring to sleeping and sex. But humans, at one time or another, have done just about everything in bed.
And yet, despite the fact that we spend one-third of our lives in bed, they’re more of an afterthought. I certainly didn’t think much about beds until I found myself talking about their history with the executives of a mattress company. These humble artifacts, I learned, had a big story to tell—one that’s 77,000 years old. That’s when, according to archaeologist Lynn Wadley, our early African ancestors started to sleep in hollows dug out of cave floors—the first beds. They wrapped themselves in insect-repelling grasses to avoid bed bugs as persistent as those of today’s seedy motels.
THE PHILOSOPHY of Mind: Arousal vs. Relaxation
THE PHILOSOPHY of SLEEP.
THE PHILOSOPHY of SLEEP: 'Aristotle’s Sleep + Dreams Theory'
THE ABSTRACT:
Aristotle’s naturalistic and rationalistic interpretation of the nature and function of ‘sleep’ (ὕπνος) and ‘dreams’ (ἐνύπνια) is developed out of his concepts of the various parts (μόρια) or faculties/powers (δυνάμεις) of the soul, and especially the functions of cognitive process: (a) sense/sensation (αἴσθησις), (b) imagination (φαντασία), (c) memory (μνήμη), and (d) mind/intellect (νοῦς). Sleep “is a sort of privation (στέρησις) of waking (ἐγρήγορσις)“, and dreams are not metaphysical phenomena. The purpose of this paper is to provide a new reading of Aristotle’s ‘theory of sleep and dreams’ through its connection to modern and contemporary research. To be more specific, through this analysis we shall try to present that many of the Stageirite philosopher’s observations and ideas on the phenomenon of sleep and dreaming have been verified by current experimental research (e.g. Psychology, Psychophysiology, Neurobiology, Cognitive Science etc.).
TWILIGHT LANGUAGE: Narcissa
Such is Life, I suppose.
An imaginative “near-death”.
A strange alchemy,
beyond Art.
Between gilded frames
You and I come to life.
Can this mean we must end where we start?
Still I mean you no harm,
but what side am I on?
Transfixed by our own precious charm.
maybe clever enough “to see”
I fear,
just not ever enough “to be”,
my dear.
A Writer's Manifesto.
As writers, there are at least 5 things we must simply NEVER do...
We must never take ourselves too seriously.
We must never trust the soul who takes itself seriously enough to write an absurdly long-winded obnoxiously melodramatic list of things writers should or should not do.
(we should be especially distrustful of said work if it is at all referred to as a manifesto.)We must never disclaim our work.
We must never confuse 'Your' with 'You're', 'That' with 'Which', or ‘They're with 'Their'.
We must never forget to remember these rules, That I, myself, have so kindly written here for you're casual perusal, as their much too important to forget!
…your welcome.
As writers, there are at least 5 things we must ALWAYS remember to do...
We must first commit to the very serious business of immortalizing the beauty of our heroes, fictional or otherwise. We must be willing to venture above and beyond to honor those we believe deserve everlasting glory.
As we are fair and vigilant, we must also commit to exposing our lowest forms, the dregs of humanity, the shitty sphincters of society. We must do so in this same vein, so that all who dare know us, and all who dare to be known by us, remember this simple yet profound truth: The pen- both nobler than the Joyeuse, and mightier than the Goujian- is also a double-edged sword. And it is here, in the writer's restless hands, that one's fate does lie. A fragile fate that rests blindly alongside our brutally compulsive ability to make or break - to elevate, to resurrect, to end a life - to canonize a most sublime quietus or eternalize an unbearably torturous demise.
As we learn to wield the magical power of our words, we must also learn to possess the courage to save our enemies and slay our idols. It should be with this same courage, that we remind ourselves that it is we who internalize both the lives and deaths of all those we inscribe, if of course, we are to truly write them well.
As we bestow upon ourselves the ultimate irony of unrequited empathy, we must also remember to keep compassion and mercy in our hearts. For the sake of our very own souls, if for nothing else.
As writers, self-proclaimed or otherwise, we must always remember that there is no greater responsibility.
So until we can power through this painful cliché, acknowledge it's truth, and accept it’s momentous charge, we are to remain like everybody else...not writers...mere dreamers.
And like entropy, dreaming is natural, it comes fast, it comes easy.
But to be a true writer? A Super-natural master of dreams?
That, my friend, is another story...
Millenial Monsters.
We are all monsters
As such, we believe we require more.
more energy, more time, more space, more light.
As we strive, we are relentless,
As we eat, we are ravenous.
Our movements may seem erratic, hard to grasp.
Our stride may be unconventional, hard to follow.
Our inevitable moments of repulsive ugliness or excessive brilliance
may, at times, make us difficult to look at.
But we are committed to the profoundly timeless beauty of our own transformation.
we do not expect anything from anyone.
Yet we ask for what we want
and demand what we need.
And though we will not apologize,
We will ALWAYS demonstrate our deepest gratitude,
for those who sacrifice their energy and invest their time.
Our journey will be fueled by our passion for greatness-
an enduring passion for self discovery, traversing the brutal and grotesque.
And those that we keep closest, will one day learn to understand:
Though we may hold hands in solidarity,
our eyes are free to explore, they are not transfixed.
And with our multidimensional gaze,
we observe both the world around us,
and the precious drops of oil in our own gilded silver spoons.
And when we lose our light,
and our fire seems to dwindle,
even in the darkest hour,
we will behold the truly sublime.
Overwhelmed by awe or fear,
we will gently ask ourselves...
What is more violent than the birth of a star?
And still, what is more brilliant? more beautiful?
So in dedicating our lives to this highest pursuit,
there are things we must know and remember:
The power of our own transmutation lies in understanding the baseness of our own elements.
Our commitment to our own evolution is the ultimate expression of love.
Most of all, above all else, if there is one truth that binds those elements,
if there is one truth that binds us all,
it is that love always transcends.
We are all millenial monsters.
You inspired one, or you birthed one, you are one, or one birthed you.
All monsters are welcome to join us at the table.
Now is our last supper.
Bon appetite…Let’s Eat.