QuoteIf you can master nonsense as well as you have already learned to master sense, then each will expose the other for what it is: absurdity. From that moment of illumination, a man begins to be free regardless of his surroundings. He becomes free to play order games and change them at will. He becomes free to play disorder games just for the hell of it. He becomes free to play neither or both. And as the master of his own games, he plays without fear, and therefore without frustration, and therefore with good will in his soul and love in his being.
And when men become free then mankind will be free.
May you be free of The Curse of Greyface.
May the Goddess put twinkles in your eyes.
May you have the knowledge of a sage,
and the wisdom of a child. Hail Eris.
From early times Man has burdened itself with bullshit. It has taken its existence far too seriously. Even as it has gained the knowledge proving that mankind occupies but an insignificant blink of time, he has not come to the obvious conclusion. Let's live the hell out of this brief time that we have.
Instead, man instantaneously became obsessed with seeking and tapping into an obsolete and improbable idea of immortality. Obsessed with taking whatever steps necessary to extend its lifespan and authority over mortality. This invariably has lead to strife and conflict as man scrambles to control every nook and cranny that contains life-fueling resources.
And so the Curse of Greyface has endured. It is now seemingly inextricably entrenched. It seems particularly hopeless that it can go in any other direction.
Yet Salvation is always right there before us. Man simply needs to reach out and grab it. To cast off the self-imposed shackles that has held Man back in the name of Progress. Progress that has been measured by ALL of the wrong benchmarks. Quantity over Quality.
Eris, Discordia, and the Discordian Society are mankind's QA department. The problem is no one will pay attention to us, even though we bear a painfully simple message and warning:
"Snap the fuck out of it! Don't you see what you are doing?"
You are trying to create a better world for your children and grandchildren but you are just making it worse. You are dooming them to the same failed rat race you've been running. Not only that, you've made the race
longer and more grueling. You were able to bail out at 55 or 65. Your grandkids won't get to leave until they are in the ground in a box. What fucking kind of existence is that?
Let them have Salvation. Let them hold onto that Joyful Anarchy of youth as long as they can. You can't keep them from growing old but you
can keep them from "growing up". Because in our society "growing up" means becoming a Super Serious Adult. It means leaving games behind. It means forever servitude to The System. It means shirking any real kind of Individuality for institutionalized imagination. Straying outside of the paradigm is not an option. Not if they want to be "respected" and "regarded".
Let them have Salvation.
Let them remain Free.
Let them know that it is okay to be Weird.
Let them know that it is okay to be Strange.
Let them know that it is okay to walk around with that silly grin on their face.
Let them know that they can march to any goddamned beat they want.
Fuck the rest of the world if it can't and won't dance.
Tell the kids that they are the Dance Commanders!
They are the Dr. Dementos!
They are the Rock and Rollers!
They can resist The Curse of Greyface!
Nonsense is their Salvation!
And it is, as it always has been, fucking Free!
Preach it! Spread it! Live it!
And fuck anyone who gets in the way!
That's the Word,
Reverend What's-His-Name?
That was awesome. Good to see your writing again.
Thanks, it felt good.
Top notch.
Progress that has been measured by ALL of the wrong benchmarks
Especially love this. Reminds me of a discussion I was having on Tuesday which went along the lines of:
"When we say someone is 'successful', what are the criteria? Why is money/fame/power the only metric that we tend to recognize?"
Quote from: Mangrove on April 12, 2012, 08:11:04 PM
Progress that has been measured by ALL of the wrong benchmarks
Especially love this. Reminds me of a discussion I was having on Tuesday which went along the lines of:
"When we say someone is 'successful', what are the criteria? Why is money/fame/power the only metric that we tend to recognize?"
Yeah. Why isn't "HAPPY" worth a damn these days?
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 12, 2012, 08:13:08 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on April 12, 2012, 08:11:04 PM
Progress that has been measured by ALL of the wrong benchmarks
Especially love this. Reminds me of a discussion I was having on Tuesday which went along the lines of:
"When we say someone is 'successful', what are the criteria? Why is money/fame/power the only metric that we tend to recognize?"
Yeah. Why isn't "HAPPY" worth a damn these days?
It is, to the right people.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 12, 2012, 08:13:59 PM
Quote from: LMNO, PhD (life continues) on April 12, 2012, 08:13:08 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on April 12, 2012, 08:11:04 PM
Progress that has been measured by ALL of the wrong benchmarks
Especially love this. Reminds me of a discussion I was having on Tuesday which went along the lines of:
"When we say someone is 'successful', what are the criteria? Why is money/fame/power the only metric that we tend to recognize?"
Yeah. Why isn't "HAPPY" worth a damn these days?
It is, to the right people.
Welcome to PD.com.
We need new definitions of 'success'.
Quote from: Mangrove on April 12, 2012, 08:28:41 PM
We need new definitions of 'success'.
I can look at the mirror when I shave every day.
I have a nice home life, and people who for some reason love me.
I may be a vicious bastard at times, but I don't pick on people without reason.
I have irresponsible fun almost often enough.
I'm good at what I do.
That's all the success I need, really.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 12, 2012, 08:30:39 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on April 12, 2012, 08:28:41 PM
We need new definitions of 'success'.
I can look at the mirror when I shave every day.
I have a nice home life, and people who for some reason love me.
I may be a vicious bastard at times, but I don't pick on people without reason.
I have irresponsible fun almost often enough.
I'm good at what I do.
That's all the success I need, really.
This.
The definition of "success" should come with these stipulations.
Quote from: Mangrove on April 12, 2012, 08:11:04 PM
Progress that has been measured by ALL of the wrong benchmarks
Especially love this. Reminds me of a discussion I was having on Tuesday which went along the lines of:
"When we say someone is 'successful', what are the criteria? Why is money/fame/power the only metric that we tend to recognize?"
It's all part of that American Dream fallacy that's been handed down for ages. And if you say that the American Dream, is a stupid shallow goal, the implication is that you are encouraging people slacking off.
No, we are encouraging Slack. If my kids decide they want to be taxi drivers, and it makes them happy, good on them. I'm not going to fill them with bullshit like, "You should become a doctor so you can take care of us". If they want to be doctors I will support them. If they want to be Rock and Roll Baristas, I'll support them.
I of course want them to be able to take care of themselves which invariably gets into money. My wife and I have managed to carve out a humble existence. We aren't raking in the dough hand over fist but we aren't drowning in debt and we are able to take our kids out and do things. We're happy.
It certainly feels like success to me.
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on April 12, 2012, 08:39:57 PM
Quote from: Doktor Howl on April 12, 2012, 08:30:39 PM
Quote from: Mangrove on April 12, 2012, 08:28:41 PM
We need new definitions of 'success'.
I can look at the mirror when I shave every day.
I have a nice home life, and people who for some reason love me.
I may be a vicious bastard at times, but I don't pick on people without reason.
I have irresponsible fun almost often enough.
I'm good at what I do.
That's all the success I need, really.
This.
The definition of "success" should come with these stipulations.
yes yes yessss.
I was thinking about this recently, in connection with the discussion on IQ... there is a success curve with IQ, and most "highly successful" people have an IQ that is in about a 20-point sweet spot above average but below genius.
Problem: The way "highly successful" is defined deals almost exclusively with the collection of green pieces of paper.
My personal successes:
1) Got married and stayed married. Have known Mrs Mang since 1996, got married in 2004.
2) Money is tight a lot of the time but, we're not up to our ass in debt. We live in a modest home in a decent town.
3) My business is small but I've helped a lot of people. Every now and then I hit a really good 'life changer' result with a client.
4) The worst thing I can say about my health is that I have a little too much tension in my neck (right side), sometimes.
5) I've met all sorts of interesting people.
6) I have lived in and visited different countries.
7) No police record!
8.) I have tons of fucking books....RAH!
9) We own one car. [I don't drive. My carbon footprint is fairly small & I can walk to & from work every day.]
10) Thankfully raised without religious or political ideologies - was left to figure shit out for myself.
A fine model of success for sure.
This feeds into some stuff I've been reading in my classes.
Isolated, but possibly related things.
In Japan, there is higher rate of suicide and death by overwork (seriously?) amongst salarymen, or white collar workers, than among blue collar workers, presumably because of the stress placed to make MORE MORE MORE MORE at the expense of your family life. Which resonates with my experience. The times I look back the most were BEFORE I joined the Army, had a low paying job with no benefits, but I LOVED that job, unlike the glories of being an armed office worker in a cubicle.
On another tangent, the fact that the sum total of goods produced by a nation or group is the primary determinator of how well it is developing, without taking into account quality of life or equanimity of the spread of this stuffwealth.
HOWEVER, salvation may be free, BUT monkeys don't value things they don't pay for. They gladly pay for bullshit "knowledge" from bullshit artists, than take free knowledge. Look at all the newage woowoo books that get published with basically the same crap in them.
It'll never happen here dept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness
Quote from: Anna Mae Bollocks on April 13, 2012, 02:15:54 AM
It'll never happen here dept: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_national_happiness
It will when the money's gone. Bhutan never really had any in the first place.
Today's IOZ is relevant. (http://whoisioz.blogspot.com/2012/04/codified-likeness-unit.html)
QuoteI've been told that, although an atheist, I am a religious man. I accept that. It seems to me that the majesty of existence is somewhat . . . um, reduced by the evident conviction that there is no activity which cannot be accounted for, literally accounted for, in monetary terms. Like, euh, you may think I am heartless, but in fact, my first relationship was worth $1.37, so obviously, like not. You do not have to imbue motherhood with any particular mystical earthgoddess hokum to see that its particular value is precisely in its valuelessness; it is an essentially human activity; it is immune to price. It isn't a fucking job. It isn't work, although it's labor. That's not a fucking demerit.
As a merely practical matter, I have a goddamn job; I even sort of like my job, sometimes; it ain't all that bad. But I'll be doubledamned if I have to start thinking of the feel of the garden soil between my fingers, the sunshine on my face, every kiss and blowjob, the dog curling into the bend of my knee when I take a nap, laughing with my uncles, visiting my parents, hanging out with my cousins, joking with my friends, getting sick and healing and getting well again, feeling sadness and feeling joy, sleeping and waking, breathing and living as quarter-hours on a daily calendar with a wage-rate attached. "Salary.com says that standing next to your boyfriend at the sink and doing dishes together after the guests have gone home is worth upwards of $25.45/hour, or nearly $30.00/hour if the dishwasher is already full." No, you fucks, no. That isn't it at all.
People should judge themselves by whether their life is well lived, not how "hard" (=/=efficient) they work or how much currency they receive. That was the purpose of a college education, to figure out how to live life well, before it turned into trade school. It's the only tape measure that really matters, and the individual in question is the only one who can read it.
I keep thinking the title is "Salvation is Freeky".
Quote from: Nigel on April 18, 2012, 06:19:00 AM
I keep thinking the title is "Salvation is Freeky".
Well, in a sense I am salvation.
Why no, I'm not egotistical at all. :lol:
Quote from: The Freeky of SCIENCE! on April 18, 2012, 06:37:03 AM
Quote from: Nigel on April 18, 2012, 06:19:00 AM
I keep thinking the title is "Salvation is Freeky".
Well, in a sense I am salvation.
Why no, I'm not egotistical at all. :lol:
It might be fun knocking on doors.
"Hi. Do you believe the world can continue under the current wicked system of things? No? Well, you're absolutely correct. I'm here to tell you about Freeky. Did you know that Freeky is salvation? Here, I'm going to give you some literature..."
Loved the OP, RWHN. Also the bit you quoted from the PD is one of my favourite bits (though there are many other favourite bits. KING KONG DIED FOR YOUR SINS is a favourite for no apparent reason as well)
Quote from: Reverend What's-His-Name? on April 12, 2012, 02:09:32 PM
Let them know that it is okay to be Weird.
On this subject, an article I came across this week:
http://joethepeacock.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/thats-why-you-dont-have-any-friends.html
Quote from: Guru Coyote on April 12, 2012, 10:57:30 PMHOWEVER, salvation may be free, BUT monkeys don't value things they don't pay for.
Interesting thought I just had, re:this. I remember Nigel posting a while back on how you need "struggle" (she had a different term iirc) to get real happiness, because without having to work for the good things you get, you merely get "comfort", but not happiness.
Could it be that people have some instinctive sense of this "law of happiness" and therefore have a harder time appreciating things that are free?
On a related note, I'm reminded of an offer I recently got via the Young Researchers centre, a parent mailed the staff whether maybe someone (me) would be willing to "explain" some "basic things" about creating a website using the Joomla CMS framework (at their home). She also said financial compensation would be an option. I refused not only because I really have better things to do, but because a proper freelance hourly consulting fee would be way too much to ask them (nor do I want the responsibility that would come with it), yet going with a greatly reduced rate will give them the idea they can make all sorts of demands because they're paying me (I know how those things go) at which point I'll have to explain how little they're paying for how much they're asking, then they end up none the wiser without the concrete ability to deploy a Joomla website for (say) 75 euros and nobody is happy. (I know this because if they can't figure it out by getting a book about Joomla from the public library, there's no way I can get them as far as they have to in merely 5 hours).
That link is phenomenal.