“Nobody Knows As Yet What Is Normal. We Only Know What Is Customary.”

In heaven, all the interesting people are missing.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

I think millennials don’t want to have children right now because they’ve seen their mothers (baby boomers) make up for what they missed out on from becoming young parents. The ones I’ve seen have failed miserably at doing so.

~Some Thoughts on Fantasy, Music, and Resonation~

I was recently listening to a friend talk about why philosophy was pointless, the idea that it was just discussion and no real change came of it. Unreal, impractical, useless. Overall, his reasons were undeveloped, underthought, and devoid of any real conviction and it seemed to me that he was far more confused as to why it was a source of study and the purpose it served than he was actually critical of the practice as a whole. But it got me thinking about the "unreal" and the impossible.

And it caused 2 thoughts to spring into my mind. First, fantasy at its core is the unreal. It is so magnificent because it simply cannot be. We explore the worlds made of a different yarn than our world. There are similarities, some things that are shared, but the rules of nature itself is the difference. A new world is made by using the mysterious pieces of our own world. Yet, the interesting thing about this phenomenon isn't the created thing, but rather the reaction to it. People love it, obsess over it, delve deeper into the lore and history of these unreal worlds. The feeling of exploration and the other feelings that those worlds inspire, the auras, the "vibes" are what pull people in.

Which brings me to my second thought, which is what those vibes invoke in me from other forms and mediums. Music, for instance.

Most people who I have spoken to listening to music are far more drawn to the lyrics of the song, than its ambiance, or its emotion in the music. Music draws forth an emotion in it's own right, which the lyrics add voice and thought to. Both are of immense importance to a song's creation, and neither can be of lesser value. Yet, those emotions which are incited by the music still exist, even if unrecognized. Thus, the musical vibe and the lyrical emotions are not only separate, but also shift how we resonate with the songs themselves.

All of this brings me to 2 unanswerable questions.

1. Does fantasy invoke the emotional response of a uniquely philosophical need for limitless potential?

And by that, I mean that as fantasy is outside of the realm of possibility, is it due to our natural inclination of creation? Or our need to explore the unknowns? The exploration of a new limitless-ness, rather than the confines of our universe?

2. Does our individual resonation with music reflect our adherence or non-adherence to artistic intentions? (In other words, is the way we enjoy the song predicated on how the author wanted us to interpret the song?)

“One has either to take people as they are, or leave them as they are. One cannot change them, one can merely disturb their balance. A human being, after all, is not made up of single pieces, from which a single piece can be taken out and replaced by something else.” - Franz Kafka, Letters to Felice‎

INTJs doomed by design?

stlsrr submitted: Hello, Harsh title i know, but its the best to describe what im about to express.  Its not long ago i found out about my INTJ character, though to my surprise it explained a lot!  The way i acted and reacted to specific situations, my love for solitude,  not much talking etc… you probably are aware of these things. But its the first time I was justified by knowing that. The reason was  simply, that when you are the ONLY one to act differently (not akward) and EVERY single person you know to judge  you and turn against what you are you begin to doubt your self and your ways. Though that is very painful  thing to do because deep in you you know you are acting in a “correct” way that asides morality and happines of your self. INTJs love to have it rough, indeed we adore challenge, but this is something way different.  Despite i dont wish to write about me self rather to express my ideas i have to say that my life the past few years been … lets just say not to pretty.  Both my actions and my luck costed me and made me lose a lot.  Thought that’s one of my biggest debates as an INTJ.  Did i brought it upon my self or just people behaviors did? In other words cant an INTJ ever avoid this presure about their “inner be”   I havent met any other INTJ , the closest i got is an ENTJ ( a Godsent gift!!!) , and because of that i havent the slightest idea  how other INTJs deal with their lives.  Me , as an INTJ tend to have most of the characterists that make a person of that temperament to be jugded as wierd, loner, sarcastic, selfish and many more, but i Never let that to take me down.  There were many times i trully wanted to give in my nature and be sarcastic, snobbish, through my ingenius ways i could be extremly evil and revengeful. But i withhold my self. Due to my  evolved  sensing and feeling  I wanted to like people, to respect, appreciate and accept them for what they are. I was by their side in their darkest hours, i was always looking for the goodness in them… 

I’m not sure if that was a mistake but defently people never apreciated the efford  and value i gave em.   I never asked and gotten nothing in return rather a cold and unfair behavior by them.  I dont know what caused that and i dont know who to blame, but i all  know is that it made me more cold and less expressive. After two years of extreme conditions i was tired to withhold over and over again and again…  I wasnt aware of how i could reacted through a very negative perspective on life.  Long story short very outraging. I started to defend my self againt others will to change me.  Are INTJs so … violent as in terms of self preservation ? That time i figured that not only people were afraid of me and started to respect me but as well i met my capabilities, something that made me afraid of living through a negative side. So my points out of all the above are:  Do INTJs have it rough in their lives? and if so how should they react? Respect towrds others? Or their selves?  ( I believe both isnt an acceptable anwser as we are people of edges, the is no shades of grey in our lives, just black and white)  Should an INTJ show compassion and patience for what  people are or simply people brought it to them selves (Our reaction to their actions)?  For the same as we INTJs want to be accepted as we are ,  i believe we should show some but… im out of alternatives, they just dont accept us.  And as the title suggest are INTJs doomed by design?  How can a person thats destined to see and fix mistakes to ever find peace and happiness in such a flawed world?   Thanks for reading and thanks for any kind of reply. 

Loneliness is a Dangerous Thing

‘Everyone knows there are forms of cruelty which can injure a man’s life without injuring his body. They are such as deprive him of a certain form of food necessary to the life of the soul.’                     - Simone Weil, The Need for Roots

Rootlessness and homelessness, though similar in nature, are also quite different. A person who is rootless may very well have a home, but does not have a sense of belonging, they identify themselves as ‘the other’. 

Since the end of World War II, migration has increased significantly with people opting to set up their life somewhere new, whether this be for a job, education, religion, or whatever opportunity this may provide. A person disentangles themselves from the ties and bonds that they have with one place and form this relationship somewhere new… this is now home.

But home for you may not always be home for the new family that you set up. I have mentioned this before in another post so I won’t go into it in too much detail, but when looking at those with extremist and ‘radical’ thoughts, we find that they are often children of those who have migrated. The parents have chosen to build home in a new foreign land and build a relationship with that place, but the relationship is not so straight forward. This relationship is a half way house between assimilating and holding onto one’s culture; the migrant chooses which parts of the new culture to adopt and which parts of their old culture to hold onto. This might vary from eating and drinking habits, clothing, social life, it could be anything. 

The child of the migrant however, having not chosen but instead having been brought up with this conflict between the two cultures feels lost. This is something I have thought about for a long time, but Arendt put it into the words I have been searching for for so long. 

The child feels a sense of rootlessness. 

Arendt argues that those who feel rootless or homeless will seek out a home for themselves at any cost, which can have disastrous consequences. 

She states that for an individual who feels rootless and homeless, often with this comes the feeling of having an existence that is not meaningful or fruitful. To find this sense of belonging, individuals often turn to exclusionary movements and groups, which actually only increases the feeling of alienation and rootlessness. Now they are in a group that only contains people such as themselves, perhaps from one place, class, religion, etc. all together feeling like outsiders, because of the absence of others of a different background. 

Arendt says that uprootedness has been ‘the curse of the modern masses since the beginning of the industrial revolution’.

Loneliness is a dangerous thing. When a person is lonely, when they feel their roots are not in any ground but sort of drifting from place to place, a person is not themselves. Who are we, after all, without a background against us? Just an entity, perhaps? 

‘To be rooted is perhaps the most important and least recognised need of the human soul.’

Sometimes I think this world is cruel and unjust but then I remember how I dropped my wallet when I was on the bicycle 8 years ago and a homeless man ran 6 blocks to return it to me. Sometimes I think this world is lonely and grey but then I let the rain touch my body and hear birds make their way home at evening and for a moment, just a moment- I understand why Prometheus stole fire and laid it at man's feet, why dying stars leave a trail of wishes, why I still love 6-year-old Erica I met on a summer trip a decade ago, even though I never saw her again.

Sometimes I think this world is a bad place, but then I look around me and in all its chaos and mosaic of bodies and souls and dreams, I see beauty and goodness hidden behind kind eyes and rough hands.

-Ritika Jyala, excerpt from The world is a sphere of ice and our hands are made of fire

Feeble though sweet

light pours

over the immense meadow

expanding in my eyes,

unmoved by the night sky

thundering upon it.

The moon is to follow its own instincts

navigating the ocean of endlessness

not hiding in itself,

but with a open-heart

bleeding and scarred

and cold.

It is not a bringer of sadness.

It is a reflection of reality.

Not the one we’re living in,

yet both our senses

and mind

are touched by it,

as if it were no more a caress

than it is a warning.

Lonely moon,

and lonely woman,

not to be found in rationality

but in the inexistence of both

the self and the ego.

27th August 2020, 10.39pm

Today I, surprise surprise, let myself get swallowed by the idleness of procrastination. This morning felt like a dream, like I did not exist, and I know that one day I will just disappear and everything will feel soft and muffled, warm and peaceful. 

Tomorrow I really need to do finally do homework, or I will not be able to finish all of it in time. I wonder why it’s necessary to do it, at the end of the day it is not like I will need most of these things in life. Maybe I’m too much of a nihilist, and I should appreciate learning and studying just for the sake of acquiring new knowledge. Truth is, I love learning. But I do not love learning anything. I like Science, knowing how the universe and our bodies work. i like History, reading about past events that shaped the world. I like Literature, or maybe I just like reading, and I like Greek and Latin too, although they are so much work. I hate Math though. 

I bought three face masks today. My skin is one of my biggest insecurities - my teeth (it angers me to say this because I wore braces for two years) still make me insecure too, and so does my body. I hate having a physical form.

Halsey today released merch for her first album, Badlands. It is one of my favourite albums ever, it just means so much to me since it was one of the first LPs that connected with me. I really wanted to get a t-shirt, but my parents said no because the price and the shipping was too expensive. It made me sad, to be honest. They think it’s not worth it because, to them, it’s just a t-shirt, while to me it represents all that I connect to Badlands. 

I think I am too attached to physical things. My room is not messy, but at first, to a stranger eye, it might look like it because it’s just so full of things. My walls are covered in photos, instant photos mostly - which, by the way, sometimes feel depressing because they rarely show someone I love or who loves me; it just shows that I am lonely -, piles books are everywhere because I have no space for them, three pencil holders are completely full with stationery. Everything is just so colorful that sometimes it feels suffocating. But I like it. It makes me feel full. 

Seeing the hundreds of books I’ve read somehow validates my enjoyment in reading. The hundreds of photos are a poor attempt to remind myself I have been outside of my house. I also own some CDs, not as many as I wish because they are expensive, and although I never play them,  I love them.

Since I was a child, I have always been obsessed with things. I collected Pokémon cards, rocks, pins. At one point I even collected empty bottles and cans, of drinks that were and are not common in Italy. I just really like owning things, they make me feel full, real. In the back of my head, a voice tells me it is wrong. I wish my brain did not react so well to what Lorde calls “the little bright things that I bought.”

-c.