I gotta like a comic with no dialogue

On the Sportified State of [-----]

    One could be particularly intrigued by the state of [-----] and its greatest catalyst, the internet, feeding off the perceived consequences, effects, dramatics, and spectacular volume of discourse. [-----] has so frequently shown itself to be mixed and divisive, that it has all but become a sports game of gratuitous chaos. You can see the [-----] like WWE wrestlers: staged entertainment, as we cheer for the Great Objective of our chosen participant and denounce the savage, vile, and reprehensible being that is the opponent.

    Compare [-----] and sports. [-----] figures are marketed like athletes. They have fanbases, with loyal supporters, and opponents that are demonized. Media plays the part of amping the hype, creating narratives, keeping people invested. We cheer for the team or athlete we support and do not consider the broader context, ignoring the complexity of certain actions/thoughts. 

    The focus changes from the actual game or governance to the spectacle: the drama, controversy, and personalities involved. As with sports, there is a sense of detachment from real-world impact. A fan can care deeply for their team's win or loss, but rarely are long-term implications considered, yet with [-----], the consequences are real and change lives. For two participants, the opposing belligerents in the sportified game of [-----], their followers can get wrapped up in the drama of the moment and the clash of ideologies.

    Take two individuals. One fears, the Other does not. Sometimes, it's difficult to for One and Other to find peace or perspective in that misalignment, when uncertainty, powerlessness, and nervousness prevents bridging the gap. For One, they regularly play out the worst-cast scenarios and get trapped in a loop of "what ifs," whereas the Other feels they've become complacent and stooped to lower standards of being.

    Would the Other call their own thinking "a different way of coping?" Having learned to navigate the uncertainty by stepping back and creating distance from it and the things that individual can control in their immediate world? Yet would One hope that by worrying, they can make sense of it or prepare for the worst?

    The two individuals and [-----] are tough to reconcile, when the emotions for all are charged. How they process the chaos can make communication difficult since fear can cloud judgment and detachment can be indifference. There will be a way to find common ground. Acknowledge fear, and create a space where both the two are safe, understood, and supported. It's all about balance.

when you snipe their parking spot

once again

 

thank you social interactions

Laura Huxley: Disregarded in the Darkness

The following is an account of Aldous Huxley's October 1955 psychedelic session with LSD, with his wife Laura joining as a sober companion.

That first LSD day was filled with aesthetic revelations .We listened to Bach's Fourth Brandenburg Concerto:

It was the same, of course, as the Fourth Brandenburg he had listened to so often in the past—the same and yet completely different. This Allegro—he knew it by heart. Which meant that he was in the best possible position to realize that he had never really heard it before. … The Allegro was revealing itself as an element in the great present Event, a manifestation at one remove of the luminous bliss. Allegro was the luminous bliss; it was the knowledgeless understanding of everything apprehended through a particular piece of knowledge; it was undifferentiated awareness broken up into notes and phrases and yet still all-comprehendingly itself. And of course all this belonged to nobody. It was at once in here, out there, and nowhere. … Which was why he was now hearing it for the first time. Unowned, the Fourth Brandenburg had an intensity of beauty, a depth of intrinsic meaning, incomparably greater than anything he had ever found in the same music when it was his private property.

… And tonight’s Fourth Brandenburg was not merely an unowned Thing in Itself; it was also, in some impossible way, a Present Event with an infinite duration. Or rather (and still more impossibly, seeing that it had three movements and was being played at its usual speed) it was without duration. The metronome presides over each of its phrases; but the sum of its phrases was not a span of seconds and minutes. There was a tempo, but no time. So what was there?

“Eternity.” … He began to laugh.

“What’s so funny?” she asked.

“Eternity,” he answered. “Believe it or not, it’s as real as shit.”

To Dr. Humphry Osmond, 12 January 1955

Meanwhile I am hopeful that the good Captain, whose connections with Uranium seem to serve as a passport into the most exalted spheres of government, business, and ecclesiastical polity, is about to take off for New York, where I hope he will storm the United Nations, take Nelson Rockefeller for a ride to Heaven and return with millions of dollars.

What Babes in the Wood we literary gents and professional men are!
The great World occasionally requires your services, is mildly amused by mine; but its full attention and deference are paid to Uranium and Big Business. So what extraordinary luck that this representative of both these Higher Powers should (a) have become so passionately interested in mescalin and (b) be such a very nice man.

[...]

Yours,

Aldous

Dissuade

May I dissuade you from the rhythms that seem to come out of sync in these repeating times of unrequited movements

Unsatisfied with mere being, it sounds a silly thing to speak through, I think

existential pondering

https://youtu.be/EXeMomMAF0E?si=gVCfMZLDDc7LrlhY

thank you duster 

fuck mountain biking

figured I'd go on my ebike out on the trail no fuck this. wasn't bad, but wasn't good either. 

p.s. I can't even listen to music casually much when I have to listen for oncoming cyclists on the trail since some sightlines are short

image transcribed from my journal

• HIGHER RISK
  You're pedaling through terrain that increases & decreases elevation frequently.
  Watch for people and cliffs. Always maintain speed. You can die if you're not safe.

• BRAKE CONTROL
  Death grip on the brakes. If you don't have adequate brakes, you're fucked, no question.
  I feel like I'm riding on my brakes too much...
  Good luck "taking it slow"!

• LESS CASUAL/SLOW
  I am concentrated on upcoming turns, obstacles, potholes, and hills, not concentrated on admiring the trees, air, and my surroundings, or feeling meditative.

• NOT BEST EQUIPMENT
  This bike can handle asphalt, dirt & gravel ROADS. Not trails. ROADS.
  Roads have more room for error. They're predictable. I mean, it can handle some trails. But you're best on a wide open road, yknow? 

5 months later...

wtf are you doing here