Do we truly desire our goals or the things we end up doing instead?
Category: Folly
Against preparation
The idea of preparation requires two insurmountable problems: a mythical standard (i.e. a teleological goal) and the assumption that performing an action in one context is the same as performing it in a new one. Better to abandon the idea altogether and simply perform.
On myth
When I was young, I could not tell myth from reality. As an adult, I devoted myself to finding truth, both scientifically and philosophically. Now, as an old man, I return to myth. I lament every myth not recorded throughout history, for it is here that we are closest to truth. Whether it is a myth one resonates with or not does not matter, each has something vital to teach us about reality.
Bearing firewood to market in the morning
Bringing wine back at sunset
Where is my home?
It is in the green woods through the clouds.
Xuxuanping
On superlatives
Good, better, best–language deceives us at every turn. Does the universe see any state in this way? Is this constellation better than that? Is the explosion of a supernova bad in that it’s the last evolutionary stage of its progenitor, or good in that its the birth of a black hole?
Against systems
The moment you become committed to a system you are far too late. The universe has long moved past it.
On self-reflection
I have spent my entire life demonstrating my inability to understand myself, pretending to do so all the while. It is a special kind of insanity to think I understand others.
Insolubilia 