There’s been such an overwhelming wealth of good stuff happening and outrageously useful stuff to share… but at the heart of the storm there’s been total silence. I wish I could attribute it to fellow edu.revolutionary, the stellar Steli Efti who initiated the OneDayBlogSilence (which unexpectedly erupted into noise and chaos). How counterintuitive and paradoxical these times are!
It certainly hasn’t been for lack of inspiration. Something like the calm before the storm perhaps, perhaps the eye of the storm. Life has been rampant for everyone I know lately. Accelerating always just a heartbeat beyond the catch-up point. Somewhere, somehow it will all start to make sense :: even if it won’t slow down.
I’m going to be reconstructing my blog for the next few days so its not going to be pretty. Forgive the chaos. New order will re.form on the other side.
BTW if you are intrigued in any way by chaos mathematics, fractals or the arcane outer reaches of physics but would love them explained in natural language I heartily recommend The Elegant Universe. For those times when you KNOW there’s an underlying order within the accelerating mayhem that life is occasionally prone to tumble into.
I was reminded of my well-thumbed volume when I saw that Brian Greene (beautiful in form & function) is doing a talk that I can’t go to tonight in New York (saddened to the core) :’-(
But I can follow the stringthings into the hopeful heart of the Theory of Everything. Perhaps with feverish inspiration I’ll order one little corner of the digital universe.. after the messy bits.. so here’s to diving in >>
“You must have chaos within you to give birth to a dancing star” - Friedrich Nietzsche (quite unlike the generally crusty old nihilist to have said so, but I dig it nonetheless)
Image: from one of the oddball cartoon sites I love: xkcd.com.
Well, after the love for Bru and Boegie obviously! If for nothing else but their disclaimer >> Warning: this comic occasionally contains strong language (which may be unsuitable for children), unusual humor (which may be unsuitable for adults), and advanced mathematics (which may be unsuitable for liberal-arts majors).
Reading your blog makes me…. overwhelmed? Too many interesting links, stuff I have never heard of (I have to admit - sheepishly, almost - but then, how much can one ‘know’ - btw, did you ask Jimmy Wales how many Wiki-articles he ‘knows’ :-)) - keeping me at the pc even longer….
A big thank you anyway! You hunt, we digest.
Looking forward in anticipation to your ‘new’ blog - can’t wait!
Keep hunting, keep rocking!
“…We can no longer conceal from ourselves what exactly it is that this whole process of willing, inspired by the ascetic ideal signifies - this hatred of humanity, of animality, of inert manner; this loathing of the senses, of reason even; this fear of beauty and happiness; this longing to escape from illusion, change, becoming, death, and from longing itself. It signifies, let us have the courage to face it, a will to nothingness, a revulsion from life, a rebellion against the principal conditions of living. And yet, despite everything, it is and remains a *will*. Let me repeat, now that I have reached the end, what I said at the beginning: man would sooner have the void for his purpose than be void of purpose. … ”
– Friedrich Nietzsche (translated by Francis Golffinf)
– Concluding sentences of _The Genealogy of Morals_
Hardly “generally crusty old nihilist”, methinks…
Geez…
J: you lovely fellow, you’re not short a firing synapse or two yrself friend. Wish I was hunting, beginning to feel like a farmer :-/
Ilan: oh bloody marvellous ..never had any1 retort in defence of Nietzsche. How heartwarming :) I have a fondness for the fellow it must be said as a disclaimer upfront.
Nietzsche remains one of the least understood philosophers and his views - at times controversial and outrageous - often contradicted themselves. He embraced paradox (the curse & blessing of genius). He evolved and changed his mind stridently & frequently, which is something every congnitively-enhanced human should have the right to do.
Emerson once said “Foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds“.
Though works like Will to Power throbbed with nihilism it was never an existential problem for him but one of sociological/cultural values.
The master/slave construct underlies his belief in the collapse of Western civilisation, and the inevitable rise of the Ubermensch
[uuuurgh!! I'm rambling .. anyway, what I was getting at, is that the pervasively stern and sombre fellow was not generally given to lilting about stars and especially of the dancing variety :-P]
Besides his views on genius are intriguing.. and he was hauled into the nuthouse after flinging his arms around a horse to save it from being beaten. Gotta love him ;-)
You have now described him as “pervasively stern and sombre” and “not generally given to lilting about stars and especially of the dancing variety”… Balderdash and Cookies, you sproke.
In “Thus Sprake Zarathustra” Zarathustra reaches his goal when he learns to laugh and dance. In essence Nietzsche is also warning us not to trust a philosopher/teacher who does not laugh and does not dance.
“His step betrayeth whether a person already walketh on HIS OWN path: just see me walk! He, however, who cometh nigh to his goal, danceth….
Better, however, to be foolish with happiness than foolish with misfortune, better to dance awkwardly than walk lamely. So learn, I pray you, my wisdom, ye higher men: even the worst thing hath two good reverse sides,–
–Even the worst thing hath good dancing-legs: so learn, I pray you, ye higher men, to put yourselves on your proper legs!…
Do like unto the wind when it rusheth forth from its mountain-caves: unto its own piping will it dance; the seas tremble and leap under its footsteps.
That which giveth wings to asses, that which milketh the lionesses:– praised be that good, unruly spirit, which cometh like a hurricane unto all the present and unto all the populace,–
–Which is hostile to thistle-heads and puzzle-heads, and to all withered leaves and weeds:–praised be this wild, good, free spirit of the storm, which danceth upon fens and afflictions, as upon meadows!
Which hateth the consumptive populace-dogs, and all the ill-constituted, sullen brood:–praised be this spirit of all free spirits, the laughing storm, which bloweth dust into the eyes of all the melanopic and melancholic!
Ye higher men, the worst thing in you is that ye have none of you learned to dance as ye ought to dance–to dance beyond yourselves! What doth it matter that ye have failed!
How many things are still possible! So LEARN to laugh beyond yourselves! Lift up your hearts, ye good dancers, high! higher! And do not forget the good laughter!
This crown of the laughter, this rose-garland crown: to you my brethren do I cast this crown! Laughing have I consecrated; ye higher men, LEARN, I pray you–to laugh!”
Here are two enlightening links.
http://faculty.frostburg.edu/phil/forum/Zarathustra.htm
http://nietzsche.thefreelibrary.com/Thus-Spake-Zarathustra/75-1
Geez…
Ilan: :-D you’re adorable ..how excellent to have a little Friday philosophical frisson!
That’s indeed why I said GENERALLY ..and pointed out that he is not a static & single dimensional being. He went through a period of being in remarkably high spirits - the Gay Science and Thus Spake Zarathustra being manifest of that. He dived into an attack on Wagner with hearty enthusiasm, and rightly so, I think unassailed Wagner could have well infected the world with a serious case of the glum.
.. in GENERAL he was not a fluffy bunny & beams of sunshine fellow.
It is said that the brighter the light the deeper the shade, and for the balancing force of light and laughter (which I believe is another indicator of higher cognitive function, dare we say genius) he spent the vast majority of his time toddling about in the shady corners of the complex human condition.