doodles

Frank Bright, talking to the Wise Archive about growing up during World War Two, moving to Prague, Theresienstadt Ghetto,  Auschwitz Transit Camp and Friedland Camp. 

The Cromer Crabbing Industry, Norfolk- 

Fishermen use small boats to go crabbing, small family businesses. a dying trade. not enough money in it. too hard, early mornings, rough seas.  An apprenticeship scheme in Cromer was scrapped after every single trainee failed to last in the job, so the lady (mum and wife) dressing the crabs in the fish shop says. only 10 Cromer crab fisherman left. 

The Footsie Wootsie 100. 

Richard Rorty- Ironism. 

Rorty on altruism embedded into human nature "maybe there is such a sentient disposition, but it is so malleable- so capable of being combined with the indifference of suffering of people of the wrong sorts- that it gives us precious little to rely on. We should just thank our lucky stars that there are quite a lot of people nowadays who are pretty consistently appalled by human beings suffering unnecessarily".

Keywords: Intersubjectivity, malleable, circular, fact of pluralism, Pragmatic view, Optimistic about rationality vs. Inalienable rights, ultimate foundation, linear progression and final vocab. 

Emil Cioran 

Collage of hand drawn scanned in doodles and digitally manipulated images using Gimp.

This picture is about ideas of Emil Ciaron, Romanian Philosopher, born in 1911, as heard about on the ‘Philosophize This’ Podcast

“The fact that life has no meaning is a reason to live- moreover, its the only one.”

Focused on suffering, decay and nihilism. ‘On the heights on despair’- book. Every life is utterly unique and totally unimportant. Meaningless of existence. Existentialist. Looks at inconveniently ugly aspects of human existence (under the rug). Consciousness makes things worse- better to be a plant or an animal. Rejected systematising/ neat packaging (*thats the squares in picture!*). One true reality- silence. when we stop rationalising the world (beliefs, trifles, art, philosophy) we come into contact with the reality of silence.

negative internal experiences are a part of the human condition, but seen as taboo. narrowing of possibilities by chaining ourselves to an optimism cult. accept aimlessness and now you can go anywhere! To rid ourselves of negative feelings we use 1. narrative (religion, philosophy, self help book)... creation of rationalisation of these feelings waste of time (context of Cioran: relativism, nihilism, historicism). 2. Distraction (IV drip of netflix), but feelings of dread and melancholy are coming to rob you at some other point. 3. Acceptance: stoicism/ eastern traditions, accept things are out of our control, but hypothetical and another way to rationalise. (Similar to Heideggers being unto death- avoidance that one day you will die ((corner off- cemetaries, retirement homes, hospitals). But if we ackowledge death every day, life would be lived in higher resolution.) Despite reason, distraction and acceptance, the universe is still absurd.

Steer into the absurdity, embrace the emotional variance, connect with pure uselessness.