Nietzsche again and some other stuff. Iran etc.
Oh, that was a bad weekend. Oh, I'll never let those pills run out again. (Shudder.)
Read a great book though; 'The Consolations of Philosophy' by Alain De Botton. Great book, he takes examples of work by Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche giving you their thoughts on things like being unpopular, having no money, a broken heart and so-on. I think I got more from the Nietzsche chapter than I did from reading the entirety of 'Beyond Good and Evil'. All I got from that was a slight headache and an immense sense of my own intellectual inadequacy. I generally find that when I read this kind of stuff I get more interested in the philosophers themselves rather than their ideas. Nietzsche was a fascinating person, he suffered throughout his entire life with loneliness, illness, a shitty love life, but just before he went completely insane he hit on possibly the most consoling thought there's ever been; that suffering is an essential step on the road to fulfillment and achievement. Epicurus and Shopenhauer thought that the aim in life should be to avoid suffering, but Nietzsche realized that not only was that impossible but also that it would never get you anywhere. And if Nietzsche hadn't died young, the world could be quite as different place. If he'd lived its unlikely that his work would have been corrupted by his mad sister and then used by Hitler to justify his own sick philosophy. Nietszche had no time for anti-semites; he declared war on them at one point. At the time he was quite mad and thought he was Napoleon, but you get the idea anyway. His ubermenschen idea had nothing to do with racial purity; he was thinking of people like Goethe and Montaigne: great artists and thinkers. But he died at the wrong time. Syphilis has a lot to answer for and no mistake. Lalala.
Looks like those crazy yanks are thinking about attacking Iran. Things would get quite interesting if they did. Iran has a huge army, a fully functioning airforce and navy, lots of missiles. No-one knows anything about their chemical and biological programs. Also they have a mutual defense pact with Syria. Syria has the second largest military in the Middle East. And, of course, China gets a lot of its oil and gas from Iran. China has about a trillion US dollars in reserve. If it decided to dump those dollars, America's economy would collapse. Imagine what could happen in Iraq too; the new government is dominated by shia parties with close links to Iran. America could end up fighting the government it put in place. Not to mention the possibility of thousands of Iranian and Syrian tanks pouring across their respective borders. It would be chaos. Unfortunately chaos is exactly what huge defense companies thrive on, companies who are phenomenally over-represented in American politics. Hmm. Are they crazy enough to do it? Yes. That's plainly obvious. But it probably won't happen. Or will it? No. But perhaps yes. Maybe.
?
Anyway, here's a final thought from old Schopenhauer:
"We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness."
And Montaigne:
"I first of all found that radishes agreed with me; then they didn't; now they do again."
Bye!
Read a great book though; 'The Consolations of Philosophy' by Alain De Botton. Great book, he takes examples of work by Socrates, Epicurus, Seneca, Montaigne, Schopenhauer and Nietzsche giving you their thoughts on things like being unpopular, having no money, a broken heart and so-on. I think I got more from the Nietzsche chapter than I did from reading the entirety of 'Beyond Good and Evil'. All I got from that was a slight headache and an immense sense of my own intellectual inadequacy. I generally find that when I read this kind of stuff I get more interested in the philosophers themselves rather than their ideas. Nietzsche was a fascinating person, he suffered throughout his entire life with loneliness, illness, a shitty love life, but just before he went completely insane he hit on possibly the most consoling thought there's ever been; that suffering is an essential step on the road to fulfillment and achievement. Epicurus and Shopenhauer thought that the aim in life should be to avoid suffering, but Nietzsche realized that not only was that impossible but also that it would never get you anywhere. And if Nietzsche hadn't died young, the world could be quite as different place. If he'd lived its unlikely that his work would have been corrupted by his mad sister and then used by Hitler to justify his own sick philosophy. Nietszche had no time for anti-semites; he declared war on them at one point. At the time he was quite mad and thought he was Napoleon, but you get the idea anyway. His ubermenschen idea had nothing to do with racial purity; he was thinking of people like Goethe and Montaigne: great artists and thinkers. But he died at the wrong time. Syphilis has a lot to answer for and no mistake. Lalala.
Looks like those crazy yanks are thinking about attacking Iran. Things would get quite interesting if they did. Iran has a huge army, a fully functioning airforce and navy, lots of missiles. No-one knows anything about their chemical and biological programs. Also they have a mutual defense pact with Syria. Syria has the second largest military in the Middle East. And, of course, China gets a lot of its oil and gas from Iran. China has about a trillion US dollars in reserve. If it decided to dump those dollars, America's economy would collapse. Imagine what could happen in Iraq too; the new government is dominated by shia parties with close links to Iran. America could end up fighting the government it put in place. Not to mention the possibility of thousands of Iranian and Syrian tanks pouring across their respective borders. It would be chaos. Unfortunately chaos is exactly what huge defense companies thrive on, companies who are phenomenally over-represented in American politics. Hmm. Are they crazy enough to do it? Yes. That's plainly obvious. But it probably won't happen. Or will it? No. But perhaps yes. Maybe.
?
Anyway, here's a final thought from old Schopenhauer:
"We can regard our life as a uselessly disturbing episode in the blissful repose of nothingness."
And Montaigne:
"I first of all found that radishes agreed with me; then they didn't; now they do again."
Bye!
posted by Ben at 10:30 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home