(no subject)
Nowadays the recent past 'the sixties' the seventies' now 'the eighties'- becomes history as soon as it has been lived. History meaning a series of events recognized as events by large numbers of people. The problem is the overabundance of events, not the horrors of the twentieth century.
What is new is not that the world lacks meaning, or has little meaning, or less than it used to have; it is that we seem to feel an explicit and intense daily need to give it meaning; to give meaning to the world, not just some village or lineage. This need to give meaning to the present, if not the past, is the price we pay for the overabundance of events corresponding to a situation we would call 'supermodern' to express it's essential quality: excess.
Social expectations, laws and rules, etc, have their place… externally. But internally only your own rules can apply. It might be a good idea to behave like a “responsible citizen” (at least when people are watching), but it’s not a good idea to think or emote like one. Take licence to use your ingenuity to convert your brain into a pleasure generator, without any social guilt.
What is new is not that the world lacks meaning, or has little meaning, or less than it used to have; it is that we seem to feel an explicit and intense daily need to give it meaning; to give meaning to the world, not just some village or lineage. This need to give meaning to the present, if not the past, is the price we pay for the overabundance of events corresponding to a situation we would call 'supermodern' to express it's essential quality: excess.
Social expectations, laws and rules, etc, have their place… externally. But internally only your own rules can apply. It might be a good idea to behave like a “responsible citizen” (at least when people are watching), but it’s not a good idea to think or emote like one. Take licence to use your ingenuity to convert your brain into a pleasure generator, without any social guilt.