Nietzsche

 

he likes the contemplation of pain,

he erects conceit into a duty,

 the men whom he most admires are conquerors, whose glory is cleverness in causing men to die

 

 

Like some dogs: kick them once and they never trust you again, no matter how nice you are to them.

Anhedonia

 

Masochism is more widespread than we realize because it takes an attenuated form. 

The basic dynamism is as follows:

 a human being sees something bad which is coming as inevitable. There is no way he can halt the process; he is helpless. This sense of helplessness generates a need to gain some control over the impending pain -- any kind of control will do. 

This makes sense; the subjective feeling of helplessness is more painful than the impending misery.

 So the person seizes control over the situation in the only way open to him: he connives to bring on the impending misery; he hastens it. 

This activity on his part promotes the false impression that he enjoys pain. Not so. It is simply that he cannot any longer endure the helplessness or the supposed helplessness. 

But in the process of gaining control over the inevitable misery he becomes, automatically, anhedonic. 

Anhedonia sets in stealthily. 

Over the years it takes control of him. For example, he learns to defer gratification; this is a step in the dismal process of anhedonia. 

In learning to defer he gratification he experiences a sense of self-mastery; he has become stoic, disciplined; he does not give way to impulse. He has "control".

 Control over himself in terms of his impulses and control over the external situation. He is a controlled and controlling person. 

Pretty soon he has branched out and is controlling other people, as part of the situation. He becomes a manipulator. 

Of course, he is not consciousily aware of this; all he intends to do is lessen his own sense of impotence.

 But in his task of lessening this sense, he insidiously overpowers the freedom of others.

 Yet, he derives no pleasure from this, no positive psychological gain; all his gains are essential negative.

 

Stick and carrot 

 

The businessman's tool is values;

 the bureaucrat's tool is fear.

 

Where would Jesus be if nobody had written the Gospels?

The Master's power

He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.

He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.

He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old.

 

I have learnt through bitter experience the one supreme lesson to conserve my anger, 

and as heat conserved is transmuted into energy, 

even so our anger controlled can be transmuted into a power which can move the world.

Eccentricity

 

In this age, the mere example of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to custom, is itself a service. 

Precisely because the tyranny of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproach, it is desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that people should be eccentric. 

Eccentricity has always abounded when and where strength of character has abounded;

 and the amount of eccentricity in a society has generally been proportional to the amount of genius, mental vigor, and moral courage which it contained. 

That so few now dare to be eccentric, marks the chief danger of the time

 

Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. 

It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed. 

Every morning in Africa a lion wakes up. 

It knows it must outrun the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death. 

It doesn’t matter whether you are a lion or a gazelle: 

when the sun comes up, 

you’d better be running.

 

Who is to decide which is the grimmer sight: 

withered hearts, 

or empty skulls?

 

We have negative mental habits that come up over and over again. 

One of the most significant negative habits we should be aware of is that of constantly allowing our mind to run off into the future. 

Perhaps we got this from our parents. 

Carried away by our worries, we're unable to live fully and happily in the present.

 Deep down, we believe we can't really be happy just yet—that we still have a few more boxes to be checked off before we can really enjoy life. 

We speculate, dream, strategize, and plan for these "conditions of happiness" we want to have in the future;

 and we continually chase after that future, even while we sleep. 

We may have fears about the future because we don't know how it's going to turn out, and these worries and anxieties keep us from enjoying being here now.

 

Many of our most serious conflicts are conflicts within ourselves. 

Those who suppose their judgements are always consistent are unreflective or dogmatic

 

Many leaves but few blossoms 

That is the work of Heaven 

Many words but few deeds 

That is the fault of Man 

 

It doesn't seem to me that this fantastically marvelous universe, this tremendous range of time and space and different kinds of animals, and all the different planets, and all these atoms with all their motions, and so on, all this complicated thing can merely be a stage so that God can watch human beings struggle for good and evil - which is the view that religion has. 

The stage is too big for the drama

 

reality is always plural and mutable

Allegory of the Cave

 

How could they see anything but the shadows if they were never allowed to move their heads?

 

But only he who, himself enlightened, is not afraid of shadows

 

as soon as we renounce fiction and illusion, we lose reality itself; 

the moment we subtract fictions from reality, reality itself loses its discursive-logical consistency

 

Things are not always what they seem; 

the first appearance deceives many;

 the intelligence of a few perceives what has been carefully hidden

 

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities,

  in the expert’s there are few

 

Things always become obvious after the fact

 

To be alone is to be different, to be different is to be alone

 

Some people insist that 'mediocre' is better than 'best.'

 They delight in clipping wings because they themselves can't fly. 

They despise brains because they have none

 

A prudent man should always follow in the path trodden by great men and imitate those who are most excellent, so that if he does not attain to their greatness, at any rate he will get some tinge of it.

 

Not how the world is, but that it is, is the mystery

 

Except our own thoughts, there is nothing absolutely in our power

 

The role played by time at the beginning of the universe is the final key to removing the need for a Grand Designer, and revealing how the universe created itself. … 

Time itself must come to a stop.

 You can’t get to a time before the big bang, because there was no time before the big bang. 

We have finally found something that does not have a cause because there was no time for a cause to exist in.

 For me this means there is no possibility of a creator because there is no time for a creator to have existed.

 Since time itself began at the moment of the Big Bang, it was an event that could not have been caused or created by anyone or anything. 

… So when people ask me if a god created the universe, I tell them the question itself makes no sense.

 Time didn’t exist before the Big Bang, so there is no time for God to make the universe in.

 It’s like asking for directions to the edge of the Earth. 

The Earth is a sphere. 

It does not have an edge, so looking for it is a futile exercise

 

Imagine if I knew then what I know now 

 

Imagine if we could begin our little life all over again.

Imagine if it was all nothing more than some Electronic game.

 

We don’t inherit the Earth from our ancestors,

We borrow it from our children.

 

I think I am, therefore, I am

... I think

 

I am, therefore I'll think

 

Philosophy is the talk on a cereal box

Religion is the smile on a dog

Philosophy is a walk on the slippery rocks

Religion is a light in the fog

 

The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend

 

Confusion is a part of life 

A rock doesn't doubt 

nor does it believe 

Doubt

 

Doubt as sin. 

— Christianity has done its utmost to close the circle and declared even doubt to be sin. 

One is supposed to be cast into belief without reason, by a miracle, and from then on to swim in it as in the brightest and least ambiguous of elements: 

even a glance towards land, even the thought that one perhaps exists for something else as well as swimming, even the slightest impulse of our amphibious nature — is sin! 

And notice that all this means that the foundation of belief and all reflection on its origin is likewise excluded as sinful. 

What is wanted are blindness and intoxication and an eternal song over the waves in which reason has drowned

 

The flame that burns Twice as bright 

burns half as long.

 

A person who has not been completely alienated, 

who has remained sensitive and able to feel, 

who has not lost the sense of dignity, 

who is not yet "for sale", 

who can still suffer over the suffering of others, 

who has not acquired fully the having mode of existence 

- briefly, a person who has remained a person and not become a thing

 - cannot help feeling lonely, powerless, isolated in present-day society. 

He cannot help doubting himself and his own convictions, if not his sanity. 

He cannot help suffering, even though he can experience moments of joy and clarity that are absent in the life of his "normal" contemporaries. 

Not rarely will he suffer from neurosis that results from the situation of a sane man living in an insane society, rather than that of the more conventional neurosis of a sick man trying to adapt himself to a sick society.

 In the process of going further in his analysis, i.e. of growing to greater independence and productivity,his neurotic symptoms will cure themselves.

 

Plato's Symposium: 

People were hermaphrodites until God split then in two, 

and now all the halves wander the world over seeking one another. 

Love is the longing for the half of ourselves we have lost

 

Expect the Unexpected 

 

Expect everything,  and the unexpected never happens.

Hitler

 

If you win, you need not have to explain...

If you lose, you should not be there to explain

 

Those who know do not speak. 

Those who speak do not know

Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs

 

If you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave

God Delusion

 

We are all atheists about most of the gods that humanity has ever believed in. 

Some of us just go one god further.

 

You do not write your life with words...You write it with actions. 

What you think is not important. 

It is only important what you do

 

A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. 

He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. 

This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. 

Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.

 

Go to heaven for the climate and hell for the company

 

Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; 

and we're not sure about the universe.

Vassago

 

Vassago  is a demon described in demonological grimoires such as the Lesser Key of Solomon and the Book of the Office of Spirits.

Vassago is the third demon in the Lesser Key 

a prince "of a good nature" and of the "same nature as Agares".

Vassago rules twenty-six legions of spirits, and is summoned to tell magicians of past and future events, and locate lost objects. 

Vassago is one of the few spirits found in the Lesser Key of Solomon but not in Johann Weyer's Pseudomonarchia Daemonum.

 Vassago is opposed by the Shemhamphorasch angel Sitael.

Vassago is mentioned in the Book of the Office of Spirits as Usagoo, appearing as an angel, "just and true in all his doings," with the powers of inciting the love of women and revealing hidden treasures, in addition to ruling twenty spirits.

 Vassago in invocations to summon spirits that guard treasure,

 the "Experiment of Vassago" and the "Experiment of Agares," both intended to capture the named spirits in crystals.

Crowley

 

, his reputation grew and grew. 

His gospel of “Do what thou wilt”—modified and transformed—appealed strongly to the socially liberated sixties generation. 

He resurfaced as a countercultural icon; his photograph appeared on the cover of the Beatles’ album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, and his ideas influenced everyone from Dr. Timothy Leary to the rock group Led Zeppelin. 

He was hailed as a prophet before his time for bringing together eastern and western esoteric traditions, and although he could never quite escape the “Satanist” tag that he had gained in the Edwardian newspapers, this ensured his present-day popularity.

 

When you do something noble and beautiful and nobody noticed, do not be sad. 

For the sun every morning is a beautiful spectacle and yet most of the audience still sleeps.

 

You can judge a man's true character by the way he treats his fellow animals.

 

Deja Vu is not what it used to be 

 

Reality leaves a lot to the imagination.

 

It's being here now that's important. 

There's no past and there's no future. 

Time is a very misleading thing. 

All there is ever, is the now. 

We can gain experience from the past, but we can't relive it; 

and we can hope for the future, but we don't know if there is one.

 

Living is Easy with Eyes Closed.

 

 

in the end
The love you take
is equal to the love you make

Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) Song by Kate Bush

 

It doesn't hurt me (yeah, yeah, yo)
Do you wanna feel how it feels? (Yeah, yeah, yo)
Do you wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me? (Yeah, yeah, yo)
Do you wanna hear about the deal that I'm making? (Yeah, yeah, yo)

You
It's you and me

And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get Him to swap our places
Be runnin' up that road
Be runnin' up that hill
Be runnin' up that building
Say, if I only could, oh

You don't wanna hurt me (yeah, yeah, yo)
But see how deep the bullet lies (yeah, yeah, yo)
Unaware I'm tearin' you asunder (yeah, yeah, yo)
Oh, there is thunder in our hearts (yeah, yeah, yo)
Is there so much hate for the ones we love? (Yeah, yeah, yo)
Oh, tell me, we both matter, don't we? (Yeah, yeah, yo)

You
It's you and me
It's you and me
Won't be unhappy

And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get Him to swap our places
Be runnin' up that road
Be runnin' up that hill
Be runnin' up that building (yo)
Say, if I only could, oh

You (yeah, yeah, yo)
It's you and me
It's you and me
Won't be unhappy (yeah, yeah, yo)

Oh, come on, baby (yeah)
Oh, come on, darlin' (yo)
Let me steal this moment from you now
Oh, come on, angel
Come on, come on, darlin'
Let's exchange the experience (yo), oh, ooh, ooh

And if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get Him to swap our places
I'd be runnin' up that road
Be runnin' up that hill
With no problems
Say, if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get Him to swap our places
I'd be runnin' up that road
Be runnin' up that hill
With no problems
Say, if I only could
I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get Him to swap our places
I'd be runnin' up that road
Be runnin' up that hill
With no problems
Say, if I only could
I'd be runnin' up that hill
With no problems

 

I believe in everything until it's disproved. 

So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. 

It all exists, even if it's in your mind. 

Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?

Beatles

Abbey Road 

Side one

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Come Together"	Lennon	4:19
2.	"Something (George Harrison)"	Harrison	3:02
3.	"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"	McCartney	3:27
4.	"Oh! Darling"	McCartney	3:27
5.	"Octopus's Garden (Richard Starkey)"	Starr	2:51
6.	"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"	Lennon	7:47
Total length:			24:53

Side two

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Here Comes the Sun (Harrison)"	Harrison	3:05
2.	"Because"	Lennon, McCartney and Harrison	2:45
3.	"You Never Give Me Your Money"	McCartney	4:03
4.	"Sun King"	Lennon, with McCartney and Harrison	2:26
5.	"Mean Mr. Mustard"	Lennon	1:06
6.	"Polythene Pam"	Lennon	1:13
7.	"She Came In Through the Bathroom Window"	McCartney	1:58
8.	"Golden Slumbers"	McCartney	1:31
9.	"Carry That Weight"	McCartney, with Lennon, Harrison and Starr	1:36
10.	"The End"	McCartney	2:05
11.	"Her Majesty" (hidden track)	McCartney	0:23
Total length:			22:10

 

White Album,  

Side one

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Back in the U.S.S.R."	McCartney	2:43
2.	"Dear Prudence"	Lennon	3:56
3.	"Glass Onion"	Lennon	2:18
4.	"Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"	McCartney	3:08
5.	"Wild Honey Pie"	McCartney	0:52
6.	"The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill"	Lennon, with Yoko Ono	3:14
7.	"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (George Harrison)	Harrison	4:45
8.	"Happiness Is a Warm Gun"	Lennon	2:47
Total length:			23:43

Side two

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Martha My Dear"	McCartney	2:28
2.	"I'm So Tired"	Lennon	2:03
3.	"Blackbird"	McCartney	2:18
4.	"Piggies" (Harrison)	Harrison	2:04
5.	"Rocky Raccoon"	McCartney	3:33
6.	"Don't Pass Me By" (Richard Starkey)	Starr	3:51
7.	"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"	McCartney	1:41
8.	"I Will"	McCartney	1:46
9.	"Julia"	Lennon	2:57
Total length:			22:41

Side three

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Birthday"	McCartney with Lennon	2:42
2.	"Yer Blues"	Lennon	4:01
3.	"Mother Nature's Son"	McCartney	2:48
4.	"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"	Lennon	2:24
5.	"Sexy Sadie"	Lennon	3:15
6.	"Helter Skelter"	McCartney	4:30
7.	"Long, Long, Long" (Harrison)	Harrison	3:08
Total length:			22:48

Side four

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Revolution 1"	Lennon	4:15
2.	"Honey Pie"	McCartney	2:41
3.	"Savoy Truffle" (Harrison)	Harrison	2:54
4.	"Cry Baby Cry"	Lennon, with McCartney	3:02
5.	"Revolution 9"	Speaking from Lennon, Harrison, Ono and George Martin	8:15
6.	"Good Night"	Starr	3:14
Total length:			24:21

Sgt. Pepper

Side one

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"	McCartney	2:00
2.	"With a Little Help from My Friends"	Starr	2:42
3.	"Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"	Lennon	3:28
4.	"Getting Better"	McCartney	2:48
5.	"Fixing a Hole"	McCartney	2:36
6.	"She's Leaving Home"	McCartney with Lennon	3:25
7.	"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"	Lennon	2:37
Total length:			19:36

Side two

No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
8.	"Within You Without You"	Harrison	5:05
9.	"When I'm Sixty-Four"	McCartney	2:37
10.	"Lovely Rita"	McCartney	2:42
11.	"Good Morning Good Morning"	Lennon	2:42
12.	"Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"	Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr	1:18
13.	"A Day in the Life"	Lennon with McCartney	5:38
Total length:			20:02

Strawberry Fields Forever and "Penny Lane

 were released as a double A-side single in February 1967 and left off the LP