I typically read your articles out loud to my husband (we read from the internet to each other every day, which is a small way to minimize the isolating effects of the medium).
If I could rate this article's worth by the number of times he was so taken with what you'd written that he was compelled to interrupt my reading, this one scored 11 out of 10!
We especially loved the picture of Bukowski on the shoe phone. A few decades back when chunky mobile phones in cars were all the rage, my husband got tired of watching all the "special people" showing off, talking on their phones while they were driving.
So he started carrying a shoe (an old sneaker) in his car, and when he would see someone on their phone he would pick up the shoe and hold it to his ear.
It's a short book. You could probably finish it in an afternoon.
A quote from it:
"For every one pupil who needs to be guarded against a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from the slumber of cold vulgarity. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defence against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes. For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head."
If everything is a test, then we always fail and nothing ever passes. Thus, the test is flawed, the tested shouldn't have ever existed and we know the Creator to be a sadistic fuck who is evil for creating us.
It could be said that the abolition of man is the inevitable outcome of Christianity the adherents of which who are by self-definition and always dramatized action completely God-less and therefore both individually and collectively working towards the abolition of man because applied Christian politics is at root about power and control over everyone and everything.
Lewis Mumford , and others too described the roots and historical development of what he called The Invisible Megamachine in his book The Pentagon of Power. He pointed out and described the Christian roots of the Megamachine. The ultimate manifestation of which is the Pentagon death machine or Eisenhower's military industrial complex
It is interesting to note that both the US and European countries are now proclaiming that the essential key to curing the seeming stagnation of and the renewal of their cultures is a wholesale embrace of an open-ended arms race. All of course claiming that God is With Us
A concise definition of sin - sin is the active denial and suppression of the Indvisible Living Spirit
You should really read the book in depth before you go half-cocked like this on nothing more than the title.
If applied Christian politics about power and control over everyone and everything, then why did slavery exist in all cultures and societies of every human long before it existed? And why were the first societies to abandon widespread slavery then Christian?
The statement "applied Christian politics is at root about power and control over everyone and everything" becomes even more laughable when one observes that the societies which violently reject Christianity to the point of repression of its practice are the most totalitarian ones like the Soviet Union, North Korea, or China. Russia you might make the argument had a strong Christian root from which to grow that tree from, but such was not true of the Orient in which Christianity was always a niche element.
As for: "All of course claiming that God is With Us" - By all means provide one example of any major political spokesperson for these societies saying anything close to this.
Your entire comment is a baseless assertion based upon no evidence or even a casual reading of history.
Yes, it is. You can deny it all you want, but it is what it is. Answer me this: If a White Polish Man and a Black African Woman get married, but both are Catholic, is it a mixed marriage? Is a mixed marriage a sin?
Love how you write, Who can warn the damned of their fate when they believe they are the fortunate?
It's a kind of hubris to think science has figured everything out and provides solutions to everything when most of the time it just creates more as yet unseen or understood problems.
Also this quote and article reminded of something I read from Neil Postman recently,
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much [information] that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”
In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.
I love Orwell, but on every account Huxley was more prescient.
Ah, Neil Postman. Amusing Ourselves To Death should be required reading. It had a profound effect on me. And he was right, as was Huxley. Look at all the lost souls on buses and trains and cafes, entranced by their glowing rectangle. A nuclear bomb could explode outside and you wonder if they would notice.
Bukowski saw his version and captured it well. I am sure none of today would surprise him.
And thank you for your kind words. I am glad you liked it.
The thing I "waste" the most time on is reading essays like this one. It is my greatest digital addiction. I do not use social media (other than Substack/Notes) or watch stupid videos. But I compulsively read and comment on mostly New Right/Dissident Left type Substack essays, which necessarily takes time away from other obligations and endeavors.
I do feel like I learn a lot about the world and myself from these essays. But is the time I spend around these parts of Substack nonetheless just as much of a digital suicide as anything else? Genuine question.
No, I believe that would not be in the same category.
First, there is the time spent on one activity versus another. You have to decide if time spent reading here is more of a priority than another activity. This is basic prioritization, and most of us could improve in this area. If you have better things to do then you should do them.
The second factor is consumption versus production. Production is generally best. Produce anything; dig the garden, make a meal, have kids lol. But not all consumption is equal. I would say PASSIVE consumption is the killer. Mindless scrolling to distract, binge-watching Netflix, Tik Tok expeditions with no purpose. Killing time, basically.
ACTIVE consumption is not the same thing. The most famous example is reading, especially nonfiction, although fiction is very good too. The act of reading is challenging; it engages us. This is especially true for material that makes you think or provokes ideas to consider. Obviously this is dramatically different to vegging out on the couch watching TV.
Finally, man cannot live on bread alone. We must feed our spirit. Once again, some active thing seems best here. Exercise, conversation, visiting an art gallery, taking the time to listen to music you like, reading a book. I would also include watching movies and even some television here. Embracing culture in some way.
I think we can all make some judgment as to the wisdom of the things we indulge in. We know when we are just killing time versus feeding our soul.
There's a Black Mirror episode, Fifteen Million Merits, where everyone lives in this building and pedals stationary bicycles and watches advertisements for credits they can use to purchase various mostly digital goods. Obviously a comment on the rat race-like reality of modern life. The content on their screens - video games, mindless videos, stupid reality shows - is over-the-top slop. I remember thinking: What if the content was high quality? Would it still be dystopian?
Would that episode still land if they spent their time watching thought-provoking lectures from great thinkers, reading and discussing great literature, learning history through documentaries and ebooks? And then they were in turn discussing with their fellow inmates and producing their own video lectures and essays?
So, yes, the quality of the content, and whether consumption is active versus passive, makes a big difference.
Also, the point about producing is well-taken. And I think there's a nuance to be added there as well. There's the sort of producing that is fulfilling duties - family and career. That's obviously necessary. And then there's producing that pursues genuine interests and provides an outlet for creative expression. That's where I'm falling short. I have several essays in the hopper for Substack publication, but I can never bring myself to finish one and hit "publish." One of these days...
As to finishing, the best way is to finish. That sounds unhelpful but find a way to make it unavoidable. Commit to publishing one week from now etc.
One of the reasons I started this substack was to improve my finishing. I too had lots of unfinished work. But learning to ship is a skill. Much of it is sticking to a schedule, gritting your teeth, and using the inevitable discomfort to do better next time.
This was article number 72, a number I never thought I would reach. But once you start you quickly recognize most of what you thought would be a problem is false.
I do hope you get the pieces done soon. There is nothing quite like producing work.
Similar to you, I spend my version of "quality time" in front of my screen - mostly computer screen or iPad. Hours a day exploring and reading my curated cast of essayists on Substack, watching curated to my interests podcasts on YouTube or Rumble, the occasional movie on one of the streaming services. Lately, I've found a plethora of old movies on YouTube, free though graffity-ied with commercials I can skip almost immediately, to continue watching the movie.
I prefer long-form videos with some mind nutrition to them, but I use 15 to 20 minute videos periodically throughout the day to time my walks on my walking pad, so I'm not seated for hours at a time. Occasionally, I get caught in a "Shorts Loop" but I guard against that by just not clicking on one, a little like not eating that one chip out of the bag.
I sometimes feel a little guilty about the time I devote to screens, but I'm retired, a whole-hearted introvert who loves silence and voices that provide edification not distraction.
I don't think screens are bad as such. I use a laptop to write these articles, for example.
I think passive consumption, perhaps mindless consumption, is the real horror show. It used to be television, which was at least stuck in your house. Now TV and its effects can be consumed anywhere.
Plus the apps and phones are designed to trap people if they are not careful. So I feel sorry for those who are having their brains rewired like this.
I hope so. Bukowski's quote got me thinking about the world around us and how lost people now seem. I am not that critical of them. These apps and phones are designed to be addictive.
But they are throwing their lives away in distraction.
Looking back at what Shat Show the Plandemic was. My tiny village on a lake in SC didn't really change anything. Our only store stayed open, our 2 bars/diners, 1 church stayed open. It was like we lived in a "mystery" time.
It was a bizarre spectacle. Those of us that retained this normal view of life were aghast at how quickly people succumbed. But I think it is more shocking how people now wish to ignore it all. The things they accepted and believed, the things they did. Let's forget all that. It just makes the next one more likely.
Our attention is so highly valued by others - everyone is always trying to capture it. As for the powers that be, they are constantly looking for new ways to control our minds.
And yet we value our own minds so little, and pay almost no attention to cleaning them up and keeping them firing on all cylinders.
Thank you for another really great piece of writing.
Except there is no escape. Nothing Works. Even if you die, you just get spat back out again 49 days later in a worse life than ever before. I can't get behind Monotheism, because it's Jewish Poison that was only introduced to Europe to push Race-Mixing.
Correct. Nothing that has ever happened has actually been good because too many Negative Things have been produced. There's no way any event can ever fix the problem unless it made all of reality vanish into nothingness.
I don't think you're ever going to be able to Cross This Gulf, Spiff. So long as my soul exists and I continue to experience, I'm going to scream my Misery into the world until something finally helps me destroy my soul entirely so that I never reincarnate and thus never experience again. However, that's Too Good To Be Allowed To Happen, thus things only get worse and I continue to scream.
Ashes and Echoes, Brezhnen! What the fuck else is there?
Will (and several other examples) really enforce my belief every day that Hell is real - and it is almost entirely self inflicted. They could be on the doorstep of Heaven Itself, and would lament their suffering.
“They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.” -CS Lewis, 'The Last Battle'
Yeah, none of those things really exist, Brezhnen. I can't hold out hope for things that are always out of reach for me.
Women only care about 11/10 Super-Chads, the rest of us get despised and used because Women Hate All Non-Chads. Ice Cream isn't good enough. Sunshine only leads to sunburns. Children only become molestation victims of the society we're trapped in. There is no happiness, there is no joy, there is no contentment.
You must live in an Isekai Protagonist Parallel Universe that I couldn't even get to if I killed myself on livestream, Brezhnen.
Nah, if we cancelled each other out, I'd suddenly get the courage to kill myself and the knowledge I'd need to perform the Ritual to destroy my soul. That hasn't happened, so there's no cancelling out going on. You're just an Isekai Protagonist.
Just here to share my appreciation like others, Spiff.
Brilliant writing, with a great lift of inspiration from a uniquely American writer and voice.
The real problem is how easily attention is stolen - it's worse than the Income Tax. Every second stolen, like pennies from every dollar in a paycheck, almost imperceptibly if you're not inclined to grumble too much.
I agree, and if we are not careful we could lose a whole life to it.
But I do see signs many are waking up to the threat, even if not quite able to escape. I am considering a companion piece along those lines. Bukowski himself was not a cynic, just a decent observer.
And thank you for the kind words. I enjoyed writing this one. It flowed almost from the start, so I knew I was on to something.
Perhaps. Bukowski's own take on that, specifically with regards to alcohol, was drinking prevented him committing suicide. It dulled the pain enough he could continue. If he hadn't done that, he said, he would have killed himself as a young man.
According to his widow he toned it all down towards the end. He continued to drink but lost the crazy daily ritual of getting up at midday then drinking until 10pm and writing until 5am.
That said, he published over 60 books in his lifetime. Not bad for a guy killing himself.
Brilliant.
I typically read your articles out loud to my husband (we read from the internet to each other every day, which is a small way to minimize the isolating effects of the medium).
If I could rate this article's worth by the number of times he was so taken with what you'd written that he was compelled to interrupt my reading, this one scored 11 out of 10!
We especially loved the picture of Bukowski on the shoe phone. A few decades back when chunky mobile phones in cars were all the rage, my husband got tired of watching all the "special people" showing off, talking on their phones while they were driving.
So he started carrying a shoe (an old sneaker) in his car, and when he would see someone on their phone he would pick up the shoe and hold it to his ear.
We had no idea what was coming down the pike.
I am pleased you like it. Thank you for the kind words. I was inspired by Bukowski, so I just shot from the hip with this one.
And I like the phone/shoe photo too, plus the quote along with it.
You're a literal gunslinger!
I literary gunslinger perhaps 🤓
Digital spiritual suicide.
Accurately put though sad.
Have you read Lewis' The Abolition of Man? It feels more prophetic every day.
No I haven't read it. I will check it out.
As for the digital suicides? Everything is a test. Some do not succumb, others escape.
It's a short book. You could probably finish it in an afternoon.
A quote from it:
"For every one pupil who needs to be guarded against a weak excess of sensibility there are three who need to be awakened from the slumber of cold vulgarity. The task of the modern educator is not to cut down jungles but to irrigate deserts. The right defence against false sentiments is to inculcate just sentiments. By starving the sensibility of our pupils we only make them easier prey to the propagandist when he comes. For famished nature will be avenged and a hard heart is no infallible protection against a soft head."
Brilliant stuff. I must check it out.
If everything is a test, then we always fail and nothing ever passes. Thus, the test is flawed, the tested shouldn't have ever existed and we know the Creator to be a sadistic fuck who is evil for creating us.
It could be said that the abolition of man is the inevitable outcome of Christianity the adherents of which who are by self-definition and always dramatized action completely God-less and therefore both individually and collectively working towards the abolition of man because applied Christian politics is at root about power and control over everyone and everything.
Lewis Mumford , and others too described the roots and historical development of what he called The Invisible Megamachine in his book The Pentagon of Power. He pointed out and described the Christian roots of the Megamachine. The ultimate manifestation of which is the Pentagon death machine or Eisenhower's military industrial complex
It is interesting to note that both the US and European countries are now proclaiming that the essential key to curing the seeming stagnation of and the renewal of their cultures is a wholesale embrace of an open-ended arms race. All of course claiming that God is With Us
A concise definition of sin - sin is the active denial and suppression of the Indvisible Living Spirit
Could be. There are many who view Western Liberalism as an attempt to continue Christianity without Christ. The underlying drives are there for sure.
You should really read the book in depth before you go half-cocked like this on nothing more than the title.
If applied Christian politics about power and control over everyone and everything, then why did slavery exist in all cultures and societies of every human long before it existed? And why were the first societies to abandon widespread slavery then Christian?
The statement "applied Christian politics is at root about power and control over everyone and everything" becomes even more laughable when one observes that the societies which violently reject Christianity to the point of repression of its practice are the most totalitarian ones like the Soviet Union, North Korea, or China. Russia you might make the argument had a strong Christian root from which to grow that tree from, but such was not true of the Orient in which Christianity was always a niche element.
As for: "All of course claiming that God is With Us" - By all means provide one example of any major political spokesperson for these societies saying anything close to this.
Your entire comment is a baseless assertion based upon no evidence or even a casual reading of history.
Monotheism is Jewish Poison that pushes Race-mixing.
No it's not.
Yes, it is. You can deny it all you want, but it is what it is. Answer me this: If a White Polish Man and a Black African Woman get married, but both are Catholic, is it a mixed marriage? Is a mixed marriage a sin?
Well, it is a mixed marriage if your focus is ethnicity; not if it is faith or belief.
If the Bible is a lie and all that stuff isn’t real, then Jews didn’t invent monotheism, Akhenaten - an Egyptian - did.
Great points presented through Bukowski's quote,
Love how you write, Who can warn the damned of their fate when they believe they are the fortunate?
It's a kind of hubris to think science has figured everything out and provides solutions to everything when most of the time it just creates more as yet unseen or understood problems.
https://steve-patterson.com/our-present-dark-age-part-1/
Also this quote and article reminded of something I read from Neil Postman recently,
What Orwell feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
Orwell feared those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give us so much [information] that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.
Orwell feared that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
Orwell feared we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and the centrifugal bumblepuppy. As Huxley remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny “failed to take into account man’s almost infinite appetite for distractions.”
In 1984, Orwell added, people are controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by inflicting pleasure. In short, Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire will ruin us.
I love Orwell, but on every account Huxley was more prescient.
Ah, Neil Postman. Amusing Ourselves To Death should be required reading. It had a profound effect on me. And he was right, as was Huxley. Look at all the lost souls on buses and trains and cafes, entranced by their glowing rectangle. A nuclear bomb could explode outside and you wonder if they would notice.
Bukowski saw his version and captured it well. I am sure none of today would surprise him.
And thank you for your kind words. I am glad you liked it.
The thing I "waste" the most time on is reading essays like this one. It is my greatest digital addiction. I do not use social media (other than Substack/Notes) or watch stupid videos. But I compulsively read and comment on mostly New Right/Dissident Left type Substack essays, which necessarily takes time away from other obligations and endeavors.
I do feel like I learn a lot about the world and myself from these essays. But is the time I spend around these parts of Substack nonetheless just as much of a digital suicide as anything else? Genuine question.
No, I believe that would not be in the same category.
First, there is the time spent on one activity versus another. You have to decide if time spent reading here is more of a priority than another activity. This is basic prioritization, and most of us could improve in this area. If you have better things to do then you should do them.
The second factor is consumption versus production. Production is generally best. Produce anything; dig the garden, make a meal, have kids lol. But not all consumption is equal. I would say PASSIVE consumption is the killer. Mindless scrolling to distract, binge-watching Netflix, Tik Tok expeditions with no purpose. Killing time, basically.
ACTIVE consumption is not the same thing. The most famous example is reading, especially nonfiction, although fiction is very good too. The act of reading is challenging; it engages us. This is especially true for material that makes you think or provokes ideas to consider. Obviously this is dramatically different to vegging out on the couch watching TV.
Finally, man cannot live on bread alone. We must feed our spirit. Once again, some active thing seems best here. Exercise, conversation, visiting an art gallery, taking the time to listen to music you like, reading a book. I would also include watching movies and even some television here. Embracing culture in some way.
I think we can all make some judgment as to the wisdom of the things we indulge in. We know when we are just killing time versus feeding our soul.
Well stated.
There's a Black Mirror episode, Fifteen Million Merits, where everyone lives in this building and pedals stationary bicycles and watches advertisements for credits they can use to purchase various mostly digital goods. Obviously a comment on the rat race-like reality of modern life. The content on their screens - video games, mindless videos, stupid reality shows - is over-the-top slop. I remember thinking: What if the content was high quality? Would it still be dystopian?
Would that episode still land if they spent their time watching thought-provoking lectures from great thinkers, reading and discussing great literature, learning history through documentaries and ebooks? And then they were in turn discussing with their fellow inmates and producing their own video lectures and essays?
So, yes, the quality of the content, and whether consumption is active versus passive, makes a big difference.
Also, the point about producing is well-taken. And I think there's a nuance to be added there as well. There's the sort of producing that is fulfilling duties - family and career. That's obviously necessary. And then there's producing that pursues genuine interests and provides an outlet for creative expression. That's where I'm falling short. I have several essays in the hopper for Substack publication, but I can never bring myself to finish one and hit "publish." One of these days...
All good points.
As to finishing, the best way is to finish. That sounds unhelpful but find a way to make it unavoidable. Commit to publishing one week from now etc.
One of the reasons I started this substack was to improve my finishing. I too had lots of unfinished work. But learning to ship is a skill. Much of it is sticking to a schedule, gritting your teeth, and using the inevitable discomfort to do better next time.
This was article number 72, a number I never thought I would reach. But once you start you quickly recognize most of what you thought would be a problem is false.
I do hope you get the pieces done soon. There is nothing quite like producing work.
This is what my reply to Dave was meant to say, but you said it so much better.
Similar to you, I spend my version of "quality time" in front of my screen - mostly computer screen or iPad. Hours a day exploring and reading my curated cast of essayists on Substack, watching curated to my interests podcasts on YouTube or Rumble, the occasional movie on one of the streaming services. Lately, I've found a plethora of old movies on YouTube, free though graffity-ied with commercials I can skip almost immediately, to continue watching the movie.
I prefer long-form videos with some mind nutrition to them, but I use 15 to 20 minute videos periodically throughout the day to time my walks on my walking pad, so I'm not seated for hours at a time. Occasionally, I get caught in a "Shorts Loop" but I guard against that by just not clicking on one, a little like not eating that one chip out of the bag.
I sometimes feel a little guilty about the time I devote to screens, but I'm retired, a whole-hearted introvert who loves silence and voices that provide edification not distraction.
There's rarely a dull moment in my day to day.
I don't think screens are bad as such. I use a laptop to write these articles, for example.
I think passive consumption, perhaps mindless consumption, is the real horror show. It used to be television, which was at least stuck in your house. Now TV and its effects can be consumed anywhere.
Plus the apps and phones are designed to trap people if they are not careful. So I feel sorry for those who are having their brains rewired like this.
Such a powerful piece. Some brilliant turns of phrase, my favourite being "an informational Somme ". Wow.
Thank you, Douglas. I appreciate that. For this one I tried to channel my inner Bukowski and shot from the hip.
I am glad you liked it.
You hit the target. Over and over.
I hope so. Bukowski's quote got me thinking about the world around us and how lost people now seem. I am not that critical of them. These apps and phones are designed to be addictive.
But they are throwing their lives away in distraction.
Fabulous article, captured all my brain.
Looking back at what Shat Show the Plandemic was. My tiny village on a lake in SC didn't really change anything. Our only store stayed open, our 2 bars/diners, 1 church stayed open. It was like we lived in a "mystery" time.
We stayed the same-everybody else changed.
It was a bizarre spectacle. Those of us that retained this normal view of life were aghast at how quickly people succumbed. But I think it is more shocking how people now wish to ignore it all. The things they accepted and believed, the things they did. Let's forget all that. It just makes the next one more likely.
Thank you for reading.
“…an informational Somme…”
God damn, there it is!
I am glad you liked it.
There's an oxymoron in all of this.
Our attention is so highly valued by others - everyone is always trying to capture it. As for the powers that be, they are constantly looking for new ways to control our minds.
And yet we value our own minds so little, and pay almost no attention to cleaning them up and keeping them firing on all cylinders.
Thank you for another really great piece of writing.
Thank you. Bukowski had something to say about this too:
People are strange: They are constantly angered by trivial things, but on a major matter like totally wasting their lives, they hardly seem to notice.
Great piece. and great set of Bukowski quotes. A saint in his own way.
Yes, an American hero. Not as appreciated as some though. But he had some good observations.
Thanks for reading.
Except there is no escape. Nothing Works. Even if you die, you just get spat back out again 49 days later in a worse life than ever before. I can't get behind Monotheism, because it's Jewish Poison that was only introduced to Europe to push Race-Mixing.
Nothing Good Has Ever Happened.
Well hello, Will. NOTHING good has ever happened?
Correct. Nothing that has ever happened has actually been good because too many Negative Things have been produced. There's no way any event can ever fix the problem unless it made all of reality vanish into nothingness.
I don't think you're ever going to be able to Cross This Gulf, Spiff. So long as my soul exists and I continue to experience, I'm going to scream my Misery into the world until something finally helps me destroy my soul entirely so that I never reincarnate and thus never experience again. However, that's Too Good To Be Allowed To Happen, thus things only get worse and I continue to scream.
Ashes and Echoes, Brezhnen! What the fuck else is there?
There is sunshine. Ice cream. Beautiful, caring women. Children. Happiness, joy and contentment. Life packs quite a punch.
Will (and several other examples) really enforce my belief every day that Hell is real - and it is almost entirely self inflicted. They could be on the doorstep of Heaven Itself, and would lament their suffering.
“They have chosen cunning instead of belief. Their prison is only in their minds, yet they are in that prison; and so afraid of being taken in that they cannot be taken out.” -CS Lewis, 'The Last Battle'
Or as a simple webcomic recently put it...
https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1319.html
"That's the Throne of Jealousy. It's been under construction since Hell was founded."
"We just tell souls that suffer the sin of Envy that it's for whomever they resent the most."
Sartre summed it up; hell is other people.
lol had that quote in mind, but I disagree with him.
I think hell is ourselves.
Yeah, none of those things really exist, Brezhnen. I can't hold out hope for things that are always out of reach for me.
Women only care about 11/10 Super-Chads, the rest of us get despised and used because Women Hate All Non-Chads. Ice Cream isn't good enough. Sunshine only leads to sunburns. Children only become molestation victims of the society we're trapped in. There is no happiness, there is no joy, there is no contentment.
You must live in an Isekai Protagonist Parallel Universe that I couldn't even get to if I killed myself on livestream, Brezhnen.
Perhaps I do. I love life. I think we kind of cancel each other out 😎
Nah, if we cancelled each other out, I'd suddenly get the courage to kill myself and the knowledge I'd need to perform the Ritual to destroy my soul. That hasn't happened, so there's no cancelling out going on. You're just an Isekai Protagonist.
That quote underneath the shoe-phone picture is extraordinary. "You are Here". Another great piece to savour. The digital Somme indeed.
It is a great quote. He saw it coming.
Thanks for reading.
Just here to share my appreciation like others, Spiff.
Brilliant writing, with a great lift of inspiration from a uniquely American writer and voice.
The real problem is how easily attention is stolen - it's worse than the Income Tax. Every second stolen, like pennies from every dollar in a paycheck, almost imperceptibly if you're not inclined to grumble too much.
I agree, and if we are not careful we could lose a whole life to it.
But I do see signs many are waking up to the threat, even if not quite able to escape. I am considering a companion piece along those lines. Bukowski himself was not a cynic, just a decent observer.
And thank you for the kind words. I enjoyed writing this one. It flowed almost from the start, so I knew I was on to something.
The Great Writers speak of the Muse, and we all laugh politely, but how glorious when She deigns to show us favor. ;-)
Indeed. A rare occurrence for me anyway.
Never mind that as portrayed on the images that you featured Bukowski slowly but surely committed suicide.
Perhaps. Bukowski's own take on that, specifically with regards to alcohol, was drinking prevented him committing suicide. It dulled the pain enough he could continue. If he hadn't done that, he said, he would have killed himself as a young man.
According to his widow he toned it all down towards the end. He continued to drink but lost the crazy daily ritual of getting up at midday then drinking until 10pm and writing until 5am.
That said, he published over 60 books in his lifetime. Not bad for a guy killing himself.
Sadly, suicide is only temporary. Misery is Eternal; you get shat back out into the Black Iron Soul Prison 49 days after you die.
Source? Lol...
Tibet, lol. It also came to me in a dream and I refuse to consider anything written by Jews.