User Profile

This is my external memory device. For a complex human entity, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of reasons to project memory onto an external drive source- not only for the purpose of saving data but also to share that data, when relevant, with others.

There are always two 'people' in each person- whichever way you wish to classify this dichotomy (Apollonian vs. Dionysian, Shadow vs. Psyche, Anima/Animus, etc.) there is a constant struggle between these two sides of Man until the reconciling third takes shape. This device assists with that personal dichotomy in myself. There is the 'me' I understand and can rationalize, and there is the 'me' that appears in my subconscious as a winged black silhouette. This 'ghost' or 'shadow' occasionally speaks to me- it is my inherent genius, my daimon as the Greeks referred to it. I use this memory device to explore my relationship between these two conflicting sides of my own personality. "Struggle is the perpetual food of the soul, and it knows well enough how to extract the sweetness from it." --F. Nietzsche.

I simply do not believe in theism, or in man-made religion. It greatly annoys me when theologians state that ethics contradict, and are incompatible with non-theism. The claim that disbelief in the doctrines of instituted religions in some way condones rape, genocide, etc. is naive. I believe that inherent in man is some kind of basic respect and empathy for life, when life is worthy of that respect- an admittedly subjective point of view (this inherent nature can be explained biologically and therefore does not rely on theism). There is no way of getting around the fact that if bible is inspired by god, and the bible condones crimes against humanity, installing hierarchies of gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation, 'god' is surely not the loving kind of god which theists claim he is, nor is he the kind of creator one would wish to spend eternity with.

I am exalted and free, without any gods or monsters to fear. The main tenet of my life is to strive for a non-moraline virtue. To quote Nietzsche, the greatest of teachers: "I teach you the Overman. Man is something that must be overcome. What have you done to overcome him? All beings thus far have created something beyong themselves; and do you want to be the ebb of this great tide and even go back to the beasts rather than overcome man? What is the ape to man? A laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. And man shall be just that for the Overman: a laughingstock or a painful embarrassment. You have made your way from worm to man, and much in you is still worm. Once you were apes, and even now too, man is more ape than any ape. ... The Overman is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the Overman shall be the meaning of the earth. I beseech you, my brothers, remain faithful to the earth, and do not believe those who speak to you of otherworldly hopes. Poison-mixers are they, whether they know it or not. Despisers of life are they, decaying and poisoned themselves, of whom the earth is weary: so let them go."

"The time has come for man to set himself a goal. The time has come for man to plant the seed of his highest hope. His soil is still rich enough. But one day it will be poor and domesticated, and no great tree will be able to grow in it. Alas, the time is coming when man will no longer shoot the arrow of his longing beyond man, and the string of his bow will have forgotten how to snap. I say unto you: one must still have strife in oneself to be able to give birth to a dancing star. I say unto you: you still have strife within yourselves."

Other Quotes:
"We can accept god becoming man to save man, but not man becoming god to save himself." -V.L. Howard (1918-1992)
"That which will kindle lightning must for a long time be a cloud." -F. Nietzsche
"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will often be lonely, and sometimes frightened. But no price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself." -F. Nietzsche
"Brave is he who knows fear but conquers fear, who sees the abyss, but with pride. Who sees the abyss but with the eyes of an eagle; who grasps the abyss with the talons of an eagle- that man has courage." -F. Nietzsche
"The surest way to corrupt a youth is to instruct him to hold in higher esteem those who think alike than those who think differently." -F. Nietzsche
"What do I care about the purring of one who cannot love, like the cat?" -F. Nietzsche
"You say it is the good cause that hallows even war? I say unto you: it is the good war that hallows any cause." -F.Nietzsche

"I have examined all the known superstitions of the world, and I do not find in our particular superstition of Christianity one redeeming feature. They are all alike founded on fables and mythology. Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined and imprisoned. What has been the effect of this coercion? To make one half the world fools and the other half hypocrites; to support roguery and error all over the earth. The clergy converted the simple teachings of Jesus into an engine for enslaving the world and adulterated by artificial constructions into a contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves... these clergy, in fact, constitute the real Anti-Christ." -Thomas Jefferson
"I really look with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief that they have known something of what has been passing in their times." -Thomas Jefferson

"There is a time when the operation of the machine becomes so odious, makes you so sick at heart, that you can't take part; you can't even passively take part, and you've got to put your bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all the apparatus, and you've got to make it stop. And you've got to indicate to the people who run it, to the people who own it, that unless you're free, the machine will be prevented from working at all!" -Mario Savio

"As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live." -Goethe
"None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free." -Goethe

"Liberty means responsibility, which is why most men dread it." George Bernard Shaw

"A warrior knows to go for the heart. The weapon does not matter. An archer is measured by his aim, not his arrow." -Michael Tsarion

"The graveyards are full of people who rushed in bravely.
"Yes, but sooner or later, the graveyards are full of everybody." - Terry Pratchet

"Human beings, who are unique in their ability to learn from the experience of others, are also remarkable for their apparent disinclination to do so." -Douglas Adams

"It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority." -Benjamin Franklin

"The status of American children and families is as desperate as ever... We are depriving millions of children of their competence and moral character." -Urie Bronfenbrenner (Cornell Univ. Psychologist)

"The self-esteem of girls plummets as they reach adolescence partly because they cannot escape the message that their bodies are objects, and imperfect objects at that. Boys learn that masculinity requires a kind of ruthlessness, even brutality. Violence becomes inevitable." -Jean Kilbourne

"The wise learn many things from their enemies." -Aristophanes

"To be controlled in our economic pursuits is to be controlled in everything." -Frederich von Hayek

"The future is the only kind of property that masters willingly concede to slaves." -Albert Camus

"Those who cry "Appease, Appease!" are often hanged by those they tried to please." -Unknown

"That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest." -H.D. Thoreau
"How does it become a man to behave toward this American government today? I answer: that he cannot, without disgrace, be associated with it." -H.D. Thoreau

"I've always felt that a person's intelligence can be directly measured by the number of conflicting points of view he can entertain simultaneously on the same topic." -Lisa Alther

"These days many politicians are demanding change. Just like homeless people." -George Carlin
"The next time someone gives you that 'civic duty' bullshit about voting, remind them that Adolf Hitler was elected in a free, democratic election." -George Carlin
"Reception lines would be a lot more interesting if, instead of shaking hands, people greeted each other with a kick in the groin." -George Carlin
"The IQ and life expectancy of the average American just passed each other going in opposite directions." -George Carlin

"If you're flammable and have legs, you're never blocking a fire exit." -Mitch Hedberg

"It's not a war on drugs (terror, crime, etc.), its a war on personal freedom. Keep that in mind at all times. Thank you." -Bill Hicks
"Watching television is like taking black spray paint to your third eye." -Bill Hicks
"I'll show you politics in America. Here it is, right here. 'I think the puppet on the right shares my beliefs.' 'I think the puppet on the left is more to my liking.' 'Hey, wait a minute, there's one guy holding out both puppets!'" -Bill Hicks

"The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." -John Stuart Mill

"Music is the shorthand of emotion." -Leo Tolstoy
"We must not only cease our present desire for the growth of the state, but we must desire its decrease, its weakening." -Leo Tolstoy
"It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness." -Leo Tolstoy

"The ancient Romans built their greatest masterpieces of architecture- for wild beasts to fight in." -Voltaire

"Human sickness is so severe that few can bare to look at it... but those who do will become well." -Vernon Howard

"A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them." -C.G. Jung
"A particularly beautiful woman is a source of terror. As a rule, a beautiful woman is a terrible disappointment." -C.G. Jung

"If I take death into my life, acknowledge it, and face it squarely, I will free myself from the anxiety of death and the pettiness of life - and only then will I be free to become myself." -Martin Heidegger

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