This is from Friedrich Nietzsche
You know, of course you probably know that he was the philosopher who announced the death of God
What he meant by that was that the fundamental metaphysics that underly Western culture had lost their foundation
And that the consequence of that would be the disintegration of the idea of value itself, especially of value hierarchies
He thought of the inevitable consequence of that
Or one of the consequences of that
A dramatic move towards a doctrine of radical equality
See because if value itself is destroyed
The value distinction between things so that one thing is not any better than another
You know, of course you probably know that he was the philosopher who announced the death of God
What he meant by that was that the fundamental metaphysics that underly Western culture had lost their foundation
And that the consequence of that would be the disintegration of the idea of value itself, especially of value hierarchies
He thought of the inevitable consequence of that
Or one of the consequences of that
A dramatic move towards a doctrine of radical equality
See because if value itself is destroyed
The value distinction between things so that one thing is not any better than another
If you’re feeling heroic and you want to do something for the world
And you want to expand what you understand
You poke your head through what you know and you take a look at the, at whatever structure is out there
And to me this is a re-creation of the Daoist Yin-Yang symbol
You know, with the white paisley here and that’s what you know the dark paisley serpent’s there and the right place to be is right on the line between them
Put one foot where you understand, that gives you security, but it’s kinda dull because hey you know everything that’s going on there and that isn’t what people are like, they don’t want just security
And you want to expand what you understand
You poke your head through what you know and you take a look at the, at whatever structure is out there
And to me this is a re-creation of the Daoist Yin-Yang symbol
You know, with the white paisley here and that’s what you know the dark paisley serpent’s there and the right place to be is right on the line between them
Put one foot where you understand, that gives you security, but it’s kinda dull because hey you know everything that’s going on there and that isn’t what people are like, they don’t want just security
What would be the forms of culture that we would say to be necessary or most inclined to foster in the individual that blowing of the flame?
I think the most accessible form for most people is music
And music to me is the most representational form of art because I think that the world is made out of patterns
And we perceive some patterns as objects but fundamentally it’s patterns and what you want is all the patterns of the world to interact harmoniously in something where every element is related intelligibly to every other element
And I think that when your life is in harmony that you can feel that
When you’re dancing to beautiful music you’re acting that out
The music is the music of the spheres and you’re participating in the patterning of your being in accordance with that structure and that gives you an intimation of transcendence
I think the most accessible form for most people is music
And music to me is the most representational form of art because I think that the world is made out of patterns
And we perceive some patterns as objects but fundamentally it’s patterns and what you want is all the patterns of the world to interact harmoniously in something where every element is related intelligibly to every other element
And I think that when your life is in harmony that you can feel that
When you’re dancing to beautiful music you’re acting that out
The music is the music of the spheres and you’re participating in the patterning of your being in accordance with that structure and that gives you an intimation of transcendence
I’ve had situations in my lab where I had underperforming graduate students
And one of the things that was really awful about that was that it was really hard on the high performing graduate students
You know, because they felt that even being in the same category as the people who weren’t working hard and pulling their weight devalued what they were doing
You know, and that’s exactly right
And so this is also why there’s a conscientiousness trait and an agreeableness trait
Cos conscientious people judge you on your accomplishments, right
And one of the things that was really awful about that was that it was really hard on the high performing graduate students
You know, because they felt that even being in the same category as the people who weren’t working hard and pulling their weight devalued what they were doing
You know, and that’s exactly right
And so this is also why there’s a conscientiousness trait and an agreeableness trait
Cos conscientious people judge you on your accomplishments, right
Finding out what you’re doing wrong is not a pleasant experience
And it means that you have to sacrifice part of yourself
Usually a burned out, stupid, bitter, corrupt
Arrogant, nasty, vengeful part of yourself
But nonetheless part that you like
I think that room for those incremental improvements
Exists within everyone’s grasp
And I think that it’s a humble thing to do to ask how you could improve incrementally
Without interfering with anyone else
Like it’s your problem not their’s
But I think that the consequences of maintained incremental improvement are anything but incremental
You get compound interest on incremental improvement
You know, there’s another rule in the New Testament called the Matthew Principle, economists use it
And it means that you have to sacrifice part of yourself
Usually a burned out, stupid, bitter, corrupt
Arrogant, nasty, vengeful part of yourself
But nonetheless part that you like
I think that room for those incremental improvements
Exists within everyone’s grasp
And I think that it’s a humble thing to do to ask how you could improve incrementally
Without interfering with anyone else
Like it’s your problem not their’s
But I think that the consequences of maintained incremental improvement are anything but incremental
You get compound interest on incremental improvement
You know, there’s another rule in the New Testament called the Matthew Principle, economists use it