The origin of depression

“The troubled person is led to believe that he can't help himself and must seek out a professional healer when confronted with distress related to everyday problems of living. His confidence in using the 'obvious' techniques he has customarily used in solving his problems is eroded because he accepts the view that emotional disturbances arise from forces beyond his grasp. He can't hope to understand himself through his own efforts, because his own notions are dismissed as shallow and insubstantial. By debasing the value of common sense, this subtle indoctrination inhibits him from using his own judgment in analyzing and solving his problems.”

- Aaron Temkin Beck

Wisdom yeah.

“You've got to get up every morning with determination if you're going to go to bed with satisfaction.”

- George Lorimer

Sexus

“What we all hope in reaching for a book, is to meet a man of our own heart, to experience tragedies and delights which we ourselves lack the courage to invite, to dream dreams which will render life more hallucinating, perhaps also to discover a philosophy of life which will make us more adequate in meeting the trials and ordeals which beset us. To merely add to our store of knowledge or improve our culture, whatever that may mean, seems worthless to me.”

“Why then do we not give ourselves -- recklessly, abundantly, completely?”

“If we realized we were part of an endless process, that we had neither to lose or to gain, but only to live it out, would we behave as we do?”

- Henry Miller

YOU are right.

“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men -- that is genius.”

“What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what is your duty better than you know it. It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude. ”

“We pass for what we are. Character teaches above our wills. Men imagine that they communicate their virtue or vice only by overt actions, and do not see that virtue or vice emit a breath every moment. ”

“Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being.”

“A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages.”

“In every work of genius we recognize our own thoughts; they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty.”

“Great works of art have no more affecting lesson than this; they teach us to abide by our spontaneous impression with good-humored inflexibility.”

“There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction [...] that he must take himself for better or worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.”

“A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace. It is a deliverance which does not deliver. In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope. ”

“Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession. That which each can do best, none but his Maker can teach him. No man yet knows what it is, nor can, till that person has exhibited it. Where is the master who could have taught Shakspeare? Where is the master who could have instructed Franklin, or Washington, or Bacon, or Newton? Every great man is a unique. The Scipionism of Scipio is precisely that part he could not borrow. Shakspeare will never be made by the study of Shakspeare. Do that which is assigned you, and you cannot hope too much or dare too much. There is at this moment for you an utterance brave and grand as that of the colossal chisel of Phidias, or trowel of the Egyptians, or the pen of Moses, or Dante, but different from all these. Not possibly will the soul all rich, all eloquent, with thousand-cloven tongue, deign to repeat itself; but if you can hear what these patriarchs say, surely you can reply to them in the same pitch of voice; for the ear and the tongue are two organs of one nature. Abide in the simple and noble regions of thy life, obey thy heart, and thou shalt reproduce the Foreword again. ”

“The terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall. Speak what you think now in hard words, and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict every thing you said to-day. — 'Ah, so you shall be sure to be misunderstood.' — Is it so bad, then, to be misunderstood? Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”

I realize #19

Excuses are acceptable, but ultimately superfluous.
In the end, it is always a black and white issue.
There is no gray area:
You either are, or are not.
You either do, or do not.
You either follow your truth or somebody else's!
You either create your own reality or obey somebody else's rules.
Don't waste your time being on the fence about this.
Choose a side, and stick with it.

Psychology notes #1

“Finding permanent and universal causes for misfortune is the practice of despair.”

-Martin Seligman

Words of wisdom -if read correctly

“Start playing loud when you're young, and you'll be one step ahead of the game. If you start off playing soft, it will get you into a lot of bad habits. Terrible, terrible, habits. Look at these jazz people. Of course they play soft. It's a trick so you can't hear them.”

- Nigel Tufnel

Rilke's words of wisdom

“It is not inertia alone that is responsible for human relationships repeating themselves from case to case, indescribably monotonous and unrenewed. It is shyness before any sort of new and unforeseeable experience with which one does not think oneself able to cope. But only someone who is ready for everything, who excludes nothing, not even the most enigmatical, will live the relation to another as something alive.”

- Rainer Maria Rilke

The Futile Pursuit of Happiness

''We don't realize how quickly we will adapt to a pleasurable event and make it the backdrop of our lives. When any event occurs to us, we make it ordinary. And through becoming ordinary, we lose our pleasure.''

It is easy to overlook something new and crucial in what Wilson is saying. Not that we invariably lose interest in bright and shiny things over time -- this is a long-known trait -- but that we're generally unable to recognize that we adapt to new circumstances and therefore fail to incorporate this fact into our decisions. So, yes, we will adapt to the BMW and the plasma TV, since we adapt to virtually everything. But Wilson and Gilbert and others have shown that we seem unable to predict that we will adapt. Thus, when we find the pleasure derived from a thing diminishing, we move on to the next thing or event and almost certainly make another error of prediction, and then another, ad infinitum.

NY Times Article

I realize #eh

You have to believe in something. It can be life, luck, love, destiny, yourself, your purpose, or even God. If you believe in nothing, there is no effort, no desire and no hope for anything better.

INTEGRITY.

in⋅teg⋅ri⋅ty
[in-teg-ri-tee]

1. adherence to moral and ethical principles; soundness of moral character; honesty.
2. the state of being whole, entire, or undiminished: to preserve the integrity of the empire.
3. a sound, unimpaired, or perfect condition: the integrity of a ship's hull.

Outliers

"The striking thing about Ericsson's study is that he
and his colleagues couldn't find any "naturals," musicians
who floated effortlessly to the top while practicing a fraction
of the time their peers did. Nor could they find any
"grinds," people who worked harder than everyone else, yet
just didn't have what it takes to break the top ranks. Their
research suggests that once a musician has enough ability
to get into a top music school, the thing that distinguishes
one performer from another is how hard he or she works.
That's it. And what's more, the people at the very top don't
work just harder or even much harder than everyone else.
They work much, much harder."

"The emerging picture from such studies is that ten
thousand hours of practice is required to achieve the level
of mastery associated with being a world-class expert—in
anything," writes the neurologist Daniel Levitin. "In
study after study, of composers, basketball players, fiction
writers, ice skaters, concert pianists, chess players, master
criminals, and what have you, this number comes up
again and again. Of course, this doesn't address why some
people get more out of their practice sessions than others
do. But no one has yet found a case in which true worldclass
expertise was accomplished in less time. It seems that
it takes the brain this long to assimilate all that it needs to
know to achieve true mastery."

"[...]achievement is less about talent than it is about opportunity."

From Malcolm Gladwell's book, Outliers.

Don't expect too much of yourself.

The main thing is not to set out with grand projects. Everything starts at your doorstep. Just get deeply involved in something...You throw a stone in one place and ripples spread.
-- Robert Moses

I have nothing to say and I am saying it.

In the realm of art, just as in life, you are either a leader or a follower. Leaders make new paths and point toward new ways for artistic expression. They are the minority and the followers the majority. What is new and original and controversial today becomes the standard by which all subsequent art is perceived and created, and if not the standard, then at least a factor. Leaders create art that demands a new perception, a new understanding, new values and a new language to be assimilated. Originality has no known reference point and as such is inaccessible to the majority who do not wish to reconsider their views and expand their perception, who prefer to remain safe in the rehashed predictability of today's art and not be open to art that makes way for the tomorrow. Such is the nature of man. Whatever is not understood must be rationalized, and rationalized in the most convenient way for oneself. All art that looks to the unknown and the untraveled is dismissed in the beginning, until it is (usually reluctantly) accepted, because times change and nothing stays still no matter how much man wishes for things to remain the same. Today's artistic pariah may very well be tomorrow's genius.

yup.

Concepts are not things that can be changed just by someone telling us a fact.

It’s very difficult to inspire a belief in others that you don’t believe yourself.

[...] taking pills reminds you that you have a chronic illness, a deadly disease, and you don’t want to be reminded.

Henry Miller's words of wisdom

“Man has demonstrated that he is master of everything except his own nature.”

“An artist is always alone - if he is an artist. No, what the artist needs is loneliness.”

“I have no money, no resources, no hopes. I am the happiest man alive.”

“The man who looks for security, even in the mind, is like a man who would chop off his limbs in order to have artificial ones which will give him no pain or trouble.”

“Life is constantly providing us with new funds, new resources, even when we are reduced to immobility. In life's ledger there is no such thing as frozen assets.”

“In this age, which believes that there is a short cut to everything, the greatest lesson to be learned is that the most difficult way is, in the long run, the easiest.”

“If there is to be any peace it will come through being, not having.”

“If we are always arriving and departing, it is also true that we are eternally anchored. One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things.”

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.”

“In expanding the field of knowledge we but increase the horizon of ignorance.”

“If men cease to believe that they will one day become gods then they will surely become worms.”

“Life, as it is called, is for most of us one long postponement.”

“Instead of asking 'How much damage will the work in question bring about?' why not ask 'How much good? How much joy?'”

“Music is a beautiful opiate, if you don't take it too seriously.”

“Analysis brings no curative powers in its train; it merely makes us conscious of the existence of an evil, which, oddly enough, is consciousness.”

“We live in the mind, in ideas, in fragments. We no longer drink in the wild outer music of the streets - we remember only.”

“The tragedy of it is that nobody sees the look of desperation on my face. Thousands and thousands of us, and we're passing one another without a look of recognition.”

“There is nothing strange about fear: no matter in what guise it presents itself it is something with which we are all so familiar that when a man appears who is without it we are at once enslaved by him.”

“Why are we so full of restraint? Why do we not give in all directions? Is it fear of losing ourselves? Until we do lose ourselves there is no hope of finding ourselves.”

“True strength lies in submission which permits one to dedicate his life, through devotion, to something beyond himself.”

“We do not talk - we bludgeon one another with facts and theories gleaned from cursory readings of newspapers, magazines and digests.”

“What distinguishes the majority of men from the few is their ability to act according to their beliefs.”

“Every man with a bellyful of the classics is an enemy to the human race.”

“Back of every creation, supporting it like an arch, is faith. Enthusiasm is nothing: it comes and goes. But if one believes, then miracles occur.”

“Art is only a means to life, to the life more abundant. It is not in itself the life more abundant. It merely points the way, something which is overlooked not only by the public, but very often by the artist himself. In becoming an end it defeats itself.”

I realize #idontevenknow

Conventions are for people without imagination.

Selby's words of wisdom

“Being an artist doesn't take much, just everything you got. Which means, of course, that as the process is life, it is also bringing you closer to death. But it's no big deal. They are one and the same and cannot be avoided or denied. So when I totally embrace this process, this life/death, and abandon myself to it, I transcend all this meaningless gibberish and hang out with the gods. It seems to me that that is worth the price of admission.”

-Hubert Selby Jr.

How to be a writer.

In a New Yorker (January 28, 2002) article titled “The Learning Curve — How Do You Become a Good Surgeon? Practice,” Atul Gawande related the importance of practice. In writing about elite performers, he said, “[T]he most important talent may be the talent for practice itself.” He referred to K. Anders Ericsson, a psychologist, who noted that “the most important role that innate factors play may be in a person’s willingness to engage in sustained training.”

More here .

John Kenneth Galbraith on writing.

“All writers know that on some golden mornings they are touched by the wand—are on intimate terms with poetry and cosmic truth. I have experienced those moments myself. Their lesson is simple: It's a total illusion. And the danger in the illusion is that you will wait for those moments. Such is the horror of having to face the typewriter that you will spend all your time waiting. I am persuaded that most writers, like most shoemakers, are about as good one day as the next (a point which Trollope made), hangovers apart. The difference is the result of euphoria, alcohol, or imagination. The meaning is that one had better go to his or her typewriter every morning and stay there regardless of the seeming result. It will be much the same.”

Hank's words of wisdom

"My contribution was to loosen and simplify poetry, to make it more human... I taught them that you can write a poem the same way you can write a letter, that a poem can even be entertaining, and that there need not be anything necessarily holy about it."

-Charles Bukowski

Geek news

80 words

Typingtest

Henry Rollins on pumping Iron

I believe that the definition of definition is reinvention. To not be
like you parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself.
Completely.

When I was young I had no sense of myself. All I was, was a product of
all the fear and humiliation I suffered. Fear of my parents. The
humiliation of teachers calling me "garbage can" and telling me I'd be
mowing lawns for a living. And the very real terror of my fellow
students. I was threatened and beaten up for the color of my skin and
my size. I was skinny and clumsy, and when others would tease me I
didn't run home crying, wondering why. I knew all too well. I was
there to be antagonized. In sports I was laughed at. A spaz. I was
pretty good at boxing but only because the rage that filled my every
waking moment made me wild and unpredictable. I fought with some
strange fury. The other boys thought I was crazy.

I hated myself all the time. As stupid at it seems now, I wanted to
talk like them, dress like them, carry myself with the ease of knowing
that I wasn't going to get pounded in the hallway between classes.

Years passed and I learned to keep it all inside. I only talked to a
few boys in my grade. Other losers. Some of them are to this day the
greatest people I have ever known. Hang out with a guy who has had his
head flushed down a toilet a few times, treat him with respect, and
you'll find a faithful friend forever. But even with friends, school
sucked. Teachers gave me hard time. I didn't think much of them
either.

Then came Mr. Pepperman, my adviser. He was a powerfully built Vietnam
veteran, and he was scary. No one ever talked out of turn in his class.
Once one kid did and Mr. P. lifted him off the ground and pinned him to
the blackboard.

Mr. P. could see that I was in bad shape, and one Friday in October he
asked me if I had ever worked out with weights. I told him no. He told
me that I was going to take some of the money that I had saved and buy a
hundred-pound set of weights at Sears. As I left his office, I started
to think of things I would say to him on Monday when he asked about the
weights that I was not going to buy. Still, it made me feel special.
My father never really got that close to caring. On Saturday I bought
the weights, but I couldn't even drag them to my mom's car. An
attendant laughed at me as he put them on a dolly.

Monday came and I was called into Mr. P.'s office after school. He said
that he was going to show me how to work out. He was going to put me on
a program and start hitting me in the solar plexus in the hallway when I
wasn't looking. When I could take the punch we would know that we were
getting somewhere. At no time was I to look at myself in the mirror or
tell anyone at school what I was doing.

In the gym he showed me ten basic exercises. I paid more attention than
I ever did in any of my classes. I didn't want to blow it. I went home
that night and started right in. Weeks passed, and every once in a
while Mr. P. would give me a shot and drop me in the hallway, sending my
books flying. The other students didn't know what to think. More weeks
passed, and I was steadily adding new weights to the bar. I could sense
the power inside my body growing. I could feel it.

Right before Christmas break I was walking to class, and from out of
nowhere Mr. Pepperman appeared and gave me a shot in the chest. I
laughed and kept going. He said I could look at myself now. I got home
and ran to the bathroom and pulled off my shirt. I saw a body, not just
the shell that housed my stomach and my heart. My biceps bulged. My
chest had definition. I felt strong. It was the first time I can
remember having a sense of myself. I had done something and no one
could ever take it away. You couldn't say shit to me.

It took me years to fully appreciate the value of the lessons I have
learned from the Iron. I used to think that it was my adversary, that I
was trying to lift that which does not want to be lifted. I was wrong.
When the Iron doesn't want to come off the mat, it's the kindest thing
it can do for you. If it flew up and went through the ceiling, it
wouldn't teach you anything. That's the way the Iron talks to you. It
tells you that the material you work with is that which you will come to
resemble. That which you work against will always work against you.

It wasn't until my late twenties that I learned that by working out I
had given myself a great gift. I learned that nothing good comes
without work and a ceratin amount of pain. When I finish a set that
leaves me shaking, I know more about myself. When something gets bad, I
know it can't be as bad as that workout.

I used to fight the pain, but recently this became clear to me: pain is
not my enemy; it is my call to greatness. But when dealing with the
Iron, one must be careful to interpret the pain correctly. Most
injuries involving the Iron come from ego. I once spent a few weeks
lifting weight that my body wasn't ready for and spent a few months not
picking up anything heavier than a fork. Try to lift what you're not
prepared to and the Iron will teach you a little lesson in restraint and
self-control.

I have never met a truly strong person who didn't have self-respect. I
think a lot of inwardly and outwardly directed contempt passes itself
off as self-respect: the idea of raising yourself by stepping on
someone's shoulders instead of doing it yourself. When I see guys
working out for cosmetic reasons, I see vanity exposing them in the
worst way, as cartoon characters, billboards for imbalance and
insecurity. Strength reveals itself through character. It is the
difference between bouncers who get off strong-arming people and Mr.
Pepperman.

Muscle mass does not always equal strength. Strength is kindness and
sensitivity. Strength is understanding that your power is both physical
and emotional. That it comes from the body and the mind. And the
heart.

Yukio Mishima said that he could not entertain the idea of romance if he
was not strong. Romance is such a strong and overwhelming passion, a
weakened body cannot sustain it for long. I have some of my most
romantic thoughts when I am with the Iron. Once I was in love with a
woman. I thought about her the most when the pain from a workout was
racing through my body. Everything in me wanted her. So much so that
sex was only a fraction of my total desire. It was the single most
intense love I have ever felt, but she lived far away and I didn't see
her very often. Working out was a healthy way of dealing with the
loneliness. To this day, when I work out I usually listen to ballads.

I prefer to work out alone. It enables me to concentrate on the lessons
that the Iron has for me. Learning about what you're made of is always
time well spent, and I have found no better teacher. The Iron had
taught me how to live.

Life is capable of driving you out of your mind. The way it all comes
down these days, it's some kind of miracle if you're not insane. People
have become separated from their bodies. They are no longer whole. I
see them move from their offices to their cars and on to their suburban
homes. They stress out constantly, they lose sleep, they eat badly.
And they behave badly. Their egos run wild; they become motivated by
that which will eventually give them a massive stroke. They need the
Iron mind.

Through the years, I have combined meditation, action, and the Iron into
a single strength. I believe that when the body is strong, the mind
thinks strong thoughts. Time spent away from the Iron makes my mind
degenerate. I wallow in a thick depression. My body shuts down my
mind. The Iron is the best antidepressant I have ever found. There is
no better way to fight weakness than with strength. Once the mind and
body have been awakened to their true potential, it's impossible to turn
back.

The Iron never lies to you. You can walk outside and listen to all
kinds of talk, get told that you're a god or a total bastard. The Iron
will always kick you the real deal. The Iron is the great reference
point, the all-knowing perspective giver. Always there like a beacon in
the pitch black. I have found the Iron to be my greatest friend. It
never freaks out on me, never runs. Friends may come and go. But two
hundred pounds is always two hundred pounds.

Quote of the Day 5/10/09

Sanity calms, but madness is more interesting.

- John Russell

Jim Jarmusch's words of wisdom

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery — celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from — it’s where you take them to.”

- Jim Jarmusch
source

Samuel Johnson's words of wisdom

“All the performances of human art, at which we look with praise or wonder, are instances of the resistless force of perseverance: it is by this that the quarry becomes a pyramid, and that distant countries are united with canals.

It is therefore of the utmost importance that those, who have any intention of deviating from the beaten roads of life, and acquiring a reputation superior to names hourly swept away by time among the refuse of fame, should add to their reason, and their spirit, the power of persisting in their purposes; acquire the art of sapping what they cannot batter, and the habit of vanquishing obstinate resistance by obstinate attack.”

-Samuel Johnson

I realize #18

We presume that people like (or dislike) us for the same reasons we like (or dislike) ourselves, and often we cannot accept that in most cases it is not so.

I realize #17

Life is a process, not a series of moments or events.

Bonus wisdom.

I have always believed that understanding is the greatest motivator. Once you understand why you should practice this or do that, you become deeply motivated to follow through.

-Ken Foster

I realize #16

The secret is to focus on making whatever it is you’re trying to improve and make better today than it was yesterday. That’s it. It’s easy. [...] it’s possible to be enthusiastic about taking real, tangible steps toward a distant goal.

- a wise man

Within You, Without You

We were talking
About the space between us all
And the people
Who hide themselves behind a wall
Of illusion
Never glimpse the truth
Then it's far too late
When they pass away

We were talking
About the love we all could share
When we find it
To try our best to hold it there
With our love, with our love
We could save the world, if they only knew

Try to realize it's all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you

We were talking
About the love that's gone so cold
And the people
Who gain the world and lose their soul
They don't know
They can't see
Are you one of them ?

When you've seen beyond yourself
Then you may find, peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we're all one
And life flows on within you and without you

I realize #15

Much better to try out five crazy things out of which only one works, than not try them out at all.

Feynman's words of wisdom

‘‘So I got this new attitude. Now that I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything, I've got this nice position at the university teaching classes which I rather enjoy, and just like I read the Arabian Nights for pleasure, I'm going to play with physics, whenever I want to, without worrying about any importance whatsoever.’’

-Richard Feynman

I realize #14

After you figure out what you want to do and most importantly, why you want to do it, the only way to measure your success and really get on with it is to be specific about it, and set a date to achieve it:

"I want to do this, like that, by then"

Extra helping of sweet wisdom.

Pain, suffering, stress, and other difficulties are the admission tickets to the game of life.

-a wise man

I realize #13

Expanding your mind is the foundation of freedom.

I realize #12

There is no excuse to stop myself from succeeding.

Psychobabble

There is nothing to fear.. Situations mean nothing of themselves, we only fear our reaction to them, being weakened, being defeated, being rejected, being afraid.. Living in fear of experience is more dark, horrible and destructive than any of these.. All experience has value, no experience is of no use.. Experience adds, it never subtracts.. Mistakes.. They are your best friend, they show you what you still lack, what you can do better.. Defeat.. Heartbreak.. Frustration.. Disappointment.. They are like a wave, they peak, and then they pass, replaced by a new perspective, a new feeling, a new state of mind.. Ride that wave, the wave of emotion, wherever it takes you, and whatever it may be, comfortable or uncomfortable.. Any emotion is better than no emotion, don't forget..

I realize #11

Allow yourself to change, always and forever, change, grow develop.. and see your life reflect all that.

The Last Days of Leonard Bernstein

[Leonard Bernstein's] emphysema had been a longstanding condition, and for years he had also suffered from asthma attacks and bouts of bronchitis. At a memorial service in 1986 for Alan Jay Lerner, Bernstein's admirers held up a sign saying, ''We love you - stop smoking.'' But despite all the illnesses and the urgings, he couldn't stop, right up to his death.

''The great thing about conducting,'' he said at the time, ''is you don't smoke and you breathe in great gobs of oxygen.''

NY Times Article

More wisdom

Sometimes we're sad or angry or depressed. But if rather than fighting against it, like it's wrong and some kind of disorder, you just relax into the emotion and ride it through until it's over, it doesn't have to be a gut-wrenching experience. It's good to experience these extreme emotions: it let's you know you're alive and feeling.

- words from a wise man

I realize #10

The messiah complex, the need to help people is just that, a need. It comes not from a place of strength and confidence, but from a place of weakness and insecurity. By spending your time and energy on somebody else's problems it is easy to deceive yourself and avoid dealing with your own. "Save" yourself first -only then will you truly be able to naturally and effortlessly become a positive influence in someone's life. Always question your true motives for doing something -never be afraid to be radically honest with yourself. If your motive for helping others realize themselves is to validate yourself and feel better about yourself then your motive is purely selfish. You don't need a reason to help people -but if you go out of your way to accomplish that and you are obviously not self-realized yourself, then there's something else going on.

The messianic wish is not merely a general wish for improved conditions and for changes for the better, but the wish of that private person to become personally the redeemer of the world.

I realize #9

The ratio of birthdays past/future birthdays is slowly but surely leaning towards the first.

Free improvisation

Free improvisation is playing without memory. One must disregard what one has played or how he has done it a second ago, three minutes ago, 10 hours ago and 5 years ago. Thank you Derek Bailey.

I realize #8

If an attribute of another is annoying you, it is because you still have not overcome it yourself.
When people get asked "Why are you ..." they reply "Because everyone else is!". We project ourselves onto others.

I realize #7

You have to be willing to fight, be committed and give all you've got for every step of the way.

I realize #6

The worst that can happen is nothing.

I realize #5

Stay in the game. If you lose contact with it, you get rusty, you lose "it" just like any athlete, any chef, anyone really. Create the circumstances that allow you to do this.

I realize #4

You can accurately measure a guy's manhood, values, personality and maturity by looking at the woman he's got on his side.

I realize #3

Talent and creativity can outdo experience.

I realize #2

Quitting smoking is the only way to take control of the addiction.

I realize #1

Everyone has great ambitions. Few become worthy of them.

You're as good as the chances you take.

Amen.

Earl Nightingale shares some wisdom

"A great attitude does much more than turn on the lights in our world, it connects us to all sorts of serendipitous opportunities that were somehow absent before the change."

"All you have to do is know where you're going. The answers will come to you of their own accord."

"Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of you doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use."

"Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us."

"The key that unlocks energy is Desire. It's also the key to a long and interesting life. If we expect to create any drive, any real force within ourselves, we have to get excited."

Allen Carr shares some wisdom.

I know it's a cliché to say, 'If you haven't got your health, you've got nothing,' but it's absolutely true. I used to think that physical- fitness fanatics like Gary Player were a pain. I used to claim there's more to life than feeling fit; there's booze and tobacco. That's nonsense. When you feel physically and mentally strong you can enjoy the highs and handle the lows. We confuse responsibility with stress. Responsibility becomes stressful only when you don't feel strong enough to handle it. The Richard Burtons of this world are physically and mentally strong. What destroys them is not the stresses of life, or their jobs, or old age but the so-called crutches they turn to, which are just illusions. Sadly, in his case and for millions like him, the crutches kill.

It took me a long time to work out why it had been so easy and why this time I hadn't suffered those terrifying withdrawal pangs. The reason is that they do not exist. It is the doubt and uncertainty that causes the pangs. The beautiful truth is: IT IS EASY TO STOP SMOKING. It is only the indecision and moping about it that makes it difficult. Even while they are addicted to nicotine, smokers can go for relatively long periods at certain times in their lives without bothering about it. It is only when you want a cigarette but can't have one that you suffer. Therefore the key to making it easy is to make stopping certain and final. Not to hope but to know you have kicked it, having made the decision. Never to doubt or question it. In fact, just the reverse - always to rejoice about it.

- Allen Carr

Random Shaw Wisdom.

Life is not meant to be easy, my child but take courage: it can be delightful.

“Ο έρωτας είναι ελευθερία”

Ο έρωτας και η επιβίωση είναι συστατικά στοιχεία της ανθρώπινης φύσης. Και είναι πολύ δυνατά ώστε να εκφυλιστούν. Ακόμα και αν η κοινωνία τα διώκει ή τα υποτάσσει, αυτά θα βρουν τρόπο να εκδηλωθούν. Πιστεύω ακράδαντα πως ο άνθρωπος που είναι ερωτικά ελεύθερος είναι επίσης πολιτικά, κοινωνικά αλλά και στη δημιουργία του ελεύθερος. Γι’ αυτό βλέπουμε συχνά καλλιτέχνες να έχουν μια μποέμικη, μια ιδιαίτερη ερωτική ζωή, διαφορετική από εκείνη του φαντάρου, του εργάτη ή του εισπράκτορα. Η δύναμη λοιπόν του έρωτα σκιρτά μέσα μας και εκδηλώνεται με την πρώτη ευκαιρία. Η γυναίκα π.χ. που χαρακτηρίζουμε άπιστη, ουσιαστικά επαναστατεί ενάντια στη μιζέρια που πιθανόν βιώνει.

Περικλής Κοροβέσης

Bill Frisell's words of wisdom

Q: Do you have a philosophy that you try to impart among students or young musicians?

A: You have to really love what you're doing and just keep trying, staying persistent and keeping at it. Every time I have done something with any kind of ulterior motive other than just for the music, I've always gotten into trouble. I have always tried not to sacrifice any part of the music and kept my focus on what I'm getting out of it musically and I think that's where people get into trouble. They start looking for something other than the music, whether it's for money, girls, or trying to get famous. You start running after something you'll never figure out because you can never figure out what people want you to do. You have to do what you want to do and believe in that and that's all you can do really. I know there are pressures and it's not easy, but it's just a disaster if you start running around trying to figure out what somebody else thinks is right.

Q: This is a quote from Miles Davis: "You have to pick out the most important note that fertilizes the sound. It makes the sound grow. It's like putting lemon on fish or vegetables. It brings out the flavor. Your sound is like your sweat." Are you getting closer to the sound that you hear or does it keep changing?

A: Every time I try to play a note, I just can't quite seem to get it. I move closer but can never really get it and it's a constant struggle all of the time. But music has always felt like that. I used to think that there would be a time when it would just become good or that everything would feel wonderful all the time. But that's not in the nature and there's always this infinite way to go. But if there weren't, there wouldn't be any reason to play anymore. It would be boring. But it can also be frustrating, and it took me awhile to learn what that feeling was. It would seem that it could kind of flip people out to where they would quit playing and never really get there.


Bill Frisell interview (June 24, 2009)

Weed according to Carl Sagan

“I can remember the night that I suddenly realized what it was like to be crazy, or nights when my feelings and perceptions were of a religious nature. I had a very accurate sense that these feelings and perceptions, written down casually, would not stand the usual critical scrutiny that is my stock in trade as a scientist. If I find in the morning a message from myself the night before informing me that there is a world around us which we barely sense, or that we can become one with the universe, or even that certain politicians are desperately frightened men, I may tend to disbelieve; but when I’m high I know about this disbelief. And so I have a tape in which I exhort myself to take such remarks seriously. I say ‘Listen closely, you son of a bitch of the morning! This stuff is real!’ I try to show that my mind is working clearly; I recall the name of a high school acquaintance I have not thought of in thirty years; I describe the color, typography, and format of a book in another room and these memories do pass critical scrutiny in the morning. I am convinced that there are genuine and valid levels of perception available with cannabis (and probably with other drugs) which are, through the defects of our society and our educational system, unavailable to us without such drugs.”

And how right he was, as usual. Whole essay here.

Deliberate Practice does it.

Why Talent is Overrated by Geoff Colvin
The Role of Deliberate Practice in the acquisition of Expert Performance

"People believe that because expert performance is qualita-
tively different from normal performancethe expert performer
must be endowed with characteristics qualitatively different from
those of normal adults. This view has discouraged scien-
tists from systematically examiningexpert performers and ac-
counting for their performance in terms of the laws and princi-
ples of general psychology. Weagree that expert performanceis
qualitatively different from normal performance and even that
expert performers have characteristics and abilities that are
qualitatively different from or at least outside the range of those
of normal adults. However, we deny that these differences are
immutable, that is, due to innate talent. Only a fewexceptions,
most notably height, are genetically prescribed. Instead, we
argue that the differences between expert performers and nor-
mal adults reflect a life-long period of deliberate effort to im-
prove performance in a specific domain.
Most of our scientific knowledge about improvement and
change comes from laboratory studies of training and practice
that lasted hours, days, and occasionally weeks and months. In
addition, there is a growing body of data on the heritabilities of
various abilities and characteristics estimated for twins and
parents and their offspring sampled from the general popula-
tion (Plomin et al., 1990). Although behavioral geneticists care-
fully point out that their heritability estimates are valid onlyfor
the limited range of practice and skill in the normal environ-
ment of the adults studied, it isoften incorrectlyassumed bylay
people that these estimates can be directly extended to extreme
manipulations of environmental conditions, such as extended
deliberate practice. Most important, the effects of short-term
training cannot be readily extended to the effects of orders of
magnitude more practice.
A promising direction for research on the effects of extended
activities is to identify activities relevant to some goal and to
assess the amount of time individualsallocate to these activi-
ties. Recent research hasshown that the amount oftimeindivid-
uals spend reading as assessed by diaries is related to memory
for prose even when education and vocabulary are partialed out
(Rice, Meyer, & Miller, 1988). The estimated amount of read-
ing is also related to reading ability and, most interestingly,
increases in reading ability (R. C. Anderson, Wilson, & Field-
ing, 1988). Research on physical fitness has a long tradition of
measuring daily physical activity and exercise, and we have
cited the study in which Fagard et al. (1991) assessed the influ-
ence of both genetic factors and regular activity on aerobic and
anaerobic abilities. It would be ideal to plot the interaction of
genetic and environmental factors in longitudinal studies
across the entire life span (Rutter, 1989). Within this context,
we view the study of elite performers as particularly interesting
because from early ages their lives appear to maximize the
influence of environmental activities (deliberate practice) im-
proving a specific type of performance. In a rare study
Schneider, Bos, and Rieder (1993) included environmental fac-
tors along with physical characteristics and motivational char-
acteristics of individuals in a longitudinal study of elite tennis
players. Consistent with our framework they found that tennis
performance at ages 11 and 17 was primarily determined by
parental support and in particular motivation and tennis-speci-
fic skills, wherethe level of these skills in turnare mainlyattrib-
utable to assessed levelsof motivation and concentration.
We view elite performance as the product of a decade or more
of maximal efforts to improve performance in a domain
through an optimal distribution of deliberate practice. This
view provides us with uniqueinsights into the potential for and
limits to modifying the human body and mind. Manyanatomi-
cal characteristics, traditionally believed to be fixed, can adapt
and change in response to intense practice sustained for years.
Substantial change and learning can occur even during child-
hood, whensomechanges, such as in certain perceptual-motor
abilities, might be even easier to attain than duringadulthood.
Untrained adults can overcome limitson speed and processing
capacity byacquiring newcognitive skills that circumvent these
limits by qualitatively different processes. Further research on
the capacities and characteristics of expert performance will
give us a much deeper understanding of the full rangeof possi-
ble adaptations and methods forcircumventing limits (Ericsson
& Smith, 199la).
It does not follow from the rejection of innate limits on ac-
quired performance that everyone can easily attain high levels
of skill. Contemporary elite performers have overcome a num-
ber of constraints. They have obtained early access to instruc-
tors, maintained high levels of deliberate practice throughout
development, received continued parental and environmental
support, and avoided disease and injury. When one considers in
addition the prerequisite motivation necessary to engage in de-
liberate practice every day for years and decades, when most
children and adolescents of similar ages engage in play and
leisure, the real constraints on the acquisition of expert perfor-
mance become apparent. The commitment to deliberate prac-
tice distinguishesthe expert performer from the vast majority
of children and adults who seem to have remarkable difficulty
meeting the much lower demands on practice in schools, adult
education, and in physicalexercise programs.
We believe that a more careful analysis of the lives of future
elite performers will tell us how motivation is promoted and
sustained. It is also entirely plausible that such a detailed analy-
sis will reveal environmental conditions as well as heritable
individual differences that predispose individuals to engage in
deliberate practice during extended periods and facilitate moti-
vating them. Our empirical studies have already shown that
experts carefully scheduledeliberate practice and limit itsdura-
tion to avoid exhaustionand burnout. By viewing expert per-
formers not simply as domain-specific experts but as experts in
maintaining high levels of practice and improving perfor-
mance, we are likely to uncovervaluableinformation about the
optimal conditions for learning and education."

The Paradox of Choice

There is no default anymore - is that good or bad? Professor Barry Schwartz elaborates :

James Nachtwey is a hero

[...]Now, in case you're wondering why I have a certain interest, or fascination lets call it, with torture and beheadings and all of those things I have mentioned, is because each of these items reminds me in life over and over again what beasts we human beings really are. When you get right down to it human beings are nothing more than ordinary jungle beasts. Savages. No different from the Cro Magnon people who lived twenty five thousand years ago. No different. Our DNA hasn't changed substantially in a hundred thousand years. We're still operating out of the lower brain. The reptilian brain.Fight of flight. Kill or be killed. We like to think we've evolved and advanced because we can build a computer, fly an airplane, travel underwater, we can write a sonnet, paint a painting, compose an opera. But you know something? We're barely out of the jungle on this planet. Barely out of the fucking jungle. What we are, is semi-civilized beasts, with baseball caps and automatic weapons.

- George Carlin

James Nachtwey has given his life to serve truth and justice by capturing the pain, horror and devastation caused by the madness of war, through his photographic lens while at the same time using his artistic skill and vision to make the images he produces striking and immediate.

The worst thing is to feel that as a photographer I am benefiting from someone else's tragedy. This idea haunts me. It's something I have to reckon with every day because I know that if I ever allowed genuine compassion to be overtaken by personal ambition, I will have sold my soul. The only way I can justify my role is to have respect for the other person's predicament. The extent to which I do that is the extent to which I become accepted by the other; and to that extent, I can accept myself. - James Nachtwey

The legacy of chemical warfare in the Vietnam war, photos by James Nachtwey
The Vietnam syndrome, essay by Christopher Hitchens

Perception is everything.

To claim the title 'individual' one must consistently and tirelessly aim to expand his perception of the world that surrounds him. Everything that one thinks and does is directly connected to one's perception. Of course perception can be occasionally affected by other factors, such as one's emotions at a given moment. But generally speaking, if one wishes to enjoy the fullest possible gamut of life's experiences one must seek to escape the mass perception that is, without our own will, instilled in our consciousness by the external sources that surround us; the schools, the media, the people. One must make a conscious effort and direct his will to acquire the knowledge and the experiences that will expand his perception and make him a richer and more individual human being as a result. One must not content himself to simply reject what is generally rejected, or to embrace what is generally embraced. One must question, and seek to develop and refine one's perception to enrich oneself, and be ever truer to one's individual needs and desires. A limited perception will express itself in a limited existence and one should only wish to widen his perception to include as much of life as one can. More so if one is of a creative nature, for creation is only perception expressed through an artistic discipline (but not necessarily what is deemed 'artistic' by the majority). A carpenter might benefit himself by becoming intimate with understanding the scientific principles that create the wood's texture and density for then, even though this knowledge might not be of any practical use, his appreciation and understanding of his material will be greatly expanded, and this might develop a new enthusiasm and creativity in his work. But everyone must seek their way to expand their perception, as no one knows oneself better than oneself. And no one can claim to have 'arrived' at an expanded perception and consciousness, as this is an ongoing and never ending journey through life. And for the so-called 'artist', one of creative disposition, this is a journey one must begin as soon as possible and continue for the rest of one's life. It only requires one to be open-minded, persistent and uninhibited by negative emotions.

John Cage and Kirk Roland (1966) - Sound??