ephemera

aktorpoet.com/ephemera (microblog)

 One result of the interesting paths of late, and long, is having remarkably little tolerance for the "All is lost, I ordered my latte without foam" line of thinking.  It's a social and historical fact that in a world without consciousness of the divine, and people even unable to imagine the possibility of their own experience of eternal time, that in the game for social power, people cultivate habits of conspicuous consumption and learned incapacity.  And to be rather obvious about it.

The game is at least partially to 'get a rise' out  those around you. This is the part that gives an advantage in the social game.  When you become angry at a person, group, or conceptual belief, it's the first step to being controlled by the question of them.  A complicated formulation, but follow it.  Anger at the night draws us into the question of day and night, as the two are the same question.  Heraclitus, I think.

So when a conspicuous consumer appears before you, cultivate dispassion, and look as closely as you can, and try to understand.