It is talking — or more exactly, thinking about talking — which creates permanency for stupid things.
For many things, resolve upfront: I’ll never talk about this.
on sexual arousal
Even under the situations I despise clearly (e.g., pornography if it not specially ugly), the stimulus leads to a certain degree of sexual arousal. The arousal is not clear or clean, for the idea that I despise it is right there too, but it is there.
The response to such stimulus is probably subconscious. The “meaning” attached to such activities, is, however, work of the conscious mind.
So, the only way to resolve the above contradiction is for the conscious mind to say (when the arousal rises in such situations): yes, it is there, but it is illegitimate, so I am not going to pay any attention to it. This — saying “get lost” to the stimulus, and letting it fade away uncared for – is not difficult, at least after practice!
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We feel a special type of care for the young of all animals. This feeling is wholly subconscious, even though our conscious mind thinks otherwise. A special type of concern for women is likewise wholly subconscious too, and perhaps the only reason we don’t have this feeling for females of all animals is that our conscious mind would find it too ridiculous. That is, the conscious mind is able to control the limits of the subconscious feelings. We need to put the limit where it suits us best. (See also.)
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Notes:
“Er reagirt auf alle Art Reize langsam, mit jener Langsamkeit, die eine lange Vorsicht und ein gewollter Stolz ihm angezüchtet haben, — er prüft den Reiz, der herankommt, er ist fern davon, ihm entgegenzugehn.” “He reacts to every kind of stimulus slowly, with the slowness which long caution and a self-conscious pride have cultivated in him — he examines the stimulus as it approaches and has no intention of going to meet it”. –Nietzsche, Ecce Homo.
Probably all animals feel a special care for the young of all animals! Eckermann recounts his observations of adults birds helping arbitrary birds (other species) when the young birds were in need. (Goethe and Eckermann: 8th October 1827. Bottom third of the page.)
https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/eckerman/gesprche/gsp3067.html
Others’ eyes
Do not look at yourself from others’ eyes.
Political cry
If someone comes to you crying about some political problem, ask him if he is willing to accept you as the ruler over him. If not, he should go cry elsewhere.
Our dear friends should find their equals for such activities.
Equal rights for all
By refusing to acknowledge special rights for us, the mass men have made their company useless for us — it is not even pleasant! They thus lose the chance to learn from us.
On revenge
Gifting someone your time is the greatest gift. To remember some person or deed is gifting your time to the ghost of the person or deed.
The best revenge for us – and not merely sufficient – is to ignore or forget the person or interest as soon as it has passed. No follow up, a complete blank.
Fighting is reserved for our causes – sacred causes, and not for being God’s little avenging angels. Let the gods look after their own interests. Reportedly, “Thousands at his bidding speed / And post o’re Land and Ocean without rest” — you don’t need to offer yourself too.
On arrogance
Arrogance is a sine qua non for decent living. Maintaining a distance from the mass men is of utmost importance for us, and arrogance is necessary for it.
A life without arrogance cannot be beautiful, for it is sure to be needlessly complex.
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As a rule, look right through the mass men.
On make-up
Make-up, specially of the standing-out type (including bright lip-paint), makes ugly. It is often found attractive by men for what it is supposed to signal, namely, a desire to please, and specially, a desire to please as a woman.
If, by convention, a pointed hat supposedly signaled this, women wearing pointed hats would be found as attractive.
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Notes:
A quote from La Bruyère. Translation by Tim Siniscalchi. Please check the page for some more notes on the translation.
(V) If women only want to be beautiful in their own eyes and to please themselves, they can doubtlessly, in their manner of making themselves up and in their choice of dress and ornaments, follow their taste and their caprice; but if it is men that they want to please, if it is for men that they make themselves up or adorn themselves, I have collected opinions and I will pronounce them on behalf of all men or of the majority of them: they are that white paint and rouge make women hideous and distasteful; that rouge alone makes them seem older and disguises them; that men hate as much to see white lead on their faces as to see false teeth in their mouths or as to see wax balls under their cheeks; that men seriously protest against every artifice that women use to make themselves ugly; and that men are not responsible to Heaven for this, but on the contrary it seems that it is the last and infallible way of reclaiming men from their influence.
(IV) If women were naturally what they make of themselves artificially, if they lost in a moment all the freshness of their complexion, if their faces became as bright and leadened as they make it with rouge and the paints that they use, they would be inconsolable.
(V) Si les femmes veulent seulement être belles à leurs propres yeux et se plaire à elles-mêmes, elles peuvent sans doute, dans la manière de s’embellir, dans le choix des ajustements et de la parure, suivre leur goût et leur caprice; mais si c’est aux hommes qu’elles désirent de plaire, si c’est pour eux qu’elles se fardent ou qu’elles s’enluminent, j’ai recueilli les voix, et je leur prononce, de la part de tous les hommes ou de la plus grande partie, que le blanc et le rouge les rend affreuses et dégoûtantes; que le rouge seul les vieillit et les déguise; qu’ils haïssent autant à les voir avec de la céruse sur le visage, qu’avec de fausses dents en la bouche, et des boules de cire dans les mâchoires; qu’ils protestent sérieusement contre tout l’aritifice dont elles usent pour se rendre laides; et que, bien loin d’en répondre devant Dieu, il semble au contraire qu’il leur ait réservé ce dernier et infaillible moyen de guérir des femmes.
(IV) Si les femmes étaient telles naturellement qu’elles le deviennent par un artifice, qu’elles perdissent en un moment toute la fraîcheur de leur teint, qu’elles eussent le visage aussi allumé et aussi plombé qu’elles se le font par le rouge et par la peinture dont elles se fardent, elles seraient inconsolables.
Adventures 