talking lends reality

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.

Others’ eyes

Do not look at yourself from others’ eyes.

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.

Mass men and the daily life

The daily life is all the mass men have. Thus the deep interest in “what he said”, “what she must have thought”, etc.

For us, it is the opposite. If the daily life is removed from our lives, nothing would be lost.

Is the human world ugly?

The human world is ugly only if you use no filter, and then necessarily ugly.

You look around, see a lot of monstrous forms (strange bodies) and tell yourself, “these seem to do just fine too!”, and further, “they must be in their element, and thus it is their world”. However, the judgement that those monsters are “doing fine” arises from your need to keep a distance – condemnation requires a lot more closeness. So, you fool yourself.

The way out is to stop passing judgements. Understand in your heart that the monsters are not doing well, that you would not exchange your place with them for anything, and stop revisiting the issue! Look away, twenty times a day if need be!

Cleanliness of the spirit is as much needed as the cleanliness of the body. And both need to be actively maintained.

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As a rule, the more mass men you sense in the day, the less lovely is the day. Even sensing their intestines hurt (e.g., noticing some action which a higher man would not commit).

Look away, or you are damned!

Observe people when they are light

People show their souls when they are light (“happy”, “cheerful”). When light, people are sure-footed and external constraints are absent.

The next best thing is to observe what they do when they feel free (e.g., in their “free time”) — and if this makes them lighter. When people feel free of constraints, they gravitate to “home”. If the actions are inconsistent with the character (blood?), e.g., because of bad habits, it makes people heavier.

a maxim about mass-men

The mass-men are all very alike.

Perhaps the mass-men should not be thought of as individuals, with individual characteristics.

Bad company

A company in which you have to care for the undesired effects of your words and actions – misunderstanding, hurt – is to be given a wide berth. Let us only have companies in which things are natural – you can move and speak freely (without rücksicht), and you don’t have to worry that your natural movement may (will!) hurt others.

In good companies, our actions may certainly hurt others, but we have the awareness that we can (and will) make up for it!

Jeder Umgang ist gut, in welcher dein Wahr und Waffen geübt wird (Nietzsche) – and only that is good!