July 31, 2004

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  To agree or to disagree is to miss the experience. And definitely, there are people in every culture who would rather stick to a momentary gratification of agreement or disagreement, rather than to embrace something deeper.   Intent is not a thought, or an object, or a wish. Intent is what can make a man succeed when his thoughts tell him that he is defeated. It operates in spite of the warrior’s indulgence. Intent is what makes him invulnerable. Intent is what sends a shaman through a wall, through space, to infinity.”~ Carlos Castaneda

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  
  When I hear somebody sigh, “Life is hard,” I am always tempted to ask, “Compared to what?”
  Sydney Harris

  
  

   

  
  

  

  
  

  “Two great European narcotics, alcohol and Christianity.”
  Friedrich Nietzsche
  German Philospher and writer
  1844-1900

  
  

  I would have to add that it seems to have crossed “the pond” quite nicely-Dos

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  
  

  From:  Chartreuse_Monkey

  
  

  Was going over my Ayn Rand Reader … and looked at the entry on “The Meaning of Sex” … found something of interest.  

  
  

  “But, in fact, a man’s sexual choice is the result and the sum of his fundamental convictions.  Tell me what a man finds sexually attractive and I will tell you his entire philosophy of life.  Show me the woman he sleeps with and I will tell you his valuation of himself.  No matter what corruption he’s taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which he cannot perform for any motive but his own enjoyment – just try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity! – an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exaltation, only in the confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire.  It is an act that forces him to stand naked in spirit, as well as in body, and to accept his real ego as his standard of value.  He will always be attracted to the woman who reflects his deepest vision of himself, the woman whose surrender permits him to experience – or to fake – a sense of self-esteem.  The man who is proudly certain of his own value, will want the highest type of woman he can find, the woman he admires, the strongest, the hardest to conquer – because only the possession of a heroine will give him the sense of an achievement, not the possession of a brainless slut. [...]“

  
  

  “He will not acknowledge his need of self-esteem, since he scoffs at such a concept as moral values; yet he feels the profound self-contempt which comes from believing that he is a piece of meat.  He will not acknowledge, but he knows that sex is the physical expression of a tribute to personal values.  So he tries, by going through the motions of the effect, to acquire that which should have been the cause.  He tries to gain a sense of his own value from the women who surrender to him – and he forgets that the women he picks have neither character nor judgement nor standard of value.  He tells himself that all he’s after is physical pleasure – but observe that he tires of his women in a week or a night, that he despises professional whores and that he loves to imagine he is seducing virtuous girls who make a great exception for his sake.  It is the feeling of achievement that he seeks and never finds.  What glory can there be in the conquest of a mindless body?”

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

   

  
  

  • 3:28 am
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