A bit about this post
Aphorisms are one of my favorite writing modalities. They can be found in abundance in Classical Chinese Philosophy and Ancient Greek Philosophy, for example, but have become scarce in more contemporary writing. Good aphoristic writing is rarer still. That’s not to say I think my aphorisms are particularly artful. But I’ve invested some time developing this craft, and I continue to uncover many hidden treasures as I practice aphoristic writing.
I’ve added a commentary for each aphorism, which includes my breakdown of the meaning of each aphorism and a bit about the principles or mechanisms I’ve used to compose it. I start by reading the aphorism, then the commentary follows. So for your reference and convenience I’ve listed each aphorism below beginning with its start time. This way you can easily go back to listen again, or skip ahead to any aphorisms that particularly interest you. Though I should say: even if you have an idea of which aphorisms you like best, the commentary could surprise you. The discussion of the meaning and delivery mechanisms might add something you didn’t expect, and change the way you see the aphorism itself. For some I use analogies and examples to help demonstrate the fundamental insights.
There’s also a six-minute introduction at the beginning of the audio. Even if you choose to only listen to some of the aphorisms, I highly recommend listening to this intro. I speak about the defining characteristics of aphorisms, what makes them so special as a teaching tool and modality of expression, and the benefits of practicing aphoristic writing.
As I mention in the audio, this post covers only about half of the aphorisms I’ve written so far. But I wanted to go ahead and release these now so you all can have a look and a listen while I’m recording the second half. As usual, please feel free to leave comments, questions, or start a discussion below on any of the topics.
I’m looking forward to hearing what you think. Above all, I do hope these will provide some insights to unpack, apply, and expand upon as you traverse life’s terrain in the coming months and years.
A quick correction
In the aphorism that begins, “Any claim to inherent deserts…” at 20:22 I say, “Declaration of the United States.” I don’t know if this was momentary insanity or an editing mistake, but I meant to say, “The Declaration of Independence of the United States.” Somehow this escaped my attention until after I had finished. Thanks in advance for your forgiveness.
Devin
The Aphorisms
6:15 Burning a bridge is a useful strategy for those who want two things: first to never return to the other side (at least not without some great effort and ingenuity), and second to avoid the neck ache that comes inevitably from looking over one’s shoulder.
9:33 Walking alone in nature is a good meditation, and might be a requirement for being a good person.
12:33 A true apology is an expression of true regret, and true regret is the integration of new insights that would change one’s actions if he were sent back in time; an apology expresses desire for a different, though impossible past—and allows that to shape the future.
17:33 Sleep is king; nutrition queen; movement a clever mistress.
20:01 Any claim to inherent deserts ignores the real dynamics of leverage; the very invention of the concept, ‘deserve,’ when divorced in this way from the value exchange dynamic, is a disingenuous sublimation of subjective incentives into the objective moral realm; the secret ambition of the ‘deserving’ is to rise in power by means of this tautology.
31:23 The truth can, for us, only be accessed through metaphors; perhaps truth itself is a metaphor.
32:39 Everyone wants and aims at something in every moment with every action—whether consciously or in some other way; to value this as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is no exception.
34:48 Love is appreciation of peculiarity, after many sessions of strange intercourse, and the feeling of its absence.
37:03 To capitalize without conflict is anti-natural, a temporary suppression of balance, just as living without taking life is anti-natural; the balance will be expressed inevitably.
39:53 To properly nurture a thing also means to sometimes injure it.
42:09 Empathy, though built on the ground of innate emotional mechanisms, is best seen as a practice of communication processes; otherwise empathy is at best coincidentally accurate, and at worst egregious misinterpretation hidden beneath the label “intuition” with no mechanism for correction.
49:00 The study of logic cultivates not only skillful handling of reason, but also unreason; one gets a sense for just how easy and common it is to go blind looking at one’s own nose.
51:17 Artifices can be used to strengthen what is natural; but given our strong inclination to get more with less effort, they usually do the opposite.
53:53 In any given moment the behavioral motive is either fear or value; these can form a mixture over time, in a collection of moments, but not in a singular moment.
59:05 How often is “nice” really cowardice contorting its facial muscles?
1:02:00 The study of philosophy presents a daunting map of just how many possible viewing angles exist for each claim and contention, while most today fail to see even their own angle as an angle: philosophy as therapy for chronic and delusional self-assuredness.
1:07:34 Power equates to capacity to enact one’s will in the world; to place a negative value on the pursuit and acquisition of power in principle, as opposed to individual cases of its use, is to negatively value development of capacity in principle—which, put another way, is to value impotence in principle: the logical conclusion of evaluating power by binary ‘moral principles’ is either the absolute, unconditional acceptance of all expressions of power, or its absolute rejection in the form of asceticism.