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The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

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Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#81

Post by arvinsim »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #75
checktheorder wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Douglas Adams' "Wonko the Sane," who built an asylum turned inside out to house the whole world. Many comedians would qualify as this as well. I'm also thinking of the Terry Pratchett concept of being "knurd". On the Discworld, the opposite of being drunk isn't being sober - sober is the middle ground on the drunk/sober/knurd scale. To be knurd is to be so completely aware of every…

Why would being completely aware of everything not allow one to function in a society if one wanted to? Does it imply that you can't selectively focus on things? Right now if I am to do the dishes, I am already aware of thousands other things and concepts and deep truths about reality, and sciences, etc. etc, but I can focus on this one task, it doesn't matter what I am aware of, if I choose to do it I can do it. How…

> Why would being completely aware of everything not allow one to function in a society if one wanted to?

> Does it imply that you can't selectively focus on things?

This reminds me of Superman and General Zod in the "Man of Steel" film.

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#82

Post by [deleted] »

ravenstine wrote: post #46
nlh wrote: post #16

My interpretation of the point the author is trying to make: The 'hypersane' are those among us who have realized, for better or for worse, that the traditional things that most in a society strive for - material wealth, social status, conformity to social structures, etc. - aren't really the keys to happiness and that when you "awaken" (and become hypersane, I suppose) you realize that along with those things come s…

If that interpretation is correct, then the hypersane really aren't that rare.

[deleted]

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#83

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

xwdv wrote: post #48
oroeo92k wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s possible to encounter a concept and not emotionally “get it.” It’s one thing to hear about something on TV and another entirely to change your entire life. If it were “gotten” by the masses via Disney shows, we’d all stop chasing it at all. Social ties and bonds existed before money, achieved via other means. So yeah we don’t all “get it” in the same way. As someone with enough to retire on at 40, money feels pr…

No, even if you realized all that to it's full extent, the fact is we don't get to choose how we live if we plan to live in our current world for very long. Imagine we lived in a violent brutal world where it was kill or be killed. Even if you realize that killing only brings you stress and unhappiness, you won't last very long if you stop doing it. As soon as you lay down your arms someone will come and bash your he…

I have friends who are doing this. They live on land rent-free which is owned by someone who wishes property ownership wasn't a thing. They grow their own food. They dumpster dive for perfectly good food. They process and eat roadkill deer.

These people live fulfilling lives and work to contribute to each others' well-being and the well-being of others. I'm working on finding a similar living situation for my partner and our child.

Your ideas about what happens when someone quits the rat race are false and fear-based.

We don't live in a kill-or-be-killed world and we have many choices about how we live.

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#84

Post by crawfordcomeaux »

oroeo92k wrote: post #72
Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it were “gotten” by the masses via Disney shows, we’d all stop chasing it at all. This is such a common thing to think, but why, where is it based on? Why would you think that most people are still "chasing it" disproportionately? If you become enligthened (for the sake of simplicity, let's equate enlightenment with realization that material wealth is not the source of happiness and not the meaning of life) - if…

Edit: I’m too tired to debate, it’s not coming out how I intend, and tbh I don’t really feel any obligation to satisfy you. Getting into a back and forth online in a no stakes social forum is asinine.

Thank you for your honesty.

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#85

Post by zerogvt »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #75
checktheorder wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Surprised nobody has yet mentioned Douglas Adams' "Wonko the Sane," who built an asylum turned inside out to house the whole world. Many comedians would qualify as this as well. I'm also thinking of the Terry Pratchett concept of being "knurd". On the Discworld, the opposite of being drunk isn't being sober - sober is the middle ground on the drunk/sober/knurd scale. To be knurd is to be so completely aware of every…

Why would being completely aware of everything not allow one to function in a society if one wanted to? Does it imply that you can't selectively focus on things? Right now if I am to do the dishes, I am already aware of thousands other things and concepts and deep truths about reality, and sciences, etc. etc, but I can focus on this one task, it doesn't matter what I am aware of, if I choose to do it I can do it. How…

First of all, kudos for your nickname. A lot of what makes the society ticks -especially any society deeply rooted in materialism like ours today- is very hard to justify even when you are in a just-sane state of mind. See "bullshit jobs" for a longer treatise of that. Yes, you can focus better on the things you wanted to focus on but you would probably find it very hard to convince yourself to focus doing the work you currently do as hypersanity would probably have its importance stripped away.

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#86

Post by fnord123 »

nlh wrote: post #16

My interpretation of the point the author is trying to make: The 'hypersane' are those among us who have realized, for better or for worse, that the traditional things that most in a society strive for - material wealth, social status, conformity to social structures, etc. - aren't really the keys to happiness and that when you "awaken" (and become hypersane, I suppose) you realize that along with those things come s…

>I dig it! I expect to see a lot of folks reject this notion outright, because, well, cognitive dissonance. If you've built your life around conforming, it might be tough to hear someone suggest it's all for naught.

Be careful accepting the siren call of 'special truths' that put you in the in-group. This is the path of antivax, religion/cults, flat earthers, conspiracy theorists.

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#87

Post by madaxe_again »

sifar wrote: post #78
madaxe_again wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The VALIS trilogy and his exegesis are probably the most philosophical but almost most impenetrable of his works. Some of his intermediate period stuff, like Flow My Tears the Policeman Said and Radio Free Albemuth is a softer landing, as you can see the ideas that lead to his later work building from his earlier more facile metaphysics. I re-read his corpus last year in the order he wrote them -and finished feeling…

Thanks. I have the first book in VALIS - will start on it. It does take some effort to track things as one is unraveling it. But the feeling of realization and a new way of looking at things that you get at the other end of such works is worth it. The problem is keeping those insights. One has to hold on to them, ensure they don't get lost in the ever increasing sea of information. To revisit them periodically and im…

> The problem is keeping those insights. One has to hold on to them, ensure they don't get lost in the ever increasing sea of information.

Oh boy, yes. I find that holding on to that fragile mote of sanity is often like something you can only see on the edge of your field of vision, which, the moment you look directly at it, draws you into its complexity so deeply that you lose your image of the whole in your journeys within it.

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#88

Post by antonvs »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #77
benj111 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the cure for hypersanity was either hemlock, or crucifixion" Are you making reference to Jesus here? Hypersanity doesn't seem to sit well with certain other.. traits.

What do you mean? (assuming it's about Jesus)

He exhibited petulance, short temper, violence, and extremism. Hypersane doesn't really seem to apply.

That's probably because the people who wrote about the character weren't thinking in those terms.

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#89

Post by benj111 »

Erlich_Bachman wrote: post #77
benj111 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"the cure for hypersanity was either hemlock, or crucifixion" Are you making reference to Jesus here? Hypersanity doesn't seem to sit well with certain other.. traits.

What do you mean? (assuming it's about Jesus)

If I claimed to be the son of god, would you describe me as hypersane?

Re: The hypersane are among us, if only we are prepared to look

#90

Post by antisemiotic »

nlh wrote: post #16

My interpretation of the point the author is trying to make: The 'hypersane' are those among us who have realized, for better or for worse, that the traditional things that most in a society strive for - material wealth, social status, conformity to social structures, etc. - aren't really the keys to happiness and that when you "awaken" (and become hypersane, I suppose) you realize that along with those things come s…

Sounds like either Buddha or Max Stirner.
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