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

aeon.co

101–110 of 250 posts

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

#101
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…

> material wealth, social status, conformity to social structures, etc. - aren't really the keys to happiness So what makes you think not having those things will make you happy? Material wealth can make you both happy and sad, and so do all the other things. For all I know, it seems pursuing happyness is not the best strategy to become happy.

It's not about not having those things, it's about not desiring them.

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

#102

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…

I only now have realised it's "drunk" spelled backwards. And probably reads the same as "nerd"

the first time I read Terry Pratchett it was in italian, and knurd had not been translated, I suppose the translator didn't get the joke or thought it wasn't fun in italian.

Took me a decade or so to finally get it when I re-encountered it in english :)

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

#103
post #58

aeon web write ups feel like an attempt to be super-informative which just .. misses. They always seem to riff on things making a HUGE DEAL about THIS ONE THING which the authors feel WE ALL MISSED and I feel like I am watching a 1960s movie of stoned people.. grooving on the pattern the coffee cup makes on their hand, man.. its all one hole man.. one hole, the hole is not the cup, the hole is .. the HANDLE.. is it j…

I don't think Jared Diamond belongs on your list of "rent-a-quote new-age theorists"

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

#104

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.

> Getting into a back and forth online in a no stakes social forum is asinine.

Truly words to live by.

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

#106
post #58

aeon web write ups feel like an attempt to be super-informative which just .. misses. They always seem to riff on things making a HUGE DEAL about THIS ONE THING which the authors feel WE ALL MISSED and I feel like I am watching a 1960s movie of stoned people.. grooving on the pattern the coffee cup makes on their hand, man.. its all one hole man.. one hole, the hole is not the cup, the hole is .. the HANDLE.. is it j…

It isn't just you, the article reads almost exactly like something i'd have conjured up at 15 years old.

It sounds to me like it is designed to massage the egos of disaffected under achievers to make them feel that they might be special; that the day to day humdrum is a result of a war against their special, now dampened, genius. In a world where the masses want to identify as mentally ill and where psychiatrists expand the definition of aberrant mental constructions and outward behaviours it is hardly surprising this might sell some books.

I doubt this book has much to add over Thinking Fast, Thinking Slow et al.

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

#107
This concept seems unhelpfully reductive and transparently targeted at people who feel a need for self-congratulation on account of being alienated by the "normal" people, although alienation is paradoxically also portrayed as one of the markers of being painfully ordinary.

  "Many ‘normal’ people suffer from not being hypersane: 
   they have a restricted worldview, confused priorities,
   and are wracked by stress, anxiety and self-deception. 
   [...] In contrast, hypersane people are calm, contained 
   and constructive. It is not just that the ‘sane’ are 
   irrational but that they lack scope and range, [...]"
All of these things are orthogonal traits and can occur in an individual in any combination. For example, I would categorize myself as having a moderately open worldview, mostly straight priorities, not wracked by stress and anxiety, moderate to severe self-deception, calm, contained, and mostly constructive. So which one am I? A barely conscious pleb or an advanced rational intelligence?

It seems to me these kinds of characterizations are really the product of people trying to build a framework that appreciates their (subjectively underappreciated) positive traits. It's obviously not wrong to celebrate those traits, especially when confronted with their opposites so publicly on a daily basis, but the problem arises when we're trying to bundle those traits up under a buzzword package name. People are very diverse, and their traits and behaviors develop over time.

I allege that it is more helpful to look at the positively connotated traits mentioned here in isolation, and work on improving aspects of ourselves in a targeted manner, as opposed to subscribing to a blanket identity (in this case hypersanity, which is ultimately meaningless). There needs to be less emphasis on "what identity am I innately" and more emphasis on "what properties do I like about myself and which ones do I want to improve". The difference here is not only one of nuance and constructiveness, but also one of fundamental outlook.

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

#108
post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 y…

So if I am starving, have no money for my interests, and yet have ambitions - and cannot find a fully fullfilling job, are you saying that I will not be able to go to a "bullshit job", because I will be under the impression that sitting at home meditating or looking at trees is more important than getting food through work? That to me sounds like laziness or victim complex, or a couple of other things, but really not…

Most ambitions people express anymore require a great society to provide the experience. See a band live, fly around the world... We craft ambitions within the social framework.

As I’m seeing it, hypersane people do not possess concern for “normal” social ambitions.

They aren’t nihilist, and still find life inherently interesting. Just find the usual social hierarchy and chasing those needs as secondary. As obligations foisted at them. They use them, sure, because they still appreciate life and have interests.

It’s a weird concept as it’s not as if we can climb inside someone and measure their emotional response to external pressures. And I get the feeling that’s why it’s difficult to grok; despite how it might feel like everyone around us is pretty typical, we’re individually capable of a variety of responses to external stimuli.

Lots of people might get really anxious about environmental collapse, or political unrest. A hypersane person, think maybe like Buddha, will react more like “Yep and individually there’s not shit we can do to stop a collective action problem. Imma go sit by a tree in peace rather than worry about saving normality.”

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

#109
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

If that is the only characteristic of Jesus that comes to your mind, then you have a lot more to learn about him. If the state today was based strictly on religion and someone would come in and say "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's.", implying the introduction of the separation of the church and the state, you wouldn't call this man sane and a good influence?

It is absolutely a central dogma of Christianity, that Jesus is the son of God, if you believe in the Nicene creed.

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

#110
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You seem to operate on some other set of historical books and accounts than what is readily available.

That's an odd reply.

Mark 4, Jesus basically says he doesn't want everyone to be saved so he's confusing on purpose.

Matthew 15, he scolds Pharisees for not killing children like god commanded

Matthew 21, he goes on an anger induced rampage in the temple

Mark 11, Jesus killed a tree because he was mad that it didn't have fruit when it was out of season

Do you think these things don't count?

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