𝓔𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓹𝔂✨️

We naturally want intellectual greatness to imply moral greatness because it makes the world feel coherent: if someone is wise, surely they should be kind; if someone understands human nature, surely they should treat people well. But humans don't work that neatly. Intelligence doesn't automatically produce empathy. Creativity doesn't produce self-control. Philosophical insight doesn't guarantee moral courage. Accepting that doesn't require you to soften your judgment of what they did. You can still hate the cruelty, refuse to forgive it, and believe that they were a bad person in important respects. Socrates had terrible views on women and slaves but he made huge contributions to philosophy. You dont have to praise him but you are certainly allowed to read and appreciate his philosophical thoughts that align with your morality.

The problem with us humans is that its very hard for us to separate the art from the artist. You read the book, now youre in love with the author. You discover a band, now theres a picture of them on your bedroom wall. You watch a movie, now you worship the director. And precisely because of this idealization, when an artist is morally corrupt we start to wonder if we should really aproach thier work at all. But here's a thought! Maybe you can learn to enjoy the art for art's sake for once. Maybe you dont have to turn the artist into a god to see the art as it is and appreciate it.

Arabella just told me she saw this with her own eyes, i am so not jealous...

سبب كبير ليش مسحت الانستغرام هو لأن جان يطلعلي هواي اشياء كلش تأذيني فيديوهات واخبار عن قسوة العالم والعنف اللي يصير بي. وجنت كلش اعصب وانقهر واحس روحي بمكان الاشخاص اللي يتأذون. احس بكراهية شديدة تجاه الاشخاص اللي يؤذون غيرهم، خصوصا اذا كان العنف موجه للاطفال والنساء. وهاي المشاعر كانت تسيطر علي تاخذ كل طاقتي وتظل ببالي طول اليوم. وللاسف، مهما كان غضبي مفهوم، هو بحد ذاته ما راح يغير شيي، وانا ما راح اگدر اغير كل شيء اشوفه واسمع عنه. وهاي القصص، رغم فظاعتها، مو جديدة على البشرية. هي انماط من القسوة والعنف تتكرر منذ بداية التاريخ، ومن المرجح انها راح تستمر باشكال مختلفة الى نهايته. لذلك اعتقد لازم نتعلم نتلقى هذه المعلومات كحقائق، مو كاعباء عاطفية نحملها داخلنا. نسمع عنها، نعرف انو صارت، ونكره الظلم ونرفضه، لكن ما نخلي القصة تستمر بالعيش داخلنا طوال اليوم وتسيطر على مشاعرنا وحياتنا. نتعلم انو نحط حدود بين معرفتنا بقسوة العالم وبين عيش هذه القسوة داخلنا. لأن اذا خلينا كل شي يئذينا لهاي الدرجة، راح نخسر طاقتنا من دون ان نگدر نغير شي.

Raphael's famous Renaissance fresco, The School of Athens depicts two of the most influential figures in Western philosophy: Plato on the left and his student Aristotle on the right. ​Raphael uses their gestures, held texts, clothing, and posture as deliberate symbolic metaphors to represent their opposing philosophical worldviews. Plato points his right finger directly upward toward the heavens representing rationalism and transcendent idealism. His upward gesture symbolizes his Theory of Forms. Aristotle holds his right hand palm-down, hovering horizontally over the earth. Aristotle represents empiricism and natural philosophy. His palm-down gesture grounds philosophy in the immediate, observable world.

"You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Cracks (2009), María Valverde

𝓔𝓷𝓽𝓻𝓸𝓹𝔂✨️ pinned «The dog days are over.»

For years, I had forgotten what it felt like to be launched into the air, weightless and burning, like a bullet fired toward the sky. Full of passion and life, trembling with thoughts. Like my head is cut wide open and my eyes have turned inward, gazing into my own skull. Like, for a few fleeting seconds, I am complete. ​ I’ve always held this strange belief that I am of two parts. In these exact moments I feel the warm explosion of what could only be the reunion of two old friends: fire and fuel, pen and ink, soil and sun Or the raw friction when the eyes of sworn enemies lock like hammer and anvil, bow and string. ​ I feel so powerful, so alive, I could eat the whole world raw.

The dog days are over.