Next christmast i will stay alone and mute...
Thanks for your feedback...
Nietzsche and Runaway Audio Consumption
Came across this today. A lot of posts bring up the issue of "how much is enough?" or "when is audio consumption justified" etc.
Does this Nietzsche aphorism apply to audio buying? You be the judge!
Friedrich Nietzsche: “Danger in riches. — Only he who has spirit ought to have possessions: otherwise possessions are a public danger. For the possessor who does not know how to make use of the free time which his possessions could purchase him will always continue to strive after possessions: this striving will constitute his entertainment, his strategy in his war against boredom.
Thus in the end the moderate possessions that would suffice the man of spirit are transformed into actual riches – riches which are in fact the glittering product of spiritual dependence and poverty. They only appear quite different from what their wretched origin would lead one to expect because they are able to mask themselves with art and culture: for they are, of course, able to purchase masks. By this means they arouse envy in the poorer and the uncultivated – who at bottom are envying culture and fail to recognize the masks as masks – and gradually prepare a social revolution: for gilded vulgarity and histrionic self-inflation in a supposed ‘enjoyment of culture’ instil into the latter the idea ‘it is only a matter of money’ – whereas, while it is to some extent a matter of money, it is much more a matter of spirit.”
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1996. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Cambridge University Press. (p. 283-4, an aphorism no. 310)
I'm pretty sure @mahgister will want to read this one! (Because they speak so artfully about avoiding the diversion that consumption poses to the quest for true aesthetic and acoustic excellence.)
@mahgister Gaslight much? |
@mahgister You are well read and make many good points, but spirit doesn't come solely from books and philosophers. Spirit is lived, it is personal experience. I heard much spirit in music I listened to last night, Glenn Gould's Goldberg Variations, what spirit! So many others as well, I was on spiritual journey lead by so many great musicians with such great spirit. And to think I have system that delivers this spirit with illusion of these performers in my room, Yes, this audiophile thing is spiritual work!
And now for something completely different. Do you believe one can cultivate the spirit through hallucinogenic substances? Does proper intention alongside hallucinogenic ingestion create space for seeing the unseen. I can only answer for myself, that indeed it does! Spirit lives in the places normal everyday life obscures, to use an old worn out cliche, opening new doors of perception allows one visions of what was formerly unseen. My forays into this area spurred by early writings of Carlos Castaneda and Travels with Don Juan. I used these readings as my intention when entering these realms. |