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after years and years of thinking about it, observing it, analyzing it, questioning it, I've come to think of culture as a sort of "aether". it exists primarily in people's minds, of course, and it manifests in behavior patterns, architecture, rituals, all sorts of things...
the dominant thing culture does is it regulates. the aether is regulatory. it tells people how to act, how not to act, what they should argue about, what's rude, inappropriate, taboo, forbidden. the aether is largely hallucinated, and also, it can summon real violence upon you
u could also think of culture as "oceanic", using a water metaphor. it's a medium. it has currents. it has waves and crests and whirlpools and typhoons, it hosts life, it can kill, there are ecosystems within ecosystems, you disrespect it at your own peril https://t.co/hbbXXkTTlx
@visakanv when i was still reading more personal development stuff, there was a guy who referred to what you're describing as 'the culturesphere' and the first thing someone has to overcome when growing spiritually into real individuality.
I think maybe ~1% of people really *produce* culture, at the cutting edge, at the frontiers. they remix and reshape and renew. most people are consumers, critics, enforcers, regulators. I used to be upset about this. Now I think "1% is a lot of people!!!" https://t.co/iUFSsOHwqY
people who feel constrained by culture are *especially* vigorous when it comes to enforcing it. whereas the people who surf the waves of culture confidently, and walk easily through its hallucinated walls, feel little need to enforce anything at all
one of the many ways of thinking about culture is its a way of conceptualizing reality. unconceptualized reality is too much, too overwhelming, too chaotic for most humans most of the time. you might glimpse it in moments of ecstasy, but the rest of the time u often need a system
each way of seeing is *necessarily* and *definitionally* also a set of blinders. every frame has boundaries, the decision of what to include is simultaneously a decision of what to exclude. euphemistic language about inclusivity etc has clouded lots of ppl's thinking abt this
the big tension of my adult life is my confusion at my casual ability to walk thru the walls of hallucinated culture while everywhere around me people say things like "that's not possible", "that can't be done". it's made me question my own sanity + talk with thousands of people
I've been thinking about this for a long time it's difficult to have this conversation in a public plaintext space like twitter and expect/assume good faith, partially bc people tend to be carrying their own private anxieties about related matters... https://t.co/KyAKBxJBXQ
Childhood: me: I’m just a nerd others: fuck that... you’re special me: I’m special? Oh shit! Get a load of me! others: fuck you, you ain’t special me: huh. I’m guess I’m not special. That’s kind of a relief. anybody can do what I do! people: fuck you, you’re not normal me: https://t.co/Oo0zzKyI6q
I do not want to exclude or alienate other people, so you can see I put in a ton of effort into being welcoming, encouraging, helping people feel at home but I draw the line (and this took me a long time!!) at suppressing myself, my abilities, curiosities, etc
and i've talked with enough people about this IRL, over zoom calls, etc, to know that there are people who take the time and trouble to consider this stuff seriously, and to see that it's not just a cry for attention or validation (and what's so wrong with that, anyway?)
but rather, it's an interesting and consequential challenge. what do you do with people who are cultural chimaeras, who are meant to operate at the frontier? well – sorta ironically, & definitionally, there isn't really an answer to that question. you just get used to discomfort
to me, it's very important – and I think it's important for everyone – that the people who are at the frontiers of culture are able to do their work unhindered by stupid bullshit, because it's very consequential work. unfortunately, as a species we are still very bad at this
for the vast majority of human history, human creativity was primarily expended suppressing human creativity. this is weird to think about. but I'm pretty convinced it's true. read Deutsch's beginning of infinity for a more comprehensive explanation about how/why this is
we are very new to being ubermensch and we are very bad at it. most of us who are capable of it, or adjacent to being capable of it, are whining and pissing and shidding and farding about it. because it is hard. it is, again, by definition, I think, the hardest thing in the world
because actually it's the closest thing to living in unconceptualized reality, which is absolute chaos. you have to dip into unhinged madness and yet remain rooted in history, space, time, humanity, it's an Odyssean task https://t.co/cLpQFc4h1N
and the ayy lmao thing is that, to survive with your soul and sanity intact, you have to somehow take on the most serious task in the world AND simultaneously not take yourself seriously. it's madness! its hilarious! its impossible! https://t.co/9EnZeoH3gA
"You want to get artists from different nations, races, religions, creeds to find common ground in our shared humanity? In an age of escalating conflict and despair? In this economy? This media environment? In these incentive structures? It's impossible!" "No. It's necessary." https://t.co/md3iQlDx2d
anyway I don't have a specific conclusion that I'm gunning for with this particular sermon, I'm just continually working through my thoughts on this stuff, practicing, woodshedding, developing fingertip feel furthermore, https://t.co/QCM7vr3rzW
