Not Static, But Dynamic

"We know that you're made up of trillions of little things made from more little things that are constantly changing. Together, all those little things are not static, but dynamic."

Daron LarsonJune 1, 2016Kurzgesagt, science, self, philosophy, impermanenceComment

Real Things

"The idea that reality is not real or what you sense and feel is not authentic is something I’m very skeptical of."

~ Bill Nye

See Out, Hear Out, Feel OutDaron LarsonMarch 3, 2016Bill Nye, science, philosophy, Big Think, senses, awareness, reality, skepticismComment

What If There's More to Life than Just Pleasure?

"Is there inherent value in real experiences, whether pleasurable or painful? Do you yourself have more value when you're experiencing real life's pleasures and pains?"

Daron LarsonNovember 25, 2015TED, philosophy, pleasure, pain, reality, Hayley Levitt, Bethany Rickwald, hedonismComment

The Mighty Strings of Pleasure and Pain

"The universal war is not limited to the relation between different states, but takes place between villages, between households, and between individuals, and that it takes place even between the different parts of each individual soul."

~ T. K. Seung

A Way Through

"The quite cynical response would be to say, Why we love nihilism in pop culture is that it saves us having to be burdened with it. It saves us from feeling it. We can enjoy it in our rooms. We can get off on it. And then we let it go and we go back to work." ~ Simon Critchley

Equanimity, Feel InDaron LarsonSeptember 17, 2014Simon Critchley, Jay-Z, Radiolab, nihilism, feelings, sadness, hopelessness, equanimity, emptiness, love, philosophy, mysticism, mortification, kenosisComment

We Need Each Other

Judith Butler and Sunaura Taylor in Examined Life (2008), a documentary by Astra Taylor, discussing about disability as not merely some physical status but largely a social status.

If We Didn't Try to Hold the Flux

“What both science and at least some philosophical and even religious traditions tell us is that the world is impermanent. Nothing in it stays the same. We don't stay the same. Our bodies don't stay the same. The people that we love and the things that we love don't stay the same. That's just the truth of the matter, that there's this constant impermanence, this constant flux. And some philosophers have argued over the years that we should just embrace that. We would be freer if we didn't try to hold that flux for a moment.”

Alison Gopnik

Daron LarsonJune 3, 2014Radiolab, children, emptiness, freedom, impermanence, liberation, love, parenting, philosophy, science, Alison GopnikComment

Unselfed and Decentered by Beauty

"There are lots of things in the world that give us acute pleasure. There are also lots of things in the world that make us feel marginal. But there's almost nothing other than beauty that does those two things simultaneously, that gives us acute pleasure at the very moment that it makes us feel marginal and happy to be on the margins, to stand back, to listen to the piece of music and just feel awe at what has been created."

~ Elaine Scarry