#log

I learned much more about acting from philosophy courses, psychology courses, history and anthropology than I ever learned in acting class. ↗

— Tim Robbins

#acting #acting class #anthropology #class #courses

At a certain point talk about 'essence' and 'oneness' and the universal becomes more tautological than inquisitive. ↗

— Christopher Hitchens

#mysticism #tautology #love

Swamp Thing, in Hell: "Demon...How...could God...allow such a place? Etrigan: Think you God built this place, wishing man ill and not lusts uncontrolled or swords unsheathed? Not God, my friend. The truth's more hideous still: These halls were carved by men while yet they breathed. God is no parent or policeman grim dispensing treats or punishments to all. Each soul climbs or descends by its own whim. He mourns, but He cannot prevent their fall. We suffer as we choose. Nothing's amiss. All torments are deserved... ↗

— Alan Moore

#hell #theology #men

A game is an opportunity to focus our energy, with relentless optimism, at something we’re good at (or getting better at) and enjoy. In other words, gameplay is the direct emotional opposite of depression. ↗

— Jane McGonigal

#video-games #change

The facts of nature are what they are, but we can only view them through the spectacles of our mind. Our mind works largely by metaphor and comparison, not always (or often) by relentless logic. When we are caught in conceptual traps, the best exit is often a change in metaphor — not because the new guideline will be truer to nature (for neither the old nor the new metaphor lies “out there” in the woods), but because we need a shift to more fruitful perspectives, and metaphor is often the best agent of conceptual transition. ↗

— Stephen Jay Gould

#metaphor #mind #nature #change

Genetics might be adequate for explaining microevolution, but microevolutionary changes in gene frequency were not seen as able to turn a reptile into a mammal or to convert a fish into an amphibian. Microevolution looks at adaptations that concern the survival of the fittest, not the arrival of the fittest... The origin of species — Darwin’s problem — remains unsolved. ↗

— Scott F. Gilbert

#confessions-of-the-darwinists #darwin #darwinism #darwinist-confessions #evolution

The field of psychotherapy is based on the premise that people can change, yet since the origins of psychology, the prevailing view has been that human beings are predetermined by forces outside of their control. ↗

— Cloe Madanes from The Violence of Men

#psychology #change

Dans la nature rien ne se crée, rien ne se perd, tout change. In nature nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything changes. ↗

— Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier

#change

Man wants to see nature and evolution as separate from human activities. There is a natural world, and there is man. But man also belongs to the natural world. If he is a ferocious predator, that too is part of evolution. If cod and haddock and other species cannot survive because man kills them, something more adaptable will take their place. Nature, the ultimate pragmatist, doggedly searches for something that works. But as the cockroach demonstrates, what works best in nature does not always appeal to us. ↗

— Mark Kurlansky

#ecology #evolution #extinction #humans #natural-world

Oh, come on Em." He stopped walking and looked me in the eyes. His own were dark and shiny. "You know how I feel about you," he muttered. "I do?" He stepped closer and whispered, "When you're around, music plays in my head." My eyes welled. "Music," I repeated softly. "Well, you know." He grinned. "It's the Jaws theme. Da dum. Da dum. ↗

— Jennifer Jabaley

#humour #lipstick #music