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The seven modern Sins - Epitaph of Reason

Blogs > Simplistik
Post a Reply
Simplistik
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
2005 Posts
December 11 2010 17:03 GMT
#1
The seven modern Sins


Mendacity
      Less than total truthfulness.
      “Three things cannot be long hidden: The sun, the moon, and the truth.”

Dysrationalia
      Inability to think and behave rationally despite adequate intelligence.

Hypocrisy
      Advocating and pretending to be what one despises.

Fideism
      Imagining that faith is the basis of all knowledge.
      “Believe! – Believe without evidence in what is told by those who speak without knowledge,
      of things without parallel. – Believe...“


Patriotism
      Interests of a part raised above those of the whole.

Loquaciousness
      Employing an amount of words disproportionately in excess of their meaning's value.
      “A little less conversation, a little more action please.”

Nostalgia
      Yearning for that which is no more and can never be re-attained.
      “Nothing ever tastes as sweet as the past.”





Epitaph of Reason

Andrew Barker


Lords of logic preach to your converted minority: Rise up!

Flail despairing whip of reason at unwitting multitude.
Pathetic cowerer. Dogmatic knower.

As well scourge yourself dark heart, seeker of answers,
shambling feet shackled by uncertainty.

You hide bleak humanity under veneer mask of rationality.
You.

Moment.

Two heaving monsters rear, engorged yet ravenous,
mouths gaping, cavernous and silent, wet red.
Reason and unreason, polarised yet proud,
unrecognisably grotesque to ancients, even themselves.

Look. Look!
Hapless, separate, yet linked by human frailty.

Pause. What then?
Philosophy: ethereal bridge between battle-weary combatants!
Not too late.

Too late for reason.
Eternally condemned, reach again, Grecian stoic, for hemlock-tainted cup.
Perhaps on paralysed final breath you will learn history's only lesson.

Transcend.
Hold boldly aloft the shining talisman of human nothingness.
Monsters merge, to know the world.

***
Dear BW Gods, I know it's not autumn (in the Northern hemisphere), but please have mercy on Protoss.
Reason
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United Kingdom2770 Posts
December 11 2010 17:29 GMT
#2
The seven modern sins were interesting but I don't understand the Epitaph
Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
Roe
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
Canada6002 Posts
December 11 2010 17:50 GMT
#3
1,3,5, and 6 are pure bullshit and need changing.
The truth will always be subjective, and this statement is actually morally and intellectually lazy
Hypocrisy at least in the abstract is usually what makes great people.
Patriotism can be a good force especially when an actually bad enemy seeks you out by grouping.
Loquaciousness, well, you took that right from Hamlet. "More matter, less art"
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
December 11 2010 17:51 GMT
#4
Isn't the idea of calling it a sin going against everything you've listed as a sin?
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
vOdToasT
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Sweden2870 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-11 19:16:08
December 11 2010 19:12 GMT
#5
On December 12 2010 02:50 Roe wrote:
1,3,5, and 6 are pure bullshit and need changing.
The truth will always be subjective, and this statement is actually morally and intellectually lazy
Hypocrisy at least in the abstract is usually what makes great people.
Patriotism can be a good force especially when an actually bad enemy seeks you out by grouping.
Loquaciousness, well, you took that right from Hamlet. "More matter, less art"


Truth is not subjective. It only seems subjective because people often have insufficient information. There are OBJECTIVE causes for everything that happeneds, even though we don't always know these causes for sure, making it seem subjective. Truth being subjective is the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time. Things are the way they are, wether you understand them or not. It is objective. If we're talking about matters of taste and opinion, then yes, you can't say " pizza tastes good ", but you can say " to me, pizza tastes good ".

You have a strange sense of greatness. How the fuck can hypocrisy make anyone great? It is a pathetic feature in any human being. Give me five examples of when hypocrisy has made someone greater than he would be without hypocrisy.

Patriotism is not good. The only reason it can be a good force is because people are fucking stupid. Allow me to explain:

During world war 2, patriotism may have caused people in the Allied countries to fight. However, if they had been wise, they would have fought Germany for the right reasons (the protection of innocent countries, justice, reducing human suffering in the long run) rather than a stupid reason (patriotism).
Just because it sometimes makes people do what is necessary doesn't mean that it does so most of the time. And even when it does, it's better if people do what is necessary for the right reasnos, rather than doing what's right for wrong reasons.

Patriotism makes you think that your country is the best, even if it isn't. No one has any reason to be proud of their country any more than they have reason to be proud of winning the lottery. People should be proud of what they accomplished, not what they got lucky about (Even though in the end, it comes down to being lucky, since you have to be born with the right mind in the right enviorment). Besides, take a look at a random patriot, and he is very likely to praise his country more than it deserves. I'm glad to live in Sweden, but not because I am a patriot - but because I've done research on Sweden and other countries, and come to the logical conclusion that I'd rather live in Sweden than many other countries. If I was proud over getting lucky enough to be born in Sweden, I'd be a fucking moron.

And Chef, he's only calling them sins because the bible does, not because he himself thinks they are sins. It's just like a culturally iconic thing.

Very good op. I agree with everything.
If it's stupid but it works, then it's not stupid* (*Or: You are stupid for losing to it, and gotta git gud)
sammler
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
United Kingdom381 Posts
December 11 2010 19:34 GMT
#6
I have to talk to strangers pretty much all day and all of these sins ring true. I am mostly guilty of hypocrisy and nostalgia, although I try my best ^^
"I wish I was good enough to be called bad by IdrA." - Moa
Simplistik
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
2005 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-12 16:26:51
December 12 2010 16:20 GMT
#7
On December 12 2010 02:29 Reason wrote:
The seven modern sins were interesting but I don't understand the Epitaph

Here's my interpretation, but I warn you that it's fairly long. In my opinion the key to understanding poetry is to "translate" every line, phrase and word into "common language". Of course there is normally quite a lot of subjectivity involved.


Epitaph: "an inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there"


The title points out that "Reason" has died. The point of view seems to be neutral and undetermined.

The "Lords of logic" are the followers of "Reason" (perhaps philosophers, thinkers, scientists). The narrator compels them to fight ("Rise up!")

against the followers of "Unreason": "unwitting multitude" (the uneducated masses), "Pathetic cowerer" (people who don't think?) and "Dogmatic knower" (people who assert unproved and unprovable principles).

The narrator also tells the followers of "Reason" to punish themselves ("scourge yourself dark heart"). The "dark heart" appears to be what drives the followers of "Reason" to 'seek answers' (attempting to understand and explain everything (world, human, universe, etc.), looking for reasons). That 'seeking' is slow because there is no certainty ("shambling feet shackled by uncertainty").

The narrator views mankind as hopeless ("bleak humanity"). But the followers of "Reason" obscure the hopelessness under a thin layer of "Reason" ("veneer mask of rationality").

After "Moment." the focus changes to the past because "Reason" is alive. (Unless of course it got ressurected in some way, but there is no reference to that.)

"Reason" and its opposite ("polarised") "Unreason" are described as large monsters standing up on their hindlegs (like a rearing horse perhaps). "Heaving" paints a picture of several different meanings blended into one: getting up, vomiting, breathing heavily. Although they are both already full of blood ("engorged") they want more ("yet ravenous"). They have large ("cavernous") mouths covered in blood ("wet red"). "ancients" are people from the classical antiquity, ancient Greece or Rome usually. So "Reason" and "Unreason" were alive during the time of the "ancients". Maybe this passage describes the birth of "Reason" and "Unreason". However, nobody knows who or what they are, not "even themselves". The use of "grotesque" links up with 'cavernous mouths' here. Its original meaning (adjective to grotto) refers to a large open underground space like a cave or cavern.

The narrator tells the reader to "Look. Look!" at "Reason" und "Unreason". I guess we can only see them because they were pointed out to us. We can see that "Reason" and "Unreason" are unlucky, perhaps doomed, ("hapless"). Although they are "separate" entities, they are connected by mankind's weakness ("linked by human frailty"). That probably means that humans are not strong enough to truly separate and distinguish between "Reason" and "Unreason". (And how can they if they can't even recognise them?)

"Pause. What then?" What happened after the birth of "Reason" und "Unreason"?
Philosophy was created. It serves as a "bridge" to connect the two, so that humans can cross back and forth between them. The connection however is fragile und insubstantial ("ethereal"). The passage also points out that "Reason" und "Unreason" were fighting (and maybe still are at that time), but that they are tired ("battle-weary combatants").
Apparently it is "Not too late.", but for what? To stop the fighting?

But before we know it "Reason" appears to lose the fight and that probably leads to its death. ("Too late for reason.")
"hemlock" is a poisonous drug. (Socractes used it to kill himself.) Stoicism is an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno ("a Stoic achieves happiness by submission to destiny").
The narrator tells the followers of "Reason" ("Grecian stoic") to commit suicide because they are forever guilty ("Eternally condemned"). Although it is unclear of what they are guilty, maybe of being different. Committing suicide "again" seems to indicate that the "ancients" committed suicide, and now the modern followers of "Reason" are supposed to follow.
The narrator hopes that the "Lords of logic" will realise something important just before they die ("Perhaps on paralysed final breath"). "history's only lesson" might be that "Reason" und "Unreason" are linked, two sides of the same coin.

Realising that will allow them to "Transcend" and surpass others (and probably themselves).
The final realisation is that mankind is insignificant ("human nothingness"). That realisation is like a magical item that offers protection ("talisman").
It allows "Reason" und "Unreason" to recombine into one, ehm, being. And after they recombined they can be used to understand the world.


I'd say the key points are:

- Reason is dead.
- Reason and Unreason are two parts of the same thing.
- Both are needed in order to understand anything.
Dear BW Gods, I know it's not autumn (in the Northern hemisphere), but please have mercy on Protoss.
SkytoM
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Austria1137 Posts
December 12 2010 16:52 GMT
#8
Dysrationalia
Inability to think and behave rationally despite adequate intelligence.

i think thats sexist. every woman acts so.
Bisu... ;-(
Kalingingsong
Profile Joined September 2009
Canada633 Posts
December 12 2010 16:56 GMT
#9
what?

'stupidity' is not a modern sin?
Dess.JadeFalcon
Reason
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United Kingdom2770 Posts
December 20 2010 22:32 GMT
#10
On December 13 2010 01:20 Simplistik wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 12 2010 02:29 Reason wrote:
The seven modern sins were interesting but I don't understand the Epitaph

Here's my interpretation, but I warn you that it's fairly long. In my opinion the key to understanding poetry is to "translate" every line, phrase and word into "common language". Of course there is normally quite a lot of subjectivity involved.


Epitaph: "an inscription on a tombstone or monument in memory of the person buried there"


The title points out that "Reason" has died. The point of view seems to be neutral and undetermined.

The "Lords of logic" are the followers of "Reason" (perhaps philosophers, thinkers, scientists). The narrator compels them to fight ("Rise up!")

against the followers of "Unreason": "unwitting multitude" (the uneducated masses), "Pathetic cowerer" (people who don't think?) and "Dogmatic knower" (people who assert unproved and unprovable principles).

The narrator also tells the followers of "Reason" to punish themselves ("scourge yourself dark heart"). The "dark heart" appears to be what drives the followers of "Reason" to 'seek answers' (attempting to understand and explain everything (world, human, universe, etc.), looking for reasons). That 'seeking' is slow because there is no certainty ("shambling feet shackled by uncertainty").

The narrator views mankind as hopeless ("bleak humanity"). But the followers of "Reason" obscure the hopelessness under a thin layer of "Reason" ("veneer mask of rationality").

After "Moment." the focus changes to the past because "Reason" is alive. (Unless of course it got ressurected in some way, but there is no reference to that.)

"Reason" and its opposite ("polarised") "Unreason" are described as large monsters standing up on their hindlegs (like a rearing horse perhaps). "Heaving" paints a picture of several different meanings blended into one: getting up, vomiting, breathing heavily. Although they are both already full of blood ("engorged") they want more ("yet ravenous"). They have large ("cavernous") mouths covered in blood ("wet red"). "ancients" are people from the classical antiquity, ancient Greece or Rome usually. So "Reason" and "Unreason" were alive during the time of the "ancients". Maybe this passage describes the birth of "Reason" and "Unreason". However, nobody knows who or what they are, not "even themselves". The use of "grotesque" links up with 'cavernous mouths' here. Its original meaning (adjective to grotto) refers to a large open underground space like a cave or cavern.

The narrator tells the reader to "Look. Look!" at "Reason" und "Unreason". I guess we can only see them because they were pointed out to us. We can see that "Reason" and "Unreason" are unlucky, perhaps doomed, ("hapless"). Although they are "separate" entities, they are connected by mankind's weakness ("linked by human frailty"). That probably means that humans are not strong enough to truly separate and distinguish between "Reason" and "Unreason". (And how can they if they can't even recognise them?)

"Pause. What then?" What happened after the birth of "Reason" und "Unreason"?
Philosophy was created. It serves as a "bridge" to connect the two, so that humans can cross back and forth between them. The connection however is fragile und insubstantial ("ethereal"). The passage also points out that "Reason" und "Unreason" were fighting (and maybe still are at that time), but that they are tired ("battle-weary combatants").
Apparently it is "Not too late.", but for what? To stop the fighting?

But before we know it "Reason" appears to lose the fight and that probably leads to its death. ("Too late for reason.")
"hemlock" is a poisonous drug. (Socractes used it to kill himself.) Stoicism is an ancient Greek school of philosophy founded by Zeno ("a Stoic achieves happiness by submission to destiny").
The narrator tells the followers of "Reason" ("Grecian stoic") to commit suicide because they are forever guilty ("Eternally condemned"). Although it is unclear of what they are guilty, maybe of being different. Committing suicide "again" seems to indicate that the "ancients" committed suicide, and now the modern followers of "Reason" are supposed to follow.
The narrator hopes that the "Lords of logic" will realise something important just before they die ("Perhaps on paralysed final breath"). "history's only lesson" might be that "Reason" und "Unreason" are linked, two sides of the same coin.

Realising that will allow them to "Transcend" and surpass others (and probably themselves).
The final realisation is that mankind is insignificant ("human nothingness"). That realisation is like a magical item that offers protection ("talisman").
It allows "Reason" und "Unreason" to recombine into one, ehm, being. And after they recombined they can be used to understand the world.


I'd say the key points are:

- Reason is dead.
- Reason and Unreason are two parts of the same thing.
- Both are needed in order to understand anything.

Thank you very much. Sorry I didn't see this earlier.
Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
bonifaceviii
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada2890 Posts
December 20 2010 23:14 GMT
#11
The epitaph blatantly violates one of the commandments. Good job, I guess?
Stay a while and listen || http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=354018
Reason
Profile Blog Joined June 2006
United Kingdom2770 Posts
December 21 2010 01:59 GMT
#12
Which commandment be that?
Speak properly, and in as few words as you can, but always plainly; for the end of speech is not ostentation, but to be understood.
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