The 21st of December, 2024

Mens Sana in Corpore Sane

<< He who is only an athlete is too crude, too vulgar, too much a savage. He who is a scholar only is too soft, to effeminate. The ideal citizen is the scholar athlete, the man of thought and the man of action. >>

Plato

The Discobolus – Myron (circa 450 BCE)
Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/mharrsch/8331229082

The 21st of December, 2024

Self-directed Literature

I was really excited about the first novel of the series on which I am working having been placed and offered on several major websites. Contrary to the motivation of most writing, mine is not commercial in the least though. Naturally I want it to become popular, but it is not for that reason I write.
I have in fact determined that I will not even look at these bookselling sites anymore, will not read any reviews of my released novel that may be placed on them either. The reason for this is that I do not want my passion for the stories to be quashed whilst I am still writing the series.

Rather than writing for the general public, I do so for my own amusement. In writing, I am basically telling myself stories. Whilst I am in the process of writing, I cannot wait every morning to get started. The concept of writer's block is in fact a completely foreign one to me. Although this will sound like boasting, I think my own process and my own motivation are very different from those of many commercial authors.

I absolutely love all the characters of my writing, a bit like a puppet master who creates his own marionettes. They are almost living beings to me. It is with absolute passion I write. Of course I make up notes and a general outline at the start of creating a book, but the stories I write take on lives entirely of their own and develop in ways I myself had never suspected. It is just plain fun to me, and it is with this motivation I write.

In writing I am always reminded of my favourite author, the Danish Karen Blixen, of Out of Africa renown (although it is for other books, like Seven Gothic Tales and the collection of essays Daguerrotypes that I personally most admire her). It is not even her writing skill I admire most about her, but her wonderfully eccentric personality (and writing should always be an expression of the soul). What she described about her own writing method seems to me to be the exact same passion I have for the characters in it, a process of telling herself the stories she wrote.

The 21st of December, 2024

The Return of the Church Lady

The easy availability of pornographic material in our internet age creates the false perception that we are living in a time in which the human body is more accepted than ever. I can cite countless examples as evidence that the exact opposite is in fact the case, but I myself was really not prepared for the absolute priggishness I just observed.

In a documentary I was just watching, on illustrations of naked people in books printed many centuries ago, the ‘offensive’ areas are actually blurred out.

In my estimation, this is not just prudery; this is a form of iconoclasm. It actually fits perfectly with the history-rewriting tendency of many people in our time, removing anything that is deemed offensive. Growing up in a religiously fundamentalist home, I remember one day all the doctrinally sensitive images having been cut out of all the books in the house. Although they may seem different phenomena, this prudish censorship is really precisely the same thing: removing or concealing anything that does not fit the preferred dogma.

The 21st of December, 2024

Against the Stream

As a boy I purchased a copy of the book referred to in the video by the then Prince of Wales. It not only completely moulded my views on architecture and urban planning, it was one of the foundation stones for me of regarding so many areas of life and human society from a completely different perspective, not ever in order to be different (I always wished to achieve the exact opposite in fact, to not be visible), but solely in accordance with what logical reasoning on the matter dictated to me. It also inspired me to stand tall and proud for stances that go completely in against the norm.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duHy_IbJvTc

The 21st of December, 2024

Happy Winter Solstice

Obviously I took this photo a number of years ago, during a real winter.

This has been the darkest December in some three decades, I just read. No wonder I feel like I have just been hit by an express train already, and the winter only just begins today!
I may live in the sunniest spot in the Low Countries, but that is about as meaningful a claim as for instance living in the the warmest place in Siberia.

Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 20th of December, 2024

Amadéus Capelle II

Next surprise of the day:

Source for both images: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DQWG1BS7/ref=sr_1_1?crid=RQLVEL908HC2&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.4H3B-ldh8dosnoos4mZC_p9xaKQjNtkeiZTn4uUaCUBtatKmNw6ZEJdfmnQJQcwk.sCPw64SCOhEf6HeIaTnjjJoOUuqLOD7X4hi7UEsHdbI&dib_tag=se&keywords=amadeus+capelle&qid=1734704342&s=books&sprefix=amad%C3%A9us+capelle%2Cstripbooks-intl-ship%2C185&sr=1-1

The 20th of December, 2024

Amadéus Capelle I

Holy crap! I was absolutely floored to just find my novel for sale by Barnes & Noble! I don’t know why their site doesn’t support é, or, if it does, why it translates as � in my browser, but it is amazing to see my novel actually in stock on such a major site already!

Source: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/amad-us-capelle-adrian-de-sauvanie/1146724063?ean=9798230322467

The 19th of December, 2024

Ideological Bullying

I am of the very firm conviction that absolutely any person, of any background, can become a citizen of any country in Europe, but this requires intense effort to integrate, to such an extent in fact, that that person takes on a completely new identity. It is basically like converting to a completely new religion, by which the convert is considered to be a completely new person.

This adoption of a new national identity is possible for absolutely anybody, but, due to the fact that very few people possess the extreme dedication this requires, it is a very rare phenomenon.

Simply flooding a nation with people who have absolutely no interest in real integration is a destructive and in truth traitorous policy, and should never be seen as being virtuous. It should be ridiculed to the point of being rejected, and the people who are opposed to it must not be cowed down with the insults that far better describe the mud-slinging proponents of national suicide themselves.

The 19th of December, 2024

The Danger of Revisionism

Interesting how the spirit of the age transforms phenomena to conform to its mores, such as here, in a study of Greek mythology, altering a homosexual love into what is deemed appropriate at the time:

<< ...Apollo formed a strong friendship with two youths named Hyacinthus and Cyparissus >>

-excerpt from Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome, by E.M. Berens, 1880

Evidence of the fact that the rewriting of history to suit contemporary values is not just a recent phenomenon. Not to minimize it in any way though; I find it absolutely reprehensible. The only way one can learn from history, is when it is presented in its authentic form. Otherwise one is only learning about one’s own culture, just with different figures.

The 18th of December, 2024

The Weapon of Choice

The favourite ploy of the adherents of the acceptable ideology of this generation is to smear anyone holding opposing opinions with insults. This generally ranges from terms like fascist, nazi, or conspiracy theorist, to insinuations about a lack of intelligence. The reason it continues to be employed to such an immense degree is because it has to date proved extremely effective to silence any opposition.

The lack of opposing voices is very ironically, considering the insults the adherents of acceptable ideology use, precisely what they themselves accuse their opponents of being. It is reflective of authoritarian regimes and of their societies. Personal wisdom and true societal freedom can only be achieved by hearing and carefully considering all opinions, not just the popular ones.

The 18th of December, 2024

Words Will Never Hurt Me

Stating an opinion about a bad political policy is not racism! This smear is just used to silence any opposition.

The 18th of December, 2024

Ethnic Duplicity

I am really beyond tired of the subject of race, which is very ironically most talked about by all the people who claim they do not see colour, but after being confronted yesterday for the umpteenth time by a case of incredible hypocrisy, I just cannot keep still on this point. Time and time again I have seen insanely untrue stereotyped images of Dutch people: the Swedish blonde types, speaking with German accents and wearing Oktoberfest dresses, happily dancing in wooden shoes and wearing a lace cap that was typical of one single village in one single century in the Netherlands. I normally do not take the least bit of offence to this; simply consider it as a reflection of a severe lack of knowledge, but after seeing (again for the umpteenth time) a Latina ranting about how an Asian was not allowed to assume a fake Spanish accent and don a sombrero in order to sell salsa, as this was offensive, I simply cannot keep still about this hypocritical nonsense.
Rather ironic that none of these race fanatics see any problem with racial stereotypes about Europeans. What a double standard! If I were to say anything, which would be pointless, they would drag out the customary ‘entitlement’ argument.

As to this purported racial privilege, I have actually in the past already responded in annoyance to this being hurled at me, and always by white people seeking the moral high ground: Wanna trade with my freakin’ entitlement for a day?! Entitled. Yeesh. I flippin’ wish!
The Kips and Tripps of just one percent of the Caucasian population are probably the only people who are actually privileged in this way. The 99% of other ethnically European people are not even remotely entitled.

I once had a disenfranchised First Nations schoolmate rant at me in my youth in Canada about how ’you’ did such and such. My response: 'I was born in the Netherlands. Neither I nor my ancestors ever did anything to you or yours. Even if I had actually been born in Canada, I would still not be responsible for the actions of other people though.'

I know this is really treading through a minefield, but I actually suspect that race is often used by embittered people to blame others for their own failures. Case in point: A younger African immigrant I often spoke with expressed one day to me how lonely he was. I then asked: ‘Why don’t you go out in the bars here sometime? Then you will meet people.’ He: ‘Because they are all racists.’ My response: ‘They are all incredibly unkind to me too; is that down to racism too then?’

Another incredible irony is how the woke bull-in-china-shop behaviour is having the exact opposite of the intended effect. Before their moralistic bullying, I never thought for a moment about race, dated people of all colours, didn't even think twice about a non-white person on television. Now I would not consider having a relationship with a non-ethnically European person anymore (nor, for that matter any of the sycophantic white race moralists), and not because I have issues about their colour, but because I don't want to spend every day talking about race. It is now impossible to see a non-European person on TV these days, without them within a minute beginning about race. When I see a non-ethnically European person on TV now, my hackles automatically raise, not because I care in the least about their colour, but because I object to unqualified people being given positions based solely on their colour (speaking of racism!), and I have the tendency to assume this is the case then.
Ironically, the race fanatics are creating division, not fixing anything. They are not fixing racism; they are creating it!

It is not just sad how these non-ethnically European people pull out the race card to explain all negative behaviour to them (I often think: have you ever considered that perhaps you’re just not a nice person?), but it is downright embarrassing how spineless Caucasians play the race game, clearly in order to make themselves seem morally superior. The oversensitive acrobatics have made it that it is simply not tolerated for ethnic Europeans to say anything about anyone else, good or bad, but they themselves are fair game for anything.

The 17th of December, 2024

The Perils of Blowing Smoke

In an age of consumerism, of mass production of objects of increasingly poor quality, and living in a society of increasingly low standards, it is becoming ever more important to develop a keen eye for quality. It is absolutely amazing that the tools for creating everything imaginable are now at nearly everyone’s disposal, but this requires an even sharper instinct for discovering the truly excellent. Although it is becoming progressively more difficult to uncover true quality, I personally am very much in favour of this trend, and here’s why:

It is not because of being unable that I am not published by a traditional publishing company. If that were a main objective of mine, I am certain that I would eventually succeed. Traditional publishing firms are rarer by the year though, and these usually do not take on new authors anymore. Even prestigious literary prizes are not rewarded to self-published authors, and it is abundantly clear to me why this really is the case.

Although it will seem like a complete deviation from the point, I think this very much applies to it. A number of years ago I read in the news that the Four Freedoms Award had been granted to Angela Merkel. It in that very instant became clear to me what all these awards entailed, and what the general trend regarding these prizes of validation and encouragement is, and it equally extends to publishing books. These awards are really just a blowing of smoke up each other’s rears by people who embrace the same ideology. Any opposing one is demonized and excluded altogether. They pretend to embrace varying opinions, but these in fact are now always just variants of the exact same one. This is precisely what has happened with publishing firms and literary awards as well.

In the pre-internet days, when traditional publishing companies still represented various stances, it was also still possible to express dissident opinions; they in fact represented true freedom of speech. The situation has changed a lot since the days of the Reagans and Sarkozys however. Under the pretence of intelligence, such as by promoting things like peer reviewing and fact-checking, or rather, villifying anything that does not pass their ideological policing, the popular philosophical slant effectively excludes any outsiders. This applies to any realm of society now, including publishing. All unpopular opinions are banished, and all truly opposing ideologies are shunned. 

There is very admittedly scads of crap out there, and a person needs to be extremely discerning in his or her choice of material, but I however very heartily embrace self-publishing. The acquisition of true wisdom is completely impossible without careful consideration of all stances, but Western society has now reached a point that intelligence is deemed to be adherence to the at-present-accepted philosophy, that all others are simply unintelligent. This is however the exact same approach of unenlightened chauvinists, namely, that anything they do not know is just plain stupid. That isn’t intelligence in the least; it is the exact opposite. It is extremist thinking, and history has repeatedly demonstrated how incredibly dangerous that is.

Self-published material requires far more discernment than was necessary in the past, but it represents real freedom of speech.

The 17th of December, 2024

Amadéus Capelle

I am insanely proud to be able to announce that I have finished writing the first novel of the series The House on the Rue du Suquet, and that it is presently being printed by Draft2Digital, although under the name of my publishing company, Apollonian Publishing, which I use to print my books. The official release date of the book is today, but I expect this means for preorders then, as printing willl take a few weeks. I am happy to have found this company, because it allows me, at absolutely no cost, only a percentage of the sales, to not occupy myself at all with the marketing, and focus only on writing. I have a number of talents, but selling is not even by a long shot one of these. This company is no small deal either; it sells its books via a number of really large retailers, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

The description of the book, as on its reverse, is as follows:

This series of five books recounts the tales of the five homosexual men who, over the course of several centuries inhabited the same small mediaeval house, located on the main thoroughfare leading into the town of Cannes on the French Riviera. The whole series is set on a dark, rather Gothicky stage.

In 1911, the home is inherited by Amadéus Capelle, a young fisherman who lives alone there with his dog, far too engrossed in his own affairs to be aware of the extreme drama playing out around him. 
A tale about complexly interwoven religious fundamentalism and unrequited love.

The search terms used in its marketing, and which well-describe the themes of the book, are these:

gothic, quirky, historical, religious fundamentalism, homosexuality, unrequited love, stalking, naturism, voyeurism

Front cover of the novel, designed by myself
Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 15th of December, 2024

From Hysteria to Hysteria

All of human history is an endless succession of social panics. It feels as if it is more intense now than ever, but that is only due to the immediate and very visual reporting of what happens around the world, which falsely makes everything feel like it is taking place right outside one’s window. News reporting has always been about scaremongering, but it is incredible how people allow themselves to be swept up in every one of the manias today. They pretend to care, and people who did not give a flying fig about an issue before it became popular, suddenly leap aboard the bandwagon and act as if it is really important to them, whilst it is very transparently just a means of garnering attention.
Even before an issue is resolved, human society then shifts its moral indignation onto a more trendy one.

So for instance, to cite the most recent examples: climate change, Black Lives Matter, the corona crisis, the invasion of the Ukraine, the Palestinian plight, and now hysteria about impending world war.

All good and well, and I personally only peruse once a day the headlines on teletext in order to not be sucked into the hysterias with propagandistically slanted imagery and very subjective reporting. If people want to willy-nilly accept everything they are told, without properly considering all sides; if they want to convince themselves they are real heroes in an age of absolute Armageddon, more power to them. My issue is that it is made increasingly impossible for people who do not wish to participate, to be dragged kicking and screaming into the fray. This has happened in the past as well, such as during great wars and (real) epidemics, but never on such a scale, and never before in such rapid succession.

The 15th of December, 2024

The View from the Other Side

People who embrace the average norms, that is to say, by far most people, actually consider it a sign of mental health to surround themselves with company all the time. Even the mental health profession promotes this opinion, although it now claims that health is determined by whatever makes people function best. At the same time though, it contradictorily happily plies budding recluses with pharmaceutical drugs to suppress the panic and depression caused by what they truthfully consider unhealthy, namely, not being sociable.

Ironically, exactly what is by most people considered a strength, I personally see as a weakness. I find it smacks of insecurity to constantly need to be validated and distracted, and find it actually reflects strength of character to be able to be alone, and to even be blissful in so being.

The 15th of December, 2024

The Seemingly Impossible Combination

It may seem a contradiction for a person who claims to be a recluse to have an online journal. The image generally associated with reclusivity is of people who are mentally ill, hide from humanity, are embittered, have given up on life, and have surrendered all sense of the aesthetic and of hygiene. The case is precisely the opposite for me, however. I personally would argue that a reclusive state is the healthiest existence for me, I do not hide in the least, am not even remotely embittered, fully embrace life, and I am in fact far more aesthetically and hygienically inclined than most social people.
To my own mind, there are actually two genres of recluses, namely, the invisible recluse, who matches all the stereotyped images most people have of the solitary person, and the visible recluse, to which subset I belong, who can even have families, who do embrace aesthetics and hygiene, who are visible, but who seek no social interaction outside of their domestic world.

I just really prefer to be alone, in the company of my dogs (at the moment singular). Seemingly ironically, I am in fact far more reclusive than certain people I have met who do exemplify all the stereotypes of the recluse. I really don’t mind a brief chat with people I recognize on the street, but I am immeasurably glad to be alone again after that, and I absolutely do not consider it a privation of any kind to spend the rest of the day alone. In fact, I far prefer it.

The reason I keep an online journal though, with respect to reclusivity, is in order to speak out for the recognition of and respect for a group of people who generally do not have a voice at all.

The 14th of December, 2024

In Praise of the Profane

I write this entry because of having run into so much advice online from people encouraging achieving one’s best, which say that such and such a behaviour is inherently bad, and needs to be abandoned in order to aspire to excellence. I completely agree with them that superficiality, which is absolutely rife at present, needs to be severely nipped in the bud, but I don’t agree with the concept of many actions being innately evil. Whether a person is heavily invested in the intellectual or in the physical (and I think a balance of both is necessary for everyone), rest, both mental and physical, is absolutely essential. It is in fact an integral part of the journey. So is titillating visual stimulation, which I constantly hear demonized by these online coaches. Periodically seeking it out relieves a very healthy biological need in fact. To try to quash it is really no different than church lady mores.

The Hellenist philosophy, to which I now personally adhere, as it is just as relevant in inspiring a person towards excellence today as in antiquity, places a great amount of emphasis on moderation. To see everything in terms of black and white is in fact extremist thought. Every human needs a balance of a bit of all the aspects to which he or she gravitates. To do anything in excess is unhealthy, and that equally includes abstention.

The 14th of December, 2024

Therapeutic Fluff

For the record, I have absolutely nothing against meaningless drivel, just, as with everything, there is a time and a place for it. I firmly reject duck-lipped selfie superficiality, but after a day of writing and thinking about weightier subjects, I personally need to just turn on the idiot box and empty my brain with senseless comedies and completely empty rubbish.
I have my limits; I myself have come to detest reality programmes, and I am insanely bored of house design shows. However, I really embrace there not just being a time for empty nonsense, personally I need it.

The 14th of December, 2024

Time for Logical Time

Daily Saving Time has been a thorn in my eye for many years. We are not all farmers, and it is not only completely pointless to maintain it in an age that is increasingly less agrarian, it costs heaps of money and trouble to uphold (and try explaining to my dog why he needs to wait an extra hour to go walk when the clocks are turned back). I am so thrilled to read this morning that the new president of the United States wants to end this nonsense (and stunned to read that two states already do not adhere to DST); I just hope this does not go the way of all the other promises he broke in his first term. The reason I care what the United States does in this, is because it will set a trend, that hopefully Europe will soon follow. The European Parliament was actually considering abolishing DST a number of years ago, but then corona shifted its focus, and it was (to date) sadly forgotten.

And then they can work to complete the metric system, by finally switching to the infinitely more logical system of metric time as well. The days of basing weights and measurements and time on multiples of sixes and twelves are really antiquated. I am thrilled that weights and measurements (with the exception of the United States) finally use the metric system. When it was introduced in France, that country switched over to metric time as well, but metric time was unfortunately abandoned some years later. A really lamentable change.

Source: https://snl.no/franske_revolusjonskalender

The 13th of December, 2024

The Health Excuse

This morning, as had happened for the umpteenth time in the past years, a person passing me in the countryside, with no-one around for miles, simply ignored my greeting. It has always been the norm that urban tourists do this, so this is usual in the summer, but not in December, and no rural person would ever have done this at any time of year. Until recently.
I gave the matter a great deal of thought, and suddenly realized when and how it began.

During the health hysteria of a few years ago, people suddenly changed. Interaction becoming far more superficial had been a trend for quite some years by then, but suddenly people completely withdrew. This is quite understandable, but the problem is that they didn’t return to their former behaviour, resulting in absurdities like the aforementioned, of people in the open countryside simply passing each other as if they hadn’t seen one another.

The corona panic affected not only interaction, but also the quality of products and services. People were actually paid extra during the hysteria to perform their jobs extra poorly, and, to boot, made out for heroes for doing so. This behaviour, and a severe plummeting in the quality of work, did not disappear after the lockdown of society either. The quality of most products is infinitely worse than before, and good service has also become a rarity.

What people think about that period is up to them (although voicing any other than the acceptable opinion, even now, automatically makes one ‘one of those ones’), but it is lamentable that human society has used the corona panic to lower their already abysmally low standards even more.

The 13th of December, 2024

The Existential Crossroads

Ultimately, every human life requires a choice between a life of excellence and a life of averageness. Most people by far opt for the easier route, that of averageness. Indecision itself is a choice as well, and automatically places the person on the road of averageness. It is also impossible to have a toe dipped in both pools.

The route of excellence is by far the more difficult one. It also places the person who chooses that path in the direct line of fire of a great deal of mockery and ridicule, even from the very highest echelons of averageness, but the results are absolutely astounding. True excellence can never be achieved by following the route of averageness. Its adherents ardently claim the exact opposite, but in practice it simply does not happen. People who choose the easier way always inevitably throw in the towel.

A life of sacrifice, discipline, and embracing adversity is the only way that leads to excellence.

We are all different, but the exact same principle equally applies to every area of life, from writing books to weight training.

The 13th of December, 2024

I personally found this momentous, as I have never before seen one, but this morning on my walk I found a dead European pine marten!

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_pine_marten#/media/File:Pine_Marten_(48173751702).jpg

The 12th of December, 2024

Let Sleeping Bears Lie

I, only because I accidentally landed on it, listened to the new NATO chief (the former Dutch prime minister, who incidentally had absolutely no qualms about violating fully six fundamental articles of the Dutch constitution whilst holding that post a few years ago) give his first address, in which he warned of imminent war. I otherwise read only the news headlines once a day in teletext, not out of any lack of interest, but in order to not get swept up in the continual stream of societal hysterias.

I still feel exactly as I felt even long before Russia invaded the Ukraine. The West has been poking at the Russian bear for years now, and then very hypocritically acts dismayed when it lashes out. Even before the invasion, Western countries were provoking Russia and constantly talking about war. Of course it’s wrong beyond belief that Russia should have invaded a sovereign nation, let it be abundantly clear, but it is the West, who, just as it has for years now, keeps talking about war with Russia, and I am really not happy with this continuous aggressive provocation.

My major concern in this matter regards living removed from human society. This is another instance, just as with the hysterical responses to a health crisis that is only now just really ending, that demonstrates how people who wish to remove themselves from human society are still dragged in against their will. I am all about supporting the protection of complete freedom of speech and conscience, but I really frown on the warmongering language that Western leaders themselves keep uttering. If the West is so peace-loving, and that doesn’t mean it needs to act spinelessly, it really needs to behave like it is peace-loving.

The 12th of December, 2024

Perpetual Victims

Watching a young lady griping on TV about how unkind people were to her in her youth (which I am absolutely not minimizing, it just isn’t the point of this realization), it dawned on me that her foundation in this is the same as that of all people who embrace victim status, namely, that she didn’t need to change, but that the rest of the world did. Possibly true, but the reality is that it will never happen.

Then I realized that all the misguided loose-cannon idealists of the present time possess the exact same victim mentality, namely, that they themselves do not need to change, but that the rest of the world does. No wonder that they spread more venom and bile than all the purported monsters they accuse of doing the exact same thing.

The 12th of December, 2024

The Grand Key

The great secret to succeeding in becoming one’s best self, is to embrace adversity. This will seem extremely counterintuitive, but, instead of taking on the generally accepted lie that a person's obstacles are problems and limitations, absolutely regardless of what they are, use them to your advantage. It may be difficult to find a positive side to these, especially when society constantly reminds people that they are limited by them, but the key is to learn to reshape them to work for one.
There really exist no such thing as too broken. A shining example is Stephen Hawking. There are no societal limitations either. Ambitious people always find a way, regardless of the many constraints placed on them by society, such as Catherine the Great, or Napoleon, or Oprah Winfrey.

Adversity can actually help us. It may force us to slow down, to do things differently, but we can still succeed. Adversity is a bit like the pressure placed on a stone that changes it into a diamond. Learn to actually be thankful for whatever adversity you face, as crazy as that may seem.

Perpetual victims, those who embrace whining and blaming others for their failures, will never get ahead, and not because of any limitations placed on them, but because their paralyzed state is in fact the identity they embrace. The truly successful, whatever form that success may take, depending entirely on the life to which they aspire, will only, and always (there is no exception to this) achieve their best because they embrace and use their challenges to their advantage.

We are all very different. One excels at baking cookies, the other at writing books. We all have different talents, and we all have different adversities. What is admirable about many historical figures, is what they achieve in spite of their obstacles. People who have it easy are not that terribly interesting anyway. One doesn't even need to personally like all the people who succeed. There are people I do not personally care for, but whose aspiration I still admire. 
True aspiration is not even about trying to achieve a place on the top rung of the societal ladder, but of creating a completely new and unique place for oneself.

The key is not just to tolerate adversity, to work around it, but to use it to one's advantage. 

The 12th of December, 2024

Literalist Positivity

The standard response to any expression of a negative experience or statement, is something to the effect of ‘I am sure it will be alright’. This is a completely meaningless gesture though, just like asking how someone is. The person stating it generally does not really care. The only reason the aforementioned assurance is given, is in order to stave off an awkward or uncomfortable situation.

At the risk of sounding bitchy, I completely blow people over by actually responding to this however. I really don’t mean it unkindly, but, being autistic, I take everything extremely literally. I seriously do not get that people say things and don’t mean them. So, for instance, I have on numerous occasions received absolutely stunned looks from people opening their doors upon my having taken them up on ‘You should come by some time’. Fortunately, for my own peace of mind and ability to function properly, I no longer attempt to comply with the rules of averageness or even be part of that world. In the past, when I still tried to be social, I responded to the aforementioned empty consolation by unexpectedly responding with things like: ‘No, you don’t. How could you possibly know that?’, or, ‘Pray tell, on what precisely do you base this certainty?’

I am completely about being positive, but there is an enormous difference between false and genuine positivity. I do not believe in lying to myself about anything. There is a time for grieving, and positivity can even be present in that. In fact, should be. A determination to follow a positive path may actually include grieving. Mourning is a necessary step sometimes. I detest sloppy sentimentality though, and loathe just talking about and rehashing emotions for the simple sake of talking. In this I am very much a man; I am very solution-oriented. I believing in expressing feelings, in being direct, albeit in a diplomatic way (which, however, still freaks out indirect people), and then finding a solution, by which to my mind the case is closed.

To me, empty statements are in fact really a reflection of shallowness. I have no desire to ‘fix’ myself in order to comply with its code. I very much get it now. It is simply in order to appear kind, but without having to exert any effort in actually being it.

The 11th of December, 2024

Inverted Morality

In the now-dominant (imported) religion of Europe, the Beatitudes, the blessings invoked in the sermon on the Mount, are held as being the absolute heart of Christian religion. I completely agree with this assertion, because this text perfectly encapsulates the very crux of what that belief system stands for, and why it is not even remotely compatible with the Hellenistic beliefs I myself now embrace.

Statements such as ‘blessed are the poor in spirit’ or ‘the meek shall inherit the earth’ are expressions of a faith rooted in a glorification of weakness, suffering, and lack of intelligence, one that is based in fear, one that (although it claims the opposite, very much encourages these ideas), is hostile to females, openly detests the human body, and loathes this world. It is invested in the blind acceptance of a supposed afterlife.

It is in direct odds with the Ancient Greek beliefs, which I feel are as potent and relevant today as in antiquity, which glorify, provide humanly attainable examples, and spur on to: strength, enlightenment, excellence, and which celebrate the complete human and the world he or she inhabits. The Hellenic philosophy is invested in this life, in not just embracing both sexes, but even providing strong female role models in completely equal female deities. It encourages people to cherish their present existence, their bodies, their humanity, and their environment.

Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 11th of December, 2024

The Most Overrated Virtue

Due to the fact that Christianity has dominated and shaped European culture for several millennia now, a religion that by its nature celebrates weakness, suffering, and lack of intelligence, one is inculcated from birth to believe that boundless forgiveness is a virtue.

Ironically, I am actually far more forgiving and longsuffering than most of the people who purport to embrace this supposed virtue, but I do have my limits, and I personally now feel it is in fact dangerous to infinitely forgive. The principle actually, if applied as literally as it is taught, only serves as an invitation for abuse. I write this entry, because as an autist raised in a fundamentalist religious environment, I grew up applying infinitely more literally all the precepts of the spiritual community than almost all of my fellow adherents, which only made me appear as laying out a welcome matt for abuse by meanspirited people.

Not considering unlimited forgiveness a virtue is not about embracing bitterness or any of the other very obvious criticisms that will be launched at this seemingly blasphemous concept, but about drawing a line at certain behaviours. Petty mistakes made by goodhearted people should naturally be forgiven and forgotten, but forgiveness can never be used as a licence for abuse by venomous souls. That is not a virtue at all, it is self-destructive, which goes completely in against all I believe now.

‘Turning the other cheek’ is not sage advice at all, it is not about being strong in the least, it simply demonstrates a serious lack of self-respect.

The 10th of December, 2024

The Destructive Effect of Soppy Idealism

The naïvely idealistic proponents of the mass importation of non-European cultures and peoples into Europe, very often point out all the many cultural elements that have been integrated into European cultures over the centuries, such as falafel and chinoiserie, not just not destroying them, but enriching them. What these idealists do not consider however, is that the importation and incorporation of material elements from other cultures is a completely different phenomenon to adopting the full ideology of a culture. Change is a necessary constant in any culture, and the adoption of foreign cultural expressions is absolutely normal, but change always needs to be internal and gradual, and not simple replacement of cultures. No culture can remain intact with the adoption of a foreign philosophy.
The adoption by Japanese culture of the Buddhist religion is not a good example in defence of this cultural replacement, because this occurred when Japanese culture was still in its infancy, in 552 CE. Humans had been present in Japan for about 36 500 years then, but the population was still relatively low at the time of the adoption of Buddhism, around 5 000 000 (now 124 500 000, or, about 25 x as many people). The cultural incorporation gave Japanese Buddhism a decidedly Japanese character, and changed the culture of Japan immeasurably, but the alteration was part of the growth of the Japanese national identity, and most certainly not a negative phenomenon. Buddhism was an enlightened and peaceable philosophy, however, and therein lies an essential difference with the present European situation.

If European cultures were to assimilate the at-present-dominant foreign ideologies in a similar way as in Early Mediaeval Japan, it will only serve to pull Europe into a new Dark Age. The largest imported cultures of the moment incorporate mentalities that more resemble those in Europe in the Middle Ages. It will not bring enlightenment to the adopted philosophies. It will not, as in Japan, infuse them with a positive native flair, but rather lamentably draw European thought in darkness, and then, when the unrealistic sentimentalists finally wake up to what an absolute dystopia they have made of the free world, it will be too late to turn around.

The 10th of December, 2024

Enlightenment versus Dogmatism

One has, in our time, the tendency to regard religion as separate from the rest of culture. This is especially underlined in an age of multiculturalism, in which the belief system of individuals, very often connected with their traditional roots, is regarded as a completely different phenomenon from the shared national culture.

Historically, however, when the world was still a much more monolithic place, not only were ethnic groups attached to a specific land, but spirituality was an integral part of the culture. This means that the ritual customs and belief system of a particular group is a good indicator of the freedom of thought and intellectual diversity of a particular culture. I am thinking in particular of the Ancient Greeks, and how the term ‘Hellenistic’ encompassed myriad philosophies and cultural expressions, as opposed to certain cultures that could allow only a single line of thought. This is another of the fundamental differences between native European pagan (in this case, Hellenic) spirituality, and imported Abrahamic spirituality. It is not characteristic of European thought to be dogmatic, and I personally am of the strong conviction that attempting to quash intellect has arrested European intellectual and cultural development by literally centuries.

This is one of the manifold reasons I personally embrace neo-Hellenism. The very foundations lend themselves to intellectual and cultural development, which imported spiritual blinders can never, no matter the amount of mental gymnastics their liberal adherents perform. At their roots, the imported dominant religions of the West, especially the largest one, will always champion weakness and lack of intelligence, which cannot but affect the thinking of its followers, no matter how liberal an interpretation they adopt. Conversely, the very base of every one of the many ideological branches of Hellenism celebrates the veneration of virtues such as enlightenment, strength, and excellence.

The setting sun shining through pillars of the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.
Source: https://picryl.com/media/athens-the-parthenon-greek-4fd936

The 10th of December, 2024

Olfactory Observation

When I started with the (natural) testosterone booster six days ago, instantly everything my body emitted, from my scent to my urine, took on a pungent smell. I assumed this would be lasting.
Yesterday evening, so, five days after having begun the treatment, my urine suddenly began to smell like apple juice (somewhat acidic, but less bitter), and by morning my body scent had lost the pungency altogether.

This observation is not about the expected effects of the testosterone booster, but I was not thrilled about the sudden bitter odour my body took on, so it was a relief to discover that this proved to be of a temporary nature.

The 9th of December, 2024

Just the Beginning

Aside from the obvious assumptions that will be made about my reclusiveness by average society, seeing it as a sign of my having given up on life, even the most accepting people will most likely be left thinking that I have settled into a withdrawal from society, and thus intend to blissfully live out the rest of my days.

With utter verve I do embrace this reclusive lifestyle, and I most certainly intend to enjoy passing a very relaxed and peaceful existence, but, contrary to all assumptions, this is to me not the end, but in fact the start.
A tranquil life, removed from the emotional flittiness and constant series of hysterias of mankind, finally provides me with a solid and personally authentic basis in order carry out the projects about which I am truly passionate, which I was unable to do before, although I unsuccessfully tried for decades, whilst being constantly bombarded with negativity and stress and mental clamour.

Pastel hues created by the rising sun on a mass of clouds hanging over the Western Scheldt in Zealand in the Netherlands
Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 9th of December, 2024

Had I But Known

Reclusiveness is still seen as a mental problem, and as effectively throwing in the towel on life.

I most admittedly do have intense social panic, I have had numerous instances of running away, and I drank copious amounts of liquor for years, but only ever in order to make social contact possible. I was made to believe that I had a problem, that I was an alcoholic, and that I had a running-away problem. However, I only ever drank in social situations, not even a drop at home (in all honestly, I do not even like the taste), and it is abundantly clear to me in hindsight why I ran away numerous times. I wasted literal decades of life believing the lies that I had a problem, seeking out social company in order to ‘fix’ myself. In retrospect, I was only aggravating the problem... which was not at all rooted in panic, in alcoholism, or in running. My real problem was that I was accepting the lie that I needed to be social, which went directly in against every fibre of my being.

Now that I have at very long last realized and accepted this, I feel incredibly peaceful and blissful, alone with my dog. I haven’t sought out human company in years in fact, and I savour every second of my life. I am not a shut-in at all. I have all my groceries delivered, now order everything online, and avoid all crowded places, but I spend as much of my time outside in nature as possible, which really fills me with a sense of intense joy and peace.
Contrary to the myth, reclusiveness is not about giving up on life, it is in fact the exact opposite for me, it is about embracing life!

Contrary to all appearances probably, I do not keep an online journal or write this particular entry in order to gripe, but in the hope that I might save a kindred spirit years of needless suffering by accepting untruths from an average world that attacks any deviating lifestyle.

The 9th of December, 2024

Hysterias and Broomsticks

Based on my own observations of the behaviours of average people around me today, I think phenomena like the witch trials of several centuries ago in fact had very little to do with witchcraft or anything of the kind at all. Average people always feel threatened by anything that deviates from their norm, then slap labels on it that conform either to their perceptions, or that conform to the degree in which they wish to see the deviant punished. Burnings at the stake have thankfully now fallen out of favour, but the phenomenon really remains the same; it just takes on other forms, making it appear different. So, for instance, slapping the label ‘witch’ on everyone who is a nonconformist or who has fallen from grace, is really no different than to how just a very few decades ago many homosexuals in the enlightened West were systematically persecuted and had completely untrue labels such as ‘paedophile’ attached to them, destroying their reputations forever. Public apologies aside, such as that made by the Canadian prime minister just a number of years ago, although necessary, serve only to obviate his government from any further need to attempt to repair the damage it inflicted on its own citizens. ‘Where there is smoke there is fire’ being a guiding maxim of average society however, the label of the witch hunt remains intact forever.

All lifestyles that do not conform to the accepted norm are vilified by the use of completely ludicrous and unrelated charges, from poisoning wells (the charge levelled at Jews in plague-stricken Europe), flying on broomsticks and being in league with the Devil, to preying on innocent children. They really are all exactly the same, and human society is today unfortunately no less prone to social panic than ever.

The 9th of December, 2024

The Return of the Bearded Lady

Until far into the twentieth century, the Bearded Lady was basically an institution in circuses around the world. Along with many other seemingly timeless conventions of circuses, this freak show (mercifully) fell out of favour.

However, it is rather curious that the very same phenomenon has now popped up again, and oddly now amidst the very people fighting to rid human society of such sensationalistic spectacles. Now re-emerged, reclad, but in the same bright colours of the rainbow as the clowns and other entities of the world from which it was liberated, the Bearded Lady is now embraced as being a completely new icon of the community of individuals who embrace a gender-defying ideology.

I am all about true freedom, and to my dying breath I will defend everyone’s right to be him- or herself, but the courtesy needs to be reciprocal (which it isn’t even remotely). It is really astounding to me that the irony of the aforementioned is lost on the very rebranders of the phenomenon of the Bearded Lady.

The 9th of December, 2024

Taboos of the Quixote Age

Just as in every era throughout history, average humans think that all taboos have been overcome, this only because the are incapable of seeing the ones that are still prevalent. In this time period, in which average people think that all important societal prohibitions have been resolved, and in which completely misguided self-styled warriors are wrapped up in making mountains out of molehills, wasting their energy charging at windmills they imagine to be dragons, there in fact remain numerous real social taboos that remain unaddressed. Off the top of my head, for instance, I can, due to the simple fact that they are personally relevant, instantly name four:

Reclusiveness: still seen as an inherently mental problem, or as having given up on life, which in some cases it is, but not in those of people who are simply wired this way.

Androphilia: really not simply masculine gayness. The two are polar opposites within homosexuality: gayness is innately gender-defying, whilst androphilia is gender-embracing.

Autism: seen as a disease, simply because it does not conform to average human norms. In fact, it is really hypersensitive giftedness, and requires a firm structure. Autists have enormous talents to contribute to human society, but these are being neglected by treating autists as diseased.

Naturism: instantly associated with nudity, although it refers to a complete lifestyle in communion with nature. Nakedness is merely one aspect, but due to the prudish physicality-hating norms of average humanity, the human body is instantly associated with sexuality, which in fact has nothing whatsoever to do with true naturism.

The 8th of December, 2024

The Grownup Version of Monsters Under the Bed

People are led to believe that conservatism is the opposite of liberalism. In fact, it is really just slow liberalism. Those deemed conservatives put up a struggle upon the introduction of new ideas, but in the end they accept them, just at a slower rate. Ultimately they are precisely the same, except that conservatives take longer to arrive at the same place.
Mainstream conservatives are really just the acceptable right. We are constantly told that they represent the right, but they really represent a slow left.

The true opposite of liberalism is what is now constantly smeered as being extremist, or fascist, or whatever other unbased slurs the left can conveniently come up with to silence their real opposition.

I recently, just before, and one of the countless reasons that, I finally left social media for good, saw posted a meme by a woke fanatic about fighting all the fascists and nazis. It really took me everything I have in me to not reply to it the following: Very noble sentiment, but where are all these fascists and nazis of whom you speak?
Yes, there are most certainly a few fringe lunsatics, but they really are a minority. The sentiment the aforementioned post really expressed, was code for proudly having embraced the lie that the liberal's political opponents are fascist monsters who want to kill everyone. It has absolutely nothing to do with real nazis.

No, this does not mean I side with either political belief system. I side with certain opinions on either side of the ideological spectrum, but by far not all of either. I am simply stating an observation.

The 8th of December, 2024

Ersatz Deities

Generally, the (Western) people I have encountered who claim to be pagans treat their belief system as a sort of replacement for the dominant religions in the West, believing their adherence to be fundamentally different, but in reality simply swapping figures, but maintaining the same ideology shaped by their former religions.
After decades of working my way out of fundamentalist Christianity, I have come to embrace ancient Hellenism, not as a reactionary thing, but because I truly believe its precepts, now I have come to truly understand them.

Some years ago I read a comment online by a Greek, explaining that Ancient Greek belief was more about adoration than worship, not literal, but symbolic. It was then that everything fell into place. For decades it had confused me how a people that knew to taper columns in their architecture, in order that these appear straight, would believe in the real existence of a slough of deities. This is also the approach of most people to Hellenism, always studying it through lenses shaped by Abrahamic thought. Herein lies the foundational mistake though, which in fact makes it completely impossible to truly understand Hellenism.
All the many deities of Ancient Greece are representations of virtues to which to aspire, and are presented in a humanly accessible manner.

Although the uneducated masses of Ancient Greece will certainly have embraced literal belief in their manifold gods, even in antiquity, the more enlightened minority will already have adhered to adoration of the gods as symbols. Most certainly there also exist countless liberal followers of Abrahamic religions, whose interpretation is also of a symbolic nature, but there still exists a fundamental difference, and this is why I personally cannot adhere to it. The (non-native) dominant religions of the West have always been based in a very literal interpretation, and are in their very beliefs mutually exclusivist in nature. Any liberal interpretation of them requires mental gymnastics (or no thinking). Personally, even though I believe their precepts are pure evil, I am of the conviction that only a literalist interpretation of their beliefs is valid.

The most essential difference is that whilst especially Christianity sets on a pedestal as being virtuous concepts such as weakness and failure and lack of intelligence, Hellenism conversely celebrates strength, success, enlightenment, and the aspiration to wisdom, all of which are no less relevant today than they were in antiquity.

Source: PickPik.com

The 8th of December, 2024

Voluntarily on the Edge

I very deliberately live on the fringe of society. I very blissfully lead a reclusive life (a concept that is not socially acceptable), I far prefer my dogs to most people (not because I anthropomorphize them, but because I really like them more), I don’t have (human) friends (because I choose this), I don’t use social media anymore (because I refuse to be dragged into intolerance and superficiality), and I follow the news only by perusing the headlines once a day on teletext (because then I can keep myself abreast of the happenings in the world, without seeing images or being dragged into hysteria). All of human history is just one succession of hysterias, and now it has reached an absolute crescendo. This is not because more happens than ever, even though it feels like it, but because easier global communication and visual news reporting make everything feel like things are happening on one’s doorstep.

The 8th of December, 2024

On Escaping Ideological Tyranny

I have myself just chosen to leave for good all forms of social media. I have been banned from and bullied on the major ones for expressing only nuanced opinions, although always in an intelligent way, very ironically by those proclaiming the loudest about their adherence to love and tolerance. Hoping to find more ideological freedom on alternative social media, I was met with the exact same lack of respect and virulent anger though.

Only on my own website do I have the real freedom to express myself as I wish, without being pounced on by conceptual bullies. I harbour no illusions that my thoughts will reach infinitely less people, but I would far rather a single person take the time to stimulate his or her own intellectual formation by entertaining new ideas, than to have legions of likes from shallow people who cannot really be bothered to read anything. We do not all need to hold the same opinions, but we have to listen to others in order to achieve truly enlightened ones.

The 8th of December, 2024

The Bedrock of Wisdom

More than ever in human history most people side with one ideological party and completely block out any information coming from others, meaning that they deem themselves intelligent, but essentially hear only one side (or believe that considering the accepted ones, which are still only one one side, means that they are really considering all opinions). This equally includes the reigning societal concept of what is acceptable as being intelligent. This is based on fear however, which is the basis of the exact opposite, of all unintelligent thought. This is the basis of extremism, not of wisdom.

What escapes nearly everyone these days, is that wisdom is not constituted of a single right ideology at all, but requires careful and respectful consideration of every view. Wisdom can never be black-and-white, but always consists of grey and nuanced ideas.

The 8th of December, 2024

An Absence of Respect

There was a time, really until just a number of years ago, in which it was still acceptable that a person could say ‘I am not really that into politics’. Since the advent of the history-rewriting and extremely virulent political polarization that has swept through all of Western society, this has been made impossible. Even if a person makes an effort to distance him- or herself from the seething hate and intolerance that all ideological parties display, very ironically in an age with the highest literacy rate in history, most people do not read anything, but simply pick out key words that to their minds places the writer in such or such category. It is completely pointless to express any nuanced views, because most auditors are by choice completely deaf to them anyway.

In an age of bull-in-china-shop behaviour and mud-slinging, what is needed more than ever is simple respect and politeness.

The 7th of December, 2024

Ode to Testosterone

In my late twenties, after a decade of extreme skinniness, of feeling ugly and looking gaunt, weighing only 54 kilos (at 1.82 m), I began to train very hard with weights and was exceedingly disciplined with my diet, resulting in a gain of a whopping 31 kilos in muscle in just a few years. I was never massive, but developed a very dry athletic physique. My testosterone levels absolutely soared in those years as well. I even began to look and behave more masculinely than before, and it also made my emotions far more level and eradicated depression.

Some years go, after decades of doctors having pushed statins at me, I regrettably finally caved to my doctor’s insistence to put me on a statin. I could easily have lowered those levels through diet, as I had before. Unexpectedly, within just a few months my body completely ballooned, and my features were literally unrecognizably altered. No exaggeration, I did not even look like myself anymore, and my body suddenly behaved like that of a very old man, with excruciating pains and constant bruising and all that. I say nothing anymore on the subject to anyone, because I know other people think I am just denying ageing, which is absolutely not the case.

A few years ago, I took all medical matters into my own hands, weened myself off the handful of medications I had by then been prescribed, and have found natural solutions for everything on my own instead. After all this time desperately but unsuccessfully trying to get rid of the effects of the statin, I have had to conclude that it had completely changed my physical chemistry. There was absolutely nothing I tried that could get rid of the devastating effects.

A short time ago, a thought suddenly entered my mind, which was confirmed by my subsequent internet search on the subject, namely, that the statin had raised the oestrogen levels in my body.

So, less than a week ago I put myself on a natural testosterone booster. Naturally I hoped a lot, but didn’t realistically expect a miracle. I had read in reviews by (presumably young) weight trainers that they had felt extra energetic after a month or so.
It has absolutely blown me away: after just a single day (!) my urine began to smell different and my body scent changed (not that I was aspiring to either, but the change was very noticeable, a much more pungent odour). After just a few days, I began to feel stronger and more energetic again. And last night, just a few days in, was the first time in years that I haven’t had to get up to pee in the night. Most of these will seem unrelated to testosterone, but it really is as though my body is suddenly Benjamin-Buttoning.

Seriously unbelievable so far. To be continued...

The 4th of December, 2024

The Ultimate Irony

Countless people calling themselves naturists on social media, spreading sexual images and videos, in fact display the exact same obsessive sexualization of the body as prudish body-hating people.

Sensuality is integral to the human body, sexuality is a healthy human function, but naturism is not about sex!

The 28th of November, 2024

In Praise of Intelligence

All my life I have heard people from the religions that dominate the Western World say things like: ‘I am not allowed to [do such and such] because my religion says so’, or, ‘I believe [such and such] because the [insert name of their scripture] says [such and such]’. I just think then: ‘And, what do you think?’, or, ‘Are you capable of thinking for yourself?’

If they had wanted to, possessing a vast literary tradition, the Classical Greeks could easily have devised a Hellenist scripture. They chose not to though, and I find this is very telling, and another of the countless fundamental differences between pagan (in this case, Hellenist) religious thought and Abrahamic doctrinal teachings. Instead of having a single authoritative book, Hellenism contained a vast library of spiritual and philosophical literature.
I think it is very representative of the mentality of both: Abrahamic religions deem all wisdom to be contained in a single book, whilst Hellenist spirituality realistically embraces the necessity of an entire library to attain it.

The dominant religions of the Western World actually encourage, even teach as being virtuous, a complete surrender of the mental faculties. Conversely, Western paganism (and, in this case, more specifically Hellenism) actually encourages the polar opposite, namely, celebrating the development of the mind and the acquisition of knowledge and wisdom.

The 21st of November, 2024

On True Naturism

I am a naturist in the very truest sense of the word. Unfortunately, naturism is almost universally associated with nudity, but this is just one aspect of it. Naturism is about living in complete harmony with nature, which includes includes many aspects, such as natural healing, exercise, and diet. It is a complete lifestyle.

I am absolutely not prudish, am in fact very physical, but my nudity is not an inherently sexual thing, nor is it an invitation. The priggish reactions of and sexualization by average people are a reflection of their own views, not of mine.

The 8th of November, 2024

On Purported Limitations

All human beings are capable of infinitely more than they are led to believe.

All?

All.

Even the ones with limitations?

Especially the ones with so-called limitations.

Average human beings are constantly pushing categories and constraints on people who do not function in the same way as the masses. Not only are many of what they deem diseases not problems at all, but in fact often gifts. They just need to be channelled the right way.

We don’t all need to do the same. For some, their great strength and passion is to bake scones, and for others to write books on philosophy, for instance. Absolutely every talent is equally necessary, equally valuable.

The 27th of October, 2024

Quote of the Day

<< ...finding the circumstances entirely hopeless, he took a pistol, and, rashly assuming that he had brains in his head, tried to blow them out. >>

Excerpt from Armadale (1866), by Wilkie Collins

The 7th of September, 2024

Quote of the Day

<< ‘I used to think that you promised to be pretty, child,’ she [the mother] said, ... ‘But you don’t seem to be keeping your promise.’ >>

Excerpt from Armadale (1866), by Wilkie Collins

The 11th of August, 2024

On Discipline I

Discipline is about focusing on the longterm goal rather than on the object of instant gratification.

The 11th of August, 2024

On Discipline

Discipline is not in the least based on sentiment, but on determination in spite of feeling or mood. The average way, that of most people, is rooted in the exact opposite, sentiment and instant gratification of desires.

The 8th of August, 2024

Quote of the Day

<< …sublimely indifferent on both sides to a solemn bass accompaniment on two notes, played by the curate’s mother’s unsuspecting nose. >>

Excerpt from Armadale (1866), by Wilkie Collins

The 1st of August, 2024

Literary Weight Training

Every day I spend an hour or two reading aloud from free online books in the few languages that are most important to me, most notably English and French.

I don’t need to learn English, but, aside from simply ever increasing my vocabulary, I do it because the brain functions a lot like bodily muscles. If one does not maintain a particular cerebral ability by regularly training it, that area atrophies. There is no such thing as having got knowledge of a language down, and not having to maintain it by mental training, precisely as there is no such thing as maintain bodily muscle without maintenance training.

As for French, having lived in France, I spoke the language well enough on a conversational level already, but I am determined to become completely fluent now. So every day I read aloud from books in French as well, making certain to pronounce every single syllable as perfectly as possible, looking up any words I do not know, and listening to the online translator (which is not bad for a language with as large a number of speakers as French) for any uncertainties regarding pronunciation. About a year ago, I was still having to stop to check definitions and pronunciations every few moments, which admittedly was extremely disheartening, but now I am able to read up to a quarter of an hour at times without having to check anything. My pronunciation for most words is fixed now, and I know the meanings of most of the words I read now as well. It is an advantage to periodically need to begin new books, by different authors, because the vocabulary of each writer is quite different.

I am a real zealous proponent of this, my own, method of language study, because it encourages near-flawless pronunciation, as well as, instead of memorizing tedious grammatical lists, teaching them in the way a child acquires a language, by simply storing the words and grammatical structures that most often occur. I admit that my grammar in French was absolutely abysmal when I began on this venture, but now the grammatical tenses are being assimilated in a very natural way.

It is still difficult for me to follow films in French, which is apparently a very common plight for people learning that language, as Francophone speakers tend to speak very quickly, and their homonym-rich language is the polar opposite of the staccato pronunciation of, say, Italian. However, this literary Mont Ventoux provides me with what I consider my ultimate test in fluency. I can now follow about half of what is said in films, if I really focus, and some ninety percent if the movie has subtitles in French, but only when I can follow a complete movie dialogue without any problem, will I consider myself as having achieved fluency.

On my computer I have various books saved, which I all expand to four hundred times the normal size. This allows me to really focus on each syllable (well, it psychologically seems to help). At the end of my reading, I write in my day planner the first next phrase for the next day. Killing two birds with one stone, this also helps me to daily practice my calligraphic handwriting skill as well.

The 1st of August, 2024

Non-Covetous Ambition

One should always aspire the achieve excellence in the areas in which one is talented, but to also ever be content with one’s present station in life. If fate brings financial riches in executing one’s passions, so be it, but never let wealth be the goal. It is impossible to be both fixated in climbing the economic ladder and living a blissful and meditative lifestyle.

The 1st of August, 2024

Floral Scents and Aspirations

One doesn’t need to be good at everything to achieve excellence. In fact, it is humanly impossible, even for a multitalented person. One need only excel at the one or more things to which one is most inclined, be that baking muffins or designing buildings. Both are equally important, because society can only function when everyone of its aspects is attended to. 

What is common to every person, is that absolutely everyone needs both a solid bodily and a financial foundation.

Physical ability will differ from person to person, ranging from a healthy athlete to a sickly amputee, but both need to achieve the best they can with what they have. It is an absolute myth that all of humanity can be divided into those people who are physically inclined, and those who are mentally inclined, that the former is necessarily superficial, and the second is the only possibility for mental depth. Absolutely everyone needs the body to function optimally in order for the brain (also a part of the body) to function properly.

As to finances: unless one is compelled through health reasons to not work, it is essential for every person to achieve financial independence. This can mean a very modest income, but equally a very sumptuous one. In either case, money is never the key to happiness, but it is essential to provide a  basis in order to execute one’s real talents and passions. Whether one lives in a tiny cottage or in an enormous castle, it is really equally possible to live a life of intense bliss, of elegance, of simplicity, and one that at the same time aims for the best.

It is truly possible to both proverbially smell the roses and aspire to excellence.

The 31st of July, 2024

Perfect Imperfection

Nearly every day now it seems the Dutch news contains one or two shamelessly propagandistic articles, extolling the virtues of artificial intelligence.

I am personally rather zealously opposed to the application of AI to most of the fields in which it is currently lauded as providing the ultimate solution though. It is not a black-and-white question however; AI certainly has a number of good points. Off the top of my head I would mention the ability to allow me to listen to dead ancient languages. However, it cannot be a replacement for human effort, and therein lies my problem with it. It cannot be used as an excuse to expiate people from working to achieve things, such as, to use my previous example, to learn languages.

I grew up in an extremely conservative religious community, in which at their advent, even vacuum cleaners were forbidden. I can already hear the AI evangelists’ condemnation of my stance, claiming it to be a simple refusal to go with the times. This is not the case in the least, however.
I very much embrace positive change. Whereas a mere decade and a half ago, I was spending an average of two hundred hours painstakingly painting the posterized images I still produce, with the computer I can now posterize in the blink of an eye, which frees me to focus on other aspects of my art. I would not even wish to dream of a life without a computer now. Not only is it a marvellous tool, but it provides me with a universal library, unlimited access to an infinite amount of knowledge, and a forum, such as this one, to present my views to people around the globe. It conversely affords licence for the superficial to become even more shallow, but this is ironically perhaps a good thing, as it in fact serves to separate the wheat from the chaff.

My big problem with AI is that it removes the human element from everything. Aside from the mere physical effort and mental energy it replaces, it takes away what makes any cultural expression essentially human. Even when a person has honed a skill to absolute perfection, there always remains a very subtle trace of imperfection, such as a slight hint of an accent in speech, or a miniscule shakiness in the writing of a letter in calligraphy. And it is precisely these aspects that lend an individualistic character to any cultural expression. And this AI cannot reproduce. It is perfect, but it is also too perfect.

To use the example of calligraphy, it is precisely the interplay of letters, and the fact that, even when the skill is honed to perfection, each letter is ever so slightly different, that makes humanly produced calligraphy special.  AI can never do this.

It requires a good eye for quality (in everything) to distinguish computer-generated works from humanly produced ones, but this is what is becoming ever more required of people invested in high quality.

I personally think that the technological tyranny will create (and is already creating) a division in society, wherein the masses will mindlessly keep going along with everything, indulging in cheap consumerism, but wherein a far smaller group will support the resurgence of true craftsmanship and real humanly produced quality.

A print I made from a sample of my own calligraphy, of a short poem in seventeenth-century Dutch

Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 30th of July, 2024

The True Meaning

Discipline can only exist in the absence of motivation.

The 29th of July, 2024

The Poplar Version of the Bodhi Tree

Seated in the shade of a tree as I just was, with a refreshing breeze wafting over me, watching an extremely content Dio (<Diomedes) sleeping on the grass beside me, I reflected on the fact that my lifestyle is in fact a sort of permanent meditation.

I can already hear the excuses of most people : That’s all very well, but I have to… Well, I respectfully disagree. It is a choice. It is always a choice. Every single person can live a very meditative life; it just means that one cannot live an average life at the same time. One cannot keep up with the Jones’s and live a blissful existence. It is not even a financial question; the two are in fact polar opposites of each other.

Choosing a slow and tranquil existence does not imply having to live in poverty; it means having to live a simple life, but even that can be done in an elegant fashion. In fact, I would argue that it provides much more beauty than material wealth and success can.

Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 29th of July, 2024

My Kingdom in Time

I often muse that rather than owning a ‘kingdom in space’, I own a ‘kingdom in time’. Each morning I get up hours before most other people, take my dog for a walk of about an hour as the sun is just rising, and am privy to a world filled with exceptional beauty that is mine alone for merely that short span of time, but, every day.

The sun rising over the Western Scheldt in Zealand in the Netherlands, as seen from Hoofdplaat in Zealandic Flanders

Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 29th of July, 2024

A Minimalist Approach to Photography

People generally think that any passion, in any area, requires expensive equipment. Excellent photography, for instance, truly only requires a keen eye for beauty and composition. I am in fact very proud of the results I can achieve in photography with a very inexpensive pocket camera, which I carry with me all the time. Even if I were to be financially wealthy, I would now still choose to take pictures with the same type of camera I now use, because I find the results completely satisfactory.

Sunrise colouring the sky just outside of Hoofdplaat in Zealandic Flanders in the Netherlands

Credit: A.A. de Sauvanie

The 29th of July, 2024

Untapped Potential

All human beings, regardless of background or situation, are capable of infinitely more than they themselves believe.

Strong spirits always find a means to succeed, notwithstanding any of the impediments they are told make it impossible for them. One doesn’t need one’s success to be based on anyone else’s notion of that concept anyway. Being one’s best and achieving a state of bliss is true success.

The 29th of July, 2024

The Two-Edged Authenticity Sword

The term ‘authenticity’ is rather carelessly thrown about and misapplied a lot these days, often employed as a tool to cut down an aspiring person, by whose achievements one feels threatened, a notch or two. The word is exclusively used to refer to a person’s concrete roots. However, I strongly assert that in order to be true to one’s real nature, which is arguably even more justified in being categorized under 'authenticity', one may actually need to change.

A.A. de Sauvanie