Inspiration can often hit me from the most unexpected directions.
For instance, yesterday's set by Aphobia got me thinking about the word "aphobia" and what it means. Is it a lack of fear or a fear of nothing, which if you think about it are not quite the same things.
It also reminded me of a word I'd seen earlier in the tour: pronoia. The concept being that it is the equal opposite of paranoia, and therefore a belief that the universe is conspiring in your favor. This sounds great! I mean, if you're going to be delusional, you may as well make it work for you!
I like this idea so much, I'm tempted to change my member name to Pronoia. Do you think it would encourage Aphobia to comment on my profile? I can believe it would! Huzzah! The universe is totally on my side!
One of the most powerful tools of thought I've ever come across was from the works of Keith Johnstone (Impro) describing how if you come across any generally accepted "truth", try out its opposite and see if it's also true. I don't recall if that was his or if he got it from someone else (possibly Buber) but it's a handy thing to try out in a lot of situations.
For instance, I recall first coming across the word "misandry" and finding out it's the gender opposite of misogyny, that is, the hatred of men. It makes sense that there's a word for that, but I recall being amazed that I and many people around me had known the word misogyny for years and had never heard the word misandry. (Not to be confused with the word "misanthropy" which is a hatred of humanity and has its own play by Moliere.) For a while I couldn't even find it in dictionaries.
That's changed now, but I'm still thrown by the fact that emasculate and effeminate are not opposite of each other. In fact, one is a verb for the active removal of masculine attributes, either literal or figurative, and the other is an adjective describing something without masculine attributes, so in a way they're more similar than opposed.
Silly English.
For instance, yesterday's set by Aphobia got me thinking about the word "aphobia" and what it means. Is it a lack of fear or a fear of nothing, which if you think about it are not quite the same things.
It also reminded me of a word I'd seen earlier in the tour: pronoia. The concept being that it is the equal opposite of paranoia, and therefore a belief that the universe is conspiring in your favor. This sounds great! I mean, if you're going to be delusional, you may as well make it work for you!
I like this idea so much, I'm tempted to change my member name to Pronoia. Do you think it would encourage Aphobia to comment on my profile? I can believe it would! Huzzah! The universe is totally on my side!
One of the most powerful tools of thought I've ever come across was from the works of Keith Johnstone (Impro) describing how if you come across any generally accepted "truth", try out its opposite and see if it's also true. I don't recall if that was his or if he got it from someone else (possibly Buber) but it's a handy thing to try out in a lot of situations.
For instance, I recall first coming across the word "misandry" and finding out it's the gender opposite of misogyny, that is, the hatred of men. It makes sense that there's a word for that, but I recall being amazed that I and many people around me had known the word misogyny for years and had never heard the word misandry. (Not to be confused with the word "misanthropy" which is a hatred of humanity and has its own play by Moliere.) For a while I couldn't even find it in dictionaries.
That's changed now, but I'm still thrown by the fact that emasculate and effeminate are not opposite of each other. In fact, one is a verb for the active removal of masculine attributes, either literal or figurative, and the other is an adjective describing something without masculine attributes, so in a way they're more similar than opposed.
Silly English.
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
rue_:
I bought it on Friday 
49 bucks too! Bloody expensive I say. Sorry, I would have had it been brought up earlier.
49 bucks too! Bloody expensive I say. Sorry, I would have had it been brought up earlier.
carla:
FFWD? Calgary? I seem to vaguely recall that being the indy mag there... but nope, that definitely wasn't me. Too bad, too; if I could do my own pics, I'd probably have done a set by now 