Deflection from the Existential Stakes
Let’s workshop this poem about the delusion, peddled too often in philosophy-lite podcasts, that—to speak by analogy—solving our financial problems is as simple as redefining one dollar as a million.
scent of the day: Portrayal Man, by Amouage.—A bohemian-dandy fragrance (think: Oscar Wilde’s signature scent) I see (despite its aquatic and green elements) as a pastel purple like mauve or lilac (purple due to the emphasis on violet, but pastel due to iris-leather combo being extremely recessive compared to what we see in its electric-amethyst brother Imitation Man or in the plum-eggplant Black Knight by Franchesca Bianchi), Portrayal Man—a wispy watercolor when its comes to its many Bel-Ami-reminiscent easter eggs (BO cumin, licoricey carraway, peppery carnation, woody nutmeg, damp patchouli, lactonic sandalwood, even perhaps Overture Man cognac) while at the same time deserving of the nickname “the violet beast”—rages with a long-lived ozonic presence (watercress dew and metallic musk, almost an oil-soaped rubberized leather suggestive of Nishane’s Suede et Safran)—the tarry cade oil and vegetal vetiver and bitter violet leaf and soapy violet flower, which altogether yields a gasoline accord stronger than its designer predecessor Fahrenheit and more photorealistic than in Gucci Guilty Absolute, transporting the wearer to some northwest metropolis on a foggy day (right, in fact, to a rain puddle whose surface is iridescent with gasoline just like the stunning bottle).
Deflection from the Existential Stakes To say that the free will Spinoza rejects is not the “right” notion— only arising as it did with capitalism (private property and rights), and Christianity’s confession booths— does nothing beyond words, despite how dolts talk, to make actions any more up to us.
