#Balance and Extremes

[omegaphilosophia]

The Philosophy of Golden Mean

The philosophy of the Golden Mean is a concept rooted in ancient Greek philosophy, particularly associated with Aristotle. It refers to the idea that virtue lies in finding the moderate, balanced path between extremes. This concept is central to Aristotle’s ethical theory, where he argues that moral virtue is achieved by maintaining a balance between excess and deficiency in our actions and emotions.

Key Themes in the Philosophy of the Golden Mean:

Definition of the Golden Mean:

Moderation: The Golden Mean is the desirable middle ground between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency. For Aristotle, virtue is not about having too much or too little of anything but about having the right amount, which is appropriate to the situation.

Moral Virtue: In Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics, moral virtues are seen as states of character that lie between extremes. For example, courage is a virtue that lies between the extremes of recklessness (excess) and cowardice (deficiency).

Virtue as a Mean:

Examples of Virtues: Aristotle provides various examples to illustrate the Golden Mean:

Courage: Lies between recklessness (too much fearlessness) and cowardice (too much fear).

Temperance: Lies between self-indulgence (too much pleasure) and insensibility (too little pleasure).

Generosity: Lies between prodigality (excessive giving) and stinginess (insufficient giving).

Relative to the Individual: Aristotle emphasizes that the mean is relative to the individual and the situation. What is moderate for one person might be excessive or deficient for another, depending on their circumstances and abilities.

Practical Wisdom (Phronesis):

Role of Practical Wisdom: The ability to find the Golden Mean in any situation requires practical wisdom or phronesis. This is the intellectual virtue that enables individuals to make sound moral judgments and act virtuously.

Deliberation and Choice: Practical wisdom involves careful deliberation and choosing the right course of action that achieves balance. It is not simply following a rule but requires understanding the particulars of each situation.

The Golden Mean in Ethics:

Moral Development: According to Aristotle, achieving virtue through the Golden Mean is a matter of moral development and habituation. One becomes virtuous by repeatedly practicing moderate actions until they become second nature.

Moral Responsibility: The Golden Mean implies that individuals are responsible for finding the balance in their actions. This requires self-awareness and the ability to recognize when one is veering toward excess or deficiency.

Criticisms and Interpretations:

Not a Strict Formula: Some critics argue that the Golden Mean is not always applicable, as not all virtues fit neatly into a spectrum of extremes. For instance, justice is often seen as an absolute, rather than something that exists between extremes.

Cultural and Situational Variability: The idea of what constitutes a mean can vary greatly depending on cultural norms and individual circumstances, which makes it a more complex concept in practice.

The Golden Mean in Other Philosophical Traditions:

Confucianism: Similar ideas can be found in Confucianism, where the Doctrine of the Mean (Zhongyong) advocates for moderation and balance in all things, aiming for harmony and proper conduct.

Buddhism: The Middle Way in Buddhism also reflects a similar principle, advocating for a path of moderation between the extremes of asceticism and indulgence.

Applications of the Golden Mean:

Personal Conduct: The Golden Mean can be applied to personal conduct, encouraging individuals to seek balance in their emotions, behaviors, and lifestyle choices.

Leadership and Governance: In politics and leadership, the Golden Mean suggests that successful governance involves balancing different interests and avoiding extremes, whether in policy or behavior.

Influence and Legacy:

Impact on Western Thought: The concept of the Golden Mean has had a lasting influence on Western thought, shaping ideas about ethics, politics, and personal conduct. It has been invoked in discussions of moderation, balance, and the avoidance of extremes throughout history.

Modern Interpretations: Contemporary philosophers and ethicists continue to explore the relevance of the Golden Mean, particularly in discussions of virtue ethics, where it serves as a model for understanding the complexity of moral life.

The philosophy of the Golden Mean emphasizes the importance of balance, moderation, and the avoidance of extremes in the pursuit of a virtuous and fulfilling life. It highlights the role of practical wisdom in making moral decisions and encourages a nuanced approach to ethics, where virtue is seen as a mean relative to the individual and the situation. This concept remains a cornerstone of ethical thought, influencing both ancient and modern discussions of how best to live.

[barefeet-only]

Say Shawarma Right Now

It was a rainy August afternoon when Talia arrived in Gotham. It wasn’t a shock that it was raining, it always rained in Gotham. A depressing city with a depressing atmosphere. Why her love and son were so obsessed with it she would never know. So while Talia was prepared with her umbrella as she walked through the streets, waiting for her son’s compatriots to notice she was in town, she did not expect the humidity. This city always found a way to make her miserable. 

While she waited for her son to come find her, Talia made her way to her favorite local street vendor. A wonderful immigrant woman from Iran who had married a Turkish man and moved to the United States with hopes of grandeur. She had a talent for seasonings unheard of on this side of the Atlantic and it always made suffering through her chattering worth it. 

Talia noticed him as she made her way down the international market. A tall man with broad shoulders and a fit build. Not too muscular but enough to prove he went to the gym regularly. He was laughing loudly as he talked to the shawarma lady while she made his food. The cook was talking about how her son had finally gotten a girlfriend but forgot her birthday and was desperately trying to make it up to her. 

“Say wallah right now!” He jokingly exclaimed. 

“Wallah! Now I have a moping son and a no good husband stinking up the house right now. What I wouldn’t give to have a good boy like you as my child!”

Talia was on edge, something about this man was familiar to her. She couldn’t place where, but instinctually the assassin knew she knew this man. In her line of work, being able to place a face was the difference between life and death.

Talia took a seat at a nearby bench and began studying his side profile. He had thick black hair with an undercut and longer bangs on the front, a black stud on his lower lobe, and lightly tanned skin that would allow him to pass as white as long as he stayed out of the sun. While his piercing blue eyes should have been the first thing anyone would notice about him, it was the small curving scar behind his ear that instantly clued Talia in on his identity. 

“How much longer do you plan on staying in Gothman Danyal?” The cook asked. 

“Ah, I'm only here for another week now. Looks like we are closing the deal and I’ll be heading home.”

Danyal gave a cheerful smile to the lady as she handed him his food. 

“It’s partly why I came here to visit you, Mina. No one back home knows how to season like you do.” 

He leaned in and spoke low, “Or give me as good a discount.”

Mina tsked and smacked the man, “What a beggar! Got yourself a big fancy job and you’re still here asking for money off!”

Danyal winked at her and took a bite of his food, groaning in appreciation. 

Mina smiled, “Well I’m going to miss you dear boy. Please come visit some time.” 

“Boy?! How many times do I have to tell you I’m thirty!”

Danyal smiled genuinely and handed her a bright green business card, “But of course I’m going to visit. Here, this has my number on it, remind me to come visit in a couple months when you realize your best customer needs to help you pay your bills.”

She took the card and giggled. 

“Green? Really Danyal, you ought to be more professional with the job you have, this is why I call you boy. That and you barely look a day past twenty-three.” 

Danyal giggled and walked away, taking his meal with him. Talia was no longer hungry anymore. After a few moments she stood up and slowly followed him. She needed to know why he was in Gotham, she needed to know why he was alive. 

As they walked through the streets Talia noticed that Danyal was dry, the rain hadn’t stopped the entire time she had been in Gotham yet somehow Danyal had not a drop of moisture on him. He must have some device on him that allowed him to stay dry, there was no natural explanation. Dangerous she thought. Yet the moment the thought occurred to her, she recoiled at the idea. Danyal was a pathetic assassin, he had no talent for the craft at all and after all this time he finally instilled caution in her? Something was wrong, and Talia was determined to figure out what. If nothing else, she would finally achieve her greatest regret and kill Danyal herself. 

[dreamsteddie]

Childhood friends Steddie this, childhood friends Steddie that!

When will we see childhood friends Stobin!?

They meet at Headstart because the Harringtons want to give their child as much of a leg up on his peers as possible and the Buckleys know that their daughter is incredibly bright, and with the preschool, she could probably start kindergarten a year early.

On day one Steve shows off the lunch his nanny made him, a PB&J cut up into a star shape, a mandarin fruit cup, and a homemade cookie. Robin is insanely jealous of the cookie and starts trying to convince Steve that he should give it to her, only she's already showing signs of becoming a rambler later in life so she trips over the words and it all comes out as a garbled mess that Steve can't make out.

Still, Steve is a kind boy and this girl looks like she's getting really frustrated and maybe even like she's going to cry and Jill, his nanny, packed him a second cookie in another bag for him to give to he first friend he makes on his first day of preschool. He doesn't know if he wants to be friends with this girl, but she seems upset and cookies make everything better.

The cookie does, in fact, make everything better.

Steve and Robin spend the whole day sitting side by side holding hands and running around. The adults around them coo and say weird things about young love that Steve doesn't really pay attention to and Robin crinkles her nose up at. She thinks boys have cooties, but Steve is ok because he's her friend and he's not as gross as the other boys.

By the time Jill and the Buckleys come to pick up their charges, Robin and Steve are wearing matching, wonky friendship bracelets they spent all of craft time on. Robin's is made of blue poney beads because she told Steve that was her favorite color and it had little plastic charms of a bluebird, an ice cream cone, a lime green dinosaur, and a bead with the letter 'S' on it. Steve's is yellow with lots of star beads, an orange dinosaur, a charm that looks like a banana, and a bead with the letter "R" on it.

They head home wearing big smiles, ready for another day of preschool with their best friend.

------

Edit: Companion piece unlocked!

[lucabyte]

A belief in Nominative Determinsim

[bamtwozled]

sorry. hi. having a moment.

[bame-the-3d]

„I think so highly of you, I didn’t realize you thought so low of me“

Oh my god SHUT UP

[floofballsammy]

When he goes like

:>

>:>

[dreadark]

that ivan loves till is the most obvious thing about them

but. does ivan know that…?

the ivan that regards his own feelings as shallow, the ivan that learned how emotions are expressed only from copying others… does he even know that the love he’s felt for so long is love? probably not. and part of the reason is the one he loves himself

because the easiest example he has of love is till's feelings to mizi. till outright calls it love, and ivan watches him so much he has to be aware of this and till’s love to mizi is totally unselfish, right. he doesn’t seem to actually want much from her—just that she's still there and still "mizi"

but ivan can't be satisfied with just watching he… wants. ivan wants till’s attention, till’s affection—

surely this selfish wanting can’t be love

...no wonder he was never able to express his feelings straightforwardly when he belittles them so much but he can’t stand not having anything either, so he does… whatever he does instead to get any scraps of attention he can, from someone he's convinced doesn't care about him at all only showing affection when till can't see it, right until he knows he's going to die

but ivan's feelings for till are all he still has of himself... to think of them as shallow...

I've seen this translated as "I should've been kinder" to him (till) or to her (sua)

but really, the one he should've been kinder to was himself

[mcflymemes]

please don't mistake silence for hatred. please don't mistake unanswered plotting messages as indifference, or a lack of enthusiasm towards you. considering the ages of most roleplayers, many of us have bills to pay, families to take care of, medical conditions to treat, appointments to make, classes to take, homes to clean, and lives to live away from the computer that are far, far more important than writing on tumblr — life has a tendency to get in the way of hobbies and fun things like this. be patient with your fellow writers. if it doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. of course you can set your boundaries, keep your space comfortable, and softblock whoever you wish, but do so while recognizing it's probably not hatred or apathy that keeps them from leaping into your dms with message after message. they probably love this hobby just as much as you... but sometimes life gets in the way.

[philosophybits]

Join the extremes and you will find the true middle.

Friedrich Schlegel, Ideas

[respectthepetty]

On Sundays, we have high schoolers trying to navigate their first big crush while playing laser tag.

Then we have these two sluts trying to give each other hand jobs in public spaces.

It's stuff like this that makes me happy to be alive at this exact moment despite the trying times.

Variety is the spice of life!

[albatris]

I totally understand the push back against therapy speak in novels when it's boring and shoehorned in and out of character and Every Character but like therapy speak itself isn't the problem, it's about whether it's Interesting, whether it's In Character, whether there's still conflict, etc etc etc n like

1) how many genre fiction books can you honestly name where a psychotic character speaks frankly about their psychosis

2) there is still a lot of interesting ground to explore with a character who HAS been in therapy and knows the lingo

3) there's really really funny potential for a character who speaks all the therapy speak and knows Why they're deranged but is still absolutely deranged

[orykorioart]

From Aug 2022

Sliding in right before pride month ends with some old Blup sketches that I really liked.

[ID: 3 sketch illustrations featuring Barry and Lup.

The first sketch is Barry and Lup, with the trans flag wrapped around them. Barry is leaning in to press a kiss onto Lup's cheek.

The second sketch is Barry and Lup doing a fist bump, smiling.

The last sketch is a full body of Barry and Lup, out on a walk. They are holding hands and smiling at each other. Barry is holding a coffee cup in his other hand, while Lup is holding an ice cream cone. Lup's skirt has the trans flag colors.

End ID]

Also I’m open for sketch suggestions yall I’d be happy to draw Taz fanarts.

[dewwshi]

princess of mithral hall

[averycutesalamander]

i have extremely neutral opinions about SMAUs (social media AUs) but i just thought about what Boothill's role would be in one and im kind of losing my mind about it.

his account handle is @.silvergunshura and he literally only posts clumsy nature photos and occasional pics of his gun. a handful of videos that are just the sound of the wilds. never puts any captions or tags on his posts. extremely long unacknowledged absences with no schedule. double-digit amount of followers at an absolute maximum. absolutely no interaction with his audience. or anyone else on the platform actually. quite frankly he doesn't pay any attention to his following in the slightest. bro simply cannot be bothered. for all he cares he is sending these photos to the void and there are no other users on the platform.

and then he posts one (1) video of him at the shooting range nailing bullseyes left and right like it's nothing. barely half of his body is in frame and most of his face is covered by his hair. someone with a decent following shares it and his entire fucking profile EXPLODES because people will NOT stop talking about how hot he is and it kinda snowballs from there. people go through his entire backlog only to find ZERO other posts with his face or body in them. the best they get is little snippets of his arms. people are frothing at the fucking mouth trying to figure out who he is and nobody knows because he literally hasn't said a single word in his entire posting history. people make theory posts, which obviously gets more people invested in this new mystery. his comments are filled with people speculating about who he is and what the fuck he's doing. someone posts a massive spreadsheet detailing all of the identifiable locations in his posts, and they're literally all over the galaxy. immediately afterwards they're cancelled for some vague allegations about them being a shady intelligentsia guild member guilty of multiple human rights violations and everybody completely forgets about the spreadsheet.

Boothill posts a single blurry photo of his hand feeding a chipmunk and people lose their goddamn minds. he follows this up an hour later with a photo of the same chipmunk sitting on his shoulder that is somehow even blurrier than the last and it briefly trends on the front page. a week later he uploads a video of him playing a harmonica by a campfire, once again barely in frame, lit only by the flickering fire. people brighten the video in a desperate attempt to get a better look at his face, but there's nothing identifiable. someone posts a slightly unhinged video examining the tiniest pixels in every screencap of him that they can find, claiming that he's definitely a halovian because of some extremely blurry details, and you technically can't deny it as a possibility because there are no clear shots of where his halo or wings would be. naturally this severely divides fans, and several other theories about his species pop up over the course of a few days. many people are called morons from all sides.

the REAL drama comes when he posts a picture where he's holding what looks suspiciously like an extremely precious meteorite-formed gem that was stolen during a private IPC auction two weeks ago. this post is also notable because it's the first time he's used a caption and it's literally just "lol". naturally people quickly connects the dots and realize that he's BOOTHILL, that crazy motherfucker with the vendetta against the IPC, and why the fuck is he posting nature photos and videos of him feeding birds and shit. silvergunshura fans are instantly divided by discourse about whether or not it's ethical to be a fan. "silvergun fans dni" and "silvergun antis dni" become staples in the bios of people invested in the drama. a bunch of fans start using his substitute swears, and whether or not this is ironic is extremely debatable. the business of cyborg modifications has a moderate boom. anti-IPC sentiments have a notable increase, but now the people doing serious exposés and earnest discussion about the humanitarian crimes of the IPC that are concealed from the public are constantly called simps. there's a brief stint with a handful of Boothill copycat crimes that are all solved within the week.

people unsuccessfully try to hunt down any other potential socials to no avail, but this does spawn a massive wave of fake accounts on a million different platforms, which obviously successfully baits a ton of people. the drama gets even spicier when the moderators shut down his account. one of the mods gets doxxed by an outraged fan. even more fake accounts pop up. Boothill comes back less than a week later as @.silvercowboy244 like nothing happened. his returning post is a crooked picture of a sorta weird looking tree, and he's pointing toward the top left of the frame. the caption is just "bird?" and nobody can figure out what the FUCK that's supposed to mean, because there's no bird visible in the picture, nor is there a bird nest in the tree. conspiracy theories and decoders are immediately chomping at the bit trying to figure out if it has some kind of secret meaning.

tons of people try to use his posts to pinpoint his location for clout or the bounty money or to find him in person and beg him to let them give him head, but he never posts them exactly when they're taken, and nobody can figure out what the fuck logic he's using to pick his next destination. there's an IPC investigation. his accounts keep getting banned but he keeps coming back like a cockroach. dedicated fan archives are made to preserve all of his shitty photos. he never acknowledges any of the drama.

if you're fortunate enough to know Boothill personally and you ask him about all of that weird shit with his socials, he just shrugs and says, "yep, i keep gettin' locked out. can't remember passwords for shirt." if you ask him what he thinks of all the drama surrounding his online presence, he gives you the most bewildered expression you've ever seen on his face. "what the fork are you yappin' about?? what do you mean i got "band" ?? disk horse??? docksing???? i think you've got a few screws loose buddy" and he promptly forgets about the entire ordeal and goes back to posting blurry nature pictures like literally nothing happened.

edit: here's part two-ish lol

[luribourdon]

Just though about Apollo picking up Khurainese after all these years and

You know how a language can evolve in 15 years?

Dude is probably using old slangs everybody thinks he's a grandpa