Nietzsche and Runaway Audio Consumption
Came across this today. A lot of posts bring up the issue of "how much is enough?" or "when is audio consumption justified" etc.
Does this Nietzsche aphorism apply to audio buying? You be the judge!
Friedrich Nietzsche: “Danger in riches. — Only he who has spirit ought to have possessions: otherwise possessions are a public danger. For the possessor who does not know how to make use of the free time which his possessions could purchase him will always continue to strive after possessions: this striving will constitute his entertainment, his strategy in his war against boredom.
Thus in the end the moderate possessions that would suffice the man of spirit are transformed into actual riches – riches which are in fact the glittering product of spiritual dependence and poverty. They only appear quite different from what their wretched origin would lead one to expect because they are able to mask themselves with art and culture: for they are, of course, able to purchase masks. By this means they arouse envy in the poorer and the uncultivated – who at bottom are envying culture and fail to recognize the masks as masks – and gradually prepare a social revolution: for gilded vulgarity and histrionic self-inflation in a supposed ‘enjoyment of culture’ instil into the latter the idea ‘it is only a matter of money’ – whereas, while it is to some extent a matter of money, it is much more a matter of spirit.”
Nietzsche, Friedrich. 1996. Human, All Too Human: A Book for Free Spirits. Cambridge University Press. (p. 283-4, an aphorism no. 310)
I'm pretty sure @mahgister will want to read this one! (Because they speak so artfully about avoiding the diversion that consumption poses to the quest for true aesthetic and acoustic excellence.)
You are right and wiser than me .... Humor is necessary...I misread your post... I apologize and sincerely wish you the best and thank you for reminding me to be less serious...
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@mahgister you're a class act for this and i do always enjoy reading your stuff on here. be well 🍻 |
Aside from the validity of the points of manifested here, I am most impressed by the positive tone and humble yet brash investigation being made to uncover what is closest to the truth. Also the carefully weighed use of the language is commendable. Such environment is refreshing, soothing and ever harder to find these days. Thank you from Rapallo (Italia) |
I like to remember Nietzsche's description of the world's happiest creature: the cow in her pasture, chewing her cud, totally devoid of any lasting memories. Our memory of auditory experiences is notoriously poor and may partially explain a tendency to feel satisfaction with the current state of our systems--since we can't really remember the sound of our system in any of its earlier configurations. True test for tube rollers! |
Memory is not so simple... Memory cannot be separated from the imaginative creative power ( i dont speak about fiction or fantasy mainly here) Memory cannot be separated from the BODY and not only from the brain...There is heart in the body, what we call feelings... Then when we remember some past event, this event is recreated, not so much recalled as it was once... BUT this recreation is guided and formed by the root and fruit of the tree of memory : feelings which are lived and re-lived in the body/heart and not only comes from the brain, anyway the brain contains the body living image and the body contains the brain because there is neurons everywhere...The brain and the body are not static OBJECTS they are interpenetrating DYNAMICAL flows... Then when i remember the same piece of music i listen now as 45 years ago , i cannot remember the SOUND quality of this precise moment in the past....But i can recall my feeling around this perceptive moment....And compared it to the feeling of the same SOUND through my actual audio system....In some case where the feeling was very strong it is possible to recreate/recall it with his association with a sound quality coming from the past and compared to the present... I know why my actual system is better than my friend system from 45 years ago when i listened with my gut feeling of the sound not because i can recall the exact memory of the sound but because i can compared the emotions i LEARNED to associate with sound at this past time till today... We dont remember ,we recreate the past with the most powerful perceptive organ : the heart...The heart is so powerful because for it, past and future MUST always cross anew together....The heart is the crossing point between the brain dynamic and the body dynamic flows... In a word we dont remember past sound we recreate them as they once were for our feelings and with our feelings...
«The Brain is to the past, what the body is to the future, and the heart to the present»-Anonymus Smith « If we can erase the universe this hand is drawing now with the other hand, we cannot erase the love who guide them two»-Anonymus Smith «The heart is the only one teacher to the brain who forgot too much and to the body who imagine too much»-Anonymus Smith «The heart is the door and the key»-Anonymus Smith «The heart is at the same time the map and the territory»-Anonymus Smith «If the brain is an inference engine and the body an antenna, the heart is the emitter and the receiver»-Anonymus Smith |
