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Solstice of Solitude
An assemblage of Internet Randomness
9/10/2021 - Hey, what’s up? You thought I was gone for good, huh? Its been slightly over a month since I went on vacation. I originally planned to come back before the end of August, but I decided to extend my hiatus into September from feeling slightly overwhelmed, burnout among other things. A lot of things have happened since my last newsletter, including recently getting engaged while on vacation. I got engaged with my high school sweetheart. I may post some things soon regarding my recent trip, including personal photos, but it depends on how I feel in the future.
In other news, I still have not recovered from a prolonged sense of writer’s block. I blame this on a lack of being able to dive into a text from being particularly busy these past few weeks, but also due to my 9-5 job, which is emotionally and mentally draining. I hope that this clears up soon, and it may as soon as my “routine” returns as I still feel like I'm in vacation mode.
Regarding DECODE, Yung Agamben and I have a few episodes planned out for the upcoming weeks; all I can say is that we are planning an upcoming episode on the work and philosophy of Simone Weil. Also, I’ve been stuck in a “Christian” modality of thinking recently, so I may do more writing regarding that. Finally, I’ve also been thinking about what “Metamodern” or post-postmodern thought would look like, but I need to sit on both these topics more before writing anything extensive on the issues.
If you like what I post and want to support me, please consider sharing this with a friend, co-worker, or anyone you think might get anything for my work; it means a lot to me.
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend,
-C.N
The affliction of the Soul
“The Idea of any thing that increases or diminishes, aids or restrains, our body’s power of acting, increases or diminishes, aids or restrains, our minds power of thinking -Spinoza.”
An affect is that which either increases or decreases our power in a determinate way. The same way a physical injury is an affliction of the body, an adverse affect is that which afflicts or injures the soul. This is not to reduce the soul to a material chain of causes by breaking down a negative affect to a chain reaction and thus a sensation caused by a set of neurons firing to produce an emotion; we do not want to mystify the soul as something intangible and immaterial, essential and ethereal. The soul can and is affected by the affects which are to be recognized as something material, as someone like Deleuze or Lyotard may have understood it, an affect is something material, a child’s smile, or the smell of honey, etc. In the same way, these material sensations have a positive or affirmative effect on the body and mind (soul); negative affects decrease our joy and produce sorrow which is an affliction of the soul.
Solitude is not something that God would have any insight into, as solitude and emptiness are things produced by man. They are an inadequate set of ideas that wound the heart. They weigh heavy on the soul, but they are not emotions that affirm vitality. When we give in to these emotions, we diminish in power, and like an animal, we tuck our tail between our legs and drag ourselves into a hole to die.
But there is a particular purity to these affects, which would be wrong and dismissive if not analyzed. When we encounter, these affects it is in these moments that sometimes we are visited by a particular type of serenity and calmness. A different set of affects that are neither affirmative nor negative. Their telos are ultimately still aimed at the Good but only in their relation to beauty.