#askesis

[bonusdragons]

November 12, 2024:

Tan Tertiary, Dusthide, Jaguar.

Ehlen of Askesis' clan!

[sopstvena]

Philosophy was practiced by the ancients as a form of áskēsis—a practice of continual self-overcoming and self-transformation. With the rise of Christianity in the West, philosophy became an orthodoxy, a quest for correct doctrine. Philosophy was no longer practiced as a way of life because the Christian way of life was already established as the only true one. Philosophy became a theoretical practice aimed at the justification of the revealed truths of Christianity. In the Chinese tradition, the reverse occurred: Truth-seeking philosophies (such as the Mohists for example) were relegated to the countercultural margins of the tradition. Hadot writes about áskēsis as a means to “let ourselves be changed, in our point of view, attitudes and convictions. This means that we must dialogue with ourselves, and hence we must do battle with ourselves." Áskēsis makes use of techniques of the self that are as much bodily as intellectual. These exercises were designed to bring about “a conversion which turns our active life upside down, changing the life of the person who goes through it." It should not be confused with asceticism. Michel Foucault comments on the difference between asceticism and áskēsis: “Asceticism as the renunciation of pleasure has bad connotations. But the áskēsis is something else: it’s the work that one performs on oneself in order to transform oneself or make the self appear that happily one never attains.”

André van der Braak, Nietzsche and Zen: Self Overcoming Without a Self

[francescophotolover]

Piccoli passi in queste giornate di pioggia continua

Gli ultimi giorni sono stati bui, umido-freddi e allegramente senza un soldo. Ciò significa che non comincerò, questo mese, il quarto corso di Fotografia alla Bottega dell’Immagine. Eppure non sono fermo.

Stamane ho ricevuto la conferma, dal fotografo David Hancock, della consegna al servizio di consegna della Ciro-Flex modello E che ho vinto nel suo contest. Dovrei quindi riceverla entro questo mese, questa antica macchina a pellicola medio formato con visore a pozzetto. That is good.

Ciò implica che, quando me lo potrò permettere, il primo corso che prenoterò alla Bottega sarà quello di Camera Oscura, finito il quale potranno partire i miei Mualvaggi piani per il BN di medio formato a pellicola!

In merito a ciò, finalmente sto avendo interessamenti per le lenti Pentax che ho messo in vendita (il 18-135mm WR e il 10mm f 2,8, ottiche ottime ma di nessun utilizzo nel settore Ritratto, quindi, necessitando di fondi, messe in vendita).

In seguito al felice esito del contest fotografico di mr Hancock, mia madre s’è convinta a darmi una mano e mi ha fornito del 90% dei soldi necessari a fornirmi del secondo (e nuovo) corpo macchina: la Pentax K3 II, già pervenutami e fornita di batteria di riserva, strap pentaxiani e schede di memoria (anche in eccedenza).

Della necessità di disporre di una ridondanza di attrezzatura per chi persegue il cammino della Fotografia di Moda, ne parlerò in un post successivo. Basti dire qui che indispensabile, lo è.

Last but not Least, ho preso contatti per la prima volta con una modella e siamo in accordo per uno shooting in TF da svolgersi in marzo. Ciò è un fatto di grande importanza, il prossimo scalino della lunga scala che mi spetta di ascendere. Come sempre Per Aspera ad Astra!

Anche questo ultimo evento verrà maggiormente descritto in un post a se stante, a tempo debito.

Resta il fatto che oggi la pioggia continua a scendere, nutrendo la terra e i semi che essa reca in grembo. Presto il Bosco del Molgora partorirà nuovi sogni, e io sarò lì a dare loro il mio fotografico benvenuto!

[bonusdragons]

October 26, 2021:

Coal Primary, Obelisk, Koi.

Faye of Askesis’ clan!

[raffaellopalandri]

Happy World Tai Chi and Qi Gong Day!

Every year, on the last Saturday of April, before most of the machinery of commerce has fully awakened, before markets begin their daily liturgy of extraction, and before the ordinary violence of acceleration resumes its unquestioned sovereignty over modern life, something profoundly different occurs across the planet. In parks, temples, public squares, gardens, monasteries, beaches, mountains,…

[raffaellopalandri]

Friction as Epistemic Generator: Against the cult of seamlessness

The contemporary capitalist West has elevated smoothness into an unquestioned moral good. The interface must be frictionless. The purchase must be instantaneous. The platform must anticipate desire before it fully coheres into language. The citizen must not encounter resistance unless that resistance is bureaucratic and punitive. In every other dimension of life, resistance is framed as…

[raffaellopalandri]

The Transformative Power of Hardship: A Path to Resilience, Wisdom, and Liberation

Our existence in this bodily form is an intricate dance of ease and adversity, a perpetual flux in which hardship is not an anomaly but an essential thread woven into the very same fabric of life. Photo by Chris Larson on Pexels.com Many spend their lives attempting to evade suffering, erecting barriers against discomfort, and seeking solace in transient pleasures or distractions. Yet, those…

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[raffaellopalandri]

Wisdom Beyond Possessions, Distractions, and Fleeting Desires

In our Western world, negatively driven by accumulation, stimulation, and gratification, pursuing wisdom is often overshadowed by materialism, mindless entertainment, and ephemeral cravings. Photo by Magda Ehlers on Pexels.com Yet, true wisdom does not reside in what we own, what distracts us, or what temporarily excites us—it emerges from knowledge, discipline, and an unrelenting search for…

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