ThomasdelVasto

Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου

0 followers follows 0 users joined 2025 May 20 19:37:18 UTC

Blogger, Christian convert, general strange one. https://shapesinthefog.substack.com/

User ID: 3709

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An Article Slamming us Wordcels

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 4hr ago

Instead, the progression of my adult life has been away from the intellectual and towards the concrete. Towards locations, communities, physical activities. It's a big part of why I'm starting a small business, one that will hopefully provide a physical outlet and a real 'third space' that our modern world is sorely lacking.

What kind of business are you thinking of starting?

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An Article Slamming us Wordcels

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 18hr ago

I do think there is a real danger. I was maybe too bookish for my own good when I was a teenager. But I am not sure to what extent the distance that I kept from more direct involvement with reality was caused by my bookishness, and to what extent the bookishness was just what I did while I had that distance from more direct involvement with reality. It is possible that even if I had forced myself to put away the books, I would not have engaged more directly with reality any quicker than I actually did. It's hard to say.

Yeah I know what you mean, it's hard to say exactly what the root cause is, and how bad it is. I relate to this comment a lot, especially:

sexual frustration forcing me to learn how to develop social skills

This was huge for me! I actually stumbled into /r/redpill in high school out of sexual frustration, and that changed my entire orientation. My anger at being rejected by the fairer sex led pretty directly to me putting down books for a while and really working to figure out how to succeed socially. Without that I easily could've become an incel.

To your point about people not actualizing further... I do think it depends on environment. We need culture to push especially young men to develop. Without that, I think escapism is far too attractive, and that's why we're seeing such a big rise of NEETs and such nowadays.

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Faith & Doubt During Holy Week

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 1d ago

Awesome, make sure to ping me. I'd love to keep reading.

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Faith & Doubt During Holy Week

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 1d ago

This is an exciting series man! I went through many of the same thoughts on the scientific revolution, it was my field of study in college when I got my bachelors in history. I'd be curious to see where you're going with this, though it's a good overview of the scientific revolution in broad strokes.

Are you planning on posting this elsewhere? I'd love to share it on twitter and substack if you have a blog I can promote.

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An Article Slamming us Wordcels

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 1d ago

As a note - I considered more directly addressing the history of writing, going deeper into the nature of society/civilization being predicated upon this sort of formalized abstractive process, but it got away from me a bit and wanted to keep it more personal/light.

If folks think that might be interesting, let me know. Or if you have reading suggestions on that front.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 1d ago

Why do you say Musks instead of Musk?

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Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 3, 2026

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 2d ago

What’s the hobby?

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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 2d ago

Personally I resonate with the concept and feel it quite often. So does the friend who recommended the book to me.

I think it helps illuminate a specific pattern of emotion.

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Culture War Roundup for the week of May 4, 2026

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 2d ago

I want to talk about Ressentiment, specifically the intro to a book I read of the same name by Max Schaler. I'm surprised the motte/rationalist circles haven't discussed it more, because it seems extremely relevant to the culture war. Here's the definition given in the book:

Ressentiment is an incurable, persistent feeling of hating and despising which occurs in certain individuals and groups. It takes its root in equally incurable impotencies or weaknesses that those subjects constantly suffer from. These impotencies generate either individual or collective, but always negative emotive attitudes. They can permeate a whole culture, era, and an entire moral system. The feeling of ressentiment leads to false moral judgments made on other people who are devoid of this feeling. Such judgments are not infrequently accompanied by rash, at times fanatical claims of truth generated by the impotency this feeling comes from.

The reason I bring it up is that I see this emotional pattern as the driving force behind modern politics. More on the populist right surely, but the left also has a weird sort of ressentiment in which they kind of hate their own culture, see whiteness / western civ as a stain that they can never get rid of.

Importantly though I think the right falls into the definition of being 'impotent' FAR more than the left, which as this quote explains is crucial to the whole process of ressentiment:

Ressentiment persists and perseveres, it was stated, because of an abiding impotency which blocks any possible realization of particular positive values. This, in turn, lets the venom of ressentiment permeate the person's whole inner life and experience, so that the order of values and the order of loving positive values is in a state of disarray. Reasoning about values can not stop the emotive disorder to occur and continue. It might at best recognize the disorder when, for instance, a ressentiment-subject says, "There is something wrong with me." But this is very rare among those subjects, and it neither nullifies the experience of the disorder felt among positive and negative values, nor does it help to rationally recognize the higher values to be attained, i.e., to let the grapes simply what they are, namely, sweet. A insight in emotional experiences is at a rational inventory of oneself. Rational logic is no cure in a flawed experience of values.

Ultimately I know a ton has been written about this topic, but curious what folks here think of the idea?

-2

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Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 3, 2026

ThomasdelVasto Κύριε, ποίησόν με ὄργανον τῆς ἀγάπης σου 2d ago

Don't self-medicate: Alcohol, weed, whatever. All of it has to go. If you're already drinking so much that going cold turkey would trigger DTs, then you'll have to wean yourself off it slowly; if not, then you must stop drinking completely, immediately. Not even a glass of wine with dinner "for the antioxidants". If you have any drink in the house, pour it down the sink today. If you have weed in the house, destroy it. Don't give it to a friend to hang on to until you think you're in a better headspace: destroy it.

Interesting! I have had substance issues in the past but feel I'm in a decent spot now... albeit I do drink a tad more than I'd like. Why so teetotaling here?

Luckily am already doing a good bit of these... the biggest ones I struggle with are diet, and overthinking. Good advice overall. I appreciate the detailed overview, definitely highlights some areas where I could be doing more.

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Small-Scale Question Sunday for May 3, 2026