<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="2.0" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:sy="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/syndication/" xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" > <channel> <title> Comments on: Exercise great caution when peeling back the skin of life. </title> <atom:link href="https://dangerousintersection.org/2007/06/11/exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life/feed/" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml" /> <link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2007/06/11/exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life</link> <description>Human Animals at the Crossroads of Science, Religion, Media and Culture</description> <lastBuildDate>Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:42:55 +0000</lastBuildDate> <sy:updatePeriod> hourly </sy:updatePeriod> <sy:updateFrequency> 1 </sy:updateFrequency> <item> <title> By: Erich Vieth </title> <link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2007/06/11/exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life/comment-page-1/#comment-15309</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Erich Vieth]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:42:55 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1373#comment-15309</guid> <description><![CDATA[Here's more on Iris Chang. It's an interview with one of Iris' close friends, Paula Kamen, who has now written a book about Iris, "Finding Iris Chang."  <a href="http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/12/13/paula_kamen/" rel="nofollow">Here's the link.</a> At the time I wrote the eulogy, I didn't know what had caused her to commit suicide. All I knew was that she was writing about a lot of dark topics. Not only the Nanking atrocities. At the time she died, she was working on a book about the Bataan Death March. I had assumed all these dark topics had driven her to suicide, but then I found out there was mental illness at the root of it. I gradually saw the need to demystify the process of writing about dark topics, about how you can do it and still preserve your mental health. I also saw the need to clear up misunderstandings on bipolar disorder, because she had a lot of signs that no one picked up on. What we perceived as drive and what her husband called her "attention surplus disorder" were likely early signs of mania. The Salon article links to a comprehensive article about Chang's inner battles published by <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/17/CMGCNBQRRP1.DTL" rel="nofollow">SFGate.</a>  See also, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2005/04/17/CMGCNBQRRP1.DTL&o=0" rel="nofollow">this collection of images. </a> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Here's more on Iris Chang. It's an interview with one of Iris' close friends, Paula Kamen, who has now written a book about Iris, "Finding Iris Chang." <a href="http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2007/12/13/paula_kamen/" rel="nofollow">Here's the link.</a></p> <p>At the time I wrote the eulogy, I didn't know what had caused her to commit suicide. All I knew was that she was writing about a lot of dark topics. Not only the Nanking atrocities. At the time she died, she was working on a book about the Bataan Death March. I had assumed all these dark topics had driven her to suicide, but then I found out there was mental illness at the root of it. I gradually saw the need to demystify the process of writing about dark topics, about how you can do it and still preserve your mental health. I also saw the need to clear up misunderstandings on bipolar disorder, because she had a lot of signs that no one picked up on. What we perceived as drive and what her husband called her "attention surplus disorder" were likely early signs of mania.</p> <p>The Salon article links to a comprehensive article about Chang's inner battles published by <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2005/04/17/CMGCNBQRRP1.DTL" rel="nofollow">SFGate.</a> See also, <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2005/04/17/CMGCNBQRRP1.DTL&o=0" rel="nofollow">this collection of images. </a> </p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: projektleiterin </title> <link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2007/06/11/exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life/comment-page-1/#comment-12995</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[projektleiterin]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 13 Jun 2007 16:05:18 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1373#comment-12995</guid> <description><![CDATA[Thanks for this great post, Erich! I often enjoy your posts and this is one of the best, or at least the one that speaks to me most at the moment. I never knew that Nietzsche encouraged this kind of independent thinking, I started reading "Freedom from the known" by Juddi Krishnamurti and he also encourages people to set themselves free from dogmas and any kind of systems: "So you see that you cannot depend upon anybody. There is no guide, no teacher, no authority. There is only you - your relationship with others and with the world - there is nothing else. When you realise this, it either brings great despair, from which comes cynicism and bitterness, or, in facing the fact that you and nobody else are responsible for the world and for yourself, for what you think what you feel, how you act, all self-pity goes. Normally we thrive on blaming others, which is a form of self-pity." I had reconsidered buying Iris Chang's book, "The Rape of Nanking", but after reading some of the more detailed reviews on Amazon I thought that reading this book requires a lot of emotional strength and I didn't think I was able to face so much raw reality right then. It's very sad that Iris Chang eventually was not able to bear so much either. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thanks for this great post, Erich! I often enjoy your posts and this is one of the best, or at least the one that speaks to me most at the moment. I never knew that Nietzsche encouraged this kind of independent thinking, I started reading "Freedom from the known" by Juddi Krishnamurti and he also encourages people to set themselves free from dogmas and any kind of systems:</p> <p>"So you see that you cannot depend upon anybody. There is no guide, no teacher, no authority. There is only you – your relationship with others and with the world – there is nothing else. When you realise this, it either brings great despair, from which comes cynicism and bitterness, or, in facing the fact that you and nobody else are responsible for the world and for yourself, for what you think what you feel, how you act, all self-pity goes. Normally we thrive on blaming others, which is a form of self-pity."</p> <p>I had reconsidered buying Iris Chang's book, "The Rape of Nanking", but after reading some of the more detailed reviews on Amazon I thought that reading this book requires a lot of emotional strength and I didn't think I was able to face so much raw reality right then. It's very sad that Iris Chang eventually was not able to bear so much either. </p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Ben </title> <link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2007/06/11/exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life/comment-page-1/#comment-12989</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ben]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Wed, 13 Jun 2007 12:34:00 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1373#comment-12989</guid> <description><![CDATA[A great book (for kids) which delves into the topic of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuck_Everlasting" rel="nofollow">immortality.</a> <a href="http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/tuckeverlasting.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/tuckeverlasting....</a> ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>A great book (for kids) which delves into the topic of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuck_Everlasting" rel="nofollow">immortality.</a></p> <p> <a href="http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/tuckeverlasting.html" rel="nofollow"></a><a href="http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/tuckeverlasting" rel="nofollow ugc">http://www.carolhurst.com/titles/tuckeverlasting</a>…. </p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Mary </title> <link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2007/06/11/exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life/comment-page-1/#comment-12980</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Mary]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 12 Jun 2007 19:17:10 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1373#comment-12980</guid> <description><![CDATA[I just wrote a riff on the idea of purpose in life (in a personal notebook). You're right, Erich, religion does set us up to wait for some whisper from God about what our purpose is. Not only that, our society sets us up to expect that we should figure out our purpose in life, and right now, by golly, because look at those child prodigies and geniuses who figured it out by age 3. For those of us with a gazillion interests who don't want to be pinned down to just one, it's pretty hard to come up with one single purpose. I started thinking about the idea of purpose in life while on vacation this last week. I had nothing I needed to do, no work, not much housework, and I drifted around for a bit, not knowing quite what to do. After a couple of days of this, I discovered that I was okay with not having a particular purpose. I could draw or read or knit or blog or write whenever I felt like it. This led me to think that our obligations to jobs and time itself also make us feel as though we MUST have a purpose in life. Doing what I wanted gave me great meaning, but may not meet the standard of purpose as society sees it. Living just to live is pretty fun! ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I just wrote a riff on the idea of purpose in life (in a personal notebook). You're right, Erich, religion does set us up to wait for some whisper from God about what our purpose is. Not only that, our society sets us up to expect that we should figure out our purpose in life, and right now, by golly, because look at those child prodigies and geniuses who figured it out by age 3. For those of us with a gazillion interests who don't want to be pinned down to just one, it's pretty hard to come up with one single purpose. I started thinking about the idea of purpose in life while on vacation this last week. I had nothing I needed to do, no work, not much housework, and I drifted around for a bit, not knowing quite what to do. After a couple of days of this, I discovered that I was okay with not having a particular purpose. I could draw or read or knit or blog or write whenever I felt like it. This led me to think that our obligations to jobs and time itself also make us feel as though we MUST have a purpose in life. Doing what I wanted gave me great meaning, but may not meet the standard of purpose as society sees it. Living just to live is pretty fun! </p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> <item> <title> By: Ben </title> <link>https://dangerousintersection.org/2007/06/11/exercise-great-caution-when-peeling-back-the-skin-of-life/comment-page-1/#comment-12978</link> <dc:creator><![CDATA[Ben]]></dc:creator> <pubDate>Tue, 12 Jun 2007 12:43:24 +0000</pubDate> <guid isPermaLink="false">http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1373#comment-12978</guid> <description><![CDATA[Thought provoking post, enjoyed the Chang story also. Not sure if I can really do it justice, but I doubt many people would be able to. My mind often wanders too. It is hard for many people (myself included) to stay happy with the status quo. No matter how rich, fat, powerful, or famous people get, there is always somebody who has more, who we envy. I was always fascinated by those Eskimos who are plenty happy and satisfied with "just" the warmth of family and enough blubber to survive the constant winter. No matter how exciting or fun something is, if you do it every day, it can get mundane. Part of me likes to go searching for an adventure, or exploring, or trying something new. But at the same time, I am comforted by certain things which I desperately want to keep as they are. I bet Paris Hilton (sorry, did not mean to go here) is having a tougher time than most people who are sentenced to hard time, because she was used to a pampered life. (My heart weeps for her, okay not quite). Imagine the shock of having to follow somebody else's rules for the first time, no pillow, no air conditioning, no deodorant, wardens screaming discipline, and other unpleasantries. She is being forced to pay attention to things that she never had to before, her mind and her priviledge can't shield her from the physical reality of the jail cell. ]]></description> <content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Thought provoking post, enjoyed the Chang story also. Not sure if I can really do it justice, but I doubt many people would be able to. My mind often wanders too. It is hard for many people (myself included) to stay happy with the status quo. No matter how rich, fat, powerful, or famous people get, there is always somebody who has more, who we envy. I was always fascinated by those Eskimos who are plenty happy and satisfied with "just" the warmth of family and enough blubber to survive the constant winter. No matter how exciting or fun something is, if you do it every day, it can get mundane. Part of me likes to go searching for an adventure, or exploring, or trying something new. But at the same time, I am comforted by certain things which I desperately want to keep as they are.</p> <p>I bet Paris Hilton (sorry, did not mean to go here) is having a tougher time than most people who are sentenced to hard time, because she was used to a pampered life. (My heart weeps for her, okay not quite). Imagine the shock of having to follow somebody else's rules for the first time, no pillow, no air conditioning, no deodorant, wardens screaming discipline, and other unpleasantries. She is being forced to pay attention to things that she never had to before, her mind and her priviledge can't shield her from the physical reality of the jail cell. </p> ]]></content:encoded> </item> </channel> </rss>