Once a soul transcends even slightly the state of being an organism—that is, the merely corporeal—they find no place remaining among other humans.
Once a soul transcends even slightly the state of being an organism—that is, the merely corporeal—they find no place remaining among other humans.
― Atrona Grizel
Liberalism is social totalitarianism.
― Atrona Grizel
How can I lay out my thoughts with such boldness? Because once the thinking one accepts the truth that the world does not think, an unavoidable confidence comes to them. Even if the person knows they themselves might be wrong, they come to believe that the world can never be right.
― Atrona Grizel
As education increases, sincerity diminishes. What is this thing called “civility,” if not a refined form of duplicity? Among others, picking one’s nose is considered shameful, yet the moment those people vanish, the act instantly reverts to being “natural.” Where, then, does sincerity reside within this arrangement? I wander through the city streets in broad daylight with a lamp in my hand, searching for an honest person: an “uneducated” one…
― Atrona Grizel
Choosing a school: examining which barn owner's leash will fit the neck better…
― Atrona Grizel
Which café hosts conversations about philosophy, psychology, or sociology? None. If they begin to do this, they cease to be a “café.” The only thing you will find there is gossip. What else do you think is being discussed, or why else do people go there in groups? And therefore, one encounters only a single type there: personalities that become emptier inside in proportion to how outwardly expressive they are. Those who are inwardly full and carefully preserve that fullness keep their distance from such places. But if a person constantly frequents cafés and then complains that such rare individuals do not exist, that person will have made a mistake—because such places are like magnets: they completely attract and glue some, while never allowing others to come near. The people one needs to find are those who stand on the opposite pole of that magnet, and the first thing required to do so is to stay away from anywhere where groups of people talk and laugh loudly while constantly drinking drinks and eating meals.
― Atrona Grizel
To be abandoned at the very summit of Mount Everest… to submit to the breath-stealing force of altitude… the unreachability of a god.
― Atrona Grizel
If there were a “weapon of individual destruction,” I would feel disgust. If there were a “weapon of human destruction,” I would feel worry. But seeing the phrase “weapon of mass destruction” inevitably makes me smile, because it accomplishes exactly what I desire: the elimination of those unconscious mechanical creatures. The entire matter lies in that single word: “mass.” Masses are not individuals. They are not humans either. Yet noise and explosions are not even necessary: the most reliable weapon of mass destruction is simply imagination…
― Atrona Grizel
What liberal democracy does is insidious: it leaves thought completely free, but leaves it so free that there is no need to think anymore, and this is even more dangerous than the outright banning of thought.
― Atrona Grizel
Serene cities are the ones with the fewest people, and since cities are dense by nature in terms of population, this is impossible. A city means torment. Even the crowds of the city I am currently in—which is relatively not very populous since the city is not very large—are already more than enough for me; being confined to one of India’s jam-packed cities, where there are thousands of people at every step, is not something I could endure.
― Atrona Grizel
The primary source of sociopolitical change is cultural change; everything else grows out of it. Reformers should be social engineers rather than mere politicians, because transforming the people automatically produces transformation in law and authority. If the people do not change, the country does not change; yet even if the country changes, the people may remain the same. For instance, if a pacifist regime attempts to abolish compulsory military service while the population remains nationalist, the public may reject this and overthrow the government. But if, over time, the population sheds its nationalism and allows pacifist politicians to come to power, the abolition of conscription will not provoke such a sharp reaction—because the people will already be prepared for it. However, because the masses are generally miserable fools, the ultimate solution should be to take all power away from them, thereby freeing those who govern from any dependence on the need for cultural change.
― Atrona Grizel
Activities in schools are completely built around entertainment: traveling, song competitions, costume parties, or whatever nonsense it is. This situation creates a perception that students “deserve to have fun” after “working very hard.” No. Nobody is actually working. At no period in history has such an undisciplined youth been seen. Even their studying is driven only by the thought that they will reach their “money- and pleasure-filled” future more easily. When choosing a profession, they do not even look at what that profession is, but only at how much money it earns, because they will spend this money on alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, food, clothes, cars, and pornography, since they live only for these things. In this situation, what is to be said about criticizing someone—who refuses to participate in these activities because a truly intellectual atmosphere is never provided, and who feels like a stranger in crowded and bureaucratic school environments overflowing with the noise of the herd—as someone who “could not live their youth” or who “remained stuck at home” simply because they did not participate? This only shows that the youth becoming like this is effectively being approved: a primate living only through its body, far from every kind of mental activity, and living exactly in the way it is expected to live as the norm of adolescence.
― Atrona Grizel
Modern societies require the presence of “social skills” for belonging: charisma, expression, and adaptability. These are Western values, originating not from Nepal or Bhutan but from the United States, but since the West has culturally permeated the entire world, even a person in the most remote place knows that if they do not possess these values, they will almost automatically be excluded, because the society they live in is built on constant sociability. In the past, there were monastic orders that were truly devoted to their causes. Today, however, even those that have survived have become “polished” and “polite"; in other words, “humanized,” which actually means neutralization through domestication, and for this very reason, genuine monasticism seems almost impossible in the modern age unless it completely detaches itself from the empty globalist culture that has taken hold of societies, because solitude and silence, the core values of the solitary spirits, have now lost their value. In the past, such people could even be worshipped, but now these qualities lead only to invisibility and disrespect, as there is a constant performance of identity and capitalism imposes an outward mode of living on individuals; those who do not conform—monks, ascetics, or hermits—cannot advance socially under this liberal order and instead face marginalization. If I do not constantly force myself to laugh, to react, and to perform like mass society, I know I will simply be ignored until I conform socially, because I am aware that I live in a society under the grip of capitalism. I do not even respond emotionally to this, since it is merely a consequence when the socially constructed nature of this system is taken into account. Such an extremely superficial society will, of course, produce this reaction, because it is part of its structure rather than a humane response; this implies that those who are made isolated are treated this way due to a systemic pathology, and systemic pathologies are to be analyzed, not lamented or raged against, because doing so would be like shouting at a machine for functioning as it is designed to. Ordinary people continue to complain about solitude because they share this logic: solitude is now perceived as a defect, whereas if they were living in a monastery, the source of shame would be the desire to rejoin the herd. The world, however, is not a monastery; it is a gray, monotonous mass-production factory decorated with confetti and fireworks. A democratic dictatorship.
― Atrona Grizel
In this society, gossip is carried to an extreme. In this regard, it might even rank among the very first in the world. It seems to me that a massive portion—almost like half—of the brains of those who live here is devoted solely to what others think and talk about them. Even in songs or films, this cultural mark is visible: even lovers themselves commit suicide because of “what other people say about them.” A pathology of excessive collectivism…
― Atrona Grizel