Music is a system of auditory symbols with which we construct a narrative that represents an idea unfolding over time.

Sat down and opened up right to this page. I kid you not.

The purpose of freedom is to pursue the Good, not to merely indulge impulses.

This always requires some vigilance.

Thankful for folks like you and your content moderators.

There’s a blind spot in our modern society made apparent when people talk of “AI art” they don’t realize that art is a form of coping with existence. It’s not merely a consumer good. The creative process is therapeutic for the artist and this is what drives great art. Always has.

AI doesn’t need to cope with existence. It’s just a probability engine and has no inherent sense of relevance or beauty.

Art is a gift that must be given. Not ordered or delegated.

Interesting. What would you say are some reasonable examples of “moderate” cardio?

I assume this implies that cardio above a certain intensity threshold doesn’t do the trick.

Meh. I’ve tried a few times and it messes with the cognitive process of creativity for me. I should experiment more. But it tends to send me it too brittle of a direction. Sort of overcommits me. I need more small ideas, even just fragment, to swirl around in order to find the center.

But I bet if I refactor the process a bit and do some prompt engineering I can find a way.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Morning thoughts...

I’ve taken to a new practice in the mornings: Reading St Augustine via lexia divina.

I sit at my favorite chair and pick up where I left off. Reading carefully to ensure I’m consciously taking in every sentence.

At some point a phrase usually catches my attention and starts something stirring within my mind or my spirit. And I repeat these words out loud, over and over, playing with the emphasis, relishing and exploring different words with different repetitions.

And my mind starts spinning, not out of control, but building on the energy of the phrase and the idea behind it. I project my thoughts outward from the phrase and then speak extemporaneously, exploring and extending the idea.

Sometimes I tie it back to my own life and experience, trying to use this phrase to illuminate my past or light a path for my future. But most often I am searching for a higher truth, a grander pattern that suggests “the way things truly are”.

This exercise brings me a great sense of peace.

Why?

Many reasons, I’m sure. One reason is that I’m comforted by a synthesis of understanding. I weave this new phrase—this new idea—into the fabric of my current understanding of the world and so the fabric gains new colors and patterns and becomes richer.

Similarly this gives a sense of progress. That the way of the world is increasingly illuminated before me and so, in a sense, I feel my footing more secure as I walk the path, or at least I believe such will be the case after I close the book and start actually walking the path, since in that present moment I’m sitting on my duff.

But I also feel something spiritual, what I think many would describe as “closer to God” that I think represents a sense of connection with something greater than you, but not merely that it is greater but that it is also wise and benevolent and truthful. That I am connected to something true, good, and beautiful.

And those things (if we can slice them away from experience in such a way) which possess those three characteristics we claim “are the work of God” or “point toward God” or “are filled with God’s grace” and so on.

I don't practice formal religion, but I've been on about the idea of God for some time now. Not the metaphysics, but the functional role it plays in the human experience and how it promotes evolutionary fitness.

Not to equivocate, but I think Bitcoin is filling a similar role to a degree, for many people, myself included. I don't think "Bitcoin is God" or anything close to it. But it represents a pattern of action(?) that seems to be robust, reliable, and point toward the good.

What wisdom might we gain by studying it?

What is the spirit of Bitcoin?

So close. Man I love this feeling when it's almost all about to come together. You've found the center and the muse is just pulling you along.

Can confirm. Step level change in fluency and productivity. Extends existing powers like inventing the bicycle.

What does one do with this information? Can we change our telomeres and DNA now?!

Phone-like things?

You mean talking to people?

I'm guessing because most people now (right or wrong) feel that verbal conversations, when virtual, are too inefficient or taxing compared to texting.

To see where you must travel, but not to see the way.

Was it something I said?

Great share.

What’s the brown for??

I've had my bitcoin shanties on Apple Music, Spotify, etc for probably a year now.

Been on Wavlake for maybe 4 months?

Have made 400% more on Wavlake in lightning tips in that time.

And I have to pay for distribution on major platforms, so technically I've lost money.

#bitcoin + #lightning are the future of value exchange in a digital world.

https://player.wavlake.com/btc-minstrel

this dude's ideas blew my mind a while back.

Made me think hard about the difference between Truth and Fitness.

Have since decided that seeking Fitness > seeking Truth.

No one really knows what the Truth is. The "unbiased, 3rd party view from nowhere" is a myth.

Seeking Truth above all usually leads to disaster or death.

But seek Fitness and you almost always get closer to the Truth, whatever that might be.

Can confirm. It’s a daily struggle.

Will it play from within the feed or does it open another window?

Good people of nostr, what is the most serviceable solution for posting large videos (~150Mb)?

I have a sample from last nights stream that I would love to share. An ode to salty nocoiners.