Can anything ever really be considered ‘true’ or is everything subjective?

Image from medium.com.

The heart of the matter is: if the source of every truth is our senses, our perception, then all truths are subjective. Is this correct? Well, this is not always the case, as long as the scientific method is concerned. Researchers cannot always trust their senses, because there are many things we cannot experience through them. For example, we cannot see atoms or air particles. What scientists do then is to build models and to conduct experiments that can be extrapolated to those contexts, and ultimately they test them to find out if they are valid. Indeed philosophers affirm that there are truths which are invariably solid notwithstanding experience, such as mathematical truth.

According to András Bozsik, from the University of Debrecen, truth is objective, but its perception is subjective.

Therefore if we were presented with the truth in scientific terms, it would look objective, but when someone narrates it with any kind of creative format, it becomes subjective, as we would add certain nuances originating from our personal view, our emotional filter, cultural bias, drives, delusions and even intentional distortions, to name a few.

Thus the media show us the news, while in bars citizens recount them like undeniable facts, even if they have gone through all this screening. However, as soon as one thinks out of the box, our opinion does not seem to be so clear-cut. For example, the world is moved now because Notre-Dame de Paris has been considerably damaged by a fire. 700 million donations have already been gathered to rebuild the temple. But have we stopped to think about the 74 Mosques that have been destroyed in Palestine during the war, or about the thousands of children who die every day in the world? Or, in an act of assuming full responsibility, should we devote our own lives to ensure social justice?

You are...

Image from One Motion.

You are what you do when you're bored.

En la clínica

Imagen de The Fix.

"¡Driiim!" Llamaban al timbre de la puerta transparente de la clínica de fisioterapia. Una joven latinoamericana que estaba sentada dentro no esperó para levantarse, y abrió cortésmente la puerta a una señora de mediana edad.

La señora entró a paso lento. Tenía el pelo corto y rubio, ojos muy claros, casi vítreos, y parecía que se había empolvado la cara para blanquearla como en la época de Maria Antonieta. Vestía una chaqueta clásica de color rosa palo y falda de tubo negra, como sus medias y zapatos.

Me gustaba la combinación de colores que mostraba, y al mismo tiempo me intrigaba mucho la palidez polvorienta de su rostro. No era lo que se estilaba en esa ciudad mediterránea.

La recepcionista, prácticamente oculta tras el impoluto mostrador, tecleaba frenéticamente. De repente, se detuvo y pareció acordarse de algo. "¿Hoy no viene su marido?"

Por lo que comentaron, y que no reflejaré aquí porque a menudo las menudencias cotidianas me llenan de hastío, su marido era alguien muy mayor, con bastón. Yo lo visualicé con imagen más descuidada, tendiendo a rural: calvo (con escaso pelo blanco formando una aureola incompleta), de cara blanca y muy arrugada, en pliegues caídos, jersey tupido, pantalones de pana y espalda encorvada.

La señora empolvada contestó: "No, el médico le ha mandado reposo después de lo que pasó. Hoy he venido yo porque llevo dos meses con lumbalgia. Me han mandado Enantyum, pero sigo con dolores".

A primera vista, alguien diría que los tonos pastel de la señora rubia respiraban un aire de inocencia, pero, una vez la escuché hablar, noté que algunas palabras clave sonaban con un tono enrarecido.

Mis pensamientos fueron interrumpidos cuando entró en escena una joven por el lateral. Se dirigió a la también joven recepcionista: "¿Puedes buscarme el historial de Damián Alonso?" La recepcionista la acompañó, desapareciendo por la esquina.

Giré la cabeza y vi, para mi sorpresa, que la señora me miraba fijamente desde hace unos segundos, pero de una manera demasiado intensa, tan pesada que me oprimía el pecho. Habló como si algo le poseyera:

"Sé que a través de tus ojos, como dos ventanas, puedo cruzar océanos, y entrar a las moradas de hombres y mujeres, que me recibirán como a alguien de su clan. Que a eso que llamáis 'imaginario colectivo' yo le llamo 'mis costumbres y mi religión'. Que no hay roca que no pueda mover, ni corazón que se resista a mi abrazo, ni a la cadencia de mi discurso. La ciencia te susurrará que soy una perturbada, una aberración de la naturaleza, para negarte lógicas paralelas igual de válidas. Quieren que olvides tu intuición, tus emociones, lo que te hace humana. Pero, dime, niña, ¿qué ves en realidad?"

No sé cómo en su mano se hallaba de pronto un medallón. Yo no había alcanzado a verla sacarlo de su bolsillo, aunque mi mente no era consciente de si ya todo era un delirio.

Con un ágil toque de su dedo, de uñas puntiagudas, el medallón reveló su interior. En él había una foto de su anciano marido, ¡justo como yo lo había imaginado! Se asemejaba casi a una ilustración en tinta china. Las sombras eran como líneas entrecruzadas, ¿o no? Algo había en su mirada. Tenía ojeras más marcadas, un halo cada vez más oscuro, un tumor acuoso rebosaba del párpado inferior. Ya las facciones se marcaban a la altura de los huesos, los músculos se marchitaban, pero los ojos y la boca se abrían más y más. De ellos salieron disparadas miles de agujas, largas como hilos. Atravesaron mi cara. La estiraron, como el espacio parece elongarse en los viajes a la velocidad de la luz. Mi cuerpo entero se virtió poco a poco en el medallón, entre estiramientos de inmenso dolor.

Ahora yo seguía viendo el mostrador, pero desde un ángulo distinto. Mi imagen muda ocupaba el otro hueco en forma de corazón del medallón oxidado, junto a la foto del señor mayor. Ahora su expresión estaba vacía. Comprendí, en un último aleteo de consciencia, que se trataba de una foto de época victoriana, del tipo que se toman a familiares ya difuntos. Y que la mano detrás de su muerte ahora jugueteaba con nuestro último recuerdo, seguramente para atrapar más adelante otras almas inadvertidas.

Se buscan

Imagen de Natillas de Ventresca.

SE BUSCAN.

• Un tugurio sórdido con parroquianos moteros barbudos.
• Unas motos Harley Davidson.
• Un trabajo temporal en una clínica de psicología (intrusismo incluido).
• Servicios de falsificación de documentos.
• Un equipo especializado en alta tecnología, detección de patrones, suplantación de identidad, caracterización y otras técnicas para el robo exitoso de sucursales bancarias.

SE BUSCAN los siguientes objetos perdidos:

• Un colgante a modo de amuleto con una pata de conejo despeluchada y sucia, varias cuentas de madera y pequeñas plumas.
• Una moneda de dólar de plata antigua. Tiene gran valor sentimental, y escaso material (por su larga hendidura en la cara).
• Un diario con observaciones sobre muchos miembros de una familia, que se remonta hasta los años 30. Se describen su personalidad, emociones, rasgos intelectuales, incidencias vitales y respuesta a éstas, posibles rarezas, e hipótesis de potenciales enfermedades mentales.

The very first picture of a black hole

Photo from New Scientist.

Scientists have taken the first photo of a black hole! :D To do so, they have used a global network of telescopes. The picture shows a dark central circle, also known as "shadow", surrounded by a ring of light that is more luminous on one side.

The black hole is in the centre of a galaxy called M87. The black hole measures 40 billion km across, which means that it is bigger than our Solar System, and its mass is 6.5 billion times as big as that of our sun! How could they calculate the mass of the black hole? Well, it was thanks to the creation of the shadow, due to the gravitational bending and capture of light.

M87 is near the Virgo galaxy, which is million light-years from Earth. That means that the image of the black hole is in fact a depiction of the past, since we have to consider the immense distance that the light has to cover until it reaches the Earth.

More than 200 astronomers have been involved in this project for longer than a decade. There is so much work behind this image! The name of the telescope array, "Event Horizon Telescope", comes from that assigned to the limits of black holes, a point of no return where light cannot escape.

In order to take the picture, the power of eight radio telescopes have been combined. These telescopes are located in different places in the world, including one in the Spanish Sierra Nevada. The result has been the creation of a virtual telescope approximately as big as planet Earth.

To guarantee that the telescopes were operating simultaneously, researchers have used extremely precise atomic clocks for each of them. The telescopes have been scanning the core of the galaxy for 10 days, and have gathered 5,000 trillion bytes of information, that have been processed by supercomputers to generate the image of the black hole. Katie Bouman is the MIT student who developed an algorithm to decipher the data from the Event Horizon Telescope. I am very happy that a girl's work has been an essential contribution to this project ^_^

Moreover, we cannot overlook that Prof Falcke had the original idea for the project in 1993, when he was a Doctorate student. At the time nobody thought it was possible, but Falcke estimated there were radio emissions which could be generated close to black holes, and which would be strong enough to be captured by our telescopes.

Despite the name, black holes are not empty. They are enormous quantities of matter condensed into a much smaller area, which creates an intense gravitational field that attracts everything, even light. They also heat the surrounding dust and gas at extremely high temperatures, and distort spacetime. The material heated at billions of degrees almost reaches the speed of light. What looks like a supernatural phenomenon to me is the fact that light bends around the gravity of the black hole, creating that photon ring that we can see in the picture, or the intriguing elongated appearance that we can perceive in computer models.

One of the greatest minds in history, Albert Einstein, already predicted the visual aspect of black holes imaged two days ago.

After capturing the image of the shadow, it was compared to the computer models related to the physics of distorted space, superheated material and powerful magnetic fields. The researchers are quite satisfied because their observations match their theoretical postulations.

M87's black hole has a huge mass, and investigators think it could be the largest observable black hole from the Earth. As compared to other objects in space, black holes are relatively small, and for this reason they have not been observed before. Even though by definition they are invisible, since no light escapes from them, how black holes interact with the matter surrounding them is what reveals their appearance. The light of the halo is brighter than that of all the billion of stars in M87 combined and, according to a paper from 1973, due to their enormous gravity, black holes seem 2.5 times bigger than they actually are. These two factors have made it possible to see this black hole from our planet. Nevertheless, what we see in the photo is not the real colours of the heated gas. It is actually a colour map selected by the researchers to represent the brightness of the emissions. The most intense emission would probably look white (instead of yellow), maybe with some blue or red hues.

This is definitely a landmark to better understand the nature of these enigmatic objects. However, scientists still have to comprehend how the bright halo is generated and what happens when something falls into black holes. Although they look like simple phenomena, they raise complex questions about space and time and, ultimately, about our own existence.

Now the scientific team working in the project is imaging the black hole at the centre of our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Surprisingly, it is harder to detect than M87's black hole, which is 55 million ligh-years away. This is because the light halo around the black hole of the Milky Way is smaller and not so clear.


Sources

• BBC News. First ever black hole image released.

• CNN. This is the first photo of a black hole.

• Space.com. Why is the first-ever black hole photo an orange ring?

To be or not to be...

Being in a social gathering and daydreaming...

"Oh, right now I could be writing".

Yep, The Curse of the Introvert, coming soon to cinemas.

Why we believe in conspiracy theories and how we can stop doing it

Image by Aurich Lawson, from the web ArsTechnica.

Nowadays we can find a vast range of conspiracy theories, including reptilians, chemtrails, the New World Order, MKUltra, secrets experiments with aliens in Area 51 and so on. As the BBC suggests, an immense number of people, regardless of social class, gender and age, accept at least one, if not a few, conspiracy theories. This happens because there is an unlimited quantity of these theories.

All these bizarre speculations have led scientists and historians to attempt to counteract them by means of comprehensive clarifications. For example, they have debunked in detail the theory that the Moon landings were hoaxes.

The heart of the matter is: What makes people believe conspiracy theories?

According to the website Live Science, people tend to have a predilection for conspiracy theories that parallel their political views. For instance, Republicans are more likely to believe that climate change is a tall story. On the other hand, citizens who entertain the idea of Bush destroying the Twin Towers are usually Democrats.

Nevertheless, it seems that certain people follow conspiracies of any sort in general, therefore it is likely that their particular psychological traits make them prone to do so.

One major factor that fosters conspiracy is "schizotypy". Schizotypy is a group of features that entails a disposition to cast doubt on conventional thinking, to have nonconformist beliefs and to perceive stimuli that are not actually present.

Schizotypy is also related to the fact that conspiracists need to feel unique. Thanks to their deviation from mainstream beliefs, they can distinguish themselves from the crowd, and simultaneously find comfort within a community of other people who think like them.

In addition, conspiracists have an exaggerated concern that the earth is unsafe. Thus they think that there are warnings indicating that ominous destruction is around the corner.

Apart from this, conspiracy believers most probably consider absurd quotes as enlightened. If they read a quote with a mysterious and deep air to it, their intuition tells them it must actually be really profound, even if it is pure nonsense. For example, at first sight the sentence "Wholeness quiets infinite phenomena" looks like an inspired quote, but in fact it makes no sense, though it is probably appreciated by people who usually follow their intuition and believe in the supernatural.

Finally, conspiracists see intention in almost everything, and even assign it to inanimate objects. Prof French affirms that humans are skilled at detecting patterns and repetition. However sometimes they go too far, and think there is purpose and meaningfulness when there is not. We are witnesses to events, and we instantly think that someone or something had motives to originate them. Typically, we detect certain concurrences in connection with major events and later we use them as elements of a narrative of our own creation. This story turns into a conspiracy theory as soon as it involves heroes and villains, the latter causing all the situations we detest. If we think about it, this is similar to our conception of politics. We frequently praise or condemn politicians for positive or negative happenings, while we really do not know how their policies influence the results, and besides, many situations are out of their control.

Other factors that have been mentioned as fostering conspiracy theories are feelings of impotence against a destiny that is beyond our control (but, as we have mentioned, it revolves around something significant, rather than arbitrary), and the human need to find explanations for events, by answering big questions by ourselves. Even if, in doing so, we do not come across the truth, we supposedly discover something that comforts us or that matches our world perspective.

Most often we create our convictions in ways that corroborate what we want to be valid. Having access to the media only makes certain people focus on misleading information. At the end of the day, we just need to feel comfortable, not to be rigorous. Since my individual vote does not really make a difference, if it makes me feel fine to affirm that George Bush blew up the Twin Towers, then the subconscious reward for having this point of view is probably larger than any retribution that I might suffer if my insights are incorrect.

Even with all that, conspiracy theories are still an enigma in the sense that humans habitually have belief systems, such as religion, which are generally positive and inspiring, in order to satisfy their emotional aims, such as the need to feel that everything is OK with them and their life. Nevertheless, conspiracy theories do not fit this pattern. Maybe we could affirm that if one sees perversion all around, at least they can point an accusing finger at others, and there is a gleam of hope that someone could take measures.

We also need to take into account that real incidents such as the Watergate Scandal, which involved a president taking part in a criminal conspiracy, have led American citizens to contemplate the possible authenticity of other secret plans being orchestrated by influential figures.

Now that we know the possible reasons of the origin of conspiracy theories, can we possibly mitigate them? A study from 2018 confirms this: if we give people a sense of control and we show them tangible ways for self-improvement and to make progress in their projects, they are less likely to hold absurd assumptions about the world. This can even be applied to companies too. If employers want to reduce rumours in the office, science suggests they should frequently talk with their workers about their goals and help them assimilate the necessary actions that they should take to achieve them.

Sources

• BBC News: Why so many people believe conspiracy theories.
• Buzzfeed. If Your Friend Likes Putting Terrible Inspo Quotes On Instagram, There Could Be A Scientific Reason.
• Inc. A New Study Has Found a Way to Stop People From Believing in Conspiracy Theories.
• LiveScience. Why people believe conspiracy theories.

La peinture abstraite

Je dois reconnaître que les œuvres abstraites sont un mystère pour moi!

Je me demande comment elles sont construites. Comment est-ce qu'on sait quand elles sont finies?

Peut-être cela fait partie de l'intuition et des émotions de l'artiste.

Peut-être elles sont pure forme, comme la poésie, incomprise par beaucoup.

Quoi qu'il en soit, excusez-moi les artistes, mais je considère la plupart comme un élément décoratif pour une maison ou comme une petite partie d'une œuvre figurative plus grande.

Sans titre, par Vassily Kandinsky.

Gossip

Photo from Positive Psychology Programme.

I’ve been reading a bit about gossip and, surprisingly, I’ve found two opposing points of view. 

According to one of them, gossip equals evil, and we should avoid it. Thus every time we indulge in gossip, we add bitterness and resentment to the narrative. I’ve been thinking that maybe that shapes or misdirects our way of thinking. I mean, you might not know all the details of the life of a person, but you get involved in those stories, which create a sort of caricature of a complex human being, focusing only on the morbid elements and their flaws. And, as we are made of stories, those images become ingrained in our subconscious. They are the references to paint a picture of that person in our mind, missing many of the soul's subtleties in the process. 

As we all know, gossip occurs when the object of gossip is not present. I’ve even witnessed a scene where my friends backbit someone else who was three metres ahead of them! That’s really what we could call talking behind someone’s back! I had been living in another town, so at that moment, I don’t know if it’s because I had lost the essence of our interactions and if my vision had become more neutral as a consequence, but that gesture seemed quite cruel to me. Well, I also think that I can be here writing about what’s right or wrong, and then I also make the same mistakes that I’m condemning. Anyway, this happens to all of us. Couldn’t it be that we follow a kind of cycle? First we set the standards for what is right or wrong, then we err and are blamed for that, and finally we redeem ourselves, and the cycle is completed.

On one of these occasions when we were talking about someone who had left the place twenty minutes ago, some of us could feel there was something shady in the atmosphere. Well, it was nothing but my birthday party and, late at night, we were meddling in the most scabrous details of someone’s life, a life which was out of control. When you thought about it and because of the nature of the problem, you could not find any solution to help that person, therefore it was really frustrating. One of our friends stated that we shouldn’t be talking about that person in that way during a party. Some months later, when it was her own birthday, she didn’t invite one of my friends and me to join them. Actually, the relationship that she and her boyfriend had with us all started to fade. I think she was right when she complained about our attitude during the party: it was a bitter situation that should have been addressed privately, even if many details looked very juicy! The good news is that the couple are going out again with the group from time to time.

As with most aspects of life, I’d say that the most desirable thing is to try to achieve balance. In one of TED talks, Jeff Conway offers a useful idea: we can redirect gossip and praise  the positive values of a person. I believe that would help to inspire the creation of the best version of others, as if we were a sort of Pygmalion.

Besides, there are so many other things to talk about! I can subscribe to the experience of feeling energized, cheerful and enriched when, with one friend, instead of gossiping, I talked about art, history, lifestyles, music and many other topics. Subsequently I realized that I needed to read and write more, because I didn’t know as much as I thought, and I wanted to explore all those fields in depth.

Apart from this, analysing the behaviour of others can also help our community to get better, as I have learned on the website "Psychology Today". It helps us to socialize, to become aware of the moral principles of our group, to perfect our own attitude, and to welcome newbies. The heart of the matter is how to do it without hurting others’ feelings significantly. In my opinion and according to the sources I’ve consulted, there are several ways to do this:

• Trying to get as much information as possible, since lack of information leads to speculation, and speculation leads to gossip.
• Asking lots of questions to different people before asserting something. We need to have different versions of the story. Clearly, a one-sided narrative takes us to a dead-end street.
• We should wonder if we are trying to find solutions or if we are just wallowing in the dirt. It's obvious which conduct should be encouraged.
• Talking with each person involved in the problem individually, in the most neutral and non-judgemental way, and then reaching our own conclusions sounds like a healthier strategy than exposing someone’s misfortunes before a large group.

Sources:

• The Principles of Gossip by Catherine Pulsifer.
• Redirecting Gossip: Jeff Conway at TEDxYouth@CampHill.
• Gossip Is a Social Skill, Not a Character Flaw.

Play it again, teacher

Students are continuously asking me to play music. So one day I carefully looked for lyrics with an enriching message, words easy to understand and a melody performed by a singer with a powerful voice. There it was, shining as pristine as Venus in her seashell: Beautiful, by Christina Aguilera. I removed some of the words in order to prepare the typical fill-in-the-gaps lyrics.

Learners' first reaction was that the tune looked like "music for old geezers". However, most of them completed the activity and showed the result proudly.

One of them had an additional proposal: "Teacher, now that we have all completed the assignment, you should reward us with a song that we actually like!"

So a song chosen by you, most probably about sexual depravity and/or drugs? Not in this dimension, my dear!

Photo of Christina Aguilera for the promotion of Fighter.

Dream jobs

Illustration from Fast Web.

Before coming to my school you might think that students dream of becoming astronauts, scientists, teachers or football players. Nevertheless, one day they tell you: "The ideal job is that of a porn star!" At least, being aware that they are able to hack porn accounts, you are certain that they're developing their... digital competence and entrepreneurial spirit, I guess.

Gratitude

“Take time daily to reflect on how much you have. It may not be all that you want but remember someone somewhere is dreaming to have what you have.” 

― Germany Kent.

Photo from Desiring God.

For example, something as simple as being able to go for a walk and observe pine trees, daisies and sparrows. You don't need to commit a crime and be jailed to miss all that. If you just get sick or have an accident and need to be hospitalised, the situation could seem something halfway between staying at a hotel and being in a prison.
So it's desirable to thank the universe for our blessings and enjoy them in body and soul when we have some free time. Instead of surfing the Internet all day, we could consider a variety of activities: visiting our family, going trekking, chatting with out friends at a bar, painting, writing a poem,...

Typical argument against feminism #2: Women already have equal rights

Photo by Dan Wynn.

Well, it is commonplace that in many jobs out there women get a lower pay than their male counterparts.

I can remember one specific moment when, in a job interview, which was particularly hostile, they asked me if I was thinking of having children some time soon. My sister told me afterwards that was an illegal sexist question.

Besides, politics is also represented within the four walls of our homes. Excuse my “rudeness”, but it’s clear that chores are still considered a woman’s duty. That’s ingrained in our subconscious and many men, comfortable with their privileges, don’t lift a finger to change this situation. They’re saving time and energy for themselves, why would they?

Let me come back again to the issue of women and work. Women can be discriminated at work in other ways. For example, a friend of mine told me her boss harassed her sexually.

As for feminism-opposers who put forward this argument, they almost always operate on the male / female gender binary, which is a problem. We need to take into account, for example, trans individuals.

We should further point out that there is a difference between the rights we have and the treatment we receive in society. For instance, in the Constitution of the United States, all races are considered equal in the eyes of the law. However, black people are continuously discriminated. Having the same rights does not ensure being treated as social equals.

Typical argument against feminism #1: Flirting is over.

Photo from everydayfeminism.com

A male friend once said this to me. In fact, that evening was quite shocking. Some people I usually go out with started spitting out all sort of things against “modern” feminism. “Do I really know these people?”, I thought. I couldn’t believe it.

As for flirting, let’s consider the situation of a man in a party. He wants to approach a woman he doesn’t know, just because he thinks she’s pretty, or because her gestures are charming, or because she exudes confidence. So he asks her something or makes a flattering comment.

What are the consequences for these two people?

1) The man.

a. The woman offers a positive response and he’s consequently successful, at least at the moment of the approach.

b. The woman refuses his offer and he feels bad. He can either think that it was a risk and a part of the game, or he can blame the woman, which is not uncommon, and think she’s a bitch – for going out with other men who are not himself.

2) The woman.

a. Maybe she likes this type of encounters and she reacts positively. She perceives it as a magical / spontaneous moment, or she just enjoys casual sex, or whatever.

b. She doesn’t know the man and maybe she doesn’t like the first impression he gives, his appearance, his gestures, or whatever. She may find it uncomfortable that a boy she doesn’t even know is trying to share moments of intimacy with her. She doesn’t know if she can trust him, maybe he could have bad intentions too.

So feminists just want to show, I think, that girls can react in a variety of ways, based on certain decisions which are as valid as those of men.

The world does not revolve only around men’s needs. Hey! Women want to be treated like humans too. That’s the “radical view” that feminists defend.

Me VS the world

Artwork from mission.org

When the world doesn’t meet my needs, I turn to creativity. L’ennui can be a blessing and I’m quite picky, I guess.

Why should we study?

Photo from careerninja.co.uk

I’ve remembered something that some naughty students once told me: “Why should we study, if we’ll probably end up working in a MacDonald's?” So I guess the most logical thing to do is not to study and to end up living under a bridge…

But you see, they’re nihilistic!

I’d like to tell them something. “Do you know what entropy is? It is a physics principle according to which all systems tend to reach a state of chaos and disorder. I’d connect that with our lives. Our life only gets more and more difficult. We’ll find more and more obstacles. Today you may be acceptably comfortable, but tough times will come and until them we might have added some order or even more chaos. That will determine the possible results: a quite satisfactory life or a terrible ordeal. Of course there may be circumstances that alter the estimated outcome, but I cannot take them all into account, and we all know that ‘good / bad luck’ are always present.”

Anger

“Anger doesn’t solve anything. It builds nothing, but it can destroy everything.” Lawrence Douglas Wilder.

This is sooo true. Anger only creates bitterness, resentment and, consequently, no desire to collaborate. The angry person puts themselves in a position of dominance and judges the other person with cruelty of one sort or the other. At least it’s perceived as cruelty.

In my opinion, the best thing to do is to find the correct techniques to attain your objective, which is most likely social in this case, maybe by means of some research and some trial and error. Then you can apply them, trying to be calm at all times, since peace inspires a good response by the other side. Nobody wants someone else to act as a parent who is constantly telling them off.

Artwork by Brian Pushead Schroeder (for Metallica).

Fresh start

Dear Diary by Tapps Games.

I'm going to start a diary again because writing is said to look most like thinking. And I'd like to reflect on what happens to me.

Today I've come across a moral dilemma and I’ve learned a few things.

First of all, I should speak less, keep personal information to myself, especially if my interlocutor isn’t someone close to me. I’m considering cultivating myself in order to talk about ideas, like the greatest, instead of wordly stories and gossip, that people can use against me.

Yes, my friends, you can’t trust almost anyone. On the other hand, and going a bit batty, I see myself a little like Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody: eccentric, uninhibited and irreverent (or just plain stupid, I don’t know)… however, in the end he paid for his excesses, his deviations from the rule, and he felt really lonely. At the same time, he had the incredible ability to move the masses. I think that one extreme motivated him to reach the opposite one, just like introverted people can make great actors after overcoming mini challenges to open up during their training. If you are already extroverted, you might not have that new need created.

I was thinking of re-reading what I’ve just written, but it could turn out to be more interesting and fresh to leave it like this. In the future I will certainly revisit it.

To tell the truth, by writing I feel that I could ease my need to talk excessively, and so I would avoid going too far. I have a lot, a lot to say… at last, and sometimes open wound and open air situations seem uncomfortable to express myself. Sometimes I get tongue-tied, my grace starts to decline, I lose the thread,… But sometimes I manage to build a well-structured discourse, I must admit.

 Occasionally I publish Whatsapp statuses because I really need to tell something, but I don’t want to say it openly either. So now, while I’m writing this, I realize that a diary could be what I need...

And reading and learning more. To be able to do what is fairer.

Reflecting.

Without coming to be too hard on myself.