tokens

[!>>] No Fast Forward

It is tempting (and sometimes unavoidable/rational) to wish for time to pass faster when one is in an uncomfortable situation. "Doing X to pass the time" and the celebration of a time period appearing to "go by fast" are very common expressions, which presumably reflect subconscious tendencies to avoid boredom or more severe forms of suffering. Acknowledging the finite amount of time we have, though, I try to catch these thoughts and take the opportunity to sink deeper into the experience of the world around me; there is infinite detail in every situation, and so fast-forwarding through time wastes experience, which is irreplaceable.

[!M] No Magic

Clarke's Third Law says that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. In order to understand advanced technology (let alone create it), the attitude that there is no such thing as magic is fundamental; everything can be understood with enough study. The lack of understanding of a technology or natural phenomenon does not indicate that it can never be understood or is only explicable by supernatural black boxes. There are many ideologies that provide mental shortcuts and comforting explanations of complex systems, some of which genuinely appearing scientific. Most of this is too abstract to be useful/predictive, so as a simple (but certainly not easy) fallback: there is nothing but physics.

[あつくて つめたい] (atsukute tsumetai) hot and cold

Emotions are influenced by a large (possibly unknown) number of factors, and so it is often impossible to completely explain the reasoning behind why one is feeling x or y. Emotions also exist on various spectra, where one may be said to be the "opposite" of another; perhaps most convincingly: happy and sad. There are many more words to describe feelings, with various levels of complexity/detail/specificity/context. Joy, amusement, elation, bliss (happy); dismay, grief, melancholy, anguish (sad); exasperation, fury, spite, vengefulness (anger); horror, panic, anxiety, apprehension (fear). Each word has a subtly different meaning, applicable to a different set of situations. I think it is an error to "fix" one's emotions by eliminating the experience of "bad" ones and only pursuing "good" ones. Part of the beauty of being human is acknowledging our subjectivity to the entire space of possible emotions. Some (perhaps 50%) of them suck, but the only way to fully appreciate those that don't is to experience everything.