Your post reminded me of two profound perspectives: Carl Sagan’s reflections in “Pale Blue Dot” and Adam Grant’s insight from a recent Substack Notes. I think these complement your exploration of irreverence, reverence, and balance. They challenge us to zoom out and appreciate our place in the vastness of existence while also humbly acknowledging the improbable luck of our very being.
"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."
"It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
And
"Remember how lucky we are to exist. The chances of being born are impossibly tiny. If one couple in our whole family tree didn't survive, meet, mate, and get a 1/400 quadrillion sperm-egg match, there would be no us. A sustainable source of gratitude is appreciating that the odds were stacked against coming into being. It’s a miracle that anyone we love is alive." - Adam Grant
It’s irreverent to poke at our self-made myths—our delusions of independence or control—but reverent to embrace the gratitude and humility of knowing how much of our lives depends on luck, chance, and the contributions. A notion echoed in “The Secret of Our Success”:
"So, yes, we are smart, but not because we stand on the shoulders of giants or are giants ourselves. We stand on the shoulders of a very large pyramid of hobbits. The hobbits do get a bit taller as the pyramid ascends, but it’s still the number of hobbits, not the height of particular hobbits, that’s allowing us to see farther."
This idea challenges the reverence we give to individual greatness and replaces it with a broader appreciation for collective effort. It’s a profound way to strip away the myths of self-made success while calling us to revere the countless contributions of others—those who came before us and those who surround us.
I will answer the question literally: the same way I forget what I did like 30 seconds ago! Our poor brains are constantly adding more things in there, so my own short term memory seems to suffer the most.
It definitely has nothing to do with getting older. Nope, zilch.
Michelangelo's David originates in an era of strong men that created good times, whereas Lenk's Laubebrunnen, well, it is obviously a weak men's mind that helped to create an ugly garden ...
Thanks for your enlightening post; high-time to practice much, much more irreverence !!!
Irreverence is the realm of comedians who are the successors of the classic joker or fool from the old days. A way to break the facade of reverence. Imagine if the Emperor had a comedian to point out his clothing?
There's a subversive power to court jesters. They seem to never take anything seriously, so they're free to say some very serious, subversive things without getting their heads chopped off.
How about the Zionist comedians in Ukraine and the one in The Occupied Lands of Palestine, showing the entire world their blatant irreverence for anything human on a daily basis ??? ...
“A well-balanced person is one who finds both sides of an issue laughable.” -Herbert Prochnow
We’d all benefit from being able to do both, zoom in and out, while also being able to find humor in both sides.
Fantastic collaboration. Saved this one to come back to.
Good shit guys.
Exactly. Great quote!
Your post reminded me of two profound perspectives: Carl Sagan’s reflections in “Pale Blue Dot” and Adam Grant’s insight from a recent Substack Notes. I think these complement your exploration of irreverence, reverence, and balance. They challenge us to zoom out and appreciate our place in the vastness of existence while also humbly acknowledging the improbable luck of our very being.
"Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves."
"It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known."
And
"Remember how lucky we are to exist. The chances of being born are impossibly tiny. If one couple in our whole family tree didn't survive, meet, mate, and get a 1/400 quadrillion sperm-egg match, there would be no us. A sustainable source of gratitude is appreciating that the odds were stacked against coming into being. It’s a miracle that anyone we love is alive." - Adam Grant
It’s irreverent to poke at our self-made myths—our delusions of independence or control—but reverent to embrace the gratitude and humility of knowing how much of our lives depends on luck, chance, and the contributions. A notion echoed in “The Secret of Our Success”:
"So, yes, we are smart, but not because we stand on the shoulders of giants or are giants ourselves. We stand on the shoulders of a very large pyramid of hobbits. The hobbits do get a bit taller as the pyramid ascends, but it’s still the number of hobbits, not the height of particular hobbits, that’s allowing us to see farther."
This idea challenges the reverence we give to individual greatness and replaces it with a broader appreciation for collective effort. It’s a profound way to strip away the myths of self-made success while calling us to revere the countless contributions of others—those who came before us and those who surround us.
Fantastic quotes. There's both absurdity and awe in the cosmos, that's for certain. Thanks for sharing!
Excellent stuff. In fact, I think of "rational irreverence" as being a key defining trait of what makes up who I am.
My approach was different, but with a lot of crossover:
https://goatfury.substack.com/p/rational-irreverence
I love tearing down these sorts of walls and just helping people think more clearly.
Damn. How'd I forget about that essay? I should have linked it in. You kept coming to mind as I wrote this one with the other Andrew.
I will answer the question literally: the same way I forget what I did like 30 seconds ago! Our poor brains are constantly adding more things in there, so my own short term memory seems to suffer the most.
It definitely has nothing to do with getting older. Nope, zilch.
Michelangelo's David originates in an era of strong men that created good times, whereas Lenk's Laubebrunnen, well, it is obviously a weak men's mind that helped to create an ugly garden ...
Thanks for your enlightening post; high-time to practice much, much more irreverence !!!
Good points. Make sure the first sacred cows you offer for slaughter are your own though!
Since time immemorial, I am a vegetarian; how about a bunch of carrots instead ??? ... 🤣🤣🤣
I do love carrots.
Just hope that we are not the only ones !!! 🤣🤣🤣 🥕🥕🥕🐇🐇🐇
Irreverence is the realm of comedians who are the successors of the classic joker or fool from the old days. A way to break the facade of reverence. Imagine if the Emperor had a comedian to point out his clothing?
There's a subversive power to court jesters. They seem to never take anything seriously, so they're free to say some very serious, subversive things without getting their heads chopped off.
1) I think Cynic philosophy is most likely to reemerge in the form of modern satirists bemoaning/mocking the same things ancient Cynics Bemoaned: https://www.classicalfuturist.com/p/stoics-and-epicureans-have-returned?r=1xulhu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
1) I talked about Humor and Stoicism here: https://open.substack.com/pub/andrewperlot/p/if-youre-not-laughing-youre-probably?r=1xulhu&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
How about the Zionist comedians in Ukraine and the one in The Occupied Lands of Palestine, showing the entire world their blatant irreverence for anything human on a daily basis ??? ...
I was hoping to have space to weave in comedy but, alas, I hit my length limit.