If Looks Could Kill - Graphic Art & Design

This part particularly strikes me:

The essence of a lie implies in fact that the liar actually is in complete possession of the truth which he is hiding. A man does not lie about what he is ignorant of; he does not lie when he spreads an error of which he himself is the dupe; he does not lie when he is mistaken.

from Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre.

It clarifies the mechanics of deceit. Applications are limitless.

(Riddle of Epicurus)

If God is willing to prevent evil, but is not able to
Then He is not omnipotent.

If He is able, but not willing
Then He is malevolent.

If He is both able and willing
Then whence cometh evil?

If He is neither able nor willing
Then why call Him God?

(Source)

—
…and on a similar note:

Tantum religio potuit suadere malorum.
(To such heights of evil are men driven by religion.)
—LUCRETIUS, DE RERUM NATURA

“It is, after all, wholly man-made. And it does not have the confidence in its own various preachings even to allow coexistence between different faiths.”

Excerpt from ‘God is Not Great’

The article/book nails numerous fascinating and compelling concepts.

Even if you believe in the Jebus, it’s a great read, for surely you are secure in your beliefs. This would only serve to assist you in delving into it further, perhaps cement them.

Sometimes this seems a preferable alternative to the bullshit that goes on, though of course it would be self-defeating. For someone as visually-stimulated as myself, this would be ghastly, though sometimes I would rather…

What has me agitated:

Blaming Video Games for Violence

Faith-based regulations passing

Lack of food-safety standards in China snuffing pets

Seeking a positive side… it spawned a painting.

See it larger in the Gallery and nab some Icons of it.

Not one of my personal favorites, but there’s no denying his talent, the misunderstood Vincent Van Gogh fancied himself a realistic painter, rather than the expressionistic one he was labeled as due to his complementary colors and pronounced strokes.

Though “tragically brought down by incomprehension and madness, Van Gogh himself aspired to serenity and happiness.” It eluded him. He snuffed himself at 37, suffering from the seizure disorder and hallucinations, exacerbated by alcohol and probably syphilis as well.”

(Source) - Slideshow on Van Gogh with detail

Of further fascination to me, is the fact that if people were eventually “scanned” for perceived mental illness, we wouldn’t have work like his. The line between madness and creativity is hardly there - afflicting not just artists, but scientists, raising the question:

Do the mad have access to hidden worlds of imagination, denied to the sane? Is madness the final frontier of art and science? Is genius only a step away from insanity?

(Source)

Better organized and far easier to navigate, I present my overhauled Gallery - thou shalt go stare.

• Illustration
• Paintings
• Miscellany
• User Icons

Over & Out!

Perpetually fascinated by the subconscious, this intrigues me:

• Rats deprived of sleep die faster than rats that are deprived of food
• Some sadist actually implemented and tested the aforementioned bullet to the point of death.
• Memory consolidation takes place (defragmenting)

…if our brains did what they do during dreams while awake, we would be diagnosed as mentally ill. Yet we enter into this cousin of delirious insanity every night. “Do we go mad at night to prevent ourselves from doing so in the day time?” Hobson has asked. “Or do we go mad because the brain temporarily gives up certain of its controls in order to regain them, in better order, when sleep ends?” - Harvard sleep researcher, J. Allan Hobson

(Source)