Suli Qyre
@suliqyre.com
Making art, writing Fragmentarium, and curating quotations for @philosophybits.com
suliqyre.com
suliqyre.com
“Any loss of identity prompts people to seek reassurance and rediscovery of themselves by testing, and even by violence. Today, the electric revolution, the wired planet, and the information environment involve everybody in everybody to the point of individual extinction.”
— Marshall McLuhan
— Marshall McLuhan
November 11, 2025 at 12:23 AM
“Any loss of identity prompts people to seek reassurance and rediscovery of themselves by testing, and even by violence. Today, the electric revolution, the wired planet, and the information environment involve everybody in everybody to the point of individual extinction.”
— Marshall McLuhan
— Marshall McLuhan
“The tension between the self and the other often produces curiosity, the desire to know the other person better and incorporate their otherness into the self. The other is not the self, so there is always something the other has that the self does not, and vice versa.”
Read more:
Read more:
209. Tension With The Other
When the other is still an other, there is a palpable tension with the self. The tension originates in the perception of the other person’s otherness. At the forefront of attention is the simple fact ...
suliqyre.com
November 10, 2025 at 6:02 PM
“The tension between the self and the other often produces curiosity, the desire to know the other person better and incorporate their otherness into the self. The other is not the self, so there is always something the other has that the self does not, and vice versa.”
Read more:
Read more:
“She hides most of her feelings and shares only what passes through a narrow filter. He thinks most people do this, but she has taken the practice to an extreme. She hides almost everything, supplying little more than a carefully-curated portrait of herself.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/hidden...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/hidden...
208. Hidden Treasures
He looks at her but she does not return his glance. Her eyes are aimed elsewhere, but where exactly, he does not know. She seems to be looking straight ahead, but there is nothing there but a blank wa...
suliqyre.com
November 8, 2025 at 6:37 PM
“She hides most of her feelings and shares only what passes through a narrow filter. He thinks most people do this, but she has taken the practice to an extreme. She hides almost everything, supplying little more than a carefully-curated portrait of herself.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/hidden...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/hidden...
“Thinking is trying to think the unthinkable: thinking the thinkable is not worth the effort. Painting is trying to paint what you cannot paint and writing is writing what you cannot know before you have written: it is preknowing and not knowing, blindly, with words.
(1/2)
(1/2)
November 7, 2025 at 11:46 PM
“Thinking is trying to think the unthinkable: thinking the thinkable is not worth the effort. Painting is trying to paint what you cannot paint and writing is writing what you cannot know before you have written: it is preknowing and not knowing, blindly, with words.
(1/2)
(1/2)
“All I want is to feel better, and it doesn't seem like this could actually harm me. But if I'm attached to this desire, it will produce suffering just like any other, as I will manipulate my attention and actions to reach the desired result.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/wantin...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/wantin...
207. Wanting To Feel Better
When I’m feeling down, I can also feel unable to do anything. There are tasks I need to complete, actions I must take to support myself and others, but I feel I can’t do them because my negative feeli...
suliqyre.com
November 7, 2025 at 6:17 PM
“All I want is to feel better, and it doesn't seem like this could actually harm me. But if I'm attached to this desire, it will produce suffering just like any other, as I will manipulate my attention and actions to reach the desired result.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/wantin...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/wantin...
“Capitalism is obsessed with death. The unconscious fear of death is what spurs it on. The threat of death is what stirs its compulsion of accumulation and growth. This compulsion drives us towards not only ecological but also mental catastrophe.”
— Byung-chul Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive
— Byung-chul Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive
November 6, 2025 at 11:53 PM
“Capitalism is obsessed with death. The unconscious fear of death is what spurs it on. The threat of death is what stirs its compulsion of accumulation and growth. This compulsion drives us towards not only ecological but also mental catastrophe.”
— Byung-chul Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive
— Byung-chul Han, Capitalism and the Death Drive
“When failure happens repeatedly, you begin to close yourself off. You begin to narrow the scope of your actions in order to reduce the risk of further grief. You fall into the stagnation of habit, a kind of repetitive non-life, where you go through the same motions day in, day out.”
Read more:
Read more:
206. The Pain Of Failure
You put your whole being into everything you do. You do this automatically, because you care about the things you do and you want them done right.
To act in any other way would feel hollow and false. ...
suliqyre.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:28 PM
“When failure happens repeatedly, you begin to close yourself off. You begin to narrow the scope of your actions in order to reduce the risk of further grief. You fall into the stagnation of habit, a kind of repetitive non-life, where you go through the same motions day in, day out.”
Read more:
Read more:
“To act boldly and keep yourself open to the world is a courageous choice. It means accepting that you'll fail sometimes, and that it will mean pain. It will be painful simply because you care.”
Read more:
suliqyre.substack.com/p/the-pain-o...
Read more:
suliqyre.substack.com/p/the-pain-o...
“The Pain Of Failure”, etc. (206-210)
When failure happens, it's devastating because you've invested so much of yourself and still you didn't succeed.
suliqyre.substack.com
November 5, 2025 at 8:17 PM
“To act boldly and keep yourself open to the world is a courageous choice. It means accepting that you'll fail sometimes, and that it will mean pain. It will be painful simply because you care.”
Read more:
suliqyre.substack.com/p/the-pain-o...
Read more:
suliqyre.substack.com/p/the-pain-o...
“Man had endowed [machines] with intelligence, and, in doing so, had made them an accomplice of his mad adventures…. The myth of the golem — the machine that rebelled against its creator — was a lie, a fiction invented by the guilty for the sake of self-exoneration.”
— Stanisław Lem
— Stanisław Lem
November 4, 2025 at 11:34 PM
“Man had endowed [machines] with intelligence, and, in doing so, had made them an accomplice of his mad adventures…. The myth of the golem — the machine that rebelled against its creator — was a lie, a fiction invented by the guilty for the sake of self-exoneration.”
— Stanisław Lem
— Stanisław Lem
“I want the meaning of all things to be revealed at once. But even a cursory awareness of my relationship with the world should make it clear that this is an impossible demand to satisfy. Meanings are often lacking and there are even things I cannot understand at all.”
Read more:
Read more:
205. Building Patience
When I discover something new, I want to understand it immediately. I want to know its position in the interconnected web of objects that is my rational understanding of the world. I want to be able t...
suliqyre.com
November 4, 2025 at 6:16 PM
“I want the meaning of all things to be revealed at once. But even a cursory awareness of my relationship with the world should make it clear that this is an impossible demand to satisfy. Meanings are often lacking and there are even things I cannot understand at all.”
Read more:
Read more:
“Fragments of this kind are literary seedlings. Many among them may indeed be sterile — still if only some grow.”
— Novalis, Miscellaneous Observations
— Novalis, Miscellaneous Observations
November 3, 2025 at 11:35 PM
“Fragments of this kind are literary seedlings. Many among them may indeed be sterile — still if only some grow.”
— Novalis, Miscellaneous Observations
— Novalis, Miscellaneous Observations
“Order is not established through institutions and systems that impose control through force, but through agreements between ordinary people on what they must each do to create an environment conducive to their own success and happiness.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/order-...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/order-...
204. Order Through Agreement
We need rules for there to be order. Without rules, people could do whatever they want, and they might do things that would harm us or compromise our ability to live happily. When we have rules that e...
suliqyre.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:12 PM
“Order is not established through institutions and systems that impose control through force, but through agreements between ordinary people on what they must each do to create an environment conducive to their own success and happiness.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/order-...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/order-...
“Everything that is not absolutely necessary to your happiness has been removed from the visual horizon. The dream is not only of happiness, but of happiness conceived in perfect isolation.”
— Zadie Smith, “Find Your Beach”
— Zadie Smith, “Find Your Beach”
November 3, 2025 at 12:19 AM
“Everything that is not absolutely necessary to your happiness has been removed from the visual horizon. The dream is not only of happiness, but of happiness conceived in perfect isolation.”
— Zadie Smith, “Find Your Beach”
— Zadie Smith, “Find Your Beach”
“She finds it almost impossible to understand people or their priorities. Why don't they just say what they want from her? If they would be clear with her, then she would happily be clear in return. But instead things are always muddled and foggy.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-ob...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-ob...
203. The Object Of Desire
She knows she sometimes has a strong effect on people. She has been told it’s because she’s attractive, but she doesn’t allow herself to believe this. When she’s around, people start to act strangely,...
suliqyre.com
November 1, 2025 at 5:26 PM
“She finds it almost impossible to understand people or their priorities. Why don't they just say what they want from her? If they would be clear with her, then she would happily be clear in return. But instead things are always muddled and foggy.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-ob...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-ob...
“You are the only one who can never see yourself except as an image; you never see your eyes unless they are dulled by the gaze they rest upon the mirror or the lens
(1/2)
(1/2)
October 31, 2025 at 11:02 PM
“You are the only one who can never see yourself except as an image; you never see your eyes unless they are dulled by the gaze they rest upon the mirror or the lens
(1/2)
(1/2)
“Because probability is so foreign to ordinary thought, it's easy to mistakenly believe that highly improbable events are actually impossible. There's no space in our set of expectations for events that are so rare as to almost never happen.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/what-s...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/what-s...
202. What Seems Meaningful
What has already been noticed becomes more noticeable. If I’m reading a book and an unusual word stands out to me, I give it extra attention, I ponder its meanings, and I might even look it up to expl...
suliqyre.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:24 PM
“Because probability is so foreign to ordinary thought, it's easy to mistakenly believe that highly improbable events are actually impossible. There's no space in our set of expectations for events that are so rare as to almost never happen.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/what-s...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/what-s...
“Language is what eases the pain of living with other people, language is what makes the wounds come open again.”
— Anne Carson, Plainwater
— Anne Carson, Plainwater
October 30, 2025 at 10:46 PM
“Language is what eases the pain of living with other people, language is what makes the wounds come open again.”
— Anne Carson, Plainwater
— Anne Carson, Plainwater
“Sometimes our idea does not get across and is instead replaced in the mind of the reader by a different idea that was never intended. We are then forced to double back, to try to say what we've already said in a new way and hopefully with greater clarity.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/writin...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/writin...
201. Writing Is Not Enough
We live in a world of endless writing. We write to each other constantly, texting, messaging, commenting, posting our opinions, our experiences, our ideas and dreams.
We trust that our written languag...
suliqyre.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:25 PM
“Sometimes our idea does not get across and is instead replaced in the mind of the reader by a different idea that was never intended. We are then forced to double back, to try to say what we've already said in a new way and hopefully with greater clarity.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/writin...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/writin...
“We trust that our written language is doing what we want, that it's expressing the core of our thoughts and feelings, and that others will know and understand these things... Most of the time, the written word does its job admirably. But most of the time is not always.”
Read more:
Read more:
“Writing Is Not Enough”, etc. (201-205)
Most of the time, the written word does its job admirably. But most of the time is not always.
suliqyre.substack.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:18 PM
“We trust that our written language is doing what we want, that it's expressing the core of our thoughts and feelings, and that others will know and understand these things... Most of the time, the written word does its job admirably. But most of the time is not always.”
Read more:
Read more:
“I call experience a voyage to the end of the possible of man. Anyone may choose not to embark on this voyage, but if he does embark on it, this supposes the negation of the authorities, the existing values which limit the possible.
(1/2)
(1/2)
October 28, 2025 at 10:37 PM
“I call experience a voyage to the end of the possible of man. Anyone may choose not to embark on this voyage, but if he does embark on it, this supposes the negation of the authorities, the existing values which limit the possible.
(1/2)
(1/2)
“It's easy to fall into the habit of seeing myself in conflict with the world. All it takes is to see everything around me as separate from me and thus as something I must resist. I must resist it because it opposes my will and stands in the way of getting what I want.”
Read more:
Read more:
200. At War With The World
It’s easy to fall into the habit of seeing myself in conflict with the world. All it takes is to see everything around me as separate from me and thus as something I must resist. I must resist it beca...
suliqyre.com
October 28, 2025 at 5:30 PM
“It's easy to fall into the habit of seeing myself in conflict with the world. All it takes is to see everything around me as separate from me and thus as something I must resist. I must resist it because it opposes my will and stands in the way of getting what I want.”
Read more:
Read more:
“The miracle is the note between two notes of music, it is the number between number one and number two. To have it all you have to do is need it. Faith — is knowing you can go and eat the miracle.
(1/2)
(1/2)
October 27, 2025 at 11:22 PM
“The miracle is the note between two notes of music, it is the number between number one and number two. To have it all you have to do is need it. Faith — is knowing you can go and eat the miracle.
(1/2)
(1/2)
“The language of the poem magically lifts us out of language and into the heart of being. The impact of this cannot be fully described. But something does happen, and we are moved by each and every poem that captures our attention.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/poems-...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/poems-...
199. Poems Are Possibilities
A poem reveals something about our experience that we might not otherwise notice. It does so by using language in a way that forces us out of the ordinary world and into another realm that we cannot f...
suliqyre.com
October 27, 2025 at 5:57 PM
“The language of the poem magically lifts us out of language and into the heart of being. The impact of this cannot be fully described. But something does happen, and we are moved by each and every poem that captures our attention.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/poems-...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/poems-...
“To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves.”
— Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception
— Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception
October 26, 2025 at 11:06 PM
“To see ourselves as others see us is a most salutary gift. Hardly less important is the capacity to see others as they see themselves.”
— Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception
— Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception
“I'm worried that saying something wrong will cause the other to pull away and then what? How could I possibly recover? Every word feels like a risk because I cannot know in advance how it will be received.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-fi...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-fi...
198. The First Step
I can’t stay quiet for this to work. Getting to know someone means speaking to them. I have to keep talking. But to keep the words flowing is a struggle. Every silence fills me with dread because of t...
suliqyre.com
October 25, 2025 at 5:50 PM
“I'm worried that saying something wrong will cause the other to pull away and then what? How could I possibly recover? Every word feels like a risk because I cannot know in advance how it will be received.”
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-fi...
Read more:
suliqyre.com/posts/the-fi...