Sacrifice to Pan,
By Francisco de Goya

When I become a surgeon, I want this and only this to be played in my OR

Looking back at my life, all my curiosities; philosophy, neuroscience, literature, movies, TV shows, and conversations did not interest me in and of themselves; philosophy does not interest me more than the traditional Chinese cuisine does. These interests can only be understood as attempts to answer the questions that've always lingered over in my life, my daily life, when I have dinner or walk a street; the great questions and the silly alike.
For me, these curiosities are journeys and adventures done mentally, not "academic" or "intellectual" duties, and as Allan Bloom said in a totally different context "I'm not a snob".

بالنظر إلى الماضي، فإنّ ما أثارَ فضولي دومًا من فلسفة وعلوم أعصاب وأدب وأفلام ومسلسلات ومحادثات وجلسات لم يكن بسبب أنّ هذه الأشياء بذاتِها أثارت فضولي؛ الفلسفة بِذاتِها لا تهمّني أكثر مما تهمّني وصفات الطبخ الصينية. هذه الإهتمامات يمكن فهمها فقط بصفتها محاولاتٍ للإجابة عن الأسئلة التي طالما شغلت تفكيري وحياتي اليومية، عندما أتناولُ العشاء أو أعبرُ الشارع؛ الأسئلة السخيفة والعظيمة على حدٍّ سواء. بالنسبة لي، هذه الإهتمامات هي أسفارٌ ومغامراتٌ عقلية، وليست واجباتٍ "أكاديمية" أو "ثقافية"، وبكلمات آلان بلوم في سياق مختلفٍ تمامًا، "I'm not a snob".

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Ironically, I just posted about my feelings last night

The self is the modern substitute for the soul

- Allan Bloom

Humans keep repeating the same patterns but with different images

Crow and Spider by: Ohara Koson

ولو ما حبيت غير أول دقيقة ونص

music mediates between silence and language.

Sara Maitland, A Book of Silence

There is the aftermath of seriously good sex, when you are with the other person without demand or need. In fact, there is a silence around sex, which is quite other than the silence of shame. There is something about sexual passion that language cannot comprehend or represent and at its best there is no reason to try.

Love is flower-like;
Friendship is a sheltering tree

- S.T. Coleridge

Words [like Creativity] that were meant to describe and encourage Beethoven and Goethe are now applied to every schoolchild.

- Allan Bloom