“Nothing new under the Sun” factoid incorrect. There’s a Canadian black metal band whose entire discography is centered around Fr*nch history, more specifically sucking up to none other than Napoleon Bonaparte (of “lost at Waterloo” fame).
There’s a teaching in Judaism that one should carry two notes, one in each pocket. One should say “I am but dust and ashes,” and the other should say “the whole world was created for me.” They are seen as opposites; you check one when you’re feeling down on yourself and the other when you’re feeling especially full of yourself. The idea is to maintain balance, but I think the way to achieve full harmony is to realize how they are saying the same thing.
That’s why I have imagined them as a carbon atom. Carbon is a main component of dust (and ashes), but also one of the main building blocks of life. Carbon simultaneously encompasses all. It’s in us, it’s in the stars, the planets, the trees. We are built to exist, yet we are also the building blocks of existence. If we keep both in mind, we can live in balance all the time.
my controversial metric system opinion is that the meter should be 0.0692285593% shorter. This would have no practical benefits, but it would make the speed of light be 300,000,000m/s instead of 299,792,458m/s
Might as well share it on here… My battle vest \m/
The Mgła, Blackbraid and Death patches are all hand-made by yours truly, as are the button pins (because international shipping is truly a pain in the ass).