I like this framing. I can say in my own practice I’ve found value in all of knowing suffering, beauty, and the gears of how things work, and I wouldn’t be who I am without all three. I especially like the framing of the type of person you get when these “humors”, if you will, are out of balance, and think that could be a useful frame in terms of how one should direct one’s practice based on which of the dimensions are currently underdeveloped.
Yeah I think I had an intuition in my early 20s that I was underdeveloped in my sense of Hell and this was one of the main reasons I was drawn to become close to Brent for a few years—I sensed he knew something about it.
And honestly it helped; I think I would have been a bit of a rose-colored glasses guy otherwise! …he’d probably still say I am one. But in any case, I am as a result of knowing him, capable of writing essays like this one:
...which, not coincidentally, resonates somewhat with the vibe of this LW post!
(Also the friend mentioned in the post is not Brent, although it literally could have been except for the (implied) part where my utterance was enough to make some meaningful connection with the specific friend the story is actually about. I don’t yet know how to speak Heaven’s Apology to Brent.)
Thanks Gordon! “Balancing the humors” is exactly right.
I think the frames give some broad macro-direction on how to direct one’s practice.
They also give micro-direction. Are you feeling increasing levels of stress and numbness? Get some Heaven. Are you feeling caught in the weeds and unclear why you were doing what you were doing? Maybe too much Mechanics, and you’ve lost touch with both Heaven and Hell. Feeling motivated but confused on how to make a difference? Time for a plan, pragmatic steps, measurement, mechanics.
I like this framing. I can say in my own practice I’ve found value in all of knowing suffering, beauty, and the gears of how things work, and I wouldn’t be who I am without all three. I especially like the framing of the type of person you get when these “humors”, if you will, are out of balance, and think that could be a useful frame in terms of how one should direct one’s practice based on which of the dimensions are currently underdeveloped.
Yeah I think I had an intuition in my early 20s that I was underdeveloped in my sense of Hell and this was one of the main reasons I was drawn to become close to Brent for a few years—I sensed he knew something about it.
And honestly it helped; I think I would have been a bit of a rose-colored glasses guy otherwise! …he’d probably still say I am one. But in any case, I am as a result of knowing him, capable of writing essays like this one:
https://malcolmocean.com/2025/03/hell-is-praying-and-heaven-is-bullshitting/
...which, not coincidentally, resonates somewhat with the vibe of this LW post!
(Also the friend mentioned in the post is not Brent, although it literally could have been except for the (implied) part where my utterance was enough to make some meaningful connection with the specific friend the story is actually about. I don’t yet know how to speak Heaven’s Apology to Brent.)
Thanks Gordon! “Balancing the humors” is exactly right.
I think the frames give some broad macro-direction on how to direct one’s practice.
They also give micro-direction. Are you feeling increasing levels of stress and numbness? Get some Heaven. Are you feeling caught in the weeds and unclear why you were doing what you were doing? Maybe too much Mechanics, and you’ve lost touch with both Heaven and Hell. Feeling motivated but confused on how to make a difference? Time for a plan, pragmatic steps, measurement, mechanics.
It’s been a nice compass for me.