Stockholm Syndrome

The 'fuzzy logic' is a logical system that allows degrees of truth.

Here it goes what the Oxford Companion to Philosophy has to say about it: 'Fuzzy logic does justice to the intuitive idea that some indicative sentences are not wholly true and not wholly false'.

So, I spent some days talking to my brother and wondering why he sees the world in such a different way and our lives seem to work fine. It is not just about religion or big vs. small cities - it is the whole idea of dwelling in a state of denial (that one being me) or not (that one being him).

What I actually want to take from Herr Doktor are two interesting notions:

First - I am into aesthetics. Not sure what it means or if it will do me good, but I love form and like being surrounded by prettiness (stuff, people, kitchen gear, post-its in technicolor...). Brother said however that one should actually look for the 'soul aesthetics', as this world has enough of finger-pointing and plastic surgeries. Not bad, uh? It is scary but I will actually try to be a better person, to smile, to tolerate, to understand. And above all, not to be afraid of others getting too close that I lose my way. Outside from any religious connotation, he gave me a key to achieve this 'pretty soul' - it is necessary to pursue 'virtue', which is the middle point between excess and defect (lack of).

Second - Friendship. Not sure I got this from him, but the 'enlightment' came while in Stockholm. True friendship comes when silence between two people is comfortable. I have been OH-SO-SCARED of silence for so many years that I don't think I have achieved many friendships upon the terms of equality. In art you call it 'fear of the vacuum' ('miedo al vacío') - the artist gets just too terrified when there are white spaces, so you can see some paintings with a small dog, or a vase, or a person that was not even in the story. Why is silence so scary? Is it because then the image falls and there's only what your imagination has to add? Is it because we are afraid of boring people or boring ourselves?

Coming back to fuzzy logic, the alluring part of it is that the notion takes stress from people that is happy by mediating and convincing others - I realised recently that one does not always have to win. You have your truth, I have mine, and that doesn't give me a headache, but makes my world richer. Bugger off.

PS: The pic above happened in Stockholm. I plan to move there and marry a Rufus Wainwright's hetero-look-alike.