202408232359 The abyss gazes back

He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you.¹

Firstly, we must not fall into the mindset or actions of the things we’re examining when studying evil, immorality, or even lesser undesirable things.

More abstractly, there’s a danger of being absorbed into the thing that you “gaze at.” This can apply to academia and learning for learning’s sake, where we lose sight of reality, purpose, or reason.

It also works to illustrate that merely observing something is not a totally detached process. It’s not possible to completely detach from the observed phenomenon. The mere act can change you and affect you in unintended or undesirable ways.

Lastly, it speaks to the dangers of romanticizing things that should not be: depression, abnegation, loneliness, and more. If I allow my mind to spend time gazing into depression for instance, I’ll be swallowed by it. 202408221304 Desolation tries to colonize you.

We can call the depression void-gazing. Everyone does it sometimes, but step two has to be wrenching your gaze away from the void and doing something. There's nothing in the void but more void and the curse²