Comments on: intense longing

By: jodimac

jodimac — Tue, 05 Oct 2004 02:59:10 +0000

Hey Hugh,
I think the idea is that the brand just makes us look enough like everyone else that the intense longing is referred to and hidden at the same time. The place of intense longing is an uniquely obscure place.
Side note: how can a brand “empathize”? Does the object become the feeling, i.e., my iBook is the (object of) longing itself or does the thought of Apple (the Apple brand) resemble closely my intense longing? I am truly curious.
Thanks,
Jodi

By: jayvee f.

jayvee f. — Sun, 03 Oct 2004 20:44:29 +0000

wow hugh,
that piece of work actually materialized what i had in mind for quite a while but could not put into words.
its not just a brand .. or god. another way of putting it would be “man always has a tendency for the infinite” since he lives a finite life.

By: hugh macleod

hugh macleod — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 17:09:00 +0000

Damn. You’re right, Dan. Will have to fix it.
Agreed, Evelyn… also “God” is like the word “brand”. Both are metaphors.

By: Evelyn Rodriguez

Evelyn Rodriguez — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 12:29:23 +0000

Hmmm, why do I find it easier to write "fuck" in my blog than "God"? Anyway, I think I don't want to offend any atheists as I can certainly empathize with them. Most of us are pretty attached to our God-concept (non-belief is also a God-concept) which differs from person to person so that the word "God" is almost meaningless. "To a calf God is a cow." - Rumi I've been thinking on how to work these two quotes into a post, but here's a good home for them: On The Four Agreements" book's popularity (barely any marketing on this best-seller, and Miguel is a "walk the talk" amazing person): "'The Four Agreements' took people on a journey into themselves, their true selves. This is what everyone is looking for, whether they are aware of it or not. They are looking for the source of themselves." - Miguel Ruiz On incessant beliefs of UFO "abductees": "What are they yearning for at the thought of something extraterrestrial? Why, they want something bigger than themselves. They want to know that, in the entire, wild, extraordinary Kosmos, there is something other than their meager egos." - Ken Wilbur

By: Dan Winkler

Dan Winkler — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 09:23:07 +0000

Don’t you mean empathize or empathise, not emphathise? There’s no “emphathise” in my dictionary.

By: Scott M

Scott M — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 00:54:49 +0000

Well, as both a Mac enthusiast and motorcycle rider (I don't have a Harley - yet! Soon, I hope!), I can tell you that some of us can't even explain what it is. The word that comes closest for me is 'resonance' -- there's something about each of these brands that just 'resonates' with me. I can 'feel' it. I've never owned a Windows PC (I have had to use one for work), and I've wanted a Harley since I learned how to ride. Why? Just because it 'feels' right.

By: Ryan Heaney

Ryan Heaney — Sat, 02 Oct 2004 00:02:25 +0000

I don’t know, but there is just something about using a particular brand of product that is unexplainable, especially to those who do not use that brand. This definitely comes close to explaining that.

By: RichW

RichW — Fri, 01 Oct 2004 22:55:35 +0000

Having a problem with this one. When you get to the ‘closer to God’ qualities of a Harley or Apple, IMO any product in the category could provide more or less the same thing.
A Harley gives you the open road where you can experience more of ‘God’. But so do Suzukis.
Are you implying that the experience in using the product delivers ‘the rapture’? Which would make more sense to me. Maybe that’s just splitting hairs, but I’m neither an Apple user nor motorcycle enthusiast. Just an agnostic.