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A man’s value to the community depends primarily on how far his feelings, thoughts, and actions are directed towards promoting the good of his fellows. We call him good or bad according to how he stands in this matter. It looks at first sight as if our estimate of a man depended entirely on his social qualities.

And yet such an attitude would be wrong. It is clear that all the valuable things, material, spiritual, and moral, which we receive from society can be traced back through countless generations to certain creative individuals. The use of fire, the cultivation of edible plants, the steam engine — each was discovered by one man.

Only the individual can think, and thereby create new values for society — nay, even set up new moral standards to which the life of the community conforms. Without creative, independently thinking and judging personalities the upward development of society is as unthinkable as the development of the individual personality without the nourishing soil of the community.

The health of society thus depends quite as much on the independence of the individuals composing it as on their close political cohesion.

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This is what distinguishes the artist from laymen (those susceptible to art): the latter reach the highpoint of their susceptibility when they receive; the former as they give—so that an antagonism between these two gifts is not only natural but desirable. The perspectives of these two states are opposite: to demand of the artist that he should practice the perspective of the audience (of the critic—) means to demand that he should impoverish himself and his creative power—It is the same here as with the difference between the sexes: one ought not to demand of the artist, who gives, that he should become a woman—that he should receive.

[….]

Artists are not men of great passion, despite all their assertions to the contrary both to themselves and to others. And for the following two reasons: they lack all shyness towards themselves (they watch themselves live, they spy upon themselves, they are much too inquisitive), and they also lack shyness in the presence of passion (as artists they exploit it). Secondly, however, that vampire, their talent, generally forbids them such an expenditure of energy as passion demands. A man who has a talent is sacrificed to that talent; he lives under the vampirism of his talent. A man does not get rid of his passion by producing it, but rather he is rid of it if he is able to reproduce it.

The Rationale of life.—the relative chastity, a prudent caution on principle regarding erotic matters, even in thought, can belong to the grand rationale of life even in richly endowed and complete natures. This principle applies especially to the artists, it is part of their best wisdom of life. Completely non-suspect voices have lent support to this opinion: I name Stendhal and Th. Gautier, also Flaubert. The artist is perhaps necessarily a sensual man, generally excitable, susceptible, susceptible in every sense to stimuli, meeting the very suggestion of a stimulus halfway even from afar. This notwithstanding, he is on the average, under the pressure of his task, of his will to mastery, actually moderate, often even chaste. His dominant instinct demands this of him: it does not permit him to expend himself in any casual way. The force that one expends in artistic conception is the same as that expended in the sexual act: there is only one kind of force. An artist betrays himself if he succumbs here, if he squanders himself there: it betrays a lack of instinct, of will in general; it can be a sign of decadence—in any case, it devalues his art to an incalculable degree.

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Compared with music all communication by words is shameless; words dilute and brutalize; words depersonalize; words make the uncommon common.

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Hey friends, fans and followers,
We have big news. It’s the end of an era. Tonight Nick play’s his last gig with us. Nick Roland Paisley Adams Allbrook is hopping off the Tame Impala band wagon so that he can try and screw his head back on, and make an attempt to assimilate back into society. A task the rest of us fear we will one day have to perform….

Anyway, heir to the throne is our long time super best musical blood brother Cam Avery, ape/womaniser/former pro golfer. You may remember Cam from such bands as The Growl and POND, neither of which he actually plays bass for but uuuh that’s how we roll.
Anyway anyone who saw us during the Allbrook era will know how awesome nick is, so cam has big shoes to fill, which is fortunate because Cam has big feet. big stinky feet that leave sock footprints in your house when he comes in and he’s like, hey man can I sleep on youz guysez’ couch?

So Nick plays his last gig at Belvoir Amphitheatre tonight, the very same place he played his first gig with us some 4 or 5 or 6 years ago, not sure on that… Lost track of time…
We’re super happy for our bro Nick and wish him well in all his various fucking awesome artistic spewings and endeavours that he’ll actually have time for now.. Good on ya brah.

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Hence the ways of men part: if you wish to strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth, then inquire.