[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"$friAi_GAw3BlXwZORxNKiuUlCbtD8Amws-Iqt86-zZUA":3,"$fZRf20FCbi9xI5FmQHJhfEbjlAVMsW834VQjzPlp-yv0":39},{"author":4,"tags":11},{"author_id":5,"author_name":6,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"bio":9,"short_bio":9,"slug":10,"image_url":9},7256,"H.P. Lovecraft","H",506,null,"hp-lovecraft",[12,16,20,24,28,31,35],{"tag_id":13,"tag_name":14,"tag_count":15},37832,"h-p-lovecraft",34,{"tag_id":17,"tag_name":18,"tag_count":19},1448,"horror",32,{"tag_id":21,"tag_name":22,"tag_count":23},36074,"lovecraft",21,{"tag_id":25,"tag_name":26,"tag_count":27},45,"dreams",9,{"tag_id":29,"tag_name":30,"tag_count":27},191,"fear",{"tag_id":32,"tag_name":33,"tag_count":34},2599,"cats",8,{"tag_id":36,"tag_name":37,"tag_count":38},51,"poetry",5,{"quotes":40,"pagination":104},[41,49,56,62,68,74,80,86,92,98],{"id":42,"quote_text":43,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":46,"source":47,"quote_tag":48,"commentary":9},3063121,"Of what use is it to please the herd? They are simply coarse animals – for all that is admirable in man is the artificial product of special breeding.",6,false,{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":50,"quote_text":51,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":52,"source":53,"quote_tag":54,"commentary":55},3063120,"If we were sensible we would seek death – the same blissful blank which we enjoyed before we existed.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],"**The Backstory**\n\nThis poignant quote originates from H.P. Lovecraft's essay \"A Rapprochement of Religions\" (1914), a piece that reflects his growing disillusionment with the world around him and his own struggles with existential despair. At this time, Lovecraft was grappling with poverty, racism, and social isolation in Providence, Rhode Island.\n\n**The Hidden Insight**\n\nLovecraft's statement reveals a profound and unsettling paradox: he suggests that true liberation lies not in living life to the fullest but in embracing nothingness – a \"blissful blank\" that precedes existence. This notion subverts our conventional understanding of happiness as something that can be achieved through experience, instead positing it as an absence of experience.\n\n**How to Use This**\n\nTo apply this mindset today, one might consider adopting a practice of mindfulness in the face of uncertainty or anxiety, recognizing that sometimes the most profound freedom comes from surrendering attachment to life's fleeting experiences. By acknowledging and accepting the impermanence of all things, individuals can cultivate a sense of detachment that allows for greater clarity and purpose.",{"id":57,"quote_text":58,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":59,"source":60,"quote_tag":61,"commentary":9},3063119,"There are not many persons who know what wonders are opened to them in the stories and visions of their youth; for when as children we listen and dream, we think but half-formed thoughts, and when as men we try to remember, we are dulled and prosaic with the poison of life.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":63,"quote_text":64,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":65,"source":66,"quote_tag":67,"commentary":9},3063118,"It is a mistake to fancy that horror is associated inextricably with darkness, silence, and solitude.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":69,"quote_text":70,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":71,"source":72,"quote_tag":73,"commentary":9},3063117,"Certainly, we were in one of the strangest, weirdest, and most terrible of all the corners of earth’s globe.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":75,"quote_text":76,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":77,"source":78,"quote_tag":79,"commentary":9},3063116,"Then came upon an incredible essay by Lafcadio Hearn, something entitled “Gaki,” detailing the curious Japanese belief that insects are really demons or the ghosts of evil men.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":81,"quote_text":82,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":83,"source":84,"quote_tag":85,"commentary":9},3063115,"One can trace the relics of this former happiness in the trim shapes of the buildings, the occasional graceful churches, and the evidences of original art and background in bits of detail here and there – a worn flight of steps, a wormy pair of decorative columns of pilasters, or a fragment of once green space with bent and rusted iron railing.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":87,"quote_text":88,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":89,"source":90,"quote_tag":91,"commentary":9},3063114,"Nahum did not send her to the county asylum, but let her wander about the house as long as she was harmless to herself and others. Even when her expression changed he did nothing. But when the boys grew afraid of her, and Thaddeus nearly fainted at the way she made faces at him, he decided to keep her locked in the attic.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":93,"quote_text":94,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":95,"source":96,"quote_tag":97,"commentary":9},3063113,"Look here, do you know the whole North End once had a set of tunnels that kept certain people in touch with each other’s houses, and the burying ground, and the sea?",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"id":99,"quote_text":100,"author_id":5,"source_id":44,"has_image":45,"author":101,"source":102,"quote_tag":103,"commentary":9},3063112,"I recognized the ugly and unwieldy form of the cook, whose very absurdness had now become unutterably tragic. The.",{"id":5,"author_name":6,"slug":10,"author_name_first_letter":7,"article_count":8,"image_url":9},{},[],{"currentPage":105,"totalPages":36,"totalItems":8,"itemsPerPage":106},1,10]