Aims: The strong desire to void (SDV) induces changes in both cognition and gait. This may be due to the sensation of urinary urge acting as a source of diverted attention. This exploratory study examined the influence of SDV and a standardized distracting task on the performance of two measures of cognition, a simple reaction time (SRT) test and the trail making B test (TMT-B).
Aims: The fall rate in urgency urinary incontinence (UUI) and mixed UI (MUI) older women is higher when compared with that of continent women. One hypothesis is that a strong desire to void (SDV) could alter gait parameters and therefore increase the risk of falls. The aim of this study was to investigate and compare the effect of SDV on gait parameters in UUI/MUI and continent older women who experienced falls. The secondary aim was to determine the relationship between UI severity and gait parameters in incontinent women.
The Void Of Desires
Methods: A quasi-experimental pilot study was conducted with two groups of healthy community-dwelling women who experienced at least one fall in the last year: continent (n = 17; age: 74.1 4.3) and UUI/MUI (n = 15; age: 73.5 5.9). We recorded, analyzed, and compared spatiotemporal gait parameters for participants in each group with both SDV and no desire to void condition.
Results: A pattern of reduced velocity (P = 0.05) and stride width (P = 0.02) was observed in both groups with SDV. Incontinence severity was correlated with reduced velocity (rs = -0.63, P = 0.01), increased stance time (rs = 0.65, P = .01) and stance time variability (rs = 0.65, P = .01) in no desire to void condition and with reduced velocity (rs = -0.56, P = .03) and increased stride length variability (rs = 0.54, P = .04) in SDV condition.
Epicurus believes that the basic constituents of the world are atoms (which are uncuttable, microscopic bits of matter) moving in the void (which is simply empty space). Ordinary objects are conglomerations of atoms. Furthermore, the properties of macroscopic bodies and all of the events we see occurring can be explained in terms of the collisions, reboundings, and entanglements of atoms.
The main point that Epicurus wants to establish is that the mind is something bodily. The mind must be a body, thinks Epicurus, because of its ability to interact with the body. The mind is affected by the body, as vision, drunkenness, and disease show. Likewise, the mind affects the body, as our ability to move our limbs when we want to and the physiological effects of emotional states show. Only bodies can interact with other bodies, so the mind must be a body. Epicurus says that the mind cannot be something incorporeal, as Plato thinks, since the only thing that is not a body is void, which is simply empty space and cannot act or be acted upon.
Because of this, Epicurus denies that there is any intermediate state between pleasure and pain. When one has unfulfilled desires, this is painful, and when one no longer has unfulfilled desires, this steady state is the most pleasurable of all, not merely some intermediate state between pleasure and pain.
Because of the close connection of pleasure with desire-satisfaction, Epicurus devotes a considerable part of his ethics to analyzing different kinds of desires. If pleasure results from getting what you want (desire-satisfaction) and pain from not getting what you want (desire-frustration), then there are two strategies you can pursue with respect to any given desire: you can either strive to fulfill the desire, or you can try to eliminate the desire. For the most part Epicurus advocates the second strategy, that of paring your desires down to a minimum core, which are then easily satisfied.
Vain desires include desires for power, wealth, fame, and the like. They are difficult to satisfy, in part because they have no natural limit. If one desires wealth or power, no matter how much one gets, it is always possible to get more, and the more one gets, the more one wants. These desires are not natural to human beings, but inculcated by society and by false beliefs about what we need; e.g., believing that having power will bring us security from others. Epicurus thinks that these desires should be eliminated.
How do you define "the Void"? I hate it when people are reductionist. I mean, I hate it when people say, Well, maybe you're talking about the void, but what you're really saying is you're just lonely. We do sometimes use a vocabulary that obscures rather than illuminates. But I like to treat a letter as a text with a life of its own. I try not to reduce it.
It has become clear to me over the years that I live not in eager anticipation of what the future might hold, or with a clear path to achieving my desires, or even with desires; rather, I live in constant fear of the Void. Big term, yes, and one loaded with a lot of probably pretentious philosophical baggage. Even so, I don't really read much philosophy anymore (that's a young man's pursuit, I think) and I don't really think of the Void as a concept with a history (even though, to an extent, it obviously is) so much as a personal certainty. The Void is just the truth of my life. And the fact is, it's an unpleasant truth.
But I guess the Void's characteristics (or lack of characteristics, as the case may be) are less important than the fact that I really fear this place, and I do anything I can, it seems, to avoid it. What's an example of doing anything I can to avoid the Void? Well, anything. When I learned that it was important to make friends (yes, I had to learn this, and quite late in life -- maybe my mid-20s) I made friends because I'd been living in the Void. Everything I do is an attempt to escape the Void.
The Void can be filled by satisfying known desires. In fact, we have little choice. That is, our unknown desires cannot be satisfied. We cannot satisfy a desire we do not feel. So I suggest you put aside for now the desires that you aren't sure you have, and make a list of the desires you do have. Then look over them to see which ones may be satisfied. Then begin satisfying your desires. That will tend to fill the Void.
So I've gone on long enough about this. But I want you to know that I engage with you. I accept the fact that you fear the Void. I am suggesting that you populate the Void with your own fears and desires, and then deal with them one by one.
On a related topic, I realized recently how much of my waking life was spent avoiding unpleasant things. I decided to learn to endure unpleasant things instead of avoiding them. Maybe that has something to do with your case, too. If you are paralyzed by your thoughts, well, that is an experience of the Void. You can eliminate that by taking action even if you don't know what the results will be. Try out a hypothesis: Trust the words that "just come to you." Trust the things you just feel like doing, and do them. It will lead somewhere out of the Void.
You can change the basis of your life from avoiding pain to seeking beauty. It's just a heck of a lot more interesting that way. And if you're not afraid of dying, then there's really nothing standing in your way.
So I suggest that rather than try to find a life devoid of discomfort, embrace the discomfort. Let it be. Focus on the things that interest you. Allow yourself to feel bad. It won't kill you. And life will be much more interesting.
Keep finding beauty. The beauty is worth the pain. There is much in life that can get you through the awfulness. Keep seeking it out. Find music and art and literature that will sustain you. The Void won't go away. You have to keep filling it. But the more you fill it, the less of a void it is. One day, you may be able to completely avoid it.
The Void is one of the two forces fighting for dominion of the world, using Demons to spread its corruption and chaos. If the Word could be considered as a sort of benevolent God, then the Void would be a destructive Devil. The Void achieves its goals by corrupting humans with promises of power and their darkest desires, eventually corrupting them into the demons they become. Ultimately the war between the two ends in a near victory for the Void, causing the Great Wars and the destruction of the Old World, and eventually leading to the forming of the Four Lands and the re-emergence of the Elves and Faerie magic.
Esi will have a lot to say, you now know that the entrance and tomb itself is guarded by void powers. Since she's in quite a pickle and doesn't seem hopeful that this venture will end in success she sends you on your way to find Khaba the Scribe. Khaba is located south of Nekheb Crossing near a small house on the riverbank.
On your arrival talk to a spaced out Khaba and mention the void power. She might think you could harness this power too. If you ask her if she wants to accompany you she will politely decline but mention that her assistants Notes might be of additional help. This is an optional objective, you can find the notes or ignore her and head straight for the ruins. If you go for the notes - they can be found in the abandoned village east of Nekheb Crossing, where a lot of Cursed Ones can be found. You can return to Khaba with the notes but she will tell you to keep them anyway.
If the puzzle has been completed successfully a Void Spirit will appear. Talk to her and accept her deal to be granted the void powers. Note: It is important that you consume the void spirit vessel after the orgy - it grants you the Void Spirit Form (Female) and more importantly the Void Infused Khopesh as it will benefit you greatly in the main quest Diamond in the Rough. The quest is now complete.
If anyone takes it too seriously, I recommend this approach. Just clicking the xkcd link will help your brain more strongly associate the humorous and fascinating bits about it with the call of the void. I recommend trying to set up a Trigger Action Plan, so that you think of the xkcd any time you experience the call of the void. 2ff7e9595c
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