Guide To Being The Dark Academic You’ve Always Aspired To Be

Tabula Rasa

Noun

[tab-yuh-luh rah-suh, -zuh, rey-]

1. a mind not yet affected by experiences, impressions, etc.

2. anything existing undisturbed in its original pure state.

Origin: In Latin tabula rasa means “erased tablet, a tablet rubbed clean (of writing).” Tabula has many meanings: “flat board, plank, table, notice board, notice, game board, public document, deed, will.” For schoolchildren the schoolmaster’s command Manum dē tabulā “Hand(s) off the tablet!” meant “Pencils down!” Rasa is the past participle of radere “to scrape, scratch, shave, clip.” The inside surfaces of a folded wooden tablet were raised along the edges and filled with wax for writing. The wax could be erased by smoothing with the blunt end of a stylus (more correctly stilus) or by mild heat. The Latin phrase is a translation of Greek pinakìs ágraphos “tablet with nothing written on it, blank tablet,” from Aristotle’s De Anima (Greek Perì Psychês, “On the Soul): “What it [the mind] thinks must be in it just as characters may be said to be on a writing tablet (pinakìs) on which nothing is yet actually written (ágraphos).” Tabula rasa entered English in the 16th century.

“The alarm wakes him, and he opens his eyes to a new day. He feels rested, reset, a tabula rasa.” - Lisa Genova, Inside The O'Briens, 2015

“You don’t love someone for their looks, or their clothes, or for their fancy car, but because they sing a song only you can hear.“

– Oscar Wilde

u werent “born gay” u decided to be overly enthusiastic about hamlet in highschool english and that’s why you are the way u are

how to stop endlessly analyzing your own behavior as if you were a scientific experiment

William Wordsworth

Medusa in culture

(Medusa c. 1618 Peter Paul Rubens, Medusa: Solving the Mystery of the Gorgon - Stephen Wilk, Medusa On Her Throne Reza Sedhi, Female Rage: Unlocking Its Secrets, Claiming Its Power - Mary Valentis and Anne Devane, Medusa c. 1640 Gian Lorenzo Bernini, The Laugh of the Medusa - Helene Cixous, Medusa Robin Isley)

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

— William Shakespeare, from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream“, published p. 1596

mbti tertiary functions (boredom functions)

INFJ/ISFJ: true crime, scrolling through wikipedia for hours, looking up riddles, scrolling through "onlyjayyus" tiktok, has a huge duolingo streak

ENFJ/ENTJ: uses se to support te/fe ambitions (sports, performing arts, community service, cleaning)

ESFJ/ESTJ: fantasizing, vision boards on pinterest, adding items to amazon wishlist, makes a bucket list for the year,

ESTP/ENTP: touches grass, hangs our with friends, class clown, watches reality tv, starts drama for no reason, debates on the internet (or fights irl if you're an estp 👀)

ESFP/ENFP: random urge to organize computer, random internet debates, creates new playlists, watches video essays about random topics, argues with friends about either stupid or smart things

INFP/INTP: reminisces about things. procrastinates. overthinking past conversations in the shower. collects cool rocks. photography. listens to the same song over and over again.

ISFP/ISTP: planning and...stuff. zodiac, psuedoscience, etc. strategic/world building video games, has a whole fictional world planned out in their head.

INTJ/ISTJ: "write in their feelings diary" 💀 IM SORRY, introspection, often known as super "self aware" as a result, watches nostalgic or comfort movies

i got an old book about the greek language for 1$ today :)

Dark Academia things I do without noticing

- Having a ridiculous amount of tabs open of Wikipedia pages about ancient paintings, essays about Plato’s books and information about ivy league university’s.

- Listening to Hozier, Lana del Rey, classical music and slowed down versions of pop songs.

- Carrying notebooks, now twice the size as they were when I first bought them, filled with notes, paintings, lose papers with sketches and Latin words and their definition. 

- Finishing a book and immediately starting another one.

- Staying up till sunrise while drinking tea and reading poetry.