I feel, lately, I have nothing to say.
“Negation is a refusal of existence. By means of it a being (or a way of being) is posited, then thrown back to nothingness.” (--p.11, Being and Nothingness, Jean Paul Sartre)
...
Consciousness moreover can not produce a negation except in the form of consciousness of negation. No category can "inhabit" consciousness and reside there in the manner of a thing.
The not, as an abrupt intuitive discovery, appears as consciousness (of being), consciousness of the not.
In a word, if being is everywhere, it is not only Nothingness which, as Bergson maintains, is inconceivable; for negation will never be derived from being. The necessary condition for our saying not is that non-being be a perpetual presence in us and outside of us, that nothingness haunt being. (p.11 ibid)
I dwell in a haunted house of appearances and disappearances.
An hour was lost in the middle of night just gone by.
And the current war?
March 5 - Scores of people have been killed across the Middle East since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28, with Gulf states that host U.S. military bases and personnel as well as Lebanon quickly drawn into the conflict.Here are the death tolls from the war as reported by countries as of March 5, the sixth day of the war. Reuters has not independently verified these deaths.IRAN At least 1,230 people killed, including 175 schoolgirls and staff killed in a missile strike on a primary school in Minab in the country's south on the war's first day, according to the non-profit humanitarian group Iranian Red Crescent Society. It was unclear if the overall death toll included Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps military casualties.The Reuters Iran Briefing newsletter keeps you informed with the latest developments and analysis of the Iran war. Sign up here.
ISRAEL Ten civilians killed, including nine people in an Iranian missile strike on Beit Shemesh near Jerusalem on March 1, according to Israel's ambulance service Magen David Adom. The Israel Defense Forces has not reported any military casualties.
LEBANON At least 77 people killed in Israeli strikes, according to Lebanon's health ministry.
BAHRAIN One person killed after fire broke out in Bahrain's Salman Industrial City following missile interception, according to the interior ministry.
KUWAIT Three people, including two Kuwaiti soldiers, killed in Iranian attacks on the country, according to Kuwait's health and foreign ministries.
OMAN One person killed after a projectile hit the Marshall Islands–flagged product tanker MKD VYOM off the coast of Muscat.
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES Three people killed, according to UAE's defense ministry.
U.S. MILITARY Six U.S. service members were killed in a strike on a facility in Kuwait, according to U.S. Central Command.
SYRIA Four people were killed when an Iranian missile struck a building in the southern Syrian city of Sweida on Saturday, state news agency SANA said.
• IRAQ At least 13 people were killed, according to Iraqi health authorities, including 11 militiamen, one army soldier and one civilian, based on health registration figures.Compiled by Jonathan Allen, Jana Choukeir, Menna Alaa El Din, Maayan Lubell, Pesha Magid and Ahmed Rasheed; Editing by Don Durfee, Cynthia Osterman, Aidan Lewis
These are some instances of refusing existence. The minds of two men at censorious play.
As much as my evaluating and calculating mind might urge the non-existence of Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, and Mohammed bin Salman, and the reconstitution and re-existence of Jamal Ahmad Hamza Khashoggi along with the return of the above referenced de-existence of the war-dead, there seems to be no current physical or spiritual mechanism to reliably effectuate such miraculous apparition.
No one has found the lines of communication once operated by Edgar Cayce and Jesus of Nazareth. Our sick and dead remain sick and dead (as far as we know) for now.
And, up in the Russia Ukraine sorrowful fiasco?
AI Overview
Estimates for the Russia-Ukraine war show significantly higher Russian casualties, with sources like CSIS suggesting Russia has around 1.2 million total casualties (killed, wounded, missing) and 275,000-325,000 killed, compared to Ukraine's 500,000-600,000 total casualties and 100,000-140,000 fatalities; this translates roughly to a 2:1 or 2.5:1 casualty ratio favoring Ukraine, though figures vary, and both nations keep precise data secret, with battlefield losses for Russia estimated at roughly double Ukraine's.
Key Casualty Estimates (as of early 2026):
Russia: ~1.2 million total casualties (killed, wounded, missing), with ~325,000 killed.
Ukraine: ~500,000-600,000 total casualties (killed, wounded, missing), with ~100,000-140,000 killed.
Ratio & Context:
Ratio: Russian battlefield losses are often cited as roughly double Ukraine's, around a 2:1 or 2.5:1 ratio.
Scale: Russia's losses are staggering compared to major conflicts since WWII, exceeding its losses in all previous wars combined, according to CSIS.
Data Challenges: Both sides protect their military data, so figures come from intelligence estimates, independent analysis (like CSIS), and open-source investigations.
In essence, while exact numbers are elusive, reports consistently indicate Russia is suffering disproportionately higher casualties in the conflict.
Also see CSIS, Center For Strategic and International Studies, "Russia’s Grinding War in Ukraine”.
I used to think Sartre’s book Being and Nothingness too large and too difficult to navigate, preferring (oddly) Heidegger’s Being and Time for casual reading in my Audible library. I’ve long enjoyed Sartre’s Huis Clos (No Exit) with its “Hell is other people” vibration. Over the years, for those who suspect a cynic’s dépêcher message of misanthropic scorn, I’ve adopted a semantic somersault that posits there are no “other” people and hence no hell.
The n’autre (no other) realization throws all of existence and negation into a new kettle of fish that gurgles on low heat filling kitchen with a new fragrence the ghosts of Sartre and Heidegger take in with their French wine and German beer.
We are killing ourselves. Tell that to Netanyahu, Trump, Putin, and bin Salman. They won’t understand it, They’re counting the money coming through their doors, human life be damned.
They have no consciousness of the not.
And the rest of us? What are we conscious of?
What haunts us?
What haunts you . . .
My friends?
