refining

ne	refining strip out the accidental, in order to focus on the essential

negative thinking > achieving negative goals > refining

Refining is similar to removing. But instead of a single action, refining is an ongoing, possibly unending process. The second-order goal of refining is some form of purity.

This approach can be found in Method acting, in the functionalist approach to design, and in the Puritan approach to life.

Work out Take your body to the gym, strip off layers of fat, become pure muscle.
In practice, Working Out often aims at Working In and Working Up (i.e. Body Building) as well as Working Away. It is a positive activity, which can have both positive and negative ends.
But compare the Latin word Exercise with the almost equivalent Greek word Ascetic.

Functional
Design The functionalist approach to design strips out everything that is not relevant to the function, or which distracts from it.
This means that the designer takes a negative attitude towards the design process. Consider for example the design of a concert hall. If the lighting is right, you shouldn’t notice it; if the air temperature and circulation are right, you shouldn’t notice them; the seats should be neither comfortable nor uncomfortable; there should be no sight obstructions (such as pillars), no acoustical distortions, no intrusion of noise from the street, and so on.
We may often define the goals of design negatively. The point here is that the functionalist applies negative thinking - in this sense - to the entire design approach.
The architectural theorist Christopher Alexander would probably be surprised if I labelled him a functionalist. An architectural approach he has eloquently propounded is that of design patterns, and this approach has been taken up in other fields, including software engineering. A design pattern is a positive recommendation for solving a particular class of design problem. And yet: when Alexander describes patterns, he is much more eloquent about what he doesn’t like than about what he does like.

Acting Diderot thought that something similar applied to the presentation and expression of emotion on the stage. In an essay entitled The Paradox of Acting, he argued that the actor needed to strip away unnecessary gestures, unnecessary props, and indeed any aspect of the performance that distracted from the communication of feeling to the audience, or did not positively contribute to the communication of feeling. The performance should be a studied exercise in ‘pure’ emotional expression, rather than a raw and spontaneous outpouring of the actor’s feelings.
If the actor really were choked with emotion, the audience wouldn’t be able to hear him. Some dramatic roles require the actor to run through several emotions in quick succession. Such a performance is rehearsed and repeated - surely, argues Diderot, if the actor really experienced the same powerful feelings each time, he would quickly be an emotional wreck. (Perhaps Antonin Artaud was the exception that proved the rule: he did, and he was.) Therefore it is neither appropriate nor even plausible that a great actor feels the same things - performance after performance - that he makes his audience feel.
Diderot’s views were controversial, and remain so. In the twentieth century, this approach became known as Method Acting.

Assertion According to Diderot, the more ‘natural’ the expression between two people, the less reliably expressive they will be. This applies to more than just stage-acting, and affects relationships and communication between ordinary people.
Being assertive means being very clear about the boundaries between other people and ourselves. In stressful situations - and especially in quarrels with our nearest and dearest - we tend to throw in all sorts of emotional shit: guilt, blame, self-blame, insults, sarcastic or abject apology, inconsistency. This shit makes things worse - even if we can get what we want in the short term by emotional blackmail, it sours our relationships, and encourages repetitive patterns of aggression and passivity. Assertiveness courses teach people certain formulas - "when you say X, it makes me feel Y" - specifically to filter out this shit before they speak. Instead of blurting out our feelings in an orgy of self-righteous self-expression, we are taught to express ourselves in a controlled way, which is both clearer and more powerful.
Here again comes a version of Diderot’s paradox: to be more expressive and assertive, we need to be less spontaneous, less free. According to this principle, we need to work all aggression out of our speech habits, whether this aggression is directed against ourselves or against others.

Madness In Shakespeare’s plays, madness performs at least two functions. It destroys the weak (such as Ophelia) and transforms the strong (such as Lear). For Lear and others, madness has a purging effect.

Catharsis According to Aristotle, as interpreted by Freud and Lacan, catharsis (as found, for example, in the tragedies of Sophocles) produces a pleasurable calm by exciting the emotions, homeopathically one might say.

Waste not
want not In commercial organizations and public utilities, there is a constant thrust to make operations more efficient, to get an ever-greater profit or social benefit from an ever-smaller expenditure of time, energy and materials.
This rationalization can be seen as progressive or regressive, depending on one’s political stance. It can be dismissed as bureaucratic (Weber) and alienating (Adorno), or characterized as the Colonization of the Lifeworld by the System (Habermas).

Puritan Although Puritans were a religious sect, they are better known for their strict social behaviour.

Eliminating
pomp and
display See negative thinking > examples > monasteries

Purging
ego In many mystical traditions, the first step of enlightenment is purging. This involves emptying the ordinary ego-centred mind, cleansing it of sensually based classifications, clearing out the learned values of ordinary life. This creates a vacuum ready to be filled with the doctrines and concepts of the tradition in question, teaching the mystic what to expect. Finally, the purged and illuminated mystic attains enlightenment.

Purging
sin Purgatory, as imagined by Dante, is a transitional place. It is where the dead person gradually eliminates his/her sins, and becomes fit for entry into Heaven.

Discipline [Hebrews 12]

Darkness
Maintain one’s inner light in the face of external darkness.

Work out	Take your body to the gym, strip off layers of fat, become pure muscle. In practice, Working Out often aims at Working In and Working Up (i.e. Body Building) as well as Working Away. It is a positive activity, which can have both positive and negative ends. But compare the Latin word Exercise with the almost equivalent Greek word Ascetic.
Functional Design	The functionalist approach to design strips out everything that is not relevant to the function, or which distracts from it. This means that the designer takes a negative attitude towards the design process. Consider for example the design of a concert hall. If the lighting is right, you shouldn’t notice it; if the air temperature and circulation are right, you shouldn’t notice them; the seats should be neither comfortable nor uncomfortable; there should be no sight obstructions (such as pillars), no acoustical distortions, no intrusion of noise from the street, and so on. We may often define the goals of design negatively. The point here is that the functionalist applies negative thinking - in this sense - to the entire design approach. The architectural theorist Christopher Alexander would probably be surprised if I labelled him a functionalist. An architectural approach he has eloquently propounded is that of design patterns, and this approach has been taken up in other fields, including software engineering. A design pattern is a positive recommendation for solving a particular class of design problem. And yet: when Alexander describes patterns, he is much more eloquent about what he doesn’t like than about what he does like.
Acting	Diderot thought that something similar applied to the presentation and expression of emotion on the stage. In an essay entitled The Paradox of Acting, he argued that the actor needed to strip away unnecessary gestures, unnecessary props, and indeed any aspect of the performance that distracted from the communication of feeling to the audience, or did not positively contribute to the communication of feeling. The performance should be a studied exercise in ‘pure’ emotional expression, rather than a raw and spontaneous outpouring of the actor’s feelings. If the actor really were choked with emotion, the audience wouldn’t be able to hear him. Some dramatic roles require the actor to run through several emotions in quick succession. Such a performance is rehearsed and repeated - surely, argues Diderot, if the actor really experienced the same powerful feelings each time, he would quickly be an emotional wreck. (Perhaps Antonin Artaud was the exception that proved the rule: he did, and he was.) Therefore it is neither appropriate nor even plausible that a great actor feels the same things - performance after performance - that he makes his audience feel. Diderot’s views were controversial, and remain so. In the twentieth century, this approach became known as Method Acting.
Assertion	According to Diderot, the more ‘natural’ the expression between two people, the less reliably expressive they will be. This applies to more than just stage-acting, and affects relationships and communication between ordinary people. Being assertive means being very clear about the boundaries between other people and ourselves. In stressful situations - and especially in quarrels with our nearest and dearest - we tend to throw in all sorts of emotional shit: guilt, blame, self-blame, insults, sarcastic or abject apology, inconsistency. This shit makes things worse - even if we can get what we want in the short term by emotional blackmail, it sours our relationships, and encourages repetitive patterns of aggression and passivity. Assertiveness courses teach people certain formulas - "when you say X, it makes me feel Y" - specifically to filter out this shit before they speak. Instead of blurting out our feelings in an orgy of self-righteous self-expression, we are taught to express ourselves in a controlled way, which is both clearer and more powerful. Here again comes a version of Diderot’s paradox: to be more expressive and assertive, we need to be less spontaneous, less free. According to this principle, we need to work all aggression out of our speech habits, whether this aggression is directed against ourselves or against others.
Madness	In Shakespeare’s plays, madness performs at least two functions. It destroys the weak (such as Ophelia) and transforms the strong (such as Lear). For Lear and others, madness has a purging effect.
Catharsis	According to Aristotle, as interpreted by Freud and Lacan, catharsis (as found, for example, in the tragedies of Sophocles) produces a pleasurable calm by exciting the emotions, homeopathically one might say.
Waste not want not	In commercial organizations and public utilities, there is a constant thrust to make operations more efficient, to get an ever-greater profit or social benefit from an ever-smaller expenditure of time, energy and materials. This rationalization can be seen as progressive or regressive, depending on one’s political stance. It can be dismissed as bureaucratic (Weber) and alienating (Adorno), or characterized as the Colonization of the Lifeworld by the System (Habermas).
Puritan	Although Puritans were a religious sect, they are better known for their strict social behaviour.
Eliminating pomp and display	See negative thinking > examples > monasteries
Purging ego	In many mystical traditions, the first step of enlightenment is purging. This involves emptying the ordinary ego-centred mind, cleansing it of sensually based classifications, clearing out the learned values of ordinary life. This creates a vacuum ready to be filled with the doctrines and concepts of the tradition in question, teaching the mystic what to expect. Finally, the purged and illuminated mystic attains enlightenment.
Purging sin	Purgatory, as imagined by Dante, is a transitional place. It is where the dead person gradually eliminates his/her sins, and becomes fit for entry into Heaven.
Discipline	[Hebrews 12]
Darkness	Maintain one’s inner light in the face of external darkness.