The Epiphany thread...?
- Thread starter odibrom
- Start date
This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.
This site may earn a commission from merchant links like Ebay, Amazon, and others.
BlackSG91
Loves Black Guitars & Meng Mengs
Friendship is like peeing on yourself: Everyone can see it, but only you get the warm feeling that it brings. - "Robert Bloch"
;>)/
;>)/
BlackSG91
Loves Black Guitars & Meng Mengs
If you think it's expensive to hire a professional, wait until you hire an amateur.
;>)/
;>)/
BlackSG91
Loves Black Guitars & Meng Mengs
If you think you are too small to be effective, you have never been in the dark with a mosquito. - "Betty Reese"
;>)/
;>)/
odibrom
.
The Dalai Lama is quoted in this as well... but could you try to post some of your own also? please...? I'm sure you've accumulated a few interesting thoughts already...
odibrom
.
So, while parenting my kids (13 years old boy and 10 years old girl) I came up with an epiphany quite strong to shut them up. It goes like this:
The purpose of reason is to build peace among all. If in the exercise of reason, peace is not the result, then reason was not right or was poorly exercised and the responsibility falls on us.
What say you about this? I find it hard to contest, but what do I know? I also find this to be fit everywhere we go or do, every fucking choice we make, this concept surrounds us like a ghost. Are we living accordingly?
The purpose of reason is to build peace among all. If in the exercise of reason, peace is not the result, then reason was not right or was poorly exercised and the responsibility falls on us.
What say you about this? I find it hard to contest, but what do I know? I also find this to be fit everywhere we go or do, every fucking choice we make, this concept surrounds us like a ghost. Are we living accordingly?
jaxadam
Well-Known Member
"Do what you gotta do so you can do what you wanna do." - Denzel Washington
"Make what you wanna do what you gotta do." - jaxadam
"Make what you wanna do what you gotta do." - jaxadam
jaxadam
Well-Known Member
Double post.
wheresthefbomb
Well-Known Member
I dig this. I think a lot, probably too much, and useful axioms/praxis are one of the goals of my thought. I like that this entails both "getting along" and reflexive accountability, being responsible to oneself, and I don't think one can properly be had without the other. I think the oft-cited "tragedy of the commons" is a failure of that reflexive accountability, western society with its focus on individuality often loses (or if I were paranoid I might say eschews-by-design) this sense of reflexive accountability, leading to a "community" of people who are inescapably connected to each other but also see themselves as "islands" or "castles," whole and independent unto themselves.
I don't know how to be uplifting to other people. I'm generally a nihilist. Other people tend to think that's depressing, but I think it's great. It helps you balance your perspective on everything.
I think we, as humans in whatever society we are in, tend to feel the need to shift too much importance on one thing or another. People want lots of money, but you don't get to keep it when you inevitably die. People might want sex or power or whatever specific thing, but those are all fairly fleeting things unless they happen for certain reasons.
Even if you build your skills to a level unsurpassed by anyone else, you have to use those skills in order for them to have any effect on your surroundings, and anyway, those surroundings are never guaranteed to remain static.
If you pursue happiness, you'll have a tough time reaching it, but if pursuing something makes you happy, then you have everything to gain if you succeed and even if you never succeed, you'll be happier anyway.
After all, life is half what happens to you and half what you do about it. I think that's sort of the message in the film Forest Gump. Here's this guy who had all of this shitty stuff happen to him, but he made the most out of everything by simply staying optimistic yet grounded. Or in the book Candide, it's a similar sort of philosophy, but maybe taking it a step further as to how, if you stay overly optimistic but lose your groundedness, you can have a bad time of it.
We also tend to but more emphasis on the future than the present. Or sometimes we put too much emphasis on the past. I argue that the present is the most important, because it's the one with us right now. The past and the future are also important, equal to each other, but less important than the present. Before I was, I didn't exist. After I die, I will not exist. But, right now, I exist, and that's what makes this moment so glorious to me.
I think we, as humans in whatever society we are in, tend to feel the need to shift too much importance on one thing or another. People want lots of money, but you don't get to keep it when you inevitably die. People might want sex or power or whatever specific thing, but those are all fairly fleeting things unless they happen for certain reasons.
Even if you build your skills to a level unsurpassed by anyone else, you have to use those skills in order for them to have any effect on your surroundings, and anyway, those surroundings are never guaranteed to remain static.
If you pursue happiness, you'll have a tough time reaching it, but if pursuing something makes you happy, then you have everything to gain if you succeed and even if you never succeed, you'll be happier anyway.
After all, life is half what happens to you and half what you do about it. I think that's sort of the message in the film Forest Gump. Here's this guy who had all of this shitty stuff happen to him, but he made the most out of everything by simply staying optimistic yet grounded. Or in the book Candide, it's a similar sort of philosophy, but maybe taking it a step further as to how, if you stay overly optimistic but lose your groundedness, you can have a bad time of it.
We also tend to but more emphasis on the future than the present. Or sometimes we put too much emphasis on the past. I argue that the present is the most important, because it's the one with us right now. The past and the future are also important, equal to each other, but less important than the present. Before I was, I didn't exist. After I die, I will not exist. But, right now, I exist, and that's what makes this moment so glorious to me.
Scooter1969
not a shredder
No matter how much you give a homeless person for tea, you'll never get that tea.
--Jimmy Carr
--Jimmy Carr
odibrom
.
I like a quote from master Uguay (the turtle in Kung Fu Panda, the movie):
:::
I had a Psychologist teacher years ago, that said that,
- living in the pass is depression,
- living in the future is anxiety,
- living in the present assertiveness.
The Dalai Lama also has an interesting quote on this:
... assertiveness can be achieved with meditation... or being constantly in a meditative mind/soul state...
wheresthefbomb
Well-Known Member
I personally find a lot of value in absurdist nihilism, it makes life into a sort of "pick your own adventure." I also find that it doesn't seem to always bring others as much comfort as it does me, and a lot of people find it downright distressing.
Generally speaking though, often times being uplifting to others requires little more than listening. A key component of active listening that I particularly struggle with is listening without judgement, restraining the desire to offer your opinion/advice/perspective unless it's specifically called for. I find that this urge often actually arises out of insecurity/fear over lack of control.
I am a fixer, but people don't always want you to fix their problems. Most often they just want to be heard, and I find that by practicing active listening skills you can really be there for people without needing to compromise or even really delve into your own life philosophy.
This goes into something else that I struggle with, which is remembering that other people's expressions are a representation of their view of reality and necessarily have nothing to do with you. Being able to hold that space for others, surrendering to the lack of control you have over their situation while still empathizing with it, actually makes you a stronger and more secure person.
These are some meanderings from my hard-won experiential knowledge of the past decade or so.
odibrom
.
@wheresthefbomb a trick to become and active listener is to ask pertinent questions so the persons go deep in their own thoughts. Some possible questions can be "do you need my help?" or "what can I do for you?"... these will obviously call for our action.
In order to help another person, they need to be primed to listen and accept help.
odibrom
.
... but of course, one that doesn't want to be helped, cannot be helped...
jaxadam
Well-Known Member
Yesterday I was clever and wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself. - Rumi
jaxadam
Well-Known Member
Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing not to put it in a fruit salad.
jaxadam
Well-Known Member
You cannot shake hands with a clenched fist.
thebeesknees22
SS.org Regular
but you can fist bump!
