I have made major life decision about current events

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Comments

  • mickeyrat said:

    hedonist said:

    And as I said before, as relates to other human traits-dubbed-sins such as lust, greed, sloth...yeah, I believe it is in our nature. I feel it's better to deal with than deny or suppress.

    So there ya go.

    We don't have to agree.

    I'm curious though - what are those few simple truths?

    I think we see the natural expression of humaness in babies and children. Which includes a fair bit of MINE MINE MINE.
    Also, the elderly. By then, there's no filter, as well as no interest in others' approval. Children and seniors are the people I am most comfortable with, because there are no walls put up towards other people. It's these phases where we are the most real. It's why I work in a nursing home.

  • chadwick said:

    we can start healing by turning off the tv
    watching a movie from time to time is entertaining
    i throughly enjoy learning/discovering new things so the internet is an awesome tool for me
    other than that... destroy all video games with hammers & fire
    craftmanship builds a seaworthy vessel
    sail far & wide
    fight everyone
    take their women

    life is simple

    There's a lot to be said for daydreaming. Just sitting, looking out the window, doing nothing and letting your mind wander.
  • CosmoCosmo Posts: 12,219
    edited February 2014
    I've been around long enough to know that there is always something out there to freak people out.
    For the entirety of my youth and young adult life, there was the spectre of a limited to full scale nuclear exchange with the Soviet Union. During those decades, I was certain that 2 realities of the day were going to continue to exist beyond my lifetime... one being the existance of Cold War between us and the Soviet Union and the other being the Berlin Wall.
    ...
    Oh, well... so much for that, right? We still live under a possible threat of a nuclear exchange... but, it becomes less of a probability as it was in 1979.
    So, now I'm more of a 'such, is life' type of person. I choose to live within a society of diverse people and their beliefs and fears, hopes and dreams because.. well, just because. I'm not going to let fear run my life. I WILL use caution... as I always have, but I'm not listening to the fear mongers du jour.
    You know... IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE END OF DAYS... right? The Black Plague of Europe was the End of Days... and so was the Napoleanic Wars... and the American Civil War... and the Spanish Flu... and World War 1... and World War 2... and the Cold War... and 1984... and Y2K... ever since Christianity was invented, then adopted by the Romans, we have been in the End of Days.... beginning with the fall of Rome.
    Just live for today... enjoy the only time that really matters... right now... right here. Focus on that and everything else falls into place.
    Post edited by Cosmo on
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • PJ_SoulPJ_Soul Vancouver, BC Posts: 49,473
    edited February 2014
    I have to take a break from current events sometimes or else I'll start feeling a bit overwhelmed by how shitty so many things are in the world. It's fucking depressing and so frustrating. But then I'll get back on the old horse, since feeling bad or mad about it is better than keeping my head stuck in the sand permanently.
    Post edited by PJ_Soul on
    With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy. ~ Desiderata
  • LosientoLosiento Posts: 282
    hedonist said:

    Losiento said:

    The world works this way: There are good people, there are bad people. there are good people who work for bad and bad people who work for good. Then there are those that sit on their butts and complain about how the whole thing works. Have beer, stfu, be an armchair patriot going nowhere but fox news fast with the exception for the chance of achieving great social heights of a beer gut and the growing out of your mullet. Sound about right?

    I think I understand where you're coming from, though that last part strikes me as stereotypical.

    I believe there's good and bad (for lack of better terms) in all of us; it's what we choose to live by, what we choose to make our rule rather than our exception.

    It's quite telling how we act when no one else is around. Whether or not one believes in god - or anything else - in the end, we have to answer to ourselves.

    (well, I do)

    I was just referencing what I read in the rambling above my post putting it into layman's terms in the last part.

  • LosientoLosiento Posts: 282
    edited February 2014

    Losiento said:

    I feel the same way about the news. All that bullshit matters little to me, most of it is half truths if any truth at all. And all of it wants us to live our lives in fear. There's a lot to be said for silence and peace.

    Not that I don't care but everyone just wants to spin the shit for their own advantage and what really we end up with is... selfishness, greed, war, hunger and all the other horrors we see becomes tiring. I watched a world watch want to march to its own freedom that says enough for me. I saw a bunch of people who went for a ruthless power grab. I know average humans have the power to make the change. The world is in the need of release from the hands of the few with its icy grips holding it hostage. At best, I hope it has been an inspiration for many.
    I believe that if we choose to keep seeing the cynicism in the world, that's all that we'll see. Taking a break of solitude does do wonders. But the real change is when we see the beauty in spite of all the nastiness. Hold onto that thought and then spread it, after a time of solitude is over.
    So shall we take Pearl Jam's advice and believe the world is "nothing as it seems" ? Lack of permanence, build shaping a world which has been rendered useless otherwise keep fighting those who perpetrate our dreams?

    So much has to be said for thread jacking and being humble.

    Post edited by Losiento on
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,594
    PJ_Soul said:

    I have to take a break from current events sometimes or else I'll start feeling a bit overwhelmed by how shitty so many things are in the world. It's fucking depressing and so frustrating. But then I'll get back on the old horse, since feeling bad or mad about it is better than keeping my head stuck in the sand permanently.

    Just as you've said so well here, I (and probably most of us) feel the same way. It's easy to get overloaded by what's going on in the world. That's why music is so great- that and occasional distractions.

    Some reading I've been doing has kind of given a mixed perspective in thinking about current events. I'm reading Ryszard Kapuscinski's excellent book Imperium in which he tells about some of his various travels in the Russia and some of the countries that were part of the USSR. He blends a lot of history with observations and personal experiences. When I read about those times and places (and I understand his books about Africa and Asia are similar this way) I begin to get an inking about how totally fucked up other parts of the world are now and in the past. When I read about the Armenian genocide and the mass deportation of people from Poland in 1939 and other acts of Stalin's reign of terror I'm reminded of how fortunate I am to be living in this time and place. You can read history all the way back to it's recorded beginnings and see the same kinds of thing over and over. But somehow we keep on, even in the worst of situations. I just read about Kapuscinsky meeting with minor in the town of Vorkuta that is located above the arctic circle where days are endless in the winter and temperature normals at a level of cold we consider part of a freak storm and where people usually die by the age of 50 of black lung disease and yet they keep going. My father talked to a man who lived through (and secretly opposed) Hitler's rule in Germany and asked him how he managed to keep it together through those years and the man said you just get up every day and go about your business, you just keep going. How lucky I am that only occasionally have I found myself myself thinking "just keep going". Which reminds me, I just watch this great movie called "127 Hours" about the young outdoorsman Aron Ralston who cut off his own arm to save his life. Talk about inspirational!

    The other side of all this, the big thing we all must face that is different from conditions in our collective past histories is the effects of global warming, environmental issues and human over-population on this planet which sustains us. We are in dangerous uncharted territory that way. Nations rise and nations fall but we only get one planet on which to live. Having it become inhospitable for our species, it seems to me, is a far greater concern in the long run than any political, social or economic issues. I don't think our generations will be the last but how many more? Maybe in a few more the crows will get there turn at being the most intelligent species.

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • LosientoLosiento Posts: 282
    Exactly, Brian. Sitting on a starseed that will never blossom.... killed. It is in my vision of what a terrible thing has happened here. So justly giving it one last push to see if it can come to fruition. Outcome isn't very hopeful. A salvage job at best. Is why I am retiring and saying do whatever the f**k you want because you are going to do it anyway. Now let me be in Peace.
  • brianluxbrianlux Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 40,594
    Losiento said:

    Exactly, Brian. Sitting on a starseed that will never blossom.... killed. It is in my vision of what a terrible thing has happened here. So justly giving it one last push to see if it can come to fruition. Outcome isn't very hopeful. A salvage job at best. Is why I am retiring and saying do whatever the f**k you want because you are going to do it anyway. Now let me be in Peace.

    "Salvage", what an excellent word, Losiento. That is the word for our times. I think you hit it right on the nose- salvage is the best we can hope for.

    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
    Variously credited to Mark Twain or Edward Abbey.













  • LosientoLosiento Posts: 282
    What does it mean to be a Buddhist? I am just wondering what your answer would be?
  • chadwickchadwick up my ass Posts: 21,157
    for me it means, "i am aware & always learning to be more aware"

    every single action has reaction. like that
    how things we can not see because they're around the corner have an affect on us & us having an affect on what is around the bend

    vibrations rule the universe
    the unseen power of life

    & so monks chant, bang cymbals & blow horns
    it is for the vibration they are making
    it feels good

    there is a lot more to it
    like letting weeds grow
    replanting them away from one's veggie & flower garden
    or not swatting flies

    for poetry through the ceiling. ISBN: 1 4241 8840 7

    "Hear me, my chiefs!
    I am tired; my heart is
    sick and sad. From where
    the sun stands I will fight
    no more forever."

    Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
  • LosientoLosiento Posts: 282
    That is fair.
  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    we need to try and make the world a little better one brick at a time. Because we can.

    F Me, you got it in a perfect nutshell. The rest posted, still figuring out.

    (and chadwick, not sure of the intent of your earlier post, but no shovels of any kind here)

  • LosientoLosiento Posts: 282
    I see a few shovels. I can bullshit with the best...like the rest of them. I once met Mr. Chadwick at a firework stand.
  • LosientoLosiento Posts: 282
    true story
  • Buddhism to me is one word: Kindness.

    Hey man, Losiento, did you read Into the Wild? You know how in the end, Chris lay dying, and wrote in his journal that life is not worth living if it cannot be shared. He realized too late that life is about connection. So even though I feel as you may have taken my last post differently as implied, I wish you luck on your solitary journey. I just wish you don't make it permanent, and that is all. Because life is also about connection.
  • hedonisthedonist standing on the edge of forever Posts: 24,524
    Losiento said:

    I see a few shovels. I can bullshit with the best...like the rest of them. I once met Mr. Chadwick at a firework stand.

    Guess I'm just not getting you now.

    backseat, I like that post of yours up there. I treasure those connections, the special ones we have all too rarely.

  • chadwickchadwick up my ass Posts: 21,157
    backseat, yes kindness

    for poetry through the ceiling. ISBN: 1 4241 8840 7

    "Hear me, my chiefs!
    I am tired; my heart is
    sick and sad. From where
    the sun stands I will fight
    no more forever."

    Chief Joseph - Nez Perce
  • backseatLover12backseatLover12 Posts: 2,312
    edited February 2014
    Was the OP banned?

    I guess he now really is living the hermit life...
  • I must have had that quote above slightly wrong about Chris McCandless. Eddie Vedder's recent FB post:

    https://www.facebook.com/EddieVedder?hc_location=timeline
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