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doolhoofd
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Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them 3
#28136748 - 01/12/23 02:31 PM (1 year, 15 days ago) |
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One day, an old man was walking along a beach littered with thousands of starfish that had been washed ashore by the high tide. As he walked, he came upon a young boy, who was eagerly throwing the starfish back into the ocean, one by one. Puzzled, the man looked at the boy, and asked what he was doing. Without looking up from his task, the boy simply replied, "I'm saving these starfish, Sir." The old man chuckled aloud, "Son, there are thousands of starfish and only one of you. What difference can you make?" The boy did not stop; instead, he picked up a starfish, gently tossed it into the water, and, turning to the man, said, "I made a difference to that one!"
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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Buster_Brown
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd] 1
#28137647 - 01/13/23 08:38 AM (1 year, 15 days ago) |
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Having fabricated a couple of original anecdotes in your previous thread on this topic I thought I'd try my hand at addressing Provocation.
Given that all experiences of life provoke a reaction I think it's possible that an adversarial sentimentality to the occasion of provocation can be associated with aberration.
Can we conclude then that a surgeon comfortable with the sight of blood is in fact saner than those who would faint?
Or is the moral that those who reject provocation can themselves no longer provoke?
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Kickle
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Buster_Brown] 1
#28137724 - 01/13/23 09:36 AM (1 year, 15 days ago) |
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Rama was the eldest son of the great king Dasharatha. The gods had declared that he was born for the specific purpose of defeating the demon-king Ravana. He is considered to be the seventh incarnation of the great god, Vishnu.
Rama won the hand of his wife Sita in an archery contest, in which he was the only contender able to bend a bow that had once belonged to Shiva. Sita had been born of a furrow in the earth (this is what her name means). The two were extremely happy together, and returned to live in Rama's home, in Ayodhya.
Rama's stepmother, Kaikeyi, wanted to promote her son Bharata as heir to the throne of her husband, Dasharatha; Rama was eldest, and the honor rightly was due him. Kaikeyi called in several favors her husband had promised her, and forced Dasharatha, who could not go back on his promises to his wife—-to exile Rama for fourteen years. Rama's brother Lakshman and his wife insisted on accompanying him, and they left together. Dasharatha died of grief, and Bharata attempted to persuade his brother to return. Rama, also bound not to go back on his word, refused. Bharata pledged to rule in Rama's name until his return.
Rama, Sita, and Lakshman wandered in the forest until Rama was seen by an evil spirit, who fell in love with him. Rama rejected her and she attacked with her allies, only to meet defeat at the hands of Lakshman and Rama. She appealed to her brother Ravana, the strongest and most dangerous demon on earth at that time, for help. Ravana decided to kidnap Sita, the wife of Rama.
One of Ravana's demon followers assumed the form of a splendid deer, who aroused the interest of Sita. She asked Rama to retrieve the deer. Lakshman drew a line or circle around Sita to protect her magically, and went to aid his brother. While he and his brother were thus engaged, Ravana came to Sita in the guise of a holy man. Tricking her in this way to cross the protective line, he kidnapped her and took her to his palace on the island of Lanka.
Upon returning and finding Sita gone, Rama despaired. Accompanied by his brother, he went in search of her. On the way the two killed a demon whose liberated spirit told them to seek the help of Sugriva, the monkey-king. The brothers sought out the king, and helped him to regain control of his kingdom, which had been usurped by his half-brother. In gratitude, Sugriva dedicated his armies and his finest general—Hanuman, the son of the wind—to the quest to retrieve Sita. Hanuman discovered Sita's location and visited her there, reassuring her that Rama would save her. He suggested that a huge bridge to the island be constructed to allow the siege of Lanka. After great battles and acts of heroism, the siege was completed and Ravana defeated. Sita was rescued.
Many versions of the Ramayana end thus with return of Sita and Rama to their kingdom after fourteen years of exile, and the commencement of Ram Rajya, the glorious time of the rule of Ram. Other versions, such as that by Valmiki, end with the questioning of Sita's loyalty during the time of her kidnapping, when she spent so much time in another man's home. In such versions, Sita returned to her husband only to be put to a fire test to prove her loyalty. She passed this test, only to be questioned again later. She was then banished with her two unborn twin sons. Later asked to return to the kingdom, she did so only to stand before the assembly, calling on the earth (from which she was born) to take her back again if she had remained pure. The story ends with her absorption into her mother, the earth, and her ultimate vindication.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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Buster_Brown
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Kickle] 1
#28138184 - 01/13/23 03:54 PM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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The hand being quicker than the eye the wisdom of that story is that we often base our judgements on illusory evidence, right?
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Kickle
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Buster_Brown]
#28138198 - 01/13/23 04:02 PM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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Could be. It's an old story but it captivates me in a way. It's got it all ya know, heroic journey, demonic seduction, shiny yet misleading appearances, accusations and vindication.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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Kickle
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Kickle]
#28138655 - 01/13/23 08:26 PM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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The monkey is indeed rebellious. He was, according to the story, born out of a rock, fertilized by the grace of Heaven and Earth. Being extremely intelligent, he has learned all the magic tricks and gongfu from an immortal Taoist master. Now he can transform himself into seventy-two different images such as a tree, a bird, a beast of prey, or an insect that can sneak into an enemy's body to fight him or her inside out. Using clouds as a vehicle, he can travel 108,000 miles at a single somersault.
He claims to be The King in defiance of the only authority over the heaven, the seas, the earth and the subterranean world -- Yù Huáng Dà Dì, or "The Great Emperor of Jade." That act of high treason, coupled with complaints from the masters of the four seas and the Hell, incurs the relentless scourge of the heavenly army. In fact, the monkey has fought into the ocean and seized the Dragon King's crown treasure: a huge gold-banded iron rod used as a ballast of the waters. Able to expand or shrink at his command, the iron rod becomes the monkey's favorite weapon in his later feats. The first test of its power came when the monkey stormed into hell and threatened the Hadean king into sparing his and his followers mortal life so that they all could enjoy eternity.
After many showdowns with the fearless Monkey King, the heavenly army have suffered numerous humiliating defeats. The celestial monarch has but to give the dove faction a chance to try their appeasement strategy—to offer the monkey an official title in heaven with little authority. When he has learned the truth that he is nothing but an object of ridicule, the enraged monkey revolts, fighting all his way back to earth to resume his original claim as The King. Eventually, the heavenly army, enlisting the help of all the god warriors with diverse tricks, manages to capture the barely invincible monkey. He is sentenced to capital punishment. However, all methods of execution fail. Having a bronze head and iron shoulders, the monkey dulls many a sword inflicted upon him. As the last resort, the emperor commands that he be incinerated in the furnace where his Taoist minister Tai Shang Lao Jun refines his pills of immortality. Instead of killing the monkey, the fire and smoke therein sharpened his eyes so that he now can see through things that others can not. He fights his way back to earth again.
At his wit's end, the celestial emperor asks Buddha for help. Buddha imprisons the monkey under a great mountain known as Wu Zhi Shan (The Mount of Five Fingers). The tenacious monkey survives the enormous weight and pressure. Five hundred years later, there comes to his rescue the Tang Monk, Xuan Zang.
To make sure that the monk can make for the West to get the Sutras, Buddha has arranged for Monkey King to become the monk's escort in the capacity of his disciple.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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Buster_Brown
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Kickle]
#28138716 - 01/13/23 09:10 PM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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Ahh, the insidious nature of caste continues.
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Kickle]
#28138963 - 01/14/23 04:52 AM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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After winning several significant archery contests, the new, young and rather boastful champion challenged a local zen master who was also renowned for his archery skills. The youngling demonstrated remarkable technical proficiency when he hit a distant bull's-eye with his first shot, and then split his own arrow in half with his second shot. "There!" he puffed to the old man, "Let's see if you can match that!"
Undisturbed, the old master did not immediately draw his bow, but instead motioned the young champion to follow him. Curious about the old fellow's intentions, the champion followed the master up onto the mountain, until they reached a deep chasm, spanned only by a flimsy and shaky log. Calmly stepping out onto the middle of the rickety bridge, the old master chose a faraway tree as his target, took out his bow, and fired a clean, direct hit. "Now it's your turn," he said as he gracefully stepped back onto solid ground. But, staring with terror into the seemingly bottomless, beckoning abyss, the young champion could not force himself to step out onto the log, no less shoot at a target.
"You have much skill with your bow," the master said, "but little skill with the mind that lets loose the shot."
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Buster_Brown]
#28139102 - 01/14/23 07:26 AM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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Quote:
Buster_Brown said: Ahh, the insidious nature of caste continues.
I always thought it was cool to think of a Monkey King as a companion on our journey. What awesome attributes. Even heaven can't master him.
And the hand makes another weighty appearance
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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Buster_Brown
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd] 1
#28139111 - 01/14/23 07:38 AM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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I'm reminded of Hess's Glass Bead Game and the reference to things becoming clear when the water clears.
A master might say to an aspirant "It's not about how many beads there are to discern but the character of the beads"
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Kickle
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Buster_Brown]
#28139124 - 01/14/23 07:47 AM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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A master might say to an aspirant "It's not about how many beads there are to discern but the character of the beads"
Nice
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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Buster_Brown
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Kickle]
#28139143 - 01/14/23 08:00 AM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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Hess's beads may be the:

from the wiki article
Edited by Buster_Brown (01/14/23 08:02 AM)
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Kickle
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Buster_Brown]
#28139152 - 01/14/23 08:06 AM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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Every one of us is, in the cosmic perspective, precious. If a human disagrees with you, let him live. In a hundred billion galaxies, you will not find another.
-------------------- Why shouldn't the truth be stranger than fiction? Fiction, after all, has to make sense. -- Mark Twain
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syncro
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: Kickle] 1
#28139260 - 01/14/23 09:58 AM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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Someone asked Hanuman if he knew the time, and he said, "I neither know the phases of the moon nor the positions of the stars - I only contemplate Rama."
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: syncro]
#28139466 - 01/14/23 12:38 PM (1 year, 14 days ago) |
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Once upon the time there was an old farmer who had worked his crops for many years. One day his horse ran away. Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit. "Such bad luck," they said sympathetically. "Maybe," the farmer replied. The next morning the horse returned, bringing with it three other wild horses. "How wonderful," the neighbors exclaimed. "Maybe," the farmer replied. The following day, his son tried to ride one of the untamed horses, was thrown, and broke his leg. The neighbors again came to offer their sympathy on his misfortune. "Maybe," the farmer replied. The day after, military officials came to the village to draft young men into the army. Seeing that the son's leg was broken, they passed him by. The neighbors congratulated the farmer on how well things had turned out. "Maybe," the farmer replied.
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd]
#28146290 - 01/18/23 04:52 PM (1 year, 9 days ago) |
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A young man and a young woman, two youthful lovers - Raoul and Marguerite - each receive a secret letter, stating that the other is cheating on them: if Raoul wishes to verify this he needs but to go to the oncoming masked ball; his beloved will be there, dressed as a Congolese Kano. The girl receives a letter of the same type: go to the ball, your love will be there, disguised as a Harlequin.
Well then. The evening of the ball, two figures can be seen boring themselves to death and leering at each other from behind their masks: a Congolese Kano, and a Harlequin...
Finally, he approaches her, and asks her to dance. It ends in a private quarter, where they storm at each other and rip each other's masks off; and then - peak of consternation - the story concludes:
The Harlequin, was not Raoul... The Kano, was not Marguerite...
After which the two young lovers agree never to quarrel again!
And that's the story, in a nutshell, called Un Drame Bien Parisien written by Alphonse Allais in 1890.

Félicien Rops, The Human Parody (public domain)
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd]
#28223378 - 03/10/23 07:32 AM (10 months, 14 days ago) |
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The Nine Billion Names Of God by Arthur C. Clarke
TL;DR: An isolated community of Tibetan monks has for centuries devoted itself to transcribing all the possible names of God, and they believe that once they have accomplished this task, the purpose of the universe will be achieved. But the work is tiresome, and, after a lot of deliberation, the weary monks finally decide to call in the aid of IBM, whose technicians install some powerful computers that actually finish the entire job in a couple of months. Hooray - mission accomplished! Find out what happens next here (this is the full original story):
https://urbigenous.net/library/nine_billion_names_of_god.html
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd]
#28223391 - 03/10/23 07:43 AM (10 months, 14 days ago) |
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Death In Samarkand
Consider the story of the soldier visiting a local marketplace. Suddenly, he spots Death at a crossing... and... believes he sees the Reaper make a menacing gesture in his direction! He rushes to the royal palace in utter terror, and pleads the King to lend him his fastest horse immediately, so that he might flee, far from Death, as far as the distant Samarkand. After his hasty departure, the King has Death summoned to the palace - and then reproaches him, for having frightened one of his best servants. But Death, astonished, replies: "I'm terribly sorry, Sire! I didn't mean to scare him! It was just that I was so surprised to see this man here, when we have a rendez-vous tomorrow, in Samarkand..."
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd] 1
#28253093 - 03/29/23 02:42 PM (9 months, 25 days ago) |
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The Tourist And The Fisherman
A tourist focuses in on a most idyllic picture: a man dressed in simple clothes, dozing in a fishing boat that's been pulled out of the waves rolling up the sandy beach. The camera clicks, the man wakes up. The tourist offers him a cigarette and launches into a conversation: 'The weather's great, there's plenty of fish; so why are you lying around, instead of going out and catching more?' The fisherman replies: 'Because I caught enough this morning.' 'But just imagine!' the tourist says, 'you could go out three or four times a day, bringing home three or four times as much fish! You know what could happen??' The fisherman quietly shakes his head. 'After about a year, you could buy yourself a motorboat!' says the tourist. 'After two years, you could buy a second one! And after three years, you could have a cutter or two - and just think! One day, you might be able to build a freezing plant, or a smoke house; you might eventually even get your own helicopter to guide your fleet in tracing shoals of fish; or you could buy your own trucks, to ship your fish to the capital; and then -' '...And then?' asks the fisherman. 'And thén!' the tourist continues triumphantly, 'you could be lying on the beach, dozing in the Sun, looking at the beautiful ocean!'
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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connectedcosmos
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd] 2
#28254100 - 03/30/23 05:40 AM (9 months, 25 days ago) |
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A farmer is looking for some extra help on the farm, so he hires a farmhand. On the first day he puts him to work pounding in fence posts, it's absolutely grueling work under the hot sun, but the farmhand excels at this. He sets up more fence posts than any other farmhand ever has in a day, more than the farmer ever could. The farmer is astounded at how fast the hand worked.
So, the next day, the farmer sets the farmhand up harvesting corn. It's tedious work, there are rows and rows and rows of corn and all day the farmhand is plucking ears of corn in an endlessly monotonous task. At the end of the day, the farmhand delivers a massive collection of corn. He's done it again - he's worked harder and better than anyone could ever do. At this rate the farmer is going to run out of work!
So on the third day, the farmer is trusting the farmhand to make decisions. He leads him into the root cellar and shows him the potatoes. There's a whole heap of them, a weeks worth of work. The farmer says, "I want you to sort through these guys, put the good ones in a pile here, we'll sell them at market, put the ok ones here, we'll sell them wholesale, and put the bad ones here, we'll take them to the compost."
Come the end of the day, the farmhand comes out of the cellar and shakes his head. "Well," he says. "I quit." The farmer is aghast.
"You can't quit! What's the matter? You did such good work with the fenceposts and the corn!"
"Well," the farmhand says. "The fenceposts and the corn were all well and good, but these potatoes, I can't take it...it's just decision after decision after decision!"
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 54. The true nature of things is to be known personally , through the eyes of clear illumination and not through a sage : what the moon exactly is , is to be known with one's own eyes ; can another make him know it?
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doolhoofd
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Thanks for that one, connectedcosmos!
"There is no longer any contradiction in the term 'totalitarian democracy,' every democracy evolves into a totalitarian regime all by itself, because the people do not wish to rule, they wish to be ruled. The people claim democratic rights and freedoms for themselves, but they are too lazy and too stupid to make use of those rights and freedoms. The mass cannot think, and thus finds it easier to serve and obey than to lead and command; the mass invented slavery, not the dictators." - Ward Ruyslinck, Het Reservaat (a Dutch book, my personal translation)
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
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Upon The Sand (from The Wanderer by Kahlil Gibran)
Said one man to another, "At the high tide of the sea, long ago, I wrote a line upon the sand with the tip of my staff; and people still pause to read it, and they are careful that naught shall erase it." And the other man said, "I too wrote a line upon the sand; but it was at low tide, and the waves of the vast sea washed it away. But tell me: what did you write?" And the first man answered, "I wrote this: 'I am he who is.' But what did you write?" And the other man said, "This I wrote: 'I am but a drop in this great ocean.' "
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd] 2
#28254866 - 03/30/23 03:07 PM (9 months, 24 days ago) |
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A student in zen consulted his teacher, and said, "My meditation is horrible! I get distracted, my legs ache, or I'm falling asleep... It's just horrible!" "It will pass," the teacher replied. A week later, the student returned, and said, "My meditation is wonderful! I feel so aware, so peaceful, so alive... It's just wonderful!" "It will pass," the teacher replied.
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd]
#28294564 - 04/25/23 10:19 AM (8 months, 30 days ago) |
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A grumpy and bitter old man walks into a local First Baptist Church, and says to the secretary, "Hey, I wanna join this damn church."
The secretary replies, "I beg your pardon, sir! I must have misunderstood you. What did you say?"
"Listen up, dammit. I said I wanna join this goddamn church!"
"I'm very sorry, sir, but that kind of profanity is not tolerated here!"
The secretary leaves her desk and goes to the pastor's study to inform him of the situation. The pastor agrees, that she does not have to listen to such foul language. They both return to the desk, and the pastor asks, "Sir, what seems to be the problem here?"
"There is no damn problem!" the man says. "Looky here, I just won two hundred million bucks in the damn lottery, and I wanna join this damn church to get rid of some of this goddamn money!"
"I see," says the pastor. "And is this bitch giving you a hard time?"
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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connectedcosmos
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd] 1
#28294750 - 04/25/23 12:41 PM (8 months, 30 days ago) |
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--------------------
 54. The true nature of things is to be known personally , through the eyes of clear illumination and not through a sage : what the moon exactly is , is to be known with one's own eyes ; can another make him know it?
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The Blind Ass
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd] 1
#28295134 - 04/25/23 06:08 PM (8 months, 29 days ago) |
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-------------------- Give me Liberty caps -or- give me Death caps
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doolhoofd
doolhoofd.com



Registered: 12/22/22
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Loc: Dorsia
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: The Blind Ass]
#28299107 - 04/28/23 04:29 PM (8 months, 26 days ago) |
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The Old Man, The Boy And The Donkey - a fable by Aesop
An old man and his son were once going to the market with their donkey. As they were walking, a countryman passed them, and mocked: "You fools, what is a donkey for but to ride upon!"
So the man put the boy on the donkey, and they resumed their course. But very soon they passed another group of men, one of whom sneered: "See that lazy youngster! He lets his father walk while he rides!"
So the man told his boy to get off, and got on himself. But they hadn't gone far before they passed a group of women, one of whom clamored: "Shame on that lazy lout, to let his poor little son trudge along like that!"
Well, now the old man didn't know what to do; but at last, he took his son up before him on the donkey, so they both could ride. By this time, they had entered the town, and the passers-by began to jeer and laugh and point at them. So the old man asked them what they were scoffing at, and they said: "Aren't you ashamed of yourself, for exhausting your meager donkey?"
At that point, the man and the boy both got off, and pondered what to do. They thought, and thought, until at last they decided to cut down a pole, tie the donkey's feet to it, and raise the pole, with the donkey hanging on it, to their shoulders.
Thus, they shambled along, amid the ridicule of all who saw them, until they came to the market bridge, where the donkey, getting one of its legs loose, kicked out, fell into the water, and quickly drowned.
"That'll teach you," said another old man who had followed and observed them: "Please all, and you will please none."
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
doolhoofd.com



Registered: 12/22/22
Posts: 353
Loc: Dorsia
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: The Blind Ass]
#28566877 - 12/03/23 02:54 PM (1 month, 24 days ago) |
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"This is a culture which sets up specialized institutes so that people’s bodies can come together and touch, and, at the same time, invents pans in which the water does not touch the bottom of the pan, which is made of a substance so homogeneous, so dry and artificial, that not a single drop sticks to it - just like those bodies intertwined in 'feeling' and therapeutic 'love,' which do not touch, not even for a moment. This is called interfacing or interaction. It has replaced face-to-face contact and action. It is also called communication, because these things really do communicate: the miracle is that the pan bottom communicates its heat to the water without touching it, in a sort of remote boiling process, in the same way one body communicates its fluid, its erotic potential, to another, without that other ever being seduced or even disturbed, by a sort of molecular capillary action. The code of separation has worked so well that they've even managed to separate the water from the pan and to make the pan transmit its heat as a message, or to make one body transmit its desire to the other as a message, as a fluid to be decoded. This is called information, and it has wormed its way into everything, like a phobic, maniacal leitmotiv, which affects sexual relations as well as kitchen implements. Everywhere the transparency of interfacing ends up in internal refraction. Everything pretentiously termed 'communication' and 'interaction' - walkman, sunglasses, automatic household appliances, hi-tech cars, the perpetual dialogue with the computer - ends up with each monad retreating into the shade of its own formula, into its own self-regulating little corner and artificial immunity."
- Jean Baudrillard, America (original title: Amérique), 1986, pp. 32-33 & pp. 59-60
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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BrendanFlock
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Registered: 06/01/13
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: doolhoofd]
#28567817 - 12/04/23 05:18 AM (1 month, 24 days ago) |
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There is no such thing as nothing.
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doolhoofd
doolhoofd.com



Registered: 12/22/22
Posts: 353
Loc: Dorsia
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: BrendanFlock]
#28568669 - 12/04/23 06:22 PM (1 month, 23 days ago) |
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-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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doolhoofd
doolhoofd.com



Registered: 12/22/22
Posts: 353
Loc: Dorsia
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Re: Wise Stories: A Thread To Share Them [Re: BrendanFlock]
#28568857 - 12/04/23 08:07 PM (1 month, 23 days ago) |
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"Only signs without referents, empty, senseless, absurd and elliptical signs absorb us. A little boy asks a fairy to grant him his wishes. The fairy agrees - on one condition: that he never think of the color red in the fox's tail. "Is that all?" he replies offhandedly. And off he goes to find happiness. But what happens? He is unable to rid himself of this fox's tail, which he believed he had already forgotten. He sees it everywhere, with its red color, in his thoughts and in his dreams. Despite all his efforts, he cannot make it disappear. He becomes obsessed with this absurd, insignificant, but tenacious image, augmented by all the spite that comes from not having been able to rid himself of it. Not only do the fairy's promises not come true, but he loses his taste for life. Perhaps he dies without ever having gotten clear of it. An absurd story, but absolutely plausible, for it demonstrates the power of the insignificant signifier, the power of a meaningless signifier. The fairy was mischievous (she wasn't a good fairy). She knew that the mind is irresistibly attracted to a place devoid of meaning. Here the emptiness was seemingly provoked by the insignificance of the color red of a fox's tail (this is why the child was not on his guard). Elsewhere words and gestures are emptied of their meaning by unflagging repetition and scansion. To wear meaning out, to tire it out in order to liberate the pure seduction of the null signifier or empty term: such is the strength of ritual magic and incantation. But it can just as well be a direct fascination with the void, as in the physical vertigo of a chasm, or the metaphorical vertigo of a door that opens into the void. If you were to see written on a door panel: "This door opens into the void." - wouldn't you still want to open it? That which looks onto nothing has every reason to be opened. That which does not say anything has every reason to never be forgotten. That which is arbitrary is simultaneously endowed with a total necessity. The predestination of the empty sign, the precession of the void, the vertigo of an obligation devoid of sense, a passion for necessity. Here lies something of the secret of magic (the fairy was a magician). The power of words, their symbolic efficacy, is greater when uttered in a void. When they have neither context nor referents, they can take on the power of a self-fulfilling (or self-defeating) prophecy. Like the color red of a fox's tail. Unreal and unsubstantial, it proves compelling precisely because of its nullity. If the fairy had forbidden the child from doing something serious or significant, he would have pulled through easily, instead of being seduced against his will. For it is not the prohibition, but its nonsense that seduced him. Thus, against all logic, it is the improbable prophecies that come true; all that is required is that they not make too much sense. Otherwise they would not be prophecies. Such is the bewitchment of magical speech, such is the sorcery of seduction. This is why neither magic nor seduction concern belief or make-believe, for they employ signs without credibility and gestures without referents; their logic is not one of mediation, but of immediacy, whatever the sign. Proof is unnecessary. Everybody knows that their spell is carried by the unmediated resonance of the signs. There is no official intermediary time for the sign and its deciphering; it is not a matter of believing, doing, wanting, or knowing. Their attraction is foreign to the forms of discourse, as well as the distinctive logic of the utterance and statement. Their spell belongs to the order of declamation and prophecy, a discourse whose symbolic effectiveness requires neither deciphering nor belief. The immediate attraction of a song, a voice or a scent. The attraction of the panther's scent: according to the myths of the ancients, the panther is the only animal to emit a fragrant odor, which it uses to capture its victims. The panther has only to hide (his appearance strikes terror), and his victims are bewitched by his scent - an invisible trap to which they come to be caught. But this power of seduction can also be turned against the panther: one hunts him by using spices, herbs and perfumes as bait. But what does it mean to say that the panther seduces by its scent? Why is its scent seductive? (And why is this legend itself seductive? What sort of fragrance does it emit?) What accounts for the seduction of the song of the Sirens, the beauty of a face, the depths of a chasm, or the imminence of a catastrophe - as well as the scent of the panther or a door that opens into the void? Is it some hidden force of attraction? Or a powerful desire? No, these are empty terms. Seduction lies with the annulment of the signs, with the annulment of their meaning, with the radiation of their pure appearance. Eyes that seduce have no meaning, their meaning being exhausted in the gaze, as a face with make-up is exhausted in its appearance, in the formal rigor of a senseless labor. Above all, seduction supposes, not a signified desire, but the beauty of an artifice. The panther's scent is also a senseless message - and behind this message the panther is invisible, like a woman beneath her make-up. The Sirens too remained unseen. Sorcery is formed by what lies hidden."
- Jean Baudrillard, Seduction
-------------------- Penny: 'What are you and Professor FussyFace up to tonight?' Leonard: "Star Wars on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Haven't you seen that movie like, a thousand times?' Leonard: "Not on Blu-ray. Only twice on Blu-ray." Penny: 'Oh, Leonard...' Leonard: "I know. It's high-resolution sadness." - The Big Bang Theory, S07E09
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