|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
Brass tacks
#7990899 - 02/07/08 09:32 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
I think we spend most of our lives BSing ourselves.
I got this quote from a diary of a man stranded in a rubber life raft for 76 days at sea.
" I have tried to save my energy, but the thoughts that bounce around in my brain are wearing me down. I'm too aware of how full of cliches my thoughts seem to be, the cliches one would expect of from a struggling survivor. There are the promises to the cosmos that if only I am let out of this mess, I'll surely be good from now on. There are the constant dreams of food and drink, the aching loneliness, the fear. How I would like to take command of my situation, to entertain myself with enlightened thought, to heroically forget pain and fear, to keep control. Perhaps that kind of heroism exists only in novels. If there is any enlightenment that I have been awakened to, it is that men's minds are dominated by their little aches and pains. We want to think we are more than that, that we control our lives with our intellect, But now, without civilization clouding the issue, I wonder to what extent intellect is controlled by instinct and culture is the result of raw gut reactions to life."
Maybe we are all just struggling survivors.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
Lion
Decadent Flower Magnate


Registered: 09/20/05
Posts: 8,775
Last seen: 3 days, 17 hours
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Icelander]
#7990904 - 02/07/08 09:33 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
There's a lot to think about in there. Thanks for this post.
-------------------- “Strengthened by contemplation and study, I will not fear my passions like a coward. My body I will give to pleasures, to diversions that I’ve dreamed of, to the most daring erotic desires, to the lustful impulses of my blood, without any fear at all, for whenever I will— and I will have the will, strengthened as I’ll be with contemplation and study— at the crucial moments I’ll recover my spirit as was before: ascetic.”
|
MushroomTrip
Dr. Teasy Thighs



Registered: 12/02/05
Posts: 14,794
Loc: red panda village
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Icelander]
#7990909 - 02/07/08 09:37 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Maybe. But some seem to enjoy themselves more than others. Which makes me think that there's room for even more of it. Case in which I think that in many cases enjoying one's current condition = freedom.
--------------------
   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
|
Orbus
The Liberator



Registered: 02/14/06
Posts: 85
Last seen: 13 years, 2 months
|
|
Do we think our thoughts or do they think us?
--------------------
------------------------------------------------------ Really, the fundamental, ultimate mystery -- the only thing you need to know to understand the deepest metaphysical secrets -- is this: that for every outside there is an inside and for every inside there is an outside, and although they are different, they go together. - Alan Watts
|
Plok
Life is fractal


Registered: 09/08/04
Posts: 1,152
Loc: Los Angeles
Last seen: 2 months, 7 days
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Orbus]
#7991005 - 02/07/08 10:09 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Your sig and that picture above it are awesome... I know that face is from Shpongle but where did you get that pic?
But yeah, I think we BS ourselves all the time. It's part of being human. A lot of it is culturally programmed too. It makes me wonder how much we should be BSing ourselves and how much we should search for hard truth.
-------------------- Just say NO to the War on Drugs.
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
|
Yeah maybe. The conditions we find ourselves in may dictate much of how think we feel. While no two people would react to the same event in the same way this is not my focus here. What I'm challenging is the way we seem to think we know ourselves and what we think when things are at a lull or an easy enough pace. But put on some real pressure and we start to really reveal our truth. In survival situations I think most of us would drop our commitment to many things we tell ourselves we could never contemplate.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Plok]
#7991012 - 02/07/08 10:12 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
It makes me wonder how much we should be BSing ourselves and how much we should search for hard truth.
Through my debate on these boards I have come to a pretty firm conclusion that hard truth is mostly or all myth. Things we tell ourselves so we don't have to face the uncertainty or life.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
deranger


Registered: 01/21/08
Posts: 6,840
Loc: off the wall
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Icelander]
#7991057 - 02/07/08 10:32 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
soft, formless, translucent bubbly truth is where it's at
it is not something you could hold with your hands or touch with your finger.
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: deranger]
#7991670 - 02/07/08 01:16 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
And this means that you can't handle things straight up?
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
BlueCoyote
Beyond



Registered: 05/07/04
Posts: 6,697
Loc: Between
Last seen: 3 years, 16 days
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Icelander]
#7992318 - 02/07/08 03:38 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
The individuals account for society. The individuals are those making choices, society doesn't. (My interpretation)
|
deranger


Registered: 01/21/08
Posts: 6,840
Loc: off the wall
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Icelander]
#7992411 - 02/07/08 04:01 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Icelander said: And this means that you can't handle things straight up?
that is not what i meant at all.
|
Orbus
The Liberator



Registered: 02/14/06
Posts: 85
Last seen: 13 years, 2 months
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Plok]
#7992453 - 02/07/08 04:13 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
Plok said: Your sig and that picture above it are awesome... I know that face is from Shpongle but where did you get that pic?
Homemade paper mache thats me holding it up
--------------------
------------------------------------------------------ Really, the fundamental, ultimate mystery -- the only thing you need to know to understand the deepest metaphysical secrets -- is this: that for every outside there is an inside and for every inside there is an outside, and although they are different, they go together. - Alan Watts
|
MushroomTrip
Dr. Teasy Thighs



Registered: 12/02/05
Posts: 14,794
Loc: red panda village
Last seen: 2 years, 10 months
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Orbus]
#7992458 - 02/07/08 04:14 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
That looks awesome!
--------------------
   All this time I've loved you And never known your face All this time I've missed you And searched this human race Here is true peace Here my heart knows calm Safe in your soul Bathed in your sighs
|
deranger


Registered: 01/21/08
Posts: 6,840
Loc: off the wall
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Orbus]
#7992758 - 02/07/08 05:27 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
wow man, time to put my creativity to work
|
MushmanTheManic
Stranger


Registered: 04/21/05
Posts: 4,587
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Icelander]
#7992789 - 02/07/08 05:35 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
As the Subgenius Dr. Hal says, rationalization is more important than food. You can go three days without food, but it is hard to go for more than three minutes without telling yourself some pleasant little lie.
|
SneezingPenis
ACHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!111!

Registered: 01/15/05
Posts: 15,427
Last seen: 6 years, 8 months
|
|
3:10 to yuma spoiler alert **************
so, maybe this is a little off topic, but I watched this movie last night without any preconceived ideas or knowing anything about the movie. The entire time, i was waiting for Christian Bale to drop a barrel of ass whoopin on everyone, but it never happened, in fact, the opposite happened. It wasnt about an everyday Joe that rose to meet a heroic destiny... it showed the thin line between ethical and cowardice, and showed the great divide between morality and survival. I think the movie made a very good point about how you can choose to either keep going on with your life living vicariously through the person you think you are, or face reality.... and it seems that it takes a life threatening situation to make one come to that fork in the road.
|
deranger


Registered: 01/21/08
Posts: 6,840
Loc: off the wall
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: deranger]
#7992908 - 02/07/08 06:00 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
SyntheticMInd said:
Quote:
Icelander said: And this means that you can't handle things straight up?
that is not what i meant at all.
and this is not to say that i don't accept that everything i project is an illusion.
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: deranger]
#7995472 - 02/08/08 09:41 AM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
Quote:
SyntheticMInd said:
Quote:
Icelander said: And this means that you can't handle things straight up?
that is not what i meant at all.
I think it is. Especially since you aren't saying what you did mean.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
|
|
Quote:
MushmanTheManic said: As the Subgenius Dr. Hal says, rationalization is more important than food. You can go three days without food, but it is hard to go for more than three minutes without telling yourself some pleasant little lie.
Quite right. We might be able to go without air longer than we can avoid lying to ourselves in some fashion.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
|
deranger


Registered: 01/21/08
Posts: 6,840
Loc: off the wall
|
Re: Brass tacks [Re: Icelander]
#7996419 - 02/08/08 02:01 PM (15 years, 11 months ago) |
|
|
what i meant was i enjoy silence over language. this isn't saying i don't often endulge in and find myself consumed by language 
often times i find our current language is a barrier to breakthrough.
|
|