Saturday, February 12, 2005
If you had ONE wish...
... what would it be? (The standard rules apply; you can't wish for more wishes, or to have magic or superhuman powers.)
World peace? Human nature would have to be radically changed for this to be possible; we'd have to lose religion as we've known it, too. We'd have to be passionless blobs with no spiritual awareness to NEVER fight each other... the mammalian equivalent of slugs.
An end to hunger? To produce enough food for everyone, the climate would have to be changed in many parts of the world, with who knows what bad effects, and deserts, mountains and arid areas would have to be turned into fertile fields... and what happens to all the species of plants and animals that already live there? What about biodiversity?
An end to poverty? The only way for NO ONE to ever be poor is if all the stuff they need would be given to them even if they didn't work... and who would do the work necessary to provide all of that for the world's MILLIONS of impoverished people? How many people who currently work would stop if they could suddenly live comfortably NOT working? And who would work hard enough to pick up the slack? Who COULD work so hard and well that they could each provide the necessities for hundreds or thousands of people? If, instead of being worked for, all that stuff was coming from, I don't know, outer space, what would happen to the progress of the human race if no one had to work anymore? What would we become?
An end to sickness? Imagine how people would behave if no amount of drug use, drinking, smoking, eating, laziness, and indiscriminate sex would impair their health. Imagine what the population of the world would be if sickness took NO lives; imagine how much hungrier the poor of the world would have to be to feed them all. Imagine what it might do to the biosphere is all disease-causing organisms were eliminated; if, instead, we just became immune to them, imagine what would happen to the other creatures of the world as the organisms mutated to try to infect new hosts. If ALL creatures became immune, that would in effect eliminate all the organisms... and explode the populations of animals, which would then starve. And what about cancer? It's a form of uncontrolled, "improper" growth; can we eliminate IT completely without negatively impacting the ability of the body to grow new tissues the way it needs to? Are YOU willing to take that gamble?
An end to hate? The evil people of the world would LOVE to not have to be hated anymore; more to the point, we have the human nature issue again.
An end to evil? Same as the end to war, if you think about it.
An end to unwanted pregnancies? The population of the world would plummet... and the wildly reduced population of the younger generation would be unable to do enough work to support US when we get older.
An end to suffering? How is it POSSIBLE for us to never suffer, when loved ones die and acts of nature destroy what we build... would we not have to lose much of our capacity to feel? If we no longer mourned the passing of our loved ones, or wept over the losses the innocent endure every day, what sort of creatures would we be? We can't wish for the events that CAUSE suffering to stop happening, either; we can't stop death, the weather, the existence of FIRE... what could we be, immortals standing around on a flat surface in a static universe? !!!!!!
There's just no way to wish something wonderful for all the world without creating a disaster.
OK, what about wishing some good stuff just for a small enough group to not cause a catastrophe; say, your family and friends. This MIGHT be workable, as long as the population as a whole never figures out that your group has something special; people would literally KILL to try to figure out how to get what you have for THEIR loved ones. But what if you wished a huge lottery win for all of you? Read some of the articles about the isolation, the loss of friends, the loss even of sense of self, that's common among lottery winners; you can't suddenly become rich and hold onto all the things that make your life happy NOW... it changes you, and how everyone treats you changes too. Maybe YOU wouldn't mind that, but it's a heavy load to lay on your loved ones.
That leaves wishing something for ONE person. If someone dear to you is terminally ill, was crippled in a car wreck, lost everything when their house burned down, etc, you could probably safely wish them a cure, or enough $ to get back their old life, if you worded it carefully; if YOU are the one with that sort of problem, you could safely wish it for yourself. If you're lucky enough that neither you nor your loved ones has that sort of need, then what?
Would you wish to always be happy? There's an old line about how only the village idiot is always happy; how else could the tragedies of life never make you sad? Would you WANT to be happy even when horrible things happen? That's not even HUMAN.
Would you wish to have the guarantee of being loved "forever" by a romantic partner? What would the karma be from altering someone's mind and heart to make this happen?
So, what's left? If there's something your life is empty because you can't do it, such as paint or sing, you could wish that ability for yourself; if you were smart, and set it up to look like you took lessons and everything fell into place for you, no one would know how it happened. Barring that, you could wish yourself a long, healthy life... but what happens when your $ runs out? Would you want to live 30 years on Social Security? Would you wish for a secret stash of wealth to wisely use only when necessary, or to get you some of whatever special things you've always wanted? What if you have a heart attack 6 months later, or contract a serious disease; would you still prefer the wish to have been for $? I guess you'd have to weigh all the factors in your life and decide between health and wealth... unless, as is the case with ME, spiritual issues occupy your mind all the time.
I'd be tempted to wish to KNOW, to understand everything, to see the real and full truth; imagine what a life I could live with that knowledge!! I could probably use it to create wealth, to live a long and healthy life, and who knows what else. On the other hand, what if, once I knew "The Truth," I wouldn't be ABLE to do much of anything, for fear of disrupting karma? I'm sure I couldn't know that in advance, so...
I've got it!! I've never heard this given as an answer before, but it's so simple; I'd wish that whatever I'd think at the end of my life would have been the best thing to wish for would BE my wish!! :-)
(I was tempted to just post the question and my final answer, but I'm going to leave the rest of my post as it is because it shows the path I took to GET to my answer; I think it's interesting just as an intellectual exercise.)
World peace? Human nature would have to be radically changed for this to be possible; we'd have to lose religion as we've known it, too. We'd have to be passionless blobs with no spiritual awareness to NEVER fight each other... the mammalian equivalent of slugs.
An end to hunger? To produce enough food for everyone, the climate would have to be changed in many parts of the world, with who knows what bad effects, and deserts, mountains and arid areas would have to be turned into fertile fields... and what happens to all the species of plants and animals that already live there? What about biodiversity?
An end to poverty? The only way for NO ONE to ever be poor is if all the stuff they need would be given to them even if they didn't work... and who would do the work necessary to provide all of that for the world's MILLIONS of impoverished people? How many people who currently work would stop if they could suddenly live comfortably NOT working? And who would work hard enough to pick up the slack? Who COULD work so hard and well that they could each provide the necessities for hundreds or thousands of people? If, instead of being worked for, all that stuff was coming from, I don't know, outer space, what would happen to the progress of the human race if no one had to work anymore? What would we become?
An end to sickness? Imagine how people would behave if no amount of drug use, drinking, smoking, eating, laziness, and indiscriminate sex would impair their health. Imagine what the population of the world would be if sickness took NO lives; imagine how much hungrier the poor of the world would have to be to feed them all. Imagine what it might do to the biosphere is all disease-causing organisms were eliminated; if, instead, we just became immune to them, imagine what would happen to the other creatures of the world as the organisms mutated to try to infect new hosts. If ALL creatures became immune, that would in effect eliminate all the organisms... and explode the populations of animals, which would then starve. And what about cancer? It's a form of uncontrolled, "improper" growth; can we eliminate IT completely without negatively impacting the ability of the body to grow new tissues the way it needs to? Are YOU willing to take that gamble?
An end to hate? The evil people of the world would LOVE to not have to be hated anymore; more to the point, we have the human nature issue again.
An end to evil? Same as the end to war, if you think about it.
An end to unwanted pregnancies? The population of the world would plummet... and the wildly reduced population of the younger generation would be unable to do enough work to support US when we get older.
An end to suffering? How is it POSSIBLE for us to never suffer, when loved ones die and acts of nature destroy what we build... would we not have to lose much of our capacity to feel? If we no longer mourned the passing of our loved ones, or wept over the losses the innocent endure every day, what sort of creatures would we be? We can't wish for the events that CAUSE suffering to stop happening, either; we can't stop death, the weather, the existence of FIRE... what could we be, immortals standing around on a flat surface in a static universe? !!!!!!
There's just no way to wish something wonderful for all the world without creating a disaster.
OK, what about wishing some good stuff just for a small enough group to not cause a catastrophe; say, your family and friends. This MIGHT be workable, as long as the population as a whole never figures out that your group has something special; people would literally KILL to try to figure out how to get what you have for THEIR loved ones. But what if you wished a huge lottery win for all of you? Read some of the articles about the isolation, the loss of friends, the loss even of sense of self, that's common among lottery winners; you can't suddenly become rich and hold onto all the things that make your life happy NOW... it changes you, and how everyone treats you changes too. Maybe YOU wouldn't mind that, but it's a heavy load to lay on your loved ones.
That leaves wishing something for ONE person. If someone dear to you is terminally ill, was crippled in a car wreck, lost everything when their house burned down, etc, you could probably safely wish them a cure, or enough $ to get back their old life, if you worded it carefully; if YOU are the one with that sort of problem, you could safely wish it for yourself. If you're lucky enough that neither you nor your loved ones has that sort of need, then what?
Would you wish to always be happy? There's an old line about how only the village idiot is always happy; how else could the tragedies of life never make you sad? Would you WANT to be happy even when horrible things happen? That's not even HUMAN.
Would you wish to have the guarantee of being loved "forever" by a romantic partner? What would the karma be from altering someone's mind and heart to make this happen?
So, what's left? If there's something your life is empty because you can't do it, such as paint or sing, you could wish that ability for yourself; if you were smart, and set it up to look like you took lessons and everything fell into place for you, no one would know how it happened. Barring that, you could wish yourself a long, healthy life... but what happens when your $ runs out? Would you want to live 30 years on Social Security? Would you wish for a secret stash of wealth to wisely use only when necessary, or to get you some of whatever special things you've always wanted? What if you have a heart attack 6 months later, or contract a serious disease; would you still prefer the wish to have been for $? I guess you'd have to weigh all the factors in your life and decide between health and wealth... unless, as is the case with ME, spiritual issues occupy your mind all the time.
I'd be tempted to wish to KNOW, to understand everything, to see the real and full truth; imagine what a life I could live with that knowledge!! I could probably use it to create wealth, to live a long and healthy life, and who knows what else. On the other hand, what if, once I knew "The Truth," I wouldn't be ABLE to do much of anything, for fear of disrupting karma? I'm sure I couldn't know that in advance, so...
I've got it!! I've never heard this given as an answer before, but it's so simple; I'd wish that whatever I'd think at the end of my life would have been the best thing to wish for would BE my wish!! :-)
(I was tempted to just post the question and my final answer, but I'm going to leave the rest of my post as it is because it shows the path I took to GET to my answer; I think it's interesting just as an intellectual exercise.)
Friday, February 11, 2005
What my husband thinks is sexy
This is the time of year that much lingerie is bought by men... and returned by women. (A side note to the men; if you give a woman something to wear to turn YOU on, that is NOT a gift for HER, so don't try to pass it off as one.) MY husband never buys that stuff for ME, though, as it has no appeal for him whatsoever... his idea of what would be sexiest on me runs as follows:
1) A pair of his boxer shorts; most guys think it's cute when their woman wears their SHIRT, but I wear big shirts all the time, so there's no novelty to it... I dunno if he's thinking role-reversal with this one or what, as he won't tell me, lol.
2) Thermal undershirt; granted that it's a little more form-fitting than what I usually wear, but you'd think only a lumberjack would find this one attractive... maybe that's what he's secretly imagining himself to be?
3) A baseball cap; this one is primarily appealing because it messes up my hair (chaos always appeals to him).... and there's that role-reversal aspect again, hmmmmm....
4) Backpack that looks like a giant stuffed animal; he thinks it's "cute," and in general finds my love of stuffies to be endearing rather than nauseating as most men do... I think it makes me seem less intense or some such thing.
5) Big fluffy slippers; the crucial element of this is that I'd have to be walking around with them on, because they have thick foam soles, and when I first got them I'd walk around going "sproing sproing sproing," or if I was in a hurry it would be "sproingsproingsproing," and he was always egging me on to do it, so... it sounds vaguely psycho now that I think about it, but he LOVES it.
Can you imagine anyone wearing ALL that stuff together? I've never been able to manage more than one thing at a time; beyond a certain point, his being stimulated would be negated by my feeling like an idiot. Fear not, though, because the weirdness works both ways:
I've been questioning my husband about this topic as I've been writing about it, and, when I TOLD him I was writing a blog entry, he feigned disappointment and said, "I thought you were planning a surprise." Little does he know; what *I* find sexy is unusual also, and I've found where he'd hidden his black vinyl jockstrap, BWAHAHAHAHA!!
1) A pair of his boxer shorts; most guys think it's cute when their woman wears their SHIRT, but I wear big shirts all the time, so there's no novelty to it... I dunno if he's thinking role-reversal with this one or what, as he won't tell me, lol.
2) Thermal undershirt; granted that it's a little more form-fitting than what I usually wear, but you'd think only a lumberjack would find this one attractive... maybe that's what he's secretly imagining himself to be?
3) A baseball cap; this one is primarily appealing because it messes up my hair (chaos always appeals to him).... and there's that role-reversal aspect again, hmmmmm....
4) Backpack that looks like a giant stuffed animal; he thinks it's "cute," and in general finds my love of stuffies to be endearing rather than nauseating as most men do... I think it makes me seem less intense or some such thing.
5) Big fluffy slippers; the crucial element of this is that I'd have to be walking around with them on, because they have thick foam soles, and when I first got them I'd walk around going "sproing sproing sproing," or if I was in a hurry it would be "sproingsproingsproing," and he was always egging me on to do it, so... it sounds vaguely psycho now that I think about it, but he LOVES it.
Can you imagine anyone wearing ALL that stuff together? I've never been able to manage more than one thing at a time; beyond a certain point, his being stimulated would be negated by my feeling like an idiot. Fear not, though, because the weirdness works both ways:
I've been questioning my husband about this topic as I've been writing about it, and, when I TOLD him I was writing a blog entry, he feigned disappointment and said, "I thought you were planning a surprise." Little does he know; what *I* find sexy is unusual also, and I've found where he'd hidden his black vinyl jockstrap, BWAHAHAHAHA!!
Thursday, February 10, 2005
A romantic getaway
With Valentine's Day being adjacent to a weekend this year, I'm guessing that a record # of "special couple trips" are getting ready to commence; since my husband and I are geeks, we don't go for that sort of thing, but it can be amusing to think about.
Have you ever seen the screamingly funny movie "History of the World Part I"? It contains one of the most hilarious scenes ever filmed; in the segment about the glory days of the Roman Empire, Empress Nympho needs to pick partners for the orgy to be held that evening, so, after the vestal virgins put on their "No Entry" signs (yes, they really did, it's that sort of movie), a bunch of soldiers come marching in. They line up, and we see them from behind; the camera pulls back... and we see that they're naked below the waist. The empress, who's NOT looking the guys in the eye, shall we say, goes on down the line, saying, "Yes... no, no, no, no, no, no... yes... no, no, yes... no, no, no, no, yes... no, no" and so forth, ending with, a wide-eyed, drop-jawed "YES!!!!!!!" The commanding officer gives the order to "quick-time harch," and the empress and her secretary watch this with their eyes big and their heads bobbing meaningfully up and down... and the empress says "I LOVE quick-time harch!!"
Edit: If you don't mind seeing bare male butts, you can watch the scene here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bmt3BMU3xs
Now, if I were single again... and the jury found me not guilty by reason of having endured all the stinky socks and unflushed toilets a human being can stand, lol... MY idea of a romantic getaway would have just this sort of selection process to provide me with a partner; having seen quite enough of male genitals to last me 20 lifetimes, however, I'd be more interested in who had the hairiest chest... and the tightest butt, too, I'm not totally jaded. I know that seems like an odd idea, but I just don't think I could feel romantic about a man I actually KNOW, one I've seen walking around in his boxer shorts belching (or worse) and scratching his groin; I think a no-strings fling with a hot stranger would be the way to go.
With the man chosen, we'd need a properly stimulating setting; none of the traditional trappings like red satin sheets and rotating beds would do it for me, though... what I think would be REALLY "inspirational" is a suite set up to look like a cave (but not IN an actual cave, as that would be cold and damp), with piles of giant furs (FAKE, of course) for a bed, and those lights that look like torches (because they have little fans blowing around cloth thingies that look like flames) on the walls. Room service (hot guys in loincloths) would bring platters of beef ribs and fresh fruit, so that we could eat a suitably primitive meal before... er... getting primitive.
During less active periods, the push of a button could lower down a TV that would allow me to get my nightly hit of Nick at Nite and TV Land; there'd have to be a computer with a DSL connection in there somewhere too, of course... not even the hottest guy in the world could make me forget about email and eBay searches and such.
Seriously, though; why does "romantic" have to mean cheesy, foofy stuff like they always have in the honeymoon suite? What could be better than fur and flickering torchlight in a cave, harkening back to the only time in human history that sex was NOT weighed down with all sorts of religious and cultural issues? Heck, I probably COULD have fun even WITH my husband in a setup like that.
In a pinch, I'd even give up the TV. ;-)
Have you ever seen the screamingly funny movie "History of the World Part I"? It contains one of the most hilarious scenes ever filmed; in the segment about the glory days of the Roman Empire, Empress Nympho needs to pick partners for the orgy to be held that evening, so, after the vestal virgins put on their "No Entry" signs (yes, they really did, it's that sort of movie), a bunch of soldiers come marching in. They line up, and we see them from behind; the camera pulls back... and we see that they're naked below the waist. The empress, who's NOT looking the guys in the eye, shall we say, goes on down the line, saying, "Yes... no, no, no, no, no, no... yes... no, no, yes... no, no, no, no, yes... no, no" and so forth, ending with, a wide-eyed, drop-jawed "YES!!!!!!!" The commanding officer gives the order to "quick-time harch," and the empress and her secretary watch this with their eyes big and their heads bobbing meaningfully up and down... and the empress says "I LOVE quick-time harch!!"
Edit: If you don't mind seeing bare male butts, you can watch the scene here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bmt3BMU3xs
Now, if I were single again... and the jury found me not guilty by reason of having endured all the stinky socks and unflushed toilets a human being can stand, lol... MY idea of a romantic getaway would have just this sort of selection process to provide me with a partner; having seen quite enough of male genitals to last me 20 lifetimes, however, I'd be more interested in who had the hairiest chest... and the tightest butt, too, I'm not totally jaded. I know that seems like an odd idea, but I just don't think I could feel romantic about a man I actually KNOW, one I've seen walking around in his boxer shorts belching (or worse) and scratching his groin; I think a no-strings fling with a hot stranger would be the way to go.
With the man chosen, we'd need a properly stimulating setting; none of the traditional trappings like red satin sheets and rotating beds would do it for me, though... what I think would be REALLY "inspirational" is a suite set up to look like a cave (but not IN an actual cave, as that would be cold and damp), with piles of giant furs (FAKE, of course) for a bed, and those lights that look like torches (because they have little fans blowing around cloth thingies that look like flames) on the walls. Room service (hot guys in loincloths) would bring platters of beef ribs and fresh fruit, so that we could eat a suitably primitive meal before... er... getting primitive.
During less active periods, the push of a button could lower down a TV that would allow me to get my nightly hit of Nick at Nite and TV Land; there'd have to be a computer with a DSL connection in there somewhere too, of course... not even the hottest guy in the world could make me forget about email and eBay searches and such.
Seriously, though; why does "romantic" have to mean cheesy, foofy stuff like they always have in the honeymoon suite? What could be better than fur and flickering torchlight in a cave, harkening back to the only time in human history that sex was NOT weighed down with all sorts of religious and cultural issues? Heck, I probably COULD have fun even WITH my husband in a setup like that.
In a pinch, I'd even give up the TV. ;-)
Wednesday, February 09, 2005
A sad aspect of human nature
When someone is attacked or mistreated, and they respond any way other than with stoic silence... how do you react?
A typical scenario is for the attacked person to speak in their defense, and the attacker, or, worse, an observer, will say something like, "You don't have to be so DEFENSIVE" with a malicious smirk, and anyone who's around will generally agree. Firstly, there's a world of difference between being defensive, which means someone reacting where there's either no real attack, or where they DID do something bad, and they know it, and are trying to bluster their way out, and defendING, which means merely speaking in one's own defense; the former is seen as a character weakness, and the latter is what we should EXPECT of anyone who's not a doormat. Secondly; when did we decide that the victim can't speak up on their own behalf anymore? Why should the attacker not even pay the small penalty of being rebutted? Why do observers jump in to add insult to injury of the victim, rather than to kick the attacker's butt? Why are we so offended by the victim doing anything other than suffering in silence that we feel the need to snipe at them? This reaction is so common that a typical ploy of the attacking type is to make ridiculous accusations against someone in the EXPECTATION of their outraged response, at which point they'll slam-dunk them by playing the "defensive" card... with the added bonus that this will usually turn all the listeners against the victim, AND make them tend to believe the accusations.
It gets worse; another weapon in the attacker's arsenal is to throw out a LIST of accusations/insults, knowing that every one of them will require a multi-line rebuttal... and that that will somehow, through a process I've never been able to understand, make everyone turn against the victim. WHY does seeing/hearing a victim defending themselves for more than a certain # of sentences make us rule against them? I've even caught MYSELF looking at a lengthy rebuttal from a victim to attackers on a forum and thought, "Give it a rest already"; I've been instantly horrified, of course, and my full support snapped back to the victim where it belongs, but I can't explain why I, with my history of defending people, could EVER react like that... which makes me think that it's gotta be a human nature thing.
It gets even WORSE; should the victim react emotionally, even to the extreme of tears, people don't leap in to comfort them and berate the attacker, they belittle the VICTIM for being too sensitive, or a crybaby, or not being able to take the heat (so they should "get out of the kitchen," although no one has suggested that maybe the ATTACKER should get lost, grrrrrrrr)... doesn't anyone besides me see something WRONG with that? As you might have guessed, this whole line of thought got started when *I* had a moment of this sort of awful reaction; I was watching "Lord of the Flies," and one of the little boys, who has endured a great deal of abuse, fear and suffering already, has his glasses stolen by the "enemy tribe," leaving him blind and helpless under circumstances where his very survival was already in question... and, naturally enough, he starts to cry. Hopeless, frightened, miserable crying. Despite the inarguable fact that he had every right to cry, even had he been an adult rather than a child, it instantly put my teeth on edge, and made me wish he'd knock it off; again, I corrected my reaction right away, but that I had it to begin with, even when I think he SHOULD have been crying, shows me that there's something biological, cultural, or both that makes us tend to instinctively turn against victims when they react or respond.
Human nature can be an ugly thing.
A typical scenario is for the attacked person to speak in their defense, and the attacker, or, worse, an observer, will say something like, "You don't have to be so DEFENSIVE" with a malicious smirk, and anyone who's around will generally agree. Firstly, there's a world of difference between being defensive, which means someone reacting where there's either no real attack, or where they DID do something bad, and they know it, and are trying to bluster their way out, and defendING, which means merely speaking in one's own defense; the former is seen as a character weakness, and the latter is what we should EXPECT of anyone who's not a doormat. Secondly; when did we decide that the victim can't speak up on their own behalf anymore? Why should the attacker not even pay the small penalty of being rebutted? Why do observers jump in to add insult to injury of the victim, rather than to kick the attacker's butt? Why are we so offended by the victim doing anything other than suffering in silence that we feel the need to snipe at them? This reaction is so common that a typical ploy of the attacking type is to make ridiculous accusations against someone in the EXPECTATION of their outraged response, at which point they'll slam-dunk them by playing the "defensive" card... with the added bonus that this will usually turn all the listeners against the victim, AND make them tend to believe the accusations.
It gets worse; another weapon in the attacker's arsenal is to throw out a LIST of accusations/insults, knowing that every one of them will require a multi-line rebuttal... and that that will somehow, through a process I've never been able to understand, make everyone turn against the victim. WHY does seeing/hearing a victim defending themselves for more than a certain # of sentences make us rule against them? I've even caught MYSELF looking at a lengthy rebuttal from a victim to attackers on a forum and thought, "Give it a rest already"; I've been instantly horrified, of course, and my full support snapped back to the victim where it belongs, but I can't explain why I, with my history of defending people, could EVER react like that... which makes me think that it's gotta be a human nature thing.
It gets even WORSE; should the victim react emotionally, even to the extreme of tears, people don't leap in to comfort them and berate the attacker, they belittle the VICTIM for being too sensitive, or a crybaby, or not being able to take the heat (so they should "get out of the kitchen," although no one has suggested that maybe the ATTACKER should get lost, grrrrrrrr)... doesn't anyone besides me see something WRONG with that? As you might have guessed, this whole line of thought got started when *I* had a moment of this sort of awful reaction; I was watching "Lord of the Flies," and one of the little boys, who has endured a great deal of abuse, fear and suffering already, has his glasses stolen by the "enemy tribe," leaving him blind and helpless under circumstances where his very survival was already in question... and, naturally enough, he starts to cry. Hopeless, frightened, miserable crying. Despite the inarguable fact that he had every right to cry, even had he been an adult rather than a child, it instantly put my teeth on edge, and made me wish he'd knock it off; again, I corrected my reaction right away, but that I had it to begin with, even when I think he SHOULD have been crying, shows me that there's something biological, cultural, or both that makes us tend to instinctively turn against victims when they react or respond.
Human nature can be an ugly thing.
Tuesday, February 08, 2005
A Christian friend weighs in
I'm lucky to have a friend who has studied the religions of the world since her teen years, is a firm believer in karma (which she sees as something created by God to do His will), and has a broad background in science, in addition to being quite the authority on Christianity; she's the best person I know to bounce spiritual ideas off of. This evening, I filled her in on what's been on my mind for the past week or so, and she agreed with my conclusion; belief in and of itself DOES connect you to... SOMETHING extremely powerful.
Over the years, she's had several periods of major crisis when she's asked God to step in and get her life under control, and each time things miraculously fell into place shortly thereafter; she agreed with what Joel Osteen said about God requiring you to keep moving forward, rather than your just expecting God to deliver everything to you with no effort on your part, and of course with belief being CRUCIAL to getting the desired results. I asked her if, had her faith not been solid at any of those times, had she NOT fully believed that God would help her, would that have made a difference, and she immediately said yes; when asked WHY she thought that, she couldn't answer right away, and that in itself was interesting to us... she answered out of pure instinct. She thought about it, and said that if you did NOT believe, you were testing God rather than submitting to His control, and thus were NOT showing faith; furthermore, because of free will and God's desire for us to all have it, He would NOT put His power at your disposal unless you asked, unless you made the conscious choice to give up control and let His power work for your benefit... which is just what Osteen is talking about when he says that God "can't" do good things for you unless you let Him, unless you're willing to allow Him come into your life and work His wonders.
I asked my friend if, as I'd recently been thinking, belief, in God or in whatever, is the crucial element of the process that allows us to have access to power beyond what we normally have; she replied that belief is the ONLY way for a person to connect with God's power, not faith but BELIEF... and not belief in God, but belief that the power of God would be put at your disposal if you asked for it. Since she views all religions and spiritual paths as being, at the root, the same thing, because God has a different facet of Himself for each culture, each religion, even each person, such that each of us sees Him in whatever way is best for us, she also agrees with the idea that the existence of religious beliefs in every culture means that people everywhere have always perceived power beyond what humans generally wield, and have developed procedures, from animal sacrifices to rituals to prayer, to allow them to tap into the power... whatever it is.
I brought up the assertion Scott Adams made about doing affirmations, that it was important to not envision too specific of a way for the process to bring you what you want, because a more specific process limits the # of paths between you and your goal and reduces your chances of getting there; she thought that trying to dictate to God how to give something to you would be testing Him, or not trusting Him to figure out a way, and thus would be BAD, but beyond that, she said that to REALLY get the full effect, the big miracles, it was necessary to be even LESS specific than I'd ever considered... that your request would have to be more along the lines of "Help me, show me the right path, point me which way you want me to go," rather than "Give me $ for the rent, fix my car, bring me a man." So; the very purest form of belief would have you asking just for your life to go from where it is to a better place, and trusting that somehow you'll get from point A to point B, and at point B you'll find many good things.
wow
This sort of belief sounds very, VERY hard; my friend, a devout Christian her entire life, says that it was hard for HER to believe to that degree, to totally trust that she could give up trying to do things her way and just let God steer her... if SHE could barely manage it, I have limited hope for MY ability to do so at this juncture, especially since she's focusing on what she believes to be a being that loves her and wants the best for her, and all *I* can focus on are energies, a mechanism of sorts, that is incapable of loving or caring, only of processing karma.
I can control my thoughts, both to make things happen and to prevent drawing bad things to me. I can use tools like affirmations to multiply the power of my thoughts. Having seen that these things DO work, I can multiply the power even more by adding the power of belief; now that I know just HOW powerful belief is, I can increase the effect even MORE by trying to have active belief going on when I try to make something happen. But... BUT... the biggest "tool" of all, the ability to go beyond trying to reach a specific outcome and just open myself up for energy to come in and create a better life for me whose form I won't know in advance... the very thought makes my eyes bug out of my head. Karma isn't capable of making judgments, and, although certainly the energy of my thoughts, combined with the influx of karmic energy being presumably "positive," could in theory bring an objectively good result that would be in accordance with what I like, there are no do-overs with this sort of thing, and I see no guarantee that what I'd end up with would be better than what I'd get if I made purposeful efforts, even after adjusting for the fact that I'd have to have MADE those efforts, which might take alot of my time.
OF COURSE there's no guarantee; that's where faith comes into it. But, I have no faith, just a primitive understanding of how the engine of karma works. I want to take this spiritual journey as far as I can in every area, and I'd love to see the power of total belief in action close up; do I want to experience the ultimate rush of power badly enough to take the attendant risks? I... will get back to you on that one.
Over the years, she's had several periods of major crisis when she's asked God to step in and get her life under control, and each time things miraculously fell into place shortly thereafter; she agreed with what Joel Osteen said about God requiring you to keep moving forward, rather than your just expecting God to deliver everything to you with no effort on your part, and of course with belief being CRUCIAL to getting the desired results. I asked her if, had her faith not been solid at any of those times, had she NOT fully believed that God would help her, would that have made a difference, and she immediately said yes; when asked WHY she thought that, she couldn't answer right away, and that in itself was interesting to us... she answered out of pure instinct. She thought about it, and said that if you did NOT believe, you were testing God rather than submitting to His control, and thus were NOT showing faith; furthermore, because of free will and God's desire for us to all have it, He would NOT put His power at your disposal unless you asked, unless you made the conscious choice to give up control and let His power work for your benefit... which is just what Osteen is talking about when he says that God "can't" do good things for you unless you let Him, unless you're willing to allow Him come into your life and work His wonders.
I asked my friend if, as I'd recently been thinking, belief, in God or in whatever, is the crucial element of the process that allows us to have access to power beyond what we normally have; she replied that belief is the ONLY way for a person to connect with God's power, not faith but BELIEF... and not belief in God, but belief that the power of God would be put at your disposal if you asked for it. Since she views all religions and spiritual paths as being, at the root, the same thing, because God has a different facet of Himself for each culture, each religion, even each person, such that each of us sees Him in whatever way is best for us, she also agrees with the idea that the existence of religious beliefs in every culture means that people everywhere have always perceived power beyond what humans generally wield, and have developed procedures, from animal sacrifices to rituals to prayer, to allow them to tap into the power... whatever it is.
I brought up the assertion Scott Adams made about doing affirmations, that it was important to not envision too specific of a way for the process to bring you what you want, because a more specific process limits the # of paths between you and your goal and reduces your chances of getting there; she thought that trying to dictate to God how to give something to you would be testing Him, or not trusting Him to figure out a way, and thus would be BAD, but beyond that, she said that to REALLY get the full effect, the big miracles, it was necessary to be even LESS specific than I'd ever considered... that your request would have to be more along the lines of "Help me, show me the right path, point me which way you want me to go," rather than "Give me $ for the rent, fix my car, bring me a man." So; the very purest form of belief would have you asking just for your life to go from where it is to a better place, and trusting that somehow you'll get from point A to point B, and at point B you'll find many good things.
wow
This sort of belief sounds very, VERY hard; my friend, a devout Christian her entire life, says that it was hard for HER to believe to that degree, to totally trust that she could give up trying to do things her way and just let God steer her... if SHE could barely manage it, I have limited hope for MY ability to do so at this juncture, especially since she's focusing on what she believes to be a being that loves her and wants the best for her, and all *I* can focus on are energies, a mechanism of sorts, that is incapable of loving or caring, only of processing karma.
I can control my thoughts, both to make things happen and to prevent drawing bad things to me. I can use tools like affirmations to multiply the power of my thoughts. Having seen that these things DO work, I can multiply the power even more by adding the power of belief; now that I know just HOW powerful belief is, I can increase the effect even MORE by trying to have active belief going on when I try to make something happen. But... BUT... the biggest "tool" of all, the ability to go beyond trying to reach a specific outcome and just open myself up for energy to come in and create a better life for me whose form I won't know in advance... the very thought makes my eyes bug out of my head. Karma isn't capable of making judgments, and, although certainly the energy of my thoughts, combined with the influx of karmic energy being presumably "positive," could in theory bring an objectively good result that would be in accordance with what I like, there are no do-overs with this sort of thing, and I see no guarantee that what I'd end up with would be better than what I'd get if I made purposeful efforts, even after adjusting for the fact that I'd have to have MADE those efforts, which might take alot of my time.
OF COURSE there's no guarantee; that's where faith comes into it. But, I have no faith, just a primitive understanding of how the engine of karma works. I want to take this spiritual journey as far as I can in every area, and I'd love to see the power of total belief in action close up; do I want to experience the ultimate rush of power badly enough to take the attendant risks? I... will get back to you on that one.
Monday, February 07, 2005
Enlightenment from Joel Osteen
On 1-30-05, I wrote about the movie "Magnificent Obsession," and the epiphany I'd gotten from it; ever since that night, my mind has been orbiting around and around the idea that the very fact of having belief in something, whether deity or otherwise, that has "power" either unlocks our own power, taps into the power of that something, or both. With perfect synchronicity, I remembered to watch Joel Osteen tonight, and he had some astonishing input:
The way he explained it, you're NOT limited to your own power when you try to take actions that are beyond what you've done before; because God wants you to keep learning, growing, moving forward and expanding your horizons, if you get to the end of what you yourself can do and continue to try to make progress because you believe that God will help you, God will give you some of his "supernatural power" (Osteen's exact phrase) so that you can achieve more than you ever dreamed possible. All you have to do is believe, and make the choice to give the presumably impossible (for you) thing a shot, and BOOM, it's done.
How many THOUSANDS of times have you heard someone who has accomplished something amazing give the assistance of God most or all of the credit? As a non-believer, I've always dismissed this, but what if it's TRUE? Not the part about there being a God, as I have no proof either way about His existence, but the idea that these achievers WERE able to receive power via their belief that DID make it possible for them to succeed?
What do all the self-help gurus and well-meaning loved ones tell you to encourage you to succeed? Believe in yourself. BELIEVE. I've always seen that as a psychological thing, since, if you do NOT believe in yourself, you can hold yourself back from succeeding, and if you DO believe in yourself you'd try your hardest, and I still think that's valid... but what if it's NOT the only benefit you get from believing in yourself? What if, again, the very act of believing CREATES the success?
You think you know that the verb "believe" means, know what you're doing when you believe... but, what if it's like using your muscles, where you want to walk and your legs move, but it's sort of a "black box" phenomenon, because you have no idea how your nerves, muscles, tendons and whatever cause your legs to move? What if, when you experience active belief, you're putting something into motion, something as unknown in action as the messages traveling down your nerves are unknown to you? What if "to believe" actually means "to activate the part of your brain that can tap into power far beyond what you normally have access to"? The power may be within you, waiting, it might come from a deity, it might be floating all around us... it doesn't really matter in a way, because you don't have to know where it comes from to be able to use it.
One of my recurring themes is that our thoughts create the world, create reality, create karma, and that the stronger of emotions you attach to thoughts, the more powerful they become; what if the greatest possible power we can wield is accessed, not just via thought, not just via deeply emotional thought, but by thought backed by BELIEF? What if we can use this knowledge to sculpt reality in the same way that prayer has been proven to do, the same way those of us who practice affirmations have seen that we can do... but FAR more powerfully? Is belief the bridge between us and the energies of the unknown? Is this why every culture has developed a belief SYSTEM of some kind, the certainty that there's something, or somethingS, with special powers that can be accessed by human beings just for the asking?
Can it really be that simple?
The way he explained it, you're NOT limited to your own power when you try to take actions that are beyond what you've done before; because God wants you to keep learning, growing, moving forward and expanding your horizons, if you get to the end of what you yourself can do and continue to try to make progress because you believe that God will help you, God will give you some of his "supernatural power" (Osteen's exact phrase) so that you can achieve more than you ever dreamed possible. All you have to do is believe, and make the choice to give the presumably impossible (for you) thing a shot, and BOOM, it's done.
How many THOUSANDS of times have you heard someone who has accomplished something amazing give the assistance of God most or all of the credit? As a non-believer, I've always dismissed this, but what if it's TRUE? Not the part about there being a God, as I have no proof either way about His existence, but the idea that these achievers WERE able to receive power via their belief that DID make it possible for them to succeed?
What do all the self-help gurus and well-meaning loved ones tell you to encourage you to succeed? Believe in yourself. BELIEVE. I've always seen that as a psychological thing, since, if you do NOT believe in yourself, you can hold yourself back from succeeding, and if you DO believe in yourself you'd try your hardest, and I still think that's valid... but what if it's NOT the only benefit you get from believing in yourself? What if, again, the very act of believing CREATES the success?
You think you know that the verb "believe" means, know what you're doing when you believe... but, what if it's like using your muscles, where you want to walk and your legs move, but it's sort of a "black box" phenomenon, because you have no idea how your nerves, muscles, tendons and whatever cause your legs to move? What if, when you experience active belief, you're putting something into motion, something as unknown in action as the messages traveling down your nerves are unknown to you? What if "to believe" actually means "to activate the part of your brain that can tap into power far beyond what you normally have access to"? The power may be within you, waiting, it might come from a deity, it might be floating all around us... it doesn't really matter in a way, because you don't have to know where it comes from to be able to use it.
One of my recurring themes is that our thoughts create the world, create reality, create karma, and that the stronger of emotions you attach to thoughts, the more powerful they become; what if the greatest possible power we can wield is accessed, not just via thought, not just via deeply emotional thought, but by thought backed by BELIEF? What if we can use this knowledge to sculpt reality in the same way that prayer has been proven to do, the same way those of us who practice affirmations have seen that we can do... but FAR more powerfully? Is belief the bridge between us and the energies of the unknown? Is this why every culture has developed a belief SYSTEM of some kind, the certainty that there's something, or somethingS, with special powers that can be accessed by human beings just for the asking?
Can it really be that simple?
Sunday, February 06, 2005
The Cube Game: The Analysis
If you didn't read yesterday's post, don't read this one yet, as it'll give it all away; scroll this post off the screen, read yesterday's post, and see if you want to play the game before you read MY warped answers.
The first thing to reveal is what the 3 things we envisioned symbolize: the cube is you, the ladder is your financial/work situation, and the horse is your ideal romantic partner. The analysis of your answers will be alot like dream analysis, in that everything will be symbolic of something else, and only YOU can tell which of the possible symbols have the right "feel" to them; for example, if your horse is white, it might mean that you want to be "rescued" (from the idea of Prince Charming on a white horse), or that you want a partner who's "pure" (a virgin), or "angelic" (very sweet). For every detail you wrote down, then, think of how it might translate into a statement about what it was secretly describing. Some more examples of interpretation are: If your cube is glass, it could mean that you're feeling emotionally fragile, or exposed (people can "see right through you"), or that everything seems clear to you as to what direction to take your personal life, or that you're feeling nearly invisible right now. If your ladder is gold, that can mean that you see yourself as wealthy now, or are sure that you soon will be, or that you're "golden" at work and will soon get promoted, or that you think it's time to "go for the gold" and make a big change. With all that in mind, here are MY answers:
My cube is a Borg spaceship; if you're not familiar with what this looks like, there are pics here
http://1desktop.tripod.com/borg.jpg
http://www.terrace.qld.edu.au/moo/borg/borgcubeexterior.jpg
As to what this choice of cube says about me; that I watch too much Star Trek, maybe, lol? The ship is gigantic, so we can assume that my ego isn't undersized; the overwhelming power of the vessel, the skill of the Borg it contains, their relentlessness and focus, all tie into my feeling of personal power, of my confidence in my ability to accomplish things. The appearance of the Borg into human affairs is always fraught with danger, so the ship seems menacing; that reflects my lifelong desire to stop being Ms. Nice Guy and do the WRONG things for a change (alas, it'll never happen).
My ladder is fairly near the cube, standing perfectly vertical, stretching up and up so that the top isn't clearly visible, and is made of a translucent mother-of-pearl type substance; its height, the beauty of it, the fabulousness of the material, the way it contains all the colors, all speak of how good things are now in these areas in every way, and how hopeful I feel about the future. In addition, the "ladder to heaven" aspect hasn't escaped me, and makes me wonder if my spiritualism will lead to wealth or success for me somehow, or at least enhance what I already have in some way.
My horse is a soft golden color, with a somewhat lighter mane and tail; it's wearing a simple leather bridle, and is placidly grazing, roughly sideways to the cube. The fact that the horse is EATING clearly reflects my husband... and so does the presence of the bridle, hehehehehe. The sunny color, and pastoral calmness of its demeanor, though, point to the sort of tranquil, happy mate that would certainly make ME more relaxed, and thus would be in many ways ideal; my spastic, disaster-causing husband is way off here, but I'll keep him anyways.
I hope you got a kick out of this game; if you try it on friends, or even your partner, you'll find that at the very least it'll stimulate some interesting conversations. Their analyses of your answers will show you how they think of you; if YOU came up with something like the Borg ship to represent yourself, though, you might wanna pass. ;-)
The first thing to reveal is what the 3 things we envisioned symbolize: the cube is you, the ladder is your financial/work situation, and the horse is your ideal romantic partner. The analysis of your answers will be alot like dream analysis, in that everything will be symbolic of something else, and only YOU can tell which of the possible symbols have the right "feel" to them; for example, if your horse is white, it might mean that you want to be "rescued" (from the idea of Prince Charming on a white horse), or that you want a partner who's "pure" (a virgin), or "angelic" (very sweet). For every detail you wrote down, then, think of how it might translate into a statement about what it was secretly describing. Some more examples of interpretation are: If your cube is glass, it could mean that you're feeling emotionally fragile, or exposed (people can "see right through you"), or that everything seems clear to you as to what direction to take your personal life, or that you're feeling nearly invisible right now. If your ladder is gold, that can mean that you see yourself as wealthy now, or are sure that you soon will be, or that you're "golden" at work and will soon get promoted, or that you think it's time to "go for the gold" and make a big change. With all that in mind, here are MY answers:
My cube is a Borg spaceship; if you're not familiar with what this looks like, there are pics here
http://1desktop.tripod.com/borg.jpg
http://www.terrace.qld.edu.au/moo/borg/borgcubeexterior.jpg
As to what this choice of cube says about me; that I watch too much Star Trek, maybe, lol? The ship is gigantic, so we can assume that my ego isn't undersized; the overwhelming power of the vessel, the skill of the Borg it contains, their relentlessness and focus, all tie into my feeling of personal power, of my confidence in my ability to accomplish things. The appearance of the Borg into human affairs is always fraught with danger, so the ship seems menacing; that reflects my lifelong desire to stop being Ms. Nice Guy and do the WRONG things for a change (alas, it'll never happen).
My ladder is fairly near the cube, standing perfectly vertical, stretching up and up so that the top isn't clearly visible, and is made of a translucent mother-of-pearl type substance; its height, the beauty of it, the fabulousness of the material, the way it contains all the colors, all speak of how good things are now in these areas in every way, and how hopeful I feel about the future. In addition, the "ladder to heaven" aspect hasn't escaped me, and makes me wonder if my spiritualism will lead to wealth or success for me somehow, or at least enhance what I already have in some way.
My horse is a soft golden color, with a somewhat lighter mane and tail; it's wearing a simple leather bridle, and is placidly grazing, roughly sideways to the cube. The fact that the horse is EATING clearly reflects my husband... and so does the presence of the bridle, hehehehehe. The sunny color, and pastoral calmness of its demeanor, though, point to the sort of tranquil, happy mate that would certainly make ME more relaxed, and thus would be in many ways ideal; my spastic, disaster-causing husband is way off here, but I'll keep him anyways.
I hope you got a kick out of this game; if you try it on friends, or even your partner, you'll find that at the very least it'll stimulate some interesting conversations. Their analyses of your answers will show you how they think of you; if YOU came up with something like the Borg ship to represent yourself, though, you might wanna pass. ;-)
