Kevin's Watch

Shaun das Schaf wrote:

Avatar wrote:Failure isn't the end of the world you know.

--A

What if it was your job to save the world and you didn't succeed? Hmm? Hmm?

Hey, actually... that's a point!! All my worries COULD be justified... How do I know my job isn't to save the world?

(hmm, wait... Christian theology should actually make me pretty darn good case that it's not.)

...or, well, maybe at least, something on that ...scale or level, or in that category?
(Wait, is there anything else in that category? that is, the category which also contains "saving the world.")

Linna Heartlistener wrote:So yeah, I think that's it... though maybe I just tend to feel that failure means...
the end of me!

It's not that either. It's more of a learning experience. Even if what you've learned is that you can't do that thing. It's not a big deal. It's certainly better than not doing something because you're worried you might not be able to.

Shaun das Schaf wrote:What if it was your job to save the world and you didn't succeed? Hmm? Hmm?

Get a different job.

--A

Yeah but once an employer sees on my resume that I was sacked from my savior gig, they won't give me a second chance. I guess I could lie, say I left because the money was crap.

Shaun das Schaf wrote:Yeah but once an employer sees on my resume that I was sacked from my savior gig, they won't give me a second chance. I guess I could lie, say I left because the money was crap.

That's what I'd do. Or I could say the boss was an egomaniac. Something like that.

If it was me, I think I'd just be like, "I figured out pretty soon that it would just end up with me playing the martyr."

And who's morally competent to do something like THAT without getting bitter?!?
(BWAHAHAHAA!)

Shaun das Schaf wrote:...say I left because the money was crap.

Linna Heartlistener wrote:If it was me, I think I'd just be like, "I figured out pretty soon that it would just end up with me playing the martyr."

Hahaha, if either of you haven't read it, I recommend Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.

--A

Avatar wrote:

Shaun das Schaf wrote:...say I left because the money was crap.

Linna Heartlistener wrote:If it was me, I think I'd just be like, "I figured out pretty soon that it would just end up with me playing the martyr."

Hahaha, if either of you haven't read it, I recommend Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.

--A

great book.

here's a few nuggets...

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a false messiah.

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours.

You're going to die a horrible death, remember. It's all good training, and you'll enjoy it more if you keep the facts in mind.
Take your dying with some seriousness, however. Laughing on the way to your execution it not generally understood by less advanced lifeforms, and they'll call you crazy.

Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, and teachers.

lucimay wrote:

Avatar wrote:

Shaun das Schaf wrote:...say I left because the money was crap.

Linna Heartlistener wrote:If it was me, I think I'd just be like, "I figured out pretty soon that it would just end up with me playing the martyr."

Hahaha, if either of you haven't read it, I recommend Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah.

--A

great book.

here's a few nuggets...

Your only obligation in any lifetime is to be true to yourself. Being true to anyone else or anything else is not only impossible, but the mark of a false messiah.

Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, they're yours.

You're going to die a horrible death, remember. It's all good training, and you'll enjoy it more if you keep the facts in mind.
Take your dying with some seriousness, however. Laughing on the way to your execution it not generally understood by less advanced lifeforms, and they'll call you crazy.

Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, and teachers.

It's been a long time since I read it Av, but lucimay's samples are taking me back.
Unfortunately I think it wound up in the cull pile a few book cleanouts ago. Woops.
That's alright, I'll just get lucimay to quote the whole book

Oh and these are for you ali and Linna

I'd just like to report that I've been feeling rather fearless recently. Ain't that a good thing

Good for you, Stevie!

StevieG wrote:I'd just like to report that I've been feeling rather fearless recently. Ain't that a good thing

I wanna hear more!
Got any stories of punching through barriers of fear that seem like they'd work for sharin' here?
(if 'n when you got time)

lucimay wrote:

Learning is finding out what you already know.

Perhaps the book means something different, but this is impossible.

Without looking it up, derive the formula for the inverse hyperbolic cosine function.

What's that? You say you can't? I could teach it to you and you could learn it, but it certainly wasn't something you already knew but only forgot.

I think it means it more meta-physically than that.

--A

Hashi Lebwohl wrote:

lucimay wrote:

Learning is finding out what you already know.

Perhaps the book means something different, but this is impossible.

Hashi- I understand how this offends ones logical sensibilities AND ones Christian sensibilities, at first glance.

But here are some possibilities...
If we were more virtuous, wouldn't we know what to do in challenging situations?
There are truths we have in our mind, but quickly discard because we don't want to deal with the costs attached to them.

We are looking for a solution to "how can I get the fastest apparent results?" rather than "how can I actually do something to have good results?"
(Pick the problem you want to relate it to: Doing a good job in ones workplace, loving ones neighbor, etc.)

Of course, I'm sure I'm sabotaging at least some of the original intent of the statement when I make up these examples, eh, Av and Luc?

Without looking it up, derive the formula for the inverse hyperbolic cosine function.

Also, this is neither necessary nor sufficient for proof.

Linna Heartlistener wrote: Hashi- I understand how this offends ones logical sensibilities AND ones Christian sensibilities, at first glance.

But here are some possibilities...
If we were more virtuous, wouldn't we know what to do in challenging situations?
There are truths we have in our mind, but quickly discard because we don't want to deal with the costs attached to them.

We are looking for a solution to "how can I get the fastest apparent results?" rather than "how can I actually do something to have good results?"
(Pick the problem you want to relate it to: Doing a good job in ones workplace, loving ones neighbor, etc.)

You are forgetting one small fact, though--I cannot be offended unless I choose to be.

I understand that some people might not know how to handle a challenging situation; I don't think it has anything to do with virtue, though. Instead, it has to do with mental and emotional maturity, the capacity to deal with adversity in whatever form.

That one statement from the book you cited merely struck me as odd. I believe it is plainly false that we know things without learning them. Yes, we do have some built-in instincts but those cover only the most basic necessities of life such as eating, breathing, seeking shelter, etc. They have nothing to do with every other portion of life we face daily, such as how to deal with obnoxious people.

I dunno about that, Hashi. I remember in Psych 101/102, reading certain conclusions about people's behavior in the textbook and thinking to myself, "That makes sense." Maybe I was comparing the info in the book to my own social conditioning, I dunno. But it certainly seemed, in many cases, as if I were learning things I already knew.

Learning is finding out what you already know. Doing is demonstrating that you know it. Teaching is reminding others that they know just as well as you. You are all learners, doers, and teachers.

Pseudo-intellectual claptrap

I tend to agree Hashi

So, no collective unconscious then? No genetic "memory?"

Personally, I don't think it's meant to be literal, but hey, so what? Maybe we all do know everything.

--A

Hashi Lebwohl wrote:You are forgetting one small fact, though--I cannot be offended unless I choose to be.

Sure, sure.
Doesn't the mere choice to hold convictions ...open us up to more potential to be offended?

I'm offended by lots of things.
I just avoid showing it if the context doesn't seem appropriate.
...because people often won't like to be around me if they "have to deal with" me taking offense all the time.

I understand that some people might not know how to handle a challenging situation; I don't think it has anything to do with virtue, though. Instead, it has to do with mental and emotional maturity, the capacity to deal with adversity in whatever form.

"Some people"? "SOME people"?? "SOME people"?!?!?
Do you know anyone who knows how to handle every/any challenging situation?

Courage is still a virtue, right?
And courage ...isn't that explicitly about "dealing with adversity / opposition"?
(yay, connection back to this being the "Fear" thread.)

That one statement from the book you cited merely struck me as odd.

Just to check (and/or to be a pain)... were you still talking to me here?
Because if so, your socially-gathered data may contain some inaccuracies.
(If you go back and read my posts and Luci's post, you'll see what I mean.)

Pfffft.... I can't see why you'd get SO focused on content that you aren't tuned into your social context---
Oh, hey, look! You just hit 1000 posts, Hashi... Congrats - go to the Summonsing!
...Okay, now, what were we discussing again?