In the Face of Certain Death

Extremely well put and quoting a brilliant man!

2009-11-07T13:25:54.997-05:00

Extremely well put and quoting a brilliant man!

Of course I agree. Anyone with any background in ...

2009-11-06T08:56:19.347-05:00

Of course I agree. Anyone with any background in philosophy knows how absurd and misguided these claims are. Positive thinking can make one a happier, more active individual, but it can't alter external reality. As Wittgenstein said: "The world is independent of our will."

This is an interesting post. I definitely want to...

2009-10-19T15:00:27.308-04:00

This is an interesting post. I definitely want to watch that clip. Someone in our family ended our life that way and I have seen the impact it left on the remaining people in his life. I wonder what suffering is worse...a person who doesn't want to live (for whatever reason), or the people who are left to grieve after the person who wanted to die is gone?

I think being left behind might be worse.

I do believe in Psychic reading the ability to kno...

2009-10-14T04:37:53.617-04:00

I do believe in Psychic reading the ability to know the future or something about your personal life and the like but it depends on the Psychic readers and how genuine they are...

I am very sorry to hear about your brother. Suici...

2009-10-08T13:56:53.418-04:00

I am very sorry to hear about your brother. Suicide is indeed fascinating and definitely must be considered on an individual level. The questions that seem the most interesting to me is about the very old concept of assisted suicide and other things along this same line. I phrased it as a question, but to me life is indeed a personal choice! My own fervor for life should not mean that I have the right to tell someone else that their lack of engagement and zest is not ok. For instance, should suicide really be illegal? I can see it's roots coming directly from a religious basis where suicide is a sin. Although I myself could never fathom taking my own life, it is impossible to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Society making a judgement call about such things seems fairly silly to me.

I saw the movie a year ago. I'm fascinated by the...

2009-10-08T12:48:42.621-04:00

I saw the movie a year ago. I'm fascinated by the subject of suicide, and have written many aphorisms about it. Sadly, my brother about 10 years ago killed himself by jumping off a highway bridge. He had been severely depressed for several years. He had made numerous attempts before he actually succeeded and had made it clear to everyone that he had no desire whatever to live. There are no general rules concerning suicide. Each case must be considered individually.

Well it looks like we actually agree on exactly wh...

2009-09-23T11:02:40.653-04:00

Well it looks like we actually agree on exactly what you said. I think the regret I am actually talking about in this post is the kind that you can never learn to live with. That is, we all know the phrase, time heals all. And I think my philosophy is one that treats regret not as something that can be wholly avoided, but something that with time you will no longer regret. For instance, that decision that seems stupid at 30, at 40 you may still think is stupid, however you don't regret it anymore. That decision you can now see as having brought you to something good, or otherwise having changed your life for the better ultimately. I guess I am interested in the kind of the regret that, at the end of your life you will still wish you could go back and change. That is, regret that stays with you. So the reformatted argument would have to go like this:

1. Mistakes must be made in order for someone to learn and grow as an individual.
2. Some mistakes will also lead to lifelong regret.
3. If we must make mistakes to grow and some mistakes also lead to lifelong regret, then it is hard to live without lifelong regret.
4. Therefore, it is hard to live without lifelong regret.

I cannot agree with living without regret. We are ...

2009-09-23T09:42:38.326-04:00

I cannot agree with living without regret. We are too young/stupid at various points in our lives -- thinking decisions are smart when they are not -- to not have some regrets.

To me, regret is decision evaluation + time. Things I do that seem like great ideas at 20 may seem stupid at 30.

Crinkle that thang!

2009-08-30T13:17:23.945-04:00

Crinkle that thang!

Crinklers unite andy! hahaha

2009-08-27T19:16:59.768-04:00

Crinklers unite andy! hahaha

It is going to be interesting to see how many peop...

2009-08-27T11:12:05.959-04:00

It is going to be interesting to see how many people actually respond on your question! I will be watching the “Great Debate” on toilet paper!

Erik
http:www.SurfMyName.info

Right? Its absolutely terrifying that people are s...

2009-08-20T19:24:57.219-04:00

Right? Its absolutely terrifying that people are serious with those kinds of insults. Were they asleep during the Bush administration? Also it is simply a proposal that, the way it looks, is not going to be passed. Only a public option...

I cannot express how much I enjoy that clip. We h...

2009-08-20T12:03:08.077-04:00

I cannot express how much I enjoy that clip. We have people who chant about Nazi Obama right outside of the hospital with signs and shit...it's sooooooooo RIDICULOUS and frustrating! Go Barney Frank!

I think you hit the nail on the head with the comm...

2009-08-10T10:25:34.098-04:00

I think you hit the nail on the head with the comment about the ease of destructive action. Something I completely missed, but totally agree with. Yet it is a terrifying fact and an argument in itself for people having a greater capacity for destruction. It is no secret that people will more often than not take the easier road than the difficult one.

I understand where you are coming from about the m...

2009-08-10T10:17:29.835-04:00

I understand where you are coming from about the media. Of course the media has exploded in size since a couple decades ago. They are everywhere and they tend to air the worst stories since, the audience is most captivated by the most alarmingly horrible things. Another discussion for another day. However, even the media doesn't catch all the ills that occur everyday. They do give our imagination a taste for what is possible of individuals and mankind.

We created a means to wholly destroy ourselves! There is a nuclear bomb, but no love bomb.

Drew, I agree with you about people's environments...

2009-08-10T10:10:49.776-04:00

Drew,
I agree with you about people's environments having an impact on whether they are inherently good/bad. I do think though that at the end of the day, everyone has the same capacity to fall on either side of the spectrum...sometimes for a lot of people I think doing the WRONG thing is just a lot easier than doing the right thing...

More than anything, maybe people are just too lazy to do the right/good thing?

Andrew, I still think that people are inherently g...

2009-08-10T08:40:37.437-04:00

Andrew,
I still think that people are inherently good, but I do lean towards the nurture side slightly. I think people have the capacity for both good and evil. Their environment will lead them one way or another.
As far as what we see on the news. Yes, people are f....ed! But they were 20 years ago too. The difference is the news coverage. Cameras are everywhere these days. But that's another topic for another day.
THanks for the thought provoking post.
Bring Back Pluto
"ONE of THE GUYS"

I write these posts ONLY out of personal relevance...

2009-08-06T19:21:44.099-04:00

I write these posts ONLY out of personal relevance. Questions that I ask myself and answer based on my perceptions. I never claim to know anything. I think my tone is always one of questioning. I have always said that truth doesn't exist, so therefore I never claim to be providing truth. I'm not writing to tell people how it is, but to tell people how i see it and see what THEY think about it. I want to facilitate a discussion, rather than carry one on by myself. I am glad you commented, however, your comment itself I thought could have been approached better, given the setting.

As far as hope goes, it depends on how you look at it. If you look at someone who has certain desires and takes action to fulfill those desires, you could say they are hoping to accomplish whatever they desired. However, you don't have to hope to do that. By nature human beings are susceptible to hope due to their desires, but my original assertion was that hope is not a good thing. And if I had to burn my argument down to one sentence I would say, hope is not a good thing because it is a perpetually false and metaphysical belief to hold.

When things don't work out, your hoping has simply brought you further anguish and when things do work out, your hoping has not contributed to it.

Just to clarify...I wasn't calling myself an adult...

2009-08-06T10:13:34.989-04:00

Just to clarify...I wasn't calling myself an adult at all. I too believe that I have a lot to learn and am only 24 years old...but that is also why I don't write posts like these....because I don't claim to know. You and I obviously always clash when we talk about these things...I wasn't bringing up a personal matter in a public forum to "upset" you BUT I do sometimes think that when you write these posts, you fail to realize the relevance that some of these things (like hope) have in your life. I think in this instance, you might be a hopeful person and not even realize it. As always, I just want you to be happy and live life as you want to live it...I'm just trying to offer you a different perspective...not trying to push buttons (I do sometimes think that you are under the impression that I enjoy ruffling your feathers...this is not the case). You do ask people to comment....

I do NOT think that a public forum is the time or ...

2009-08-06T02:43:37.279-04:00

I do NOT think that a public forum is the time or place to discuss personal matters like this.
I also do NOT appreciate you calling me a "kid" when you are 4 years older than me, you adult you.
Apart from that, the future is the future. I want my father to be healthy. He will do everything in his power to maintain and improve his health and I will do everything I can to help. Then it will or it won't.

People talk about having hope like it is a prayer, that if you don't have it, you aren't being a good person. As if the act of hoping had any influence on the outcome. HOPE, however, is completely foolish! All it does is set you up for suffering. If you hope for a certain thing (A) to occur, come true, etc, and it does, you are happy. If it doesn't come true, then you're possibly sad or upset. But hope doesn't have anything to do with it.

Ohhh Drew. As much as I respect your opinions and...

2009-08-05T13:35:07.747-04:00

Ohhh Drew. As much as I respect your opinions and can see where you are coming from, I have to wonder how a kid like you who's 20 years old and has a father who has had cancer for 6 of those 20 years would ever question the need for hope and what it can do for people. When you write these posts, are you writing them from a personal standpoint? I find it hard to believe that you and I have such a different opinion on the matter, yet we have lived through and continue to live through the same struggle within our own family. How do YOU deal with sickness in our family? Do you not have hope about Dad's future? Please explain....

ya i agree totally. its tough though. cuz even t...

2009-08-03T22:55:28.220-04:00

ya i agree totally. its tough though. cuz even things that start out amazing, can become boring, dry, and hard to keep doing. i think thats the deal with all summer jobs. you just have to keep changing it up. thats why i agree with nuggets dream job. national geographic photographer, ahhhh so amazing. travel to amazing places. take pictures. so fun and always different.

Nugget, I totalllllly feel ya on this! Although I ...

2009-08-03T14:19:15.129-04:00

Nugget, I totalllllly feel ya on this! Although I am very appreciative of the steady income I have been acquiring since I have been working full time 9-5 all summer...it really is killing me. I feel like I'm 40 years old hahah I get home from work and I am exhausted and cranky and just want to lay in my bed. I am so thankful this job is ending soon and I can just deal with classes and have more of a life! I think one day this week I'm going to call in sick and just go out and adventure, I'm sick of sitting in this office dealing with angry parents! I always think about this though and how annoying the cycle of work, get money, do fun things is!

The mind could be classified as our own ego, and i...

2009-07-31T13:07:27.608-04:00

The mind could be classified as our own ego, and it's mostly difficult for us to shut the chatter down. The spirit on the other hand is a different story, and metaphysics is not running into the religion with it...

Absolutely agree with what your English teacher to...

2009-07-31T12:51:17.774-04:00

Absolutely agree with what your English teacher told you - the emotions are indeed profound - and writing at night is what I do best - and being a night bird since I can remember ;)