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RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:39:42 AM   
subtee


Posts: 5133
Joined: 7/26/2007
Status: offline 		FR~ And I've got my Gibran percolating in my brain, as a response:

We are the seeds of the tenacious plant, and it is in our ripeness and our fullness of heart that we are given to the wind and are scattered. […]
The vast man in whom you are all but cells and sinews;
He in whose chant all your singing is but a soundless throbbing.
It is in the vast man that you are vast,
And in beholding him that I beheld you and loved you.
For what distances can love reach that are not in that vast sphere?
What visions, what expectations and what presumptions can outsoar that flight?
Like a giant oak tree covered with apple blossoms is the vast man in you.
His mind binds you to the earth, his fragrance lifts you into space, and in his durability you are deathless.
You have been told that, even like a chain, you are as weak as your weakest link.
This is but half the truth. You are also as strong as your strongest link.
To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of ocean by the frailty of its foam.
To judge you by your failures is to cast blame upon the seasons for their inconsistency. […]
And what is word knowledge but a shadow of wordless knowledge?
Your thoughts and my words are waves from a sealed memory that keeps records of our yesterdays,
And of the ancient days when the earth knew not us nor herself,
And of nights when earth was upwrought with confusion,
Wise men have come to you to give you of their wisdom. I came to take of your wisdom:
And behold I have found that which is greater than wisdom.
It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself,
While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days.
It is life in quest of life in bodies that fear the grave.
There are no graves here.
[edited for relevance]

_____________________________

Don't believe everything you think...

(in reply to Jeffff)
Profile   Post #: 41
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:43:29 AM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline 		Now you say that..........

Fuck you, I am recanting, again; your fucking holiness.

Goddam Antichrist.  

 

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Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two? Judges 5:30


(in reply to Jeffff)
Profile   Post #: 42
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:44:08 AM   
Rule


Posts: 10479
Joined: 12/5/2005
Status: offline 		Beautiful.

(in reply to subtee)
Profile   Post #: 43
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:49:25 AM   
Jeffff


Posts: 12600
Joined: 7/7/2007
Status: offline 		You should have purchased a dispensation!!

Martin Luther



(in reply to mnottertail)
Profile   Post #: 44
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:50:29 AM   
mnottertail


Posts: 60698
Joined: 11/3/2004
Status: offline 		LOL, I sell 'em, I don't buy 'em

Caesar Borja

_____________________________

Have they not divided the prey; to every man a damsel or two? Judges 5:30


(in reply to Jeffff)
Profile   Post #: 45
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:51:05 AM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline 		Sheesh Tee, you go and give us something beautiful and classy and..........so forthish......and I quote Doc Holliday.

(thank you)




_____________________________

My twisted, self deprecating, sense of humour, finds alot to laugh about, in your lack of one!

Just because you are well educated, articulate, and can use big, fancy words, properly........does not mean you are right!

(in reply to subtee)
Profile   Post #: 46
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:51:33 AM   
Aswad


Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Smith117

Excellently put. I could not have said it better myself. If Mr. Asteroid comes, I'll be on the roof lookin' up with both middle fingers extended saying "bring it, bitch!" (Assuming I can get all three words out before being vaporized.)


There's occasionally something to be said for a die-hard attitude.

Bushido gets this. The reason you bow to an opponent is because it may be the last thing you do. And when you go, you want to be able to look back at it all and say "I did it right." Live every moment as if it were your last one, true to yourself and with no regrets. And not just in the sense of not regretting mistakes, but also in the sense that every act should be correct and without compromise.

It may cost you your job, your friends, or even your life, but in the end entropy will take all those things away. What it cannot take away, however, is what you have done, who you have been, and what you have stood for. Those things are yours, and if you claim them as your own, you will meet the Grim Reaper with a smile, knowing that you have won. Even in death, you can own your life.

You don't want to spend the last moments of your life wishing you'd done something differently.

Health,
al-Aswad.


_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.


(in reply to Smith117)
Profile   Post #: 47
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:53:02 AM   
Jeffff


Posts: 12600
Joined: 7/7/2007
Status: offline 		Back on topic... Fritz Zwicky first postulated dark matter in  1933. Is there any difference between pounding his theory and what the church did to Galileo?

Jeff

and yes.. I googled Fritz...lol

< Message edited by Jeffff -- 2/7/2008 8:55:35 AM >

(in reply to Jeffff)
Profile   Post #: 48
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:53:11 AM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Jeffff

You should have purchased a dispensation!!

Martin Luther



My new word of the day.......dispensation. (yes I had to go look it up....)

To stay on topic......another reason for life.......learning


_____________________________

My twisted, self deprecating, sense of humour, finds alot to laugh about, in your lack of one!

Just because you are well educated, articulate, and can use big, fancy words, properly........does not mean you are right!

(in reply to Jeffff)
Profile   Post #: 49
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:54:32 AM   
subtee


Posts: 5133
Joined: 7/26/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

Sheesh Tee, you go and give us something beautiful and classy and..........so forthish......and I quote Doc Holliday.

(thank you)



~earp~ Excuse me!

LaT,

Wyatt let's play doc and call it a holiday? Mmmmmmmmm

_____________________________

Don't believe everything you think...

(in reply to LaTigresse)
Profile   Post #: 50
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 8:56:57 AM   
Rule


Posts: 10479
Joined: 12/5/2005
Status: offline 		That is also beautiful.

(in reply to Aswad)
Profile   Post #: 51
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 9:01:16 AM   
LadyEllen


Posts: 10931
Joined: 6/30/2006
From: Stourport-England
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Aswad
Which comes down to the question of what makes you happy... several schools of though reject the notion that we should all be on heroin drips, and instead posit that there is more to the human experience than mere pleasure... some of us would claim that personal integrity and such things are worthwhile; i.e. that the manner in which you live trumps the manner in which you die.



Indeed. Whilst the IV heroin sounds like a good idea, we can be pretty sure its a temporary happiness, if it counts as happiness at all.

What is happiness though? The best description and yet far from adequate that I've come across is that happiness is the byproduct of committing wholeheartedly to a goal one thinks worthwhile. Given the truth of that, the question then becomes what does one think is worthwhile?

Since we're human beings we all have different ideas about that of course. Some that we can agree on, some that most of us can agree on, and some that are peculiar to small groups of us and to the individual.

One thing seems clear though - that we cannot enjoy happiness if we are induced or forced into pursuing aims set by another as worthwhile, if we do not believe those aims to be worthwhile. This would seem to apply to the whole realm of human activities - few for instance seem to enjoy their work on the minor scale, and many do not derive enjoyment from aims set for them by authoritarian regimes such as one might find in religion and politics on the wider scale.

I would suppose then that really, in order to enjoy happiness we must each decide on those things to which we wish to commit - those things which we as individuals decide are worthwhile. Whether that means treading a lone path through the world because our decisions on these matters is peculiar to us, or whether we find companionship because our decisions are alike to those of others, we each must find our own way. And in doing so, we must understand and acknowledge that just because we find few companions or just because we have many, this says nothing about the value of the decisions of others. And indeed that we really have no business in interfering with others' decisions to prevent them from realising their own happiness.

Except perhaps where their decisions interfere with our happiness. Not where we disagree with their decisions though - only where their actions based on those decisions have adverse effects on our happiness. We may comment on their decisions of course, we may even try to convince them that our decision is a better one, but we have no business in preventing the happiness of others unless their fulfilment is of such a nature that it would impinge on our happiness.

The great value of the end of the universe - whether its just a notion or will one day be a reality, is that it forces us to realise that we are each of responsible for ourselves and no one else. We cannot save ourselves, still less those we'd like to and there is no "God" coming to the rescue and nothing afterwards either. All we can control is how we choose to deal with it all, and that is a matter of personal preference; heroin, hope or acceptance.

E

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In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.

(in reply to Aswad)
Profile   Post #: 52
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 9:02:43 AM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: Aswad

You don't want to spend the last moments of your life wishing you'd done something differently.

Health,
al-Aswad.



This was a concious decision I made about 2 years or so ago. It is not an easy choice to make and there are regressions. It is always a constant balance, for me anyway.

It just came down to realizing how fast time was going by and how often I was saying things like "when I have time" "when I have the extra money" etc etc etc......  It's all about prioritizing and making the time and finding the money.


_____________________________

My twisted, self deprecating, sense of humour, finds alot to laugh about, in your lack of one!

Just because you are well educated, articulate, and can use big, fancy words, properly........does not mean you are right!

(in reply to Aswad)
Profile   Post #: 53
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 10:15:11 AM   
Aswad


Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: LadyEllen

Indeed. Whilst the IV heroin sounds like a good idea, we can be pretty sure its a temporary happiness, if it counts as happiness at all.


It's not temporary, if you do it right. But it doesn't qualify in my book.

quote:

Since we're human beings we all have different ideas about that of course. Some that we can agree on, some that most of us can agree on, and some that are peculiar to small groups of us and to the individual.


There's pretty broad consensus that most people are looking for contentedness and passivity. Opium for the masses, except we get to reap the fruits of their labour if we play our cards right. Some live and some have lives. The distinction is subtle yet ubiquitous. What a few of us realize (I will be so arrogant as to posit that it's the closest thing to the truth we are getting any time soon), is that happiness is a choice, no more, no less. I lack the words to describe some of the shit that has been going on in my life over the past decade and a half, but I have chosen to be happy. Not content, but happy. And I've chosen to keep shooting for the stars, and to tell chance and fate to sod off and find a victim elsewhere. I can provide an entertaining sideshow, sure, and usually do, but I'm not taking a fall.

quote:

And indeed that we really have no business in interfering with others' decisions to prevent them from realising their own happiness.


Bingo. You can lead a horse to water, but it's got to drink for itself. So, too, with life.

quote:

The great value of the end of the universe - whether its just a notion or will one day be a reality, is that it forces us to realise that we are each of responsible for ourselves and no one else. We cannot save ourselves, still less those we'd like to and there is no "God" coming to the rescue and nothing afterwards either. All we can control is how we choose to deal with it all, and that is a matter of personal preference; heroin, hope or acceptance.


I shall have to disagree with the God part and such, but that is immaterial. My faith supports the exact same position: what we do is a choice, and we will face the consequences of our own choices and those of others (that's what karma really expresses); we can own it by being accountable for our actions and making our choices as free people; by discarding the useless fear of death, we can embrace life from a position of strength, rather than weakness; we can persevere, overcome and grow, and we can do it ourselves.

As I've commented when other Christians say it's all about forgiveness: Jesus showed the way, he didn't walk it for me... he can't.
Absolutely nobody but me gets to live my life or walk my path for me; no man, no priest, and no god.
And nobody else will be accountable for, or take credit for, my choices.

We don't need an end; without this, there's no beginning.

Health,
al-Aswad.



_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.


(in reply to LadyEllen)
Profile   Post #: 54
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 10:17:51 AM   
Aswad


Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
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quote:

ORIGINAL: LaTigresse

This was a concious decision I made about 2 years or so ago. It is not an easy choice to make and there are regressions. It is always a constant balance, for me anyway.


Nothing worth doing is ever easy, it seems.

quote:

It's all about prioritizing and making the time and finding the money.


Almost. It's about making the best choices in any given situation.
That's my opinion, at least; your mileage may vary.

Health,
al-Aswad.


_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.


(in reply to LaTigresse)
Profile   Post #: 55
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 10:20:23 AM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
Status: offline 		This is a personal quirk, but I've often thought that I would like to be there for the end of the world. Or at least, for the end of our world, small and insignificant as it is... I'd like to witness the greatest show ever. Another advantage (albeit, a selfish one): I wouldn't be carking it alone.

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RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 10:27:54 AM   
Aswad


Posts: 9374
Joined: 4/4/2007
Status: offline
You're not the only one, kittinSol.




_____________________________

"If God saw what any of us did that night, he didn't seem to mind.
From then on I knew: God doesn't make the world this way.
We do." -- Rorschack, Watchmen.


(in reply to kittinSol)
Profile   Post #: 57
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 10:31:20 AM   
Jeffff


Posts: 12600
Joined: 7/7/2007
Status: offline 		I was thinking the same thing

Jeff

(in reply to Aswad)
Profile   Post #: 58
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 10:33:33 AM   
LaTigresse


Posts: 26123
Joined: 1/15/2006
Status: offline
quote:

ORIGINAL: kittinSol

This is a personal quirk, but I've often thought that I would like to be there for the end of the world. Or at least, for the end of our world, small and insignificant as it is... I'd like to witness the greatest show ever. Another advantage (albeit, a selfish one): I wouldn't be carking it alone.


Oh me too!

And Aswad, I agree with you 100%. I left out the most important part it seems. Making the best choice for the moment.


_____________________________

My twisted, self deprecating, sense of humour, finds alot to laugh about, in your lack of one!

Just because you are well educated, articulate, and can use big, fancy words, properly........does not mean you are right!

(in reply to kittinSol)
Profile   Post #: 59
RE: life - the point and pointlessness of it all - 2/7/2008 10:33:39 AM   
kittinSol


Posts: 16926
Status: offline 		Glad to see I'm not alone. Selfish bastards, the lot of us !

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(in reply to Jeffff)
Profile   Post #: 60
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