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Post by Peter on Jun 10, 2012 8:16:59 GMT -5
The idea of 'resistance is futile' and 'no free will', etc, is pointing to a larger, more macroscopic picture than that. It doesn't mean that you can't decide to do something, and it doesn't mean that you can't resist doing something. It means that your decision to do something, or to resist doing something, was inevitable given how the universe happens to be playing out right now. It means that everything you decide to do is the result of your past experiences (conditioning) and those experiences were the result of choices determined by previous experiences I think that's about as close as I've seen you get to espousing a Belief, Enigma. Your philosophy there seems to restrict the Universe to one set of things happening or not happening - a very Newtonian view. What I take from, say, Young's double slit experiment is that there other possibilities interacting with the reality that we experience. The Sufis (and Murphy) believe that "All that can happen, will (or does) happen". To me that makes a lot of sense, it's elegant and complete. Wouldn't "God" want to know about the "what ifs"? Woudn't Everything want to be absolutely Everything that it possibly could be? If one accepts that there are higher dimensions then surely there must be something happening in them? If the multiverse theory holds out, then there is another Peter who didn't eat two chocolate tractors. Or even more unlikely, decided to stop eating them after one. However improbable this may be, it's still possible, and so it happened, somewhere. So what's the difference between those Peters and me? I'm the Peter who chose to eat the tractors. So the question for me going forward with my life and exercise regime is: Which Peter am I choosing to be? |
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Post by Peter on Jun 10, 2012 7:32:18 GMT -5
The SPOOOOOOOOOON! We sho have been around here a long time, brotha Pete! The longest, Kev, old chum. I checked back to the early days to see if I could find the first post made. Back in the day when it took a week for a thread to hit a 2nd page. The board had a very different vibe to it then, in those first months when we were debating whether or not to let "Guests" post: Preference for AnonymityA Special Invitation - there's you with a 6 paragraph response! |
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Post by Peter on Jun 10, 2012 7:14:44 GMT -5
What does this spoon mean? Is it a spoon bent distantly with a thought? Yes Arisha, it is a spoon that's been bent with thought. It refers to a scene in the 1999 Wachowski brothers (er, siblings) film The Matrix: By seeing this discussion in the context of the Buddhist Doctrine of "No-Self" (and seeing myself as a loose collection of mental processes rather than anything concrete), I decided that I am that spoon which does not exist. Thus I am the spoon, there is no spoon and voilà, a website was born. A moderator with psychic powers like Peter's is really needed for this site. Were you still thinking about the spoon thing there? Because I don't see how mutilating cutlery would be useful here. Or are you attributing other psychic powers to me, and if so, what are they? |
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Post by Peter on Jun 10, 2012 6:56:16 GMT -5
Silence's comments are just one of many misplaced blobs of off color acrylic, or pastel, that tend to find there way on to a minds canvas of life I don't think that things just "find their way" anywhere. I don't think Silence was thinking particularly about DMR, although I've been caught out before by "Ah ha, you all thought I was acting like a complete arse, but if fact in my wisdom I was deliberately provoking you so as to make you see...", etc. But I do think it was relevant that she'd just finished saying: only recently (in coming here, actually) have I determined that it is an urgent issue that needs to be examined sooner. ...and there the universe gives her the opportunity to examine it. Again. That's one of my "beliefs" that I haven't let go of yet - that we're here to "learn lessons". A few years ago I said to the universe "OK, I'm ready, give me lessons to learn. Bring it on" and Oh My God, did it?! I ended up 3 months later being held down by 6 orderlies and tranqualized after asking a healthcare professional what year it was. Healthcare professionals obviously have some sort of vendetta against time travellers. My wife made me promise to never say that again, so now I tend to take my lessons as and when they come up. |
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Post by Peter on Jun 10, 2012 6:35:09 GMT -5
It was a stupid sexist remark posted without a context to make it look like anything other than that. Eh? No comment on it's stupidity or sexism, but the post quoted two previous posts to give context. I thought Silence was clearly having a go at Living for accusing Enigma of missing the point, without saying what the missed point was. No? Crikey, talk about he said she said! |
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Post by Peter on Jun 10, 2012 4:53:17 GMT -5
So, yeah, about that ignore button...?
Anyone? Not currently visible. Do you feel you need one? |
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Post by Peter on Jun 9, 2012 1:20:43 GMT -5
More Santa than Schindler.
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Post by Peter on Jun 8, 2012 7:40:59 GMT -5
Oh but of course they don't apply to you, Beingist.
You're special.
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Post by Peter on Jun 8, 2012 4:36:42 GMT -5
I'm sure Hobson would have agreed with you. |
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Post by Peter on Jun 8, 2012 4:04:05 GMT -5
I'd certainly agree that there is no control, but do you not think that there's influence? Personally, I often feel like I have a "vote" in my life, and I'm not sure who else is running the show. That I can say "this is what I want" and then maybe it'll happen or maybe it won't. I'll give you an example. When my wife is at home, I get to bed on time. But when she's away, I'll have a beer after dinner, watch a movie, then play a computer game or watch the next episode in a series (and the next...). I'll have then intention to get to bed at a reasonable time, but instead I find myself still going at 4am and I'm not really sure why. It's not like I go through a decision making process to decide to stay up. Which is fine if she's just away for a night or two, but her last trip was two weeks and I knew that if I got myself sleep deprived then I'd really struggle to look after the kids. So I did a load of prep (and this felt like making a decision, although of course that may be an illusion) and visualisation about it being 10pm and me pressing my finger on the power button of my laptop. And the fortnight went really well, was 14 for 14 on getting to bed on time. My point is that although there may not be choice; for change to happen (ie work) then energy must be spent in a specific direction. Will power is a muscle that gets stronger with exercise, as I experience it. Speaking as someone who ate two entire 15cm high chocolate tractors last Easter, I would prefer my life to be under some sort of control - even if it's illusionary. It's obvious from looking at people that some people have more self control than others. And I believe that this control is important in a happy life and that it can be developed, and that that development takes effort. As someone who's attraction to chocolate tractors is very much in conflict, I don't feel that resistance is futile. Of course you can take it too far, lute strings and all that. |
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Post by Peter on Jun 8, 2012 3:43:51 GMT -5
for sure one can't control the appearance of anger, but would you agree that it's expression can be controlled? . We used to have a thing called "Draft Mode" in an office where I worked, where if you got really wound up by something you'd write it all in an email, then save it in draft then have lunch or a walk or something and come back to it and see if that was still what you wanted to say. For me, a huge part of the spiritual life is working out what is "perfect the way it is" and what needs to have a stand taken against it and worked on to change. OK, so it IS what it IS, but that doesn't mean it has to stay that way; as I see it. A bit like the Serenity Prayer. I think exploring emotional expression is certainly more healthy than the alternative though, which is where I've been coming from. Unhelpful emotional management techniques (unfortunately somewhat effective in the short term) have got me into addictive behaviours and I'm still coming out the other side of that - sitting with uncomfortable emotions, letting them be but not acting them out on myself or other people. Making decisions that are in harmony with my values, rather than my dopamine levels. |
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Post by Peter on Jun 8, 2012 2:38:55 GMT -5
Hi All Yes, I was the "one interested person" mentioned in Shawn's Post who offered to help out with moderation. So I'd just like to take a minute to remind us all of the Forum Guidelines. I'd also like to say that because of the high volume of posts and because I'm in Central European time, I'm not able to read every post. So if you come across something which you think crosses a line into being abusive (and I'll name no names here, Lemongrass) then please do make use of the "Report to Mod" function and I'll pick it up. Happy Posting. Peter |
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Post by Peter on Jun 8, 2012 2:01:17 GMT -5
Hi Desertmoonrise I missed your opening gambit on the board, and you're already at 100 missives and a full member, so a belated welcome. I've been enjoying reading your posts. Talking of enjoying posts, what happened to figgy? Post, post, post like the duracel bunny on meth, and then it all goes quiet. my anger when it appears, isn't something I can control; it's just there. Oh for sure one can't control the appearance of anger, but would you agree that it's expression can be controlled? I've not seen many women pull off talking like a pirate, even in text, so kudos there. Also I had to look up defn of Proprium - From Latin (nômen) proprium, neuter of proprius (“own, individual”)? That's some reference; do you write for a living? There were also definitions related to Aristotelian thought and sections of the Catholic litergy, so that's my horizons broadened for this morning! |
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Post by Peter on Jun 7, 2012 3:58:05 GMT -5
You know it takes less time to google "smores" than it does to write: What are 'smores'? I don't understand. PLUS you'd have saved my time for writing this post. Not that I have anything more profound to offer on the subject. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S'more And people wonder why the incidence of diabetes has quadrupled since 1980.  |
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Post by Peter on May 29, 2012 8:37:35 GMT -5
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