I wish... but I just exist!
Stand-Alone Dreamer | 30 November 2004, 6:43pm
I wish I had faith - I wish I had the courage to follow danger as lightheartedly as the sparrows I saw, following the hawk into the ravine
That sound - Yes, I can hear; one hundred birds singing, but all I can see is the tree
I'm walking and the street is loud; i cannot hear the words of my teacher
I close my eyes yet the sun still shines
I look at the stars - Stay still and listen carefully; you can hear the music from
the moment when matter escaped from light ten million years after the beginning of time
eighteen billion years before this was written
some people say that there is an end to space and time
and that we can't concieve it because of the boundaries of our mind
that it is unthinkable that it is in the realm of the metaphysical
yet perhaps this is all imagined...
Just exist and it gives us free space
Current Mood: Relieved
Current Music: kaisi hai yeh rut ki jis mein - DCH
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Let the polemics begin!
Stand-Alone Dreamer | 6 July 2004, 10:40am
I have a a lot to say, Guess it will get it all out of my head so that I do not burst from the accumulation of unexpressed thoughts, which can be quite messy if you've ever witnessed it.
Every day, I look around in complete horror. The difference between what is versus what could and should be is so large that the contrast is almost unbearable. Just once I'd like to turn on the television and hear that something noble and heroic happened in the world. Something inspirational, to serve as a sort of "spiritual fuel" to combat the weariness from the daily bombardment of irrationality.
Still, they say one must never give up hope. If ever there was a time that positive change could be enacted, it is now. The web permits the access to, and transmission of, ideas at speed never before experienced. It is ideas that change the world, as philosophy is the foundation of human existence. At this point I wish to give credit where credit is due. Ayn Rand has had the most impact of any thinker upon my life. She gave me the words to express what I have always felt, but could not properly define by the moral code which most of society adheres to, consciously or not. www.aynrand.org is the place to begin learning about her philosophy, which she calls objectivism. As for myself, I am not an official spokesperson for objectivism, nor is anything I say to be assumed to be in strict compliance with her teachings. First hand research would benefit those who are interested.
Let the polemics begin.
Current Mood: Cold
Current Music: the summer of 69
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The Ideal - Do you get it or be it?
Stand-Alone Dreamer | 6 July 2004, 12:31am
This is an interesting distinction, one which always seems to exist:- of people who worry about and strive to be good enough, and those who worry about having enough. (someone might want to portray this as a battle between the self-perfectionists & the hedonists)
It seems more women worry about being good enough themselves (for example so many focusing on their weight), and more men worry about having enough (for example, feeling that they "always deserve" a beautiful women, or at least focusing more on wanting one than on their own worthiness).
It isn't a total dichotomy always, of course; everyone is some sort of combination. Judging by your actions, senses of empowerment, and regrets, do you want to be 'your ideal' one, or do you want to have 'the ideal' one? Do you know why..do you like your reasoning?
Most of the times I want to be my ideal..to be happy with what I'm doing ..to be able to think well of myself. That gives me considerable control over myself, and makes me second guess my social interactions..Generally it makes me confident..
..albeit the fact that having my ideal too would just be the icing on the cake ;-)
Current Mood: Mooney
Current Music: TMBG - Older
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This is definitely a spam!!
Stand-Alone Dreamer | 2 July 2004, 5:32am
I have started reading Atlas Shrugged again(for the nth time)...this time online..
I'm about 1/4 of the way through (it's a LONG book..at least when viewed in a computer screen) and am beginning to wonder if I'm doomed to an unhappy life because I have no purpose.
I have began to ask everyone I encounter what their purpose is. It amazes me how empty many peoples purposes seem to me. I often feel like telling them that, they too, are purposeless and just don't realize it. What is your purpose?
I'm glad that I'm getting caught up in such big questions!
My view of 'purpose' is rather different from Rand's. I believe that most of us humans should not so narrowly focus long-term obsessions. In many ways, psychologically, 'specialization is for insects'.
When it comes to big questions like 'purpose', I see the world more as a naturalist and less as a philosopher. Three films spring to mind: the PBS Evolution series, Microcosmos (the dramatic lives of insects & flowers), and Adaptation (a story weaving human goals with the evolutionary success of life throughout history).
Our minds are huge, and we face a wide range of choices. Nonetheless, we are organisms -- and are never really removed from the fabric of life. (That may sound somehow environmentalist for a moment here, but I totally don't mean it that way. Species compete with each other & use each other, and the naturalist perspective should have no problem with that!) What I mean is mostly that our species has evolved to find some (kinds of) goals inspiring/uplifting/meaningful -- and to be unable to sustain real thriving interest in other kinds of goals.
Looking as a naturalist, the big question is whether a human is thriving -- and what they might do to better that. Making yourself more vital to your tribe (especially those you care most about) is often the best way to thrive more. That one is what drives a lot of idealistic-type people into medical professions -- and it's what haunts them once they're out there working & often feeling interchangeable with other doctors & nurses (which they might describe more vaguely as feeling caught up in a big impersonal system).
What's my personal purpose? Insight. I'm not unique in this lifelong periodic obsession, but my evolving structure of insights becomes more distinctive every year.
Okay, back to reading a book that really depresses me... ;-)
Current Mood: Grand
Current Music: Grandaddy - "Now Its On" & Skyflakes - "Bad Thoughts"
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Art of denouncing - I quit says Russell!
Stand-Alone Dreamer | 30 June 2004, 10:01pm
I find young men or women who aspire to become thought leaders everywhere..A rational and truthful thought leads me to the conclusion that I was also one..But I do hope they will avoid certain errors into which I fell in my youth (not too long ago :)) for want of good advice. When I wished to form an opinion upon a subject, I used to study it, weigh the arguments on different sides, and attempt to reach a balanced conclusion. I have since discovered that this is not the way to do things. A man of genius knows it all without the need of study; his opinions are pontifical and depend for their persuasiveness upon literary style rather than argument. It is necessary to be one-sided, since this facilitates the vehemence that is considered a proof of strength. It is essential to appeal to prejudices and passions of which men have begun to feel ashamed and to do this in the name of some new ineffable ethic. It is well to decry the slow and pettifogging minds which require evidence in order to reach conclusions. Above all, whatever is most ancient should be dished up as the very latest thing. There is no novelty in this recipe for genius; it was practised from the time of our grandfathers, in the time of our fathers, and it has been practised in our own time. One of the most important elements of success in becoming a man of genius is to learn the art of denunciation. You must always denounce in such a way that your reader/listener thinks that it is the other fellow who is being denounced Ignore fact and reason, live entirely in the world of your own fantastic and myth-producing passions; do this whole-heartedly and with conviction, and you will become one of the prophets of your age.
and not himself; in that case he will be impressed by your noble scorn,
whereas if he thinks that it is himself that you are denouncing, he will
consider that you are guilty of ill-bred peevishness. I remember some noble writer of my time screamed: `The population of this country is Nine hundered millions, mostly fools.'' Everybody who read this considered himself one of the exceptions, and therefore enjoyed the remark. You must not denounce well-defined classes, such as persons with more than a certain income, inhabitants of a certain area, or believers in some definite creed; for if you do this, some of you will know that your invective is directed against them. You must denounce persons whose emotions are atrophied, persons to whom only plodding study can reveal the truth, for we all know that these are other people, and we shall therefore view with sympathy your powerful diagnosis of the evils of the age.
Current Mood: Triumphant
Current Music: sshh....
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