> [Krimel] > I think the whole notion of good and bad is relative. Rain might be good > for farmers and bad for picnickers. But the idea that whatever happened in
> the past is, if not good then at least OK, goes beyond "illusion" into full > blown "delusion." We accept the past because we have limited options. We > can't change the past but we can change our opinions of it. Given that, the > healthiest option is to paint on a smiley face. We learn not just to live > with it but to like it. John: When I posit a "constructive" attitude, I'm talking more than painting a smile on because it feels good. I'm saying there is an attitude which causes engagement and action vs an attitude which blames, grumbles and retreats into a shell. [Krimel] When you wear a painted smile long enough it feels like it came with the outfit. > Krimel: > Seeing the world as chaotic and purposeless is difficult. As noted people > recoil from it in horror. I can tell you it was not an easy transition to > make personally but it finally came on like a religious experience a flash > of insight that radically reorganized my entire conceptual continuity. I > don't know if I recommend it. But I don't see any way around it and > eventually I found a way to paint it with happy faces. Shit happens and it > is up to you to decide if it's good shit or bad shit. John: I see cynicism as disillusioned idealism. There's some expectation raised, and when it's not met we automatically retreat into a childish fit of pique saying - It's not fair, or even - there's no such thing as fair, it's all just random chance. [Krimel] You are projecting your fear here. Chance is the ultimate arbiter of fairness. That's why we flip coins to decide who kicks and who receives. A pessimist is an optimist with experience. Buddhists become free of fear by lowering their expectations, Christians by surrender to the unknowable will of God. It's all just responses to uncertainty. [John] Or put another way, Kill all intellectual patterns... [Krimel] I have no interest in killing intellectual patterns. I love to watch them breed. If I were interested in killing them, it would be for their pelts which I would sew together into a cape and fly away. Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org/md/archives.html
