My, my. The things I write at 2:30 in the morning. I churned out this after reading the first few chapters of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance saturday night.
"So. Say I'm crazy. Say we're all difference kinds of crazy, and "normal" is merely the reigning madness. What does that mean for us?
"What kind of person am I? What's my crazy?
"I'm always going to be questioning, looking at the world through an unusual ontological lens. I will always be searching for myself, and my curse is that I will never find myself. And in the spirit of searching, I will always be challenging other people, poking holes in the way they see things, in who they are.
"How do other people see their own existences? Do you think they recognize the crazy, or do they catalogue everything into a mental system to keep themselves comfortable? They've got so much one-size-fits-all slang so they don't have to look too closely at anything; they can just slap a label on it and laugh. And they blink, like Nietzsche's last men. They have no focus.
"What is meaning to them? What is life or identity, or even intelligence? They think with cheap copies of ideas, mistaking them for reality. Nobody questions.
"What place does "crazy" have in this madness?"
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label philosophy. Show all posts
Monday, January 30, 2012
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Cornerstones of Confidence
Realize that you are different. You come from a different place. I've never realized this before, but a lot of insecurities happen when you don't match up to others. For example, when someone is talking to you about a band that you've never heard of, and they assume you know what they're talking about and you're afraid to say you don't understand so you just sort of go along with it. Part of the social conformity theory is that people want to believe they're all from the same culture, even though they aren't. People feel cooler when they can talk about how they watched the same shows growing up. I need to know that I am from a different culture - call it a subsubsubculture. There are as many cultures as there are people, so when I don't know something, I shouldn't be ashamed to say it. There are things that are a part of my world that other people haven't even heard about before, even though to me it's very natural to know them and what they're all about. I just need to keep patience with myself and everyone else.
Monday, April 18, 2011
Honesty
Today life is about honesty. Think how much easier (well, maybe not "easier" perse) life would be if everyone was 100% honest 100% of the time with 100% of the people they knew.
My parents showed me the pilot episode for a show about a psychologist. This psychologist had an employee who was involved in this radical honesty movement - he said exactly what he was thinking when he was thinking it. He was kind of weird, but in an unexpected way, and I can only imagine how liberating it must be to not have to lie. Lucy Ricardo once took a bet to tell the absolute truth for 24 hours in an I Love Lucy episode. She also claimed to feel very liberated. In Star Trek, Spock often says that he cannot tell a lie, and Kirk convinces him that he can stretch the truth, acting as if lying was a wonderful quality of humans.
Psychology Today posted an article about people who tell the truth all the time.
So my question is, is telling the absolute truth all the time a good thing? I, admittedly a rather insensative individual, tend to think that it is. I don't particularly care about offending people. I mean, many people are offended just by the type of person I am. There are people out there who get offended by gays or by people who get offended by gays. No matter who you are, someone will be offended by who you are. So it makes sense that you shouldn't have to lie to try to protect other people. Here's my problem though: what about tactful truth-telling? Should it be okay? To a certain extent, I think it is, but I don't like it.
My parents showed me the pilot episode for a show about a psychologist. This psychologist had an employee who was involved in this radical honesty movement - he said exactly what he was thinking when he was thinking it. He was kind of weird, but in an unexpected way, and I can only imagine how liberating it must be to not have to lie. Lucy Ricardo once took a bet to tell the absolute truth for 24 hours in an I Love Lucy episode. She also claimed to feel very liberated. In Star Trek, Spock often says that he cannot tell a lie, and Kirk convinces him that he can stretch the truth, acting as if lying was a wonderful quality of humans.
Psychology Today posted an article about people who tell the truth all the time.
So my question is, is telling the absolute truth all the time a good thing? I, admittedly a rather insensative individual, tend to think that it is. I don't particularly care about offending people. I mean, many people are offended just by the type of person I am. There are people out there who get offended by gays or by people who get offended by gays. No matter who you are, someone will be offended by who you are. So it makes sense that you shouldn't have to lie to try to protect other people. Here's my problem though: what about tactful truth-telling? Should it be okay? To a certain extent, I think it is, but I don't like it.
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Question Everything
Today life is about questions.
Questions are how we find out about everything and the world around us. Remember in grade school, they told you there was no such thing as a stupid question? They were (mostly) right, but I think there are good and also better questions. I have the bad habit of asking simple yes-or-no questions, and I would really like to get into the habit of asking deeper questions. For example...um...I asked if we had more oatmeal at work yesterday, and all I got was "yes". I didn't know where the oatmeal was, or how much was left. I should have asked "where is the oatmeal?" Of course, I figured it out in the end, but still. That's just an example.
Questions that can't be answered with a simple yes or no are good because they make you, the asker, look more confident and intelligent and they invite more information. Open questions invite the other person to open themselves up more with a longer explanation and share more about what they know. If you don't know what to say or do in a situation, ask a question. You should never be afraid to ask a question. Questions are the basis of communication, which in turn is the basis of all relationships.
Ask questions of yourself as well. Ask questions about your life, what you want, who you are, why you do what you do, what your goals are, etc. I have a simple motto - question everything. Sometimes you can be surprised by what you find out.
Questions are how we find out about everything and the world around us. Remember in grade school, they told you there was no such thing as a stupid question? They were (mostly) right, but I think there are good and also better questions. I have the bad habit of asking simple yes-or-no questions, and I would really like to get into the habit of asking deeper questions. For example...um...I asked if we had more oatmeal at work yesterday, and all I got was "yes". I didn't know where the oatmeal was, or how much was left. I should have asked "where is the oatmeal?" Of course, I figured it out in the end, but still. That's just an example.
Questions that can't be answered with a simple yes or no are good because they make you, the asker, look more confident and intelligent and they invite more information. Open questions invite the other person to open themselves up more with a longer explanation and share more about what they know. If you don't know what to say or do in a situation, ask a question. You should never be afraid to ask a question. Questions are the basis of communication, which in turn is the basis of all relationships.
Ask questions of yourself as well. Ask questions about your life, what you want, who you are, why you do what you do, what your goals are, etc. I have a simple motto - question everything. Sometimes you can be surprised by what you find out.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
Change
I'm sick of myself. Do you ever get sick of yourself? Sometimes I just get tired of being me. I want to...I don't know...borrow somebody else's mind and body for a while. Just to try something new to relieve the boredom of me. I know other people don't think I'm boring (most of them, anyway), but I'm so used to me that I'm bored out of my skull. I wish to change myself. Just a few things...
I want to de-censor myself. I want to be less complex. I overthink everything, and I'd like to be a little simpler, a little more in the moment, and a little more carefree. Instead of sitting around worrying and deliberating about everything I have to do, I'd like to just do it. I don't think worrying beforehand about a task decreases the number of mistakes I make, but it does make me freak out more about the mistakes and not fix them as well. I just need to kick back a little, have some fun, get a little excited about things, and not worry so much. Great - now I'm worrying about not worrying.
I want to get into alternate spirituality. I hate having to conform to my parents' religion. There is no freedom in it. They tell that god just is the way he is and to just accept it, and they don't approve of asking questions. They tell you everything that is not christian is evil but they don't explain why. I want to be able to ask questions, and I want to be allowed to explore the darker corners of my mind. I don't want to just have to sit tight and be a good little girl and not ask questions.
I want to de-censor myself. I want to be less complex. I overthink everything, and I'd like to be a little simpler, a little more in the moment, and a little more carefree. Instead of sitting around worrying and deliberating about everything I have to do, I'd like to just do it. I don't think worrying beforehand about a task decreases the number of mistakes I make, but it does make me freak out more about the mistakes and not fix them as well. I just need to kick back a little, have some fun, get a little excited about things, and not worry so much. Great - now I'm worrying about not worrying.
I want to get into alternate spirituality. I hate having to conform to my parents' religion. There is no freedom in it. They tell that god just is the way he is and to just accept it, and they don't approve of asking questions. They tell you everything that is not christian is evil but they don't explain why. I want to be able to ask questions, and I want to be allowed to explore the darker corners of my mind. I don't want to just have to sit tight and be a good little girl and not ask questions.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)