Spooky
Senior Member

Hey Spooky, Haven't heard from you for a long time. wondering how things are going? Gypsy was also interested in your whereabouts.

Hey Spooky.

You may find this lady interesting:
http://www.politicalhotwire.com/scan...food-part.html

If nature isn't thoughtful, then how can it be related to God?

As you put it, "the real life" is what most people agree with. People just don't agree on responsibility. People believe everyone sees things the same way despite how people want the freedom to see things their own way. Also, if awareness is paramount, then people would be justified in destroying each other under the defense that they're becoming more openminded.

That seems very chaotic to me. Such a world would have nothing to be openminded about. Even naturally speaking, objects would just crash into each other. The idea of an emergent system would be an illusion. That's why peace to me is nothingness. The lack of crashing, the lack of people compromising each others' dignity in being wise guys about openmindedness, the lack of people quarreling over responsibility...

...we find life difficult because of population density. The more people around, the more difficult it is to maintain physical peace.

Mmhmm.

When I was younger, I'd wander around the woods a lot more than I do today just to get lost. Never been materialistic or a spender by any stretch, but yea, desiring people to be civil can make things a pain.

Nature just comes off as very deceptive. It can be peaceful, but then it can be manipulative. It makes people hungry, tired, lonely, anxious, etc.

How can nature be thoughtful if that's the case? Why would a thoughtful entity want to be inconsistent? Why would it create persons who question its judgment only to lay down the pain against their questioning?

In any case, yes, thrift is important, especially to save up for when emergencies arise, to not let those little inconsistencies ruin you.

I just don't know though. People take pride in debt as if the holes they dug themselves into are proof that they struggled.

Art, I really need to get back into that to escape.

What have you written and taken pictures of?

I get frustrated with religion over time too. People eventually come off as stupid in refusing to analyze scripture and ceremony. They just do it to be practical, to be content in the moment, but I don't live in the moment. My energy dies and it looks to the future and past for comfort because everything doesn't happen at once.

I don't fear the grave. Total surrender doesn't bother me in that regard since it would be a relief to give my perspective and talents, developed and not, to someone else. All I fear is dying without dignity. Prolonged disassembly would be equal to torture.

I dunno.

It gets frustrating. You wonder if enjoyment is really possible when the amount of effort you have to invest to be happy makes that happiness not worthwhile.

I don't like dealing with other people. I really don't, and putting on the facade really irks my brain and churns my gut. Likewise, serving other people makes me feel pathetic now, and I don't want power to control with.

Now, I'm not even smart anymore. That's what happens when you're isolated over time. It doesn't matter how many books and newspapers you read or how much music you play and listen to. You lose your ability to communicate. Even if you see things from several angles at once, you can't communicate them. It's like writer's block. You have ideas, but you can't express them appropriately in others' mental languages.

Symbolism, right.

Perception seems to be the root of pain though. From perception comes anxiety which punishes the mind despite how it didn't ask to be stimulated.

No objects, no object relationships, no senses, no feelings. That's what peace means. Nature prevents that, yet if identity is sacrificed in total desperation to let go of understanding as well as sensibility, then nature can always take the excuse to be disrespectful because there's no longer a claim to dignity. Over the short run, it might not be sadistic, but over the long run, it consumes everything to sustain itself, and that consumption is never perfectly efficient. Part of identity is always there to be used for another day no matter how small that part is.

Maybe the solution is to believe in a brain in a vat. That way, nature can be denied as real, and power can be denied as well in order to defy powering the illusion, the vat itself. On top of that, nature will eventually leave out of boredom.

Yea, I'm reading it atm, but...

...I don't understand why someone would want fulfillment if the method to achieve it requires not wanting it. If peace goes only to those who don't desire, then I don't see the value of "being" the wise man. It would be better to just disappear in order to avoid being bothered.

The way still ultimately seems to be dependent upon the willingness to compromise with pain. It seems practically virtuous, but it's still dependent upon the reader wanting to practice.

Why practice?

I never really wanted to practice. It was always for serving others, for making others happy, satisfied, and appeased to reserve themselves from inflicting greater pain upon me. There is always a future task though. Peace takes maintenance, yet the reason I want peace is so I don't have to maintain.

That social organism is why I despise nature. It always relapses to power cravings in the end and never lets go, always demanding more.

Hey Spooky. I'll get back to you tomorrow after fully reading that Taoist link you posted so I can respond more comprehensively. It wouldn't do well to be haphazard.

I like the artwork. Did you do that? The tree looks great