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saint aini's hoity toity thread reminding us n00bs that you're nobody till somebody loves you on the internets has inspired me.

Doubtless many of you have read the Hitchhiker's Guide series, and some may remember the Total Perspective Vortex, an ingenious torture device which completely annihilates a person's ego by showing them their place in the universe as a whole, from a god's-eye view.

I wonder, would that be such a terrible--or even painful--thing?

IMO being a nobody comes as a great relief--it makes the burden of things like productivity so much lighter, makes you free to create art.

The real tragedy of human life is not the transience of it, so much as the all too common inability to consider anything outside the confines of good days, bad days and assumptions.

Being no one means you are empowered to create meaning, because no one will read your whiny LiveJournal posts.

Thoughts?

Well said.

Also, whether or not I might agree with the particular beliefs of people on this forum, I bet we communicate in the same idiom, so to speak.

^good poster

"post-occult" ... I've never heard that one before.

Made it up on the spot because I enjoy discussing the occult but don't believe in it.  Just looking for deeper insight into self and others and the world around us, by examining and breaking down perspectives and beliefs.

I'm here from inertia mostly. I got involved here 4 years ago and I guess I have stuck around because people make me feel welcome here. Yeah, it doesn't make much sense if you are new, but alot of these old members are some of the oldest friends I have, on or offline. Secondarily I'm here for the lulz and to learn, and also to teach (to anyone who can stand to listen).

Its probably the whole gang mentality more than anything. Being part of this community gives me family, friends, motivation, and purpose.

It's good to have a circle of friends to fall back on, some kind of constant amidst the disorder ( ) of life.

btw, thanks for not automatically blocking me again on IRC 

A really cool way of expressing this thought is occasionalism--the idea that there's no such thing as laws of physics passively put into place, that every instance of the so-called laws of physics is really a divine act.

Actually, to be entirely serious

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?   

I don't think any two people will understand each other 100% all the time. However, in the successful relationships I've seen (among which mine were not) I HAVE seen complete acceptance and love for the whole person... even the things which are irritating. Not only that, but old people who stayed together happily for 50+ years have told me that the "secret" is really just making a decision to accept the other person, give them room to be themselves, and to work toward loving them every day.

I will agree, with the stipulation that completely accepting someone doesn't mean letting them do anything to you.


For me loving someone means getting inside their head, trying to understand who they think they are, not only who I think they are.

Murphy's Law holds always: "if anything can go wrong, it will". Internalizing this principle is the key to happiness and success; telling yourself everything will be alright is a mind-numbing escape from reality. If you expect the worst, you can prepare for it. Even if Murphy's Law is a mere matter of chance, of cognitive bias, "Law of Fives", it is dangerous to underestimate the probability that things will go wrong. If you focus on the probability that things may turn out okay, you will be left vulnerable to disaster.

Yeah, Murphy's Law is BS.  However if we look at a situation's set of possible outcomes and only deem certain outcomes satisfactory, failure may be the more likely result.

Internalizing Murphy's Law does not imply helplessness or despair – quite the contrary. "If anything can go wrong, it will"... Reverse the Law and you see hope: "sufficient preparation averts disaster" – only that which can go wrong, will go wrong. Allow no plan the possibility to go wrong, and you'll be much better off than you would just hoping and praying. Murphy's Law does not leave you helpless – it is ignoring this Law that will. If things go wrong when you refuse to expect it, you have nobody to blame but your own dumb self – this is the epitome of helplessness.

While I agree preparation is important, too much prep will prevent you from ever getting started in an endeavor.

The events in my life this past fall really drove the point home for me. I had accumulated several months' debt in wishful thinking, and suddenly found collectors at my door. Again, and again, and again. I had told myself all kinds of things would work out just fine. One by one, they fell apart and failed to work out, in a glorious variety of different ways I had not entirely foreseen. I was left dazed and confused. Certainly, some things worked out just as I had hoped. I've had pleasant surprises. Some things worked out far better than I had dreaded. But always there were unknowns in play – I never really knew which thing could still go wrong. In almost every case, being more cautious and proactive, accepting the possibility of failure and preparing for it, could have saved me nasty surprises, stressful days and sleepless nights.

Instead, to appease my lazy side, I just told myself things would work out without my intervention. They did not.

But there is a lesson to be learned in such times. One must live with Murphy's law in mind always. One must prepare for the worst but hope for the best. Stop letting yourself get caught with your pance down, expect the worst, prepare for it – and everything will be alright.

Or, you know, you could accept getting caught with your pants down as a part of life.

Well yeah, but you gotta ask whether it's reasonable to expect complete understanding and acceptance.

I am here for laughs, and maybe to exchange ideas with other...post-occultists

Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí.

(When he woke up, the dinosaur was still there.)

Rereading the beginning of Journey to the West, a long Chinese folktale comprised of smaller folktales that was gathered together centuries ago.

The best point King had in his book was reading makes you a better writer and writing makes you a better reader. Language is a very malleable formula. If you know how the forumula works you can shape it for effect.

When reading the work of a great writer, I understand things about writing I didn't before and don't after (unless I crystallize that knowledge by applying it).

It is one kind of meditation to be focused on a single point until everything melts away, another to be alert but not focused on anything in particular.  The former is not so useful for swordplay, but both are worth exploring.