All are handicapped

You have some good points there.
I don't presume to judge.
i don't really get how you would read that from what I said.
There is a big difference between discerning things and passing judgment.
Actually, a huge difference.
And I have my favorite rosy glasses as well, but I am learning how to go for longer periods of time without them.
It is important I think.

Certainly some people have a much worse life than others, but is it a virtue or a vice to hide from it in an illusion?
It doesn't change the conditions, it just gives people a false understanding of reality.
Like our condition in North Amerikka.
If we are really, in a legal sense, slaves, as some would have us believe, then I would rather know that then live my life under a false pretense of thinking I was free when in fact i would be operating under a false definition of "free", if you know what I am getting at.
Only the truth can set one free, lies can only bind and blind.
 
Welll... *clears throat* "Suck it up princess."--(quoting you not actually telling you to suck it up, or implying that you are a princess of any kind) ;):D

That kinda came off as judgmental to me, though I know it was only half serious. Wasn't really judging you for sounding like you were judging people half seriously or nothin. Just trying to make a point.

I'd say, about hiding, sometimes a person has no choice in the matter.

I'd also have to say that the "slavery" we face in America is about as loosely based on the word as you can get compared to some parts of the world. It's still crap what's happening here, but it's not as bad as some have it, nor as bad as the full concept that the word was created to convey.

I think it's a great thing to try to see the world for what it really is, hey, I acknowledge that. But I also understand if a person has it too tough to "take off the glasses." I think for some people their altered perception on life is less about rejecting freedom than ensuring survival. I mean, not all folks can take seeing life on life's terms instead of their own. You say you see it as it truly is. It can be pretty tough to take sometimes, right? And that scary rawness that is life without the veil, well, that on top of the life that some people are living is enough to break even the toughest man, to drive him mad, to completely shatter his spirit and make him loose all hope.

So I say, if you can do it, great. But I understand if you can't.

That's pretty much what I mean. Didn't mean to make it sound like I was attacking ya or anything. I agree with you. To a point, as I've said. :)
 
shawn said:
So should I use the word dysfunctional?
Maybe the phrase: "we are not measuring up to our full potential for a variety of reasons"?
I think the terms handicapped as in crippled or debilitated, maybe wizened are useful terms (not as excuses either) and, impaired, as in, there is something which consistently gets in the way of our efforts at improving our lot.
The words have more punch to them and a certain bluntness which is useful I feel.....why pussyfoot around with a bunch of flowery terms when it is so much more direct to get to the point.
Maybe that makes me a barbarian or a Philistine in the eyes of some.
So.!
The problems still remain.
We are supposed to be so intelligent yet to catalog the blunders and stupidities would take days and fill volumes, and that is just the things that went on before breakfast around the globe.
So, my fellow inmates, are we honest enough to recognize our condition or will we continue to be self deceiving and pretend we are so advanced?
The problems need to be solved, but like the drunk who refuses to accept that they have a problem, we carry on thinking we are ok and so the things that need to be done do not get done.
The follies continue.
We all see them repeated daily and served up fresh by the media for our perusal. Then we can complain about them in a variety of forums and bars, etc.
But the problems still remain.
Why?
We are defective.
All of us.
Are we honest enough to see this?
Then maybe we can do something about it.
Click to expand...

how about the Greek 'tragic flaw'? which Christianity may have spun into sin?

Hamartia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
shawn said:
My point is more that we tend to sugarcoat reality as a whole, and try to paint a rosy picture of a cow flop.

I agree, don't tell your neighbor about the stick in his eye but pull the log from your own, ....sigh....:( but it does need to be brought up from time to time IMO as people tend to forget it is there.
Rosecolored glasses.
And I am including myself in that assessment.
We are all in this together after all....:D
Click to expand...

lol...so true..

I love finding my imperfections, my hypocrisies, my idiosyncrasies.... discovering myself is as much a journey as any. I even give people fair warning of the worst of them which incredibly they choose to ignore, or think they can change! :p Life is a battle with entropy.
 
shawn said:
So should I use the word dysfunctional?
Click to expand...
Oooh, steady, you might get tainted with religion if you go that road ... we use the term 'disordered reason', a tragic condition, but not incurable. ;)

shawn said:
Maybe the phrase: "we are not measuring up to our full potential for a variety of reasons"?
Click to expand...
We would place one as the root of all ...

shawn said:
We are supposed to be so intelligent yet to catalog the blunders and stupidities would take days and fill volumes, and that is just the things that went on before breakfast around the globe.
Click to expand...
OK, but intelligent is not omniscient, so mistakes etc., are part and parcel of the thing ... but I absolutely agree when 'common sense' gives way to short-term ends ... common sense says slow the Titanic down in iceberg conditions, but someone was showing off, and said, 'faster, faster!' ...

shawn said:
So, my fellow inmates, are we honest enough to recognize our condition or will we continue to be self deceiving and pretend we are so advanced?
Click to expand...
Well, heck! Now you're sounding like me!

I am profoundly impressed by seeing a man walk in space, or perform micro neurosurgery ... but that's just technology ... the spaceman or the surgeon might be an utter b*st*rd.

Then again, I've read love poetry written over 2,500 years ago ... and religious texts older than that ... we are no wiser, in many ways we are less wise, we just kid ourselves because we know more.

So maybe we're looking at 'progress' the wrong way ... that would be a good start, in my book?

Thomas
 
I see that things have kind of gotten off track from what I was getting at.
I am not talking about rose-colored glasses.

Say for example that you have a radio, just like everyone else you know, and it receives , say 5 stations.
Things are fine, but then one day something anomalous occurs and you now can pick up dozens of stations beyond the regular 5 and they are full of amazing stuff.
Then whatever made that possible ceases and you are back to your regular programming.
That would suck, on one hand.
On the other, you would see that there is so much more available to you and so you would set out to see how you could recreate that occurrence.

Then you find that you hit a wall in that such "higher, expanded functions" are possible, but are difficult to achieve.

Just the simple fact that there is a whole lot more available that one normally does not pick up (but can in certain rare circumstances) would lead one to the conclusion that there is a defect somewhere in the system (the radio).
Seeing that this is endemic throughout all people everywhere would lead one to the conclusion that we are all "damaged goods" in some way.
Maybe this condition is fixable.
 
Yeah, I getcha.

But maybe we're not broken per se. I mean we were all made this way, and like broken implies that the thing worked correctly, or to full potential at one time. And we kinda never have. Just semantics, don't mind me...

But I get what your sayin, and that's what I was sayin before the glasses tangent we got off on, lol. I mean, I think the whole reason for our existence is to grow more, "get more frequencies" yano. I believe it is what we are here to do.

So it's not fixable as we were created not working to our full potential, and so we never got broken, cause we never worked right in the first place.

But, there is room for improvement, if you will. We're like a regular car when we are created. Tuning into these new frequencies is like installing aftermarket parts, either expensive or a tough job, but you get a better product for the effort. And the end result is well worth a bit of effort.

Yups, there ya have my thoughts... :D
 
Well thanks...*here's your nickel*
 

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