Sympathy/Empathy

Comparing sympathy to empathy is like comparing a candle flame to the light of a 1,000 watt bulb. The first just takes a match. The second requires real power.

Forgiving - Poem

Know this: forgetting is not forgiving.

Which: first or second, adds most to living? 

Don't dwell on memories: simply forget

But when you forget, it's an unpaid debt

That will be collected, sooner or later.

Subconscious memories are the traitor.

If you consciously choose not to recall,

You create an impenetrable wall

Made of memories you don't want to face!

Forgetting, you hope to not leave a trace.

Forgetting, badness is just held at bay,

With forgiveness, the badness goes away.

          Don't take all the responsibility,

          First ask yourself: was it only just me?

FOR-GETTING or FOR-GIVING

For-getting is not for-giving. If you forget what happened, you don't forgive. Forgotten, the event remains stuck subconsciously in memory, unforgiven.

Rationalizing vs. Rationale

Logic can be used to make what sounds like a good argument to justify opinions or actions. This is rationalization. An argument that sticks to proven facts and real evidence is more likely true. This is rationale.

"Be Here Now" equals denial.

Just as the act of denial acknowledges that what is denied exists, the"now" in the admonishment Be Here Now acknowledges that the past exists. The "past" once did exist, but does not now. The way to emphasize this is to say that living in the moment, which is concerned with now, is not the same as Be Here Now, which actually addresses the past by first, acknowledging it, then trying to correct it. The past is gone--it  can't be corrected. What can be corrected is the mistakes, or errors, that were committed in the past, which can only be done now. Errors made in the past created their own future: corrections made now have their own future, too. Live it.

Website reference.

 The associated website is spiritwill.info. Access it from any browser.

It separates Willed action from thoughtful (Mind) action.

Psychological Profile - Poem

My psychological profile published?

Available for anyone to see?

You can't curse me for being really pissed--

It's plain to see, it is not really me!

Who is it they think they are describing?

Some clueless dummy with a checkered past?

Look between the lines--they are deriding

Innocent me. Still, I remain aghast!

So my past is checkered, but I try hard

To do the right thing, try to stay on guard.

I'm pursuing my goals, and all the while,

I tell myself that I am using guile.

        Does this begin a new set of troubles,

        Carelessly exposing all my foibles?

 

The Flow - Poem

 I love to watch the water in a brook:

Flowing fast over a rocky bottom,

Flowing slower closer to placid shore.

To the ocean, or lake, it's flowing.

Nevertheless, water's fate is certain,

The only changes are in where it goes.

Vapor, rain, sleet, snow, within a body,

What purpose it serves, only Heaven knows!

What purpose life serves, only Heaven knows!

Like water, it is in a fluid state,

A state in which life's dependent on fate,

Changeable according to where it runs.

Rocky bottoms, smooth sailing, even both.

Could be across the land, sea, or air.

Sometimes where it does go may not seem fair,

But it is also the story of life--

In peace, smooth sailing, or difficult strife--

What ever--it finally comes to rest,

And learns that the flow was only a test--

Like water subject to what's coming next.

Complex physical/mental attributes.

The human being is overwhelmed by the complexity of the physical body and overestimates his/her grasp of the complexity of the mental body. No one is as smart as they think they are.  

Capitalism/Socialism/Communism

Socialism is wide socially oriented rule.
Communism is narrow dictatorial rule.
Socialism is NOT communism.

After spending years examining complex issues, their reduction is accomplished by observing results.
Beyond obfuscating blather are these summarizing descriptions.

Capitalism creates problems,
Socialism solves them.

Investments

Why are the surreal investments of stockholders valued more than the real investment of stakeholders? 

Wall Street parasites

Saying Wall Street and its machinations are the economy is saying the parasite is the host.

parasite noun 1. An organism that feeds on or in a different organism while contributing nothing to the survival of its host.   2. One who habitually takes advantage of the generosity of others.

Free Market

How do subsidized and deceptively marketed products create a "free market"? The US market is not free, but "authorities" say so. It reminds me of the aphorism: You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. But if authorities think the pig is beautiful, it is presented in the language of beauty. Yet it's still a pig.

Solve problems or retire issues.

Seeing a concern as a real problem suggests that there is a real solution Seeing a concern as an issue pretends that resolving the issue is the same as solving the problem that caused it. Too often, the issue is made to go away with expedient action while the problem remains. As long as the problem remains the issue  returns, sometimes with a different symptom and different appearance.

Thomas Jefferson quoted.

Paraphrased and quoted:

He feared that the rise of a new form of absolutism was more ominous than the British rule overthrown in the American Revolution. He distinguished in his later years between what he called "aristocrats and democrats." And he then went on to say "I hope we shall... crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations, which dare already to challenge our government to a trial[,] and bid defiance to the laws of our country." He also wrote "I sincerely believe... that banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies."

                                                                     ~ Thomas Jefferson

(From Noam Chomsky's book : Power.)

We were warned more than two hundred years ago about corporations and banks, and their subversive intent has been pursued for all that time. They might be given credit for persistence, I suppose, but not credit for persistent, narrow minded ignorance. This defiance of democracy has been made to appear "democratic." It is not.

Capitalism

Capitalism is supposed to raise net worth, but if the net worth of society is lowered while the net worth of a few is raised, this is not capitalism. What is it? My view—the system is authoritarian, not democratic—some unwise decide for the many. (See the blog with the Thomas Jefferson quote.)

Darwin & Cooperation

The quotation (with underlines added):

There can be no doubt that a tribe containing many members who...
were always ready to give aid to each other and sacrifice themselves
for the common good, would be victorious over most other tribes,
and this would be natural selection.                     ~Charles Darwin

Since Darwin actually wrote this, why is it assumed that he believed
the opposite—that takers would win in the long run? 

Denial: When helpful & not helpful

Denial of truth implies approval of mistaken thinking, which is not helpful.
Denial of mistaken thinking implies approval of truth, which is helpful.

When truth is "known" and insight shows it wrong, the "truth" was based on mistaken thinking.
Mistaken thinking is due to an error. Errors manifest as mistaken behavior.

Some say there are many truths, and that one might be truer than another. This implies one most true, which means ultimate truth exists, truer than all "beneath" it. But a "most true" implies that lesser truths are at least partially false. Partially false can exist—can partially true also exist? I think not. Ultimate truth is absolute—no conditions exist that undermine it with the falsity of mistaken thinking—it's just true.

This is the kind of truth referred to in the first two sentences above.

Resolving concerns

The concerns listed below are numbered to agree with the organization of the www.spiritwill.info web site for the Labyrinth of the Spirit. If the concern is not the same, use the listed concern with the closest name or similar in subject. Each one has an effective procedure.

The Labrynth of the Spirit
1. Insight
2. Extension
3. Objective
4. Resource
5. Knowledge
6. Purpose
7. Relationship
8. Communication
9. Involvement
10. Means
11. Method
12. Verify
13. Perfomance
14. Leadership
15. Importance
16. Opportunity
17. Solution
18. Revelation

In your browser, enter www.spiritwill.info
It shows how a creature of habit uses Willpower to reach its objectives. If the objective proves unsatisfactory, it suggests ways to change it.

Thinking

It seems that their are two behaviors called thinking. The first is real thinking that seeks to determine truth, that learns from mistakes and misperceptions. The second is called thinking, but is not "thinking" at all, but manipulation of facts and ideas to support faulty positions. Many explanations rationalize the event.

As Steven Pinker said in the blank slate, Page 43: The conscious mind—the self or soul—is a spin doctor, not the commander in chief.