'Awakened conscience', DOing, and achieving CRITICAL MASS

Well, since you opened this thread, I might say a few things about DOing and critical mass.

There is another interesting quote from C's:

June 14th 2014

Q: (Shijing) So, being in Arizona where we are right now, we're wondering exactly what things should we be doing... {???} according to the way everything is {???} right now.

A: Act in ways that support already initiated efforts and thereby connect energies that will attract to yourselves what is needed at the right time. If you dissipate group energy where you are then you will have to deal with the attendant blowbacks.

And I was wondering if that includes translations in other languages that are posted on other websites?

I mean, of course, in the beginning, small individual websites/blogs/forums are recommended because they are much easier to maintain, but as things progress, and they reach certain critical mass, maybe that work should be naturally integrated with the core material, ie. cassiopaea.org and sott.net.

I think that something like that happened with our Croatian/Serbian groups, and then at certain moment certain things just clicked, and we slowly started postings our stuff on cassiopaea.org this year, and after less than 9 months I think we have a pretty nice website for any potential newcomer to our page.

So, maybe that is something that certain groups could think about.
 
On the subject of what 'conscience' actually is and what it may mean to awaken it, I think there are actually a few different parts to this whole that we can look at and work to comes to terms with.

From the Esoteric Glossary we first see this:

From the dictionary, we have:

The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: Let your conscience be your guide.

A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience.

Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct: a person of unflagging conscience.

The part of the superego in psychoanalysis that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration.

In general, I think the above definitions are how most people understand what conscience is. Many of us here have feelings of guilt or are capable of introspection or have a natural understanding of what doing the right thing means, or acting from a higher part of our natures. This, at least, is a large part of the work we're doing here: To refine and to see ourselves, one way or another, so that we can do the right thing in as many different situations as possible.

Getting back for a moment to the Session in which the C's mention conscience, we have this:

Q: (L) But how did we manage to get awakened consciences, and how can other people manage to do it, too?

A: Recall how you started, you acted on your own as the conscience of the world.

Conscience of the world, eh? Sounds a bit lofty, no? Like only a Ghandi, JFK, MLK, Julius Caeser, Laura, Ark and few others can reach such heights of being. But there are a couple of things worth pointing out here, and that is that all of these individuals had strong supporters who saw the great value in what they were doing. Without this support, these leaders of conscience simply could not make the strides that they did, and take the stands they took for what could have been a much much better world.

On a different level, the people mentioned above (the ones who are no longer with us) weren't born consciences of the world. They worked very hard for it, consciously suffered for it, and paid the ultimate price for it. And so we honor them every time we do something or acknowledge some truth that they would have affirmed in a speech, protest, or action of some kind. They didn't see others doing what was needed, and so they took it upon themselves to do what they could do, based on what they saw and who they were inside.

What I'm getting at is they took responsibility for others well-being; strangers to them mostly, by sharing knowledge of the true state of the world. And I think putting ourselves in the shoes of the Palestinians, Syrians, and the Novo-Russians for instance, and really grokking their horrific suffering - and why they are being made to suffer, and feeling responsible to them - in some way may be a case in point of helping raise or awaken our own consciences. If I were living under their circumstances I would sure as anything hope to God there were individuals who cared enough about me as another human being of the same planet to do anything they could to help.

So it's like the standard definitions of conscience listed above, only kicked up a notch!

More from the glossary, we get the 4th way understanding of conscience:

In Search of the Miraculous, Ouspensky describes conscience as follows:

' "In ordinary life the concept 'conscience' is taken too simply. As if we had a conscience. Actually the concept 'conscience' in the sphere of the emotions is equivalent to the concept 'consciousness' in the sphere of the intellect. And as we have no consciousness we have no conscience.

"Consciousness is a state in which a man knows all at once everything that he in general knows and in which he can see how little he does know and how many contradictions there are in what he knows.

"Conscience is a state in which a man feels all at once everything that he in general feels, or can feel. And as everyone has within him thousands of contradictory feelings which vary from a deeply hidden realization of his own nothingness and fears of all kinds to the most stupid kind of self-conceit, self-confidence, self-satisfaction, and self-praise, to feel all this together would not only be painful but literally unbearable.

"If a man whose entire inner world is composed of contradictions were suddenly to feel all these contradictions simultaneously within himself, if he were to feel all at once that he loves everything he hates and hates everything he loves; that he lies when he tells the truth and that he tells the truth when he lies; and if he could feel the shame and horror of it all, this would be the state which is called 'conscience. A man cannot live in this state; he must either destroy contradictions or destroy conscience. He cannot destroy conscience, but if he cannot destroy it he can put it to sleep, that is, he can separate by impenetrable barriers one feeling of self from another, never see them together, never feel their incompatibility, the absurdity of one existing alongside another.'
[end quote]

Almost all discourse about the human being speaks as if the human being were a unit. The 4th Way recognizes that this is only very seldom the case. TS Elliott once said the 'man cannot face too much reality.' This is so also as regards conscience. Even if all buffers could be immediately dissolved, this would not leave man as a functioning whole. The real I must be strengthened and built up before this makes sense. All these processes of development are gradual and take place concurrently.

Bringing this to bear while doing any kind of the needed activities may be useful. So suppose there is some struggling involved in taking up something and sticking to it. You can see it as a good thing, rather like physical exercise. There is some exertion, discomfort, maybe a little groaning and breathlessness too. And you have a bunch of emotions and thoughts running through your head and heart - all at the same time ie."this is great for me, it will make me healthier which is what I want, I love the idea that I will be in better shape as a result, etc." And then there are the thoughts/feelings of "I really hate this, I'm physically uncomfortable, I want to cry, can't I do this tomorrow...?" The work involved means looking at and feeling this struggle in toto, experiencing the conscience of conflicting feelings involved, and, heck, doing it anyway! This also speaks to intentional or conscious suffering and conscious labor, as mentioned in an earlier post.

By the same token, it may not be nearly as hard to do as we make it out to be in our minds. As s-kur quoted before:

A: Taking the bull by the horns is always fearful in the imagination, but when you approach the beast, he usually lays down and submits.

Q: (L) That doesn't answer my question. Okay, what constitutes "approaching the beast"? Since that seems to be where everybody gets stuck...

A: As Yoda said, no try, just do, if only a little. That will break the logjam. Butterfly wings and all that.

The last part of the glossary entry reads:

In Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, Gurdjieff discusses conscience in many places. The following excerpt deals with the League of Nations and man's perpetually unsuccessful attempts at stopping war:

"In the course of observations during my last sojourn there I cleared up, among other things, that the beings with objective Reason do not happen to be in these societies for the following reasons: "The point is that in order to participate in any society whatsoever, a being must always of necessity be important and such a being there among them, thanks once again to the abnormally established conditions of being-existence, can only be one who either has a great deal of money or who becomes what is called 'famous' among the other beings there. "And since especially during recent times only those beings can become famous and important among them in whom the mentioned sacred function, namely 'being conscience,' is entirely absent, then in consequence of the fact that this sacred function in the presences of beings is in general always associated with everything that represents and is Objective Reason, then, of course, those three-brained beings with Objective Reason always have conscience as well, and consequently such a being with conscience, will never be 'important' among the other beings. "That is why the beings with Pure Reason there never have had and never will have the possibility of taking part in the societies of beings who are formed of important and power-possessing beings.'

This describes our global situation all too well I think. Again and again we see the substantive, reasonable, sane attempts on the part of Putin and the Russian leadership to stave off more war, destruction and disaster. And again and again we see the 'famous' U.S. and western political hack/celebrities spouting drivel, lying, and acting with no care for the ramifications of their actions. It also explains why Russia and several other countries no longer fit the Western paradigm, and are seeking to extricate themselves from it - and being attacked for it. Russia et al. are aligning themselves as best they can with Objective Reason it seems, while the U.S. et al. are irrational, destructive and still trying to maintain their 'importance'.
 
Persej said:
I think that something like that happened with our Croatian/Serbian groups, and then at certain moment certain things just clicked, and we slowly started postings our stuff on cassiopaea.org this year, and after less than 9 months I think we have a pretty nice website for any potential newcomer to our page.

So, maybe that is something that certain groups could think about.

That's awsome Persej! That made me think of this allegory:

If I wanted to move a 2 ton rock wheel, there would have to be a lot of effort, right (I couldn't do it on my own)? Well, if I got a group of folks together, and we strategically planned where we would stand, and who would push where, and maybe use some logs and other tools for leverage, it could be done. Slowly, of course, at first, but at certain point, the momentum of the wheel under its own weight would make the job easier. And with everyone pushing in the appropriate sequence, the effort involved becomes more efficient...ie, the sum is greater than the whole. After the work is done, we then sit back, have a ciggy, and look back at how far we've come. :cool2:

I have noticed that for me, just posting on the forum becomes easier the more I post, the more I read, the more I network, and the more I DO. It appears that momentum is not just for rolling wheels, haha.
 
CNS said:
That made me think of this allegory:

If I wanted to move a 2 ton rock wheel, there would have to be a lot of effort, right (I couldn't do it on my own)? Well, if I got a group of folks together, and we strategically planned where we would stand, and who would push where, and maybe use some logs and other tools for leverage, it could be done. Slowly, of course, at first, but at certain point, the momentum of the wheel under its own weight would make the job easier. And with everyone pushing in the appropriate sequence, the effort involved becomes more efficient...ie, the sum is greater than the whole. After the work is done, we then sit back, have a ciggy, and look back at how far we've come. :cool2:

That's great allegory.
I have another one. Actually, it's a true story. :)

When I was a kid, I was for some reason fascinated with snowballs that can grow very quickly when you push them through snow. And one day I wanted to demonstrate my fascination in my schoolyard. So I made a small snowball and I asked my friends to help me in pushing it. Everybody laughed at me and said that that was stupid idea.

I said OK, and continued doing it alone. And the snowball was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and at one point it was so big that I couldn't push it anymore. One kid saw that and decided to help me. I didn't ask him, he just came. And then another kid came, and another, and another, and at one moment there were so many of them that there was just no more room for me! So I decided to stand aside while these kids continue pushing this ball.

And then, when they reached their own limit, somebody made a smaller snowball and put it on top, and we got a snowman.

But even I wasn't planning on building a snowman, I just wanted to study laws of physics on snow. :D

That of course doesn't mean that some other higher being from another density wasn't planing snowman all along and then installed in myself this desire to create a giant snowball and then at appropriate time sent this kids to help me. ;)

I have noticed that for me, just posting on the forum becomes easier the more I post, the more I read, the more I network, and the more I DO. It appears that momentum is not just for rolling wheels, haha.

Oh yes, I noticed that too. :)
 
Persej said:
That of course doesn't mean that some other higher being from another density wasn't planing snowman all along and then installed in myself this desire to create a giant snowball and then at appropriate time sent this kids to help me.

That's a great point. We don't know what the DCM has in store for us. So by putting ourselves out there and working (and being as objective as we can), we are being more open to the universe, and finding our purpose.
 
Ennio said:
On the subject of what 'conscience' actually is and what it may mean to awaken it, I think there are actually a few different parts to this whole that we can look at and work to comes to terms with.

From the Esoteric Glossary we first see this:

From the dictionary, we have:

The awareness of a moral or ethical aspect to one's conduct together with the urge to prefer right over wrong: Let your conscience be your guide.

A source of moral or ethical judgment or pronouncement: a document that serves as the nation's conscience.

Conformity to one's own sense of right conduct: a person of unflagging conscience.

The part of the superego in psychoanalysis that judges the ethical nature of one's actions and thoughts and then transmits such determinations to the ego for consideration.

In general, I think the above definitions are how most people understand what conscience is. Many of us here have feelings of guilt or are capable of introspection or have a natural understanding of what doing the right thing means, or acting from a higher part of our natures. This, at least, is a large part of the work we're doing here: To refine and to see ourselves, one way or another, so that we can do the right thing in as many different situations as possible.

Getting back for a moment to the Session in which the C's mention conscience, we have this:

Q: (L) But how did we manage to get awakened consciences, and how can other people manage to do it, too?

A: Recall how you started, you acted on your own as the conscience of the world.

Conscience of the world, eh? Sounds a bit lofty, no? Like only a Ghandi, JFK, MLK, Julius Caeser, Laura, Ark and few others can reach such heights of being. But there are a couple of things worth pointing out here, and that is that all of these individuals had strong supporters who saw the great value in what they were doing. Without this support, these leaders of conscience simply could not make the strides that they did, and take the stands they took for what could have been a much much better world.

On a different level, the people mentioned above (the ones who are no longer with us) weren't born consciences of the world. They worked very hard for it, consciously suffered for it, and paid the ultimate price for it. And so we honor them every time we do something or acknowledge some truth that they would have affirmed in a speech, protest, or action of some kind. They didn't see others doing what was needed, and so they took it upon themselves to do what they could do, based on what they saw and who they were inside.

What I'm getting at is they took responsibility for others well-being; strangers to them mostly, by sharing knowledge of the true state of the world. And I think putting ourselves in the shoes of the Palestinians, Syrians, and the Novo-Russians for instance, and really grokking their horrific suffering - and why they are being made to suffer, and feeling responsible to them - in some way may be a case in point of helping raise or awaken our own consciences. If I were living under their circumstances I would sure as anything hope to God there were individuals who cared enough about me as another human being of the same planet to do anything they could to help.

So it's like the standard definitions of conscience listed above, only kicked up a notch!

More from the glossary, we get the 4th way understanding of conscience:

In Search of the Miraculous, Ouspensky describes conscience as follows:

' "In ordinary life the concept 'conscience' is taken too simply. As if we had a conscience. Actually the concept 'conscience' in the sphere of the emotions is equivalent to the concept 'consciousness' in the sphere of the intellect. And as we have no consciousness we have no conscience.

"Consciousness is a state in which a man knows all at once everything that he in general knows and in which he can see how little he does know and how many contradictions there are in what he knows.

"Conscience is a state in which a man feels all at once everything that he in general feels, or can feel. And as everyone has within him thousands of contradictory feelings which vary from a deeply hidden realization of his own nothingness and fears of all kinds to the most stupid kind of self-conceit, self-confidence, self-satisfaction, and self-praise, to feel all this together would not only be painful but literally unbearable.

"If a man whose entire inner world is composed of contradictions were suddenly to feel all these contradictions simultaneously within himself, if he were to feel all at once that he loves everything he hates and hates everything he loves; that he lies when he tells the truth and that he tells the truth when he lies; and if he could feel the shame and horror of it all, this would be the state which is called 'conscience. A man cannot live in this state; he must either destroy contradictions or destroy conscience. He cannot destroy conscience, but if he cannot destroy it he can put it to sleep, that is, he can separate by impenetrable barriers one feeling of self from another, never see them together, never feel their incompatibility, the absurdity of one existing alongside another.'
[end quote]

Almost all discourse about the human being speaks as if the human being were a unit. The 4th Way recognizes that this is only very seldom the case. TS Elliott once said the 'man cannot face too much reality.' This is so also as regards conscience. Even if all buffers could be immediately dissolved, this would not leave man as a functioning whole. The real I must be strengthened and built up before this makes sense. All these processes of development are gradual and take place concurrently.

Bringing this to bear while doing any kind of the needed activities may be useful. So suppose there is some struggling involved in taking up something and sticking to it. You can see it as a good thing, rather like physical exercise. There is some exertion, discomfort, maybe a little groaning and breathlessness too. And you have a bunch of emotions and thoughts running through your head and heart - all at the same time ie."this is great for me, it will make me healthier which is what I want, I love the idea that I will be in better shape as a result, etc." And then there are the thoughts/feelings of "I really hate this, I'm physically uncomfortable, I want to cry, can't I do this tomorrow...?" The work involved means looking at and feeling this struggle in toto, experiencing the conscience of conflicting feelings involved, and, heck, doing it anyway! This also speaks to intentional or conscious suffering and conscious labor, as mentioned in an earlier post.

By the same token, it may not be nearly as hard to do as we make it out to be in our minds. As s-kur quoted before:

A: Taking the bull by the horns is always fearful in the imagination, but when you approach the beast, he usually lays down and submits.

Q: (L) That doesn't answer my question. Okay, what constitutes "approaching the beast"? Since that seems to be where everybody gets stuck...

A: As Yoda said, no try, just do, if only a little. That will break the logjam. Butterfly wings and all that.

The last part of the glossary entry reads:

In Beelzebub's Tales to his Grandson, Gurdjieff discusses conscience in many places. The following excerpt deals with the League of Nations and man's perpetually unsuccessful attempts at stopping war:

"In the course of observations during my last sojourn there I cleared up, among other things, that the beings with objective Reason do not happen to be in these societies for the following reasons: "The point is that in order to participate in any society whatsoever, a being must always of necessity be important and such a being there among them, thanks once again to the abnormally established conditions of being-existence, can only be one who either has a great deal of money or who becomes what is called 'famous' among the other beings there. "And since especially during recent times only those beings can become famous and important among them in whom the mentioned sacred function, namely 'being conscience,' is entirely absent, then in consequence of the fact that this sacred function in the presences of beings is in general always associated with everything that represents and is Objective Reason, then, of course, those three-brained beings with Objective Reason always have conscience as well, and consequently such a being with conscience, will never be 'important' among the other beings. "That is why the beings with Pure Reason there never have had and never will have the possibility of taking part in the societies of beings who are formed of important and power-possessing beings.'

This describes our global situation all too well I think. Again and again we see the substantive, reasonable, sane attempts on the part of Putin and the Russian leadership to stave off more war, destruction and disaster. And again and again we see the 'famous' U.S. and western political hack/celebrities spouting drivel, lying, and acting with no care for the ramifications of their actions. It also explains why Russia and several other countries no longer fit the Western paradigm, and are seeking to extricate themselves from it - and being attacked for it. Russia et al. are aligning themselves as best they can with Objective Reason it seems, while the U.S. et al. are irrational, destructive and still trying to maintain their 'importance'.

That was a great summary and connecting so many things. I've had less time to post here and SOTT reader comments lately. But I try my best. The one thing I've put the most time and energy into is the remarkable position of Russia against a decaying and disintegrating "world order." The contrast is so stark with the "West" that I consider it an important litmus test to see who can see through the BS and really see what Putin and his team and Russia stand for.
 
SeekinTruth said:
That was a great summary and connecting so many things. I've had less time to post here and SOTT reader comments lately. But I try my best. The one thing I've put the most time and energy into is the remarkable position of Russia against a decaying and disintegrating "world order." The contrast is so stark with the "West" that I consider it an important litmus test to see who can see through the BS and really see what Putin and his team and Russia stand for.

Many great insights have been shared by you and others in the Role of Russia thread among others, but what you write is a reminder that there are a number of us here that are, for various reasons, pressed with matters in their lives that require a lot of ourselves - which leaves little time for much else. I've certainly been there myself. When we engage in DOing, we are also being active for those who can't at the moment, with the knowledge that they would be active for these efforts should we, in turn, be pressed with matters needing our attention. So we just need to try our best, especially at those times when, thankfully, we don't have big issues on our plates which require a lot of our energy.
 
Ennio said:
SeekinTruth said:
That was a great summary and connecting so many things. I've had less time to post here and SOTT reader comments lately. But I try my best. The one thing I've put the most time and energy into is the remarkable position of Russia against a decaying and disintegrating "world order." The contrast is so stark with the "West" that I consider it an important litmus test to see who can see through the BS and really see what Putin and his team and Russia stand for.

Many great insights have been shared by you and others in the Role of Russia thread among others, but what you write is a reminder that there are a number of us here that are, for various reasons, pressed with matters in their lives that require a lot of ourselves - which leaves little time for much else. I've certainly been there myself. When we engage in DOing, we are also being active for those who can't at the moment, with the knowledge that they would be active for these efforts should we, in turn, be pressed with matters needing our attention. So we just need to try our best, especially at those times when, thankfully, we don't have big issues on our plates which require a lot of our energy.
I agree with that as I myself have gone through periods when personal situation does not make it very easy to participate and/or support the groups. Sometimes we just have to bear down on the nitty-gritty of life to survive here, and while we are in these periods it can be that we feel a bit guilty of letting the rest of us down. Fortunately, we have indeed grown to the degree that there are others who can 'take up the slack' during these times.

Thanks to all who do contribute in any way and help us all move along!
 
Yeah, totally agree. We need to continue doing our best, just make enough time to make one helpful post - if that's all we can swing - even if we are in the middle of very hectic times. The network can definitely fill in to an extent, when some are less available. But hopefully we keep growing (and growing stronger) so that our aims and Work can continue to progress.
 
This morning checking out SOTT, the following pic and caption was posted under 'PICTURE OF THE DAY':

Ferguson_Putin.jpg


"Putin, help, they're killing us." Sign at Ferguson, Missouri protest against police brutality, 25 November 2014.

This is just stunning proof to me of a few things. The first is that on some level people word-wide, and particularly the most oppressed, are aware of the greater battle between 'good and evil', and whose side Putin is fighting on. The next thing is just how valid this recognition is considering that the people of Ferguson are not "Russia lovers" or have any other reason to evoke Putin other than in their struggle for justice and equality, and the need to feel safe and protected. And how the heck do these individuals in Ferguson see through so much of the anti-Putin propaganda they are being subjected to in the Western media?!? It seems to me that they have aligned themselves with objective truth to some degree, and are fighting tooth and nail for it.

Lastly, I think that its in some large part due to the work being done on SOTT and the sharing of our perspectives on social media that the idea of what Putin and his leadership stand for, along with the fact that the US is in the throws of Psychopathic power, are being recognized for what they are. This recognition is just huge - and could not be accomplished without giving strength to these facts, through the work that is being done here.

You have to wonder just how far this can go if we all keep pushing in this direction, and sharing other large truths as well.
 
Persej said:
When I was a kid, I was for some reason fascinated with snowballs that can grow very quickly when you push them through snow. And one day I wanted to demonstrate my fascination in my schoolyard. So I made a small snowball and I asked my friends to help me in pushing it. Everybody laughed at me and said that that was stupid idea.

I said OK, and continued doing it alone. And the snowball was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and at one point it was so big that I couldn't push it anymore. One kid saw that and decided to help me. I didn't ask him, he just came. And then another kid came, and another, and another, and at one moment there were so many of them that there was just no more room for me! So I decided to stand aside while these kids continue pushing this ball.

And then, when they reached their own limit, somebody made a smaller snowball and put it on top, and we got a snowman.

But even I wasn't planning on building a snowman, I just wanted to study laws of physics on snow. :D

That of course doesn't mean that some other higher being from another density wasn't planing snowman all along and then installed in myself this desire to create a giant snowball and then at appropriate time sent this kids to help me. ;)

That's a great story, Persej!
And I think it illustrates the point really well.
Doing what we think should be done, without anticipation, and who knows what can happen?
Some people might suddenly realize that there is some method to our madness and follow the example.
 
Ennio said:
This morning checking out SOTT, the following pic and caption was posted under 'PICTURE OF THE DAY':

Ferguson_Putin.jpg


"Putin, help, they're killing us." Sign at Ferguson, Missouri protest against police brutality, 25 November 2014.

This is just stunning proof to me of a few things. The first is that on some level people word-wide, and particularly the most oppressed, are aware of the greater battle between 'good and evil', and whose side Putin is fighting on. The next thing is just how valid this recognition is considering that the people of Ferguson are not "Russia lovers" or have any other reason to evoke Putin other than in their struggle for justice and equality, and the need to feel safe and protected. And how the heck do these individuals in Ferguson see through so much of the anti-Putin propaganda they are being subjected to in the Western media?!? It seems to me that they have aligned themselves with objective truth to some degree, and are fighting tooth and nail for it.

Lastly, I think that its in some large part due to the work being done on SOTT and the sharing of our perspectives on social media that the idea of what Putin and his leadership stand for, along with the fact that the US is in the throws of Psychopathic power, are being recognized for what they are. This recognition is just huge - and could not be accomplished without giving strength to these facts, through the work that is being done here.

You have to wonder just how far this can go if we all keep pushing in this direction, and sharing other large truths as well.

That is fascinating - if it's a pretty accurate an assessment (which I think is likely) - it just goes to show how non-linear effects propagate in ways we could not have imagined!

Mrs. Tigersoap said:
Persej said:
When I was a kid, I was for some reason fascinated with snowballs that can grow very quickly when you push them through snow. And one day I wanted to demonstrate my fascination in my schoolyard. So I made a small snowball and I asked my friends to help me in pushing it. Everybody laughed at me and said that that was stupid idea.

I said OK, and continued doing it alone. And the snowball was getting bigger and bigger and bigger, and at one point it was so big that I couldn't push it anymore. One kid saw that and decided to help me. I didn't ask him, he just came. And then another kid came, and another, and another, and at one moment there were so many of them that there was just no more room for me! So I decided to stand aside while these kids continue pushing this ball.

And then, when they reached their own limit, somebody made a smaller snowball and put it on top, and we got a snowman.

But even I wasn't planning on building a snowman, I just wanted to study laws of physics on snow. :D

That of course doesn't mean that some other higher being from another density wasn't planing snowman all along and then installed in myself this desire to create a giant snowball and then at appropriate time sent this kids to help me. ;)

That's a great story, Persej!
And I think it illustrates the point really well.
Doing what we think should be done, without anticipation, and who knows what can happen?
Some people might suddenly realize that there is some method to our madness and follow the example.

:lol: That's a great analogy!!
 
There are many times where it feels like we're waging wars against entropy on multiple fronts, and it's difficult to keep it all together (at least for me). I know that in the morning I try and write out a rather vivid description of what I need to accomplish for the day and, depending on my willpower levels, it seems to help my programs "snap" together to get it done. But sometimes it's just overwhelming, the inevitable depression, the horror, the anger, the reactions of pathological individuals, etc. and staring at reality is just brutal.

But isn't that where perseverance becomes a virtue? Persevering with patience, and accepting the suffering of conscious effort is the way to go IMO. At this point in our efforts, when we're tired, when it doesn't seem worth it - those are the kinds of super efforts required to FORGE this tribal unit, and we can do it IMO.

Thanks for this post and all of the insights it contains!
 
Heimdallr said:
s-kur said:
Occasionally I've thought like your expressed and the first thing disturb me is the fear of incomplete knowledge about subject, it's like perfectionism.

The way I've navigated that tricky area (and I've been there s-kur!) is to be more delicate and open when discussing what's going on in the world with people at work or friends and family. I'll ask questions or make statements that aren't declarative and leave no room for disagreement. I try to give people something to think about by asking a question that, even though I know the answer to, it will appear as though I'm not totally sure and just asking like I'm wondering. I think the "don't be impassioned" advice is really good because if you come off that way, you aren't really any different than the hysterical media and politicians. It's the flip side of the coin, and the people who tune out those voices will tune yours out too, because most people think that someone who is overly impassioned about a subject has lost objectivity and can't be relied upon. Alex Jones is a good example. Is some of the stuff he's saying correct? Yeah, but his entire approach is off-putting to most people, and the people who do identify with his raving madman schtick are the type of person the above article is saying to avoid being like.

The added bonus to this is that you don't have to be all-knowledgeable with a perfect answer for every question, a perfect retort to every person who disagrees. Because if you wait until you have complete knowledge, you'll never end up saying anything. ;)

I completely agree. It's better to be curious and hospitable in all of our interactions, right? The problem seems to come down to programs we haven't dealt with yet. I know that I have definitely been afraid to post, but I always learn from the discussions (or lack thereof) that follow.
 
Very interesting video that talks about a lot of stuff that we touched in this topic: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vajSK1jV56A

"On April 11, 2012 Howard Rheingold joined Mamie Rheingold in a conversation about his latest book, Net Smart: How to Thrive Online.

Like it or not, knowing how to make use of online tools without being overloaded with too much information is an essential ingredient to personal success in the twenty-first century. But how can we use digital media so that they make us empowered participants rather than passive receivers, grounded, well-rounded people rather than multitasking basket cases? In Net Smart, cyberculture expert Howard Rheingold shows us how to use social media intelligently, humanely, and, above all, mindfully."
 
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