Inspired Thinking

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Mon, 10 Jun 2013 20:52:39 -0400

"You were on your way home when you died. It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable,..."

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 16:33:30 -0400

“

You were on your way home when you died.

It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me.

And that’s when you met me.

“What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?”

“You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words.

“There was a… a truck and it was skidding…”

“Yup,” I said.

“I… I died?”

“Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said.

You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?”

“More or less,” I said.

“Are you god?” You asked.

“Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.”

“My kids… my wife,” you said.

“What about them?”

“Will they be all right?”

“That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.”

You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty.

“Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.”

“Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?”

“Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.”

“Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,”

“All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.”

You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?”

“Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.”

“So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.”

“Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.”

I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had.

“You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.”

“How many times have I been reincarnated, then?”

“Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.”

“Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?”

“Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.”

“Where you come from?” You said.

“Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.”

“Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.”

“Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.”

“So what’s the point of it all?”

“Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?”

“Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted.

I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.”

“You mean mankind? You want us to mature?”

“No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.”

“Just me? What about everyone else?”

“There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.”

You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…”

“All you. Different incarnations of you.”

“Wait. I’m everyone!?”

“Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back.

“I’m every human being who ever lived?”

“Or who will ever live, yes.”

“I’m Abraham Lincoln?”

“And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added.

“I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled.

“And you’re the millions he killed.”

“I’m Jesus?”

“And you’re everyone who followed him.”

You fell silent.

“Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.”

You thought for a long time.

“Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?”

“Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.”

“Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?”

“No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.”

“So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…”

“An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.”

And I sent you on your way.

”

- Titled “The Egg”

So who was right?

Fri, 07 Jun 2013 00:44:49 -0400

So who was right?

Power

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 06:36:00 -0400

“What you have to understand about my people is that they are a noble people. Humility is their form of pride. It is their strength; it is their weakness. And if you can humble yourself before them they will do anything you ask.” -Frank Underwood, House of Cards

I learned an interesting lesson on power from watching House of Cards. My role as InterFraternity Council president this semester has really pushed my leadership abilities to the limit and without realizing it, I was already using this technique.

When trying to have something go your way. Rather than telling a person what to do, instead plant a seed in someone else’s mind and trick them into thinking it was their idea. Even if you already have the authority to tell someone what to do, this technique encourages them to become much more passionate about whatever it is since they believe it to be their idea and hides your own agenda. In a sense, it is very humbling to allow others to take credit for your ideas, but there is a certain power from being in this position. Delegating in this way allows you so much influence over others because they feel indebted to you for leading them to this revelation of theirs and because you can manipulate their pride to advance your own interests. Is manipulation evil or just a necessary quality of a good leader?

Don’t know why this is what I decide to post on here, but here’s to all nighter’s and adderal.

Haven't posted in awhile, here's some economics

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 03:18:36 -0400

“Short of winning the lottery, education is the best route to a change in class status. Yet, because of the obsolete, factory-like nature of high school, which fails to propel at least a third of its students, and the confiscatory cost of college, the next rung up for 18-year-olds is becoming another haven for the rich.”

-Timothy Egan, New York Times

Full article: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/downton-and-downward/?ref=opinion

This quote ties a couple themes together that I’ve touched on in earlier posts. First of all, our economy sucks mainly because of the horrible combination of inequality and exploitation that comes out of capitalism. If you don’t agree or don’t understand please read Marx and Engel’s Communist Manifesto and Marx’s Capital. Secondly, our education system - grade school especially - is completely fucked up. The combination leaves the disadvantaged with no chance at rising out of their social strata and no choice but to be exploited by those who are fortunate enough to be born into wealth and power. The few who do make it out only do so through sheer luck, or at the least, heavy reliance on it. Any who actually succeed from hard work and merit are quick to conform to the status quo of ignoring the unfairness at the top for fear of losing the fruits of their labor.

If I didn’t love my family and owe my life to making theirs as wonderful and worthwhile as possible then I would abandon the meaningless pursuit of wealth and make some real changes in this world. #sigh

Word

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:04:28 -0500

Word

Happy Valentines Day

Thu, 14 Feb 2013 14:11:14 -0500

Happy Valentines Day

Good shit #kidpresident #inspiredthinking #tedtalks #ted

Tue, 12 Feb 2013 03:57:55 -0500

Good shit #kidpresident #inspiredthinking #tedtalks #ted

Photo

Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:22:29 -0500

Photo

Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:05:48 -0500

Unfortunate souls

Mon, 31 Dec 2012 20:46:26 -0500

Unfortunate souls

The "UnaBomber"

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 22:28:49 -0500

The "UnaBomber":

I resent that people reject Wikipedia, it’s such a great source of information. Anyways, read about this guy. If you don’t let his crazy actions turn you off, you can actually find some value in what he has to say. Particularly, look at the section titled after his manifesto, “Industrial Societies and its Future.”

Warning to Children by Robert Graves

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 13:08:23 -0500

Children, if you dare to think
Of the greatness, rareness, muchness
Fewness of this precious only
Endless world in which you say
You live, you think of things like this:
Blocks of slate enclosing dappled
Red and green, enclosing tawny
Yellow nets, enclosing white
And black acres of dominoes,
Where a neat brown paper parcel
Tempts you to untie the string.
In the parcel a small island,
On the island a large tree,
On the tree a husky fruit.
Strip the husk and pare the rind off:
In the kernel you will see
Blocks of slate enclosed by dappled
Red and green, enclosed by tawny
Yellow nets, enclosed by white
And black acres of dominoes,
Where the same brown paper parcel -
Children, leave the string alone!
For who dares undo the parcel
Finds himself at once inside it,
On the island, in the fruit,
Blocks of slate about his head,
Finds himself enclosed by dappled
Green and red, enclosed by yellow
Tawny nets, enclosed by black
And white acres of dominoes,
With the same brown paper parcel
Still untied upon his knee.
And, if he then should dare to think
Of the fewness, muchness, rareness,
Greatness of this endless only
Precious world in which he says
he lives - he then unties the string.

The westboro baptist church plans on picketing the funerals of the webster firefighters. That is so unbelievably fucked up. Margie Phelps and her cult needs a serious reality check, the exploitation of others misery to advance their misguided agenda of hatred should be considered a crime.

Thu, 27 Dec 2012 01:26:00 -0500

So I just posted that on Facebook, but here’s my full rant about this…

The fact that fucking degenerate scum-of-the-earth people like Margie Phelps can continue to do what they do is the epitome of this country’s backward worship of law. The founding fathers did not plan on the 1^st and 2nd amendments to result in the legalization of the spread of hate that is funeral picketing or the mass murders that come with modern weaponry. Freedom to speech is not the same as the insidious emotional and psychological trauma that is the result of atrocious intrusions into personal affairs and the deliberate exploitation of the misfortune of others. The blind devotion some have to the 2nd amendment is absolutely ridiculous as well. America is the land of the free, yet we have no freedom from fear. The right to the means to murder is considered a freedom to self-defense, but rather it endorses violence and gives justification for so many to buy guns for protection when in reality they are just feeding the frenzy. Our country is a world superpower and as such we should be role models for the entire world. If the US is to continue its dominance through the 21^st century we have to learn to adapt to these changing times. Humanity is on a path that I believe is unsustainable and unless we have some major structural and cultural changes in our world humanity is going to be hard pressed to survive into the 22^nd century. The amendmentation process of our democracy was meant to give us the freedom to evolve to the will of the people and we should start that evolution by giving our political system and its priorities a serious revision.

"We learn from history that we learn nothing from history."

Tue, 25 Dec 2012 16:17:29 -0500

“We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.”

- George Bernard Shaw

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Sat, 22 Dec 2012 14:17:40 -0500

"The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider..."

Fri, 21 Dec 2012 12:52:07 -0500

“

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways ,but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not better things.

We’ve cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We’ve conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete…

Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember, to say, ‘I love you’ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

If you don’t share this with anyone….Who cares?

”

- George Carlin

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Mon, 10 Dec 2012 05:46:15 -0500

"If on looking within, one finds oneself to be in the wrong, then even though one’s adversary..."

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 01:47:30 -0500

“If on looking within, one finds oneself to be in the wrong, then even though one’s adversary be only a common fellow coarsely clad one is bound to tremble in fear. But if one finds oneself in the right, one goes forward even against men in the thousands.”

- Tseng Tzu, a Confucian

"The boy cried, Wolf! and the villagers came, but there was no wolf. And the boy laughed, amused..."

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 04:43:54 -0500

“

The boy cried, Wolf! and the villagers came, but there was no wolf. And the boy laughed, amused with himself and by their gullibility. He did it a second time with the same results; and a third time, each time to him more amusing.

But the next time was not a joke, a wolf indeed came, and killed most of the flock, and almost killed him. Wolf! Wolf! But no one came, of course. It was too many times.

Even when a liar tells the truth, they are never believed.

”

-
The winter came, and the villagers were cold and hungry, and many died, for there were no sheep. An old man from another village shook his head: why was such an important aspect of their survival trusted to a boy? How much did you expect from a child?

He seemed really mature, observed one man. And we’re really just children ourselves. We didn’t notice much of a difference.

Why continue to leave him in place after the first lie? Or the second? Clearly he doesn’t take the job seriously. If you no longer trusted his call, why did you leave him there? “But we were busy with other things.”

Perhaps you knew wolves were coming, inevitably; there was no stopping them. And rather than try and fail, you didn’t want to be the one blamed.

Or perhaps you expected that because he lied about the wolf, that there was no such thing as wolves. Not: he lied because there are no wolves. Since he lied, therefore there are no wolves.

Other than the solitary boy you left in the field to do a job you didn’t trust him to do, what other warning signals were you expecting?

The boy grew up, resentful at the villagers’ resentment towards him, what did he do wrong? He called them and they did not come. They told him they would. They lied. And like the children they are, they took no responsibility— they tried to blame him.

The adults in the village failed, the blame is theirs entirely. Wolves exist, you don’t throw a boy to the wolves. And when you send a boy to do a man’s job but still treat him like a boy, then the problem isn’t the boy, the problem is you.