LCD talking and thinking

now what is the TRUTH?
Agreed!

Now, thank goodness for us intelligent, rabble-rousers who are able to employ critical thinking, are persuasive and energetic enough, passionate enough about the "right causes" to influence those weak-minded masses to do OUR bidding and spread the TRUTH, right?

Re: now what is the TRUTH?


When you see one cuff him or her so you can show them to me.

Can't be me..I'm too busy hiding out here on A2K..spreading mirth and social criticism.

You ever notice how "they" never ever erect a statue to a critic?

Truth is the hardest thing to sell
It's so easily accessible that it's like selling tap water.
And sometimes
also like water
truth evaporates, leaving a cloud on your judgement..

One reader suggested that I had misstated the problem. The problem is that our LCD is too low. In other words, we must, as a group, increase our level of intellectual sophistication. We have the brain power but lack something that Emerson has written about, Self-Reliance. I suspect that we might gain some understanding of our situation if we were to read Emerson's essay "Self-Reliance".


http://www.transcendentalists.com/self_reliance_analysis.htm

I was happy to see they were studying Emerson and transcendentalism in my daughter's tenth grade English class. I don't remember doing it that early - I think I was in college before we really looked in depth at it.

But she loved it - really got into it. And I think that especially today- with the pressure these kids have to conform it's extremely relevant.
In my day it was: 'Do your own thing' (which I think I integrated a little too completely sometimes). But the point is - you were actively encouraged by the prevailing culture to be an individual.
That's definitely not the case for young people today. You do your own thing at your risk of your own peril (for social acceptance anyway).

She had to write an essay on whether individualism can always or ever be either a good or bad thing. Of course the answer is no- to any absolute- but it really made her think about where she came down on the subject in her own thoughts, life and behavior. It's one of the few assignments she expressed real interest in and excitement for.

aidan

We are creatures of our culture. We not only create our culture but we are also slaves of our culture. It takes a great effort of courage and confidence to drag the self out of the quick-sand which is our culture.

I think whether you allow yourself to be enslaved to or by your culture or not is a choice or decision that each individual makes.
If you're naturally uncomfortable in an environment (which is what a culture provides and is), it sometimes feels easier to withdraw than to continue to participate. I've always been either guilty of doing that- or able to do that - depending on how you want to look at it.

The noise in our culture just overwhelms me sometimes - so I only listen to what I've chosen to listen to. I don't play the radio at home or in my car - I don't ever listen to the tv. If I rent a movie and I don't like it - I don't feel compelled to finish watching it...
I can't stand listening to all these people talking- I always want to know, 'Who is that person, and why should I spend time listening to what he or she thinks?'
I don't feel enslaved by our culture - but I feel removed from it. It doesn't feel comfortable to me. But I've learned how to create an environment for myself in which I do feel comfortable, and I have enough people who are pretty likeminded so that I don't often feel isolated most places I go-although sometimes I absolutely crave isolation...I find that I need a certain amount of it to stay sane.
And I'm encouraged that there are young people like my daughter and son and students who seem able to make choices to opt out of the crazier aspects of our culture.
I think if you're an adult and you feel enslaved by our culture it's because of your own choices.

I was talking to someone about something similar the other day, particularly about how many likeminded people are around. Actually it was a Buddhist who I know and he was joking about how strange he felt staying in to do a bit of meditation or relaxation while everyone else was off to go get extremely pissed down the clubs but then he remembered, there are other "strange" people like him too. So I thought I should pipe in and say this ^ rings incredibly true for me too for what it's worth.

I can't really picture where all of it's leading anyone. I'm just happy I'm past the stage of feeling that I have to worry about trying to find my way. I don't think I'd be able to find it (a way that worked for me) if I were just starting out among all the negative stimulus and pressures that are the reality today.

The whole club scene seems to have changed to0...it seems that people seem to roam more in packs these days...maybe because they need the added noise and stimulus of more people and noise than one or two other people can provide.
It's like they don't know what to do with silence. I ask my students as they obsessively text on their phones, 'Who are you talking to every single minute of every single day?!'

I just don't have that much to say to anyone- no one. Even my very favorite people - I couldn't talk to nonstop all day every day.

Welcome to my world !

I hear you about silence as well though, one of my favourite things is riding in a car with people who are comfortable with a bit of silence. My guess is that it's about being able to enjoy what is currently around you, with someone else, without needing to do anything, or make any point or get anywhere. Or to see "the shapes of things, their colors, lights and shades" for the experience in itself. Wonderful quote in your signature, I only just noticed that.

And England is so perfect for that. Even when you're on the motorways, there are sights to be seen- perfect fields-ancient trees- the wicker man (we lived in Somerset and traveled the M5 down to Cornwall alot). You don't really see those types of things right off the highways here- at least not on the East Coast where I am and have primarily lived in the US. It's the most populated and busily traveled section of the US.

That's a huge reason I feel more at home in England I think.

I have a friend I travel with there and he doesn't drive so I always do the driving. I feel exactly as you do. There's something special about a friendship where you can both just sit quietly and not feel tense or stressed to fill the silence with anything.
When we first started going on trips together I used to say, 'Don't you want to bring a book to read?' because I didn't want hiim to feel that he had to keep me occupied- in fact I hoped that he wouldn't. It soon became apparent though that he's as happy in companionable silence as I am.
And that's one of my favorite ways to spend time too - just driving or walking and seeing things.

Yeah I do love the countryside I've grown up with that's for sure. Two of my favourite things growing up involved just trecking through nearby woods or a little further afield, somewhere called Croxteth Park. Another, because we lived near a canal and we knew the old lady there who used to rear various animals, I spent plenty of time just sitting around watching it all like the swans swimming by the dragon flies buzzing around and cats strewn out along the bank spying for fishes beneath and just generally kicking back after a hard day doing not much of anything (the cats that is!). You could hear the very slight humming of the cars whizzing over the bridge but with the over hanging trees and the light dancing off the water it was like a different world.



It seems almost strange to me that this isn't the norm with people generally, at least as I find it. Or rather there's something not quite right with feeling a need to fill the gaps that I just can't put my finger on. In contrast to my mindset in the quiet countryside, in a city I tend to be all, "how can it help me, what do I use it for, where does it take me". Busy, busy, busy. So I suppose maybe it's no suprise that follows through with people and chat too.

Yes, and expectations. I think if you don't know what to expect or what that person expects from you, you go through this little dance trying to figure it out...and that includes unecessary small talk a lot of times.

And then when you do get to know someone enough to discover what you can or can't expect - you either feel comfortable with it or don't- so you either do want to spend more time or don't.

Honesty is what binds my friend and I together- I can say whatever I feel I need to say and he's the same with me. I mean, he says things like, 'You're bloody ridiculous...' and I say things like, 'What is WITH you today? Stop being such a grouch...' and then we just laugh at each other and ourselves.

I think being able to talk to a person on that level without being afraid to hurt his or her feelings disperses with the need for constant chat or feeling the need to second guess yourself...'Is it alright to say this now- or should I be saying that?'

It's like a recognition that 'hey, you know I like you even if you are in a bad mood...so I can recognize your bad mood without making you feel I don't like you.' As well as, I don't feel like talking, but that doesn't mean I don't like you. Sometimes when we walk down the street- he'll say, 'Did you see that?' and I'll say, 'The blond kid?' and he'll say, 'Yeah, nice huh' and I'll say, 'Beautiful' - and we both know we noticed the cute little blond girl with the lovely curly hair - it's uncanny.
But life's like that - you recognize certain people and places instantly even if you've never seen them before.

You're growing up place sounds magical - mine was the opposite of that - that's why I treasure places like that now that I've finally found them.

Yeah, expectation, doubt, having a fulfilling picture of the other person or of the relationship as a whole. That echoes for me certainly, I think it's easy to get caught up in the idea that we're defined and exist, independently as objects to be chipped away at through negative experiences or interactions. So like if you met someone who thought X about you, even if you disagreed and fought the opinion, you might dwell on it because of the importance we place on our relationship with "the outside" in whatever form it takes. I've found doubt about where we stand can be worse than knowing full well, you don't like me and I don't like you because at least then you can call it an absolute and say, that is who I am! Some of the more frustrating people I've come across have been people who've (from my perspective), lacked any consistency in their actions. This is kind of why I like forward, blunt people in many ways, because I'm more of a reactor, I observe and consider rather than telling others to get in line. Blunt people make that "little dance" much more fun. Totally agree about the friend thing too, again I guess that's because the remarks themselves aren't the essence of it. To use the dance metaphor differently, the type of dance doesn't matter, just that there's dancing. At least this is how it is for me anyway. I guess it's the opposite for forward people, having their authority challenged in such a way that leaves them with no option but to take the side show/job/role could be devastating for some.



I always have a sneaky feeling in the background of whatever I'm doing that I've done it already. Not the specifics of it, I don't personally believe in re-incarnation either, just a general feeling of recognition. It's strange though, like a generalised case of deja vu.

It's somewhat surprising to me to hear you say that you appreciate bluntness, knowing that you grew up in England. Not that I'm stereotyping, but it was my experience that people I met there were much more careful socially about the feeling of others as well as being more careful and respectful listeners and responders than has been my experience in the US.

That's why it was always so funny to me to walk around in real life in England and experience such caring politeness everywhere I went - and then come on the forum and have Spendius and Mathos (two Englishmen on this forum) bluntly tell me what they thought of things and me.
After I got over my shock, I laughed at it though, because where I'm from - that's what people do. And we don't call it rude - so much as direct. But I do think there is a difference between bluntness that is cruel and bluntness that is simply honest and to the point. For instance, I don't think I have ever said or would ever say to anyone, 'I don't like you' for whatever reason- even though as you said, it might be less confusing for that person in the long run.

In terms of the recognition thing - I just automatically feel with some places and people- free to be what I am. And that entails a sort of recognition- not so much that I may have been somewhere or met someone before- but more that I've found a place I feel I belong.

I feel like I'm doing a lot of talking - hope it's not LCD talking in your mind. You brought up some interesting points - and it feels very peaceful over here to me - much more comfortable than in the "culture" I spoke of earlier. Thank you for that.

Not at all, peaceful where though, England? If so, I am one of quite a large number here but I think I do my part, so your welcome !

Really the "I don't like you" example was just an extreme one to illustrate that confusion can be very draining too. Bluntness probably wasn't the best word, decisive, open, honest are better. It wasn't so much in terms of opinion of others either, but more about being content with laying it out there, whatever it may be, in the hope of constructive/insightful discussion. Being a good listener is what it's all about but that implies there is some interesting dialogue happening which can only be the case when people are more open and honest - i.e. when the buffer zone has been dropped. And there's few things better than listening (for me) to people who have, if you like, dropped the constraints of their thinking and just been creatively open without fear of mistake or offence.

As an example, look at the 24 hour news services we have these days. There seems to be an implication that there's something going on every second that we should know about and be locked in on, which seems crazy to me. The same goes for the obsession with things on TV being "Live !". The fact that most of the time, it's not even taken up by world shattering news but over analysis of mundane ones gives us a level of communication, 24 hours a day, but one that rarely delves beyond the casual/mundane/superficial. So it just sometimes seems to me people are too often either side of a barrier and they can only communicate via simplistic, pre-programmed commands/statements, that's what I think happens when there is too much of that second guessing and not enough openness or to use that word, bluntness. I'm not saying let's get rid of it all, obviously, just that maybe that distance and dance can be a little tiring sometimes!

Trolls on the internet are another good example, for me at least, that what they say tends towards the other side of the spectrum, i.e. wanting to offend isn't what's annoying, it's that they think their causing a storm with tired statements that just perpetuate that particular status quo whatever it may be.

I have such a literal take on things sometimes- I think it's because I'm a very visual person, so I tend to conceptualize and form concrete images for abstract concepts. That's what I was doing when I said, "I find it peaceful over here." I wasn't thinking of England - I was thinking of this thread as a physical space - like a room. I tend to think of this forum as a whole like that: a building with rooms and some feel more comfortable to be in than others. This 'room' (thread) was feeling peaceful to me.

About the whole internet troll thing. I don't really know what to think about that either. On one hand, I think, "Okay - it is what it is (to quote my boss who says that all the time).
He rarely gets upset about anything - especially knowing that it's something we probably can't do much about. But on the other hand, it's just another instance of bullying, and I know in some cases it has done real harm to children and people who are vulnerable to that kind of harrassment. So to let it go unchallenged is to allow it to fester and grow.
Another thing my boss says is "What you permit- you promote".
I see holes in that - but I do think there is some veracity to that as well.

You know - this kind of thing- (cyber bullying) which children have to put up with today on Facebook and My space and texted messages, etc...I just don't think I could have functioned and made my way through it.
That's another aspect of this all-encompassing twenty-four hour communication (applied in a particularly appalling way) that would just overwhelm me if I thought about it too much.

When you said, "Welcome to my world" a few posts back when I talked about not having to make my way through it - do you feel that you're at a spot where you're expected to participate in it? Is that what you meant?