Monday 24 February 2014

Post No 526 - Manadagr’s Meanderings



Today’s post is going to be one of those posts where I dump a few ideas that I haven’t been able to develop into full posts (often, because of lack of time or energy). What I’m going to cover is: 
  • flaws of the ancient Stoics;
  • “smarty-pants”;
  • choosing a lifestyle to enable one to be oneself;
  • reality shows;
  • what is success or failure, and who decides?; and
  • let down by the hippies.

First, up, the ancient Stoics …

Flaws of the ancient Stoics


Now, I am using the term ‘Stoic’ in the sense that it was used prior to the last few centuries: now, it is viewed as someone who is unemotional, but the term used to refer to a particular school of philosophical thought (as did ‘Epicurean’, and other words we apply particular meanings to nowadays). The ancient Stoics were probably more akin to modern Buddhists - aiming to be happy in life, which includes living life by the Serenity Prayer:

Goddess, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And wisdom to know the difference.

In particular, the ancient Stoics considered it important to accept that there are things we cannot change in the world, and thus develop what I would term equanimity.

That is quite true, but it is also important, I consider, to note that:
(a) there are things you can change in the world; and
(b) where the cut-off point is for people may not be clear - and it will shift depending on circumstances, including the state that the person is in (e.g., if you learn new skills, your capacity to change things may increase … and then it may decrease if you become ill, or have to focus on caring for ill or elderly relatives, for instance).

Having the courage to try and genuinely find where that cut-off is, is something that I consider too few people do.

“Smarty-pants”


To begin with, I would actually normally call this something else (smart-something … ), but I’m still determined not to have to set up an adult content filter :)

The inspiration for this comes from an article I found on LinkedIn: "DropBox’s hiring practices explain its disappointing​ lack of female employees", by Vivek Wadhwa on 17th February, 2014. For those of you able to access Linked In, the article can be found here, and on the author's website, there is this link

What I found particularly significant is the following comment, about so-called ‘quirky’ questions that some interviewers like to use (e.g. “What is a superpower you would give to your best friend?”):

“The problem is that such questions are fun only for people who understand the jokes — and who can think like the young men doing the interviews.

They don’t lead to better hiring outcomes as Google learned. Its senior vice president for people operations, Laszlo Bock, said last June in an interview with New York Times, “…we found that brainteasers are a complete waste of time. How many golf balls can you fit into an airplane? How many gas stations in Manhattan? A complete waste of time. They don’t predict anything. They serve primarily to make the interviewer feel smart.”

Such hiring practices also disadvantage women. They hurt the employer by limiting the talent pool. They fortify the male dominated frat-boy culture that Silicon Valley is increasingly being criticized for.”

If I was asked that sort of question in a job interview, I would possibly walk out, because of what it reveals about the workplace culture – i.e., an attitude of being ‘smarty-pants’. If you want to ask a question about my creativity, then ask it about something related to work – I may, after all, not be creative in other areas of my life, but I may be very creative in my field of work. (Provided, of course, the company concerned does not try to take advantage of others and get some free advice – as some unethical, unscrupulous places have apparently done ... ) 

To not do so is to abuse one’s power, and to fail to be proportionate in how one chooses to impact on others.

Choosing a lifestyle to enable one to be oneself


I was recently reading the brilliant T. Thorne Coyle's blog, and in this post found the following comment:

"I had one abortion in my early 20s. A condom broke. It happens. The abortion wasn’t easy. It was necessary. I vowed to never have to go through one again.

That abortion saved my life.

Not my physical life, but it saved my life nonetheless, enabling me to work toward the life I have now, one which (I hope) contributes and gives back. That abortion also saved the life of whatever child that fetus would have turned into. It saved that child from a life of poverty and difficulty. It saved that child from a parent who didn’t want it and who still needed years to work through the abuse from her own childhood."

I consider that, sometimes, people’s responses to others’ choices around lifestyle are basically resentment that the others have had the temerity to not go along with what society expected of them. I first came across this that I can remember – albeit in reverse - when I overheard a couple of older women discussing modern underwear, and saying “well, that must be all they need to wear, then”. The tone of her voice was sad, full of regret for what could have been if she had seen an option other than going along with the very constrained, supported and altered shape prescribed by society’s overwhelming presumption of girdles and the like when she was younger. Both of those older women summed up their attitude with a “good on ‘em”, but many people I know don’t – especially when it comes to choosing not to have children. There is an element of viciousness – and also elements of condescension and patronising – in the voices of those who condemn those who do not have children, an element of “how dare they choose other opportunities? I didn’t! I know – I’ll call them selfish”. This attitude also, of course, has the side outcome of making the situation of those who want to have children and are unable to do so infinitely worse – such views are particularly a case of ‘rubbing the other’s nose in it’ to the childless women and men who are unable to have children.

(I also object strenuously to the expectation of those who choose to have children that others who have child-free lifestyles will submit those VALID child-free lifestyles to the petty whims and desires of the CHOSEN child-included lifestyle. As an example, any such person who expected me to rearrange my home and life so that it is child-safe will get very short shrift – and be lucky if I am polite about it. And then there is the issue of over-population and the environmental damage done by that … especially when the excessive numbers of children are in Western societies … )

The main area of my life where this has been an issue is that of where to live – which, in my case, is best done on the water. This is the reason I never bought a house or unit when I was younger. Having then lived on the water (in a boat that was too small, but which I managed to fit water recycling on to – my day job has its benefits!) for the best part of a decade (commuting to work), I made the mistake of underappreciating the importance of that when I moved ashore. Now, having had to give my boat to others, I am looking at many years before I can start spending some time back on the water. As my quote from F. W. Boreham puts it:

“We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us.”

This is so important, being true to oneself, as, if you get it wrong, you can literally wind up ill, or driving yourself insane through the incompatible energies and other effects of trying to live something that you are not – as too many LGBTIQ people discover, prior to coming to terms with themselves.

"Reality" TV shows


I normally avoid such rubbish like the plague (in fact, I don’t have much time to watch ANY television), but I unfortunately caught part of one such show where a childish woman was saying that a food dish which was to be based on lamb shanks had to have to bone in it “because everyone loves marrow”.

Bull.

Not only is that sort of attitude WRONG and GROSSLY IMMATURE, it is PRECISELY the sort of thinking I was alluding to earlier, when I was discussing the importance of choosing a lifestyle that is compatible with oneself. That woman’s attitude contributes to the small-mindedness and expectation of society, the pressure on people that drives LGBTIQ kids to commit suicide or self harm, and LGBTIQ people of all ages to have problems caused by discrimination. It shows a failure to cope with difference, and, as I’ve written elsewhere, that is the ultimate source of what is termed ‘evil’.

I wonder how the producers etc of such shows and the network executives responsible for them will find the karma for their evil when they meet it in future lifetimes … (or this!) 
 

What is success or failure, and who decides?


I recently read a review of the next book of the so-called “Tiger Mother” (see http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/feb/07/truth-about-tiger-mothers-family-amy-chua). Now, I haven’t read either of these books, and don’t have any desire to, but the thought that struck me about the review is that the whole approach – both that of the so-called “Tiger Mother” and the reviewer’s – were predicated on the idea that physical things matter more than spiritual. They do also address emotional issues, and there are some conflicting world views on that level (for the record, I consider that of the so-called “Tiger Mother” to be dangerously flawed because it is so limited in understanding of people), but neither seems to be aware that there is more to life. 

Let down by the hippies


Something I have often thought about the ‘hippies’ of the sixties is that, when they packed everything away to become mainstream, they made all that they had claimed and said – every single last bit of it – a facile childish prank. I’d always been square in that decade, but my beliefs were actually quite genuine  and thus, when I did start to change, slowly, and in response to life’s lessons, I consider that I maintained my credibility more than those hippies who went mainstream (some didn’t, by the way)

Conclusion


So … what to be drawn from all this? Be true to yourself – don’t let society or your peers dictate to you how to live or what to do.

And this is all definitely a case of: do as I say, not as I do :)


[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy")


Love, light, hugs and blessings


Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux? Morinehtar? Would-be drýicgan ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.  

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...  See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour - and see also here, and be flexible.

I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity. 
  • One size does NOT fit all. 
  • Don't be mediocre - seek to excel.  
  • Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
  • May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
  • Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
  • A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
  • Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
  • Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal. 
  • Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
  • Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
  • "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
  • Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
  • The means shape the end.  
  • As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
  • My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films. 
  • All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ... 
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)
We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us. F.W. BOREHAM
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 
Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags: arrogance, children, family, life lessons, lifestyles, peer pressure, self knowledge, social engineering, socialisation, Stoicism, superiority, values,

First published: Manadagr, 24th February, 2014

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Monday, 24th February
, 2014

Sunday 23 February 2014

Post No. 525 - For tonight's meditation

My post a couple of days ago shows part of what I will be working on tonight (especially, trying to lift Australia's voters to a state of thinking critically for themselves, and rejecting the xenophobic fear mongering of our governments over the last couple of decades in favour of courage, hospitality, decency, and the Aussie concept of a 'fair go', which was discarded by many Australians under the evil regime of John Howard).

In addition, I will be thinking of nations like Nigeria, where LGBT people are being victimised, and Ethiopia, where a rape victim is going to be stoned to death.

'See' you tonight :)

Saturday 22 February 2014

Post No. 524 - Current world events



Viktor Yanukovych: you lost the right to rule because of your killing of your people. I was going to write "leave - get out", but let's see how the peace deal works out.

Vladimir Putin, unless the barbaric thugs who publicly whipped the members of Pussy Riot serve some serious jail time, you also should leave your office. You’ve done plenty else to justify leaving - trying to kill LGBT kids, for example. Get out.

And now we come to Thailand, where opposition groups are taking actions that are violently undemocratic and simple bullying and thuggery - albeit in response to a Government that was itself quite murky on the issue. Who is right, who is wrong? Both. Time for a new force, and a new response. Both sides should get out and let someone who cares about the Thai people starting governing - through a democratic election.

And in my nation, Australia? Abbott, Abetz and your ilk: time to get out, and let this nation be a better place. Time for you to stop creating xenophobia and torturing victims of abuse in the interests of getting and keeping power. Time for any decent people left in either the Liberals or Labor to make a stand and turn both parties back into something decent.

The world has been going backwards for long enough.

And what am I going to do to help this all happen? As always, clear negative psychic energy, including the negative energy of inappropriate rigidity of position, and generate positive psychic energy. 

[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy")


Love, light, hugs and blessings


Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux? Morinehtar? Would-be drýicgan ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.  

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...  See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour - and see also here, and be flexible.

I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity. 
  • One size does NOT fit all. 
  • Don't be mediocre - seek to excel.  
  • Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
  • May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
  • Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
  • A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
  • Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
  • Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal. 
  • Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
  • Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
  • "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
  • Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
  • The means shape the end.  
  • As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
  • My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films. 
  • All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ... 
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)
We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us. F.W. BOREHAM
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 
Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags: attitudes, democracy, freedom, peace, personal responsibility,

First published: Laugardagr, 22nd February, 2014

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Saturday, 22nd February
, 2014

Monday 17 February 2014

Post No. 523 - Some more thoughts on Balanced Positivity


Note: posts on this topic can be found here, here, here and here


I’ve been reading Brendan Myers“Clear and Present Thinking”, and at one point in that he describes what a ‘world view’ is [3], and then cites Albert Schweitzer, who originated the term, as stating that an ‘acceptable’ world view had to have three properties: it had to be rational, ethical, and optimistic

Now, each of those terms is as fraught with potential problems as the term ‘world view’, but I’d like to review Balanced Positivity against those criteria. It may help to review what I mean by that term – see here, and here.

Let’s take the word ‘rational’. According to Schweitzer, as cited by Brendan Myers, this means the ‘world view’ has to have been thought about carefully by many people, and found to have value. I have no problem with saying that a ‘world view’ should ideally have been well thought over, but:

  1. many people clearly do not think things over, and just react thoughtlessly, or on instinct: that is clearly not desirable, but they still have a set of views that forms their own, mostly unrecognised ‘map of how the world is’, and thus I think the existence of that world view, flawed though it may be in many cases (if not most!), is of some importance. If nothing else, if you’re trying to change people’s minds, just saying “you don’t have a worldview” is likely to be less productive than saying “I acknowledge that you have a world view, but I think you could improve it for yourself”; 
  2. every valid world view originated with one, or a few people. Later, it became accepted by many as having value, but initially, it was only a few who had that thought. People examining it for rationality in those early days would possibly be inclined to reject it, on the basis that not many people had thought about it. Furthermore, how many is ‘many’? Is it a majority, because if that is the case, none of the world views cited would stack up as being valid on the basis of rationality, so we’re left with a concept that can be argued. So long as the argument is free of us engineers and limited to only reasonable people (in the legal sense), I think that’s mostly OK …

So … how does the concept of ‘Balanced Positivity’ stack up in terms of this attribute? Well, in my opinion, it has clearly been well thought about by some people – namely, the entities that Andrija Puharich, Phyllis V. Schlemmer and Sir John Whitmore were in contact with, as described in Stuart Holroyd's book "Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth". I’ve also thought about the concept, but I’m neither a full-time / professional philosopher, nor a full-time / professional writer, so I’ll get around to my thoughts on this in a piecemeal fashion, as life permits.

In terms of whether lots of minds has considered the matter of ‘Balanced Positivity’ on this planet, well, I don’t think so. The fact that term is so unknown speaks to that, but … we’ll see what happens down the track, eh? :)

So, the next attribute is ’being ethical’. Brendan Myers’ view on this is that “an acceptable world view is ethical when it can tell us something about the difference between right and wrong, and when it can help us become better human beings. … It’s important to note here that when Schweitzer speaks of a world view as ‘ethical’, he is not saying that an acceptable world view has to include certain specific moral statements. He is not saying, for example, that an ethically acceptable world view must be Christian, or that it must be Liberal, or whatever.”

OK, I think that’s one that Balanced Positivity meets fairly clearly – certainly in terms of the first criteria, right and wrong. If I was to make a brief comment about that, I would possibly say something like … Balanced Positivity is about not being so good, so ‘holier-than-thou’ that people do not see any prospect of meeting those standards. It is about extending a hand and helping people make the next step in their spiritual progression, rather than smug, superior or supercilious (a problem found at least as much on the left of politics as the right, incidentally, in my experience). That accessibility is what appeals to me, personally.

Mind you, it is also what is most challenging to me as well, as it is hard to, in a sense, slow down enough to communicate with people on a level, or in a manner, that they can relate to. As an example of that, when I was going to a spiritualist mob last year, I wound up talking to one woman about forgiveness. Now, although I consider I struggle with that topic, the struggle she was having was with an aspect of forgiveness that I had managed to resolve myself, and referring to that past experience of mine in a credible, not a patronising, way, was what opened the way for a meaningful discussion.

The third attribute was ‘optimistic’. Now, again, as with ‘rational’, I consider it unproductive to tell someone that they don’t have a valid world view when they have one that is flawed, but … I’ll move on from that (and I do agree that it is better for a world view to be optimistic than cynical, but I’m also EXTREMELY wary of the problem of naiveté).

This is also an attribute that I consider the Balanced Positive philosophy meets quite well. This is where the word ‘positive’ needs to be elaborated upon, but I’m getting fairly tired so I’ll just refer you to my first post on the topic, where I quoted from Stuart Holroyd's book "Briefing for the Landing on Planet Earth", for examples.

I hope to return to this and other posts in due course, and elaborate on some of the points I’ve made (add better explanations and examples, in particular), and also to post on a few other applications of this philosophy, but that will have to wait until I have the time, energy and good enough health.


[3] “Eventually, the ideas that you gathered from your intellectual environment, along with a few ideas of your own that you developed along the way come together in your mind. They form in your mind a kind of plan, a picture, or a model of what the world is like, and how it acts, and so on. This plan helps you to understand things, and also helps you make decisions. Philosophers sometimes call this plan a world view.” I like this paragraph of Brendan Myers more than the actual definition given a few pages later. The term apparently started with the German philosopher Albert Schweitzer, in a book called “The Decay and Restoration of Civilization”, first published in 1923.

[1] BPLF = Balanced Positive (spiritual) Light Forces. See here and here for more on this.

[2] Please see here and my post "The Death of Wikipedia" for the reasons I now recommend caution when using Wikipedia. I'm also exploring use of h2g2, although that doesn't appear to be as extensive (h2g2 is intended - rather engagingly - to be the Earth edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy")


Love, light, hugs and blessings


Gnwmythr 
(pronounced "new-MYTH-ear"; ... aka Bellatrix Lux? Morinehtar? Would-be drýicgan ... )

My "blogiography" (list of all posts - currently not up to date) is here.  

I started this blog to cover karmic regression-rescue (see here and here), and it grew ...  See here for my group mind project, here and here for my "pagans for peace" project (and join me at 9 PM on Sunday, wherever you are, to meditate for peace), and here for my bindrune kit-bag. I also strongly recommend learning how to flame, ground and shield, do alternate nostril breathing, work with colour - and see also here, and be flexible.

I am a Walker upon the Path of Balanced Positivity, seeking Spiritual Maturity. 
  • One size does NOT fit all. 
  • Don't be mediocre - seek to excel.  
  • Gnwmythr's Stropping Strap: Occam's Razor only works if  the simplest solution is actually recognised as being the simplest, rather than the one that best fits one's bigotries being labelled 'simplest'.
  • May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
  • Ban the dream interpretation industry! 
  • A home is for living in, not feeling, becoming or being rich or a “better” class than others.
  • Housework is for ensuring a home is comfortable to live in, not competing to outdo or belittle others.
  • Being accustomed to interacting via certain rules makes those rules neither right nor universal. 
  • Like fire to the physical, emotions to the soul make a good servant, and a bad master. 
  • Expertise at intimacy and emotional happiness is generally not the same thing as spiritual growth.
  • "Following the crowd" is not "going with the flow".
  • Armageddon is alive and well and happening right now: it is a battle between the indolence of "I only ..." and/or "I just ..." and/or "Everyone knows ... " and/or "they can ..." and what Bruce Schneier [2] calls "security theatre" on one side, and perspicacity and the understanding that the means shape the end on the other. Indolence vs. perspicacity, and expediency vs. honour.
  • The means shape the end.  
  • As words can kill, the right to freedom of speech comes with a DUTY to be as well-informed, objective and balanced as you can be.
  • My favourite action movie of all time is "Gandhi", although I've recently come across "Invictus" and might put that one in to that category. However, I loathe the stereotypical action movie - and, for similar reasons, I loathe many dramas, which are often emotionally violent, more so in some cases than many war films. 
  • All of the above - and this blog - could be wrong, or subject to context, perspective, or state of spiritual evolution ... 
Do not pray for easy lives. Pray to be stronger [people]. JOHN F. KENNEDY (who was quoting 19th century Episcopal Bishop Phillips Brooks)
Jesus loves you.  Odin wants you to grow up. (Facebook meme, according to John Beckett)
We make our decisions. And then our decisions turn around and make us. F.W. BOREHAM
Females, get over 'cute'. Get competent. Get trained. Get capable. Get over 'cute'. And those of you who are called Patty and Debby and Suzy, get over that. Because we use those names to infantalise females – we keep females in their 'little girl' state by the names we use for them. Get over it. If you want to be taken seriously, get serious. JANE ELLIOTT 

The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good [people] to do nothing. (based on writing by) EDMUND BURKE

"The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them." EINSTEIN

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children ANTOINE DE SAINT-EXUPÉRY

Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar; it is not haphazard and superficial. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.

Those whom we cannot stand are usually those who we cannot understand P.K.SHAW

Few men are willing to brave the disapproval of their fellows, the censure of their colleagues, and the wrath of their society. Moral courage is a rarer commodity than bravery in battle or great intelligence. Yet it is the one essential, vital quality for those who seek to change a world which yields most painfully to change." SENATOR ROBERT F. KENNEDY (US Attorney General 1966 Speech) 
Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product ... if we should judge America by that -- counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. ... Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile." ROBERT F. KENNEDY 1968
Tags: attitudes, Balanced Positivity, communication, credibility, ethics, hope, optimism, patronising others, philosophy, rationality, values,

First published: Manadagr, 17th February, 2014

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Monday, 17th February
, 2014