Post No. 605 –Balanced Positivity (The History of), Bow Exercise and Reading

Well, I’ve done a little more this week on one of my personal goals, which is finishing Brendan  Myers’ wonderful – and free, and should be taught in all schools - course “Clear and Present Thinking”, and I have found that, in my view, Balanced Philosophy is a form of Virtue Theory (Wikipedia discusses this as “Virtue Ethics” – and it is actually worth reading that link, particularly for the criticisms … well, it was worth reading it as of 25^th October, 2014).

This is discussed in slides 16 to 19 of the PowerPoint presentation “Chapter 6 - Moral Reasoning”, which includes the following, from Slide 19:

A vice, according to this doctrine, is a case of manifesting too much or too little of the particular quality that a situation calls for;

And a virtue is the ‘right amount’ of the quality which the situation calls for;

Courage, for example, goes between rashness or recklessness (which is too much courage), and cowardice (which is too little.)

This view goes back to the work of Plato and Aristotle, who, interestingly, are discussed in Chapters 11 and 13 of Mr Myers’ book on pagan philosophers: “The Earth, The Gods and The Soul” (which I bought and read as part of my preparation for my interview on “Harmony in Diversity” - see here and here; Pub. Moon Books, 2013, ISBN 978-1-78099-317-1).

One day, maybe when I retire – assuming I can ever afford to, I’d like to write about Balanced Positivity as a philosophy. I am of the view that it addresses some of the criticisms of Virtue Theory.

OK, so … moving on.

One of the other things I have been thinking of is that one of the benefits of the bow exercise that I wrote about towards the end of this post (basically, visualising your arms as the strong of a bow, one representing one polarity of an attribute, perhaps extroversion, and the other arm representing the other polarity, being introversion in this example, and am you draw the bow, see which is stronger) is in the thinking about how this exercise works, and what could go wrong. For instance, what could lead to me perceiving attribute X as stronger/weaker than it actually is, am I open to truth / all possibilities, etc.

There was one other matter I wanted to write about, but in the days since I thought of it, daily life has obliterated that memory – which is a lesson in itself. If I recall it, I will add it, but in the meantime, here are some reading links. (Ah - it was about family, and how I consider friends, the family you choose, to be at least as significant as those connected by blood or relationships. Hmm - that can be a post for another time, I think.)

G'day, hello, howdy, hi, zdravstvujtye (some of my work colleagues are Russian, including an absolutely invaluable administrator who has recently taken maternity leave - may she and young one and family be blest), guten tag (where I have connection owing to a recent past life), sveiki, czesc (I have friends, not just colleagues, at work who are Polish), bonjour (colleagues at a former workplace were French, and we practised and tried to extend my woeful and limited range of this language), selamat pagi (one of the best junior engineers I ever worked with was Malaysian, and she taught me a few words), annyeonghaseyo, pryvit, bitaem, como vai (a friend of mine a few years ago, although not Brazilian, had Portuguese ancestry), ¡Hola (a former work colleague and friend, a VERY talented artist - with a Mexican sensibility to her artwork, particularly around the Day of the Dead - used to teach me Mexican Spanish), Selamat pagi, ni hao (ah, my work trips to Asia, and the many wonderful, wonderful people I have met there - and some excellent work colleagues and friends here, as well), bongiorno (my current home city of Melbourne has lots of Greeks and Italians, who have made our culture far richer - and made us coffee snobs :) ), hoschakal, hejsan, ciao, jo napolt kivanu, chào bà, chào ông, yiassou (from the city which has, I understand, the largest collection of Greek people outside of Greece), ceau, salam wa aleikum, sawas dee ka, dia duit, hoi, hei, namaste, marhaba, dobry den.

• I’ve had ethical concerns about Facebook for many, many years – over privacy, over the fact that they want information that they have NO right to, over their attitudes, over their foundation, the addictiveness and diversion away from spiritual things such as thinking, etc, etc, etc. The debate currently being had over reasons for not using real names is, to me, old hat – I’ve been through it, and it was the final “straw that breaks the camel’s back” that stopped me signing up on the one occasion when, in deference to others’ desires over my concerns, I started to sign up. When it became clear that I would have to give my real name and other details, and give my word that the details were true, I stopped. I prefer not to lie. That’s actually a bit tamely worded – I detest breaking my word, and am aware that there are major spiritual consequences for people who do so that are along the lines of what author Jim  Butcher [2] describes in his Dresden series of novels. So: Facebook’s approach has, in my view, always been wrong … maybe it could have been fixed a long time ago if more people had objected then, maybe even foregone the perceived and real advantages of being on Facebook (those advantages are real in some instances – for people who are isolated and in need of connection, for businesses, etc). This little diatribe has been prompted by the following: http://wildhunt.org/2014/10/culture-and-community-the-impact-of-real-name-policies-in-paganism.html;
• this is something that is vital to most people starting on their spiritual journey: the need for solitude. It is also, in my opinion, one of the greatest weapons against the various scourges of modern  and, to some extent, what is called “civilised” life: http://www.theage.com.au/national/why-being-alone-means-keeping-good-company-20141011-114mtf.html;
• this has some points worth thinking about: http://www.canberratimes.com.au/comment/women-bear-the-brunt-of-our-primitive-response-to-fear-20141010-1145ah.html;
• ultimately, the only solution to prevent these sorts of abuses is for every single person to be able to think clearly, and not get caught up in, or propagate – hysteria and unreasonable concerns, and to learn how to work collaboratively and with consensus decision making which is the basis of a democracy, sharing power and decision making: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/08/cia-first-tweet-torture;
• http://wildhunt.org/2014/06/against-fascists-and-liberals-radical-pagan-identity.html (click through to the comments: some are disappointing, but quite a few are good; one thing to keep in mind is that perhaps what makes a movement “relevant” changes depending on the times the movement is in);
• I got the link for this summary of Thomas Piketty’s work from an article by Bill gates on LinkedIn about to reduce inequality, and why that is important: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/05/economist-explains;
• another great post from T. Thorn Coyle, http://www.thorncoyle.com/know-thyself/, which links to a post at http://www.patheos.com/blogs/quakerpagan/2014/10/a-love-letter.html;
• http://polytheist.com/wyrd-ways/2014/10/15/awe-reverence-and-restoration/;
• having had a boss in the past who met the definition of workplace bully, and possibly also that of psychopath, and who tried to force me to see his preferred doctor, I can relate the situation of this woman: http://www.dailylife.com.au/news-and-views/news-features/anz-employee-disciplined-after-refusing-pelvic-exam-tells-her-side-of-the-story-20141020-118rt7.html;
• an interesting post about mediumship, something which tends to be neglected in Pagan circles: http://polytheist.com/the-web-of-blessings/2014/10/22/wide-as-the-night-sky/;
• an interesting post about one of my favourite places - and we will go to a favourite one nearby, when I finally get a week off soon: http://wildhunt.org/2014/10/around-the-world-samhain-in-an-occult-bookshop.html.

 

[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, Wéofodthegn 

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

My "blogiography" (list of all posts and guide as to how to best use this site) is here, and my glossary/index 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.

• 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'.
• Our entire life experience, with all the many wondrous and varied people, places and events in it, is too small a sample for statistical reliability about Life.
• May the world of commerce and business be recognised to be a servant, not a master, of the lives of people.
• 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.
• 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 ...

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

We didn't inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we only borrowed it from our children

Antoine De Saint-Exupéry

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.

There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction.

John F. Kennedy

Tags: abuse of power, Balanced Positivity, Bow Balance exercise, democracy, ethics, governance, Internet, mediumship, paganism, philosophy, society,

First published: Laugardagr, 25^th October, 2014

Last edited (excluding fixing typo's and other minor matters): Saturday, 25^th October, 2014