Loving your enemies means you must forgive them. But it does not mean that you must believe them, respect them or trust them.
Dana Bate
****************
Hello Sue
****************
The worst kind of enemies are those you make yourself through carelessness, selfishness and unnecessary animosity. By those enemies you need to be forgiven. But what happens when you make an enemy without being brutish to them? That usually comes about because someone expects something from you which is either too much or too little of who you really are. Or that person has simply put the blindfold on when it came to thinking clearly about you and seeing the real person you are. That form of misunderstanding can cause a lot of alienation and loss of friendship. But does it make for an enemy? It might.
But, as I turn that mirror around and gaqze at my own nature, I realize that I have enemies whom I thought were friends, because I expected too much from them. I inaccurately judged the characters of some people because I wanted them to be who I thought they were, who I thought they represented themselves to be. I can't believe, respect or trust those people, but I can forgive them for their masquerades and forgive myself for being fooled.
Then there are people who just don't like you. They probably don't know why but they will find a reason to justify their hatred. It is quite impossible to trust someone who hates you, but, though difficult, it's not impossible to forgive them for their hatred.
One must be prepared to defend oneself against one's enemies if the enmity spills over into some kind of attack, but revenge is not the intelligent defense. Forgiveness is. It doesn't even need to be expressed. It just needs to be chosen and confirmed in one's own thinking. One can go through thinking about all the things one should have said or done but the fact that they weren't said or done allows for peace.
It's hard to forgave you enemies. Life is hard. But it can be lived more easily without having enemies occupy space in your mind.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
*************************
Showing posts with label masquerades. Show all posts
Showing posts with label masquerades. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Saturday, April 28, 2012
New York
Everything that furthers companionship is a dress that properly clothes virtue.
Immanuel Kant
*******************
Hello Sandy
*******************
I don't know what furthers companionship any more because I don't have any. There was a time when I lived among people I admired and was admired by them for what abilities and talents we had and how we used them. Now I live among petty criminals who are admired for their ability to go undetected. What has brought me to such a wretched state? Never mind. I don't want an answer to that. I want an answer to how I get out of here and back among people I can admire for good reasons.
There is virtue to be found in the world. I know that. But for a gregarious man like me to be stuck in a place where virtue is not a goal and a practice makes for a hard and painful life. Companionship here seems to consist of getting together and getting stoned. Where is the desire for a better life?
I seem to be living in a community of people who have given up in one way or another, as if there was no other way to live, as if there was nothing more to life than just existing until you die.
Help!! Get me away from this masquerade. I never want to fall into that mentality and have no temptation to do it. I don't fit in here, obviously. In short I'm not happy here. But where will I be happy, or at least alive?
These vagabond shoes
They are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New York
(Ebb)
Is there crime in New York, petty and otherwise? Of course. a lot of it. But there are also artists, actors, musicians, writers, thinkers. For every one hundred people who don't give a damn, there is one who does, and with millions of people living there that's a lot of people who care, a lot of -people to admire.
Well, it's a dream. But it's one that has occupied my thoughts most of the day, every day, since I was finally convinced. by irrational reactions to virtue itself that I live in a dead end town.
Now I have to make a long, painful walk on my crutches to do some food shopping. In New York that would be just to the corner. or on a bus. Please NYC, take me back. I'll be a good companion.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
******************************
Immanuel Kant
*******************
Hello Sandy
*******************
I don't know what furthers companionship any more because I don't have any. There was a time when I lived among people I admired and was admired by them for what abilities and talents we had and how we used them. Now I live among petty criminals who are admired for their ability to go undetected. What has brought me to such a wretched state? Never mind. I don't want an answer to that. I want an answer to how I get out of here and back among people I can admire for good reasons.
There is virtue to be found in the world. I know that. But for a gregarious man like me to be stuck in a place where virtue is not a goal and a practice makes for a hard and painful life. Companionship here seems to consist of getting together and getting stoned. Where is the desire for a better life?
I seem to be living in a community of people who have given up in one way or another, as if there was no other way to live, as if there was nothing more to life than just existing until you die.
Help!! Get me away from this masquerade. I never want to fall into that mentality and have no temptation to do it. I don't fit in here, obviously. In short I'm not happy here. But where will I be happy, or at least alive?
These vagabond shoes
They are longing to stray
Right through the very heart of it
New York, New York
(Ebb)
Is there crime in New York, petty and otherwise? Of course. a lot of it. But there are also artists, actors, musicians, writers, thinkers. For every one hundred people who don't give a damn, there is one who does, and with millions of people living there that's a lot of people who care, a lot of -people to admire.
Well, it's a dream. But it's one that has occupied my thoughts most of the day, every day, since I was finally convinced. by irrational reactions to virtue itself that I live in a dead end town.
Now I have to make a long, painful walk on my crutches to do some food shopping. In New York that would be just to the corner. or on a bus. Please NYC, take me back. I'll be a good companion.
DB - Vagabond Journeys
Never give up.
******************************
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Drop the Mask
No one is outside the maze of human behavior looking in.
Dana Bate
*****************
Hello Rose
*****************
We are all invited to the huge masquerade of human life. Some of us are wearing masks and some of us are not. Those of us who don't don the disguises of the masses, the artists of the world, and specifically the writers, are given the task of judging the faces, the facades, that they see.
Two important questions must be asked. The first is who is behind the mask and the second is why did the person behind the mask choose that particular mask to wear? The great writers do this with ease and appreciation. Like the ever changing figures in a life drawing class hardly anything is more complex than the human being. But the writer must be careful to observe and store vital information about the person whose mask he his trying to peer behind. The pretender will always give himself or herself away in the end. In fact, if they are serious pretenders they probably want to be found out because only an excellent observer can do it. One who deserves their respect. Unfortunately the seeker for truth frequently ends up being so disgusted with the pretensions of the masquerader there is no mutual respect. Some people's masquerades are transparent though they don't think so.
The observer of life must also remember that he too wears a mask even though the mask may be in fact his own face.
"Trust a few" Shakespeare wrote. How do we know who we can trust? We can trust those who are worthy of our trust> But how do we judge worthiness? Only time and careful observation can tell. We can trust those who have danced through enough of life's ballrooms to have learned honesty.
The pretentious, the devious, the duplicitous are those we learn not to trust and that knowledge of others can only come through careful observation as we do our own dancing in the maze. Those who are not what they say they are or what they think they are are the greatest pretenders on the dance floor. They are the clay of novels and short stories for the writer to sink his typing fingers into. Dishonesty reveals itself eventually, often to the writer before iit's revealed to the pretender, and by revealing itself reveals the truth and, for one observer, the mask comes off..
DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
***********************
Dana Bate
*****************
Hello Rose
*****************
We are all invited to the huge masquerade of human life. Some of us are wearing masks and some of us are not. Those of us who don't don the disguises of the masses, the artists of the world, and specifically the writers, are given the task of judging the faces, the facades, that they see.
Two important questions must be asked. The first is who is behind the mask and the second is why did the person behind the mask choose that particular mask to wear? The great writers do this with ease and appreciation. Like the ever changing figures in a life drawing class hardly anything is more complex than the human being. But the writer must be careful to observe and store vital information about the person whose mask he his trying to peer behind. The pretender will always give himself or herself away in the end. In fact, if they are serious pretenders they probably want to be found out because only an excellent observer can do it. One who deserves their respect. Unfortunately the seeker for truth frequently ends up being so disgusted with the pretensions of the masquerader there is no mutual respect. Some people's masquerades are transparent though they don't think so.
The observer of life must also remember that he too wears a mask even though the mask may be in fact his own face.
"Trust a few" Shakespeare wrote. How do we know who we can trust? We can trust those who are worthy of our trust> But how do we judge worthiness? Only time and careful observation can tell. We can trust those who have danced through enough of life's ballrooms to have learned honesty.
The pretentious, the devious, the duplicitous are those we learn not to trust and that knowledge of others can only come through careful observation as we do our own dancing in the maze. Those who are not what they say they are or what they think they are are the greatest pretenders on the dance floor. They are the clay of novels and short stories for the writer to sink his typing fingers into. Dishonesty reveals itself eventually, often to the writer before iit's revealed to the pretender, and by revealing itself reveals the truth and, for one observer, the mask comes off..
DB - The Vagabond
Never Give Up
***********************
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Are You Who You Are?
We forfeit three-fourths of ourselves in order to be like other people.
Arthur Schopenhauer
************************
Hello Durres, Albania. Have a joyful day.
**************************
It's one thing for an actor to assume a character and convincingly behave as that character for two hours or so. But it's another thing entirely for a person to assume a personality and character of someone they think they are or want to be.
It's fine to try to emulate people, particularly those who have been an inspiration to us, but we can't achieve the level of grace and knowledge expressed by someone else through imitating them. You can't grab a hold of the wagon in the same place someone else has a hold of it. Sooner or later, and too bad if it's later, the mask has to come off and you have to start understanding who you are begin to live that way.
There is another form of false individuality and that's type casting. It may not be a certain individual that you want to copy but a type of person you wish you were. You want to be a tough guy so people won't bother you, so you swagger and talk rough. I once worked with a woman director who was bossy, unpleasant and put up a grand stand about being important. She wasn't really that way. She just thought she should be, to prove herself in a man's world, or something. Amazing pretensions can accompany someone who is trying to be a type of person they aren't.
The most insidious role playing that can happen is when one has a vision of himself which isn't true and tries to fulfill that vision. I once knew a man who tried to convince himself and others that he was a cultured and intellectual gentleman, who read all the world's great literature. The fact was he wasn't, which became obvious if one tried to discuss ideas with him. He was a perfectly fine fellow just as he was. He didn't need the pretension. He didn't need to hide himself from himself. But he had developed a false individuality that he liked and, by golly, he was going to stick to it.
To really understand oneself is a formidable and somewhat impossible task. It doesn't happen over night, but through days of darkness into occasional sun shine. And just as infrequently but just as assuredly the masquerade drips slowly off of us and the real individual emerges. Then we realize to our shock how many years we wasted trying to be someone else.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of the week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
Arthur Schopenhauer
************************
Hello Durres, Albania. Have a joyful day.
**************************
It's one thing for an actor to assume a character and convincingly behave as that character for two hours or so. But it's another thing entirely for a person to assume a personality and character of someone they think they are or want to be.
It's fine to try to emulate people, particularly those who have been an inspiration to us, but we can't achieve the level of grace and knowledge expressed by someone else through imitating them. You can't grab a hold of the wagon in the same place someone else has a hold of it. Sooner or later, and too bad if it's later, the mask has to come off and you have to start understanding who you are begin to live that way.
There is another form of false individuality and that's type casting. It may not be a certain individual that you want to copy but a type of person you wish you were. You want to be a tough guy so people won't bother you, so you swagger and talk rough. I once worked with a woman director who was bossy, unpleasant and put up a grand stand about being important. She wasn't really that way. She just thought she should be, to prove herself in a man's world, or something. Amazing pretensions can accompany someone who is trying to be a type of person they aren't.
The most insidious role playing that can happen is when one has a vision of himself which isn't true and tries to fulfill that vision. I once knew a man who tried to convince himself and others that he was a cultured and intellectual gentleman, who read all the world's great literature. The fact was he wasn't, which became obvious if one tried to discuss ideas with him. He was a perfectly fine fellow just as he was. He didn't need the pretension. He didn't need to hide himself from himself. But he had developed a false individuality that he liked and, by golly, he was going to stick to it.
To really understand oneself is a formidable and somewhat impossible task. It doesn't happen over night, but through days of darkness into occasional sun shine. And just as infrequently but just as assuredly the masquerade drips slowly off of us and the real individual emerges. Then we realize to our shock how many years we wasted trying to be someone else.
DB - The Vagabond
********************
No fooling around, here is this week's puzzle.
These are all legitimate movie titles in translation.
Your task, if you wish to survive, is to translate them back into their original titles by the end of the week.
Several Saints
Uprising Over The Thanksgiving Dinner
How One Murders An Imitator
Swept Away In A Breeze
The Lion Is Burning It's Feet
What The Flute Makes
The Insects' Messiah
She Married The Monster
Mr. Summerfall Winterspring
The Chimpanzees Live There
Confessing When Drenched
He Paid Very Close Attention, Unfortunately
Boiling When It's Dark
Misplaced Religious Artifact Stolen
Trees Around The Little House
Leo's Secret Message
Ultimate Spanish Dance in France
Country In A Maternity Ward
Instructions In Stone
Creepy Creatures Aloft
The Bitch Is Domesticated
3 entries so far.
Good luck
dbdacoba@aol.com
DB
*********************
SPRING QUESTION
(This is not a contest)
NASA has planned to send a two man mission on an 18 month trip to the planet Mars. It would take 6 months for the astronauts to get there and after 6 months of exploration another 6 months to return.
Should they do it and why, and if not, why not?
dbdacoba@aol.com
4 answers so far
I eagerly await your answer.
DB
******************
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