Keeping your nose in the POO

by Terry 19 Replies latest jw friends

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  Terry

  Human misery: the default setting in the Universe.

  We think "everything is Okay" is the Norm and it isn't. Not by a long shot.

  Everything is okay is the aberration. It is as likely as hitting your lotto number.

  Being rational all the time is keeping your nose in the poo and reporting on the stink.
  Who has an appetite for such as that?

  To escape from the real world and the "everything is shit" updates and poo stink reports we retreat into a shell of fantasy, religion, books, daydreams and lies we tell ourselves.

  Tell those lies long enough and they sure seem normal.

  How many of us really live in the so-called REAL world all the time?

  Who could tolerate it without lapse into escape fantasies?

  The deeper you plunge into your escape of choice the more distant the problems of the day become (short of outright disaster.)

  But, the danger lurks that you'll become a fantasy figure yourself and lose that tenuous grasp on reality.....

  Which is worse: living in a make-believe escape pod of imagination or facing the cold, hard facts of everyday life?

  Do you keep your nose in the poo?
• 

  believingxjw

  I keep my nose in reality. The world is and has always been a mix of good and bad. The earth with its mountains and beaches and so much beauty are real. People who do good things for others and even give their life for others are real. So are those who seek to gain riches on the backs of others or who deceive in order to gain power etc. They are all real and are the way things are and have always been.
• 

  Terry

  The world is and has always been a mix of good and bad.

  Always? Sounds awfully absolute. Did you mean absolutely always?
• 

  VampireDCLXV

  Always? Sounds awfully absolute. Did you mean absolutely always?

  Since when has the world not been a mix of good and bad? True, whether something is good or bad is only perceived by humans. For anyone to say that at any time the world was completely good or completely bad sounds absolutist to me. Yes, if a tree falls in the forest and no-one is around to witness the event, it still happened. There is evidence that remains to be found long term if one knows how to find it. It's the search for cause and effect. That's part of being realistic...

  Todays red herring brought to you by VampireDCLXV...

  V665
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  believingxjw

  Terry,

  Yes, "always". If you need to add the "absolute" by all means do so.
• 

  tec

  I wouldn't say that human misery is the default setting of the universe. However, I would agree that many people turn a blind eye to the misery that is around them - allowing themselves to be distracted by many of the 'escapes' that you listed. However, it is just as much in error to turn a blind eye to the good that is being done around you too.

  Tammy
• 

  Markfromcali

  Smelling the rose doesn't mean you know that much about flowers, just as smelling the shit doesn't mean you're doing any stool analysis.
• 

  HintOfLime

  Being rational all the time is keeping your nose in the poo and reporting on the stink.

  I think this is an extremely irrational way to look at the universe and human condition.

  We humans have evolved in such a way that with our hands and minds we are the most powerful creatures on the planet. Because we are so accustomed to having power, any and every situation where we are not in control - where we are powerless - becomes amplified in our minds. We are problem solvers, and we hate problems we can't solve.

  Even the rational sometimes forget just how much we have conqured in so little time. So many things we used to be powerless against but no longer are. Preditors with large teeth were a threat 4000 years ago, but probably not something you worry about now. Whereas a century ago earthquakes would devistate cities and kill millions - with modern engineering we may not be able to prevent quakes, but we are much better at enduring them. We have established working strategies that if properly employed can save millions of lives.

  If an alien visitor were to come to earth, and take a human up into it's spacecraft... but then all it studied was what waste we excreted and what we couldn't do - we would likely take offense to that. Judging purely on faults is irrational. Being rational means understanding both our weaknesses AND our strengths, and reporting on BOTH.

  Now back to the original thought - I think religion isn't just a means to escape reality (the reality that there are some things we are simply powerless against), but also to escape responsibility. We have a remarkable capablity to solve our problems - but that takes cooperation and hard work. On the other hand, if "only god" can solve some problems - then we don't need to bother trying to solve our problems ourselves, do we? Why spend 20 years studing communication, math, physics, chemistry, biochemistry, microbiology, and what others have done in cancer research - when one could simply dismiss such effort with 'only god can stop disease forever'. Why bother learn about other customs, other world views, and learn how we can all get along - when it's so much easier to just conclude "god will destroy those that don't share my world view."

  - Lime
• 

  THE GLADIATOR

  Terry: How many of us really live in the so-called REAL world all the time?

  We do live in the real world all the time. It as just that sometimes we allow our minds to take a break. We allow our mind to create fantasy and mystery. Or we watch a fictional movie, read a novel, drink some wine. We delude ourselves into thinking we are safe so we can sleep and dream.

  The real world and all its worries will always be there, but our moments of pleasure and escape will one day cease. As will we.
• 

  VampireDCLXV

  ... On the other hand, if "only god" can solve some problems - then we don't need to bother trying to solve our problems ourselves, do we? We don't need to bother understand one another or the complex nature of the world.

  So true. Despite what hard-core religionists claim, we can't lean on God for everything and nothing is pre-determined. I'm not into throwing out the baby with the bathwater though. We don't need religions telling us what God is or isn't. As the old saying goes, 'God helps those who help themselves'. I'll leave it to each individual to figure out what to believe about the universe...

  V665