Seeking Right and Wrong...

[Simply_Sublime]

From the graying skies of Wrong and Right come forth the endless parade decadent and distinguished brainless populace that seem to rule the world. I sit back and think ‘you look upon your television screen, seeking the great divine and you never see with your true eyes. Have you watch a flower bloom? Or see beauty within a tome? No. For these things take time and a piece of mind.’ But perhaps I am ranting about my eternal hate for the idiots that walk above me. Shaded by these faded grays that seem to never leave as the leaves that are restless on streets. What can I say? I feel fairly melancholic today. But at least I am at peace with the wrongs and rights that I have lead through out my life. I feel, as I am a person below the stairs reaching out for love and care. Even though I start to see that I standing in the parlor speaking of trivial teas and careless cookies. Ah, in my ripe old age of barely six-teen I start to see that no one knows, not even me. For how could we know of the design, the map of the plan? And to seek such things would be hilarious and downright peculiar to say the very least. But still I walk on in till the day came to find not someone or something…for sadly the person that I seek is me. We all look for different things some for GOD, others for money and glory and a very few for love. But what I seek is myself. I think I am hiding under some dark shady rock. For I feel cold and untimely old as if I am obtaining some kind of mold. If you see me let me know…For I have had a hard time finding this piece of mind that I have been denying. But I bite my tongue for the time has come and past. Let me know if this feeling will last. Thank you for your time and hopefully, your very open mind.

Please tell me your thoughts.

[Logos]

Hello Simply_Sublime, welcome to the LitNet. I've moved this topic of yours from the Personal Poetry section to the Philosophical section where I think your profundity will be better read :)

[RemiAnn]

Okay, I am curious, what exactly do you feel? Is that what you are asking, whether the feeling you have will last, or are you asking if what you believe will stay? I am interested in continuing this discussion with you, but I need to know what direction you are wanting to go.

[Simply_Sublime]

"Okay, I am curious, what exactly do you feel? Is that what you are asking, whether the feeling you have will last, or are you asking if what you believe will stay? I am interested in continuing this discussion with you, but I need to know what direction you are wanting to go"

I was speaking of how the time to find my self has come and past and so I am left wondering if I will ever reach the end of my search. Because there is barely enough time to do what I "need" to do (like my actions within the parlor) therefore I do not have time for the main problem in my life. To answer your question I do not know which path I can choose...

[Nymo]

“And I swear to you, Athenians, by the dog I swear! --for I must tell you the truth--the result of my mission was just this: I found that the men most in repute were all but the most foolish; and that others less esteemed were really wiser and better.”—Plato

If I’m to find what mission, or purpose that may be of value. I feel I should consider what is wiser and better. In many thoughts there is much foolishness and in silence there is much to be understood. Yet I find I can not makes noises with my mouth so many can know of its value when it only breaks the silence.

I feel I should consider the words of Thoreau when he spoke of no finer place for one's thoughts then the cavern of the mind, which it sparkles most. Realizing the illusion of reality we create that does not exist if we don’t see what is right and wrong in our perception.

[kilted exile]

I was speaking of how the time to find my self has come and past and so I am left wondering if I will ever reach the end of my search. Because there is barely enough time to do what I "need" to do (like my actions within the parlor) therefore I do not have time for the main problem in my life. To answer your question I do not know which path I can choose...
Ok, I've just had a look at your profile. you are 16 & your time to find yourself has passed?!!? Hell, at 16 I still wanted to be an immunologist. Dropped out of one university course and one college course, and finally completed one college diploma since and I'm still "finding myself" I think this would be less of a problem if I could find out where the people left me.

[Virgil]

Please tell me your thoughts.
Thanks Sublime. I really like your name. welcome to lit net. I hope you like it here.

There's much in what you say that I could agree with. If the world is divided between the moribound cynics and happy idealists, I'd rather be in the idealist's camp. But one doesn't have to be an idealist. If people just openned their eyes and learned to enjoy the good and simple things in life there wouldn't be such discontent.

[Simply_Sublime]

Ok, I've just had a look at your profile. you are 16 & your time to find yourself has passed?!!? Hell, at 16 I still wanted to be an immunologist. Dropped out of one university course and one college course, and finally completed one college diploma since and I'm still "finding myself" I think this would be less of a problem if I could find out where the people left me.

I know, I also put my age in the poem as a small relive of humor. I view my life at this point as the beginning of the end or at least the end of the era of which I ruled. And just like the end of a book or a mere chapter there is little time to work on your side projects. :banana: Like why is the banana dancing? Is because it is really that happy or is just because it is part of program? All I know is that I like the banana.


I really like your name.

Thank you I thought it sounded nice and I like yours as well.


If the world is divided between the moribound cynics and happy idealists, I'd rather be in the idealist's camp.

I would wave to you from the moribound cynics camp...they have better punch and cookies :D

[The Unnamable]

If the world is divided between the moribound cynics and happy idealists, I'd rather be in the idealist's camp.
From Annie Hall

ALVY: (Gesturing)
I've a very pessimistic view of life. You should know this about me if we're gonna go out, you know. I-I-I feel that life is-is divided up into the horrible and the miserable.

ANNIE: M'hm.

ALVY: Those are the two categories ...

ANNIE: M'hm.

ALVY: ... you know, they're- The-the horrible would be like, uh, I don't know, terminal cases, you know?

ANNIE: M'hm.

ALVY: And blind people, crippled ...

ANNIE: Yeah.

ALVY: I don't-don't know how they get through life. It's amazing to me.

ANNIE:M'hm.

ALVY: You know, and the miserable is everyone else. That's-that's all. So-so when you go through life you should be thankful that you're miserable, because that's- You're very lucky ... to be ...
(Overlapping Annie's laughter)
... to be miserable.

ANNIE: U-huh.

[NikolaiI]

From the graying skies of Wrong and Right come forth the endless parade decadent and distinguished brainless populace that seem to rule the world. I sit back and think ‘you look upon your television screen, seeking the great divine and you never see with your true eyes. Have you watch a flower bloom? Or see beauty within a tome? No. For these things take time and a piece of mind.’ But perhaps I am ranting about my eternal hate for the idiots that walk above me. Shaded by these faded grays that seem to never leave as the leaves that are restless on streets. What can I say? I feel fairly melancholic today. But at least I am at peace with the wrongs and rights that I have lead through out my life. I feel, as I am a person below the stairs reaching out for love and care. Even though I start to see that I standing in the parlor speaking of trivial teas and careless cookies. Ah, in my ripe old age of barely six-teen I start to see that no one knows, not even me. For how could we know of the design, the map of the plan? And to seek such things would be hilarious and downright peculiar to say the very least. But still I walk on in till the day came to find not someone or something…for sadly the person that I seek is me. We all look for different things some for GOD, others for money and glory and a very few for love. But what I seek is myself. I think I am hiding under some dark shady rock. For I feel cold and untimely old as if I am obtaining some kind of mold. If you see me let me know…For I have had a hard time finding this piece of mind that I have been denying. But I bite my tongue for the time has come and past. Let me know if this feeling will last. Thank you for your time and hopefully, your very open mind.

Please tell me your thoughts.

Well, it seems like your post turns more into a question of self-hood. The beginning of The Vocation of Man, Book I, Doubt, has an interesting thing to say about that, he is talking about the meaning of life, or vocation, and he begins by talking about everything he knows, that he's sensed, and tested, and is sure of - knowledge of the world around him-, etc., and then he comes to his vocation. He realizes that unlike his knowledge of the world, everything he knows about his vocation he's learned second-hand, has been told to him, and further, at an age before he knew what he was learning. He's valued others' opinions and values higher than his own, and he realizes he is remote from himself. Anyway, that's the beginning of his journey of discovery, etc., it's a good book, it's online here:

http://www.class.uidaho.edu/mickelsen/ToC/Fichte%20-%20Vocation%20of%20Man.htm

As for the right and wrong, there's an interesting article by Alan Watts that is not about right and wrong specifically, but addresses it from the Zen perspective, here:

http://home.earthlink.net/~pkrczr/watts.htm

Just wanted to share it, Watts does an excellent job of explaining it, very enlightening.

[Moira]

Reading your post (which i liked) the lyrics of this song came to my mind:

Lyrics to "Everybody is free to wear sunscreen"
by Baz Luhrman

Ladies and Gentlemen of the class of '97,

Wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term
benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis or
reliable then my own meandering experience. I will dispense this advice....now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth. Oh, nevermind, you won't understand the power and
beauty of your youth until they've faded, but trust me in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of
yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous
you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future, or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra
equation by chewing bubblegum.

The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind: the kind that blindsides
you at 4pm on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts; don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is
long, and in the end, it's only with yourself.

Remember compliments you receive; forget the insults. (if you succeed in doing this, tell me how).

Keep your old love letters; throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people
I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives; some of the most interesting 40 year
olds I know still don't.
Get plenty of Calcium. Be kind to your knees -- you'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll
divorce at 40; maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary.

Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much or berate yourself, either. Your choices are half
chance, so are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body: use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or what other people think of it; it's the
greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance...even if you have no where to do it but in your own living room.

Read the directions (even if you don't follow them).

Do not read beauty magazines; they will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents; you never know when they'll be gone for good.

Be nice to your siblings: they're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in
the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but what a precious few should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps
and geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people you knew when you
were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard.

Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths: prices will rise, politicians will philander, you too will get old; and when you
do, you'll fantasize that when you were young, prices were reasonable, politicians were noble, and children
respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund, maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse,
but you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you are 40, it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia;
dispensing it is a way of wishing the past from the disposal--wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts, and
recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me, on the sunscreen.

[Midas]

Many, I'm sure, will relate to the 'thought process' you are currently experiencing, and not just 'teens'. These questioning thoughts will be with you all your life, but, like with most, they will come, and go, moving to higher plains as you mature and take on the responsibilities of daily adult life.

You will find, as you probably even do now, that they fade when there is something really exciting in your life which consumes those 'pensive moods'. When we are truly happy, the world is always a wonderful place.

In your opening post, you refer to 'the television screen.' When you consider what society today is forced to endure by that ubiquitous, unsleeping, box, bombarding our mind with so much superficial garbage posing as 'entertainment' and 'news' emphasising all that is bad in our life, then the confusion you are currently experiencing indicates you are, so far, standing up fairly well. (phew, that was a long 'mouthful')

In the days of Wordsworth they did not have television, if they had perhaps he would probably never have written 'The Daffodils'. In it, he describes his walk by the lake near where he lived and saw the 'dancing' daffodils in the breeze, closing this most descriptive poem with the words -

"..... I gazed-and gazed-but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude,
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the Daffodils.

Instead of reliving that joyous experience in his mind, when he had a quiet moment he would probably have been glued to that all pervasive, attention demanding, box. And if, and when, he did get a 'profound thought' period it would be filled with worrying about climate change, the latest crime figures, or terrorist activity, and was life really worth the trouble.

Someone wrote that your 'cri de coeur' reminded her of a song. It, in a way, reminded me of one. This cry for self understanding comes from one older than you, but illustrates what I said earlier that this 'questioning' of yourself, and life, will continue into maturity.

I've Never Been To Me - Charlene

Hey lady, you lady, cursing at your life
You're a discontented mother and a regimented wife
I've no doubt you dream about the things you'll never do
But, I wish someone had talked to me
Like I wanna talk to you.....

Oh, I've been to Georgia and California and anywhere I could run
I took the hand of a preacher man and we made love in the sun
But I ran out of places and friendly faces because I had to be free
I've been to paradise but I've never been to me

Please lady, please lady, don't just walk away
'Cause I have this need to tell you why I'm all alone today
I can see so much of me still living in your eyes
Won't you share a part of a weary heart that has lived million lies....

Oh, I've been to Nice and the Isle of Greece while I've sipped champagne on a yacht
I've moved like Harlow in Monte Carlo and showed 'em what I've got
I've been undressed by kings and I've seen some things that a woman ain't s'posed to see
I've been to paradise, but I've never been to me

Hey, you know what paradise is?
It's a lie, a fantasy we create about people and places as we'd like them to be
But you know what truth is?
It's that little baby you're holding, it's that man you fought with this morning
The same one you're going to make love with tonight
That's truth, that's love......

Sometimes I've been to crying for unborn children that might have made me complete
But I took the sweet life, I never knew I'd be bitter from the sweet
I've spent my life exploring the subtle whoring that costs too much to be free
Hey lady......
I've been to paradise, (I've been to paradise)
But I've never been to me.