Have We Crossed The Rubicon?

[cafolini]

Anger has been my ruin. Its not Christianity that makes me try to be a peace-maker, its the fact that I can so easily fly off the handle and go at an ignorant person like a rabid dog that makes me try with incredible effort to remain civil. Every time I turn on the television or go out and hear the talk on the street I am put to agony by the sheer thoughtlessness that seems to everywhere abound. I can let it eat me up, as I used to, or I can accept that the bulk of people operate under many false assumptions, arrive at many blundering conclusions, and if I do not want my soul to choke to death on the errors of others I have to not let it get to me. Plus, as soon as you attack someone they immediately dig a trench and instead of coming over to your position begin hurling hurtful words at you in return.

Now back to the topic at hand....... people have to become more Stoic. I am a person of deep empathy, I turn on the news, see people getting shot to death or killed by some disaster, and I often cry. But thus is the world. An arena for the gods in which mankind, as individuals and as a whole, is tormented, driven to depths of misery. The only answer is outward stoicism, and an inward appreciation for the finer things such as art and love and knowledge. We must all construct within ourselves a castle, a place of refuge from the great storm of suffering and stupidity which has raged, does rage and shall eternally rage. Art and love are my two primary avenues of coping with the state of things.

Fate is omnipotent in so far as it is beyond the control of any single or any group of men. Mankind will always be divided by geography and politics and a long assortment of other things. We are the way we are, we individuals, because of what happened a hundred, a thousand, a million years ago. We can fight fate, crusade against fate, or we can accept it and then go on to make the best of it. Making the best of fate really is the great cause every person should undertake. Because no matter how starkly awful one's fate may seem, there is still much room for personal growth and - there is love, there is art.

If I could get people to recite any mantra it would be that last one - THERE IS LOVE, THERE IS ART. THERE IS LOVE, THERE IS ART. LIFE AIN'T ALL THAT BAD!

I don't know if I would be a stoic in this context, but people that I respect, such as Camus, came to the same conclusion. I'd probably remain with my Nietzchean ways, pull out my lantern and joke upon Spinoza. "We have killed Him. [2000 years ago] What do we do now?"
Tie me kangaroo down, sport!!! Love for all. Forever.

[Freudian Monkey]

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

-Martin Luther

[RetsixArp]

[QUOTE=Darcy88;1163589]

...We do have that wolfish side, but our brains are fundamentally social. We actually are more like ants or sheep than wolves. This is obvious everywhere you look. ...

It's hard for me to imagine we're even pondering the Rubicon when accounts of human conduct are reduced to body parts & critter analogies. What's obvious to me is that my brain seldom leaps outta my skull to be social.

Scary stuff ...

[Alexander III]

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

-Martin Luther

Were the world to end tomorrow I would let the fool speak and preform his oratory till he has had his fill, and I would nod at his words and smile to him. But the world is not to end tomorrow. And there is an audience of men with ears who are looking for influence, and there is an even greater audience of men of intelligence who reason with the fool as an equal for fear of upsetting the God of democracy; I shall chastise the fool, but I shall posses no anger towards him, my anger is for those who lack the courage to call a thing by its proper name.

[Freudian Monkey]

Were the world to end tomorrow I would let the fool speak and preform his oratory till he has had his fill, and I would nod at his words and smile to him. But the world is not to end tomorrow. And there is an audience of men with ears who are looking for influence, and there is an even greater audience of men of intelligence who reason with the fool as an equal for fear of upsetting the God of democracy; I shall chastise the fool, but I shall posses no anger towards him, my anger is for those who lack the courage to call a thing by its proper name.

There is a difference between being critical and being a jerk.

I'm sorry if you got upset over my gentleman comment.

[Alexander III]

There is a difference between being critical and being a jerk.

I'm sorry if you got upset over my gentleman comment.

hhahaha, you thought I was talking about you? Why is it that everyone assumes that I was referring to them, it seems quite clear to me in this discussion to whose posts I am referring too...

[Freudian Monkey]

hhahaha, you thought I was talking about you? Why is it that everyone assumes that I was referring to them, it seems quite clear to me in this discussion to whose posts I am referring too...

I replied because you quoted my text.

And I'm sorry since you're clearly upset.

[Scheherazade]

I'd appreciate it no one called each other "fool" or "jerk" or resorted to any other kind of kindergardenesque name-calling as I have no intention of nodding and delivering fake smiles.

Please consider this a w a r n i n g.

[cacian]

"Even if I knew that tomorrow the world would go to pieces, I would still plant my apple tree."

-Martin Luther

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Ahhh the only problem here is that could you do not plant an apple tree but you will need to plant an apple seed or the fruit seed instead and that my friend would be a monumental task of its own.

[Volya]

We'll only have crossed the Rubicon, when people start to think we have. Because it's then that people will lose any hope they had left for humanity, and will resign themselves to whatever fate the worlds going to give them. As long as we think there's still hope, we'll never have truly crossed the Rubicon.

[cafolini]

We'll only have crossed the Rubicon, when people start to think we have. Because it's then that people will lose any hope they had left for humanity, and will resign themselves to whatever fate the worlds going to give them. As long as we think there's still hope, we'll never have truly crossed the Rubicon.

That's why science and humanity can no longer be confronted. It is pointless.
The only hope is strictly in Jesus and love forever.

[E.A Rumfield]

That's why science and humanity can no longer be confronted. It is pointless.
The only hope is strictly in Jesus and love forever.

Well that's not going to do anything. That's like starting a fire and asking The Easter Bunny to put it out. He won't because he isn't real.

[Volya]

That's why science and humanity can no longer be confronted. It is pointless.
The only hope is strictly in Jesus and love forever.

I'm not sure if this post is meant to be a joke or not...
If you think the only hope lies with Jesus then you should probably rethink your attitude towards life...

[cafolini]

I'm not sure if this post is meant to be a joke or not...
If you think the only hope lies with Jesus then you should probably rethink your attitude towards life...

You will have to solve those issues for yourself without ever thinking you can solve them for others. Love to you. Forever.

[cacian]

We'll only have crossed the Rubicon, when people start to think we have. Because it's then that people will lose any hope they had left for humanity, and will resign themselves to whatever fate the worlds going to give them. As long as we think there's still hope, we'll never have truly crossed the Rubicon.

Well I think we have crossed enough zebra crossings to last us a lifelong and look where we have ended up
In hospitals on death beds with a death toll of more then a billion in road users. And why? because we thought we could have the cake and eat it.
We thought we could have a car a zebra crossing a road drivers and pedestrians all at once.
The damage of it all is all too obvious.
Well I think until we have achieved NO DEATHS on the roads then we are nowhere near crossing anything let alone the rubicon.