And as Megan says, our culture's consumerist preoccupation with stuff and celebrity trivia is a huge distraction from the challenge of long-term, sustainable, real human flourishing. Shopping is not the solution.
But neither is whining. I stand by my dawn post, and the Schulzian insight that happiness can be anyone and anything that engages and sustains your passion. Maybe that's the most sympathetic way of translating "Bashar's" talk of vibrations and excitement.
The medium was not Tara's message, "acting on your joy" is timeless wisdom, and it doesn't take a "multi-dimensional" future-world spirit with a cheesy accent to tell us so. A new attitude really can change the quality of your experience, which after all is inseparable from reality as you know it. Our oppressors (capitalist and otherwise) can't take that away.
Kevin passes along a nice message from Alan Watts (he's from the fairly-recent past, btw): don't forget to sing and dance along your way to "success" and happiness:
Charles Darwin (
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I know people that complain if Face Book has glitches that cost them a little more time to sent a message. How absurd! It's a free service that allows you the ease of being in contact with people all over the world in a instant.... Geesh, What's to complain about?
I think Bob's video summed it up nicely. It had everything but the puppy! =-)
If Megan is correct about the idiocies of the general public, maybe they are more likely to heed the advice of a "multi-dimensional" future-world spirit with a cheesy accent."
It’s a sad commentary when someone feels passionate enough to speak out against an issue, yet boldly claims to partake of and enjoy its spoils.
On the other hand, there is such a thing as a happy pessimist. Schopenhauer was not the last guy who liked to complain... and he had his puppies, too. I'm happy to share the planet with pessimists and complainers, so long as they don't try to take more than their share. Multi-dimensional beings, though, really ought to go back to the future. We should stand on our own feet, no?
I’m not sure I understand; “More than their share” of what? Happiness? Love? Virtue? Humanity? It seems to me that all the really important things to most people are the things we create, not the things we can get. So our supplies are infinite. I am fine with pessimists and complainers as long as they don’t want to prevent me from creating my (each of us as individuals) bliss.
Don’t tell me that what is needed is “bigger government” to keep the mass population (“of idiots”) under control. Like that’s what we need a 1930’s/40’s German government. (no one would be able to “stand on their own two feet” then)
As for “Multi-dimensional beings”…embrace the diversity, live and let live, who knows we may have a few in our happiness 101 class. And it seems to me that everyone seems to be appropriately, happily opinionated! I am a happy camper! =-)
The planet: their share of the planet. There's not an infinite supply of that. We all breathe the same air etc.
"Live and let live," of course. I just want "Darryl" to speak for himself, and not try to invoke the contrived authority of some would-be pan-dimensional whozzit who claims to know more than you and I do. We should all try to speak for ourselves, and bring a little critical acuity to our evaluation of others' (free) speech.
In reality the planet belongs to no one. We’re mere inhabitance for a brief period of time. We will all perish eventually and the Earth will remain. (We will too in a sense, because we will become part of it as our remains turn to dust). As for the immediate future and our place it, it is the attitude that there is power in ownership and I have to get “my share”; that causes so much distress. Each individual (or country) decides what they feel is a fair distribution so that they can have their “share”. Why do we feel the need to have our fair share of the planet? Property, resources, power? Maybe we should just divide the square footage of earth by its number of inhabitants and everyone gets the same amount of land. But that wouldn’t be fair because the Earth’s recourses wouldn’t be evenly distributed; and what about the animals, do they get the same consideration? Until we as human beings can stop thinking in such limited terms there will always be power struggles and unfortunately violence and war. Do I think this is possible? Sure, anything is possible.
Thanks Phil for the exchange of thoughts.
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