“To think that we grasp the fullness of life is to say that by holding a mere drop of water in our hands we are able to understand the immensity of the ocean.”
Great article and I agree with Gary. The problem is that most people don't have the time to reflect. The state has the workers running from dawn to dark. Work, constant work now that the workers carry their slave phones. Child care is a nightmare of time and energy. Traffic or slow mass transit in dangerous conveyances eats up more time and energy. Who has time to reflect on the philosophical issues? The workers are stressed to the max.
Old retirees like me have the time to reflect, but no one listens to grumpy to old men. All I can do is write the odd email to City Councilmen or the local paper or make jokes at the stores. Or comment online like this.
I'm still reading books and articles. I watch videos from all over the world. I notice things around me. I'm only in charge of my life.
What irks me Timmy, is the younger generation wants to blame the "boomers" for all the ills that surround us and yet it wasn't our generation that shit canned the state militias or allowed the stealing of the monetary system via the Federal Reserve Act or that sat by while the legislatures passed shit gun laws like the National Firearms Act in 1934. That's what I don't get. What were they thinking back then? The same as today because you see most people are just mediocre minded cowardly conformists because it's comfortable and simple. You and I are not one of those people. It's been that way all the way back to when the first psychopath started what is claimed to be "civilization."
The problem is not that people don't have the time to reflect, but that they don't have the desire, courage, and willingness to step out into the unknown and to admit/discard wrong ways of thinking whenever they are realized. It requires that one changes the way he thinks and brings up the issue of embracing an idea which might have once been vehemently avoided. Many people simply are not willing to go down that road and, therefore, live their lives in the chains, darkness, and comfort of "the devil we know".
This is probably due to fear more than anything else. Fear of the unknown. Fear of change. Fear of being different. Fear of social ostracism and ridicule. Fear of being wrong. Fear of discovering that wrong. And on, and on, and on. Fear in the minds of men is the fertile breeding ground of tyrants and slavers everywhere. The only way to overcome this is to stop being afraid.
As to your question about who has the time--I submit that everyone has the time, they just don't take advantage of it. It is a matter of priorities. We all make decisions about our time and those can be adjusted. For instance, in the daily commutes most of us make, there is no reason why podcasts, audiotapes, etc., cannot be listened to. If the commute is half an hour long each way, a full discussion can be heard over the course of one week. A new language could be learned this way. College course or world-class lectures could be heard. All without ever losing any time.
Man is born free. From that moment, he is progressively shackled and enslaved until the time when he breaks free and experiences a mental (spiritual?) rebirth. From that moment onward, there is no limit to the freedom he can experience--if he wants to. Sadly, most people will never be "born again". Instead, they will remain in the dark.
Roger, have you commuted by car in a major city in the USA? It's a nightmare. Any distraction while driving can get you killed. Trying to concentrate on an audiotape while commuting in a big city would be dangerous.
People may well be fearful of the truth. I don't have time for these humans. I discard them from my thoughts and world.
There are people like us who do wish to reflect, learn, and even dream, but day to day life crushes the time they have. The days for that quiet beer or two at the bar after work are gone. The martini lunches are gone. The DUI laws have killed socializing at pubs in Ireland. Everyone hides in their homey/holes and watches drivel on TV because they are exhausted.
I live in a small town of 12,000. 20 years ago, weekend nights were thriving with traffic, folks in bars, theaters,... now this town closes up at dark every night. Sharing ideas and stories with others is how we learn. That's why the lockdowns closed gathering places, but left WalMart open.
I spent almost 10 years driving in and around Jacksonville, FL, which, at the time I left the area, had over 2 million people living in the metro area. I know what commutes in traffic are and I know, from experience, what inattention and distraction can cause. Been there, done that.
That being said, I will stand by my statement. There is no good reason for anyone to learn, to contemplate, to reason, to adapt, to change--except that they don't want to. To say that there is no time for that is an excuse for personal irresponsibility and time management. All of us have the same amount of time. What we do with that time is what determines our future and our destiny. Some will use it to better themselves. Some will not.
Regardless, all have the opportunity AND the time. It is a matter of what we want out of life, what we are willing to live with, to settle for, and what cost we pay to better ourselves. Some have what it takes, most don't. Let's not make excuses for those who don't have it.
Hi Roger, My second paragraph in my comment above makes it clear that I dismiss those too lazy, fearful, or even ignorant to reason, though people with low IQs have an excuse. Poor nutrition in childhood does lead to lower IQs. So do stupid social policies like lockdowns. These unfortunates do get a pass from me.
But let's take Donald Trump "The smartest man I know." Donald Trump. The guy doesn't read anything, maybe financial spreadsheets. I doubt if Kamala Harris does either. "Oh, it was too much paperwork to read and deal with. That's why I don't prosecute white collar crime in San Francisco." Kamala Harris.
I remember a famous politician who said,"Senator so-and-so is a good honest man, but he's lazy. Too lazy to take on a big job like cleaning up the (insert your most corrupt government agency here.)"
It is a bad, perhaps immoral, idea to judge others, but I can and do ignore them if they bore me or do evil. Self-defense against an ignorant mob doesn't do much. More and more I'm becoming a hermit. All of the points you make just confirms my life style choice.
Gary, hopefully the day we meet you won't mind if I do a Vulcan "Mind Meld" on you because I want to absorb some of your creative writing wit. The amount of sarcastic humor you project is beyond the pale and makes me laugh so often I'm going to get a disease from laughing so much. And the research and amount of knowledge that you've managed to pack between your ears is astounding. I look forward to the day I can get a picture of you with my friend Barrett. Another good one that is spot on. The bulk of Humanity fits most people are just mediocre minded cowardly conformists because it's comfortable and simple. You and I both are not one of those people.
I cannot remember who the author was, and I will be paraphrasing his statement, but I think this sums up what is happening to our intelligent levels these days. Roughly, he stated that we have the greatest amount of college graduates in history, but yet our intelligent level has not increased one iota. in fact, it has absolutely regressed. Don’t like to quote movies, because a lot of them are just Hollywood bullshit, but there was a great concept in a movie called Idiocracy about 15 years ago. The only thing that I disagreed with was the fact that they blamed large corporations for the decline and intelligence. no, the decline in intelligence is because of government. It is my personal opinion that the problem with the schools, besides the indoctrination aspect, is that the schools are teaching students what to think, or what they believe they should think, instead of how to think. But, I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing a book written by GARY, that would surpass all other anarchist books ever written.
Great article and I agree with Gary. The problem is that most people don't have the time to reflect. The state has the workers running from dawn to dark. Work, constant work now that the workers carry their slave phones. Child care is a nightmare of time and energy. Traffic or slow mass transit in dangerous conveyances eats up more time and energy. Who has time to reflect on the philosophical issues? The workers are stressed to the max.
Old retirees like me have the time to reflect, but no one listens to grumpy to old men. All I can do is write the odd email to City Councilmen or the local paper or make jokes at the stores. Or comment online like this.
I'm still reading books and articles. I watch videos from all over the world. I notice things around me. I'm only in charge of my life.
What irks me Timmy, is the younger generation wants to blame the "boomers" for all the ills that surround us and yet it wasn't our generation that shit canned the state militias or allowed the stealing of the monetary system via the Federal Reserve Act or that sat by while the legislatures passed shit gun laws like the National Firearms Act in 1934. That's what I don't get. What were they thinking back then? The same as today because you see most people are just mediocre minded cowardly conformists because it's comfortable and simple. You and I are not one of those people. It's been that way all the way back to when the first psychopath started what is claimed to be "civilization."
Hi, Timmy,
The problem is not that people don't have the time to reflect, but that they don't have the desire, courage, and willingness to step out into the unknown and to admit/discard wrong ways of thinking whenever they are realized. It requires that one changes the way he thinks and brings up the issue of embracing an idea which might have once been vehemently avoided. Many people simply are not willing to go down that road and, therefore, live their lives in the chains, darkness, and comfort of "the devil we know".
This is probably due to fear more than anything else. Fear of the unknown. Fear of change. Fear of being different. Fear of social ostracism and ridicule. Fear of being wrong. Fear of discovering that wrong. And on, and on, and on. Fear in the minds of men is the fertile breeding ground of tyrants and slavers everywhere. The only way to overcome this is to stop being afraid.
As to your question about who has the time--I submit that everyone has the time, they just don't take advantage of it. It is a matter of priorities. We all make decisions about our time and those can be adjusted. For instance, in the daily commutes most of us make, there is no reason why podcasts, audiotapes, etc., cannot be listened to. If the commute is half an hour long each way, a full discussion can be heard over the course of one week. A new language could be learned this way. College course or world-class lectures could be heard. All without ever losing any time.
Man is born free. From that moment, he is progressively shackled and enslaved until the time when he breaks free and experiences a mental (spiritual?) rebirth. From that moment onward, there is no limit to the freedom he can experience--if he wants to. Sadly, most people will never be "born again". Instead, they will remain in the dark.
Roger, have you commuted by car in a major city in the USA? It's a nightmare. Any distraction while driving can get you killed. Trying to concentrate on an audiotape while commuting in a big city would be dangerous.
People may well be fearful of the truth. I don't have time for these humans. I discard them from my thoughts and world.
There are people like us who do wish to reflect, learn, and even dream, but day to day life crushes the time they have. The days for that quiet beer or two at the bar after work are gone. The martini lunches are gone. The DUI laws have killed socializing at pubs in Ireland. Everyone hides in their homey/holes and watches drivel on TV because they are exhausted.
I live in a small town of 12,000. 20 years ago, weekend nights were thriving with traffic, folks in bars, theaters,... now this town closes up at dark every night. Sharing ideas and stories with others is how we learn. That's why the lockdowns closed gathering places, but left WalMart open.
I spent almost 10 years driving in and around Jacksonville, FL, which, at the time I left the area, had over 2 million people living in the metro area. I know what commutes in traffic are and I know, from experience, what inattention and distraction can cause. Been there, done that.
That being said, I will stand by my statement. There is no good reason for anyone to learn, to contemplate, to reason, to adapt, to change--except that they don't want to. To say that there is no time for that is an excuse for personal irresponsibility and time management. All of us have the same amount of time. What we do with that time is what determines our future and our destiny. Some will use it to better themselves. Some will not.
Regardless, all have the opportunity AND the time. It is a matter of what we want out of life, what we are willing to live with, to settle for, and what cost we pay to better ourselves. Some have what it takes, most don't. Let's not make excuses for those who don't have it.
Hi Roger, My second paragraph in my comment above makes it clear that I dismiss those too lazy, fearful, or even ignorant to reason, though people with low IQs have an excuse. Poor nutrition in childhood does lead to lower IQs. So do stupid social policies like lockdowns. These unfortunates do get a pass from me.
But let's take Donald Trump "The smartest man I know." Donald Trump. The guy doesn't read anything, maybe financial spreadsheets. I doubt if Kamala Harris does either. "Oh, it was too much paperwork to read and deal with. That's why I don't prosecute white collar crime in San Francisco." Kamala Harris.
I remember a famous politician who said,"Senator so-and-so is a good honest man, but he's lazy. Too lazy to take on a big job like cleaning up the (insert your most corrupt government agency here.)"
It is a bad, perhaps immoral, idea to judge others, but I can and do ignore them if they bore me or do evil. Self-defense against an ignorant mob doesn't do much. More and more I'm becoming a hermit. All of the points you make just confirms my life style choice.
Gary, hopefully the day we meet you won't mind if I do a Vulcan "Mind Meld" on you because I want to absorb some of your creative writing wit. The amount of sarcastic humor you project is beyond the pale and makes me laugh so often I'm going to get a disease from laughing so much. And the research and amount of knowledge that you've managed to pack between your ears is astounding. I look forward to the day I can get a picture of you with my friend Barrett. Another good one that is spot on. The bulk of Humanity fits most people are just mediocre minded cowardly conformists because it's comfortable and simple. You and I both are not one of those people.
I cannot remember who the author was, and I will be paraphrasing his statement, but I think this sums up what is happening to our intelligent levels these days. Roughly, he stated that we have the greatest amount of college graduates in history, but yet our intelligent level has not increased one iota. in fact, it has absolutely regressed. Don’t like to quote movies, because a lot of them are just Hollywood bullshit, but there was a great concept in a movie called Idiocracy about 15 years ago. The only thing that I disagreed with was the fact that they blamed large corporations for the decline and intelligence. no, the decline in intelligence is because of government. It is my personal opinion that the problem with the schools, besides the indoctrination aspect, is that the schools are teaching students what to think, or what they believe they should think, instead of how to think. But, I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing a book written by GARY, that would surpass all other anarchist books ever written.
Truly beautiful article Gary. ❤😢