What actions brings us closer or further away to/from the light

[old3bob]

 

Oh my goodness, "my" truth is not the nut we are cracking about,  its the truth(s) of millions of people that are suffering and those that are not afraid to mention it reasonably and with proven facts.  Where in any spiritual precept or order is such not an issue, including Buddhism with its core teachings about suffering in any or all forms?

 

 Enjoying "grumpy crustiness" sounds like something in the eye of the beholder...and you are welcome ;-)  Btw I'll give it some rest.

  .

Edited 15 hours ago by old3bob

[liminal_luke]

If I disagree with a veiled political post, what options do I have?  No good ones.  To reply back stating my contrary opinion would be to disrespect my fellow Bums (many of whom don´t want to read about my politics), to disrespect the mods (who are trying), and to violate my own values.  To say nothing would be to accept that other people -- but not me -- are allowed to talk about "current events."  

 

Back to the light (or, perhaps better yet, the darkness).

Edited 14 hours ago by liminal_luke

[old3bob]

24 minutes ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

 

yes, and they are set for the harmony of the group, for the health, peace, and well-being of the community

also known as "plays well with others"

 

 

if you join and take vows under a particular teacher and order that is far more applicable than here with our widely eclectic group ranging from A-Z.  Where btw. anti-god or no-god folks can also roam without being nixed, and who are not in harmony with those that are 180 degrees from where they are at.  So please don't lecture about there being one big happy community of like thinkers or people.  We have more like total diversity which can get messy but is also flexible and can be instructive.  Another thing imo that does not help such diversity is the unspoken cowardice of downvotes except when used for gross or violent attacks on other members.

[Cobie]

 

19 hours ago, Nungali said:

… When its cold he gets his 'beenie'  on 

 

   
 

 

Edited 15 hours ago by Cobie

[stirling]

46 minutes ago, old3bob said:

Enjoying "grumpy crustiness" sounds like something in the eye of the beholder...and you are welcome ;-)  Btw I'll give it some rest.

 

 

_/\_

[BigSkyDiamond]

44 minutes ago, old3bob said:

can get messy but is also flexible and can be instructive.  

And most instructive of all, are the natural consequences which flow as a result of speech and actions.  

[Cobie]

 

1 hour ago, old3bob said:

… I'll give it some rest.

Thank you. 
 

 

[Nungali]

10 hours ago, Apech said:

Playing the hatchling, my friend?

 

I don't know , because I don't do gaming  ( if that's what the reference is about )

 

"Playing the Hatchling" can refer to a few different things depending on the context. It could be about the Hatchling Run event in Squad Busters, a game mode focused on defending a central "hatchling hut" from waves of enemies. It could also refer to the Path of Titans dinosaur game, where players can hatch from an egg and play as a baby dinosaur. Additionally, "Hatchling" can refer to a weapon perk in Destiny 2 that spawns threadlings on precision or multi-kills ...."

 

? 

 

Or maybe you meant 

 

don't be a puggle '  ? 

 

[Nungali]

10 hours ago, Apech said:

Playing the hatchling, my friend?

 

 

Ahhhh ... it was about old3bob  thinly veiled references to the  insane political machinations at present . 

 

hey guys ... just because I am smart sometimes  and with some things 

 

doesn't mean I cant have my own turn at being stupid . 

 

Actually , I demand to have my turn at being stupid !   It isn't fair otherwise ! 

 

 

 

 

 

- Gawd I hate that song !   

[old3bob]

3 hours ago, stirling said:

 

 

_/\_

 

 U2

[Taomeow]

Things aren't what they seem.  Our perceptions have little to do with reality and are instead the outcome of filtering the input through multiple pre-installed prisms that can (and do) do a number on the incoming light.  What is worse, the incoming light -- or what we perceive as light, as truth, as reality -- is, in the case of any incomplete, lacking personal participation, indirect, manipulated, or outright fake picture presented to us is pre-filtered for us through someone else's carefully installed prisms.  Ulteriorly distorted, mind you. 

The range of distortion may vary, from slight to total.  Yet perceiving a totally distorted picture can be every bit as convincing to the observer as looking at an absolutely accurate one.  More so, because distortions tax the brain, it's scientific fact (established in experiments with very young children, too young to have learned to lie) that lies require of our brain the kind of equilibristics and contortions that the rest of what we are can't possibly accept, and that's the beginning of the split, of the fragmentation of consciousness.  The outcome may vary -- from mild stupidity to profound mental disorders.       

 

(Caption: "The brain doesn't immediately understand what's going on in this picture." ) 

[old3bob]

51 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

 

Ahhhh ... it was about old3bob  thinly veiled references to the  insane political machinations at present . 

 

hey guys ... just because I am smart sometimes  and with some things 

 

doesn't mean I cant have my own turn at being stupid . 

 

Actually , I demand to have my turn at being stupid !   It isn't fair otherwise ! 

 

- Gawd I hate that song !   

 

Gomer wasn't really stupid besides he could really belt out a song!

 

 

[BigSkyDiamond]

15 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

Things aren't what they seem.  Our perceptions have little to do with reality

 Ulteriorly distorted, mind you. The range of distortion may vary, from slight to total.  

 

yes i agree.  ALL perception is distorted.  ALL of it.

[Taomeow]

7 minutes ago, BigSkyDiamond said:

 

yes i agree.  ALL perception is distorted.  ALL of it.

 

Well, we could go into physics or neuroscience or religion/philosophy from here, but I prefer to define "distortions" on species-specific terms.  Whales have dichromatic vision, only discerning shades of yellow and blue -- but it doesn't mean their eyesight is more distorted than ours, or less.  It's adequate for the species.  If perceptions work long term (in terms of evolutionary spans of time -- tens of millions of years or longer) toward a species surviving and (importantly) thriving, I say its perceptions are not distorted, they are selected and are doing their job adequately.  No one can perceive "everything" if we want life on Earth.  Similarly, no one can perceive "nothing" and be alive.  So selected perceptions is the normal state of affairs that is a prerequisite for both biodiversity and survival of particular species.  

 

We are experimental, we haven't been around long enough to draw conclusions -- but I've a hunch we don't operate a set of selected human perceptions that are accurate and life-supporting anymore.  If we ever get ourselves out of this perceptive mess, we may still straighten out our plight...  time will tell.  But what it "tells" right now is not very encouraging IMO.  To paraphrase a well-known maxim, you can fool all your perceptions some of the time, and you can fool some of your perceptions all of the time, but you can't fool all your perceptions all of the time.    

[Cobie]

 

2 hours ago, Nungali said:

… puggle 

Depends on where you live  (I didn’t know either one).

Edited 10 hours ago by Cobie

[liminal_luke]

People commonly have opinions on all sorts of things they have no business being certain about.  Is it better for some random person on the street to be a vegetarian or eat meat?  What´s really happening in a country I´ve never been to half way around the world?  Should so-and-so still live with their parents, smoke less pot, have more or less sex?  I know so much less than I think I do, a fact that I find counterintuitively reassuring.  Contemplating my uncertainty brings me closer to "the light."

[Lairg]

23 minutes ago, liminal_luke said:

People commonly have opinions on all sorts of things they have no business being certain about.

 

Perhaps some gnostics could help

 

[Nungali]

6 hours ago, Taomeow said:

Things aren't what they seem.  Our perceptions have little to do with reality and are instead the outcome of filtering the input through multiple pre-installed prisms that can (and do) do a number on the incoming light.  What is worse, the incoming light -- or what we perceive as light, as truth, as reality -- is, in the case of any incomplete, lacking personal participation, indirect, manipulated, or outright fake picture presented to us is pre-filtered for us through someone else's carefully installed prisms.  Ulteriorly distorted, mind you. 

The range of distortion may vary, from slight to total.  Yet perceiving a totally distorted picture can be every bit as convincing to the observer as looking at an absolutely accurate one.  More so, because distortions tax the brain, it's scientific fact (established in experiments with very young children, too young to have learned to lie) that lies require of our brain the kind of equilibristics and contortions that the rest of what we are can't possibly accept, and that's the beginning of the split, of the fragmentation of consciousness.  The outcome may vary -- from mild stupidity to profound mental disorders.       

 

(Caption: "The brain doesn't immediately understand what's going on in this picture." ) 

 

 

Ooo oooo!  I wanna play .   Its temporal     ( as I scroll down .) 

 

Someone has a slot drain in their shower Like I do , but for some reason its got a metal grill and the drain is blocked and water is flowing backwards out of it onto that horrible bathroom carpet .... What idiot carpets the inside of their shower   !  

 

Half way down bubbles appear in the streams of water that look like silver now and  ........ < squint >   Hey ! They ain't bubbles   .... them those little marks that tell you it IS silver .  I cant make out a  ' K' or a 'crossed out  O '  ... so they just a bunch of forks . . .  lying on a fine toweling 80s era Flashdance  wide sweat/hair band . 

[Nungali]

8 hours ago, old3bob said:

 

Gomer wasn't really stupid besides he could really belt out a song!

 

 

 

Don't worry ... Gomer had his moderator as well ; 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

7 hours ago, liminal_luke said:

People commonly have opinions on all sorts of things they have no business being certain about.  Is it better for some random person on the street to be a vegetarian or eat meat?  What´s really happening in a country I´ve never been to half way around the world?  Should so-and-so still live with their parents, smoke less pot, have more or less sex?  I know so much less than I think I do, a fact that I find counterintuitively reassuring.  Contemplating my uncertainty brings me closer to "the light."