Aliveness

[Bon]

::edit:: Edited September 29, 2002 by Bon

[Taikudo-ka]

Be careful Bon, you're treading mighty close to enlightenment there...

 

Still, most people are incapable of thinking beyond stereotypes and symbols, so ridiculous phrases like "I am a doctor" or "I am a student" or "I am a capitalist" suit their purposes. (Those really awake will realize that the last sentence commits the same offense).

 

See these links for an article on what is called "E-Prime", i.e. English without a form of the verb "to be".

 

http://www.nobeliefs.com/eprime.htm

 

or

 

http://www.rawilson.com/quantum.html (a less PC version of the same article, contains some 'profanity').

 

For what it's worth, the author, RA Wilson, was actually editor of Playboy back in the 70s. He is now a "guerilla ontologist", specializing in blowing away your perceptions of reality.

 

But anyway, you know that trying to define yourself based on who you REALLY are (whatever that means) is probably the hardest thing in the world. Can you even remember? It's easier to take a popular image or stereotype, and live up/down to that instead. You are right that anyone who doesn't will be branded eccentric. In life, people seem to constantly make assumptions about me based on stereotypes. They are almost always wrong. I've found "friends" of many years believing the strangest things about me... or acting shocked when I deviate from their bromide view of who I am.

[omnifinite]

Now the question is, is "growth" a measurement requiring the perceptions/ideas of others? Being entirely free of external standards, wouldn't you simply be "different" than you were the day before? What's the use of "better" or "worse" in a vacuum?

 

Someone losing their mind might decide that ending some random person's life would be a step towards personal "growth". He might feel very accomplished, but the outside world would consider him dangerous and deranged... a conclusion he might be better off listening to for his sake.

 

The external can probably be a useful tool (hence its existence at all), but it should be used very very carefully.