Thoughts About Life & Stuff

---

Life

• Generosity is better than charity.
• The best use of competition is to inspire cooperation.
• Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence
• Never attribute to genius what can be explained by coincidence.
• Never argue in a discussion.  Never discuss in an argument.
• In a discussion, the participants try to understand each other.  In an argument, the participants try to refute each other.
• Do not make the mistake of assuming you are smarter than someone else.  You can, however, be more careful.
• Don't expect that once your circumstances change for the better, you will also.  Change on a personal level requires force of will.
• There is no such thing as a catch 22. There are always options if you want them bad enough, and you look hard enough. There are always more options than the ones presented to you.
• You can do anything you set your mind to, given enough time and determination, provided it is within the realm of possibility.
• The advantage of youth is in not knowing your limitations.
• Be more concerned about living life than avoiding death. For example, don't smoking because it will kill you, stop smoking because it stinks and reduces your ability to enjoy tastes and smells, and reduces your ability to to reach your athletic potential.
• Success is attaining your own goals, and not someone else's. Success is the progressive obtainment of a worthwhile goal or objective (...so western).
• To be of any real, enduring value, the achievement of a goal must become a step toward the achievement of an even greater goal, and not an end in itself.
• A man without vision is lost. (The Bible)
• Ignorance is bliss, for it does not know how much it is missing.
• It is better to feel pain then to feel nothing at all. Dead men feel no pain.
• Profanity is the poor mans punctuation.()
• The essence of beauty is in making the complex appear simple.
• Attitudes are like credit cards; most everyone has at least two these days, the only people who are impressed by them are the few who don’t have them yet, and you can us them all you want now, but you will have to pay for it later.
• Guilt comes from our belief that our "goodness" is based in ourselves.
• Most everybody likes to think of themselves as ‘good people’.
• Everybody wants others to think of them as good people, no matter how much they proclaim that they "..don’t care what others think."
• Most everyone thinks they are doing ‘good’ regardless of their true motivation.
• Given the three previous statements, be skeptical when someone who tells you that some person or group is evil or has deliberately evil intentions.  They are probably trying to promote their own opinions or agenda.
• Who you are, is directly related to where you are and when you are.
• It is not wise to be completely objective. Most people exaggerate the truth in their favor, and so they assume you will do the same.
• If we are too open-minded, people will stick things in while we’re not looking.()
• We understand others by understanding ourselves. We use our own thoughts and behavior patterns as a model for understanding other peoples thoughts and behavior patterns.
• The only way to truly understand people is to talk to them.
• Most people are highly intelligent.  Most people are highly emotional.  The latter prevents the former from being useful.
• Everything we do effects everyone else.  No one lives in a vacuum.  No man is an island.  Consenting adults in the privacy of their own home still affect society by their actions.
• Real life makes for cynical fiction.
• Small minded people make a lot of opinions.  Open minded people make a lot of observations.
• Having no opinions, or condoning everything, does not mean one is open minded, it means one is ignorant.
• There are three kinds of drivers; the Conscientious, the Selfish, and the Oblivious.
• Some drivers think they are conscientious, because they are concerned about how other drivers will impact their ability to drive however they want, e.g. selfish.
• Some drivers think they are conscientious because they are more concerned about exercizing/imposing their "good driving" behaviour then with making the drive easier for others, e.g. selfish
• Oblivious drivers aren't aware that they are oblivious, e.g. selfish.
• There is mostly one kind of driver.

Love (Men and Women)

• Men & Women
  • A woman can turn any activity into a relationship building exercise.
  • Women talk about sex more than men, but think about it less.
  • Women breed men for all the things they say they hate about men.
  • Women complain about being judged by men according to their beauty, and yet they go to great lengths to appear beautiful.
  • Women have a natural desire to have others think they are beautiful.
  • Women complain that men act like kids but then treat them like children.
  • Women want men to be passive, sensitive, and thoughtful, unless they are in danger.
  • Women like to complain about men.  It doesn't mean they don't like men, it just means they like to complain about them.
  • Women don't create life, they just generate it.
  • Men complain about women who don't like them.
  • Men mistakenly think that women attempt to look good in order to please or impress them.  When in reality the woman is just hoping the man will help her look good.
  • Men like to build things.  Women like to build relationships.
  • Men like things.  Women like people.
  • Men get angry at things.  Women get angry at people.
  • Men like challenges.  Women like security.
  • Men pass.  Women tailgate.
  • Men have no reservations about fighting/arguing with other men in public, but prefer to fight/argue with women in private.
  • Women have no reservations about fighting/arguing with men in public, or women either for that matter.
• Love
  • A successful relationship requires work by BOTH partners.  If only one partner is working, it will not succeed.
  • Different people need different things in order to feel loved.
  • One of the keys to a successful relationship is learning how to express love to your partner in a way that they will understand it.
  • The small things matter more than the big ones.
  • The longer a couple lives together before getting married, the more likely it is that their marriage will fail
  • Don't marry someone because you can live with them, marry someone because you can't live without them.
  • If it's working, don't mess with it.

Virtue

• Pride and dignity should come as a result of doing the things we have to do to survive. Everything else is vanity.
• Endurance is the greatest of all virtues. “Blue devils and spooks respect endurance.” (Night Of The Iguana, by Tennessee Williams)
• Inconsistency is not hypocrisy, merely imperfection.  True hypocrisy is promoting opinions that one does not believe in.
• Hypocritical behavior does not reflect poorly on the message, only on the person.
• The more amoral a society becomes, the more it despises hypocrisy.
• It is more noble to judge actions than people, but hardly anyone will notice the difference.
• Candidness (Forthrightness) is mostly appreciated in movies. ()
• The 4 cardinal virtues
  • The Character Virtues:
    • Temperance - Self control and the ability to put off pleasure (the opposites would be self indulgence and insensitivity)
    • Courage - Enduring for the sake of a goal
    • Fair-mindedness - Regard for others.  Sympathy and empathy.
  • The Intellectual Virtue:
    • Prudence - Self motivation and self direction.

Society & Morality

• The most successful social system is the one which best recognizes human nature.
• The social system which allows for the greatest degree of self deception is also the one which creates the greatest amount of happiness.
• There is only one true resource available to any society, and that is its people.
• The purpose of a society is to perpetuate itself.  Government's main job is to ensure that this happens.  Other goals such as liberty and justice are secondary.
• The goals of any non totalitarian society are security, freedom, and order, for an extended period.  Different societies value these goals differently.
• Society determines what is right based on its goals and/or ideology.
• Freedom and security are diametrically apposed.  When you maximize one, you minimize the other.  Technology tends to alleviate this problem.  Increases in population density tend to exacerbate this problem.
• There is a growing trend in western society to try and dictate which beliefs are correct or acceptable, based on certain current humanistic moral values.  People say "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion," but they don't mean it anymore.
• It's quite easy to condone all behavior and ridicule anyone who stands for what they believe is right.  But in doing so you mock those who take the moral responsibilities which protect our freedom and the blessings of society which we all enjoy.
• Laws do not enforce morality, they replace it.
• The Cycle of Radical Reform
  I. An injustice is found. Someone recognizes the injustice, usually the victim, and decides to do something about it.
  II. The movement is formed. Others, sympathetic to the cause, join together to fight the injustice.
  III. The movement gains credibility. The general population begins to hear about the injustice.
  IV. The movement becomes popular. Many people see the injustice and feel that it is wrong. Public opinion is changing in the movements favor.
  V. The movement attempts to force reform. The general population sees the need for change, but the movement wants the change to be instant and sweeping. The movement tries to enact legislation to force the change
  VI. The movement alienates itself. The general population resents the use of force (see #15 above). The movement begins to face new opposition and lose support.
  VII. The movement gets a martyr complex. The movement goes back to phase III.
• Shifts in society's morals are usually a reaction to a previous shift (like a swinging pendulum).
• Widespread changes to social morals are almost never the result of one person or group, but rather occur like the swinging of a pendulum, or the changing of a tide.
• As a society losses its moral bearing, it becomes more and more concerned with hypocrisy.  The same is true of an individual.
• The lone voice is seldom heard. 
• It is impossible to predict the behavior of an individual, but it is possible to predict the behavior of large groups of people.
• In sociology, the apparent soundness of an idea or solution often has little bearing on its true soundness.  You usually have to test an idea, try it out, to see if its right.
• There IS such a thing as bad culture.  A culture can be measured by it's society's ability to achieve happiness and prosperity for it members.

Psychology

• The essence of imagination is the ability to see, hear, or otherwise experience that which does not exist.
• Creativity is the ability to bring into being that which has only been imagined.
• The easiest way to feel good about yourself is to feel bad about someone else.  As a result, anyone who holds themselves to a higher standard will be the target of criticism by those with lower standards.
• People who believe they are "Open Minded", are often close minded in a way that is different from the people they don't agree with.
• Our minds are a conglomeration of competing impulses, made to seem like one voice.  So don't expect people to act consistently, its not natural.   
• Our basic drives, needs and motivations are amoral.  But how we direct these motivations determines whether or not we are moral. 
• People tend to readily believe things which;
  • are reinforced by, or fit in with, how they feel about life, or that particular thing,
  • fit in with how they wish things were.
• With few exceptions, we believe things because we want to, and not because they are logical, or make sense.
• A man convinced against his will is of the same opinion still.()
• People tend to act on their beliefs and not on logic or reason.
• People can not be counted on to do what is in their best interest.
• Our personalities are made up of layers.  Top to bottom, these layers are Ideas and Feelings, Beliefs, Emotional Needs, Physical Needs.
• Two views on Consciousness:
  1. People are like onions.  When you peal away all the layers nothing is left.  Yet the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, and this is the source of consciousness.
  2. People are like golf balls.  There is something that is the essence of me, my consciousness, beneath all the layers, but I can't get to it.
• No one comes to know himself through introspection or in the solitude of his personal diary.  Rather, it is in dialogue with his meeting with other people.  (Paul Tournier - Swiss Psychiatrist)

Truth & Wisdom

• Wisdom can be learned, but it can not be discovered, without knowledge.
• Truth can be learned, but it can not be discovered without experience.
• Stubbornness is not a substitute for Information.
• Being right is a lot of work.  Its easier to just believe you are right.   And its easier to believe you are right if you agree with the people around you.
• When dogma is right it is a powerful force for good.  The reverse is also true.
• Rhetoric to Dogma - When rhetoric becomes common place, we begin to forget the reasoning behind it, and it becomes dogma.
• Fact to Paradigm - Given a few facts, someone will have the insight to fit them together to form a picture.  If they like the picture, then other facts are sought that also fit in the picture.  Eventually, all facts are made to fit into the picture.
• Belief is the first step towards any goal.
• All belief systems make certain assumptions, even the Objectivists (Ayn Rand...)
• In a subjective situation, the obvious solution to a problem is often the wrong one.  This is when wisdom is required to make the right decision.
• Know why you believe what you believe. Don't believe something just because someone else does.
• The only significant measure of a belief system or philosophy is how well it works in practice.
• As human beings, we crave absolutes, and yet we are afraid of them because they limit our options.
• Determinism is an easy philosophy to defend, but it teaches us nothing about how to live and to be happy, and therefore, it is useless.
• Relativism (or the idea that the answer depends on your point of view) is a lazy man's philosophy. Usually, two or more points of view are required to find the answer to a complicated question. But there is always one solution that is best.
• Argument, for the sake of persuasion, or to feed ones own ego, is a complete waste of time. The only good argument is the one where you learn something.
• To sit around complaining that
• A short story for the likes of Oliver Stone, who take themselves far to seriously.
  When I was a small child I once went out into the yard and picked up a handful of dirt and ate it. I didn’t know any better. Now, as an adult, I know that even though that handful of dirt contains a lot of good minerals it is generally not good nutrition. Now days, if I want some minerals I take vitamins.
• We tend to categorize, or to put labels on, people and ideas when we wish to dismiss them without considering their merits.

Laws

• There is a growing trend in western society to try and dictate which beliefs are correct or acceptable, based on certain current humanistic moral values.  People say "Everyone is entitled to their own opinion," but we don't mean it anymore.
• Our legal system is part of the process of social administration.  Justice is only a side effect.
• One of the goals of the Common Law system is to achieve equity.  In this it will always fail where laws are motivated by self interest.
• Most laws are motivated by self interest.
• Laws do not enforce morality, they replace it.
• Hate crime legislation provides a way for the enlightened self-righteous to enforce their opinions.
• Hate crime legislation presumes knowledge of a person's thoughts and motivations.
• Hate crime legislation judges a person and not just a person's actions.

Politics

• Most problems in the world, like violence, poverty, starvation, famine, floods, etc., are the result of bad politicals.
• Promoting awareness is much easier than actually taking action to fix a problem.
• It is a mistake to think that the best form of government for ALL societies is democracy.
• The government's job is the administration of society to ensure it's perpetuity.
• In a democratice society, the people decide what is best for the society, and the government implements that decision. It is up to each individual to enforce morility on him or herself alone.
• Governing and morality are two very different things.
• Jesus got involved with people, not politics.
• Most politicians mix morality into politics in order to sway people emotionally.
• Most politicians use children and babies in order to sway people emotionally.
• Any politician who says that some person or group of people is evil, is really trying to sell you their own agenda (see the Life section above).
• Most political debates are about governmental control, as in who will have it, and how much.
• In America, the Republicans favor less control and more local control. Democrats favor more control and more central control. This is the issue that is at the heart of most political battles.
• In general, ‘conservatives’ tend to take a long term view of things, as in what is best for the future, while ‘liberals’ tend to take a short term view, as in what is best right now. Both views are necessary for a healthy society.
• There are few true conservatives or liberals in the United States.
• It is easier for politicians to appeal to the extremists than the moderates.  Therefore, lazy politicians will gain power by dividing the country rather than uniting it.
• We tend to categorize, or to put labels on, people and ideas when we wish to dismiss them without considering their merits.
• Political correctness is, in it self,  a form of intolerance.
• We must learn to honor ideals and opinions along with "Diversity".
• "_____phobe" are words made up by the enlightened self-righteous to insult people they don't agree with.
• Racism, in the US, has become self serving and is perpetuated by those who claim to be its victems. This is one problem that can now only be fixed by ignoring it.
• Sitting around and complaining that some social problem is not being fixed is both ironic and hypocritical.

Religion

• Superstition attempts to explain what we sense but do not understand.  Religion attempts to explain what we believe but can not sense.
• Superstition gives direct supernatural significance to the natural.
• Few people have the discipline to achieve spirituality on their own.  Yet few people regularly seek guidance in achieving spirituality.  The result is that people tend to spiritualize simple things, like mankind, earth, etc...
• One of the main themes of the Bible is the family.  Another is second chances.
• If you have an opinion contrary to the word of God change your opinion, because God’s word is adjusted for no man. And if that rubs your fur the wrong way you better turn the cat around.()
• God Rules! (Undercover)

Business

• The 3 Es.  Improve efficiency and effectiveness while reducing effort.
• Cheap, fast, high quality; pick only two
• Cheap, fast, high quality; pick only two
• Everyone's primary job in any business is managing customer expectations