The only worthwhile competition is life takes place with yourself. On one side is who you are, on the other is what you can be. It's not the kind of competition you can ever win, you can only understand that with effort, with diligence, you can gain ground.
While I'm pitching platitudes - The only truth about life is the truth you make. Consciously or subconsciously we define ourselves and to a lesser extent our reality. There is a real world, but our experience therein is subjective.
Finally...no real wisdom can be transferred. The difference between knowledge and wisdom is knowledge is not subjective - knowledge can be transferred, it is a set of useful facts. Wisdom is the basis for one's decisions, one's actions in life, one's personal philosophy. We can only come to these through experience, through life and the act of living. Wisdom put into words comes out plain, lifeless, dull - trite or nonsensical.
With knowledge, we can be shown new things and come to know them. With wisdom, others can only put into words what we already know, and we can agree or disagree, but never learn. The words we find most wise are merely the words that express a personal belief - personal wisdom - eloquently or cleverly.
EDIT: This post has a conflict with a previous post, "Knowledge vs. Wisdom". I attribute this conflict to the limitations of knowledge and not an actual fundamental change in belief. The wisdom in the previous post was in reference mostly to a kind of "knowledge-enabler", or knowledge foundation. Today, I probably wouldn't use the word wisdom to refer to what I had called wisdom in that post.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Lately
It's been a while. No excuses.
Things are different - work is time-consuming, almost more than I can handle. I've been trying to step out into the dating world. One would think the timing wasn't right, given my new roommate, but it seems I'd like the time to be right. I'm making an effort, which is new.
It's funny, as I've been thinking that to truly enjoy relaxation you have to feel that you deserve it - that is, you have to feel you've put out effort worthy of the relaxation. Thus far, it doesn't seem to be the case. It makes me wonder.
My mom thinks my social life is extremely active. I've never thought of it as such...it's interesting to have an outside perspective. I've been a little busier than usual lately - going out with friends, making plans on weeknights, etc. - but really not significantly more so. I suppose when you live out in the country, you're somewhat forced to have a lot more time for yourself. At times, I feel a little bit like maintaining my friendships is almost a burden - that I'd just like to have more time for myself. Having that time to myself isn't as rewarding as you'd think, though. I really don't have as many things that I'd like to accomplish on my own as I sometimes think.
I'm almost childishly excited about my planned Europe trip. The dates are mostly set - August 1-15 with an extra week either at the beginning or the end. My German is getting better, I can speak conversationally if the conversationalist is very patient and forgiving, and willing to wait while I look up the occasional noun/verb. I'll just keep working at it. I bought some poetry by Rainier Maria Rilke as practice/indulgence, and it's very enjoyable. If you like poetry, consider checking the poet out. He's quite well-known.
I've read a lot lately, depending on your definition of a lot. I was looking at my book blog recently and realized I'm averaging about a book every week. That's really not too shabby, especially when you consider some of the books aren't just casual reading.
I'm part of a book club, and this month's book is an aptly-named monster, "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. If I read it, it's going to be one of the longest single pieces of literature I've ever read - on par with Atlas Shrugged or Stephen King's It. If we were to count series I'm sure that'd open up a whole new competition - the Ender's Game series had some length, as does the Harry Potter set. Anyway.
Some friends and I get together to play Rock Band once in a while - I've played 3 times now. It's really a strong idea for a game - it's for 4 players, and everyone takes a different role in a band (guitar, bass, drums, vocals) as you perform songs. My only complaint stems from my experience with the DDR series of games - I wish the timing was a little more strict. The game doesn't grade on timing at all...unless of course you're way off, in which case you get no credit for the note. But it's an all or nothing thing.
I'm writing less music...and reading more. The more I learn though, the more intimidated I am, and the more I feel like my music is just a sort of childish tinkering in comparison with the great composers. It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that realistically, that level of music mastery is out of my reach unless I'm interested in devoting my life to music...and I'm not. It makes the whole practice of composition seem a little inane, though. Maybe it's immature or unwise to think that because I can't be the best at something, I shouldn't bother doing it at all - I just know that I feel a little discouraged.
Well, that sums up this rather apathetic holiday post. I don't know when I'll post again...spending copious amounts of time on the computer every day (work) doesn't exactly motivate me to want to spend my leisure time here as well. I am still thinking though - don't worry, reader.
Things are different - work is time-consuming, almost more than I can handle. I've been trying to step out into the dating world. One would think the timing wasn't right, given my new roommate, but it seems I'd like the time to be right. I'm making an effort, which is new.
It's funny, as I've been thinking that to truly enjoy relaxation you have to feel that you deserve it - that is, you have to feel you've put out effort worthy of the relaxation. Thus far, it doesn't seem to be the case. It makes me wonder.
My mom thinks my social life is extremely active. I've never thought of it as such...it's interesting to have an outside perspective. I've been a little busier than usual lately - going out with friends, making plans on weeknights, etc. - but really not significantly more so. I suppose when you live out in the country, you're somewhat forced to have a lot more time for yourself. At times, I feel a little bit like maintaining my friendships is almost a burden - that I'd just like to have more time for myself. Having that time to myself isn't as rewarding as you'd think, though. I really don't have as many things that I'd like to accomplish on my own as I sometimes think.
I'm almost childishly excited about my planned Europe trip. The dates are mostly set - August 1-15 with an extra week either at the beginning or the end. My German is getting better, I can speak conversationally if the conversationalist is very patient and forgiving, and willing to wait while I look up the occasional noun/verb. I'll just keep working at it. I bought some poetry by Rainier Maria Rilke as practice/indulgence, and it's very enjoyable. If you like poetry, consider checking the poet out. He's quite well-known.
I've read a lot lately, depending on your definition of a lot. I was looking at my book blog recently and realized I'm averaging about a book every week. That's really not too shabby, especially when you consider some of the books aren't just casual reading.
I'm part of a book club, and this month's book is an aptly-named monster, "The Terror" by Dan Simmons. If I read it, it's going to be one of the longest single pieces of literature I've ever read - on par with Atlas Shrugged or Stephen King's It. If we were to count series I'm sure that'd open up a whole new competition - the Ender's Game series had some length, as does the Harry Potter set. Anyway.
Some friends and I get together to play Rock Band once in a while - I've played 3 times now. It's really a strong idea for a game - it's for 4 players, and everyone takes a different role in a band (guitar, bass, drums, vocals) as you perform songs. My only complaint stems from my experience with the DDR series of games - I wish the timing was a little more strict. The game doesn't grade on timing at all...unless of course you're way off, in which case you get no credit for the note. But it's an all or nothing thing.
I'm writing less music...and reading more. The more I learn though, the more intimidated I am, and the more I feel like my music is just a sort of childish tinkering in comparison with the great composers. It's difficult to come to terms with the fact that realistically, that level of music mastery is out of my reach unless I'm interested in devoting my life to music...and I'm not. It makes the whole practice of composition seem a little inane, though. Maybe it's immature or unwise to think that because I can't be the best at something, I shouldn't bother doing it at all - I just know that I feel a little discouraged.
Well, that sums up this rather apathetic holiday post. I don't know when I'll post again...spending copious amounts of time on the computer every day (work) doesn't exactly motivate me to want to spend my leisure time here as well. I am still thinking though - don't worry, reader.
Saturday, September 08, 2007
On Homeopathy
Interesting video debunking homeopathy
For those that don't want to spend the 15 minutes to watch it, the key points:
The basis of homeopathy is that you find slight poisons that cause certain symptoms and give a diluted form to the patient. The more diluted, the stronger the medicine.
Now generally, what happens is homeopathic medicines dilute to the point that there is a small chance of even one atom or molecule remaining in the entire bottle of medicine. The example given is...imagine a single grain of rice crushed down and ground into a sphere of water the size of the solar system - a sphere centered on the sun with a radius ending at Pluto...and then diluted twice more in the same size sphere.
I could say more...the joke after "the more diluted, the stronger the medicine" about how the guy died from an overdose because he didn't take any medicine was pretty funny, and mentioning how he took two bottles of homeopathic pills at once without any concern was also amusing...but that's really all that I need to mention.
For those that don't want to spend the 15 minutes to watch it, the key points:
The basis of homeopathy is that you find slight poisons that cause certain symptoms and give a diluted form to the patient. The more diluted, the stronger the medicine.
Now generally, what happens is homeopathic medicines dilute to the point that there is a small chance of even one atom or molecule remaining in the entire bottle of medicine. The example given is...imagine a single grain of rice crushed down and ground into a sphere of water the size of the solar system - a sphere centered on the sun with a radius ending at Pluto...and then diluted twice more in the same size sphere.
I could say more...the joke after "the more diluted, the stronger the medicine" about how the guy died from an overdose because he didn't take any medicine was pretty funny, and mentioning how he took two bottles of homeopathic pills at once without any concern was also amusing...but that's really all that I need to mention.
Friday, August 31, 2007
Comfort and Familiarity
It seems life can be paradoxical at times. We're often willing to sacrifice so much in search of comfort and so eager for familiarity -- avid about re-experiencing the already experienced.
Consider a hypothetical scenario. A man visits a restaurant he knows well. The food is mediocre, unspectacular...but familiar. The waiter knows him, knows what he likes and knows he prefers to be left alone. The man visits the restaurant and avoids human interaction almost entirely. Ostensibly, the man visits for the solitude and convenience - the comfort of having to expend as little effort as possible.
How does this reflect on the man's priorities? If what's important to this man is finding a path of least resistance, what is the ultimate goal he is striving for? What is ultimately important in his life?
Now in my hypothetical scenario, you can't take an isolated incident like this and extend it to a generalization. The scenario would be interpreted very differently if the man left the restaurant to return to his position volunteering as a counselor than it would if he left to go home and watch some T.V. I'm not proposing that we completely eschew the comfortable and familiar in every area of our life.
I've long since come to the conclusion that there is no universally acceptable set of priorities, values, or beliefs. I don't begrudge someone for their opinion that life doesn't need to be about growth, happiness, or any of the values and experiences I find so important. There are people who ultimately want just comfort from life - I can accept that. I will not join their ranks.
In another sense though, I think that there are many confused people - people seeking comfort without recognizing that it's not actually what they want. Life isn't necessarily about living comfortably - we all have a variety of purposes we've found (or may never find) for living, and a life of comfort is often at odds with that. The important question to ask yourself is, "If I achieve the goals I'm working for, will it bring me closer to what I really want?" As long as the answer is yes, you can take solace in knowing that you won't reach your goals only to feel unfulfilled or unhappy. Of course, goals change. Don't forget to take that into account :).
A close friend of mine and fellow couch philosopher would be eager to point out that there's an initial question to be answered. "What do I really want?" Without knowing your destination, it's difficult to know whether or not the path you're taking is going to bring you where you want to go. How do you discover what's important to you?
To some, this question is absurd. If you fall into that category, consider yourself blessed...or foolish. It's a simultaneously difficult and easy question. It's easy because the answer has to come from you, from within. You'll find it independently of education, of studying, of research (though far be it from me to say that these won't affect your goals). Our society hasn't exactly placed a high premium on following the words of that ancient Greek inscription at the temple of Apollo - 'Know Thyself'.
Because we (as a society) don't spend a lot of time in introspection, it's simple to misinterpret or to be distracted when we try to find answers within. American society can provide a sensation overload, and if often preys on or even encourages a passive, non-introspective lifestyle. It seems the norm is to find as many ways as possible to fill our days with activities and technology; we're acting but not thinking.
At the same time, I think it can be self-defeating to attempt to find answers like this through logical deduction. How do you prove that anything we find from answers within are necessarily useful, meaningful, or true? There is a recent trend in the scientific world (well, perhaps not that recent) to discredit the senses and consciousness. It's difficult, because if we can't trust ourselves to reliably report on the world and we can't believe in the ineffable experience of consciousness and the feeling of singularity and individuality, how can we be expected to trust what comes from introspection?
I suppose the simplest answer to this question is that we can't. If we doubt our senses and the very concept of the self, progress is impossible - truly, the word itself is meaningless, for progress implies a positive and a negative experience when in the absence of a self experience can have no real positive or negative value.
David Hume once theorized that we have no understanding of causes, merely causes and effects. All our theories operate on an implicit assumption - that things will behave the way they do because that's the way they always have behaved. In other words, cause and effect, while linked, are not necessarily reliable. We can't explain the "Why's" of the natural world, we can only observe them. We can describe expected behavior reliably: we have many equations related to gravity to help us predict or calculate the behavior of two objects with X mass...but we can't state why gravity happens. Why do two objects with mass have a pull on each other? Why do positive and negative forces attract? All theories are reducible to laws that we have to accept as constants simply because it's just the way the world works.
Returning to the case of our suspect senses and consciousness...I mentioned progress was impossible if we doubt the only tools we have. Similarly, if we didn't accept that natural laws would be reliable simply because we don't understand the why, we could never make any real scientific progress - every equation would be meaningless because it was contingent upon laws that we weren't willing to accept. It's necessarily unprovable whether or not our perceptions of reality and true or unrealistic, and it's meaningless to dwell on topics that can never be solved.
Bringing things full circle, if after you find your goals you believe in self-growth as a priority, seek to avoid making a goal of comfort and familiarity. A life of comfort is a steady, moderate life. If you seek challenges and the unfamiliar your life will have many ups and downs - challenges force us to adapt, change inspires growth. In seeking self-growth, you have to abandon the predictability and familiarity of a comfortable life.
Find your goals and choose a path...and be happy in knowing that you've made your choice consciously and willingly. Don't allow yourself to live without priority or conviction.
Consider a hypothetical scenario. A man visits a restaurant he knows well. The food is mediocre, unspectacular...but familiar. The waiter knows him, knows what he likes and knows he prefers to be left alone. The man visits the restaurant and avoids human interaction almost entirely. Ostensibly, the man visits for the solitude and convenience - the comfort of having to expend as little effort as possible.
How does this reflect on the man's priorities? If what's important to this man is finding a path of least resistance, what is the ultimate goal he is striving for? What is ultimately important in his life?
Now in my hypothetical scenario, you can't take an isolated incident like this and extend it to a generalization. The scenario would be interpreted very differently if the man left the restaurant to return to his position volunteering as a counselor than it would if he left to go home and watch some T.V. I'm not proposing that we completely eschew the comfortable and familiar in every area of our life.
I've long since come to the conclusion that there is no universally acceptable set of priorities, values, or beliefs. I don't begrudge someone for their opinion that life doesn't need to be about growth, happiness, or any of the values and experiences I find so important. There are people who ultimately want just comfort from life - I can accept that. I will not join their ranks.
In another sense though, I think that there are many confused people - people seeking comfort without recognizing that it's not actually what they want. Life isn't necessarily about living comfortably - we all have a variety of purposes we've found (or may never find) for living, and a life of comfort is often at odds with that. The important question to ask yourself is, "If I achieve the goals I'm working for, will it bring me closer to what I really want?" As long as the answer is yes, you can take solace in knowing that you won't reach your goals only to feel unfulfilled or unhappy. Of course, goals change. Don't forget to take that into account :).
A close friend of mine and fellow couch philosopher would be eager to point out that there's an initial question to be answered. "What do I really want?" Without knowing your destination, it's difficult to know whether or not the path you're taking is going to bring you where you want to go. How do you discover what's important to you?
To some, this question is absurd. If you fall into that category, consider yourself blessed...or foolish. It's a simultaneously difficult and easy question. It's easy because the answer has to come from you, from within. You'll find it independently of education, of studying, of research (though far be it from me to say that these won't affect your goals). Our society hasn't exactly placed a high premium on following the words of that ancient Greek inscription at the temple of Apollo - 'Know Thyself'.
Because we (as a society) don't spend a lot of time in introspection, it's simple to misinterpret or to be distracted when we try to find answers within. American society can provide a sensation overload, and if often preys on or even encourages a passive, non-introspective lifestyle. It seems the norm is to find as many ways as possible to fill our days with activities and technology; we're acting but not thinking.
At the same time, I think it can be self-defeating to attempt to find answers like this through logical deduction. How do you prove that anything we find from answers within are necessarily useful, meaningful, or true? There is a recent trend in the scientific world (well, perhaps not that recent) to discredit the senses and consciousness. It's difficult, because if we can't trust ourselves to reliably report on the world and we can't believe in the ineffable experience of consciousness and the feeling of singularity and individuality, how can we be expected to trust what comes from introspection?
I suppose the simplest answer to this question is that we can't. If we doubt our senses and the very concept of the self, progress is impossible - truly, the word itself is meaningless, for progress implies a positive and a negative experience when in the absence of a self experience can have no real positive or negative value.
David Hume once theorized that we have no understanding of causes, merely causes and effects. All our theories operate on an implicit assumption - that things will behave the way they do because that's the way they always have behaved. In other words, cause and effect, while linked, are not necessarily reliable. We can't explain the "Why's" of the natural world, we can only observe them. We can describe expected behavior reliably: we have many equations related to gravity to help us predict or calculate the behavior of two objects with X mass...but we can't state why gravity happens. Why do two objects with mass have a pull on each other? Why do positive and negative forces attract? All theories are reducible to laws that we have to accept as constants simply because it's just the way the world works.
Returning to the case of our suspect senses and consciousness...I mentioned progress was impossible if we doubt the only tools we have. Similarly, if we didn't accept that natural laws would be reliable simply because we don't understand the why, we could never make any real scientific progress - every equation would be meaningless because it was contingent upon laws that we weren't willing to accept. It's necessarily unprovable whether or not our perceptions of reality and true or unrealistic, and it's meaningless to dwell on topics that can never be solved.
Bringing things full circle, if after you find your goals you believe in self-growth as a priority, seek to avoid making a goal of comfort and familiarity. A life of comfort is a steady, moderate life. If you seek challenges and the unfamiliar your life will have many ups and downs - challenges force us to adapt, change inspires growth. In seeking self-growth, you have to abandon the predictability and familiarity of a comfortable life.
Find your goals and choose a path...and be happy in knowing that you've made your choice consciously and willingly. Don't allow yourself to live without priority or conviction.
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Camping
I headed out to Trillium lake recently to do some camping. Thought I'd share some pictures - and no, you don't get more text than this. I just haven't wanted to write lately!
Matt and Bem. How cute! Also a decent shot of the lake.
The whole crew...except me. One of the pitfalls of only having pictures from my camera is a lack of pictures of me. From left to right: Robert, Thuy, Matt L., Matt J., Bem
Just a close up of one of the lilies floating on the lake. About 1/4 of the lake was densely covered in lilies, while the rest had none - I'm not sure why that was the case. Maybe I should do some lily research.
A meadowy-looking swamp. It certainly gives the impression of solitude that we generally seek when we go camping, doesn't it?
Here's a picture of the lake from the non-lily side. You can see some of the boaters fishing out there - the lake is stocked with rainbow trout. Thuy went fishing, but did not bring us back any food.
I was not appropriately dressed for photography. Incidentally, both of the sweatshirts pictured are mine. I'll never go into modern fashion.
I had to fit at least one picture of Matt with his huge log. We went on a hike around the lake, and about halfway around he found that round and decided he wanted to bring it back to our campsite to burn. It was a difficult job, to say the least. Robert and I proceeded to break our $12 hatchet and Thuy's $1 hammer trying to split it into usable sized pieces. We got about 1/3 of the log off, then just quit before we broke any more tools. Also, the pointing into nowhere was a theme of the Matt L. pictures.
Matt and Bem. How cute! Also a decent shot of the lake.
The whole crew...except me. One of the pitfalls of only having pictures from my camera is a lack of pictures of me. From left to right: Robert, Thuy, Matt L., Matt J., Bem
Just a close up of one of the lilies floating on the lake. About 1/4 of the lake was densely covered in lilies, while the rest had none - I'm not sure why that was the case. Maybe I should do some lily research.
A meadowy-looking swamp. It certainly gives the impression of solitude that we generally seek when we go camping, doesn't it?
Here's a picture of the lake from the non-lily side. You can see some of the boaters fishing out there - the lake is stocked with rainbow trout. Thuy went fishing, but did not bring us back any food.
I was not appropriately dressed for photography. Incidentally, both of the sweatshirts pictured are mine. I'll never go into modern fashion.
I had to fit at least one picture of Matt with his huge log. We went on a hike around the lake, and about halfway around he found that round and decided he wanted to bring it back to our campsite to burn. It was a difficult job, to say the least. Robert and I proceeded to break our $12 hatchet and Thuy's $1 hammer trying to split it into usable sized pieces. We got about 1/3 of the log off, then just quit before we broke any more tools. Also, the pointing into nowhere was a theme of the Matt L. pictures.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Thursday, July 05, 2007
Book Blog
I moved my book review section over to aaroninobooks.blogspot.com - I highly don't recommend it. The reviews aren't really all that useful, and it's really just a variation of this blog only less clear. It is there, though, and you (dear reader) are welcome to take a look.
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