A Motto I Live By ** controversial **

[ugo]

Take it or leave it, its your choice. Rob is who he is, and that's a good thing. Ugo is who he is, and that's a good thing. Danielle is who she is, and that's a good thing. Standing in their way from pursuing their dreams, creating themselves out of the raw materials or raw talents they possess, that's where problems arise. That seems reasonable to me. I "sometimes" react emotionally to something, usually what I see as a denial of someone's basic right to be who they are and what they want to be. Frequently, after a good night's sleep, taking a step back and looking at a situation a second time, I see things in a more rational light (I wonder what I'll make of this tomorrow!). Where I am at now I'm left with one thing, based on something Jack London once said. London, speaking of what it takes to be a writer, said that a writer can only write about what he knows. I have only my perspective to see from, and I have only my experiences and relationships that I can use to relate to everyone and everything else. So, with that in mind, the only thing I can do is do my best (sometimes pitiful best) to treat each of you as I would want my nearest and dearest to be treated. As much as I want you to all figure out where your heart lies, or take that path that leads you to real freedom, I want the same for my closest friends and family. (I hope that didn't come off as too drippy to you, because it was raining treacle here!)

I agree GeoLarson of that what you have told one very interesting way of yours and full of cultural facts and meanings between the religion and our daily life.
I don't love to make a quantity of complexes of the stuff of culture to speak and to explain, because it is necessary to have a whole library, and to make a debate of so many and so many reasons (note the word controversial).
But the most beautiful thing of that that we owe to understand and to speak is only the word "love."
And of whatever aspect of as us well want to live well and to our daily way for what we have to reach our purposes of the good sense to live (to always have love and respect. And they are not always only Faith and feelings, but are the necessary source of our life. Otherwise the world would be only violence.).
For what think and I reasons from my brain and from my heart. Because I cannot make only part for what the man says that life is this way. Easy. Fun. Possession women. But we have to understand ours true good reasons to live. And to know how to compare with the other reasons to discuss on what we live, and we want to live.
Otherwise, the world (already sick of so many dramatic facts) it would be indeed a hell without end. And for those people weaker (the women, the children, the elderly ones, the sick, the invalid). And I would also say respect for the animals and the nature.

[geolarson2]

Originally Posted by ugo

I agree GeoLarson of that what you have told one very interesting way of yours and full of cultural facts and meanings between the religion and our daily life.
I don't love to make a quantity of complexes of the stuff of culture to speak and to explain, because it is necessary to have a whole library, and to make a debate of so many and so many reasons (note the word controversial).
But the most beautiful thing of that that we owe to understand and to speak is only the word "love."
And of whatever aspect of as us well want to live well and to our daily way for what we have to reach our purposes of the good sense to live (to always have love and respect. And they are not always only Faith and feelings, but are the necessary source of our life. Otherwise the world would be only violence.).
For what think and I reasons from my brain and from my heart. Because I cannot make only part for what the man says that life is this way. Easy. Fun. Possession women. But we have to understand ours true good reasons to live. And to know how to compare with the other reasons to discuss on what we live, and we want to live.
Otherwise, the world (already sick of so many dramatic facts) it would be indeed a hell without end. And for those people weaker (the women, the children, the elderly ones, the sick, the invalid). And I would also say respect for the animals and the nature.

I agree, Ugo. Part of my belief system (well, that's what I'll call it for now ) is to let things, people or otherwise, be themselves. This past summer, there were a lot of fires over the Sierra Nevada from where I live. For days and days and days, the air here was choked with smoke. And why were the fires so big? Because nature wasn't allowed to take care of itself. For decades, people managed the forests around Yosemite and Tahoe, letting the underbrush to grow heavy with pine needles, &c. Lightning struck, set the dry brush on fire and started a blaze that took a long time to control. Had people not prevented nature to run its course, the fires might not have been so large, because quite simply there would have been less fuel for them. Similarly, our beautiful Giant Sequoia depend on fires to turn that dry brush into ash to ferti9lize the ground, depend on the heat to prepare the cones for germination--without that heat, the seeds are duds, and the sequoia fade into what-once-was.

And I do take your point with regard to faith and emotion. I am not sure what faith I have left. I have lost a lot in my life, and am direly afraid of losing more. I am always in pain, physically and spiritually, and the traditional, orthodox religion of my childhood failed to give me hope. Instead, I found a new way to look at life that does, I suppose, give me some faith which is driven in part by the reason Rob spoke of, and partially by the emotion you spoke of. I tend to borrow what feel like are the better parts of various belief systems, philosophies or religions, and discard what feels wrong. I'm not sure how much of that is a rational, intellectual response, and how much is my own gut instinct and emotion, but I appreciate both. Likewise, I appreciate both your perspective, as well as Rob's. In a way, I guess, what I'm looking for is a middle way between your two perspectives that fits me. I can relate to some of what Rob said, and I can relate to some of what you said, and I like that. In all honesty, there is a part of me that wants to do what Rob does, and then there is a part of me that wants to shave my hair off, don an orange robe and enter a monastery, or perhaps go even further and just walk away from all these trappings I'm surrounded with and really discover what freedom is. Kris Kristofferson once wrote, "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose." I'd like to know what that true freedom is. Here is America everything is "Freedom this," and "freedom that," but so much of it is actually formed around limiting freedom. I want to know what freedom really is, what equality really is, and what brotherhood really is (Liberte, Egalite et Fraternite). I want to know what Rob feels when he's working behind his cameras, I want to know what Danielle or Lia are feeling when they're in front of his cameras, I want to know what you feel when you so diligently work to translate English into Italian, and then translate your thoughts into something I, or Rob, or Danielle, can read. Life is just way, way too short to understand or feel everything, but this is the place where we get to experiment and learn. Cheers, my friend!

[ugo]

I am deeply agree GeoLarson of your good reason explained according to your good nature of reasoning of your heart and brain, and in front of the life that we live.
Also I would like to know facts and misdeeds of their life that live with what they do and they work, and they also have their private lives of every day, as of Rob, Danielle, Lia, would have been beautiful also that of Alison (I believe that she is very intelligent), and others.
There is a symbolic aspect of the our life: the normal ones that they live in the daily silence and the famous ones of what is to see and to feel (web, TV, Cinema, radio, sports, etc. ). And the thing most important it is that we want to know what they do and they say from those some known popularity (more or less famous). As a form of curiosity to be compared with the famous.
Liberty there is in our sick world, but the man is jealous. Because wants to have the power to his way of understanding and to reason. With or without the true love. It depends.

[geolarson2]

Originally Posted by ugo

I am deeply agree GeoLarson of your good reason explained according to your good nature of reasoning of your heart and brain, and in front of the life that we live.
Also I would like to know facts and misdeeds of their life that live with what they do and they work, and they also have their private lives of every day, as of Rob, Danielle, Lia, would have been beautiful also that of Alison (I believe that she is very intelligent), and others.
There is a symbolic aspect of the our life: the normal ones that they live in the daily silence and the famous ones of what is to see and to feel (web, TV, Cinema, radio, sports, etc. ). And the thing most important it is that we want to know what they do and they say from those some known popularity (more or less famous). As a form of curiosity to be compared with the famous.
Liberty there is in our sick world, but the man is jealous. Because wants to have the power to his way of understanding and to reason. With or without the true love. It depends.

Cheers, Ugo, Rob and yes, you too, Danielle. I have no idea if Rob is a dork, but every guy out there (barring some freak accident) does have a dork

I spend a lot of time philosophizing. I'm not very disciplined at it (sorry Dr. Alderman, wherever you are; I shoulda listened--showed up--more in class). I have a lot of time on my hands, and a lot of things to work on. I spend a lot of time reflecting on my life, and a lot of time looking to my nieces' futures. The one thing that I guess describes me best is a desire to find balance. I don't belong to organized religion, I don't belong to a political party. I've seen wealthy people who are miserable, and poor people who are happy. I've also seen miserable poor people and happy wealthy people, so what does that tell ya? Probably not much more than people see things differently. It depends on your priorities, I guess, and those are set in part by your basic needs (food, shelter, clothing, love) and then the added luxuries. For me, FTV is a luxury and one which I finally decided to give myself. I don't know what I'll do next year, but chances are I'll give something back to others who are less fortunate than I. There's a balance between what I need, what I want and what someone else needs or wants that has to be accounted for. I can't help but believe that somehow Newton's laws apply to personal relationships. For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I have a friend at MySpace, an adult film director & performer, who had until recently a quote from Bertrand Russell that went something like "all that we can know comes from reason." It was something like that, akin to Rob's thesis. I do agree with that in many respects. I do not know what God is, or might be, but I do not hold the orthodox view of God as a single sentient being; rather, once upon a time in one of my classes or in something I read, there was something about a sub-atomic harmony that runs through every single thing in the universe. Its there in me, in you, in this keyboard, in your dinner plate ...everywhere, everything, all the time ...humming at the same rate. Is that deep down thing, whatever it is, whatever causes it (I think it was the residue of the Big Bang) is that "God". Its in all of us, permeates our planet, sun, galaxy and so on--is there something way down deep that might actually tie us together? Is that the "God particle" the Hadron collector is supposed to look for, the thing that gives us mass and makes us real? I don't know. That there apparently is something there, though, is what matters to me. I think, whatever that is, is what gives law and structure to physical nature, and I suspect that its something that we unwittingly bring to our interpersonal relationships, maybe. Truth is, I don't know. I don't know a lot of things. I'll doubt that I'll ever know the answers to those core questions that drive people nuts. I, myself, gave up my driver's license years back, so I'm not driving anyone anywhere . One thing I do find funny, smart, astonishing and wicked cool is that here we are, at this site dedicated to a lovely gentlewoman talking about this sort of thing in the first place. Yep, the universe is a bit off-kilter. I knew it!

[The Deuce]

Rob, in order for this to be controversial it first has to make sense. You Magic the Gathering guys are different breed thats for sure.

[ugo]

Yes, GeoLarson.

What is life? Is a "Treasure!" It is to us to know how to defend and to teach with the others. Only so, the "Treasure" is safe.
Because we look for God? Because Him (God) it looks for us. And we have to reason on ours "Treasure" to valorize our good way of living.
Is for this the reason and the controversial it exists. And the "Treasure" of our life is broadly divulged to so many happened facts. And we have to mend this "open Treasure ".

I apologize if I bother to others while I am explaining my philosophy of life.

"Is Rob a Dork?" (joking)
I would like to know his emotions and conditions to think and to debate. If it has the patience.

[ask]

This thread is already turned in to a philosophical thread