Things you have learned and...

[Bijo]

...want to tell others (here).


Are there any important lessons / things that you have learned throughout time, throughout life? Tell me: I want to know and maybe learn from your input, as others can learn too from your words. Especially those older members -- above 30 -- I'd like to read from, though age doesn't really matter.


Here are some of my own (mostly old):

-- passion can distort truth and cloud reason

-- pain, suffering, and toil might bring the mind to seek higher purposes

-- to seek truth is a virtuous thing to do

-- there are many simpletons in the world

-- many care not about truth especially if it isn't palatable: palatable lies are much more preferred by them

-- many are still controlled by their emotions, desires, selfishness, irrationality, etc.

-- to rid oneself of passion, emotions, desires, is virtuous and can lead to a clear mind not distracted by those factors, and this in turn will aid in seeking and finding truth

-- conflict is a constant; it is the hard-wired way of nature whereof we're part, and conflict is what humans exercise
-- ^therefore, human peace exists not and is most likely impossible

-- while people suffer, while wars are fought, while people die, while many starve of hunger and thirst, while some are tortured, and so on, many simpletons who have no such problems care about trivial (selfish) matters

-- power, in whatever form whatsoever, doesn't necessarily corrupt people but in most cases just exposes them for what they always were: they were monsters to begin with

-- there's no need for a b'lief in Heaven and Hell: just look at our planet, nature, our way of doing, etc., and there you see a hell already

-- if God is there, He's not almighty or He's an almighty Sadist
-- ^to believe and trust in God is like being a crazy fool

-- many draw outer strength from inner weakness

-- very important things are: justice, truth, virtue, peace, and human-social responsibility.... too bad they are hardly practised.

-- perhaps "we're better off" if we, and everything else, the whole planet, are totally destroyed, our foolish human race, and the cruelty of nature, never to return

-- the more (ugly) truth you know, the more you might suffer

-- a clean-cut well respectable-looking person does not signify a good, moral, etc., person

-- it's not always about who's saying what, but about what's being said

-- if I'd drop dead right now, I'd be the happiest man alive

-- humans, what are they? A bunch of fools that works and plays.

-- a girl broke a nail and told me it was such a bad thing to happen. I told her honestly that it was indeed a terrible thing to overcome her, as her problem was truly much more significant and more grand than other problems of the world such as starvation, war, criminals, corruption, and so on.

-- if this whole planet would explode and everything on it, I'd be the happiest man in the world

And for the record I'm not cynical nor pessimistic nor sarcastic :)

[ShadeHonestus]

I would add that a person seeking to be considered honorable, humble or moral, ceases to be, once their focus and measure of argument becomes the humbling of their opponent.

[drone]

Follow the money.

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

Do not judge yourself in comparison to others, judge yourself more harshly.

[Quid]

Call mum!

Quid

[Hosakawa Tito]

From "All I really needed to know I learned in Kindergarten"

Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life - learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch out for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder. Remember the little seed in the Styrofoam cup: the roots go down and the plant goes up and nobody really knows how or why, but we are all like that.
Goldfish and hamsters and white mice and even the little seed in the Styrofoam cup - they all die. So do we.
And then remember the Dick-and-Jane books and the first word you learned - the biggest word of all - LOOK.

[Pindar]

Are there any important lessons / things that you have learned throughout time, throughout life? Tell me: I want to know and maybe learn from your input, as others can learn too from your words. Especially those older members -- above 30 -- I'd like to read from, though age doesn't really matter.

One thing I learned as I ventured out into the wide world was the emotional investment/component that underlies so many positions people hold and that this applies regardless the level of education.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Don't shave naked in front of a hot radiator.

[LeftEyeNine]

Two serious ones out of experience, being my guidelines ever since.

- Life does not have a meaning, it never was meant to have.

- Live up for yourself before anything and anyone else.

- "He's not such a person" is the only valid goal. You set the parameters.

[KukriKhan]

Words I try to live by, written by a guy smarter than I:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.


Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.


Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.


Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.


You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.


Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.


With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.


Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.

I like Hosakawa Tito's selection too. Good advice.

Also, please understand: I don't recommend anyone adopt the Desiderata principles early in life. The teens and 20's are apparently the designated time for self-identification and conflict involvement. Sometime in the 30's or later, after one knows who one is, having gone through those conflicts, is a good time to re-assess one's perspective, and seek real strength and truth.

Oh, and two other valuable ones: never pee uphill, or spit into the wind.

[Csargo]

Oh, and two other valuable ones: never pee uphill, or spit into the wind.

Never pee into the wind either.

[Yun Dog]

1. everybody wants something from you, the sooner you figure out what that is the better you are able to deal with them

2. there is no GOD

3. we are all the same


To quote someone who figured out the solution to all the worlds problems

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
John Lennon

[Louis VI the Fat]

Lessons...uh:
whatever opinions you may hold, please don't ever think you're Jesus and should shoot 32 of your fellow students to make your point. And don't blame the illuminati, Americans or Jews. And war is not the solution.

Also, remember that if you think emtions are the root of all evil, that the world is better of destroyed, that girls shouldn't worry about girlie things, then you probably need to get laid.

[Pannonian]

Friends don't set friends' genitals on fire.

[Strike For The South]

Dont Die

No fat chicks