brokenhead wrote:So you are saying the choice is stark, there are no exceptions, and the only two options are mutually exclusive with no third thing: be selfish or die.
Based on my observations that experience operates according to personal desire, yes.
Skip, from your posts, one might be tempted to conclude that you have never experienced the joys that only selflessness can bring. However, I think this is likely incorrect, isn't it? You seem to keep hitting the theme that you are resolutely selfish because Nature demands it of you. However, I will bet you are nothing of the kind. Am I right?
I think you're right, the way you're defining it. I'm pretty easy going when it comes to hanging out with friends. I have no problem when someone changes the channel to a program I'm watching because they really would like to watch something else. This is because things I do hanging out are light and not serious in nature, so anything goes really. It's more important to me that my friends are comfortable than to catch the last 5 minutes of a show that really isn't that great anyway. You may call this selfless-like behavior (I think that's how most people think of it) and I think that's great, and it definitely has a place in my life. The reason I do it is because *I* get pleasure from it. When there are desires in conflict the strong one wins, in this case for me group unity. It's still selfish, but happens to benefits others too in this case.
Are you still living on the raw broccoli and peanut butter?
Nah, that got pretty sickening after a while, but it saved me the $ I needed at the time. I eat pretty well right now. :)
Also, do not just get Skippy peanut butter for obvious egotistical reasons, as it is widely known that Jiff tastes more like fresh peanuts.
HAHAHAHA! Agreed, but it's still too sweet for me. I like just straight up peanuts in the ingredients. Organic shiz.
And yeah, Bawlz, I like eating raw almonds and the butter too. I take seal oil for a full omega3 chain when I have the cha-ching.
And a few more thoughts since they're flowing:
-I used to think the meaning of life was Don't Stress, but a better command hypnotically is Relax!
-A double edged sword all this philosophy talk. Without the talk, how to stimulate? But in the end the more specific we are, the further away we get. So, zen is a good evil.
-So, whatever I do doesn't have ultimate value but personal, and the same is true for everyone else. So if I like music and logic and a woman likes dogs and food, one is not better than the other but is personal preference. The only 'bad' is if her dealings conflict with mine. It's business, not personal. Like in Gladiator when a guy says, "People should know when they're conquered," and Maximus responds, "Would I, would you?"
No one is more special than anyone else. We are all inherently equal. It's truth that because I like logic and see that most people aren't very good at it that I can make the determination that they're stupid. And in terms of logic, they are. But because it's only in terms of logic and not anything else this is my personal moralizing.
My attitude is that we're all in this together, and at the same time I watch my business. I am fair but ruthless. I DO NOT compromise with what I deem is Good, and if something is not in my best interest in this regard I am GONE. Doesn't matter how upset someone gets or if they're hanging from a cliff...if we don't match. I will look heartless and brutal in these situations but that is part of who I am and my selfishness.
Not that this is different from anyone else at the fundamental level. I think it's how all people operate automatically, though some are more efficient and skillful than other through more focused and defined values. Direction. This is consciousness.