oldviolin wrote: 
I always liked the line from the movie "Sometimes a Great Notion" by Ken Kesey when Hank Stamper (Paul Newman) was asked the same question by his troubled wife(?). He said something like "Why dont you know? To eat, to shit, to make love, to work, to laugh,  ...etc. cant remember the rest. Maybe somebody can find it.

The movie also had a famous powerful scene where Hanks brother was slowly drowning from a giant very slowly rolling log that landed on him in a pond. He went laughing with Hank's joking.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Deep. Thanks for the perspective. I can see how it works for you.

 sirdroseph wrote: 

The act of choice is freedom incarnate. Presented with a deliberation, all a man can do is experience the details and proceed from there with the best understanding he can muster. Here is the branch. Here is the fruit. Here is the life, but what of the root? I could no more convince you of the precious nature of individual men in a creative context than I could sire a chimp. But I can bare witness to a truth that I hold in the most secret places of my being; that is, that as a unique creature first and foremost, men have opportunities to see through and beyond simple biology to a point where  "the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen" are more than religious hocus pocus; They present a very real touchstone for those delicate beginnings of something beyond what a person can pre-concieve.

My philosophy, as brought to you by Edie Brickell and New Bohemians:
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know if you know what I mean

Philosophy, is the talk on a cereal box
Religion, is a smile on a dog
I'm not aware of too many things
i know what I know if you know what I mean

Chuck me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

What I am is what I am are you what you are or what
What I am is what I am are you what you are or what

Oh I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know if you know what I mean

Philosophy, is a walk on the slippery rocks
Religion, is a light in the fog
I'm not aware of too many things
I know what I know if you know what I mean
Do do ya

Chuck me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Chuck me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

What I am is what I am are you what you are or what
What I am is what I am are you what you are or what
What I am is what I am are you what you are or what you are
What I am is what I am are you what you are or what

Da da da da

I say I say I say I do hey hey hey hey hey hey

Chuck me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep
Chuck me in the shallow water
Before I get too deep

Chuck me in the shallow water before I get too deep
Chuck me in the shallow water before I get too deep
Chuck me in the shallow water before I get too deep

Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep
Don't let me get too deep

What I am is what I am are you what you are or what
What I am is what I am are you what you are or what
What I am is what I am are you what you are or what you are
What I am is what I am are you what you are or what

Or what you are oh
Or what you are oh oh oh
Say what I am

 sirdroseph wrote: 
I am in agreement, although I believe that the universe has progressed in some kind of order, but just a natural order, not one that a supreme being is in charge of.

 oldviolin wrote: 
My own suspicion is that for absolutely no reason, just by pure chance. But of course no one knows for sure the answer to that one. My hypothesis about everything is that it just happened, with absolutely no master plan, no destiny, no purpose, we just happen to be here. I also suspect that when we die, we decompose, get eaten and go back in the life cycle, nothing more, nothing less. No magic, no afterlife, no nothing. I take great comfort in this thinking.

 fuh2 wrote: 

Nice knuckle ball!  
In other words, the sublime extremities...

 oldviolin wrote: 
Why what else? Music!

 fuh2 wrote: 
Sounds like you've got all the rules lined up. Forgot one I think, but it might spread your world view a little thin. That is, why are we here?

 oldviolin wrote: 
Before learning to be a great painter or anything one must first learn the fundamentals. For philosophy that should be. Who are we? Where did we come from?

That is why my favorite is Brit zoologist Desmond Morris who wrote "The Naked Ape: A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal". It lays bare who we humans are, and why.  

He had/has many critics complaining it is too genetically deterministic and Western ethnocentric but its basic premises really revealed the light more than any other book I've ever read.

David Attenborough another Brit zoologist also reveals the inherent beauty of the great  arc of the evolution of life  in his  masterpiece "Life on Earth".

Edward O Wilson an American entomologist is another with his groundbreaking masterpiece "Sociobiology" which some say is greater than Darwin's "On the Origin of Species".

 Ebon_Lupus wrote: 
Indeed. But then, A beginning is a very delicate time...(F.H., Dune)

While in the storms, how do we right a listing ship? The thread is about philosophy. A good start. But it must be addressed from
a simple premise; That is, that in imperfection, the beauty inherent in anything is revealed.

The question should be; "what can we see through them?"
An eye is an eye is an eye...

 oldviolin wrote: 
Offal Makes Me Strong! Strong! Strong! Weak!
Strong! Strong! Strong! Strong! Strong! Strong!
 
 
doi 

My brother Jon:

http://pervegalit.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/back-to-kant-jon-cogburn-edition/

http://www.amazon.com/Philosophy-Through-Video-Games-Cogburn/dp/0415988586

http://www.projectbraintrust.com/cogburn/abstracts.html

 oldviolin wrote: 
I see confusion... with large dabs of misinformation and fear. In the past I blamed people for this... but it was my fault for being tactless. But is it my fault that I was not well socialized when I was a child. I was a fat kid... bullies tailored me from the fabric of a disease that made me fat. Diabetes and a very nice lady (my grandma) with the best intentions in the world:  "Be sure to eat everything on your plate" as she's heaping more mac 'n cheese on that plate.

So back and forth is goes; a cascade of causes and effects that make us each unique in all the world... in a different world for each of us. Reality is simply complicated, at times.

It's the "pay no attention to that man behind the curtain" effect. First impressions are frequently just wrong. Can we see through them?

 Steve wrote: 

I've gotta come back to that one; after I take a shower with lye soap...

 Ebon_Lupus wrote: 

Also, the top portion was my thoughts. Mr. Lewis is in the italics...
A cogent connection, if you will.

The bestest of all, doi!

 Ebon_Lupus wrote:  Same thing...
"The whole point of seeing through something is to see something through it."
I think that you're restricting your perspective to your experiences, which apparently have found you on both sides of the equation in the past. Not a judgement, mind you. Just going by what I've read here (RP) from you and those who have confronted your previous dips into the pool, so to speak. You know, first impressions and all...
If you were to take a perspective view and look back through the immediate past, what did you see in context? Everything? Nothing?
This is the notion. Context/Perspective/Perception...
The glorious moment(s)

Of course we operate through our personal experiences, but within the interconnections are revealed purpose in the guise of selflessness.

 sirdroseph wrote: 
Oh yeah, Spaceghost, of course. I love his dramatic pauses.

 oldviolin wrote: 
I'm not sure I get Mister Lewis' point. Nice play of words, though. Reminds me of a good many Internet trolls... whose laughter seems MOST childlike... and cruel.

I think it's a matter of striking a balance. I think balance is important for most things.