Say Something Philosophical

[SirShadowdeath]

I'm not scared, I'm simply unaware.

[lonlybrony]

"Once something is truly lost or forgotten it cannot be regained" me

[SirShadowdeath]

I've come to believe, over time of course, that comparing an individual to a group is like comparing a flower to a garden. Some are similiar, some might be the same, and some are completely different.

[Noedig]

What you sense is a wonderful gift,

Use it for the benefice of your life.

[PonyHooves]

"You've come from nothing... Your going to end as nothing... What have you got to lose? Nothing!" Monty Python in The Life Of Brian

[SirShadowdeath]

A shooting star is said to embody greed. If A quick flash can bring about one's wishes, then who is to say a simple thought cannot?

[Appliance]

Pride and selfishness are both beautiful, terrible, and if kept unchecked, all-consuming.

[kamerad]

Refer to sig. Any of Bastiat's searing remarks also, but I can't copy and paste The Law here.

[FlimFlam]

"I suppose if we couldn't laugh at things that don't make sense, we couldn't react to a lot of life"

- Calvin and Hobbes

[SirShadowdeath]

Laws were made to be proven, and in some cases, laws were made to break.

(scientific laws)

[Shivaree]

Some people say "If you can't beat them, join them". I say "If you can't beat them, beat them", because they will be expecting you to join them, so you will have the element of surprise.

[weesh]

A cynic has a low capacity for trust, and a high ability for determining trustworthiness.

The naive have a high capacity for trust and a low ability for determining trustworthiness.

Healthy trust and relationships come from strong ability to trust, and determine trustworthiness.

[Trilobite]

Nice, Weesh. I like that.

Beauty is as essential to life as water.

[Volt]

Step through your life wisely.

As every step is a beginning of a new journey, which may change your life forever.

And you will never, ever be the same.

"Keep your mind wide open..." Bridge to Terabithia

"The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it." - Terry Pratchett

[Autumn]

He who sleeps with itchy bottom, wakes with smelly finger.

[Shivaree]

Do not argue with an idiot. He will drag you down to his level and beat you with experience.

[Rosewind]

Just because you can, doesn't mean you have to.

You either work hard, or you work smart.

As long as you're alive, you may as well enjoy it.

Friends help friends. Real friends help friends hide bodies.

[Baroquen]

It's not the dog in the fight, BUT THE FIGHT IN THE DOG.

[AllThatChaz]

I wrote these 9 years ago >.> The thread title made me think of them for whatever reason.

Chaz's First Law of Psychology

All people are born equal. They all have the same mental traits, but more importantly, the same potential to do good, bad, mediocre, whatever. It is entirely left to the child's environment that manipulates them into what they become later in life. Before children mature, they are pathetically innocent, naive, and vulnerable. They observe occurrences and react to them a bit more than adults. Since adults already feel that have their own set of principles/morals, they are resistant to change. However, children have no such set of principles. They are learning as they go through life about how to react to given situations or stimuli. This is what I call a "base manipulation." When encountered with a similar situation later in life, whether or not the child decides to act the same or opposite to the base manipulation, the child does react in relation to it. This child has been manipulated. This child has his/her first principle of how to act given a certain situation. This is how I believe people act the way they do in any given situation. They will act as a response of how they saw someone else react to it. It's tragic, and this clearly explains how cultures can differ so vastly in the areas of politics, racism, theology, or anything. People think the way they do because they were manipulated into thinking that way. Adults may say that they think for themselves, but that just means that as a child they saw someone respond to the same question and reacted to the response they saw. Of course, this theory is self-destroying because this entire rationalization has to be the response of me seeing a response to the all-to-common question of "What makes people tick?" I saw a reaction to it, and as a direct reaction of the manipulation of that initial reaction, my brain took it on as fact and it eventually matured into this lump of crap call Chaz's First Law of Psychology.

Chaz's Second Law of Psychology

"Everything that goes up, must come down." That phrase just seems to work with everything, doesn't it? Here's the deal; emotions are fleeting. There is no emotion that you will feel in the exact same way for your entire life. Say that you are deeply in love with someone. That love will grow and fade over time. It doesn't matter how much psychological backing you put on that love (with the intention of keeping things exactly the way they are, such as moving in together, marriage, children, etc), once the love reaches its own little peak, it will fade into nothingness. Now the arguement here is watching an old couple hand in hand walking down the street. These people, not unlike blind faith-followers, have fallen into a routine in which it may look as if the love is still there, but it simply isn't. I would compare the human mind to a hyperactive 6-year-old. It thrives on change, and can't stay in one spot for a while. This is how feelings are with people. Everyone is constantly bombarded with new feelings that have different effects on people. They may be positve, negative, or ineffective. The positive feelings send the mind into an elated state before settling back down while the negative feelings send the mind into a depressed state before rising back. Where the two flows of feelings settle to a forgotten state is the level known the General Disposition. This is how you generally feel all the time, if you find yourself devoid of emotion. When one sets aside all feelings, this is how you feel at your core; how satisfied, or dissatisfied, suffice to say, you are with your own life. It seems to this writer that this general disposition is set at some point in adolescense, and is more or less static throughout one's life. If you find your general disposition to be more negative than you would wish, it cannot be permanently changed, but one only feels this way when they are devoid of extraneous emotion. Therefore, one could surmise that the way to feel better about life is to bombard yourself with new and exciting experiences that will hopefully have a positive effect on you. In summary, emotions are fleeting. One can't feel the same way about something forever. Positive and negative emotions eventually fade back into your general disposition, which is how one feels when devoid of extraneous emotion.

[Shivaree]

Evil must exist. For it is only in the presence of evil will heroes come to realize their greatness.

[Volt]

As for the first law: Disagree.

This statement strictly contradicts the genome theories. Our physique as well as psychic is greatly influenced by genes we receive from our parents. Even children don't behave the same way. I am a living witness to that, as I had the pleasure to observe my nephew and another newborn close to each other. While one was strictly calm, second one was just scanning everything around him, while they were both same age. This means they weren't alike.

Also, this idea seems to be totally ignoring genders. Because I don't think that male/female psychic depends only on the environment around.

Edit: Ah, yes, now I remember where I saw this already. This is a connection to the 'Tabula Rasa' theory of Aristotle. Being born as blank tablet, which is being written during our life.

As for the second law: I agree to some extent.

"Everything that goes up, must come down." But not everything that comes down will go up. Simply saying: You may gain something in life, but it won't last forever. But there are things in your life you may lose and they'll never return. The regret will fade with time, but it'll never disappear. If you'd let your emotions remain alike forever, only balancing on the scales depending what lands on the other side, you'd soon become blank, emotionless.

Also:

Evil must exist. For it is only in the presence of evil will heroes come to realize their greatness.

"Good" and "Evil". Evil doesn't not exist. "Evil"'s just a state when there's no "Good" around.

[AllThatChaz]

I wrote these when I was 18, so my views have changed somewhat since then. I hadn't read Aristotle at that point in my life so don't worry I didn't just pilfer it =p. In the past nine years I've learn to accept that nurture does have a place in my philosophy. However, when you discuss gender, I would say that gender differences can be completely ascribed to Base Manipulations. I don't think there's anything in the genome to explain different gender roles in different societies. The children's perceptions on gender roles were manipulated by the societies around them.

On the second law, I don't really understand your qualm. Of course the memory of a particularly happy or tragic event will incite more polarized responses than your General Disposition. For example, when I was young, I lost a family member. I cried for days. However, I'm not crying now. When I dwell on the memories, I cry, but it is brought on by the memory, not my General Disposition. An apt metaphor would be a photograph. The image doesn't change, like our memories, but the people in the photograph have all moved from those positions, like our emotions.

Thanks for reading! I didn't think anybody would, haha.

[Volt]

Ah, but we're changing the topic now. Roles are pressurized by societies of course. But the starting point of the statement was set for birth. It's obvious that people around us change our personalities, but I was putting in question the 'Tabula Rasa' theory, since I don't agree with Aristotle on this one as science brought up new aspects until now.

As for second thing, I'm starting to find it quite subjective. You strictly say that your general disposition is a status when you're stripped off your emotions. I say that you cannot state your general disposition status without emotions. How can you differ if you're satisfied if you don't know what you feel? I mean, by starting to think about your current level of satisfaction in life, you must awaken the emotions you're trying to put aside. Otherwise, you have no basis to judge it. You can only feel it subconsciously, what gives no true chance of describing this in words, does it?

[SirShadowdeath]

To light a cellar, use a candle.

To light a void, do the same.

It's never a good idea to look too far into the darkness.

[AllThatChaz]

@Volt, what a General Disposition means is just is someone generally happy-go-lucky, solemn, depressed, bright, etc. It's the basis from which events make their changes. I'm arguing that regardless of the stimuli, the effect will wear off and the subject will return to their General Disposition.