Seven Topics Meme, Topics from WidgetFox
Apr. 18th, 2012 10:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
f4f3So, like everyone else I have no idea how this meme works, but if it gives me a chance to witter about myself... Anyone wanting things to witter about, ask in comments...
1. Exploration
Normally I'd take this as spiritual exploration, but I have a topic on that, so I'll take it as physical exploration (which I'll also say involves physical exploration, but wait for that). I like to understand a place with my feet. Before I go to a new city I'll immerse myself in guide books, history books, web-links etc. But the moment I get there, I want to go walking. I don't really understand a place until I've seen it unmediated. This was probably at its height when I went to the States for the first time, when I spent a month discovering San Francisco, San Louis Obispo, Sata Barbara, Las Vegas, Chicago and Ann Arbor. Some places I was on my own, others I had local guides, and some places I did both. I discovered New York later, and that's one of my favourite cities to walk in. Strangely enough, this is all about cities. I do like walking in the country, but that's about experiencing, not exploring.
2. Fantasy
Tempted to take this as a Fantasy/Science Fiction topic, but I'll talk about it in a wider sense. Fantasy is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there (I have a vision of Charles Gray intoning "A powerful master" in RHPS). I've been consciously cutting back on fantasy as an indulgence for at least a decade. I got scared of the ability of fantasy to turn into reality long before I heard about NLP and visualisation, but I can see how much they have in common. In the past, I've treated fantasy as a way to make something come true, and it's worked. And the price for getting what you want, is having what you wanted. So I've turned that type of fantasising off. I just don't do it anymore. Or rather, I don't indulge in it - I can hold up the fantasy, enjoy the view, and put it back in its box. That's working for me so far...
3. Identity
I love the idea that we have many facets, but only one identity. The good part of that was summed up by John Donne a long time ago: nothing human is alien to me. The problem can be becoming part of the sea, and losing your core identity. I think empathy and the ability to identify with others is probably what makes us human. The ability to retain your core identity while doing that is what makes it worthwhile being human. I guess part of growing up, or at least growing older, is in having confidence in your own core beliefs, and always presenting them. I was irritatingly good at this as an adolescent, to the extent that it got me beat up more than once. I tend to get beat up less now, but I have lost friends when I've reached a core dispute in values, and I've refused to back down. In general, though, I just find it easier not to engage with vexatious persons. My identity? White, working class, kind, irreverent, and holding myself lightly (except where that would be sexually innapropriate).
4. spiritual path
It took me a long time to realise that there is no such thing as a spiritual path. Oh, ok, that there is no such thing as a spiritual path in isolation. Everything I do is part of a spiritual path, and how much I choose to recognise that, to make it conscious, is a day by day choice. Any day where I choose the rising and advancement of the spirit is a good thing, but whether I choose it or not it's stil going to happen. I don't believe there is a single path. Some people choose religion, some live according to an ehtical code, some have no constant except questioning. I'm closest to the last, but I'm trying to get beyond the questioning into acceptance. At base, what is, is. Accepting that we don't change reality by questioning it, but that we can understand it better by studying it is one of my core beliefs. At a personal level, my mental toolbox was put together from a grab-bag of things that appealed to me growing up. Some of them I've kept (scientific method, humanism, a belief in liberal democracy) others I've discarded (Catholicism, atheism, Caltic FC).
I've added others - meditation and mindfulness, a theism that has nothing to do with religion, the ability to be grateful for all of my advantages. This is a good spot for me, for my spirit, because I'm being challenged hard just now. How we react to challenges is by growing.
5. Vision
There are some complicated systems that I find it useful to have a vision of: politics, say, and society. When new information comes along, I can slot it into the vision, and if I can't, then there's something wrong with my understanding. What's important is that I then change the vision, and don't discard the information becuase it doesn't fit. Was that what you meant?
6. Willpower
I'm not sure there is any such thing. The only way to change your behaviour long term is to change your state of mind. If I decided to stop eating chocolate tomorrow, I could do it. I know this, because I have given up so many times before. If I decided to stop eating chocolate forever tomorrow, then no amount of willpower would let me do that. I'd need to be convinced that eating chocolate was a bad idea, that it was bad for me personally, and I'd need to become a person who didn't eat chocolate. I'm not convinced that I'd be able to do that on my own. As a matter of fact, I'm convinced I wouldn't, because I don't believe that it is bad for me, in the quantity that I eat. I joke about being able to resist anything except temptation, but it just isn't true, if it ever was. I've never taken drugs, for instance. Maybe that's because they don't tempt me? There's something here as well about willpower being the thing that lets you turn something into a habit by repetition.
7. Writing
Writing has been part of me almost as long as reading. As a matter of fact, it's a subset of making up stories, and I've been doing that since before I could talk. Stories make the world understandable. Sharing the stories shares the understanding, and lets me compare my world to everyone else's. Writing for me is also a craft. It exists somewhere between poetry and talking. More considered than conversation, less stylised than poetry. Writing should never be about the words, it should always be about the voice. I never stop writing, and I don't write enough. Writing for pleasure gets me into a lovely state of flow, which can be better than meditation, better than conversation. I need to apply my willpower to getting to 1,000 words a day...
1. Exploration
Normally I'd take this as spiritual exploration, but I have a topic on that, so I'll take it as physical exploration (which I'll also say involves physical exploration, but wait for that). I like to understand a place with my feet. Before I go to a new city I'll immerse myself in guide books, history books, web-links etc. But the moment I get there, I want to go walking. I don't really understand a place until I've seen it unmediated. This was probably at its height when I went to the States for the first time, when I spent a month discovering San Francisco, San Louis Obispo, Sata Barbara, Las Vegas, Chicago and Ann Arbor. Some places I was on my own, others I had local guides, and some places I did both. I discovered New York later, and that's one of my favourite cities to walk in. Strangely enough, this is all about cities. I do like walking in the country, but that's about experiencing, not exploring.
2. Fantasy
Tempted to take this as a Fantasy/Science Fiction topic, but I'll talk about it in a wider sense. Fantasy is a nice place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there (I have a vision of Charles Gray intoning "A powerful master" in RHPS). I've been consciously cutting back on fantasy as an indulgence for at least a decade. I got scared of the ability of fantasy to turn into reality long before I heard about NLP and visualisation, but I can see how much they have in common. In the past, I've treated fantasy as a way to make something come true, and it's worked. And the price for getting what you want, is having what you wanted. So I've turned that type of fantasising off. I just don't do it anymore. Or rather, I don't indulge in it - I can hold up the fantasy, enjoy the view, and put it back in its box. That's working for me so far...
3. Identity
I love the idea that we have many facets, but only one identity. The good part of that was summed up by John Donne a long time ago: nothing human is alien to me. The problem can be becoming part of the sea, and losing your core identity. I think empathy and the ability to identify with others is probably what makes us human. The ability to retain your core identity while doing that is what makes it worthwhile being human. I guess part of growing up, or at least growing older, is in having confidence in your own core beliefs, and always presenting them. I was irritatingly good at this as an adolescent, to the extent that it got me beat up more than once. I tend to get beat up less now, but I have lost friends when I've reached a core dispute in values, and I've refused to back down. In general, though, I just find it easier not to engage with vexatious persons. My identity? White, working class, kind, irreverent, and holding myself lightly (except where that would be sexually innapropriate).
4. spiritual path
It took me a long time to realise that there is no such thing as a spiritual path. Oh, ok, that there is no such thing as a spiritual path in isolation. Everything I do is part of a spiritual path, and how much I choose to recognise that, to make it conscious, is a day by day choice. Any day where I choose the rising and advancement of the spirit is a good thing, but whether I choose it or not it's stil going to happen. I don't believe there is a single path. Some people choose religion, some live according to an ehtical code, some have no constant except questioning. I'm closest to the last, but I'm trying to get beyond the questioning into acceptance. At base, what is, is. Accepting that we don't change reality by questioning it, but that we can understand it better by studying it is one of my core beliefs. At a personal level, my mental toolbox was put together from a grab-bag of things that appealed to me growing up. Some of them I've kept (scientific method, humanism, a belief in liberal democracy) others I've discarded (Catholicism, atheism, Caltic FC).
I've added others - meditation and mindfulness, a theism that has nothing to do with religion, the ability to be grateful for all of my advantages. This is a good spot for me, for my spirit, because I'm being challenged hard just now. How we react to challenges is by growing.
5. Vision
There are some complicated systems that I find it useful to have a vision of: politics, say, and society. When new information comes along, I can slot it into the vision, and if I can't, then there's something wrong with my understanding. What's important is that I then change the vision, and don't discard the information becuase it doesn't fit. Was that what you meant?
6. Willpower
I'm not sure there is any such thing. The only way to change your behaviour long term is to change your state of mind. If I decided to stop eating chocolate tomorrow, I could do it. I know this, because I have given up so many times before. If I decided to stop eating chocolate forever tomorrow, then no amount of willpower would let me do that. I'd need to be convinced that eating chocolate was a bad idea, that it was bad for me personally, and I'd need to become a person who didn't eat chocolate. I'm not convinced that I'd be able to do that on my own. As a matter of fact, I'm convinced I wouldn't, because I don't believe that it is bad for me, in the quantity that I eat. I joke about being able to resist anything except temptation, but it just isn't true, if it ever was. I've never taken drugs, for instance. Maybe that's because they don't tempt me? There's something here as well about willpower being the thing that lets you turn something into a habit by repetition.
7. Writing
Writing has been part of me almost as long as reading. As a matter of fact, it's a subset of making up stories, and I've been doing that since before I could talk. Stories make the world understandable. Sharing the stories shares the understanding, and lets me compare my world to everyone else's. Writing for me is also a craft. It exists somewhere between poetry and talking. More considered than conversation, less stylised than poetry. Writing should never be about the words, it should always be about the voice. I never stop writing, and I don't write enough. Writing for pleasure gets me into a lovely state of flow, which can be better than meditation, better than conversation. I need to apply my willpower to getting to 1,000 words a day...
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 10:14 am (UTC)I'll take five, please.
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 02:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 02:48 pm (UTC)Religion
Exploration
Mindfulness
London
Exercise
Flow
Music (did you get music? If do, Ancient Greek)
no subject
Date: 2012-04-18 01:59 pm (UTC)The notion of a brand of theism that has nothing to do with religion is really interesting to me, if only because I have a certain difficulty grasping its root. (For the sake of fair disclosure, I am myself an atheist.)
Meanwhile, the chocolate anecdote, oddly enough, reminds me of friends who smoke; I always joke that it should be trivial for them to quit, seeing as they already do so on almost monthly basis.
I might be able do seven topics, I think. Fire away!
no subject
Date: 2012-04-19 02:52 pm (UTC)1. Travel
2. Europe
3. Not Europe
4. Work
5. Play
6. The next 50 years
7. Atheism