Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

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Apollonius
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Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

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Culturalist debating techniques concerning the refugee crisis - John K. Press, New English Review, December 2015
http://www.newenglishreview.org/John_K. ... ee_Crisis/


... Culturism largely stands against multiculturalism. Multiculturalists, ironically, don't think diversity is real. The proof is that whenever they see income inequality between groups, they attribute the differences to racism. If blacks don't succeed, they insist, that is because of current and historical white racism; same for Hispanics. It can never be due to cultural pathologies. Joking, I told Charles that it is unfair that we whites don't then get credit for Korean's success too! He laughed. Utilitarians are Marxist in that they loathe inequality. When their cultural neutrality mixes with the resentment of multiculturalism, we get a toxic brew. ...
Last edited by Apollonius on Wed Dec 02, 2015 8:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
noddy
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by noddy »

mind your own business protestant culture and its freedom (tm) was a historical accident of the new world settlers finding themselves without established oligarchies and power structures.

im not sure you can say much more than that, despite the numerous essays and books that make the attempt.

this artice seems to be dripping in orienatlism, maybe i havent read it well enough, i am rather busy.
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Simple Minded »

Interesting article, thanks for posting Apollonius. I think you would find the writings of Theodore Dalrymple interesting. I think the pendulum of multi-culti is swinging back towards the center.

The endless sorting, cataloging, and evaluation of group identity continues to amaze me.

How to identify, evaluate, and equalize the culture of group X or group Y? Age, skin color, education, location, income, occupation, height, weight, hair color, political affiliation?

Focusing on group as species while ignoring cause and effect in each individual's circumstances seems both idiotic and counterproductive.

Then again, to my simple mind, the goal of the overlards ( :P Freudian typo) is not the solving of problems, but the forming and rewarding of political alliances. As long as the later is maintained, the former is of little importance.
Last edited by Simple Minded on Wed Dec 02, 2015 1:39 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Simple Minded

Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Simple Minded »

noddy wrote:mind your own business protestant culture and its freedom (tm) was a historical accident of the new world settlers finding themselves without established oligarchies and power structures.

im not sure you can say much more than that, despite the numerous essays and books that make the attempt.

this artice seems to be dripping in orienatlism, maybe i havent read it well enough, i am rather busy.
Good point. People as individuals seem more adept at finding common interests than those who cling to a specific group identity. Apostates must be punished prior to punishing the opposition, or the group disintegrates.

Kids playing in the woods, kids on the playground, Cowboys vs. the Steelers.

One size fits all still seems evasive. Damn those outliers!!! ;)
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Apollonius »

noddy wrote:mind your own business protestant culture and its freedom (tm) was a historical accident of the new world settlers finding themselves without established oligarchies and power structures.

im not sure you can say much more than that, despite the numerous essays and books that make the attempt.

this artice seems to be dripping in orienatlism, maybe i havent read it well enough, i am rather busy.






Thanks for your post, noddy.


Yes, I imagine this post has revealed me as an unreconstructed Western / Judeo-Christian supremacist.
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Apollonius »

Thanks SM,


Yes, I am a devoted reader of Theodore Dalrymple. I think I may have even linked to a couple of his pieces on this forum over the years.

His latest article in New English Review speaks loud and clear to me:



And death shall have its dominion - Theodore Dalrymple, New English Review, December 2015
http://www.newenglishreview.org/Theodor ... _Dominion/




I am not nearly so far gone as Dalrymple. I can still tie my shoe laces, though I admit it does take me longer. I'm a fairly decent cook, but even though I used to be one of those people who could eat and eat and eat and never gain weight, I don't have a good appetite these days and some of my favourite spicy dishes of former days are strictly off limits. I've lost weight, but I can still do the dishes.

I used to have a good writing hand, quite nice to look at, or at least that's what many told me, but I have real trouble now and have to confine my scribblings to the keyboard. Fortunately, having been the only boy out of a class of thirty high school kids who took the typing class, this skill is deeply impressed into my repertoire of learned abilities.


Another thing I spend a lot of time with is music. Again, I'm not nearly so far gone as Dalrymple. I remain the insomniac that I've been since my youth, only able to get about five hours of sleep a day and that with the aid of a medical marijuana licence and Zopoclone, which helps you stay asleep, but is no good for helping you to fall asleep.


I do not, cannot take naps. But I'm not all that active either. I listen to music for hours and hours and hours. And though I am certainly no musicologist and a very poor musician, I still have an exceptional memory for tunes and for being able to hear a job well done by musicians who do know how to play.




I'm more than a little irked at governments interference with proper control of pain. Don't worry, mine is not severe, at least not at the moment. But I have known many people who have suffered long exposure to it. Allow me to follow that up with a specific example. There is incredible paranoia about the use of morphine. This is a natural product and an outstanding painkiller. Instead doctors regularly prescribe oxycodone, 80% of which goes directly to the liver to create a host of problems, while 20% goes actually relieves pain-- sort of. Actually, it induces psychotic effects, maybe even seizures. But it keeps the pharmaceutical companies happy. It is produced entirely from petrochemicals.



My first job with the library was to drive around to various rest homes and hospitals to drop off a monthly collection of books from the library for those still able to read. Most were probably not capable of tying their shoe laces, much less reading the latest biography of F.D.R. However, there were some amazing exceptions. One lady was grotesquely contorted with arthritis. They had her rigged up in an adjustable bed where they could get her into a sort of fetal position with an old style physical book clamped to gadget above her head equipped with a light shining on the pages. She used a pencil stuck in her mouth to turn the pages and read a whole stack of the kind of material that was way beyond me.




Well, I post less and less political stuff.


I'm reverting to my childhood: Music, natural history (especially paleontology and cosmology). I still read a lot of human history, especially ethnologies and biographies, but despite what I just said, get tempted to post some of what I read on "liberal" forums where I am inevitably flamed for being a racist and an all around nasty horrible person.


Elsewhere on this forum I have noted how conditions in Vancouver have deteriorated a lot since I lived here. It's by no means just the homeless that are the problem. As I walk the streets and ride the buses and trains, I see an awful lot of crude, rude, and incredible selfish people oblivious to others around them, those tendencies enhanced no doubt from half of them paying more attention to their "smart" phones than where they are walking, running, or smashing into unsuspecting pedestrians. Sometimes you do see some kindness. I get middle aged Chinese women offering me their seat on the train. The young girls never do.

The doctors and technicians and nurses and all the other staff at the Cancer Agency are enough to renew one's faith in humanity. I've mentioned before that Canada's health care system relies a lot on the services of Asian immigrants, but they are all wonderful. Everyone gets a laugh out of my tattoo. Some of the immigrant staff are recent, but many are descendants of long established families. Many in the Asian community, I think most actually, are Christian. They almost all have English first names, and many speak better English than I do. The doctor who oversees my case is Chinese and she is a Christian. This I know from the beautiful but discreetly worn cross that she wears around her neck. We have never talked about religion. But she is up on all the medicine, exceptionally articulate, a sweet and loving person, and compassionate beyond words. She's a life-saver and has been re-converting me to Christianity, not from argument, but from action. I'm part Irish and therefore susceptible to superstition. Forgive me.



Apollonius
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Apollonius »

To HP on another thread:


Typhoon wrote:Please only post link to article and one paragraph:

1/ Posting most or all of an article takes up too much thread page space

2/ No one here wants to deal with copyright issues.



Thanks for the reminder. In future I will try to remember to post only the link and a short excerpt.


My apologies. I have edited to first post to reflect forum policy on copyright issues.
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by noddy »

Apollonius wrote:
noddy wrote:mind your own business protestant culture and its freedom (tm) was a historical accident of the new world settlers finding themselves without established oligarchies and power structures.

im not sure you can say much more than that, despite the numerous essays and books that make the attempt.

this artice seems to be dripping in orienatlism, maybe i havent read it well enough, i am rather busy.






Thanks for your post, noddy.


Yes, I imagine this post has revealed me as an unreconstructed Western / Judeo-Christian supremacist.
not at all, it revealed the author of the article a bit suspicious for cultural cliches with dubious relevancy.

no shame in being supremacist, everyone is, its only the identity attached to the supremacy that varies. judeo-christian-pagan-asia-pacificist just happens to be superior, thats all.
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Simple Minded

Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Simple Minded »

Apollonius wrote:Thanks SM,


Yes, I am a devoted reader of Theodore Dalrymple. I think I may have even linked to a couple of his pieces on this forum over the years.

His latest article in New English Review speaks loud and clear to me:



And death shall have its dominion - Theodore Dalrymple, New English Review, December 2015
http://www.newenglishreview.org/Theodor ... _Dominion/




I am not nearly so far gone as Dalrymple. I can still tie my shoe laces, though I admit it does take me longer. I'm a fairly decent cook, but even though I used to be one of those people who could eat and eat and eat and never gain weight, I don't have a good appetite these days and some of my favourite spicy dishes of former days are strictly off limits. I've lost weight, but I can still do the dishes.

I used to have a good writing hand, quite nice to look at, or at least that's what many told me, but I have real trouble now and have to confine my scribblings to the keyboard. Fortunately, having been the only boy out of a class of thirty high school kids who took the typing class, this skill is deeply impressed into my repertoire of learned abilities.


Another thing I spend a lot of time with is music. Again, I'm not nearly so far gone as Dalrymple. I remain the insomniac that I've been since my youth, only able to get about five hours of sleep a day and that with the aid of a medical marijuana licence and Zopoclone, which helps you stay asleep, but is no good for helping you to fall asleep.


I do not, cannot take naps. But I'm not all that active either. I listen to music for hours and hours and hours. And though I am certainly no musicologist and a very poor musician, I still have an exceptional memory for tunes and for being able to hear a job well done by musicians who do know how to play.




I'm more than a little irked at governments interference with proper control of pain. Don't worry, mine is not severe, at least not at the moment. But I have known many people who have suffered long exposure to it. Allow me to follow that up with a specific example. There is incredible paranoia about the use of morphine. This is a natural product and an outstanding painkiller. Instead doctors regularly prescribe oxycodone, 80% of which goes directly to the liver to create a host of problems, while 20% goes actually relieves pain-- sort of. Actually, it induces psychotic effects, maybe even seizures. But it keeps the pharmaceutical companies happy. It is produced entirely from petrochemicals.



My first job with the library was to drive around to various rest homes and hospitals to drop off a monthly collection of books from the library for those still able to read. Most were probably not capable of tying their shoe laces, much less reading the latest biography of F.D.R. However, there were some amazing exceptions. One lady was grotesquely contorted with arthritis. They had her rigged up in an adjustable bed where they could get her into a sort of fetal position with an old style physical book clamped to gadget above her head equipped with a light shining on the pages. She used a pencil stuck in her mouth to turn the pages and read a whole stack of the kind of material that was way beyond me.




Well, I post less and less political stuff.


I'm reverting to my childhood: Music, natural history (especially paleontology and cosmology). I still read a lot of human history, especially ethnologies and biographies, but despite what I just said, get tempted to post some of what I read on "liberal" forums where I am inevitably flamed for being a racist and an all around nasty horrible person.


Elsewhere on this forum I have noted how conditions in Vancouver have deteriorated a lot since I lived here. It's by no means just the homeless that are the problem. As I walk the streets and ride the buses and trains, I see an awful lot of crude, rude, and incredible selfish people oblivious to others around them, those tendencies enhanced no doubt from half of them paying more attention to their "smart" phones than where they are walking, running, or smashing into unsuspecting pedestrians. Sometimes you do see some kindness. I get middle aged Chinese women offering me their seat on the train. The young girls never do.

The doctors and technicians and nurses and all the other staff at the Cancer Agency are enough to renew one's faith in humanity. I've mentioned before that Canada's health care system relies a lot on the services of Asian immigrants, but they are all wonderful. Everyone gets a laugh out of my tattoo. Some of the immigrant staff are recent, but many are descendants of long established families. Many in the Asian community, I think most actually, are Christian. They almost all have English first names, and many speak better English than I do. The doctor who oversees my case is Chinese and she is a Christian. This I know from the beautiful but discreetly worn cross that she wears around her neck. We have never talked about religion. But she is up on all the medicine, exceptionally articulate, a sweet and loving person, and compassionate beyond words. She's a life-saver and has been re-converting me to Christianity, not from argument, but from action. I'm part Irish and therefore susceptible to superstition. Forgive me.



Apollonius
Appolonius,

Thanks for the heart felt response. Forgive you? For what? Being human? Same situation here. :( or :) ?

How about a picture of your tattoo? ;)

I consider you a friend. It is nice to know the internet can be used for more than just good natured banter and entertaining argumentation.

I too have had lifelong periodic insomnia, but not as severe or consistent as yours I think. I now understand how you find the time to read and listen to so much good material.

In my mid 50’s, I realize I am no longer an indestructible teenager, but also appreciative that I no longer have the teenage thru 30 something’s perspective/existential angst. Life is short. I spent enough time riding school buses feeling sorry for myself and pining that the world should be a better place. Comes a time when one needs to grow up and assume responsibility for one’s thought processes.

Note to myself: You think you are a victim? Boo hoo hoo! So is everyone else. Especially when each of us decide to subscribe to victim ideology. Grow up and deal with it. as an old Jewish friend used to say "There's always room for worse!"

Thankfully, as a yute, I encountered many adults who were so busy feeling sorry for themselves, they had so use for a kid who was willing to do the same. "Quit yer whining or I'll give you something to whine about!" Child abuse or don’t make the same mistakes as me?…… pick one! Bad examples are invaluable in helping one realize what not to emulate. It is never too late to have a happy childhood.


FWIW, my favorite book is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Maxwell Staniforth translation. If we all swept in front of our own doors….

Regarding your positive experiences with Christians and medical professionals, those selfish individuals who derive satisfaction and happiness from helping others are truly a gift to all.

We currently have a young dog with a great temperament. She is the reincarnation of a previous dog, if you believe that sort of thing. Hopefully, I will be successful in training her to be a therapy dog (or perhaps she will be successful in training me?). An hour or more a week in nursing homes and hospital should suffice to remove any sense of “life is unfair” that may remain in my foolish brain.

I agree with you on the politics. It is so far removed from any actual solutions, or even reality, that it seems best just to let them battle and eventually eat each other. “They” can’t even agree on “who is who” or what the “labels” “mean.” I am supposed to consider them expert? I think there are more than enough who are genetically predisposed to the social argument, that I am neither needed nor appreciated. There are more important things to do.

Big difference in how the generation perceive, and what they consider to be polite behaviour. In several conversations with older black neighbours, they think Michael Brown committed suicide by cop, and that the girl that got flipped out of the desk by the cop in SC, should not have challenged the cop. The under 40 crowd views both as microcosms of social problems, not personal choices of behaviour that led to bad outcomes. Oh well, that is their choice. I am confident they will reap what they sow, and adjust if they see the need.

I think it was a comedian who said “Life is 20% what you make it, and 80% how you take it.” Probably not a bad ratio of external to internal. It is hell to not be able to tell the difference.

“The mind is a place in itself and can make a Heaven of Hell or a Hell of Heaven.” Milton

Take care.
Simple Minded

Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Simple Minded »

Apollonius wrote:
And death shall have its dominion - Theodore Dalrymple, New English Review, December 2015
http://www.newenglishreview.org/Theodor ... _Dominion/
Brilliant article. Thanks Apollonius. So many poignant aspects of life mentioned. Sometimes there is great clarity when one has little left to lose.

He reminds me of Carlos Castenada's tales of Don Juan. The fourth obstacle to becoming a man of knowledge is old age.

The Four Natural Enemies of Knowledge:
1. Fear
2. Clarity
3. Power
4. Old Age

4. "At the end of his journey of learning, and almost without warning he will come upon the last of his enemies: Old Age! This enemy is the cruelest of all, the one he won't be able to defeat completely, but only fight away.

This is the time when a man has no more fears, no more impatient clarity of mind, a time when all his power is in check, but also the time when he has an unyielding desire to rest. If he gives in totally to his desire to lie down and forget, if he soothes himself in tiredness, he will have lost his last round, and his enemy will cut him down into a feeble old creature. His desire to retreat will overrule all his clarity, his power, and his knowledge.

But if the man sloughs off his tiredness, and lives his fate through, he can then be called a man of knowledge, if only for the brief moment when he succeeds in fighting off his last invincible enemy. That moment of clarity, power, and knowledge is enough."
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Apollonius »

Thanks for your thoughts and well wishes, SM.

FWIW, my favorite book is Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, Maxwell Staniforth translation. If we all swept in front of our own doors….





At your recommendation I read the Meditations again.


My copy is a Penguin Classics edition translated and with an introduction by Maxwell Stanforth. It has a cost of $1.95 printed on the back cover which gives you an idea of when it was published.


I love the way Marcus Aurelius spends the entire first chapter giving thanks to his relatives, teachers, friends and associates, and to the gods.



My second impression is the huge sense of relief that I feel for not having been born into a family or class where expectations were this high. The responsibility is just far too great for someone of my abilities, bearing, character, and spirit.




But I just can't agree with MA at all about passion. That's been extremely important in my life as a motivator. Maybe someone as elevated and self-contained as MA can get himself doing things from sheer inner drive. I usually need Another to make me feel something is worth putting the effort into. My own needs are not that substantial, but if someone else has greater desires, and I love them passionately, I'm happy to do the work.



Oh, and I'm not talking primarily about sensual love, although that could enter into it. I'm talking about a bond that makes two people stronger than one. The love that makes life worth living.




Here's a passage that struck me as somewhat contradictory:


When Theophrastus is comparing sins - so far as they are commonly acknowledged to be comparable - he affirms the philosophic truth that sins of desire are more culpable than sins of passion. For passion's revulsion from reason at least seems to bring with it a certain discomfort, and a half-felt sense of constraint, whereas sins of desire, in which pleasure predominates, indicate a more self-indulgent and womanish disposition. Both experience and philosophy, then, support the contention that a sin which is pleasurable deserves graver censure than one that is painful. In the one case the offender is like a man stung into an involuntary loss of control by some injustice; in the other, eagerness to gratify his desire moves him to do wrong of his own volition.



I suppose it is self-flagellating aspects of stoic philosophy like these that attracted early Christian writers. I'm no sado-masochist. I don't believe in beating myself or others. I take my pleasure ... in moderation.


Actually, in terms of music, I'm not even that moderate. I don't see any reason why anyone should be.
Simple Minded

Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Simple Minded »

Apollonius wrote:Thanks for your thoughts and well wishes, SM.

I love the way Marcus Aurelius spends the entire first chapter giving thanks to his relatives, teachers, friends and associates, and to the gods.

My second impression is the huge sense of relief that I feel for not having been born into a family or class where expectations were this high. The responsibility is just far too great for someone of my abilities, bearing, character, and spirit.

But I just can't agree with MA at all about passion. That's been extremely important in my life as a motivator. Maybe someone as elevated and self-contained as MA can get himself doing things from sheer inner drive. I usually need Another to make me feel something is worth putting the effort into. My own needs are not that substantial, but if someone else has greater desires, and I love them passionately, I'm happy to do the work.

Oh, and I'm not talking primarily about sensual love, although that could enter into it. I'm talking about a bond that makes two people stronger than one. The love that makes life worth living.

Here's a passage that struck me as somewhat contradictory:
When Theophrastus is comparing sins - so far as they are commonly acknowledged to be comparable - he affirms the philosophic truth that sins of desire are more culpable than sins of passion. For passion's revulsion from reason at least seems to bring with it a certain discomfort, and a half-felt sense of constraint, whereas sins of desire, in which pleasure predominates, indicate a more self-indulgent and womanish disposition. Both experience and philosophy, then, support the contention that a sin which is pleasurable deserves graver censure than one that is painful. In the one case the offender is like a man stung into an involuntary loss of control by some injustice; in the other, eagerness to gratify his desire moves him to do wrong of his own volition.
I suppose it is self-flagellating aspects of stoic philosophy like these that attracted early Christian writers. I'm no sado-masochist. I don't believe in beating myself or others. I take my pleasure ... in moderation.

Actually, in terms of music, I'm not even that moderate. I don't see any reason why anyone should be.
You are more than welcome Apollonius.

I was fortunate enough to be born into a family with low expectations, populated by more than a few with quick, violent tempers.

So Marcus struck me as supremely practical. Simplified, it was "Be responsible."

Much like Frankl's quote "Between stimulus and response, man has the ability to choose." Blaming one's anger or state of mind on another's actions or speech (being "offended" or micro-aggressions, anyone?), seems to be a recipe for a very unhappy life. That to me is the ultimate self-flagellation. Only some of the scars are visible.

Thankfully, we do reap what we sow.

I agree with your take that the passionless life would be unsatisfying. I never had that take on Meditations, to me it seemed more to be warnings about uncontrolled, negative emotions, but I can see how one could get that impression. It is not hard to find both the agreeable and the disagreeable in all who author more than a few sentences.

Some Greeks and Romans had way too much time on their hands to overthink things. I blame their parents. ;)

My recommendation would be to "choose your response to that stimulus carefully." :) And to enjoy the results of your effort in thinking.


take care.
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by noddy »

thats how i read it aswell.

we have brains, emotions , instincts and they all need to be checked against the other to see which ones are playing up at any point in time ;P

2 out of 3 aint bad.
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Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Apollonius »

Some of my favourite meditations from Marcus Aurelius:

Think of your many years of procrastination; how the gods have repeatedly granted you further periods of grace, of which you have taken no advantage. It is time now to realize the nature of the universe to which you belong, and of that controlling Power whose offspring you are; and to understand that your time has a limit set to it. Use it, then, to advance your enlightenment; or it will be gone, and never in your power again.


-- Marcus Aurelius, Meditations, Book II





***



The man whose heart is palpitating for fame after death does not reflect that out of all those who remember him every one will himself soon be dead also, and in course of time the next generation after that, until in the end, after flaring and sinking by turns, the final spark of memory is quenched. Furthermore, even supposing that those who remember you were never to die at all, nor their memories to die either, yet what is that to you? Clearly, in your grave, nothing; and even in your lifetime, what is the good of praise -- unless maybe to subserve some lesser design? Surely, then, you are making an inopportune rejection of what Nature has given you today, if all your mind is set on what men will say of you tomorrow.


-- Book IV





***


As for truth, it is so veiled in obscurity that many reputable philosophers assert the impossibility of reaching any certain knowledge. Even the Stoics admit that its attainment is beset with difficulties, and that all our intellectual conclusions are fallible; for where is the infallible man? Or turn from this to more material things: how transitory, how worthless are these -- open to acquisition by every profligate, loose woman, and criminal. Or look at the characters of your own associates: even the most agreeable of them are difficult to put up with; and for the matter of that, it is difficult enough to put up with one's own self. In all this murk and mire, then, in all this ceaseless flow of being and time of changes imposed and changes endured, I can think of nothing that is worth prizing highly or pursuing seriously. No; what a man must do is to nerve himself to wait quietly for his natural dissolution; and meanwhile not to chafe at its delay, but to find his sole consolation in two thoughts: first, that nothing can ever happen to us that is not in accordance with nature; and second, that power to abstain from acting against the divine spirit within me lies in my own hands, since there is no man alive who can force such disobedience upon me.


-- Book V





***



The good life can be achieved to perfection by any soul capable of showing indifference to the things that are themselves indifferent. This can be done by giving careful scrutiny first to the elements that compose them, and then to the things themselves; bearing also in mind that none of them is responsible for the opinion we form of it. They make no approaches to us, they remain stationary; it is we who produce judgements about them, and proceed to inscribe these, so to speak, in our minds; despite the fact that it is perfectly in our power either to inscribe nothing at all, or at least to delete promptly anything that may have inscribed itself unawares. Moreover, you must remember that there will not be much more time in which to give heed to these matters, and that our race will soon be run. Do not be aggrieved, then, if things are not always to your liking. As long as they are in accord with nature, be glad of them, and do not make difficulties; if they are not, then find out what your own nature itself enjoins, and make the best of your way towards that; for a man is always justified in seeking his own good.

-- Book XI




Thank you, SM, for inspiring me to go through the Meditations again.



And from the tone of my choice of quotations you're probably thinking that things must be dire. However, I still have quite a long list of things I intend to accomplish this summer, some of them even involving a fair amount of physical activity.


There's a nearby mountain which I have never climbed mostly because I have always been too busy hammering a couple of boards together or digging in the garden, however, I have promised a lady friend of mine that I would hike to the top with her. Friends tell me that you can get a glimpse of Heaven from there.
Simple Minded

Re: Culturalism vs. Multiculturalism

Post by Simple Minded »

Apollonius wrote:

The good life can be achieved to perfection by any soul capable of showing indifference to the things that are themselves indifferent. This can be done by giving careful scrutiny first to the elements that compose them, and then to the things themselves; bearing also in mind that none of them is responsible for the opinion we form of it. They make no approaches to us, they remain stationary; it is we who produce judgements about them, and proceed to inscribe these, so to speak, in our minds; despite the fact that it is perfectly in our power either to inscribe nothing at all, or at least to delete promptly anything that may have inscribed itself unawares. Moreover, you must remember that there will not be much more time in which to give heed to these matters, and that our race will soon be run. Do not be aggrieved, then, if things are not always to your liking. As long as they are in accord with nature, be glad of them, and do not make difficulties; if they are not, then find out what your own nature itself enjoins, and make the best of your way towards that; for a man is always justified in seeking his own good.

-- Book XI





Thank you, SM, for inspiring me to go through the Meditations again.

And from the tone of my choice of quotations you're probably thinking that things must be dire. However, I still have quite a long list of things I intend to accomplish this summer, some of them even involving a fair amount of physical activity.

There's a nearby mountain which I have never climbed mostly because I have always been too busy hammering a couple of boards together or digging in the garden, however, I have promised a lady friend of mine that I would hike to the top with her. Friends tell me that you can get a glimpse of Heaven from there.


You are more than welcome Apollonius! Not often am I thought of as inspirational. ;)

It is pretty tough to read three pages of Meditations, and not be aware of one's personal imperfections. The above bold font are a few of my favorites.

I hope you and you lady friend make it to the top, and then..... maybe.... share a Heavenly experience at the top! ;)
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