Quote of the Day – March 12 2013

“And here, according to Trout, was the reason human beings could not reject ideas because they were bad: “Ideas on Earth were badges of friendship or enmity. Their content did not matter. Friends agreed with friends, in order to express friendliness. Enemies disagreed with enemies, in order to express enmity.

“The ideas Earthlings held didn’t matter for hundreds of thousands of years, since they couldn’t do much about them anyway. Ideas might as well be badges as anything.

“They even had a saying about the futility of ideas: ‘If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.’

“And then Earthlings discovered tools. Suddenly agreeing with friends could be a form of suicide or worse. But agreements went on, not for the sake of common sense or decency or self-preservation, but for friendliness.

“Earthlings went on being friendly, when they should have been thinking instead. And even when they built computers to do some thinking for them, they designed them not so much for wisdom as for friendliness. So they were doomed. Homicidal beggars could ride.”
― Kurt Vonnegut, Breakfast of Champions

 

 

This week I seem to be having a lot of my old issues returning to haunt me and perhaps finally coming to the point where I can put them to bed.
Tonight I lost a friendship (careless of me I know). It seems that my friend Mark considers himself a teacher and somewhat of a guru and was disappointed that I was not ‘sharing his wisdom’ and insights with everyone I knew on the internet. It was a fair point. I haven’t been.
 
While I have been willing to connect him with people I know, I have not shared that many of his ideas. I enjoy talking with the man and enjoy his conversation. Doesn’t that mean I find his ideas worthwhile? It took me a bit of meditation and sitting with this question to receive an answer. While I do find some of Mark’s insights valuable, I find that many of them have been said before and said better. I also believe that there are some places where Mark widely either contradicts himself or kind of misses the forest for the trees. By saying this, I do not believe that these qualities are not true of my own writing. Like most of us, I learn as I go and I take for granted that all or most of what I say may be superseded by a greater truth.
 
Herein lies the problem. Mark seems to believe in the absolute accuracy of his vision to such a degree that he has been known to dismiss anyone who disagrees with him without even considering what they have to say or that it may lead to a greater truth. In order to keep the friendship, I have avoided questioning him on his ideas. I could not be dishonest to the extent of endorsing them but I also could not recommend them whole heartedly.
Thus in trying to maintain a friendship I ended up losing it and in the process gained a lesson in integrity. From this point on I will hold the truth to be more important than friendship. Indeed how can you have a true friendship without it?
 
I am thankful to Mark for driving this lesson home and I wish him well. It’s also refreshing to some extent that not only can I still make errors in judgement at this point in my life but that I can realize them.
Blessings, G

 

Click on images to see full-sized

 

Caught Up in the DanceCaught Up in the Dance by G A Rosenberg

 

 

Landing FieldLanding Field by G A Rosenberg

0 thoughts on “Quote of the Day – March 12 2013”

  1. Namaste G.,
    In whatever you decide to do for yourself is for your own journey and to find your own truth/s. Whatever your friend/s may have shared with you, they shouldn’t be ‘expecting’ you or anyone to share in the name of ‘friendship’.

    I share with whatever I feel that is truthful and it may not be ‘all truthful’ as it can’t be and will never be, as every truth is forever evolving and transmuting and transforming to its own truth – unto its own.

    The truth is only for the moment, for the Now.

    It may not resonate with me or with us or with a few people, but it may resonate with a few others who many chance upon reading it and we can’t ‘decide’ for others if is the ‘whole truth’ for them or not. I share whatever I share and that doesn’t mean that it’s the ‘whole truth’ because it’s not for me to ‘conclude’ it to be so.

    Sending Reiki blessings your way,
    Agnes

    1. Thank you Agnes as always…
      Yes our understanding of the truth is constantly evolving.. In this case what I had to look at was not so much my friend’s expectations but the need for me to display integrity by stating that there were reasons why I did not wish to share what did not resonate for me…
      Many blessings to you Agnes…

  2. We can not be Mr. Know-All. And men, men should know it. Superiority in relations between men is a bad sign. Gary, you are a man with your own views and it evokes respect. Respect and disrespect are good features for the men. When they have the same ideas there’s always the respect. We’ve lost the notion of gentlemanship and courtesy. That’s the snag.

    1. Yes for sure… what made this situation more interesting is that both myself and the gentleman in question have a sense of manner and decorum.

  3. Growing is important. Thoughts. Feelings are always expanding if you are into learning & awareness & discovery & going deeper into ones self or the universe. For myself, I have a deep need to understand & at the same time to opening up to being creative & ridding myself of those obstacles that block the freedom to create openly. To stream the flow of creation with as few blocks as I am able to float threw. Sorry you lost a friend but if honesty is important & you felt blocked & unaccepted when being honest then what was in the friendship to begin with. I have lost who I called a friend a while back but realized one that they concocted a story about my significant other which was a lie & could have destroyed the relationship. She played on my fears. When the truth came out, our friendship was already at a shaky precipice of falling apart & this was all I needed to come to the realization that for a long time it wasn’t healthy or working. It feels ashamed that you have to loss people you have known so long but I feel like I have left behind a weight that was creating angst in me that disturbed me a great deal. Now she is a memory that I wonder what gave us the friendship to begin with when it was too negative to begin with. What draws us into these relationships? Hope you dont mind that I shared so much. peace. jk

  4. Aristotle said it: “Anyone can become angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy.”

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