Some Questions of Need

 

"If you don't know what you want, you'll never find it.  If you don't know what you deserve, you'll always settle for less.  You will wander aimlessly, uncomfortably numb in your comfort zone, wondering how life has ended up here.

Life starts now, live, love, laugh and let your light shine!”

-- Rob Liano

How do you let go of your "precious"?

Mentally, this can be overcome with willpower, and physically, you can put distance between you. However, your “precious” will always be a memory. There is no letting go of the memory.

"Failure is an option here. If things are not failing, you are not innovating enough." — Elon Musk. What do you make of this statement?

True, indeed. Failure is the best way we learn and succeed. If you fail, you innovate. If you fail again, you continue to innovate until you succeed.

Why can accepting absurdity be the start of a fruitful life?

I accept absurd questions all the time. They make me smile. If I’m smiling, I’m happy, and my life is fruitful because I strive to be happy always. Accepting absurdity does not mean agreeing with it. You simply accept it as absurd.

“Accepting the absurdity of everything around us is one step, a necessary experience: it should not become a dead end. It arouses a revolt that can become fruitful”

-- Albert Camus

How can I make a good reflection essay about s-*-x and s- *-x-u-a-l-i-t-y as a way of growing in greater love?

Well, first of all, I think you need to be comfortable saying and writing out “sex” and “sexuality” as they aren’t forbidden words. You don’t necessarily experience either to have a good effect from them. Morality would suggest that waiting for the physical experience, to have it with someone you truly love and want to spend the rest of your life with, heightens the experience for both people. This does not prevent you, however, from becoming mentally comfortable with your own sexuality - your orientation, feelings, and the supposition that you have a great capacity for experiencing love for the person you are with. And here is the second part of your question. Morally speaking, you should equate sex and sexuality with the love you feel for another. Anything truly good doesn’t come from flaunting it with one night stands. Just saying.

What exactly do we want when we want nothing?

Uh… nothing. Is this another trick question?

What does the question “Explain the importance of making time for various aspects in one’s life other than work tasks and commitments” mean?

It isn’t a question, it’s a statement. It means you should make time for in your life for more than just work. Live life, love, and make time to appreciate what you have.

“There is time for everything; a time to MAKE the BEST and a time to TAKE a REST...”

-- Israelmore Ayivor

If you were snowbound for a week, what tasty snacks would you desire?

Tasty snacks? Are we having a party? No. I’m snowbound for a week… if I’m lucky. Mother nature may send in more snow. I’ve been snowed in and it isn’t something to party over. Hamburger or beef jerky, eggs, and oatmeal cookies. This will give me meat and dairy protein, and fiber. Your body needs energy for whatever blindsides you so you can combat the cold and survive.

What is a creative metaphor for "an underdog"?

Probable dinner.

If you can give me only one secret to improve myself, what would it be?

Learn to be happy always. You don't want it, but here's two: Learn to be selfless, as well.

Can I say I am practicing sports?

You can say whatever you want. It doesn’t make it true, however, unless you’re actually doing it.

“Putting thoughts into words is vastly different from putting truth into words. For words are not truth. As ardently as writers sort and select and polish their words, at the end of the day they are still words. They are not, in themselves, truth. However carefully we choose our words, no matter how eloquently we compile and conjoin and convey them, they remain just words, merely signposts that point to the truth, as Eckhart Tolle put it. Just as preachers, politicians, PR spin masters and the media can’t create truth by writing or speaking words they say are true, authors can't validate truth by putting it into print. And the rest of us can't know it by simply hearing or reading the words. We can only find our way to truth by following the signposts and ultimately believing. It all comes down to believing, to faith, for there is no proof this side of the big dirt nap.”

-- Lionel Fisher

If you had a chance to fix something in your life, what would that be?

Even though I have great children from the marriage, before the messy divorce, I’ve always wondered what it would have been like to spend those twenty years with a woman who truly loved me and didn’t just use me for her own selfish reasons. I would have enjoyed experiencing true love and not fighting 24/7.

What is the meaning of the quote, “It is not enough to take steps which makes someday lead to a goal each must be itself a goal and also step.”?

First, let’s get the quote right: “It is not enough to take steps which may someday lead to a goal; each step must be itself a goal and a step likewise.” — Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Think through what steps it takes to reach the ultimate goal, then make each goal its own step. Accomplish one, then move on to another. When all the steps, the smaller goals, are accomplished, the larger, ultimate goal will have been achieved.

Is 'hero' too naive a term to describe someone? Are there such things as 'heroes'?

Not if you truly know what it takes to be one, and if you truly are one, you will selflessly refuse the title, just as they selflessly became a hero.

“Unconsciously we all have a standard by which we measure other men, and if we examine closely we find that this standard is a very simple one, and is this: we admire them, we envy them, for great qualities we ourselves lack. Hero worship consists in just that. Our heroes are men who do things which we recognize, with regret, and sometimes with a secret shame, that we cannot do. We find not much in ourselves to admire, we are always privately wanting to be like somebody else. If everybody was satisfied with himself, there would be no heroes.”

-- Mark Twain

How do lazy people treat each other?

If they’re truly lazy, they probably don’t waste energy on it. Interacting with each other takes away from them doing nothing.

When your employer asks you the question, "Are you happy?", what is the best way to answer?

An employer generally wouldn’t be asking without a reason. If you’re doing a good job, you have nothing to worry about by answering the question honestly. But, if you have to dwell on your performance then, regardless of how you answer them, you might want to do your job better or consider other employment.

What is one thing that someone said that you have never forgotten and it hurts you thinking about it?

My ex-wife, of twenty years, told me she never loved me, she just used me to escape her family situation. It hurt then, and it still hurts now. I had never encountered someone that could be that cruel and coldhearted, but our marriage was never a bowl of cherries. I have never been used since unless I knew it and allowed it for my own reasons.

“Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never hurt me.” This is a lie. What we say matters. The unkind things we communicate can soil the best of relationships; even with the deepest of regrets…what lingers is a stain of hurt that may fade but will never truly go away. The wounding words we say are like feathers released in a harsh wind, once said; we will never get them back.”

-- Jason Versey

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch, it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either opinion any more right or wrong than the other. An opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form opinions of their own, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint. 

It is my fervent hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions and while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion, in an arena of mutual respect, concerning those opinions put forth. After over twenty years with military intelligence, I have come to believe engaging each other in this manner and in this arena is the way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience, and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with the United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Institutional Review Board helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. Ordained 1n 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As the weapon for his war on intolerance he chose the pen, and wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's own personal, spiritual, path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He currently resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteers as a chaplain at the regional medical center.