Questioning Ethics, Culture, and Change

 

“Sometimes the only way to move forward is to let go. Sometimes the only way to rise higher is to cut your ties.”

-- Hendrith Smith

What does “nowadays, some of us can choose our sense of home” mean to you?

“Nowadays” home means different things than what it used to, and even then, "home is where you hang your hat" was very true. Some people are not so at home as they might be on an oil rig or traveling in an RV. Others might crave the wilderness, the desert, or frozen Alaska. Solitary, or with a mate, they might need just a hut, the basics, a bit more, or a full-blown kitchen. Home is not a definitive thing anymore. Home is what, and where, we choose it to be.

Why does everyone have to have a name?

If you don’t have a name, then, when you go into Cheers, everyone won’t know it.

Have you ever witnessed a real-life occurrence of a famous philosophical saying or theory? For example, have you ever stepped into a river and realized you can't step in the same river twice?

You’ve been reading Heraclitus. I used to use his thoughts in my PTSD groups. My real-life occurrences are too numerous to list. 

“No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.”

-- Heraclitus

Do those who "preach the loudest" have "the biggest skeletons in their closet"?

This seems to be the rule. We should always be suspect of evangelists who loudly preach their need for five private jets or politicians who loudly promise everything and then deliver very little. And yet, yet we keep filling the coffers of the evangelist and voting the politicians into office. Do we really care about their skeletons? I think not. Their continued reign says more about us than about them. 

Why is it a good thing that the world is not fair?

If it was fair, what would you learn? Failure is the best medium for learning, and learning is why we are here. We learn so we are better prepared to move forward into our next life, and the next, and so on. Life is school, you can either like it and pass, or not try and do it all over again. This is a choice each of us must make. Better we should be taught to be happy always, as we move through our classes.

Is a culture of courage needed to defeat the one of cancellation?

I fear our courage will come in the form of a revolution.

“The worst part of this obscenity, this shameless visibility, is the forced participation, this automatic complicity of the spectator who has been blackmailed into participating. And it is this which is the clearest objective of the operation: the servitude of the victims, but a voluntary servitude, one in which the victims rejoice from the pain and shame which they are made to suffer. The complete participation of a society in its fundamental mechanism: interactive exclusion - it doesn’t get better than that! Decided all together and consumed with enthusiasm.”

-- Jean Baudrillard

What is something that humans have never succeeded in conquering yet, and never will?

Anything “big business” relies on to make their money. Pharmaceuticals will never go away, nor will the ”big oil” that wars have been fought to protect. We delude ourselves thinking we will ever enjoy free power and longevity.

Is a genius mind God-gifted or hard work, how to compare?

If you haven’t been gifted a genius mind, then hard work isn’t going to create one. Hard work will make you smarter and more intelligent, but a “genius” mind is on a totally different level of mentality.

If you realize your mindset and approach to life in the last 10 - 15 years has been incorrect, is it too late to change now?

You’re an ax murderer, and “you realize your mindset and approach to life in the last 10–15 years has been incorrect,” well, it’s too late to change, so you might as well keep up the slaughter of innocence? It is never too late to change, if not for this life, then do it for the next life and the life after that, and so on.

We are here to learn to make good choices that prepare us for what’s ahead. We will pay for our bad choices, sooner or later, because failure is the best way for us to learn. Until we learn the lessons of this life, we will be doomed to repeat this life as our personal “hell on earth” until we do.

“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”

-- C. JoyBell C.

What does “HEIGHTENED awareness” describe?

Your awareness of “normal” things going on around you that most other people take for granted.

Why is it important to know your purpose, know your audience, organize your ideas, and follow basic communication principles? What is a practical example related to your field of expertise?

I was a military intelligence analyst and briefer for over 22 years. Keep it short, accurate, and to the point. “Credibility” is something you don’t obtain by not knowing your audience, not being knowledgeable of the subject, and not being a good public speaker. We briefed material to keep our country secure, our aircrews safe, and our leaders accurately and well informed.

Can every question be answered with "that's not entirely true"?

Are you alive? If you answer this question, then it’s entirely true. If I’m standing in front of you asking it, and you are obviously breathing, it’s entirely true. The only time the statement might come into question is if you don’t answer back, you’re not breathing, or you’re buried. Then, my assumption that you’re alive might not be “entirely true,” until I confirm it.

“A year. A thousand kisses. And now a thousand one, a thousand two. There are so many other places we could have ended up, but I have to believe none of them would have felt this right. "All I want is you" is not entirely true. I want so much more, and with you I think I can get it.”

-- David Levithan

What is the best thing that ever happened to you when you could really be your authentic self?

I cannot think of a time when I was forced to be a non-authentic me. If you can’t be who you choose to be, what’s the point? You might as well be a socialist, this way others can indoctrinate you to be how they want you to be, and you’re fine with that.

Am I a bad person if I wouldn’t kill baby Hitler?

If you went back in time, no. That timeline would change and the world would not be what it is in this timeline. You might kill baby Hitler and you, yourself, would cease to exist because you were never born in that timeline, and for what? What Hitler did in this timeline would still have occurred. By killing baby Hitler you only change the timeline you are currently in, and since you’re there and not here, you cease to exist.

Why is it that someone to achieve his goal needs help?

Do you know everything you need to know to achieve your goal? Do you have all the specialized equipment required? Of course, you made it all yourself, right? Nobody else gave you the ideas?

We all need help. Education, specialized equipment, maps, computers, or the ideas, you name it, you really can’t just do it all on your own.

“If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.”

-- Dorothy Parker

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 volunteered as a chaplain at the regional medical center.