Questioning Honesty, Emotions, Change, Stupid, and Genetics

 

"Whosoever wishes to know about the world must learn about it in its particular details. Knowledge is not intelligence. In searching for the truth be ready for the unexpected. Change alone is unchanging. The same road goes both up and down. The beginning of a circle is also its end. Not I, but the world says it: all is one. And yet everything comes in season."

-- Heraclitus

How important is honesty to you in 2022?

It has the same importance as it has had my entire life, of almost 70 years. Honesty is the foundation for any good and moral personal code of ethics. There are many who take it with a grain of salt, and there are others who stand by it unto death.

It would seem most political figures take it with a grain of salt, as they line their pockets with an ill-gotten retirement fund and constantly lie to those who voted them in, not that the voter didn’t really know what the candidates weren’t going to do, to begin with. People are basically stupid. I mean, they murder babies in the womb and then ask “religious” politicians to find an excuse for it, and they do. Organized religion, I have little use for it.

As always, I await the League of the Perpetually Offended.

Can someone be vindictive and still have a good character?

No, vindictiveness is not an attribute of “good” character.

Do negative facts exist? Can a person believe in negative facts?

Politics is rife with “negative” facts. If they can’t make you believe an outright lie, they will simply inundate you with negativity that is factual. The media discovered this, as well, when people started seeing through their bullshit headlines. Socialism is not our friend, and people are starting to take note.

Why are you so dumb?

I don’t know. It just comes naturally.

Has it ever occurred to you that your purposes in life are only meant to hunt you down?

Well, if I spent all that time when I was young, “hunting” for my purpose, and my purpose spent all that time “hunting” me down, we were very poor hunters, then, weren’t we? I found my purpose when the draft lottery for Vietnam decided I was an 8 out of 365. The army was not my purpose, and, as it turns out, neither was college. I let two years of college go, and joined the Air Force. My major in psychology netted me a job with a different “purpose” - Intelligence. The “purpose” was waiting there for me to stumble across, and I stayed with it for almost 23 years. The “purpose” wasn’t hunting, it was waiting. I came to it. 

“It does not matter how long you are spending on the earth, how much money you have gathered or how much attention you have received. It is the amount of positive vibration you have radiated in life that matters,”

-- Amit Ray

How do I tell if I've crossed the line between being critical and being nitpicky? Is there a difference if it's in the terms of literature, rather than a relationship?

It’s basically the same thing, regardless. Being critical of something important, or being critical of the mundane. Who really cares about the mundane? That is being “nitpicky” as far as a critique, and people will tire of it.

Can you name five disadvantages of being irresponsible?

Lack of trust. Lack of job. Lack of money. Mountains of debt. Loss of true happiness.

What are some examples of how emotions got in the way of good decision-making?

I was in love, so I married the wrong woman. 25 years-of-hell, later, I realized what everyone else had been telling me, for 20 years, was true. It was a piss poor decision. We divorced in 2000, and I’ve been truly happy ever since. One fricken mistake…

“A fantastic entertainer/performer needs to have stage presence and charisma” is my drama teacher right or is he over-selling it?

Without it, you won’t attain your goal. Oh, you might act, but you’ll never amount to much.

If people won’t accept the truth, what can you do? How do you get over the anger of never being able to get someone so stupid to understand the truth?

Nothing. They refuse to accept. Why get angry with yourself over someone else’s ignorance? Smile, shake your head at the frustration of it, feel sorry for them, and move on down the road. There is nothing more you can do but wait for an “Aha!” moment to strike them. It may take years, or it may never happen. Voters vote for the same dumbasses who do nothing, these politicians, purposely holding their own constituents down, lying to them with the same recording, time after time, and they are believed, time after time. Maybe it's time to buy a new record, and move on down the road. People are starting to wake up from the coma that the same old bullshit lulled then into.

“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.”

-- Joe Klaas

What do you do if you are 42, and totally unhappy with the way your life turned out to be, and the career you want to pursue mostly hires younger folks?

“Mostly” seems to have you buffaloed. I'd take a couple of years to learn supervision and management. At 42, this leaves 20 years for you to supervise and manage the “younger folks” before you retire. The trick will be convincing the employer of the benefits of age.

Why am I never happy no matter how many times I change my job?

Maybe it isn’t the job.

How can I take responsibility for my own actions and stop blaming others? I need self-control.

You ask and answer your question. Good for you! How you do it, is to take responsibility for your own actions and stop blaming others. This is done with self-control.

Do you agree that attention is the most valuable resource in our society today NOT time?

Time is a human costruct developed to give structure to our lives. Time, therefore, is only important if there isn’t enough of it. Attention to detail is something we all have to work on. Unfortunately, there usually isn’t enough time to pay that kind of attention. Those that can, do. Those that can’t, usually struggle to keep up, or they find a job where the attention required trumps the time required. 

Jean de la Fontaine said, "A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it." What do you think?

Destiny happens, and there is nothing you can do to avoid it. If you think you are, you should pay more attention to what is sneaking up behind you.

“There are no wrong turnings. Only paths we had not known we were meant to walk.”

-- Guy Gavriel Kay

What is more stupid than stupid?

I’d say this question. More stupid than stupid would be stupider or, simply, more stupid, depending on how stupid the individual is. But, in the words of that famous philosopher, Forrest Gump, “Stupid is as stupid does.”

When you're gossiping, what will you do if your son wakes up and tells you, "How many times should I tell you not to talk when I'm asleep? My mind fantasizes based on your words, and I suffer from dreaming."?

“Who are you, and what have you done with my son?”

Can you change your mindset at any age or stage in life?

Sure, the moment you find that your mindset sucks. If you don’t, everyone will come to realize that you suck. Not a good thing.

What are some ways to deal with failure at an early age?

Learn to understand failure for what it is, and learn to not listen to naysayers. Failure and mistakes are simply life offering up opportunities for us to learn why we went wrong. Critique what you did, learn why you went wrong, and correct the outcome if you can. If you can’t correct it, at least you have learned something for when this problem shows up again. It isn’t that you fail, it is what you do with the failure that keeps you moving forward. 

Are there any benefits to assigning blame to others?

Short-term benefit, you dodge the blame. But, in the long term, the truth will eventually come out and your name will be, “Poopy Head.”

“An important decision I made was to resist playing the Blame Game. The day I realized that I am in charge of how I will approach problems in my life, that things will turn out better or worse because of me and nobody else, that was the day I knew I would be a happier and healthier person. And that was the day I knew I could truly build a life that matters.”

-- Steve Goodier

Do you feel loved if your spouse doesn't say "I love you"?

Nope. You would think, after more than 20 years of not hearing this, I would have gotten a clue. Nope, finally got a divorce, though. Love made me a little thick.

What do you do when your parents are jealous of your talent?

“Neener, neener, neener, I can do something you can’t do! Ha!” 

How do you overcome learning lessons?

So, you only want to progress a finite distance in life? Fine. Go into a coma. If you have all your faculties, you will learn whether you want to or not. A coma negated the input of your faculties. The only other option is to become God, but you’ll have to learn everything to do that, and that negates your question.

Who said, "No one can hurt me but myself"?

A guy that’s never been shot in battle.

What does it mean to be human? Is it genetic?

For the most part, then it dives a bit deeper. As I understand it, as not the sharpest tool in the shed, genetics defines how, what, and when we are, but our mind defines who, why, and, even deeper, where we are going. The brain is genetic, and it keeps us alive, but the mind is everything we experience, and so much more.

“When you meet someone of the same religion and you immediately feel close to him, then you haven't learned to be human yet! Because being human means ignoring the religion, race and colour of the person you meet, and it means seeing only the human in him!”

-- Mehmet Murat ildan

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, finally, a senior manager. He spent 17 years, following his service career, working with the premier, world-renowned, Western 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 the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony:  tolerantpastor@gmail.com