Thanks for the advice. I think that I will have to try it for myself someday or I'll always wonder. Looking at the reviews on the Amazon site lead me to believe that the story is somewhat different than the movie. Less structured. Errr. No structure. And an abundance of homoerotic sex. But, one must find things out for oneself, even if it means exposure to things that are less than savory. Pause. What? You mean this isn't a thread on book discussion? Oops. (Sorry, Wanderer.)
water, ok, right, like you believe all that. Ok, Deepak, we are gods of our pure potential, that stuff is fine for motivational speeches, but you don't believe it any more than you believe every human is simply a growth on the skin of the planet, determined in every aspect by genes and environmental pressure. The point you make about basketball, just shows that people make choices by considering their options, which is a process I try to stay away from. I don't consider those people weak and worthless, because, as often as not, when one does the opposite and chooses from almost infinite possibilities, one picks something that is very hard to do and is left with a sense of helplessness in the face of overwhelming odds. This can be more "worthless", than just doing whatever dad did, doing whatever your neighbor does, doing whatever your friends do. That is just a person being unaware of the other choices, which may just end up being mirages anyway, they are not necessarily weak. Or rather, they are as weak as humans are, which is plenty weak, but is no reason for another human to revile them. The part that is ignored in the "pure potential" scenario, is the complexity of the chooser. That is where the enemy lies when one gets past the idea that "society" is bringing them down. As God is in some way responsible for satan, a person who acts as God in their extremely limited domain must accept responsibility for creating their own devils.
Xev: No character, no thought is not a no hook, its no book. Excellent. I know. Water: Uhm. I was speaking of one allowing their Self go to rot- one that will be anything others demand them to be yet claim othwerwise loses a hook somehwere and unfastens.
Bear with me, I'm trying to find a pattern. Do you think that the Self can be lost, unhooked, never to recover again? That such a mistake can be fatal, irrepairable? * * * do you think that there are good reasons to revile someone? Alright. If you discover that you have some devils: Does this mean that it was you who has created them?
I'm getting at the finality of certain psychological phenomena. You once said about angry white boys that they will never get better, never make something of themselves -- here: But, a disease is a disease, and it slowly but surely eats you away.
