Everlasting consequences (518 hits)
Category: NoneRating: 1.62 on 18 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Dalai Queso (View user info) at 2007-04-11 17:45:57 EDT
Imagine yourself a 3 year old, ignorantly blissful and less jaded than your seniors, looking at a wind-up pocket watch. You see a circle with sticks ticking and rotating around the center, passing over intricately etched black numbers along the edge of the bright white face. You understand it to be a device to track time, but it's system is complex and difficult to comprehend fully.
"You'll learn someday," the phrase grinds your soul, a blatant refusal to satiate your curious nature. You hear it tick, you see the little sticks rotate, and you feel the gentle vibrations, and your mind struggles to understand. The novelty wears off relative to your 3 year old attention span, and the device is set aside to perform it's intended function with no regards to your desire to understand it. It does what it does and you go about your business, chewing on an appealing and brightly colored plastic toy.
One day, several years later, the system is explained to you. You know how to tell the time from a properly adjusted pocket watch. Progress, yes, but far from a full understanding of how the pocket watch functions. It's explained to you that a complex system of springs and gears sits behind the little white circle, and somehow that has become enough. You don't need to know more than that. Complacent in your understanding of it, you move on, never even thinking about the pocket watch from then on.
How many pocket watches, or metaphorically similar items have you come across in your life? If the pocket watch you don't understand fully breaks, you generally aren't going to suffer much. If something more significant - for instance, a car - were to fail, you'll need help to get it going again. The less you know about your malfunctioning car, the more oppurtunity an unscrupulous mechanic has to take advantage of you.
Now consider something much more significant that you understand far less, like humanity. How much do you have to lose to those who understand infinitely better than you? If a dishonest mechanic can rob you of your hard earned income, how hard would it be for a knowledgable person in a position of power to rob you of your soul?
Until one understands himself, his body, his soul, and his spirit, he will never understand that which comes against him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
User Reviews
Submitted by hot_pocket (user info) at 2007-04-13 22:26:12 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
yup
Submitted by Kent_Weirdo (user info) at 2007-04-13 22:10:59 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Damn it, I dwell on this constantly!
I'm off to +2 more of your posts because of this.
Submitted by experima (user info) at 2007-04-13 21:54:48 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I really liked this. Good job. I read it cos of rob's brain candy comment (hi, rob!)
(needs proofreading though, honestly.)
+2
Submitted by BranDo (user info) at 2007-04-12 22:53:47 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I recommend to consult The Kid Who Knows Everything.
What if man wants to be foolish and fooled? He dies happy?
Submitted by CaptainThorns (user info) at 2007-04-12 09:29:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
No Comment
Submitted by HurtByTheSun (user info) at 2007-04-12 08:44:57 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
No Comment
Submitted by ChaosJester (user info) at 2007-04-12 08:31:39 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Pretty well written, but I have to agree with some of the below comments in that the last couple of paragraphs have a hard time meshing with the rest of the post. I think the problem lies with the transition--it felt a little too jerky. Perhaps another paragraph or two defining how power is derived from knowledge would help.
Liked the watch bit, though...
Submitted by indoninja (user info) at 2007-04-12 07:18:29 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Now consider something much more significant that you understand far less, like humanity. How much do you have to lose to those who understand infinitely better than you? If a dishonest mechanic can rob you of your hard earned income, how hard would it be for a knowledgable person in a position of power to rob you of your soul?
Until one understands himself, his body, his soul, and his spirit, he will never understand that which comes against him. He will die for lack of self-control; he will be lost because of his great foolishness.
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I don't get how the last paragraph meshes with the rest of this post, specifically the second to last paragraph.
Understanding myself, my body, my soul, and my spirit doesn't really give me any greater insight into the workings of the world, or make me more aware when people "in power" try to take advantage of me.
Also the car mechanic/person in power analogy fails when you look at in a practical light. Unless the person in power has locked you in a dungeon and cut you off from the world to rob you of your soul they would have to do it to an entire nation. People don't live in a vaccuum, and we are much more communal than people liek to think. In a free society it is near impossible for one person or group of people to have enough knowledge to manipulate a group of people to that extent.
Still an interesting train of thought.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-04-11 21:46:02 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by ooQueso (user info) at 2007-04-11 21:17:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-04-11 19:50:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I fucking love the way your brain works.
Seriously - Your posts are like neurological candy.
_________________________________________________________________________
That's like... The nicest thing anyone has ever said about
something I've written.
Thanks
---
You are sure welcome. Thank you for puttin' it out there.
(Just do me a favour and post/comment a little more often. Pretty please?)
Submitted by ooQueso (user info) at 2007-04-11 21:17:33 EDT (#)
Ranking: 0
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-04-11 19:50:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I fucking love the way your brain works.
Seriously - Your posts are like neurological candy.
_________________________________________________________________________
That's like... The nicest thing anyone has ever said about
something I've written.
Thanks
Submitted by Bubba2341 (user info) at 2007-04-11 20:53:15 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2007-04-11 19:30:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"Everyones broken is some way or another"
maybe so, but just like watches, some get fixed, and some don't
***********
Fantastic observation.
Submitted by rob_berg (user info) at 2007-04-11 19:50:11 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
I fucking love the way your brain works.
Seriously - Your posts are like neurological candy.
Submitted by joedaddy (user info) at 2007-04-11 19:30:31 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"Everyones broken is some way or another"
maybe so, but just like watches, some get fixed, and some don't
Submitted by The_taste_of_Monkeys (user info) at 2007-04-11 19:23:07 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Everyones broken is some way or another
Submitted by sideshow (user info) at 2007-04-11 18:59:16 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
Humanity is pretty crazy and complex, and it is certain that some people can be manipulated and exploited. I guess the best defenses we have are our intuition and common sense.
But it was a great post, I liked the watch and growing up to understand more analogy.
Submitted by St_Jimmy (user info) at 2007-04-11 18:13:13 EDT (#)
Ranking: 2
"How much do you have to lose to those who understand infinitely better than you?"
Wow, this was really great. I really like how you set this up with the watch/car analogy. I did have a little trouble with the end. A car is a fairly well-defined, knowable system. So, a mechanic can know more about your car than you know and use his knowledge against you.
Infinity, however, is a completely unknowable system. That's what I like about it. For all practical purposes, your guess is as good as mine. I really don't think anyone has extensive, definitive knowledge about the nature of existance and such things. No true experts, as it were.
So, as there really isn't anyone who understands infinity any better or worse than you, I don't think you have much to worry about.
Submitted by JonnyX (user info) at 2007-04-11 18:08:09 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
Submitted by drgoatcabin (user info) at 2007-04-11 14:58:18 PDT (#)
Ranking: 1
It was done well, but I'm just not into the meaning you have behind it.
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i'm too lazy to comprehend this...i blame rob_berg for not doing anything about it
Submitted by drgoatcabin (user info) at 2007-04-11 17:58:18 EDT (#)
Ranking: 1
It was done well, but I'm just not into the meaning you have behind it.