Human beings are very interesting creatures. Most animals are efficient. They have developed a certain equilibrium with nature....an understanding that you take what you need..and no more...(except viruses and parasites). Humans...take more than we need. We make difficult, the simplest actions of life.
I don't understand people...I can only understand myself and extrapolate what I find about myself , to others...which may not be a good way of truly understanding others. Being a Psych major, and still not understanding the human experience from a third person's perspective doesn't say much for my academic studies as a psych major...but alas, such is life.
Till next time..good morning to all.
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Good Night
Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor, said it best:
"Keep thyself therefore, truly simple, good, sincere, grave, free from all ostentation, a lover of that which is just, religious, kind, tender-hearted, strong and vigorous to undergo anything that becomes thee."
Good Night.
"Keep thyself therefore, truly simple, good, sincere, grave, free from all ostentation, a lover of that which is just, religious, kind, tender-hearted, strong and vigorous to undergo anything that becomes thee."
Good Night.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Random thoughts in no particular order.
Getting to know the city a little bit..taking random busses to random places...the great thing about living on an island thats 37 miles around, is that getting "lost" is never a BIG problem. There have been times where Ive gotten off of a bus or taxi and said "Where in the world am I?"..then I remember...37 miles is the furthest I could be from my home...I'll be fine, wherever I am. Thats a good rule to remember in life in general..."I'll be fine wherever I am."
It's very interesting the solutions to problems one can come u with when the circumstances and situation arises. I've never seen myself as a problem solver, but then again, I've always been surrounded with able persons in a comfortable environment, so I never needed to solve any problems using my own imagination and creativity....until now...and I must say...not bad.
My friend sent me a quote via email yesterday:
"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."
-Albert Einstein (I freggin love this guy)
I feel this way about myself quite often...but I would be lying to myself if I did not admit that I had friends and acquaintances for whom I cared and who cared about me...but in the larger scale of human social interaction..I feel no pull...no necessary attachment..no need to "be a part of"...I believe that in solitude, a man discovers who he is and in public, he discovers who he is Not...both are necessary in answering the question of Who Am I in this world...a question I have as of yet devised a plan for answering...
I went to this bar by the airport. The bar is cool...live band...gorgeous around sunset. Not coincidentally the name of the bar is Sunset Bar. This bar is located right by the shore (but to be fair...almost everything is right by the shore..I call it the island effect lol) I'm sitting there drinking a beer, and I see these two children about the ages of 6 or 7 playing a hand game , for a lack of a better word...like "patty cake". The sun is setting..and the live band is playing Bob Marley music. I'm sitting there in wonderment, thinking to myself this is a good day....everybody is out having some drinks with friends and what not...very good day. Granted I didn't quite know how I was going to get back home at the time (still getting to know the island)..but it was a very pleasant experience....everyone seemed chill..I had a good time..but there was only ONE thing missing.....
It's very interesting the solutions to problems one can come u with when the circumstances and situation arises. I've never seen myself as a problem solver, but then again, I've always been surrounded with able persons in a comfortable environment, so I never needed to solve any problems using my own imagination and creativity....until now...and I must say...not bad.
My friend sent me a quote via email yesterday:
"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."
-Albert Einstein (I freggin love this guy)
I feel this way about myself quite often...but I would be lying to myself if I did not admit that I had friends and acquaintances for whom I cared and who cared about me...but in the larger scale of human social interaction..I feel no pull...no necessary attachment..no need to "be a part of"...I believe that in solitude, a man discovers who he is and in public, he discovers who he is Not...both are necessary in answering the question of Who Am I in this world...a question I have as of yet devised a plan for answering...
I went to this bar by the airport. The bar is cool...live band...gorgeous around sunset. Not coincidentally the name of the bar is Sunset Bar. This bar is located right by the shore (but to be fair...almost everything is right by the shore..I call it the island effect lol) I'm sitting there drinking a beer, and I see these two children about the ages of 6 or 7 playing a hand game , for a lack of a better word...like "patty cake". The sun is setting..and the live band is playing Bob Marley music. I'm sitting there in wonderment, thinking to myself this is a good day....everybody is out having some drinks with friends and what not...very good day. Granted I didn't quite know how I was going to get back home at the time (still getting to know the island)..but it was a very pleasant experience....everyone seemed chill..I had a good time..but there was only ONE thing missing.....
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Damn
I just finished my last book yesterday and started a new one today. "Conversations with God". Im only on page 14 and I read this:
"And this is the second great illusion of man: that the outcome of life is in doubt.
It is this doubt about ultimate outcome that has created your greatest enemy, which is fear."
----------------------------------
"You came into this world with nothing to learn - you have only to demonstrate what you already know. In the demonstration of it will you function it out, and create yourself anew, through your experience. Thus do you justify life, and give it purpose. Thus do you render it holy."
-Neale Donald Walsch
Damn.
"And this is the second great illusion of man: that the outcome of life is in doubt.
It is this doubt about ultimate outcome that has created your greatest enemy, which is fear."
----------------------------------
"You came into this world with nothing to learn - you have only to demonstrate what you already know. In the demonstration of it will you function it out, and create yourself anew, through your experience. Thus do you justify life, and give it purpose. Thus do you render it holy."
-Neale Donald Walsch
Damn.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Had a good day today. Didn't do anything. ..didn't even leave my apartment..but had some good conversations with people.
\Yesterday i went on the bus for the first time. I had no real destination in mind, butif I am going to understand the surroundings in which I live, the only thing to do is to explore and not wait for an invitation to do so. I went to this one bar that's by the airport.
If you google pictures of St. Maarten and airplanes, you will see some pictures come up that seem to be photoshoped..where the plane looks so close to the ground as it is landing, that you think it could not be real.....but it is. I'm sitting thereat this outdoor bar that I've neve seen or heard of before, and in the distance I see 2 bright lights in the sky. There was a storm on the horizon so the clouds were ominous, yet calm. I glance away, take a swig of my beer, look again...and the lights are much bigger now...Also I can see , however faintly...wings of an aircraft. Now, I'm no pilot but Im thinking to myself, this looks kinda low. The airport is right across the street, behind me...and when I say right across the street...I dont mean in the distance, I mean right across a one way street, seperated by a fence one could easily hop, kind of distance.. So by now im intrigued. I pick up my beer, walk directly where I believe the plane will be over head and I stand there and wait....it getting closer and closer...and LOWER with every second.
I hear the rumble of the plane louder than I ever have before. I can see that the plane is leaning from side to side, as the pilot adjusts his position for the final decent. As this huge 747 reaches directly over head..I shit you ot...If I had climbed to the top of that fence with a golf club...I would have made contact with the belly of this plane...and he fence is only about 7 feet high...slightly above my head by less than a foot...so yea thats what people do..have a beer and watch panes come in and go. When these planes are ready for takeoff, the blast you feel from these jets can lift a person of the ground, Im sure...I got out of the way of that one. That was interesting. Perhaps tomorrow I will go on another bus and see some more...if it doesnt rain...perhaps even if it does. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Everything takes time.
\Yesterday i went on the bus for the first time. I had no real destination in mind, butif I am going to understand the surroundings in which I live, the only thing to do is to explore and not wait for an invitation to do so. I went to this one bar that's by the airport.
If you google pictures of St. Maarten and airplanes, you will see some pictures come up that seem to be photoshoped..where the plane looks so close to the ground as it is landing, that you think it could not be real.....but it is. I'm sitting thereat this outdoor bar that I've neve seen or heard of before, and in the distance I see 2 bright lights in the sky. There was a storm on the horizon so the clouds were ominous, yet calm. I glance away, take a swig of my beer, look again...and the lights are much bigger now...Also I can see , however faintly...wings of an aircraft. Now, I'm no pilot but Im thinking to myself, this looks kinda low. The airport is right across the street, behind me...and when I say right across the street...I dont mean in the distance, I mean right across a one way street, seperated by a fence one could easily hop, kind of distance.. So by now im intrigued. I pick up my beer, walk directly where I believe the plane will be over head and I stand there and wait....it getting closer and closer...and LOWER with every second.
I hear the rumble of the plane louder than I ever have before. I can see that the plane is leaning from side to side, as the pilot adjusts his position for the final decent. As this huge 747 reaches directly over head..I shit you ot...If I had climbed to the top of that fence with a golf club...I would have made contact with the belly of this plane...and he fence is only about 7 feet high...slightly above my head by less than a foot...so yea thats what people do..have a beer and watch panes come in and go. When these planes are ready for takeoff, the blast you feel from these jets can lift a person of the ground, Im sure...I got out of the way of that one. That was interesting. Perhaps tomorrow I will go on another bus and see some more...if it doesnt rain...perhaps even if it does. Who knows what tomorrow will bring.
Everything takes time.
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Giving Back
In order to give back, one must first know what one has to offer.
We all have a surplus of something...some talent, some gift that would be put to best use if we gave it away. What is your talent? What is mine? Who knows...
We all have a surplus of something...some talent, some gift that would be put to best use if we gave it away. What is your talent? What is mine? Who knows...
Interesting thought...
You have something in common with every single person you will ever meet, no matter how vastly different your cultures or views are. You just have to find out what that (at least) one commonality is, and from there a bond can be made. This is similar to the six degrees of separation theory in most respects, I guess.
I just think that in order to value another person and the worth of their life means that on some level you see them as an extension of yourself. The most inhumane crimes happen when the perpretrator views the victims as sub human in some way...but if we can at least agree that there is something familiar in every person we meet...that is a start...a start towards what, I am not sure..but the direction can't be that bad...can it?
Who knows?
I find that the only time I am truly and fully at peace is when I am alone. I dont know if thats good or not.
I like being by myself...preferably in nature. Trees don't judge...the sky doesn't take sides, flowers don't care if you didn't call for days...you can be yourself...but when youre around other people..at least myself...there seems to be a barrier ...even if slightly...that exists. People, however, make life worth living. It's the relationships you have with other people that help define the strength and direction of your own life. I just wish it were easier sometimes to get beyond the superficial and unnecessary barriers of human interactions, and truly get to know ones neighbor..that would be cool.
"These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. Its nature is satisfied, and it satisfies nature, in all moments alike. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
I just think that in order to value another person and the worth of their life means that on some level you see them as an extension of yourself. The most inhumane crimes happen when the perpretrator views the victims as sub human in some way...but if we can at least agree that there is something familiar in every person we meet...that is a start...a start towards what, I am not sure..but the direction can't be that bad...can it?
Who knows?
I find that the only time I am truly and fully at peace is when I am alone. I dont know if thats good or not.
I like being by myself...preferably in nature. Trees don't judge...the sky doesn't take sides, flowers don't care if you didn't call for days...you can be yourself...but when youre around other people..at least myself...there seems to be a barrier ...even if slightly...that exists. People, however, make life worth living. It's the relationships you have with other people that help define the strength and direction of your own life. I just wish it were easier sometimes to get beyond the superficial and unnecessary barriers of human interactions, and truly get to know ones neighbor..that would be cool.
"These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. Its nature is satisfied, and it satisfies nature, in all moments alike. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time." -Ralph Waldo Emerson
Friday, November 5, 2010
Chillin'
I read a quote today, from this book that I'm currently reading:
"The answer, the strength, the right action or the resource will be there when you need it, not before, not after." -Eckhart Tolle
This provided me with so much calmness and ease for the rest of the day..hopefully that feeling can last longer than the time it took me to read this line. I've already experienced this phenomenon, as I'm sure most people have. I'm still working on my philosophy, but somewhere in there, lies this message. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd rather spend my life trying to work out this dilemma.
I've been so concerned about the direction of my life for that past 3 years, mainly because I feared the future and the surplus of options. People everywhere seemed so concerned with my future than I was. Always asking what was I going to do next, so much so that it became stressful, even thought I know that people only ask when they care...and for that I was and am grateful. However, I got to the point where I stopped caring about my "future" because I realized that there was no way for my to predict it. The "future" is an abstract idea, which, by definition cannot be predicted only postulated...that is what I believe, anyway. But once I gave up on the future, it began and is beginning to open. So, even now, I try not to think about my future, because it takes time away from me enjoying the now, the today, the moment. This morning's sunrise will never be seen again. This evenings rainshower will never be experienced again. I don't want to be one of those people that are too busy worrying about tomorrow when today is as ripe as it can be.
I say, "Don't let your food spoiltoday because you want something to eat tomorrow."
I DO think that one should always prepare for the possibility of change, because change is the only thing that's guaranteed...but what if I wake up one day, roll over, see my wife sleeping next to me..walk to the bathroom, trip over the toys in the hallway from my children, look in the vanity mirror and see that I'm 40 years old and Ive spent my best and youthful years....just waiting for tomorrow.
You can't get that back, so I say that there's no tomorrow..that doesn't mean that I believe people should go crazy or waste all their money..no no no. What I think is that I should spend more time doing the things that I find interesting today, than spend time wishing for someth ing more interesting to come tomorrow. Money will come...it most definitely will go, but if you have enough to cover the bare necessities and a little saved up for a "rainy day"...what else do you need, really. But again, if you have family and kids to worry about...tuition, mortgage..I don't know how I would apply my own philosophy. Perhaps this is just a way for me to "run" away from life's responsibilities, but Ive read a quote...and I'm paraphrasing...that said that One often finds his destiny on the very road he takes to run from it. I will take that approach because if nothing else...I'll get to where I was meant to BE, while creating a unique experience along the way...and if it doesnt work, at least in the end i can say that that was a Choice I had made and that alone will provide some solace in my unknown future.
Local news:
Got my first heavy rainfall yesterday and holy crap...when it rains, it definitely pours.
Work is going well. Learning a lot. Someone asked me earlier this week what it was that I did, and so I explain in an overly verbose way, to a native Dutch speaker, and they said in a broken english..so..you..sailor. I was about to refute the claim, but then I thought to myself, how would I..except by saying Im not in the navy....so cool, I guess im a sailor...cool.
Went to a couple of bars and clubs...very cool
I was watching a group of people (5 or 6) standing across from me, having a conversation and I realized that most people like to rest on something or lean on a wall whilst standing and conversing. Those who stand without the aid of some object, they look funny. And by that I mean. most people don't know what to do with their hands...their whole disposition is awkward. I find that interesting The ones who were leaning on a wall, bar or what have you, seem to look more comfortable. Just something that I noticed.
"The answer, the strength, the right action or the resource will be there when you need it, not before, not after." -Eckhart Tolle
This provided me with so much calmness and ease for the rest of the day..hopefully that feeling can last longer than the time it took me to read this line. I've already experienced this phenomenon, as I'm sure most people have. I'm still working on my philosophy, but somewhere in there, lies this message. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd rather spend my life trying to work out this dilemma.
I've been so concerned about the direction of my life for that past 3 years, mainly because I feared the future and the surplus of options. People everywhere seemed so concerned with my future than I was. Always asking what was I going to do next, so much so that it became stressful, even thought I know that people only ask when they care...and for that I was and am grateful. However, I got to the point where I stopped caring about my "future" because I realized that there was no way for my to predict it. The "future" is an abstract idea, which, by definition cannot be predicted only postulated...that is what I believe, anyway. But once I gave up on the future, it began and is beginning to open. So, even now, I try not to think about my future, because it takes time away from me enjoying the now, the today, the moment. This morning's sunrise will never be seen again. This evenings rainshower will never be experienced again. I don't want to be one of those people that are too busy worrying about tomorrow when today is as ripe as it can be.
I say, "Don't let your food spoiltoday because you want something to eat tomorrow."
I DO think that one should always prepare for the possibility of change, because change is the only thing that's guaranteed...but what if I wake up one day, roll over, see my wife sleeping next to me..walk to the bathroom, trip over the toys in the hallway from my children, look in the vanity mirror and see that I'm 40 years old and Ive spent my best and youthful years....just waiting for tomorrow.
You can't get that back, so I say that there's no tomorrow..that doesn't mean that I believe people should go crazy or waste all their money..no no no. What I think is that I should spend more time doing the things that I find interesting today, than spend time wishing for someth ing more interesting to come tomorrow. Money will come...it most definitely will go, but if you have enough to cover the bare necessities and a little saved up for a "rainy day"...what else do you need, really. But again, if you have family and kids to worry about...tuition, mortgage..I don't know how I would apply my own philosophy. Perhaps this is just a way for me to "run" away from life's responsibilities, but Ive read a quote...and I'm paraphrasing...that said that One often finds his destiny on the very road he takes to run from it. I will take that approach because if nothing else...I'll get to where I was meant to BE, while creating a unique experience along the way...and if it doesnt work, at least in the end i can say that that was a Choice I had made and that alone will provide some solace in my unknown future.
Local news:
Got my first heavy rainfall yesterday and holy crap...when it rains, it definitely pours.
Work is going well. Learning a lot. Someone asked me earlier this week what it was that I did, and so I explain in an overly verbose way, to a native Dutch speaker, and they said in a broken english..so..you..sailor. I was about to refute the claim, but then I thought to myself, how would I..except by saying Im not in the navy....so cool, I guess im a sailor...cool.
Went to a couple of bars and clubs...very cool
I was watching a group of people (5 or 6) standing across from me, having a conversation and I realized that most people like to rest on something or lean on a wall whilst standing and conversing. Those who stand without the aid of some object, they look funny. And by that I mean. most people don't know what to do with their hands...their whole disposition is awkward. I find that interesting The ones who were leaning on a wall, bar or what have you, seem to look more comfortable. Just something that I noticed.
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