The societal norm right now is to moan and complain about how hard-off and unfair things are.
Even a germ of historical perspective will show that even the worst-off of us are doing far better than our counterparts just 100 years ago. Longer lifespans, a magnitude more options, more leisure, more entertainment, more money even when adjusted for inflation. The “wilderness” is mostly tamed. One doesn’t have to deal with 80% of their children dying from horrendous diseases or being attacked by wild animals while out trying to scrape together enough sustenance to keep the family’s skeletal forms alive. Men did incredibly dangerous, dirty, debilitating jobs for ridiculous hours; and women slaved just as long trying to care for the needs of large the large families that were necessary to balance out child mortality rates.
Why do you think so many people today seem to so caught-up in how cursed they are, rather than how blessed they are?
Do you think it might be tied to our love of complaining?
© 2026 – SoulSequel
93 responses to “How much gratitude do you have for how well-off you are?”
Does that include things like lack of general health?
@Jear77
Major health is a much nicer bloke than general health. And he started as private health! And even as just a private, he was able to improve things a lot.
And neither general, major nor private malaise are good people to invite to a party.
But the flippancy aside, the point of gratitude is that current medical science is able to give some quality of life to people who not too many generations ago, would just be dead from their malaise.
(With the general unaffordability of effective healthcare being more of a national issue than global issue).
@griz point.
I have been witness to conditions of the human race where existed abject poverty, pestilence, disease, and death on a scale none of you reading this could ever imagine. Human history was and is rife with it, and yet it still exists to this day. One need not look at the third world countries such as India, Bangladesh, much of the African continent, or even Venezuela. Look instead at California, where it’s major cities are becoming just as filthy if not more so than the dirtiest cities of India. There is a growing crisis erupting in California of homelessness. Not because people are choosing to be homeless but because of the policies of the liberal government in that state. Add to that the influx of undocumented immigrants from south of the border swelling the welfare rolls and placing an even greater strain on the already dwindling public resources.
The governor of California chooses to raise taxes on the citizens of that state, and restrict private ownership of fire arms, as if that is going to solve anything.
Now, how does any of this relate to your original question you ask…
I am grateful to live in a state where such problems are nearly non-existent. Yes, Arizona has it’s own problems, but nothing as bad as California.
I have lived in poverty and I have climbed out of that pit of despair and now enjoy the life I have today. I own a home that’s paid off, I drive a vehicle that’s paid off, and I have the ability to buy groceries to feed my belly when hungry. But I also realize that all of this could be taken away in a heart beat from a natural disaster or an act of God.
Here are some videos of the mess in California:
Democrat Policies Cause Homeless Crisis In California
@immortal_pirate
Rushing to blame this entirely on politics is to worship a narrow perspective. We are degenerating into a species that just LOVES their uni-varied analysis for the sake of tribal identity-politics warfare!
For example, do you think a more temperate climate and ease of living might have something to do with it? Any such encampment in Arizona would rather quickly be cooked out of existence!
@griz
The pictures above are 100% the fault of democrats…
@Weenis
Any fellowship or association where one side blames the other for everything is doomed to fail
So I suppose in a way, you’ve answered the question of how much gratitude you have.
Precious little.
I am so grateful for meeting and knowing Immortal Pirate. I may have been able to live well off where I was — in California, but I slowly realized that he and I needed one another. It was the catapult that would make me let go of life in California. California was getting worse and worse under the Governorship of Jerry “Moonbeam” Yoga-pants Brown.
I had the finances to live well in California, but life in Arizona costs half as much —- so, why not move to Arizona and share with a partner and two of us can live well.
I got out of California as it slipped into a trash heap of illegals being protected and tent cities set up around freeway ramps, freeway overpasses, and along the rivers — which are not rivers, but drainage ditches of filth flowing out to the sea. I bought a gun and then found out that laws were preventing me from enjoying gun ownership. I am grateful that Arizona laws are so much more gun-friendly and life in Arizona is so much safer.
I am grateful for the privilege of getting to live where life is sane and conservative. I am thankful for being part of the Great Revolt that voted President Trump into office. Life is getting better and better.
As for dependency on electronic gadgets, we are balancing it with knowledge of how to live without them, as well. We know the “Old World” ways of living without modern conveniences. At this time, we have the conveniences and entertainments —- but we are prepared if something happens that makes the world as we know it a thing of the past. I am grateful for teaming up with a like-minded partner.
There is nothing to complain about. So, now I will stop typing, so that I can enjoy our lobster dinner. Life is good and I am so grateful/
@Weenis
Here’s hoping you are at least grateful for this.
Whom did God so love that he sent his only begotten Son for?
How can you do less?
@griz
Those whom God loved and sent his only begotten son for are those who believe in him.
This is a dumb question.
I can’t forgive sins, or grant eternal life, or save myself.
You must have missed the point of the portion of hymn I quoted. I stated that because anything outside of shame and nakedness is grace from God. So I’m very thankful for how well off I am.
Your line of questioning is confusing, out of context, and doesn’t make any sense.
@Weenis
That first one is a rewrite of scripture.
How can you do anything less than love as he has? Unless you somehow fancy yourself greater, that you don’t have to.
If you’re grateful then show it. Stop trying to judge and exclude people as not worthy in your eyes.
@griz
I do.
I don’t.
@Weenis
Whom do you show it to?
The world or the select few?
I must have imagined you trying to judge me on the mistaken assumption that I don’t have a church and I’m not under the discipleship of an elder.
@griz You yourself said that you don’t have a church and aren’t under the _authority_ of an elder. That’s not a judgement or assumption, you stated that.
@Weenis
I know it’s not easy to look that far back in the group, but I would not have said something about this that I knew to be false. that would have been a sin against God in the process he has me in.
(But if you can find where I said such I’ll repent of it.)
My clear recollection is that you presumed this of me and I corrected you on it.
Which I don’t mind because it is all part of God’s process. So why do you think it might have been important to your process to believe I said these things?
@griz
Are you saying that you are a member of a church and under the authority of a plurality of elders?
@Weenis
My answer is the same as before.
Yes.
One Elder even talked about missionary funding when my career changed; but I said the church had better things to do with its money.
It may suck for you, but you’re going to have to stop judging me on this point!
@griz
I don’t know why you say things like this.
@Weenis
Culture gap, perhaps?
Let me put i this way, I probably say, “There but for the Grace of God, go I” every day.
That puts me in a frame of mind that makes me see beyond the judgmental perspective that is inherent in the human psyche.
So many worship their god with lip service. They may even contribute filthy lucre as a way to appease their guilt, but as long as they don’t get their hands dirty and celebrate the magnanimity from a distance all is well in their souls. They congregate in holier than thou encampments and selfishly pat each other on the back for their generosity.
I suppose I do it too in my own way. No sense in the pot calling the kettle black when it is a part of all of humanity’s core nature.
I am blessed with the Grace of God, because I can step aside and look out of my eyes in every moment and appreciate the gifts bestowed upon us. With all the druge that is human, I cherish moments when something lights up and suggests that the perfection of this universal creation will usurp to minor blip that humanity has not lived up to.
Friday night was a highlight as I watched a 24 y/o violinist take centre stage in an educational interpretation of Vivaldi’s Spring and Summer concertos at Toronto’s Roy Thompson Hall. The passion he delivered, with a string back up team and an amazing conductor who shaped the performance illustrates we can be so much more, by combining God given gifts with skills development (a lot like you and your camera).
If anything is God’s language; it is music, but it is also the literature that is more than words, but the expression of much more…it is the arts.
When we can take the conscious focus of appreciating the more, whether it is a baseball pitcher, to a prodigal talent in any form of artistic expression, we are communing through appreciation with that thing that is more than I.
PS, how did you question evolve into such rancor? Some people can’t seem to be happy unless they are focused on making others sad and to feel less sad by comparison. I think it would be hard to appreciate anything while making such a misguided effort to raise awareness of all the shit that exists. Paying attention to the shit, with a pointing finger, does nothing to fix it. It becomes shit in itself. I suppose you could appreciate this opinion because you actually give a shit.
@spitfire3dc
An enjoyable response to read.
I’m very impressed with dr. Peterson’s maps of meaning analogy he lectures on (and has a book of the same name).
Reality is complicated, so all of our little internal minions set about creating a simplified series of maps for various applications.
When something in reality doesn’t match up to the map it pokes a hole in it; and an anxiety response is triggered. If the discontinuity is serious enough it burns a hole in the map, greater anxiety is triggered as we might feel ourselves circling the drain, needing to claw back to stable map. And if the whole map is burned up you are not just lost, whole sections of your psyche that relied on that is a reliable map perhaps for years, are rendered invalid. And the response will be rancorous. The impression can be that we are fighting back for the very survival of core parts of our self.
But really it’s just the map that is threatened. We can construct a new one, and probably should if the old map is so vulnerable to generally harmless, or low-risk incursions upon it.
Soulsequel is a learning ground, inhabited by the most part by friendly supportive voices. When innocuous questions raise rancor, obfuscation, or the tribal warfare of ideologies, everyone has a precious opportunity to learn more about themselves and others: about the human animal we all have to live with.
Hopefully unto making ourselves and the group stronger. And gratitude is a key.
We could stand to be more grateful for the special group of supportive friends who are gathered here.
@griz I wish it was a learning ground but it has become a perverted soap box celebrating evil more often than not. Paul called this one:
And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming. The coming of the lawless one is apparent in the working of Satan, who uses all power, signs, lying wonders, and every kind of wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion, leading them to believe what is false, so that all who have not believed the truth but took pleasure in unrighteousness will be condemned.[6]
@spitfire3dc
We live in a world where just one or two can shift the balance from evil towards good or vice versa.
I’m familiar with the verse.
A lot might say that God allowing the delusion, is the same as him sending it!
@griz I guess if we wait long enough prophesy is bound to occur. The whole monkey Shakespeare thing
@spitfire3dc
It’s less that then there is a strong delusion in the world. So that prophecy is fulfilled.
The only point then, is whether God allowing it is the same as God sending it!
Each person’s current map of meaning will determine that.
My friend said that we should be grateful for having this hole in the wall because it’s more than what most people have. In one sense I agree, knowing that there are people who are totally devoid of shelter. Having said that I also knowing that at least one religion teaches a deity has streets of gold, no pain, no misery, no death- such thing should have been possible … one can’t help but feel the disparity of situations. Given such disparity… is it appropriate in the slightest to feel gratitude? If so why?
@Jear77
That’s an obfuscation of convenience, and here’s why.
Is God’s kingdom physical or spiritual?
Now identify the physical and spiritual version of each of these things.
I understand these are standard atheist apologetics. But they are poorly conceived.
@griz but you forget that god (if he exists) had the opportunity to make only a spiritual reality. He did not … Thus the disparities in situations remain!
@Jear77
Is God’s kingdom according to the book you love to hate and hate to love . . .
Physical or spiritual?
@griz doesn’t matter. Because you have verses like “the scripture is fulfilled this day in your hearing.” It has (and always had) a dual component of flesh and spirit co-mingled / combined.
@Jear77
Still an obfuscation of convenience.
Is God’s “kingdom come” physical or spiritual? You know which it is. You’re clever enough to pull out the context to support an ideology; but don’t you think others are clever enough to see the volume of verses you stumble over to get there?
@griz both. Always both. You can’t have raising of the dead as a spiritual thing… or Jesus would have been practicing necromancy, having a ghost of Lazurus appear, instead of Lazurus himself in the flesh
@Jear77
A good point.
But in this instance the physical was clearly nested within the spiritual. Because by what physical law kngdom or authority . . . Is physical death rendered a moot point?
The answer is that God’s kingdom is spiritual. That it for now reaches into the physical, in no way invalidates this.
So what then are spiritual streets? Spiritual gold? Spiritual mansions?
@griz but tbe point is that god has every opportunity, nay the requirement of not creating the physical if he wanted to have fellowship with 100% of his creation, thus making faith sight. And knowing that if he made the physical he would lose many, basically all… makes such a being evil!
@Jear77
Trying to judge something that one has limited (or no) frame of reference on, would seem a fool’s enterprise.
Now such is entirely within human purview. But a very beneficial meaning to attach to this current existence, is to become less and less foolish over time. Which would mean a willingness to examine ideologies and mind sets that often find us in the fool’s shoes.
But that can be hard, because these things can have the perception of short-term benefits: like having something to complain about that doesn’t involve any personal responsibility.
@griz reality is not a frame of reference… ?
@Jear77
A sea slug’s reality is a frame of reference.
But it would be a foolish sea slug to presume its perceptions were sufficient to accurately render and judge the dry land reality.
There is a lot of current benefit and meaning in discovering and setting aside mindsets and ideologies that would make us foolish sea slugs.
(And we can probably do a titch better than just being wise sea slugs, if we put our minds to it!)
@griz this current reality, seen by our own eyes. Not creatures that dissolve in salt.
@Jear77
Well, it was not a terribly complicated point of limited frame of reference. But a sea slug can only see what a sea slug can see. Perceptions of reality Beyond its own scope would be Beyond its ability to render accurate judgment upon.
@griz isn’t it stated somewhere that man is a “bit lower than the angels”? With this as a keystone, a Truth, we can see things, compeehend concepts a slug cannot.
@Jear77
Yes but in what frame? Now later immaturely fully-realized physically spiritually psychically temporarily . . .?
Worshipping the words on paper has serious drawbacks. As does worshiping a man-made religious structure.
We are certainly higher than the slugs. But the point is where would we come by the foolishness to think we can judge things we have not yet experienced?
Jear. Did your religious experience have ANY spiritual aspect to it whatsoever? I’ve asked you this before and you’ve gone silent. So I honestly don’t know but I don’t think it did. Not from your responses to date.
Think of it this way.
Some words written about the Grand Canyon can give you some idea of its beauty and effect on an observer.
A picture essay can give you a bit more.
A 3D IMAX experience more still.
But one still really has no notion of the scope and grandeur of it, until they actually experience it.
So what now can be said of the person who read a few words on paper about it, and think they are expert enough to critique and judge the experience of standing on its rim, plumbing its depths. experiencing its slot canyons??
They would be like a silly little sea slug in the Borneo Sea trying to critique and judge the experience of Calumet City.
@griz by one scholar’s opinion, that is a mistranslation – it should read *higher* and tbis was the reason satan rebelled
@Jear77
The premise is that Christ is the only “person” one should rely on, because he was allegedly more than just a person.
His sacrifice made the infilling of the Holy Spirit possible for the first time ever. And while Scholars and religious leaders and commentaries are valuable input, the Holy Spirit is the final Authority.
So relying on a group of Scholars or just one scholar to “render God unto you”, is a mistake. The JW’s spun off the rails because of just one “scholar” who claimed something their ideology didn’t like, was “a mistranslation”. (The allegation is that he was just one of their people they paid to take a University-level Ancient Greek program for the sole purpose of saying the had “a scholar” who could have cert the offending verse was “a mistranslation”. But apparently he had issues with the course and flunked out. But the JW “New World Translation” was born — with the “offending” verse “amended” to their liking. But even an online Greek parsing program can reveal their flawed translation)
And it would seem that Satan rebelled for the same reason anyone does: foolish pride, causing them to think that they s a little sea slug, know better than God.
@griz what I was saying is that it makes logical sense – the angels who rebelled against god wouldn’t want to be commanded by (or subservient to) humans – these come-by-lately creatures. It’d be like someone younger than you who just got hired who has authority to fire you. You wouldn’t likely appreciate the situation. Some people quit, others pool their resources to form a union. Still others may have seen the writing on the wall long before that point, may have gathered stock options and do a hostile takeover.
@Jear77
That can be a troublesome verse; and I really don’t doubt that “perception of unfairness” is a major traction-point for ego and pride.
The off-set to this is the humility to recognize one might not have access to the full picture, have a valid perspective on the larger reality, be a valid judge of Calumet City social and infrastructure logistics from a lifetime of crawling around on the floor of the Borneo Sea.
Consider that in all of these options you point out, there is the presumption that our (or even the angels’) perspective and take on the larger unknown picture . . . is the superior one.
@griz that begs the question if god worked in secret or were all his plans laid out for scrutiny in eternity past.
@Jear77
If according to the narrative “eternity past” found just God in evidence (no Humans, no angels), who would have been there to disclose it to? Even with others eventually around, we’re given the analogy of “kingdom” and “kingship” — both in ancient context. Who gets to scrutinize the King?
Consider also, that we’re not told exactly what the angels were and were not told. Egotistic speculation cannot hope to preclude that perhaps 2/3 of the angels remained . . . because enough of the plan was disclosed to them that they refused to follow the 1/3.
I suppose what you do when there is nobody else there whatsoever COULD be construed as “in secret”. But then one would have to wonder what kind of psychology/map of meaning would want or need to construe it in such a way?
@griz meh. Not that important, but an interesting question nonetheless
@Jear77
If it helps us fine-tune out of an arrogant perspective on things it could prove invaluably important.
The figure of satan is a cautionary study into the follies of such a mindset.
@griz perhaps, but remember, according to biblical mythos, the angels were in existence long before any “let there bes” that happened in genesis
@Jear77
This is implied but feasible.
But I believe the Bible does say they are created beings.
The key point however, is that trying to attach the kind of skullduggery you imply to God, is mostly a vanity project.
@griz and it’s not underhanded to create an ENTIRE universe and not reveal itself through the ONLY means that we have available to us to really KNOW anything? Science!
@Jear77
How did people ever find happiness before science?!
The problem with thinking that we can know all things, is that we truly start believing that we DO know all things.
And this ties back into the very thing that allegedly tripped up satan.
@griz there is a vast difference between “anything” and “everything!” Something that happens once might simply be a coincidence. That’s why rigorous experimentation is required to really say “yes, this is what’s happening here.”
@Jear77
And any good experiment cannot be biased with baggage.
Especially religious baggage. That stuff clings like shit to a blanket. Even after people assert that it is no good, they try to formulate arguments and apologetics entirely according to it.
@griz double blind studies have been done regarding prayer. They FAILED.
@Jear77
What were the parameters methodology and study group characteristics? What was the working definition of “prayer”?
That’s not being dismissive of the study — just pointing out a few things you should be able to answer about it if you are going to rely upon it .
But I bet the same study could be done in a totally scientific way to prove that it does work!
This is yet another reason why science cannot be considered a catch-all for determining the reality of subjective experience — let alone at definitive interpreter of it.
Science is a good and powerful tool. Just not a consummate one. (That is one of the key stated reasons why postmodernists reject it.)
These variables of subjectivity can be corrected for to some degree. But that usually involves far more effort than most casual researchers are inclined to devote to the project.
BTW, have you looked up what Scientism is?
@griz let’s turn your question on its head. What if god knew the study would prove his existence (or at minimum prayer works) and PURPOSELY caused those who were being prayed for to be worse off? Sounds like the type of a thing that a god who wanted to remain unable to be cornered or controlled, who sought to be a mystery, an enigma, a riddle would do.
@Jear77
The reality disconnect would be in the child who thought they could corner and control the parent.
Any shade of this mindset would likely toxify any search. Including perhaps, all the years you spent in that religion.
@griz the answers of prayer are about as reliable as a “magic cue ball” – but some things will always come up no. Maybe health, jobs/ wealth, an end to war / poverty / disease permanently are meant to be such. Unfortunately, I see any such diety that would use those limits as evil.
@Jear77
As a “wishing machine” they are probably even worse than that! One has to seriously wonder how they proposed a double-blind study on prayer. A survey perhaps. But what did they do? Put electrodes on everyone’s head and tell them to wish for a proverbial pony?
Did you ever watch any Star Trek and see the entity Q? The human struggle against the odds is what fascinated them.
I don’t suppose you’ve ever perused Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”? We’ll start our synopsis in the Dark Ages when faith in the wishing-machine of religion was wearing thin. People wanted answers to a couple of very basic existential questions religion had failed to answer. The Renaissance and Age of Enlightenment tasked science and reason in their infancy to go find these answers.
But even now, with science and reason at full maturity, these basic existential questions are still unanswered, and likely to remain so.
Kant pondered the ascendancy of Science and reason over all things, when judicious application of them could result in conflicting answers to the very few basic existential questions we set it loose to find?
Your “prayer study” is a fine example. Even if one weeds out all of the biased pseudoscience, there are probably just as many studies that prove it works as that prove it doesn’t.
There’s been plenty of time for it to try and try again. There comes a point where it is only reasonable to conclude that pure reason and logic and science cannot answer the truly important questions in life. We will have to find those somewhere else. They will not be found in human accomplishments works ego or pride. The “meaningful story” is in reaching beyond these limitations.
And to crab that this is cruel and unfair and evil and whatever else, is just a short path to insanity.
BTW, any thoughts on where this idea might have come from that it is our job to corner and control God?
Hell Jear, you can barely control yourself. Or other standing right before you. Your immediate environment. None of us can for very long, or without unforeseen negative consequences.
Corner and control God??
Where does such a thot come from? (It’s so silly it doesn’t even warrant proper spelling!)
@griz once again we hit the placebo wall of 72%. A study that can’t show a * betterment * of 73% might as well be a coin toss. And since we’re talking about god, 73% is insufficient. It needs to be 1oo%… or it’s useless.
@Jear77
This is where scientism defeats itself because it has to classify science as useless.
There are questions it has utterly failed to answer in hundreds of years of trying. It is not 100% effective for all things.
Which all comes back to your needing a better life philosophy that doesn’t leave you in bitter angst and despondency targeted at that which you cannot control.
Whether that be God, evolution, a critique of pure reason or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
Anything at the Grand Helm of All-that-is other than you, would leave you in the same angsty despondent state.
You need a better life philosophy.
@griz we’re talking god here. It’s impossible for him to fail. So the standard must be 100% for all studies, no matter how poorly designed. Anything less, and it’s not god.
@Jear77
The reality is that if Life (the Transcendent) was capable of failure, life (the temporal) would never have happened.
We are each 100% in the flow of Life (the Transcendent). Unless we choose to crap out by not developing and maturing when situations present.
Not growing is easy, but ultimately fatal.
Growth is work and challenge and yes suffering. But like a good weight program the end result is very worth it.
@griz not so. The most vibrent, the most alive, the most mature, the best among us still die. Were this the case, those that fit those criteria would be immortal in this iteration.
@Jear77
The most vibrant, the most alive, the most mature, the best among us can still choose to crap out of “what currently is” if we wish.
Remember that in this current iteration, death would still exist regardless of whether one wanted to “”blame”” it on God, Evolution, their mother, the failure of pure reason, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
@griz no. Life still happens to us whether we are the most alive or not. Can a person help another car T-bones their vehicle? Can a person with bad genetics stop themselves from getting cancer? Can the most alive of us stop a company buyout and duplicate workstaff be fired? No. We age irrespective of anything (whether faster or slower is a moot point). And at some point, we die.
@Jear77
So a life philosophy that renders this as something we don’t need to worry and angst about all the time would seem an effective way of mitigating suffering. (And when our suffering is lessened, we start to see effective ways for both the individual and the society and perhaps even the race to lessen suffering).
I know I will die. I know the timing and process of it will be absolutely perfect.
What did such a philosophy cost me? Not nearly so much as I once feared it might. And that means I can focus much more of my energy on be “the most alive” I can be, regardless of circumstance or genetics or ‘unfairnesses”.
@griz why worry about such things as making a living then? Why bother eating? Why go to the doctor? If your death wil be timed perfectly no matter what, be homeless and have NO cares
@Jear77
Because they have meaning.
Because they are more or less essential parts of making the most of the now.
I’ve done the homeless thing for a while, living out of a car. It was an interesting chapter. I could do it again if I had to, but having successfully completed a chapter why not look ahead to the chapter in the making?
The cost that you might want to believe is/was there either wasn’t there . . . or became inconsequential compared to the profits realized.
And that might be the best understanding of the philosophy I live by.
@griz no. I mean not owning anything except for the clothes on your back. And perhaps a cart if belongings besides (some of the homeless don’t even have a cart – whatever is on their person is what they truly own). And as far as work having meaning… not really. I work doing things i don’t truly want ro do because I need money. Were i independently wealthy, i’d only need to do that which I desired. It wouldn’t be a curse, a burden.
@Jear77
For what reason would we exclude the homeless people because they do own a possession or two — perhaps things needing a cart?
For what reason would we want to exclude the people who can and do find meaning in their work beyond just a paycheck?
Sometimes your zeal to exclude paints you chosen and defended life philosophy into an untenable corner.
@griz don’t get me wrong, being a security officer at AIC isn’t the worst job in the world… but the time to be doing so may be quickly coming to an end as my friend’s is FINALLY able to buy the business as the investment dollars came through. I need to see if he can actually pay me tho first. And then perhaps do some art. I’ve got the vision… but not the ability. It’s like i’ve got dr strage’s messed up hands and need to tell others how to perform the surgeries.
@Jear77
Good luck with the enterprise!
May it provide the stability and profitability you crave.
@griz i look at it as a long haul. 3 months to start the trucking (i have basically nothing to do with the restaurant end of things). An additional 1-2 months to get a business plan to buy a property in which to do the trucking out of. Remodelling it will take probably another 3-4 months. To get the help i need to do the art. It may take a year or more to get the art done. So we’re talking a minimum of 1.5 – 2 years.
@Jear77
Hopefully the business plan allows for drawing a salary.
@griz the other ones do. The art is just a side thing i’ll be free to do.
Complaining & dissatisfaction are traits that enable us to recreate the world around us, like no other creatures on the planet.
The more problems we see in the world, the more our minds dwell on them & hopefully somebody pops out a solution.
For this Power from CoMPLaiNiNG & DiSsaTiSFaCTioN I AM TRULY grateful!!!!!!!
THaaaNKS ME!!!!!
@luftballooneyegouge
You would have to prove that complaining and dissatisfaction by themselves have this effect.
@griz
No.
I do not have to prove these basic axioms.
You spend way too much time asking if 2+2 really does = 4
@luftballooneyegouge
I can respect a dodge. (but not a ford!). It says a lot.
But no, complaining and dissatisfaction by themselves don’t recreate or rectify anything. They are just brain-farts.
@griz
It’s not a dodge. I just can’t believe I have to waste my time pointing out the obvious,… ….dissatisfaction creates incentive for change.
I don’t have to prove shit.
These are just games you think people should play with you, so you set up the narrative that I have to prove something I didn’t say. You do this shit over & over & over···∞
@luftballooneyegouge
Dissatisfaction as the first and only step accomplishes nothing of benefit.
A better world through complaining just doesn’t happen unless it’s followed up with more constructive processes.
@griz
…aaaaaand to review:
“These are just games you think people should play with you, so you set up the narrative that I have to prove something I didn’t say. You do this shit over & over & over···∞”
@luftballooneyegouge
You appear to have asserted that complaining and dissatisfaction are all that is needed to change something.
They do not.
@griz
YOU FUCKING ASSERTED THAT YOU FUCKING TEDIOUS WASTE OF FUCKING TIME
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@luftballooneyegouge
It should be self-evident.
@griz
Complaining & Dissatisfaction Creating Incentive is SELF EVIDENT!!!!!!!!
Let me dumb this way the fuck down.
I’m saying something like:
You need lemons to make lemonade.
You keep blabbering the observation:
You can’t make lemonade with just lemons.
Then that gets all fucked in your head to where you start thinking I’m saying lemonade is only lemons.
Then you just repeat your confusion over & over……
This is a repeating motif with you.
@luftballooneyegouge
But no lemonade is made until you stop blabbering dissatisfaction and complaints and go get some goddamn lemons and make it!
Dissatisfaction can be a starting point. But complaining is more often than not and ending point.
I think the root of complaining about something might be a self acceptance issue. When you are not satisfied with yourself, you compare yourself to others who appear to be satisfied, thinking that you might be able to achieve that state if you were like them, or had what they had, etc. We all deeply want to accept ourselves but our culture does not promote that idea. It would not be good for the economy. Our culture promotes the idea that we are not good enough as we are, which is done through advertising, media, etc. This deeply ingrained self sabotaging mindset is a result of the constant messages we receive and is for the most part inescapable. It is literally everywhere. Not to mention that parents are unconsciously passing this onto their children, who will pass it on to theirs, etc. When you are constantly being reminded of what you lack, or how worthless you are, it is understandable that it will lead to feelings of being inadequate, which leads to dissatisfaction, which leads to complaining.
I think that the whole “gratitude is the best attitude” philosophy will only come about when we learn self acceptance. When you accept yourself you won’t be focused on how to “fix” yourself as much.
I enjoyed thinking about this topic and thank you for reminding me to be grateful.
@Crysta
I’m enjoying your thoughts on these things. Let me know if my responses grow too lengthy! I also dictate a lot of my responses so forgiveness for spelling mistakes!
Something worth considering though, is that there are concerted deconstructionist philosophies afoot wanting to blame the society and culture for things that are purely biological. Dominance hierarchies go back hundreds of millions and perhaps even billions of years. The fundamental brain structures of all social animals are predicated upon it (the serotonin response). It is an evolution-approved system, stable and successful over time
The deconstructionist view of wanting to blame this entirely on society and culture is just wrong.
But that said, there are ways to exist in the dominance hierarchy and still have an attitude of gratitude. It’s a conscious choice that actually boosts the serotonin levels, elevating one’s position within the hierarchy.
Right now deconstructionist ideologies are focusing only on the negative aspects of the hierarchical process, where one advances their position by a combination of mimicking and even actively “dethroning” someone else with attacks and criticism.
It’s essentially a negative misuse and toxification of our brain biology.
But it’s far easier just to blame the culture and society as excuse for wanting to tear it down!