Harassed by police today

[sevedus]

Hello completia
Friend, the threads read as if you are having difficulties of biblical proportions and are perhaps a victim of your own inertia, (same direction unless acted upon by some outside influence). The people here are trying, in different ways, to give you information. Let me also try, in my own different way.


The Score

All of us are visitors on this planet. No one brought anything with them when they came. Of all the things that are given to us during our time here; No one will take anything with them when they leave.

We don't keep score with money, or what we drive, or what we wear, or where we live, or where we work, or who we know. We don't keep the score. We do not hold the balance.

The road to Hell is not paved with good intentions. That pavement leads to another destination. Our score improves by loving, and caring, and with what we pray for, and what we intend.

We are not who we say we are. We are not who we think we are. We are the recollections that are held by the people whose lives we have touched.

We are what we do while we are here. We are what we intend while we are here. We are what we leave behind us.

It is given to us to know neither our score nor our destination until the moment that we die.

Let us show concern for one another. Let us honor what we have been given. Let us live carefully. We are all visitors here.

© s. s. maples 2/93 (may be reproduced w/out restriction)

If this feels off-topic, take deep, slow breaths and read it again.

Stephen

[adrenalynn]

The thing is - we're playing different games. Yours has a different scoring system than mine.

[sevedus]

Hi adrenalynn

If you take away score-keeping, what remains except the activity? My "game" is to try to avoid the game, the box, the rat race, etc. And the "scoring" of it really only becomes an issue of how few scores I can keep. It's like the difference between going out on the golf course and counting strokes, or going out on the golf course and not counting strokes. If you take away the "score-keeping", is the activity still valid and worthwhile? I'm enroute from middle age into old age, so maybe it's just a "times-getting-short" reaction of mine to mortality. What it does provide for me is an antidote to a "zero-sum" cultural mentality, so I get to feel good while not being perfect or the "gold medallist". I allow myself to obtain self-esteem on a self-referential basis, did I do badly or well (for me)?
The idea's a bit slippery but sort of Zen.

Stephen

[adrenalynn]

Hi Stephen,

I'm not saying I think it's good, bad, or indifferent - just not the same as mine. Everyone can choose to play the game the way they want - that's the beauty of life.

[Olson Burry]

I think maybe it isn't about "playing the game", more about taking part in a way that means the outcome is not as important as the being there and how you conduct yourself whilst being around.

I have a couple of very competitive friends and they love to beat me at games. Mostly pool, snooker, darts, poker, that kind of thing. They love to win and hate to lose. I don't mind either way, a decent challenge is just that, and I often find you learn more about other people, and yourself, by not having to win all the time.

My friends and I are all about equal in skill at the games we play, so they are kicking themselves in the head 50% of the time because they didn't win. On the other hand, I'm enjoying the whole experience, win or lose.

The point of "a game" is that there is some "winner", perhaps even a "loser". What I'm trying to say with this analogy is there are ways in life to take part, be successful and not become pigeon holed in such a way.

Success then, in my view is not how much money I've made, how many times I win or how big the house is, but by how much I've experienced, learned, loved and been loved. You can't take anything with you but you can leave stories of greatness, of kindness, of morals and respect and love for others to teach. In that way, you may well indeed, become immortal.

[barbarian]

Interesting thoughts..

So to keep the Golf analogy going. Would you rather play on a nice course in Hawaii, or crappy course in Somalia ?

[Olson Burry]

Give me the Bahamas any day.

And perhaps a point has been brought up, possibly inadvertently, however an interesting point:

Is playing the game and winning more important than the "being there"?

Consider winning a game in Scotland, in wind and rain, snow and ice, lashing your face and body, over, losing a game in the Bahamas in glorious sunshine with a nice meal and a few cocktails at the 19th hole, a relaxing swim in blue sea.. did it matter that you won, or that you experienced the event?

Was it winning or being there that just made it a great place to be?

[adrenalynn]

It's fascinating that it appears the query is boolean. My world tends to have a rich gray scale palette.

[cryptocat]

It's fascinating that it appears the query is boolean. My world tends to have a rich gray scale palette.

Boolean, or binary?

Given enough inputs I can construct a set of boolean expressions to closely approximate your life's rich palette Of course there will be some quantization error...

[adrenalynn]

Given enough binary the same can be said.