why theCancer should STFU about wasted potential

[the Analogist]

I've taken generally to writing with more concision and precision. I refer to my ideas in an elliptical way since I don't always have time for a full thesis, and nobody would read it if i did that all the time.

Anyway, doubting how much of my previous post you really caught, i'm going to explain [most of] the missing pieces as they might have fit into my context

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Quote:"doing inventory on myself i realized that a lot of my pain and frustration with my life comes from believing myself to be special/superior."

This is a bad side effect of being told that on some level you are differently capable. People easily internalize stuff like this. It is not good food for the soul. You will always see in your life less capable people promoted above you, having more esteem and privilege. when your context begins with your genius the only justice is for you to have all of those the things you want, that you deserve. its like spoiling a kid.

Quote:"I was told I would be famous one day. problem was that day never came. nothing that was to get me famous was worked on. I drifted in school, now I drift at work and observe mostly favoritism in promotion, fake promotion (grooming somebody for a position) and that the great secret of success that it is handed to you. i never got my big break, i never got my chance for a big break. now i am a mediocre among mediocres."

This is just a further description of the spiritual agony this internalization has caused me. Getting rid of an idea so implanted in your heart is not easy.

Quote:"problem is everybody has wasted potential if you measure with a big enough stick. its an unhealthy idea to get addicted to because it has you trying to find what part of the more successful people you are missing, and that is really the wrong idea."

when people think to highly of themselves, the stick they use to measure themself will always be bigger than they are. this is not a good thing even though some people believe it motivates (as if motivation is in itself a good thing. sometimes intent is corrupt and you really wish those guys weren't so motivated). materially, and i include power here, people need to learn to be happy with what they have and to learn that the results of their efforts are not in their hands. the greatest secret of success IS that it is handed to you. People who DON'T discover that are those who say "hard work got me where I am" which also means "if you didn't get anywhere its because you didn't work hard enough". This is a MAJOR fallacy of spirit.

in Islam, well before Pharoah was destroyed, Allah cause the earth to swallow up Qarun, a supremely wealthy man who attributed his success to his own intelligence. the followers of Moses witnessed his destruction and revelation came to Moses after the event. Allah told Moses that if Qarun had once invoked Allah to spare him instead of asking Moses then Allah would definitely have spared the life of Qarun. Such is the way of materialistic people. Even when witnessing a kind of miracle they are still so stuck to the apparent worldly power of the Prophet, prophethood itself being a status given by Allah.

Quote:"my point is, let me do with my potential what i want. it is mine to "waste", but I didnt even get a chance to waste it. instead i fulfillled all expectations and was left without any accomplishments meaningful enough to justify anything other than continued mediocrity. did i commit an injustice towards my potential? i dont think so, but an injustice was commited."

regardless of how nice i was made to feel, or how motivated i might have become to work on my school work, I was still very much stuck in the box or bubble of school, and the intellectually starved home life with my parents. A nice teacher COULD NOT have made a difference with me.

Quote:"being told what potential i had helped blind me to the potential everyone else has too, and if they have it too why does it matter that I do?"

believing you deserve something carries a dark side. it means that somebody else does not deserve it. if you pay enough attention to what has become of the republican party you will see anger and frustration expressed about the fact that the rich are taxed and the poor are helped. where does this ethic come from? bad people should be put in their place and good people should be left as free as possible. Your smart guy who doesn't care should try to attain privilege since he can, and the dumb criminal should aim for better than jail. I know that is a straw-man, but consider how what you said sounds in light of that straw man. Its not like the poorly developed minds of school kids can easily differentiate between what you mean and how i misread it.

Quote:"the subtle pride and often arrogance that comes with intelligence does not produce any good, only a sad disappointed life unless you are lucky enough to die in probably blameful ignorance."

Trump is a great example of a supremely stupid rich asshole who you could never explain a single thing to. poor people act like this too. it is an ethic born of arrogance, and its seed is planted by dishonesty about one's nature. nobody is above the law, but your criminal example I think failed to recognize that just as your criminal student wants to act outside of the law, the in-class disobedience of a smart kid is also treated unequally. other disobedient non-smart kids frequently get in more trouble but your smart kid is taken off to the side and told "I know you are better than this". I AM NOT SAYING YOU DO THIS, but this kind of rationally patterned perpetual injustice is all around your students, even if you violate it. I would be tempted to suggest that the smart lazy kid be put in his place and the criminal told about how he has much greater potential, but both of those are lies. Actually I would tell the criminal that everybody makes mistakes but some mistakes are harder to come back from. its better to be the guy who learns the easy way than learns the hard way. etc. your lazy student would get the same treatment as the criminal in that class serves to identify interests and offer objectives in the course of pursuing those interests (Like i detailed in the Helping theCancer thread). inside of BOTH kids is a better them, you don't know who will exceed the other and you can't even guess that. Don't be like other materialistic and superficial people who overly trust their own assessments of other people.

Quote:"the correct thing is, you have a LIFE, dont waste it, and dont let me waste it for you either."

you guidance, steering, controlling, all have fine lines between each other. people like us who are inclined to feel we have so much to give need to just suck it up and accept that we simply AREN'T the best mentors for some people.

Quote:"just today I heard of a man who declined some food because he was fasting in accord with his teachers habits. the man was told "you should not conform to other people because they are merely human like you". the man was then prepared to break his fast but was also told, "I too am a man, so you shouldnt conform to me either""

the student in this example is now facing the fact that HE has to decide what is best based on what HE knows. THAT is manhood.

Quote:"the real success in my religion is to make it to eternal paradise by the mercy of Allah. every human being is capable of this. so i say, to hell with people's "potential". nobody is "special" in that way. such is the suggestion of the devil"

I doubt you've spent much time trying to understand my three category system, but the fact as i assert it is that the 1st quality of honesty is the moral faculty to recognize the truth even if it is against you. wisdom is the 2nd quality to recognize the stronger opinion even if it is not yours. excellence, the 3rd, is simply to act with a state of mindfulness. everybody is capable of these qualities and these are what define a well rounded student in anything. nobody is differently capable of them. the giving-a-shit factor, combined with the limits of the environment, will determine what knowledge and skills are attained by people. only the materialistic person will look at the knowledge and skills of a person and suggest that is indicates something of the innate nature of the person. this is not what human beings are.

nothing is really that hard, but we convince ourselves the opposite of this all the time. school helps to make that a reality. different people, different potential, different intelligence, oh look America's class system makes perfect sense to me and is justifiable...

I leave on that ellipses.