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August 2001 - June 2017
The School Survival Forums are permanently retired. If you need help with quitting school, unsupportive parents or anything else, there is a list of resources on the Help Page.
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To everyone who joined these forums at some point, and got discouraged by the negativity and left after a while (or even got literally scared off): I'm sorry.
I wasn't good enough at encouraging people to be kinder, and removing people who refuse to be kind. Encouraging people is hard, and removing people creates conflict, and I hate conflict... so that's why I wasn't better at it.
I was a very, very sensitive teen. The atmosphere of this forum as it is now, if it had existed in 1996, would probably have upset me far more than it would have helped.
I can handle quite a lot of negativity and even abuse now, but that isn't the point. I want to help people. I want to help the people who need it the most, and I want to help people like the 1996 version of me.
I'm still figuring out the best way to do that, but as it is now, these forums are doing more harm than good, and I can't keep running them.
Thank you to the few people who have tried to understand my point of view so far. I really, really appreciate you guys. You are beautiful people.
Everyone else: If after everything I've said so far, you still don't understand my motivations, I think it's unlikely that you will. We're just too different. Maybe someday in the future it might make sense, but until then, there's no point in arguing about it. I don't have the time or the energy for arguing anymore. I will focus my time and energy on people who support me, and those who need help.
-SoulRiser
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My contact details are here.
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Some Thoughts
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Some Thoughts
Quote:We shall grapple with the ineffable, and see if we may not eff it after all.
What is the meaning of life? I say that the only worthwhile meaning of life is to be happy.
How do you be happy? There are two types of happiness, that resulting from sensual pleasure and that resulting from the Ultimate. Achieving perfect happiness is the only goal worth having. But as most will not achieve it in one lifetime, we must settle for sensual pleasures while we continually purify ourselves.
The question then becomes, how do we achieve those happinesses? Each has their own way that are complementary. The way to achieve temporal happiness is to know what will make you happy.
Do the gods exist? Perhaps, but not likely in the form in which they were worshiped. There is no doubt that are beings in this world or others that would claim to be all-powerful immortal gods, but they would be deluding either themself or others. No being is all-powerful or immortal. But we should revere the gods, even if they don't exist. We can still learn from the myths, even if they are only stories.
What is the One? It is the ineffable Tao that is empty of all. By being empty of all it contains the essence of all. How? A cup that is empty has infinite potential. But if it has infinite potential, then it can be said to contain evil. Then how is following the Tao good? The answer is simple, we do not try to imitate the Tao but learn from it. We can learn from the Tao how to be happy and good, so following those would be following the Tao.
Good and evil are not opposites. Good is balance, evil is imbalance.
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| 11-18-2006 06:45 AM |
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Happy Camper
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There are two things I'd like to quote:
"The only good is knowlege and the only evil is ignorance." --Socrates
"Do not search for the truth; only cease to cherish opinions." --Chien-chih Seng-ts'an [Zen Dude]
While I'm still in debate about the first quote I think people are beginning to understand the approach of the second quote more. What with the brink of postmodernism and everything. We're finding truth isn't ncecsarilly relative but nobody can really claim to be right about our guesses either. [I've debated with my pastor over this since he gave the message on christianty vs. other religions and I was incredibly disappointed.]
Anyways...I'm not sure happiness is the only goal worth having. I like to think that breeding understanding among diversity and relationships are assured wonderful goals. In fact, fulfilling self-happiness is a pretty low priority I think. But I'm a hopeless altruist who gets giddy over serving at soup kitchens. Helping others make me happy but I don't help others to make me happy, I'm just happy to help. While I do enjoy being made happy by others, and enjoy a good time, it rarely comes through things that most teenagers are happy over. I don't care much for adreneline rushes. They make me anxious. Concerts don't make me happy, music makes me emotional, but not happy. I get excited over some stuff but not happy. Then again I have severe depression so...I dont' know.
While I am a theist, I believe heavily in worship of a more ambiguous force and power than God. I can have my interpertation of him or her. It's actually a fun game. Whenever I have to force myself to do something, I usually imagine God sitting there in some form of charicature. Sometimes she's an old lady hitting me with a bag and telling me to experience life. Other times he's a little kid who wants me to play with him. Other times God's just in the rain or in the form of energy. Either way I mean to make the point that focusing on God as one being is ridiculous because God is everywhere and in everything. Or so I believe. So I don't care if you believe in multiple Gods, one God, the trinity, the force, or whatever as long as you have faith in something. Drawing an image and marking down details just takes away from the big picture. Again, something I personally believe.
You touch so many different subjects with your post I don't quite know how to get around to them all. But I think that's most of what I have to say. We are here to learn and understand.
Let's do the time warp again!
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| 11-18-2006 09:39 AM |
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Quote:"The only good is knowlege and the only evil is ignorance." --Socrates
Virtue is wisdom.
Quote:What with the brink of postmodernism and everything.
To me, postmodernism is a form of autoerotic intellectualism.
Quote:But I'm a hopeless altruist who gets giddy over serving at soup kitchens.
Happiness is the only goal worth having, but that goal for happiness is shared by everyone. The goal is happiness and we should do what we can to create happiness. Because we are in control of ourselves, often we can make the greatest happiness for ourselves only. But there are times when our actions will create greater happiness outside of ourself.
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| 11-18-2006 01:47 PM |
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