[MD] Doug Renselle & Language

[Krimel]

> [Krimel]
> I think the whole notion of good and bad is relative. Rain might be good
> for farmers and bad for picnickers. But the idea that whatever happened in

> the past is, if not good then at least OK, goes beyond "illusion" into
full
> blown "delusion." We accept the past because we have limited options. We
> can't change the past but we can change our opinions of it. Given that,
the
> healthiest option is to paint on a smiley face. We learn not just to live
> with it but to like it.

John:
When I posit a "constructive" attitude, I'm talking more than painting a
smile on because it feels good.  I'm saying there is an attitude which
causes engagement and action vs an attitude which blames, grumbles and
retreats into a shell.

[Krimel]
When you wear a painted smile long enough it feels like it came with the
outfit.

> Krimel:
> Seeing the world as chaotic and purposeless is difficult. As noted people
> recoil from it in horror. I can tell you it was not an easy transition to
> make personally but it finally came on like a religious experience a flash
> of insight that radically reorganized my entire conceptual continuity. I
> don't know if I recommend it. But I don't see any way around it and
> eventually I found a way to paint it with happy faces. Shit happens and it
> is up to you to decide if it's good shit or bad shit.

John:  
I see cynicism as disillusioned idealism.  There's some expectation
raised, and when it's not met we automatically retreat into a childish fit
of pique saying - It's not fair, or even - there's no such thing as fair,
it's all just random chance.

[Krimel]
You are projecting your fear here. Chance is the ultimate arbiter of
fairness. That's why we flip coins to decide who kicks and who receives. 

A pessimist is an optimist with experience. Buddhists become free of fear by
lowering their expectations, Christians by surrender to the unknowable will
of God. It's all just responses to uncertainty.

[John]
Or put another way, Kill all intellectual patterns...

[Krimel]
I have no interest in killing intellectual patterns. 

I love to watch them breed. 

If I were interested in killing them, it would be for their pelts which I
would sew together into a cape and fly away.