h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hi Roar, just a quick word to say I like the personal space (virtual that is , obviously I know nothing about your actual ps because that would be creepy...where was I?)
Yeah, I just spotted this:

"I know that there are subjects that a lot of people feel uncomfortable with addressing, but by hiding them we will never be able to discuss them clearly or resolve any problems that may occur because of them"

Tis true, too true. I was just thinking though that you are talking mostly about things that people do not wish to speak about that are unconnected to their personal lives; but I think the fears often arise from things in their own lives that the people are uncomfortable with addressing.

I have reluctantly reached the conclusion that to effect meaningful change in the world you have to help people face themselves.

A campaign along those lines to help my friends get over their illusions (as seen by the ever-objective me of course) and to talk about the things they don't want to talk about, has begun to stretch relationships to the limit...

I'm sure my approach is wrong, but I don't think the principle is.

cheers

yours deludedly
J

Hey J,

You've taken on a hell of a job for yourself! *laughs* I wrote a possibly-slightly-offensive article for my website recently about the fact that anyone can achieve anything they like, just as long as have total confidence in who they are (doesn't summarize well.. lol). I think your approach is totally right, as attitudes have a ripple effect through circles of society and starting with your close ones is as good a place to start as any! Trouble is, as you've obviously already noticed, that a lot of people just don't want to hear the truth and that is probably indeed based in past problems which they're not ready to deal with and that they may even be aware of...

Everyone has the ability to see their own problems, but many people just want to 'forget about them and move on', which they're perfectly entitled to do I suppose, but it seems a little like burying nuclear waste in the back garden to me - hidden but potentially hazardous to your future health.. *laughs and shakes her head* I don't know. I think people can only break through that boundary of saying "No! I will no longer continue this charade, no matter what anyone thinks about me!" if they seek it out themselves. They've got to totally believe in it, otherwise they will get thrown off course by the first person who shouts "Sit down and be quiet!" at them...

Ah, I could talk all day about this stuff, but I'll spare you more for the moment It's nice to know that other people are not just sitting back and accept the 'truth' so happily spoon-fed to them by society though eh? lol

Little B.

"It's nice to know
that other people are not just sitting back and accept the 'truth' so happily spoon-fed to them by
society though eh? lol"

The feeling's mutual.
I have to say, on the topic of assaulting my friends illusions, that apart from anything else, it's just too tiring.
I am certain the key issue is self-belief. Many people never dare to answer the awkward questions just in case the answers they come up with are wrong. Well that's just a risk you have to take - a risk you can minimise by always being prepared to question your own answers. And you have to be prepared to believe that everyone else is wrong and you are right. There's a very thin line between self-belief and arrogance here, but I'm prepared to try and walk that line.
Most of my friends are not prepared to though, or they are incapable of such self-belief, and where it gets tiring for me is that I feel I have to support their questioning of the world by propping up their self-image, because they can't sustain a good self-image without help.
One of my long-term goals in life is to surround myself with people who don't need help supporting their self-images, not because they are better people necessarily, but just because that will leave me free to act as I want to without having to make compromises for the sake of supporting healthy self-images around me. That maybe makes me sound selfish, but I like to think that my ultimate aims are not selfish. Ho ho.
Ah, I'm tired just thinking about it.
I'll have to go and have a look at your website.

As one human to another:
love
J

Little B
Checked out that 'controversial' piece of yours you mention. Loved it. I'll have to give your website more time at some point (sometime when I'm not actually meant to be searching for a new job, rather than reading interesting things...)
Glad to see another appreciator of Fight Club too - best thing to come out of Hollywood for years. Slightly marred by the odd image of masculinity I think, but spot on in lot of ways. "I was a slave to the Ikea nesting instinct" has to be one of the best lines ever. The more I think about it the more it makes me chuckle. Though I suppose its a very sad, half-pitying chuckle...
I live in a boxroom, it is twice the width of the (single) bed, and four feet longer. It has no window to the outside world.
To some people that would be hell, but I sit in there and write for hours at a time. So much of the good stuff is in my head you see...

Yours hungrily
J