The Kids in The Ward

By Happy Hiram

Someone dropped off gifts at the orphanage. The children in Ward A said the gifts just fell from the sky. The kids in Ward B said the gifts were a temptation and should be avoided. The children in Ward C said a man named Jack Crisp brought the gifts even though the children were undeserving of them. The children in Ward D said to remember the gift giver whomever it was and to cherish the gifts. Wards I and J said there were rules that came with accepting the gifts. That kids who didn't follow the rules would get no more gifts.

What matters is to know life is a gift and to honor the giver. We will never know who the giver is except by faith, and science cannot change that.

I personally side with Ward D (Daoist). Enjoy the gift and leave the Ward A kids alone.

Copyright 2014 hgl

On Boredom -- Again (Oh how boring!)

There is a simple cure for boredom: realizing what a dangerous place life is and how fragile our hold on whatever situation allows us to be bored is. Much of the world is starving a war torn -- no I am not trying to guilt trip you, I am suggesting you spend some time preparing for the things that can go wrong in your life. Assuming if you are bored you A) have parents or the like supporting you. Try and live in a tent in the back yard for a week and avoid all help from your family. You have to go to a store to take a crap and you eat what you can earn, smelling like you do without a shower. Some will advise trying to be homeless for a day or a week, but I've been there and the street is a very dangerous place. Just try it in the back yard during the warmer months.

Ask yourself ten hard questions like "Why is the sky blue?" or "Why do cars ride on the right (or left) side of the road?" and find the answers WITHOUT USING THE INTERNET OR ASKING ANYONE ELSE WHO IS USING THE INTERNET! Boredom is usually the result of a disease called Affluenza which is when you have too much money, support and household appliances and you forget that life is a struggle between life and death. When you realize what life is about you go home EVERY NIGHT and hug the folks who know your name, and say a heartfelt thank you for simple things like sugar on your Wheaties.

First, boredom is ignorance. Secondly boredom is a defect of character. The problem is not in the world but in you. If you did every little thing you wanted to do every moment of the day your life would go in terrifying directions very quickly. You don't do that because deep down there is an unlabeled fear, a fear that the real you, your unfiltered behavior would make people hate you or stop supporting you and your ideas. A sociopath never feels those fears or is bored because they just do what they want. Because I am in touch with those fears, I never feel bored, rather I go right to terrified and I DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

A person or a hobby losing its appeal is also a function of affluence. If your GF was the last girl on earth she wouldn't start to look plain or become annoying. You would desperately need her. We DO desperately need each other but we cover the fear over -- with boredom.

The original question
 

Self-knowledge and Denial

Reality is relatively infinite compared to our brain capacity, which means it comes at us like a fire hose. Our brains shelter us from 99% of perception reality just so we can keep our sanity. When our subconscious introduces information we may need that we have missed it comes in dreams which are often disturbing. The illusion of our "self" and knowing what is going on around us is very important to us. 

We are like a iceberg with a small part at the top in our awareness and the vast bulk below the water line. Outsiders see the whole iceberg, and sometimes when they share parts of us that we do not see it can be disturbing. 

Gleaning information from it is good. Forcing ourselves to absorb too much self-knowledge is damaging. So you pick and choose your responses between those poles.

The Question

Another Attempt at Eternal Recurrance and the Nature of God.

The question: https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=As6IeTyL..fgZrf9TAuyn8_O_Nw4?qid=20140811095315AA1o8pX#

You have hit on the problem of eternal recurrence. Either infinities are paradoxical or nothing is infinite. This is why I say God and the multiverse both exist and do not exist. They are paradoxical. In a universe of infinite choice nothing is real, but underneath the infinite choice is ONE OF the infinite choices, that of a finite universe. This world exists because it is the logical offshoot of an infinity that can't exist. That infinity parent wants a universe that is as large as it can be without contradicting itself. This answers the question of evil. Complexity is how this universe matches the multiverse. Consciousness is how we resemble the non-existent architect. The ultimate resemblance is the fact that consciousness is colorless and tasteless. Our state of being is as non-existent as our creator, and as real.

Embracing Life: or Why I Reject Buddha

 Original Buddhism preached a kind of original sin called desire. This was very much contrary to eastern thought at the time. In the west bad is bad as an entity and in the east bad is bad if it is inefficient or has cause and effect negative repercussions. Buddha's Maya, was the first real eastern devil. So avoiding maya (the illusion of the world) means letting go of attachments and expectations. Most can give up lust or gluttony but have a hard time letting go of the love for their child or knee jerk compassion for total strangers. When all attachment is gone, one feels a universal love for everything and eventually becomes Buddha, the enlightened one. They spiritually leave this earth and attain Nirvana (non-existence, the Buddhist heaven.)

Modern, western Buddhism substitutes Stoicism (mastery of the emotions) for nirvana, and in this sense is a psychology practice rather than a spirituality practice.

It is true that everything we want to eat, protect, hold onto and love hurts us usually as much as it heals us, because everything in life has two sides, but to me, the idea of stoicism is a form of death, and I am here to endure the pain of desire and experience it, not reject it and live in a bubble. Buddhism to me is just eastern Catholicism, watered down by modern users to a pop psychology tool. 

The original question:

Buddhism meaning: "Attachment is the cause of suffering"? From Yahoo Answers 

The Revelation of "Another One Bites The Dust"

Every morning when I wake up, my alarm goes off and whatever song is on the radio is a message from God to me. This morning, I was already awake, and answering questions on the internet, thinking about past and future, and of the click click click of nows going past, when the radio comes on my alarm clock. I got up to shut it off and the song started, so I am standing there anticipating the message from God. I know the song by the opening music and think to myself "This can't possibly be my message for today?" But I listen anyway:

Steve walks warily down the street,
with the brim pulled way down low
Ain't no sound but the sound of his feet,

Woah! Is God talking about me being a self-contained individual in the world? Never heard that in this song before...

machine guns ready to go

The click click click (machine gun) of momentary "nows" I am carrying in my thoughts as I am literally sitting on the edge of my bed in front of the alarm clock anticipating the next part of the revelation...

Are you ready, Are you ready for this
Are you hanging on the edge of your seat
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
To the sound of the beat

So the moments whiz by as I am listening to them die (another one bites the dust) thinking about the brief moments of a human (another one bites the dust.) and how they are the same (and another ones gone and another ones gone, another one bites the dust.) Then it gets personal:

Hey, I'm gonna get you too
Another one bites the dust

So now God starts talking about my trying to live at times without his help and my ego-centric view of my own importance (even after death)...

How do you think I'm going to get along
Without you when you're gone
You took me for everything that I had
And kicked me out on my own



Are you happy ? Are you satisfied ?
How long can you stand the heat


Out of the doorway the bullets rip


To the sound of the beat


Look out!

And there it was: "Look out!" My message for the day. Look out for my ego and self-importance ruining my machine gunning now that is so temporary and is all I have. Okay, so I am done right? Use the day wisely. But then God goes on...

There are plenty of ways that you can hurt a man

And bring him to the ground


You can beat him, you can cheat him


You can treat him bad and leave him


When he's down, yeah


But I'm ready, yes I'm ready for you
I'm standing on my own two feet
Out of the doorway the bullets rip
Repeating to the sound of the beat
Oh yeah


Another one bites the dust....

God is ready for me, and I can take it OR DIE. God wants me to stand on my own two feet - be like Him. I will never view THAT song the same way again!

Famous quotes by Happy Hiram

I do have a unique perspective on life:
People have their whole view of past and future backwards. The future is determined by our character, the past can be changed by our perspective. - Happy Hiram

On history:

Most of what most people have thought for most of history has been wrong. But that doesn't stop me from thinking. - Happy Hiram

On the universe:

Reality is a feverdream on the soul of non-existence - Happy Hiram

And my own special metaphors*:

Sex is a metronome to measure death by - Happy Hiram

*In college, dozens of people came up to me and say "Hey, you're the 'Sex is a metronome to measure death by' guy, right?" I was somewhat notorious for that line.