Lessons and Thoughts about this and that; Principles

I was taken by the concept of guilt the other day; one reads it in many places with views in favour and views against it. One hears the now common comment that guilt is that tool that religious people have used for centuries to keep others under their feet and oppression ; I have also heard guilt is parents favourite tool to keep kids obedient. It made me wonder if there is a consensus on this topic amongst different world views and walks of life. I recall being told that there should be no room for such horrible feeling as guilt; it made me question, if it exists why is it there and what is its usefulness if there is one? as otherwise nature or evolution should have got rid of it long ago if it wasn't useful, as most things that do not exist this day. Let us first define it and find its source then we can see its benefit or not, after all it has survived centuries of human life therefore it is one of those survival of the fittest characteristics I assume. Let's start b

What does fois gross, olives, opera, classic music and spirituality have in common?  It seems that they are all part of what we commonly call "acquired tastes", meaning the things that in order to enjoy them one has to learn to do so, as their delight does not come naturally per say.   Why is it that some people's nature seem to enjoy certain things and the next person others? can we all learn to enjoy this and that? can we share enjoyments or are they all personal? Is this another nature vs nurture type of scenarios? Or is this rather what distinguishes human beings? Perhaps at the core of it is personal what we enjoy naturally and what we choose to learn to enjoy by choice. The addict has learned to enjoy his addiction therefore the problem to get him out of it. Learning to enjoy something evidently is not always for the good of one self even, nor utilitarian in nature nor even good for our own survival. Some criminals are know to enjoy committing their crimes a

Recently I made the decision to revisit some old places, customs and very dear thoughts which led me to revisit even physically places where I find that comfort, that solace, where I feel recommitted to live my life according to the dictates of my own conscience; it is a great experience to revisit, reconnect and recommit, some call it even SMART goal setting which includes that outwardly commitment shared with others to help us along the way on our commitment to our goals. As I shared my joyful experience with a dear friend she asked me about the principle of "worthiness" and asked me if having prerequisites of certain standard called worthiness are rather exclusive and not inclusive as one would hope, she asked me if the concept of worthiness was rather a way to discriminate . I was shocked to say the least. I am grateful for friends that make me question my own believes, I am thrilled by those who ask questions as that is the only way to learn, to inquire, to have an

Who doesn't dream of that retirement view with a sandy beach, crystal sand on your toes and crystal water as we look at the ocean?; sitting on a hammock with a drink on the side? no worries, no responsibilities, nothing to think but to enjoy, you can add anything on top, a book, music, service, great food, a massage, anything your imagination can hold, all the way to arriving via helicopter or a private plane, jet skies, etc etc etc ... you get the point ... you might have seen it on a movie, or on some ad in a magazine or even closer in some friend's Facebook page lately. You might have actually enjoyed it already in your life during a vacation and dream and plan with going back to it. Is it possible to perpetuate it? realistic even? where do these dreams come from? because let's be honest most of us have them! can we really achieve them? are they so lofty that we should aim for them? or are they simply marketing strategies playing with our minds and desires? Let me

I am convinced that one of the main quests of humanity has to do with how we deal with separation ; at birth we are separated from our mothers womb and ever since it seems that we grow more and more separate, or independent as some may want to call it, yet this "growth" doesn't come free of its own issues, the ones of separation; I just saw a video of a newborn baby and his reaction towards separation from his mother: quiet as he could feel her touch as opposed to crying as he got separated from her to get cleaned, the nurse seem to simply test her theory with the proximity of the mother, the newborn, and its feeling of this separation; it worked like a clock. What is the meaning of this experience? what is this attachment that we feel since birth? He obviously had spent 9 months on the womb and feels and recognizes as safe and comfortable anything and anywhere where he can feel that heartbeat of his mother, and anything that is not that, creates that displeasure, that di

We do have the freedom to choose as we please, that is clear (in some countries more than others and in some households more than others I suppose); some of this freedom have been acquired over the years rather as no absolute freedom was granted to any of us at birth. We couldn't choose what to eat, what to wear nor the type of diapers we wore as babies, yet later and with the passing of time, this freedom has grown little by little, we have acquired a larger freedom. The other day I had a discussion with my 13 year old boy on this regard, are we truly free to do as we please? I suppose we are in the sense that we can, of our capacity to make choices yet we concluded also that there are impossibilities that are more circumstantial such as am I free to fly or tele transport? Can I go to Disneyland right now? no because I have no money. One could argue that yes we are free to act yet the capabilities that accompany these acts are lacking on our part. This led me to think that sure

Am I free? when? at birth? when do I give up my freedom? to whom? outside forces? inside forces? Over the course of history many people have fought to preserve their freedom, what does that mean? what is it needed to "preserve" my freedoms intact. Is it "obedience"? or simply that I feel free? Memorial day brings the thought of those who fought for our freedom, to which we ought to be indebted forever, as they died to preserve our most precious gift. To them my respect and gratitude, it is perhaps thinking of them that I am posting this. Recently I have gone through an experience we have all gone at some extent or another in our lives, which is the moment when we feel that our freedom to choose has been compromised, when we feel our choices are limited by certain actions we have made, whether by criticism of another person(s) or by our own doings. A dear friend of mine stated to me that part of a bad relationship is not to feel free to act, and that a good

Freedom is the very essence of life, freedom to choose as we may and gather the consequences of our actions (check with any farmer on this topic for clarification) Let's for a minute agree to certain other things and take it from there: 1. We are all humans looking for happiness as our own ultimate goal. 2. Opposites must exist in order for things to be there in our universe: sweet and bitter, day and night, high and low, south and north, positive and negative, make and female, etc. name it and it must have an opposite; opposition is what makes the world go round, with both extremes in complete opposition and an entire continuum in between for us to choose. 3. We all make mistakes due to the nature of our freedom (sometimes we choose the right and sometimes the wrong things, though making choices is always the right thing to do, to exercise our freedom.) From 1 and 2 one must conclude: 4. There must be an opposite to our ultimate goal of happiness; This must be m

This world is filled with sensory experiences, from touch to taste, to smells of aromas, perfumes, food, to images, art, tv, radio, animals, it is a serious abundance of all the possible combination   of senses existent nowadays. I think that as humanity has grown so it has grown our need to fill more and more those sensory experiences, perhaps as a product of discovery of even new methods and technology? We as a society have decided to try hallucinogens, all sorts of drugs, adrenaline, the rush of events, sex, etc etc etc in order to have more and more of these type of experiences, they are super enticing; But what is that we are really searching for when we engage on them? Is it simply the desire to fill that knowledge of how it feels? is it curiosity? some call it experimentation but I think this term it is too big for sometimes such endeavours, as the process of experimentation entails some sort of a method; a method that requires a process, a scientific method per se and more oft