Scouts

What makes a person truly free is the refusal to dissociate, an unflagging acceptance wherein cognitive dissonance is one's perpetual state as opposed to a prison from which they perpetually seek to escape; for there can be no doubt that every day a new truth is revealed, and if we are to grow into a greater state of freedom as a harmonious humanity these truths must be assimilated.

The perpetual state of cognitive dissonance is occasionally rewarded by such brief assimilations: dips into the Tao, if you will; but to rest in such states is to pull the prison door shut, throw the keys out from between the bars, and cower in the corner of the cell.

There have always been those who travel out before others into unknown territories to discover what lies ahead and better prepare their fellows. Explorers of land and space risk mostly their bodies; but explorers of the mind and spirit risk their sanity and their souls and are often ostracized and demonized in their own lifetimes, and must always face the discouraging knowledge that the most likely result of all of their effort is to die in obscurity.

 

I wouldn't worry for my reputation, it is a shallow effect in the scheme of things.

Ostracized and demonized huh? What risk to sanity and soul could the truth pose, threatening only ignorance?

 

A motherfrickin men

 

I go through that exact thing with my own mother.

 

Your quote does not indicate obscurity as an aim, but rather indicates the inconsequentiality of obscurity or renown. Likewise, I should indicate that my use of the term "Tao" in this context is not meant to indicate that I am a Taoist. Rather, a "dip in the Tao" is a momentary bliss wherein the cognitive dissonance mentioned is resolved; but, one person's ignorance inevitably being greater than the sum of all human knowledge, more discoveries and therefore more dissonance is an inevitable result.

 

Not all are so disposed to speak the truth, though they may know it, and blessed are such; but those who are so disposed, and choose instead to hide in their mystic cave and play with themselves, will be in for a rude awakening when the wolves smell out their blood. Not because they wouldn't have been accosted anyway, but because they are caught unaware and unprepared.

 

A deep bow to you. Hello again.

 

And the cautionary tale is for naught. Reality does not cease and nothing unreal exists. The truth catches no one unaware, although those accustomed to darkness can find the light immediately hurts their eyes, and some shy away from the discomfort, preferring the moments comfort, to truth.

 

If such is the case, friend, then why even reply? Do you hope to convince me that all is well in the best of all possible worlds, or that all life is so predetermined that it is worthless to attempt to modify or influence it according to what will and means we have?

Or do you hope to convince your self?

 

Now you're just joking around.

Such good-natured ribbing is easy while you still have the freedom to do it.

 

It's saying that some are a prisoner to the game and some have broken free. There's a cost to breaking free from the prison and usually it's got something to so with other people's struggles against your freedom. But it can be done. You can have freedom if you want it bad enough.

 

You have to clear your mind of their brainwash to clear a pathway out

 

I reply for the sake of communication.

Our hopes and convictions may or may not appear in time but what will be done, is done. I don't mean, will be done, as in predetermined, but as in when our conceptions and actions are in accord.

There are no idle thoughts and the world appears to you as it does because you insist that it is so. If you were asked to give up your determined perspective on suffering, you would defend your right to keep it. There must be a problem in order for your solution to be meaningful.

My point being that degree of suffering is a choice. Regardless our illumined position our lives remain a series of sensations, some which we may call pleasant and some not so.

Reality doesn't need to be fixed but our understanding is incomplete. That we imagine special knowledge, is the ego's greatest defense against the truth. Further to suggest that if others do not adhere to your special considerations they are in jeopardy of some sort, I find to be a solipsistic hysteria.

 

A price for freedom?

Only that you give up the belief that you are imprisoned. We cannot stop the tide from coming in and going out, but we can change our mind about the world. The truth sets us free.
No need to screw for the sake of virginity.

 

Ah. So we're back to stoic serenity. No, not for me. I suffer (make an effort beyond what is called for) to create. It is a choice, and one I do not regret. You misapprehend my original intent as a cautionary tale, perhaps because you cannot fathom someone choosing to fight against the tide for the pleasure of exertion? Likewise, there may be other gains unseen to the hut-dweller on the shore.

Nice communicating with you.

 

Applespark is on the right track, but it's not quite that clear cut. Various philosophies seem to indicate a hard distinction between, shall we say, freedom and freedom-to, as if they were mutually exclusive; I contend that not only are they compatible, but that the state of mind referenced in the former is what leads to a greater ability for a greater number of people to have the latter, and that certain personality types are better suited to explore ahead by breaking taboos held by those who are afraid to break with convention. However, the danger of losing sanity and soul lies in two areas:

Either in the vehement ostracization one can experience when they try to reveal the falsehood of the long-held convention; or, in the much greater danger that when pursuing the taboo itself one may overstep one's own principals and do great evil to oneself and others.

There is still a spirit in these letters I cannot cull forth, however, and I apologize for my ineptitude.

 

This is of course just the sort of mystic mish-mash slave drivers and jail wardens love to hear, by the way.