Philosopher's Corner

General Discussion (off topic) Anything and everyt
1

Now, wouldn’t it be great if every one of us would share with each other his or her very personal philosophy of life?

I am rather sure everyone here has his/her very personal views on humankind, life and such…

Everyone of us has experienced life thus far, in a certain way, and, I am sure, most people out there have been stumbling, at least at some stage of their life, across certain words of other people, that influenced them somehow, that made them feel stronger, words that helped or managed to heal. No, I am not talking about religious convictions as such now. I am talking about great thoughts coming from wise human beings, and, therefore, feel free to cite them here, or, publish your personal thoughts on what is going wrong or right on this planet earth.

Please share your thoughts with us.

2

I place a great deal of stock in Albert Schweitzers principle, “It is our duty as human beings every day to render assistance and be of benefit to those around us”. It doesn’t take much and it doesn’t have to be a big thing.

Ewen :slight_smile:

3

If you’ve got no money at all, your friends will be few, but they are the best ones.

Even the highest tree will have it’s leaves falling down to the very ground.

I have, during my life of wandering, met many men and wives of many peoples, but in the end, they’re all the same. Only their outer shells might be differing, but that’s all.

If you happen to be rich, look at those people who are even richer than you are, but remember they also have to die. If you are poor, look at those people who got even less than thou hast, but they also have to live…

The real “hero” is the one who does his deeds behind the curtain, being cool in front of the public is the ONLY virtue of vanity.

There are some people out there, who are never able to present themselves dumber as they are in reality.

Man does never get better by being honoured. There have always been bad men among the mighty ones. Because usually one has got to be really mean and evil to achieve any kind of power.

Those who live by war, will never die of war.

It has never been necessary for ideas to be taught, for they are only influential if being “lived” by very few.

There has never been such thing as an “especial problem”. All of us humans are doing totally wrong if we think that the great secret of life has ever been splitted into “special problems”. There has always only been ONE problem that really exists, and that is the revival of the HUMAN soul.

Science as such will never be able to solve human problems, it can only further them…

Only the one who burns with desire will ever be able to give something to mankind, be it helping or creating. Pure intelligence without any real desire of this kind is just a sword’s grip inside the fist of a blind one.

Nothing really important on this earth is depending on ideology, but on the single being who tries to positively evolve from any ideology it surely depends on.

Many people on this planet are ok only because they do not dare to do what they have in mind. Remember that.

Time does never kill, but rather creates some change, it does not destroy anything, but rather creates something of a metamorphosis, time won’t ever allow anything to get lost, but it tends to change the owner sometimes, time won’t ever hit beauty herself, but it always hits the beautiful.

Cheers, hope you liked this.

And, thanks, Ewen :slight_smile:

4

“People used to think I was odd because I would willingly crawl around on the floor and play with babies. My plan is to end up old enough to have to wear diapers. I was merely refamiliarising myself.”
Rodney Dangerfield.

If you can’t go out of your way, every day, to at least smile at a child, you’re leading a pretty miserable existence.
Me

Ewen :slight_smile:

5

If Adam and Eve were IT security professionals, I seriously doubt you or I would be here today. (i steal it ;D )

6

LOL! You can have it.!

7

it’s not who you are underneath, but what you do that defines you (Rachel-Batman begins)

from great power comes great responsibility (uncle ben-Spiderman1)

splitting the red sea is a magic trick, a mom working two jobs and still have time to watch her son play soccer game, that’s MIRACLE (GOD-Bruce Almighty)

Always Coca-cola <=== me ;D

Ganda

8

I prefer: “Great power demands great restraint” (me). Applies nicely to politics. :slight_smile:

9

"How do you prove that you exist … ? Maybe we don’t exist … " - Vivi, FFIX

“True friends stab you in the front.” - Oscar Wilde

“If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention.” - Tom Peters

“Failure is success if we learn from it.” - Malcolm Forbes

Ragwing

10

Hey,
I’d like to start with my favourite quote:

“Anyone can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.” (Oscar Wilde)

How very true!

Now, here are a few more:

“A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.”
Herm Albright

“He hoped and prayed that there wasn’t an afterlife. Then he realized there was a contradiction involved here and merely hoped that there wasn’t an afterlife.”
Douglas Adams

“It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes.”
Douglas Adams

“The ships hung in the sky in much the same way that bricks don’t.”
Douglas Adams

“Even he, to whom most things that most people would think were pretty smart were pretty dumb, thought it was pretty smart.”
Douglas Adams

“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons.”
Woody Allen

“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us. Cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”
Sir Winston Churchill

“It’s not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what’s required.”
Sir Winston Churchill

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”
Sir Winston Churchill

“I do not know the American gentleman, god forgive me for putting two such words together.”
Charles Dickens (Sorry for that ;D)

“An intellectual is a man who takes more words than necessary to tell more than he knows.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower

“Youth is a wonderful thing. What a crime to waste it on children.”
George Bernard Shaw

grampa.

11

I like this one, as a famous Norwegian actress presented as her life motto:

If you are not sure, then mumble… :■■■■

12

MorphOS REBOL, it’s a nice topic you’ve started here.

I don’t have very much to say though, but here’s something:

My philosophy of life is to live as a “good” person - showing everybody respect, no matter who they are. That’s on the personal level. Professionally, I’m entering the business of urban planning. I will use this opportunity to plan for better transportations, in order to bring urban quality to people. I’ll take part of developing sustainable transportations, because today’s environmental problems are not sustainable.

I’ve decided to leave earth in the year 2089, because that will be 200 years after Richard Strauss wrote my favourite piece of music - “Tod und Verklärung”. It’s about an artist’s trip from life to death, and the struggle in between. That could be me. So it’ll be perfect to leave this life, listening to this piece of music… In 2089 I’ll be 106 years old, hope I’ll make it!

/LA

13

Hi,

LeoniAquila

“Dem Löwen seinen Adler” (that’s what your Latin name does mean in German, btw)

Thanks for your kind words.

Yes, I’ve read about that fact, some time ago, that you’re involved in infrastructural design and planning.

It can be, and mostly is, for sure, a great attribution to mankind, to further any possibilities of connecting, sharing thought and tradeways, medicine, and all that. I really DO appreciate that, most of the time. Still, in some cases, environments AND populations are being destroyed by some of your business colleagues.

Just take the Sudan (Nubia) for an example.

The planned NILE project (many PROTESTERS who are living there have been SHOT TO DEATH by the GOVERNMENTAL POLICE during the last months, a LOT OF PEOPLE over there have already THREATENED (i wonder whom they intend to “threaten” by this desperate announcement… to commit COLLECTIVE SUICIDE if their valley is to be flooded)

Do you have any comments on this?

Shouldn’t we all here, at COMODO, oppose to projects being made AGAINST the will of ANY population?

In 2008, about 40000 people will have been either killed or forcedly be driven from their ancient region.

All their fields and oases will be flooded. 900 antique pyramids and graves will be forever lost.
But it will cost a lot, and someone will get the money, of course, amongst them winners, I don’t like to say it, a German company…

I AM ASHAMED, to say the least!

cheers

Hope you give us some thoughts on this, friend

14

Hi,

I don’t know about this Nile project so I can’t make any specific comments there. But I’ve read your post and I try to get your point. To me, it’s more of a cultural matter than a matter of a professional field. Not in any way do I feel related to “professional” people who are involved in such projects, with that kind of terrible impact on the environment and its inhabitants. That’s not professional, that’s a bad governance.

Please tell me a little more what this is about, also the role of the German company?

Another part of my philosophy, is to (as far as possible) stay away from countries that do not respect human rights, neither treat men and women equally, and even let children work. On the other hand, this is a difficult question, because boycotting trade with these countries doesn’t necessarily make their conditions better. I think open trading is one of the keys to global welfare.

15

Hi Löwenadler :slight_smile:

sorry, the following sites are german only, I did not find relevant mentioning of this project in english tongued papers yet…
(Please try to use Babelfish or a similar online service to translate them)

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/8/0,1872,2277480,00.html

http://www.zdf.de/ZDFde/inhalt/1/0,1872,2278721,00.html

http://onnachrichten.t-online.de/c/10/70/04/96/10700496.html

http://www.dgv-tagung2007.de/workshop-19/kurt-beck-ersaeufen-wie-die-ratten-der-merowe-hydroelectric-power-dam-im-sudan-und-die-manasir%20/

http://www.amnesty.at/urgentaction/erfolg/index.htm

and others…

I DO BELIEVE this is an anti-human act.

And almost no one does complain in our “western world”.

what do YOU think?

16

si vic pacem para bellum = if you seek peace,prepare for war (i think a Rome philosopher wrote it, but i got it from “THE PUNISHER” movie)

one’s head is not for just filling the helmet (dynasty warrior game series)

it’s good having a headache, it proves that we still have head ( :smiley: , Bali T-shirt translation)

Ganda

17

MorphOS REBOL, thank you. So it’s an enormous dam, built by a German company and forcing many people to move? I just looked briefly at your links.

There are numerous of examples where companies from the western world use the third world, just to provide cheap merchandise for rich people in the western world. I think it’s terrible to see people here (in my country), in all ages, consume cheap clothes every week - when I know that someone poor, in the third world, may have paid with his/hers health. Big clothing companies (just to take an example) like H&M do work for better conditions by their suppliers, but I’m afraid not enough is being done. This has been enlightened in TV documentaries. The companies claim that “we do everything we can, to make sure that our suppliers have a sufficient salary and tolerable conditions…” - but then we see, from hidden cameras, that people suffer. Not only personally and directly, but also from the polluted environment when chemicals are poured in water, and it reaches the ground water. When this is shown to the environmental chief executives… they say that “oh, that’s upsetting, we’ll have to work harder to make people’s conditions better”. But it seems to go over and over again.

Philosophy again - I try to consume as little as possible. It’s not difficult, because I still have the economy of a student… :wink:

/LA

18

Hi Löwenadler (I hope you don’t mind me calling you like that from now on, cause it’s a fine name?)

Everything you said in the post before, is true, of course. Even if this all sounds very fine (your capabilities of the english tongue are, no joking here, way better than mine, being not a native english speaker myself), I dare to ask you further:

Is this a crime (the Nubia case you’ve already been reading about now, as it seems) ?

And, if this is a CRIME in the state of planning, towards an innocent people (no, rather towards three people, as you already might’ve got from your readings now) who have themselves no possibilities to hinder that crime being intended against them, well, then, aren’t we all (as living in the “free world”…ermm) totally obliged, regardless of our momentary jobs, to try to make this case more public and to hinder that announced crime?

Am I wrong here? Or is someone or something else wrong here?

Beautiful sentences and philosophical statements won’t be of any help here, I sincerely fear…

Please answer.

19

Easy - get married, then you’ll have no money. :wink:

20

this is the best & honest philosophy so far. :smiley:

edit :since this topic is a “wise man/chicken soup for the soul theme topic”, let me post this here (may i Rebol?) :

[i]Let me share w/ you . . . this is
amazing!
Beauty of Math!

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn’t it?

And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111=123456789 87654321

Now, take a look at this…

101%

From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What Equals 100%? What does it mean to
give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say
they are giving more than 100%?

We have all been in situations where
someone wants you to GIVE OVER 100%.

How about ACHIEVING 101%?

What equals 100% in life?

Here’s a little mathematical formula
that might help answer these questions:

If:

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T
U V W X Y Z

Is represented as:

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:

H-A-R-D-W-O- R- K

8+1+18+4+23+ 15+18+11 = 98%

And:

K-N-O-W-L-E- D-G-E

11+14+15+23+ 12+5+4+7+ 5 = 96%

But:

A-T-T-I-T-U- D-E

1+20+20+9+20+ 21+4+5 = 100%

THEN, look how far the love of God will
take you:

L-O-V-E-O-F- G-O-D

12+15+22+5+15+ 6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with
mathematical certainty that:

While Hard Work and Knowledge will get
you close, and Attitude will get you
there,

It’s the Love of God that will put you
over the top!

It’s up to you if you share this with
your friends & loved ones just the way
I did.[/i]

ganda