Stoic thinking models

Lupins bloom mid June through July

Stoic thinking models are a free floating concept that I needed to rap my mind around, and when I did, I discovered that many of them are superior to what we have today. These are thinking models of the world, a system of tests of our concepts that bend the world back to straight. The stoics considered reason and logic to be the divine pursuit, and with nothing else we can defeat any enemy of taking anything of stoic good, of highest value from us. They may take our lives, but we never claimed to be immortal. Virtue is the highest good after logic, and with these two, we are assured of a flourishing life. Virtue provided meaning and engagement, and if fate permits, achievement, satisfaction, and stoic joy, oh joys. This is essentially what positive psychology has now demonstrated.

The first notable thinking model described by the stoics is "some things are up to us and some are not." This sounds simple, and it is and it is not at the same time. As the logic develops, we see a field open up behind that simple gateway that relieves passions (anger, lust, resentments), and emotions, or feelings. It is just amazing.

 What is up to us? Well we can pass a judgement on a proposition, we can assent, withhold judgement, or reject it. We need to express each idea as a proposition and evaluate it. We do this automatically now,  for many things. So frequently, we set down rules. This process lets us examine our own rules, and do mental cleanup. Next is our desires and aversions. At some time we have made a decision on these, and we can reexamine them. Next, we have control over our impulses toward and away from actions. Combined with apathy which lye between impulse toward and away, we are in control of much thinking, impulses, desires and the like. Our expectations and delusions of how life should be are within our control, and as such are open for examination. Passions are frustrated expectations, and when we see the expectation for what it is, the passion is reduced or just goes away.

We see that something we do not value is just stuff, and we are not bothered when it is taken away from us, given away, or returned to where it came from, us willing or not. All that happens is natures will.

Now the stuff not up to us, we can do nothing about that, we can accept what happens much easier, and after accepting, work on improving the salutation. There is so much more and so little space in the attention span. Piecemeal is the only possible order.

Enough.  

Free Radicals

Picture because

link not working     http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/09/there-is-a-man-wandering-around-california-with-3-mules/279495/ 
is the thing working now?

http://3mules.com/

http://zerocurrency.blogspot.ca/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eccentricity

When I was a kid, there was a bunch of eccentric bachelors living north of us along the Blue Ridge lumber lease. The land was cheap or they squatted on. There was one old fellow who built a shack over a steam boiler which had burned in a fire at the blue ridge mill. It was his winter heat source/furnace.

Then there was Johnny Chinchonie, I do not know how to spell the name, and all I recall is that he lived in a double pole wall cabin, dirt between the poles. The door, well tall window like portal, had a door that was hinged at the top and a stick that propped it open. He grew chickens and potatoes.

There was Jack (John) Casidey, Irish from the north, who was a bit of a drunk. When he was coming down off a bender would shoot at the "snakes".

There was another old fellow, who as late as 1971 drove a team of oxen in harness. (Not yoke) He bought a stone boat at my fathers farm auction for a dollar, and came down with this team to get it the next day. He road a log down, and the stone boat back. I just cannot remember his name.

There was Mr. Jones, who moved to Greencourt from the farm. He had two great danes, Queenie, and Lady. In Greencourt, of a sunny Sunday afternoon, he would go to the store and get a ice cream cone, and walk home, with a dog on each side. He would give a dog a lick, have one himself, give the other dog a lick. Any kid that came along got offered a lick.

Oh well.

And so it goes

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Soon
Bill C51, and
Now what?

And so the stomach turns. 

Well maybe.We, in Canada, now must be careful of what we say on the Internet, due to Bill C 51, now. CSIS are now legal able to monitor anyone's electronic messages. Canadian Security Intelligence Services has there main listening post in St. Johns, Newfoundland, and it is staffed with many people of the Rock. We must not upset those who have the legal right to watch everything we say. It is therefore unwise to continue to say anything that can be construed as negative to those from the Rock.

Every email, text message, Internet based phone call, skype, video chat, etc, is being filtered for specific words. Anything that trips is recorded and goes to a secondary electronic filter, and then to human filters. It is not apparent yet how much is actually being reviewed, but the mega data is always present.

Anyone who the government takes a dislike to can be placed on the no fly list, have their passport tagged, and have a full package of electronic surveillance started on them. I am not paranoid, it is happening now. I am already on their watch list as I help train people in a "potentially offensive and lethal sport".

Secret Police State

Just gota put in a picture; a bride to far, well to Dickinson, if memory serves. Potential terrorist target, yah sure. Mind you, a well placed old pick up truck or cable could do the job.

Krap:    StopC51.ca  The start of a secret police state. Wake up people, it is not secret anymore. It it were secret, we commons would not know about it. This bill makes it public. It legalizes the current government conduct. The government will no longer tolerate de-center's ok. If you ain't one of us, you are against us. That forgets about the majority, the apathetic. We the apathetic, who follow the rules, more or less, who pay taxes, and financially support the government, a government does more or less what it must to survive, is doing OK, more or less, so we are more or less OK with it.

The "fores" are separate from the apathetic, which are separate from the against, and many claim the apathetic. The neutral position is large and silent, regardless of Bushes like "if you are not with us, then you stand against us" illogical attempt to polarize the neutrals.  

If a group holds themselves apart from our open society, they are the ones who are prejudice, perhaps racial prejudice, or culturally prejudice, or perhaps behavioral prejudice. We all have prejudice. Those are the things we do not support, even dislike. So what. Get on with life.

The natives are prejudiced against us white who support them. They are free to go live as they did before we came. They are free to go back to the stone age, if they desire, but no, they want to be kept in a style that matches the industrial age. I think we should do just that for the one who were here when we came, or for those who signed the original treaties. All now long dead. The natives are a conquered race/culture. In Roman time they would have become slaves. They expect us to keep them, while they breed like rabbits? It is time to pitch them off the dole, along with any new immigrant. There are lots of jobs going begging, most Tim Hortons are hiring. But the hi jab wearers have too much ego to work in the jobs they can get, but not to much ego welfare.

The Quebec government says no religious symbolizes in court, and the judge pitched a complainant out wearing a hijab, on welfare, trying to get her uninsured car back, which was being driven by here 21 year old son. Did she declare her car on the welfare forms? Not according to some reports. Oh well, C51 will not help this crap.

Enough venom. Support Bill C51  and apathy.      

What is an Extremest?

Much loved in there day.

What is an Extremest?

Bill C-51 tries to answer that in a generic way. It calls or outlines anyone who is against the government's wishes an extremest. That makes me an extremest. Harper is just out to lunch, but he does not have the funding to identify all the people who are against his "belief system and values". We are just too many. What he need to limit himself to is those who have the capacity and willingness, even the inclination to become violent, and more importantly anyone who councils violence, or even descent from his expressed values.  Reference: http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/c-51-confusion-abounds-as-tories-rush-anti-terrorism-bill-to-committee-1.2963569

So what are his values? Certainly not for the common man, but for his employer and big business. Those control the economy and government. Small business, where most people are employed, are so regulated that it has chocked out many, and is making life difficult for more. It needs to either be medium sized and growing or gone. That is just not right. Many specialty business just do not have the market.

This suggest Bill C-51 can be used against anyone the government dislikes. Not good situation.

Is anyone who wears a head or face covering an extremest?
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/02/17/letters-niqab-religious-freedom-islam-canadian-values-vancouver-planning-brenhill-recovery-house/
Harper seems to think so. It certainly displays distrust, and contributes to self isolation. They hold themselves separate from our society. That is an open display of prejudice against the masses. It is that isolation that makes, we the people, nervous.They are the unknown and want to keep it that way. There beliefs and values have ossified. These people are unknown, and keeping them separate from the masses. This can lead nowhere but to violence. 

But what do I know?

Generation of possibilities

Peace River, a hill on the move.

I need to do something more. Most of what I know has been written about somewhere. I could put together articles on various little soils related subjects. Would anyone read it? Does that matter? It would be the right thing to do, to pass on the accumulated knowledge specific subjects. There is nothing new, not written about elsewhere, just one more version of the same thing. 

http://www.retirewow.com/retirement-activities-mathematics-engineering/

Would anybody care?

Flourish

Fake pigeons, I do not know why. Is it a statement of what someone (the artist) things of the US Washington Monument? 

Seligman makes the case that in order to flourish in life, we needs positive emotion, but ignores a mission(s) or purpose(s). (Be aware of the newfiism) An expressed mission provide positive emotion so that we may know without any uncertainty if we are on track. The expression of that positive emotion and mission may help. That mission must have meaning to us and we are therefore engaged in it. We have commitment. Achievement, if fate permits, with accompanying satisfaction and stoic mental joy is typical. He also says we need positive relationships. So how does one have a positive relationship with a negative person? And what to do if it is a familiar relationship that we cannot run from?

The Stoics think "virtue" is a suitable mission, or to develop virtue in life. Most any virtues will do. The typical virtues are grouped as wisdom, self control, courage, and justice or prudence, temperance, justice, courage, persistence, compassion to produce orthogonal space sort of. That is all that is necessary and sufficient for a good life.

Is it enough that we have a plan and we are moving toward something rather than away? I was raised poor, and my first objective was to get out. Then, I started to move toward a career. Now that career is over, but I still need something to move toward. 

It is all good to separate positive relationships out, active or passive responses, constructive or destructive responses, but how do we deal with a general negative person, or negative toward me at least? Abandon and walk away? Just shut down around them? Ignore them, shut them out? Avoid prolonged contact? I do not know. We cannot abandon these negative people and consider ourselves to be compassionate, but we cannot let them drag us down either. It is what it is.