boasts of Athiests II

We ALWAYS expect something--unless we don't care about it.Of course we can play a little mind-game with ourselves: "I don't expect anything, so if anything good happens, it's gravy."

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General or specific--doesn't matter.

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I'd say it matters a great deal.Let's say that someone has a crush on an actor and gets the chance to meet them in person. They have imagined very specifically how the meeting will go, how the object of their devotion will act, and what they will say to them and treat them, and vice versa.They will likely be very disappointed once they realize that the actor they have been crushing on is just a person, will not want to be friends with them, will not fulfill any of the imagined scenarios at all. They will be sorely disappointed.However, let's say there is another person who admires the same actor and gets a chance to meet them and has no such specific expectations. They hope only for the visit to be cordial and pleasant.Any sort of interaction that meets these very realistic general expectations will likely result in satisfaction with the experience, rather than disappointment.

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Take some quality like "glamor." It's an illusion caused by distance. The closer you get to something the less glamorous it is. That which seemed to be glamorous turns into the ordinary upon close inspection.

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But that's just part of growing up and realizing, once you get to a certain level of maturity, that the world does not exist to satisfy your every expectation of what each of your life experiences should be like.

Ah sorry, misread your writing. My fault. Though admiteddly i wasn't one far satircal accounts. Candide...well that was stretching it alittle bit, though the short account was very enjoyable.

Instead why not say, what happens, happens and i shall take what happens in stride?I mean so you get disappointed, but now you have an oppurtunity to make the disappointing situation change into something different. Is there not always the choice to take what occurs and move with it and change it as you go along?

Bingo, such a wonderful way to sum up how maturity works.Or even back to food (I am so hungry right now). You hear how this one restraunts has this incredible kind of soup, and they describe in mind boggling detail the way it tastes and all sorts of pleasantries and you go there, expecting this marvelous soup. And you taste it and it tastes like a campbell soup...How sad to have that kind of expectation...Where as if you instead to expect to enjoy an interesting soup, that is different from your usual palette, by all means there is far more room to experience the soup and derive an excellent experience from it.

That would be one way to define maturity: "I can't get what I want, so I will settle for something else. It's better than nothing."Many, many lives play out this way: the gradual, almost imperceptible lowering of expectations.

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That would be one way to define maturity: "I can't get what I want, so I will settle for something else. It's better than nothing."

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Yes.Only an infant screams and whines and throws a tantrum when they are denied something they want. A major part of growing up is learning that one is not the center of the universe and everyone around you and the Universe does not exist to serve you.Do you actually think that instant gratification of our every whim and desire would be a good way to live?

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Many, many lives play out this way: the gradual, almost imperceptible lowering of expectations.

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Yes.Most people become less self-centered once they get out of adolescence, but others never do.They remain passive, petulant and spoiled their whole lives, whining about how everybody and everything continues to disappoint them, as if it is the Universe's job to masticate their lives and feed it to them.

Could we tone down the moralistic flavor a little bit? We are trying to discuss the nature of human experience, not the best or most mature way to live.

If we can get our minds out of the pop-psychology of self-help books--"How to Live the Good Life" or some such thing, maybe we can progress with this discussion.We can sum it up as follows: Reality and the human mind are at odds with each other. I'm not just talking about the mind of a 16 year old either. "Maturity" by one definition consists of realizing this.We realize that the way to be happy is to lower our expectations, and most sensible people do that. If we lower our expectations enough, then happiness becomes very easy. But this has nothing to do with the "wonder of life": on the contrary, it has to do with the lack of wonder. The quality of "wonder" is something human--it's not part of life or nature.

Love it. How true.

What absolute nonsense. What? And your point is. LOLCertainly it is the people who get to appreciate the experience of wonder, but it is the reality, the universe, nature that is so awsome.And why lower expectations? Why not raise them? Why not work at enjoyment, at observation, at wondering?As I said way back in Message 49Edited by jar, : appalin spallin

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

Thanks. Knowing you, you no doubt have a religous twist on all this.

Reality is neither awesome nor un-awesome. We can invest it with awesomeness if we like. Or rather pretend to.

I'll have to ponder it. I've only been able to check in from time to time this afternoon and have been enjoying what you've been doing.

If you really believe that "Reality is neither awesome nor un-awesome", then all I can do is pity you. What a dull gray world you must inhabit.I feel so sorry for you.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion