Truth or Contentment

Discussion of the nature of Ultimate Reality and the path to Enlightenment.
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newothesamuri
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Truth or Contentment

Post by newothesamuri »

What personally do you think is a more important goal, Contentment or Truth?
Happiness or answers?
Or are they the same thing?
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Carl G
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by Carl G »

You haven't read here very much, have you.
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Sapius
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by Sapius »

newothesamuri wrote:What personally do you think is a more important goal, Contentment or Truth?
Happiness or answers?
Or are they the same thing?
You don’t need to make another thread on the same topic, especially when there is a third one currently going on.
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truth_justice
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by truth_justice »

Truth as a goal... that's interesting!

Happiness is not the same as answers. Often answers bring you unhappiness, like when you go to the doctor and learn that you have cancer.

Personally, I think self examination, or the desire to self reflect is one of the most important things a being can do for his or her self. All the things you mentioned usually follow.
Truth, Justice, Freedom.
Sapius
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by Sapius »

T_J,
Happiness is not the same as answers. Often answers bring you unhappiness, like when you go to the doctor and learn that you have cancer.
Yes, it does entail unhappiness, but as a self, I ask you, would you prefer not to know a truth that would bring unhappiness?

I prefer KNOWING the truth irrelevant of the consequences, because I love KNOWING the TRUTH itself, because I value the KNOWING, and the KNOWING satisfies the values of my-SELF before I react to the truth in any way.
Personally, I think self examination, or the desire to self reflect is one of the most important things a being can do for his or her self.
I think NS is aiming for just that by questioning the nature of the Self.
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truth_justice
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by truth_justice »

Sapius wrote:Yes, it does entail unhappiness, but as a self, I ask you, would you prefer not to know a truth that would bring unhappiness?
You are making a stronger claim by claiming that getting answers implies unhappiness. I'm claiming something much much weaker. Note the word often. Sometimes, getting answers makes me happy, like when I ask a hot girl out on a date and she answers in the positive.

As to whether or not I prefer to know the truth, to this I reply: I like to keep myself informed.
Sapius wrote:I think NS is aiming for just that by questioning the nature of the Self.
I'm not sure how you came to this conclusion. But if he is, then I'm happy for him.
Last edited by truth_justice on Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Truth, Justice, Freedom.
Sapius
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by Sapius »

T_J
As to whether or not I prefer to know the truth, to this I reply: I like to keep myself informed.
Right.... why do you_like to keep your_self informed?
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truth_justice
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by truth_justice »

Sapius wrote:T_J
As to whether or not I prefer to know the truth, to this I reply: I like to keep myself informed.
Right.... why do you_like to keep your_self informed?

I sense this might get long and personal. But I will answer this once: I like to stay informed for my well being.
Truth, Justice, Freedom.
Sapius
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by Sapius »

T_J
I sense this might get long and personal.
It is not actually, but if you feel that way, then I wouldn't like to probe.
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divine focus
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by divine focus »

truth_justice wrote:I like to stay informed for my well being.
If being informed provides well-being, I'd venture to say it is awareness that is actually doing the providing. What else is there to be aware of but yourself?
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snow bunny
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by snow bunny »

Better to know the truth than to not know it, regardless of whether or not it is not a truth you want to here. You can move forward from anything, or you can die, but if you are deluded about the truth, then you aren't really making any progress, no matter what you do. However, I could be wrong, and you could get something really sweet just because you are deluded, and don't know any better. Better to have than to have not, and most of the time you get that by acting based on something, which is known to be true in the greatest sense possible.
brokenhead
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by brokenhead »

snow bunny wrote:Better to know the truth than to not know it, regardless of whether or not it is not a truth you want to here. You can move forward from anything, or you can die, but if you are deluded about the truth, then you aren't really making any progress, no matter what you do. However, I could be wrong, and you could get something really sweet just because you are deluded, and don't know any better. Better to have than to have not, and most of the time you get that by acting based on something, which is known to be true in the greatest sense possible.
I like to keep in mind the progression things naturally take. By this I mean that knowing the truth about something that I have in my sights is always better. If I want to know something, the answer might be painful. But the natural order of progress of things tells me that this discomfort I feel on learning a painful truth will pass, and that in retrospect, I will always be of the opinion that it was better for me to have learned it.

That having been said, I know how I handle the truth. I try to be truthful at all times, but being forthcoming with the truth is something that experience has taught me to be careful about. No want needs to hear all my truths, and I don't believe many people would want to. I'm not speaking about opinions, either. Some of your deepest truths, as you know them, would be anathema to utter in most circumstances, even should the circumstances warrant. Pearls before swine.

And exactly how much truth do we need? For example, how would you feel if you knew all the details about your coworkers' or colleagues' lives? If all that knowledge were to hit you at once - let's postulate it is all true for the sake of the argument - you'd go bananas.

My point is that I select which truth(s) I need to know. The rest I most likely would not even want to know. It is extremely frustrating when you rely on someone for information and discover you have not been supplied with the truth. In this case, it is always better to hear it like it really is. I hate to be lied to, it might make a fool out of me, but it definitely makes a fool out of the person lying. If you can't tell me the truth as you see it, then shut up. It's very simple. I'm not getting any younger. But gossip, meaningless facts, however "true" they may be, these things are the bane of my existence. I am forced to process so much useless garbage that I could scream.

Contentment is not something I know much about, so it is difficult to speak to it, but it seems impractical to me.

The way I see it, the truth as you know it belongs to you. How to parse it out is what life is all about. You should try to insist upon it in yourself; otherwise, you can all too easily slip into deluding yourself about just about everything. But you do not ipso facto owe it to everyone else. There is such a thing as competition and survival, after all. So it's not an either/or for me, not truth vs. contentment. Contentment has little place in a world where you often have to fight to get the truth, and fight even harder to have it heard.
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Shahrazad
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by Shahrazad »

broken,
I like to keep in mind the progression things naturally take. By this I mean that knowing the truth about something that I have in my sights is always better. If I want to know something, the answer might be painful. But the natural order of progress of things tells me that this discomfort I feel on learning a painful truth will pass, and that in retrospect, I will always be of the opinion that it was better for me to have learned it.
Try explaining this to Sam. I already gave up.

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snow bunny
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by snow bunny »

I disagree. I would want to know all the truths there are to know, no matter how trivial. Everyone has misconceptions about some things, and that is something that we don't usually give much thought to, because we don't know what they are. What's the point in worrying about it? I'm not saying that some people aren't more on point than others, but I'm suggesting that everyone has only a tiny sphere of knowledge to which they are privy, in a great big world.
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sear
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by sear »

"Truth or Contentment" new
False dichotomy.
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bill
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by bill »

newothesamuri wrote:What personally do you think is a more important goal, Contentment or Truth?
Happiness or answers?
Or are they the same thing?

If you are looking for contentment, then why bother leaving the womb in the first place?
Sapius
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by Sapius »

bill wrote:
newothesamuri wrote:What personally do you think is a more important goal, Contentment or Truth?
Happiness or answers?
Or are they the same thing?

If you are looking for contentment, then why bother leaving the womb in the first place?
Well, I heard someone say "PUSH PUSH", unfortunately I pushed the wrong way :(

:D
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brokenhead
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Re: Truth or Contentment

Post by brokenhead »

bill wrote:If you are looking for contentment, then why bother leaving the womb in the first place?
LOL. You know, sometimes it seems like it was a mistake, and we guys spend the rest of our lives trying like hell to climb back in, starting with the only part that will fit...
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