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Post by skewedperspective on Nov 9, 2005 18:29:20 GMT -5
How does anyone learn moderation? Well "God" would say that people know it already from common sense, but I would like to venture that moderation is for those who have already learned the hard way and know how much it fucking sucks to be in a terrible place. Yeah sure you're fine if you don't learn the hard way, but you really don't understand why you're not doing something in totality because you've never experienced the FULL consequences...So someone who learns the hard way completely and fully understands why moderation in such an area is necessary and will be able to control themselves better than those who simply use their common sense in avoiding excess.
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Post by nick on Nov 9, 2005 18:35:12 GMT -5
great point. it is much easier to be against something when you have learned the hard way.
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Post by God on Nov 9, 2005 21:50:43 GMT -5
So jumping off a bridge to learn that concrete hurts would be better than saying to oneself, "People have gotten hurt and killed doing this, it might be a bad idea."? Too extreme of an example? How bout alcohol. You know the consequences of drinking too much. Do you really want to become an alcoholic and piss the majority of your life away so you can realise first hand that over indulging in drinking is bad? I agree with you, part of living is making mistakes. Part of being responsible is learning from them. But why consciously make mistakes that others before you have already made? That's pretty damn foolish. Why wait till you lose control before deciding something was a bad idea. I'm not advocating "sitting around dusting books all day"-- that wouldn't be moderation either. That's the other extreme. Take risks, but don't push your limits. If you don't know your own limits than you're living too much of a sheltered life, or you have no common sense.
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Post by God on Nov 9, 2005 21:55:25 GMT -5
...So someone who learns the hard way completely and fully understands why moderation in such an area is necessary and will be able to control themselves better than those who simply use their common sense in avoiding excess. You mean like chain smokers or alcoholics who realise they have a problem? I'm sure it's much easier for them to control themselves than a person who doesn't have any addictions.
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Post by Kathinayoga Kalarippayattu on Nov 9, 2005 22:13:24 GMT -5
Yeah, learning the hard way about illicit substances really does suck but believe it or not i took something from it. Moderation is a very important key word. And a big thank you to everyone wh o listened to me or helped me out or just talked to me in that little time.
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Post by God on Nov 9, 2005 22:15:02 GMT -5
Yeah, learning the hard way about illicit substances really does suck but believe it or not i took something from it. Moderation is a very important key word. You see? People who make mistakes are teachers. You don't have to learn everything first hand to appreciate the sucky-ness of it. War sucks. I don't have to go over to Iraq to understand that. If you can't learn from those who have made mistakes instead of you, then you really don't have common sense.
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Post by skewedperspective on Nov 10, 2005 18:50:55 GMT -5
Yes, there are some things that common sense tells us not to do, and I am definitely NOT saying to make conscious decisions to be stupid. I think that for those of us who are stubborn there is simply no other way to learn than to find out for ourselves, and it's fairly obvious that if I wanted to learn I would not eliminate my ability to think by jumping off a bridge, that's not learning, it's called dying.
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Post by God on Nov 11, 2005 1:03:21 GMT -5
there is simply no other way That's a pretty bold statement to make. I know plenty of stubborn people who, when given logical explanations for certain things realize the dangers of certain activities and therefore use moderation when participating in them. It doesn't matter if you're stubborn or not. If you look at the mistakes others have made and see how shitty their lives are because of said mistakes, then it's not a matter of being stubborn but of having common sense. it's fairly obvious that if I wanted to learn I would not eliminate my ability to think by jumping off a bridge, that's not learning, it's called dying. You're absolutely right, that isn't learning that's dying. And if you live your life purposely without moderation in an effort to "experience the FULL consequences" then I would say, if not death then there's a good chance of other life altering issues (that may in fact destroy your ability to learn). I think I understand what you are trying to say. That is, life is a learning process and we must learn from our mistakes. I'll agree with you there. But trying to make mistakes is foolish. When a scientist does experiments in order to get an end result he or she doesn't try to do them wrong on purpose. However, if he or she does in fact make a mistake it would behoove that scientist to learn as much about what went wrong so as not to make the same mistake in the future. Now when the scientist went to school there were textbooks that he or she read, filled with thousands of pages regarding other people's mistakes. These were not written so that the scientist would make the same mistakes, but so that through the lives of people before the scientist would know what not to do. It is essential to live your life to the fullest, so do it! But only you yourself know your own limitations so push them, but not beyond your control. All you have is common sense and the lives of people before you as a basis for understanding the dangers of your actions. So go, do, be, but keep yourself in check so that when you do make mistakes, you will have the ability to learn from them.
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Post by skewedperspective on Nov 11, 2005 22:22:13 GMT -5
Yeah, I never said that people should try to make mistakes. But I'm glad you've understood (finally) what I've been trying to say...And I don't think "full" is the correct word to use at all when describing experiencing consequences.
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Post by occidit on Nov 20, 2005 20:51:33 GMT -5
hmmm, i feel like ya'll should jump off a bridge.
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