Quotable quotes

[Alistair]

“Some of the best friends we have are books. Why? Well, they belong usually to our relaxed armchair hours. They come only if chosen; hence they suit the mood or the taste, whether for humor, fantasy, adventure or mystery. In a trice they can take us with them to far places and other times. Best of all, they don’t talk back or force themselves upon us, but, like patient, loving friends, wait until we give them our attention. And always, they are as near as our bookshelf when we need them.”

Esther Baldwin York.

 

[pornoboy]

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[Alistair]

 

[pornoboy]

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[Rand]

 

[opinterph]

“Forgiveness is not discipline. If the forgiveness you bestow arises from discipline, then you are practicing ignorance as a virtue. It is better to cultivate discipline by doing the correct thing.”

― opinterph

 

[Araucaria]

“Forgiveness is not discipline. If the forgiveness you bestow arises from discipline, then you are practicing ignorance as a virtue. It is better to cultivate discipline by doing the correct thing.”

― opinterph

I have long had trouble with the concept of forgiveness, as many bad things happened to me when I was young. Then one day it hit me: Forgiveness is about getting myself free. It is not about absolving the perpetrator of their guilt, but it is about not holding onto the anger and hurt, so it can no longer control me.

 

[Alistair]

The poem begins not where the knife enters, but where the blade twists.

— Hanif Abdurraqib, from his poem ‘The Prestige’,

 

[pornoboy]

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[Rand]

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[NotHardUp1]

Brian Cox, particle physicist, OBE, FRS.

(As a footnote, I very much agree with Dr. Cox on his atheist label comment, he has posited that the term "the British people" should be banned from political discourse in the UK. Although I am not British, I would object to this self-censorship were I a Brit.)

 

[NotHardUp1]

View attachment 2230383​

Interestingly, science doesn't "believe" in irrational causation. At its core, every irrational or spontaneous event has a cause, known or unknown.

A man who posits a reason is better known as a theorist, and has begun an investigation of the unknown, a fundamental aspect of science.

Science is one of the largest belief systems we have ever known.

 

[NotHardUp1]

“Forgiveness is not discipline. If the forgiveness you bestow arises from discipline, then you are practicing ignorance as a virtue. It is better to cultivate discipline by doing the correct thing.”

― opinterph

The parsing presumes motivation and inspiration can be distilled, as in some science flask. In philosophy, morality, law, and religion, the influences are so intertwined and connected that singular distinction can rarely be known.

A guru, a monk, or a bureaucrat who practices forgiveness as a discipline does so because he has imparted a belief in the rightness of forgiving, whether he feels it in every opportunity or not, hence the practice of his discipline. That would not be an action performed in ignorance of the virtue of forgiving, but an action endorsing the value of forgiving, regardless of the feeling or even reasoning of the forgiver.

Doing the right thing is a discipline, not a dependant of virtuous thought or feeling.

 

[opinterph]

forgiving, regardless

Recognizing what is correct in the circumstance is more important than ignoring what just happened.

Carrying forward anger or resentment toward someone for an offense, flaw, or mistake is harmful to everyone. On the other hand, forgiveness that is reflexive or automatic is merely the long way around to not being angry or resentful in the first place~ which I regard as part of doing the right thing. There is no need to forgive something that doesn’t exist.

Sin and redemption are two sides of the same coin. Forgiveness that is based upon discipline encourages a continuous and somewhat mindless flipping of that coin, rather than focusing our attention toward doing what is correct for the circumstance.

 

[NotHardUp1]

Recognizing what is correct in the circumstance is more important than ignoring what just happened.

Carrying forward anger or resentment toward someone for an offense, flaw, or mistake is harmful to everyone. On the other hand, forgiveness that is reflexive or automatic is merely the long way around to not being angry or resentful in the first place~ which I regard as part of doing the right thing. There is no need to forgive something that doesn’t exist.

Sin and redemption are two sides of the same coin. Forgiveness that is based upon discipline encourages a continuous and somewhat mindless flipping of that coin, rather than focusing our attention toward doing what is correct for the circumstance.

Aside from the missing ellipsis, which is forgivable, the assertion that a disciplined forgiveness is "mindless" is so subjective as to be academic. I cannot imagine an individual forgiving without considering the action, as if it were a subliminal reaction.

Also, I don't find the definition of "sin" to be appropriate for a broad discussion of forgiveness, as it is connoted with divine law, and forgiveness more often applies to humans for transgressions of far less import than a divine moral code.

That is likely the source of my quibble with your quote. It too closely resembles the thousands upon thousands of sermons I have endured where the preacher has created a construct and defined things that we would not agree were so IF we were in a forum that welcomed discourse instead of dissertation. Your quote lays out a set of givens that I don't recognize, so in turn, do not resonate with the prescribed remediation.

Of course, I doubt either one of us disagrees on the need for forgiveness to be intentional, albeit we do disagree on when that is relevant in society, in justice systems, and interpersonal dynamics.

 

[Spunky Jizzmore]

I would love to present a more highbrow offering, but sometimes this says it all...

"They just fuck you and they fuck you and they fuck you! And just when you think it's all over that's when the real fucking starts!"

Sean Penn as "Conrad Van Orton" in 1997's psychological thriller, "The Game"

Its rather crass, but continually proven true.
I love it and have recited it often, as I'm sure I will ad infinitum.

 

[metta]

“The longer I live, the more deeply I learn that love — whether we call it friendship or family or romance — is the work of mirroring and magnifying each other’s light.” ~James Baldwin

 

[LoveMyPeppermill]

"They just fuck you and they fuck you and they fuck you! And just when you think it's all over that's when the real fucking starts!"

But no one ever cums.

 

[opinterph]

“Most men are not wicked. Men become bad and guilty because they speak and act without foreseeing the results of their words and their deeds. They are sleepwalkers, not evildoers.”

― Franz Kafka

 

[pornoboy]

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