guilt and...

psychology. dennis darland wrote a quick 'observation' (his word, not mine) on the psychology of guilt. he speaks of guilt from a social point of view. from the point of view that guilt is some sort of social creation. he speaks of religion and guilt. this is true. with religion comes a lot of guilt. since religion is a type of societal manifestation, this part of guilt makes sense. we become ingraned with these notions of our beliefs that they being to 'take over' our feelings, our actions if you will.

but what about the person that has no religion. or doesn't rely on a 'higher' power to lead them. isn't someone able to feel guilt without these societal forces?

my answer would be yes. of course people are able to feel guilt without these influences being pressed upon them. this then is just a person feeling a greater responsibility than himself. a person who understands that others are affected by their own actions. my actions have consequences, past what i may feel. this feeling of guilt goes beyond myself, but rather to 'others' also. and it becomes more than just 'what other people will think of me', but rather a 'caring' of other people. russell spoke of this...a morality that moves beyond yourself.

[shalom...]

i am on a...

code red. no coffee in the house. so i went out to grab a cup from mickey d's, never mind that i passed the big bird. i stopped there to also get a sandwich. also never mind that their coffee isn't that great at all. in retrospect i should have gone to d.d., or starbucks; which brings me to my point.

as i left mickey d's, i noticed all the old guys sitting around drinking coffee, and talking sports, and such. and i couldn't help but wonder...these guys have been doing this how long? quite a long time. before anyone heard of starbucks. so i wonder, when our generation gets to be that age, will we be sitting around the local starbucks drinking coffee, talking sports? does it become a generational thing?

things to look forward to.

[shalom...]

i picked up...

a shirt from flying dog the other day, and i love the email that they sent me regarding my order. they give you the 'normal' stuff...order number, total, payment, and then the next paragraph is this...

"As soon as payment has been received and verified, your Order Status will be updated to 'Paid'. Isn't that exciting!! PAID!!! You will get an email telling you that we have just taken money from you. I'll bet you can barely wait. Yet another reminder of your dwindeling bank account."

and in some way that makes me feel good about spending money with them. what's that about?

[shalom...]

way of the universe...

is such that it will not 'freely' give stuff to you. we as people have to go out and create. make things for ourselves. to go out into the world and make our lives. hell, even go out into the world and make ourselves. who we are. how we are. this is what we get. what we become. the universe does not 'give' anything.

conversley, you are 'free not to choose.' the choices that you do not make, also effects you. you either choose, or you do not choose. either way you have made a choice. and you will, eventually, deal with that choice, or non-choice. you will be effected by what you put out into the universe. because either way, you put something out there. wherever 'there' may be.

this little rant came from a short discussion with ben over an email. this short rant is very sartrian; who said that we, as humans, are 'condemned to be free.'

[shalom...]

this cannot...

be good. since hamas has taken over in gaza, what will happen now? is anyone suprised? the palestinians did elect an hamas movement to run their country, so it becomes the case that the palestinian people get what they have elected- the wanton eleminatioin of the jewish people/state.

where does this leave israel? where does this leave us? hell, where does this leave the middle eastern region in general?

i know the left likes to blame bush, but is it entirely possible that bush is also dealing with the mess that clinton left behind? if i remember correctly, he wasn't a great foreign policy president.

anyway...hamas and fatah have the same goal.

and i'm sure good old rice giving a call to abbas really gets the ball rolling towards 'peace.' americia is on the side of the 'moderates' for peace with israel. when won't these people understand; they do not want peace with israel; they want them dead. period. nothing less will do. and until more people start to realize this, nothing will change.

we have taken the philosophy of pragmatism towards what hamas and fatah are about, and this philosophy cannot work in world politics. we need to call a spade a spade, and get it over with. then comes understanding toward what is happening.

running out of time...got to go...sorry to cut it short...

[shalom...]

now this...

is just weird.

as posted before, rorty passed away from pancreatic cancer, at the age of seventy five.

looking up one if his influences, jacques derrida, he died in two thousand four of the same thing, but at age seventy four.

this is his obituary. just weird.

[shalom...]

one has passed...

he was my first introduction to an american pragmatist, at any great length. i took a class on him just on chance. i liked the professor that was teaching it, so i took the class.

richard rorty passed away at the age of seventy-five of pancreatic cancer.

[shalom, with palms together...]