Playing with Perspectives

[UnbornTao]

Diogenes looking for an honest man.

Edited Tuesday at 06:38 PM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

 

[UnbornTao]

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The bulk of the world's knowledge is an imaginary construction.

- Helen Keller, The World I live in.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

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The single biggest problem in communication
is the illusion that it has taken place.

-- George Bernard Shaw

Hey, this is essentially what I said here:

On 12/16/2023 at 5:27 PM, UnbornTao said:

Presuming that listening has occurred when it hasn't is a trap.

 

Edited 6 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

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a cherry tree 
being nourished 
by falling blossoms

– Basho

 

Edited 6 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

The difference that turns life from a mediocre attempt at mere subsistence into an adventure of growth and learning is your ability and willingness to fully open yourself to your present experience and to contemplate it.

Edited 6 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

I've been noticing for some time now the crucial role metaphors play in shaping our thinking and language. It's surprisingly revealing—and far more pervasive than we tend to realize.

I'm planning to use AI to compile a list of metaphors that invent, define, and shape the ways we experience, conceptualize, and communicate reality. Here’s a working list:

Everyday Metaphors:

• Jumping to conclusions
• Falling in love
• Splitting hairs
• Being blind to something (e.g., someone’s motives)
• Recovering time / Making up for lost time
• Seeing eye to eye
• Bridging the gap
• Turning over a new leaf
• Planting seeds of doubt
• Nurturing a relationship
• Weathering the storm
• Climbing the ladder of success
• Walking on eggshells
• Burying the hatchet
• Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
• Dancing with the devil
• Playing devil's advocate
• Painting with broad strokes
• Swimming against the current
• Casting a wide net
• Walking a tightrope
• Sowing the seeds of discord
• Building castles in the air
• Climbing the walls
• Lifting the veil
• Time is money
• Food for thought
• Beating around the bush
• Letting the cat out of the bag
• Hitting a wall
• Keeping an eye on something
• Opening a can of worms
• Feeding an idea
• The weight of responsibility
• The flow of a conversation
• A window of opportunity
• The roots of a problem
• Climbing the corporate ladder
• The fabric of society
• A memory lapse
• The spark of an idea
• Bottleneck
• Cloud computing
• Emotional baggage
• Brainstorming
• Surfing the web
• Feeling drained
• Burning the midnight oil
• A heart of stone
• Breathing new life into something
• Spinning your wheels
• Biting off more than you can chew
• Going out on a limb
• Raining on someone’s parade
• Having a chip on your shoulder
• Burying your head in the sand
• Letting someone off the hook
• Being a couch potato
• Having a green thumb
• Pulling someone’s leg
• Cutting corners
• Hitting the nail on the head
• Passing the buck
• Biting the bullet
• Beating a dead horse
• Reinventing the wheel
• Going down the rabbit hole
• Putting your foot in your mouth
• Chewing someone out
• Giving someone the cold shoulder
• Hitting the sack
• Having a change of heart
• Making a mountain out of a molehill
• Breaking the ice
• Letting your hair down
• Having a blast
• Losing your marbles
• Spilling the beans
• Hitting the books
• Feeling under the weather
• Turning a blind eye
• Having blinders on
• Wearing rose-colored glasses
• Being in the dark
• Wearing beer goggles
• Seeing what you want to see
• Having a blind spot
• Living in a bubble
• Having tunnel vision
• Connecting the dots
• Gut feeling
• Butterflies in your stomach
• Stomach dropping
• Gut-wrenching experience
• Standing on your own two feet
• Being grounded
• Being open
• Being bent out of shape
• Straightening up
• Being fit / Being out of shape
• Being off-balance (emotionally or psychologically)

-----

Time Metaphors:

Time as a moving object

• "The years are flying by."
• "The holidays are approaching."

Time as a stationary landscape

• "We're looking ahead to a bright future."
• "We're leaving the past behind."

Time as a resource

1. "I don’t have enough time to finish this."
2. "We’re running out of time."

Time as money

• "Don’t waste your time."
• "Saving/spending/investing time."

Time as a container

• "We’re in a new era."
• "The meeting fell within the scheduled timeframe."

Space Metaphors:

Up = good / Down = bad

• "She's feeling down today."
• "His spirits were lifted."

Closeness = emotional intimacy

• "They've grown apart."
• "They’re a close-knit group."

Force = emotional impact

• "She was deeply moved."
• "His words struck a chord."

Balance = mental/emotional stability

• "She’s a well-balanced person."
• "He lost his equilibrium."

Obstacles = difficulties

• "We’re facing many hurdles."
• "She overcame great obstacles."

Might read Metaphors We Live By by George Lakoff at some point—seems highly relevant.

Edited 5 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Worth taking a look:

• List of epistemologists
• List of philosophers

Edited May 27, 2024 by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

When you hold life as merely a pragmatic matter, it can diminish--and even undermine--your experience of vitality, intimacy, creativity, and all the other things that make life worth living.

Edited 5 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

What does a powerful presence entail and what does it take to develop it?

Create a contrast between people with vitality and "zombies." Why do we fear vitality in the first place?

Edited 5 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Rather than resisting difficult situations or seeing them as obstacles to avoid, view them as challenges--struggles that can open the door to opportunities and lessons, if you pay attention to what you're doing and making corrections.

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Always walk through life as if you have something new to learn, and you will.

— Vernon Howard

 

Edited 6 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

The ability to actualize, to make real, could be called mastery.

Edited yesterday at 12:47 AM by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Opportunism might be the antithesis of integrity.

Edited 4 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Going through the motions vs paying close attention.

Edited 4 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Scene from The Last Samurai:

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Throughout the film, Katsumoto, the samurai leader, is depicted searching for the perfect cherry blossom, symbolizing his quest for perfection and beauty in life. Towards the end of the film, he is mortally wounded after a fierce battle.

In his final moments, lying on the battlefield, Katsumoto looks into the distance and sees a cherry tree in bloom. As he watches the petals falling, with his last breaths, he says, "Perfect... They are all perfect."

 

Edited 5 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Eloquent and profound talk that isn't sourced from your own experiential understanding is an adopted artifice, a belief. As such, it adds to our sense of deep, personal inauthenticity. What's significant isn't the expression itself but the realization underlying it. If there's no insight, then share a question; wonder about the subject matter.

Edited 5 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Confronting your experience isn’t a matter of intellectualizing--and it’s not necessarily easy or comfortable, either. The mind prefers to keep this kind of work in the realm of abstraction, where it feels safe and no real confrontation takes place.

But what we think about our experience may not match how we actually live it.

Edited 5 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

If you are suffering, it usually means there's an unconscious, conceptually-based activity occurring that has yet to be recognized. And it is being done by you, by the way.

Edited 3 hours ago by UnbornTao

[UnbornTao]

Brad Goodman self-help!

 

[UnbornTao]

With mastery in mind, it ultimately isn't about what you decide to pursue, but rather that the pursuit brings to the fore (draws out) your relationship with yourself and with life.

Edited July 19, 2024 by UnbornTao