Reflection of your wisdom: what did you learn?

[shyguysteve]

Since no one can experience another persons life, then maybe you can share it here.

I aspire to Buddhism and the philosophy of 'living' not life but 'living'. People are in constint thought, its almost impossible not to be. When I think to myself I think of the people I will never meet because their lives came to an end before mine started and what they teach me without ever meeting me. I usually start making up my own quotes; a small assortment of words to reflect somehting I have learned or noticed. I can't say for sure they are mine or that I created them, but I do think of them. What I have noticed is that people forget a value that has nothing to do with 'price'.

"green for the growth, not the gross" gross as in 'gross pay' = money

"do it for the smiles, not the styles"

"play with matches, turn to ashes"

"if truth and honesty are what bring people to the light, then why do we find them in such dark places"

"the more we have in our hands, the less there is around us"

so what have you learned or noticed in your life? again not 100% if these quotes are fully my creation, I might have heard a few before and forgot.

(I swear I saw this thread before, I just lost it) or it might have been something different...

[RikuoAmero]

I haven't come up with any quotes myself, but I do spend most of my time thinking about life, the world, etc. One of my biggest influences on how I think and act would have to be the author Terry Goodkind, who wrote the Sword of Truth series. He is one of my favourite authors, but I will admit, he is not one of the best . I'll leave why for another thread.

Basically, in his story, each book revolves more or less around a Wizard's Rule. I'll just quote them below.

Wizard's First Rule

People are stupid, they will believe something because they want it to be true; or they're afraid it might be true.

Given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe its true, or because they're afraid it might be true. Peoples' heads are full of knowledge, facts and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool.

Wizard's Second Rule

The greatest harm can result from the best intentions

Kindness and good intentions can be an insidious path to destruction. Sometimes doing what seems right is wrong, and can cause harm. The only counter to it is knowledge, wisdom, forethought, and understanding the First Rule. Even then, that is not always enough.

Wizard's Third Rule

Passion rules reason, For better or for worse.

Letting your emotions control your reason may cause trouble for yourself and those around you.

Wizard's Fourth Rule

There is magic in sincere forgiveness; in the forgiveness you give, but more so in the forgiveness you receive.

Wizard's Fifth Rule

Mind what people do, not only what they say, for deeds will betray a lie.

No matter what your affiliation is, either friend or foe, you should watch the person's actions instead of the lies that they use to deceive you.

Wizard's Sixth Rule

The only sovereign you can allow to rule you is reason.

The first law of reason is this: what exists, exists; what is, is; and from this irreducible bedrock principle, all knowledge is built. It is the foundation from which life is embraced.

Thinking is a choice. Wishes and whims are not facts nor are they a means to discover them. Reason is our only way of grasping reality; it is our basic tool of survival. We are free to evade the effort of thinking, to reject reason, but we are not free to avoid the penalty of the abyss that we refuse to see. Faith and feelings are the darkness to reason's light. In rejecting reason, refusing to think, one embraces death.

Quoting Zedd: "...most important rule there is...The Sixth Rule is the hub upon which all rules turn. It is not only the most important rule, but the simplest. Nonetheless, it is the one most often ignored and violated, and by far the most despised. It must be wielded in spite of the ceaseless, howling protests of the wicked."

Wizard's Seventh Rule

Life is the future, not the past.

The past can teach us, through experience, how to accomplish things in the future, comfort us with cherished memories, and provide the foundation of what has already been accomplished. But only the future holds life. To live in the past is to embrace what is dead. To live life to its fullest, each day must be created anew. As rational, thinking beings, we must use our intellect, not a blind devotion to what has come before, to make rational choices

Wizard's Eighth Rule

Talga Vassternich.

High D'Haran for "Deserve Victory".

"Be justified in your convictions. Be completely committed. Earn what you want and need rather than waiting for others to give you what you desire."

Wizard's Ninth Rule

A contradiction can not exist in reality. Not in part, nor in whole.

To believe in a contradiction is to abdicate your belief in the existence of the world around you and the nature of the things in it, to instead embrace any random impulse that strikes your fancy - to imagine something is real simply because you wish it were. A thing is what it is, it is itself. There can be no contradictions.

Faith is a device of self-delusion, a sleight of hand done with words and emotions founded on any irrational notion that can be dreamed up. Faith is the attempt to coerce truth to surrender to whim. In simple terms, it is trying to breathe life into a lie by trying to outshine reality with the beauty of wishes. Faith is the refuge of fools, the ignorant, and the deluded, not of thinking, rational men.

In reality, contradictions cannot exist. To believe in them you must abandon the most important thing you possess: your rational mind. The wager for such a bargain is your life. In such an exchange, you always lose what you have at stake.

Wizard's Tenth Rule

Willfully turning aside from the truth is treason to one's self.

The truth is what should motivate your life, not the lies, or you will fall victim to the first rule and if you ignore the truth you're betraying everything that you believe in, because the lie is more convenient to you than reality.

Wizard's Eleventh Rule

The "Rule Unspoken", the "Rule Unwritten", "The rule from the beginning of time."

Unsaid, But Inferred

One must always seek the truth in life for themselves, rather than simply believing that which they are told without their own rational understanding and justification for that belief. Failure to do so can lead to a life of clinging to empty promises and following trails of false hope. The knowledge gained through seeking the truth, if used for the purposes of good, is the key to enjoying life to its fullest. Those who use the truth for hate however, only betray themselves.

Wizard's Twelfth Rule

You can destroy those who speak the truth, but you cannot destroy the truth itself.

[shyguysteve]

Not bad, I like the wizards 'rule' list, any other types of philosophers you are a fan of?

I throw the word 'philosopher' so casually because the essence of its meaning can be predicated to the observation or experiences of someone. Which extend to the basis of other types of Buddhas who were once real people but in death become something more from the path of life they set themselves to follow.

Off the top of my head Bruce Lee is considered a great and humble philosopher from his view of martial arts and over all life style.