Unlucky essays

[Ungod]

I say 'unlucky', but i hope otherwise.

This is a writing contest, in which you shall answer 5 questions with 1-2 paragraphs for each, something like a mini-essay. 

where to post? Easier to do it here, since i shall publish them here at the end even if you send them to me

any requirements? Yes, I want two things: clarity (as opposed to 'mystical') and feeling (inser the 'i' in there, feeling is as important as reason)

Rewards? An anniv creature for the best overall submission, teleport to pc, earfocus, mirtorit, sendtogazebo, voice etc spellstones, whatever else of interest i have and you want

judge- this is important; you might not want to enter this knowing that i will be the only judge. I have a reason for this

time for completion? A week from tomorrow

Now, for the questions:

 

*The idea of 'living your life' ( having great fun - a hedonistic view) occurs naturally - and it seems obviously correct. But i found a definition of happiness which says 'happiness is a good flow of life'. To me, these two are in opposition - which one am I to adhere to?

* greed brings misfortune - all warn against it, few resist it. Taking two steps back, greed appears to be a stimulating, animating, natural mechanism that moves things (killing in the process). Are we supposed to run from it, fight it or love it?

* it seems to me that the more you lie to others, the more you start lying to yourself. And the more you are sincere with yourself, you can't help but being so with those around you. Is that so? If it is, instead of demanding 'the truth and nothing but the truth', we'd ask for honesty with the self. The result - an onest society in general, with a few exceptional liars.

* ibelieve we all know the truth. We can't spell it, but we know it. The motionless sea of knowledge, the infinite wisdom at a fingertip, from which we extract small incomplete truths..but if we know, deep down, the truth, what is the value of this: amicus plato, sed magis amica veritas.

* there's a book that claims god (mkay) made man rule over the earth (or the creatures of the earth). I don't know...the more you live, the more you notice how all species figth eachother, how ours is just another, strong against certain, weak against others. But, when a (barely alive) little virus can wipe out easily thousands...what am I supposed to think of people who insist 'we are superior'?

[Nimrodel]

any last date?

[Pipstickz]

4 hours ago, Ungod said:

time for completion? A week from tomorrow

Is this what you meant, Nim?

[Nimrodel]

23 minutes ago, Pipstickz said:

Is this what you meant, Nim?

ah.. sorry. i missed that.  Thank you.

[Nimrodel]

Is this still open? I might give it a try Now.

[Ungod]

Why not, was gonna announce it closed tomorrow

@Nimrodel: if you wanna write something, you can only do it today 

Edited April 29, 2018 by Ungod

[Ungod]

I'm not one to tell you how to live your life, but personally I'd prefer to ahere to the latter one. Hedonistic pleasure is as common as dirt nowadays, yet you still find people who follow that path end up self-destructive and unfulfilled. I'll take "good flow of life" to mean something like...when things are going good you are generally happy, but when things are going bad they never get so bad that they have a lasting negative influence on you; that is to say, if there's a problem in life you can solve it, even if it's incredibly hard and takes a long time. I think this definition ties into the concept of fatherhood. When I think of what fatherhood means to me, it almost crosses over with the concept of an ubermensch, it forces you to solve so many problems you've never faced or even considered before, and so I think that by becoming and being a father, you don't just learn how to solve a few problems, but you get better at the process of solving itself. Perhaps that's what they call wisdom.

*

If I had to choose from your three options, I'd say love it is the closest to my personal view on it, though I think loving greed itself would end in self-destuction as a one-dimensional person. If I were allowed to make my own option, I'd say you should court it. That initial phase when you're looking at a potential romantic partner, maybe you get that pit in your stomach when you think of acting  on your feelings, but you know you have to do it. Under the current political/economic system in my country it's basically required that you're greedy if you want to get ahead in the rat race of wealth. Of course, that doesn't mean you need to act miserly and can't also be generous, but if you can't accumulate wealth in the first place, you don't get the option. In my opinion, it wouldn't be a natural human impulse if it wasn't somehow useful, so I would rather keep it close than consider it my enemy.

* 

I think that's a good rule of thumb to consider, certainly. However "the more someone lies to you, the more dishonest they are with themself" is a dangerous assumption if pursued in the wrong way, and I don't think it's true. In a youtube video recently, I heard the idea that the concept of "my future self" is a workable approximation for God: He knows all my memories, motivations and feelings, I can bargain with him in the moment but he doesn't have to hold up his end (praying), and he has ultimate power over my life. There is a concept "lying to God" that's something like if you could get the rewards for saccing a creature without sacrificing it, or in other words doing something virtuous on its face but duplicitous in true nature or I think that's what it is. Ultimately, if you lie to yourself you will most likely either face the consequences eventually or die suffering eventually. Probably both, actually.

*

This boils down to the idea that you can't force an idea on somebody, they have to adopt it willingly. I heard about a concept that can be approached but never touched, perhaps it's something like that. The truth is absoluteat its center, yet we only ever get the shattered bits of its edges, and no man can know the absolute truth (and stay sane), perhaps.

*

I wouldn't necessarily say we're superior overall but certainly humans are better bridge-builders or terraformers (for better or worse!) than viruses, no? If you prefer, I can say we're different in a way that makes us unique enough to have avenues open to us that aren't open to other forms of life that we're aware of at this time. I guess a good generalization of that might be "superior" for some people.

[Ungod]

Happiness being a good flow of life is the one that should be adhered to, having fun all the time is only practical in the short term, and often is unsustainable, and takes great effort to maintain,and will bring sadness due to withdrawal. a good flow of life however means to live comfortably and accept the things that are put in front of you as part of life, and not to dismess them because they arnt fun, or to force yourself to do only enjoyable things that ultimatly will bring sadness once they're over.

*

greed brings desire, desire brings goals and a need for progression, without greed humanity would stagnate and go nowhere and accomplish nothing, greed should be accepted, but be restrained, love greed for the goals and passion for growth that it gives you, but do not be consumed by it.

*

lying is exceptionally dangerous, lying to yourself isn't deliberate, but lying to others takes skill and practice, doing so makes yo better at lying but better at decieving yourself. at some point you reach a point where you know what to look for, and are able to notice how you lie to yourself and thruough that learn to understand yourself, this is a double edged sword however because knowing the "truth" migh tjust be another layer to the lie tha tyou tell yourself, and no one really knows how deep the hole goes. everyone lies to themselves in some way, yet everyone is honest to themselves in others, its a delicate balance.

*

truth is always there for you but you have to be able to see it, you need your mind to be compatable with it for it to accept it into consious being, everyone knows their own truth, but often rejects it into their subconsious, like a true friend, it never really goes away , but its there for when you need it.

*

everyone has a different view of life, you should not look down on others because they have a different view from you, form your own view on if we are superior, but do not let youself think you are superior to others because they think themselves better. if you do not agree, accept this and move on, doing your best to not judge them. everything in the world has its weakness, it's al ljust a circle, what is weak to one thing will be strong against another, a large lesson in humility.

[Ungod]

 I fail to see the difference. The flow of life is good when you get to indulge in things which make you happy. It might be going for a walk at the beach or eating a gold covered chocolate cupcake or taking a whiff of weed or reading a book... whichever you prefer... I think they are quite synonymous with each other.

 

2. Anything out of confines is dangerous. Same goes for greed. Greed can be a good motivator for many things. But unleashed variants of greed can act like a drug. Learn to control it. Like a guard dog. Make it sit with one command, make it attack with the other. What I am trying to say is - You can love your guard dog and be strict with it. You can love it and spoil it to such an extent that you regret it. 

 

3. The words 'the truth and nothing but the truth' cover the concept of honesty with ones self? Also.. that is as long as you stay in the witness stand. Perjury out of stand is not demanded or accounted for. 

 

4. From what i understood by that quote is.. truth is more important that a friend? Thats probably because truth will never change and if you know it, you know what to expect of it for sure. A friend on the other hand... friendship depends a lot on time and situation. 20 years later, the person you call your best friend may not be a best friend. *shrug* But the truth, it will be the same even after 20 years. It will never cheat you. there is absolutely no risk if you know the truth. there is no gamble.

 

5. The concept of virus wiping out mankind isnt about superiority of a species but of Survival of the fittest. If the species of virus is stronger to wipe off mankind, there will be a certain genetic strain of humans who will survive the attack (fitter ones). The superiority of mankind comes into the scene because Mankind will retaliate back by creating a vaccine or a drug that can fight the stupid virus back because mainly we have a brain that gives a goal and motivation. Can you say the same for that virus? Can the surviving genetic strain of the virus retaliate back against mankind by producing a greater toxin or disease just to get back at mankind for destroying the co members of its species?  Currently there are no species of living beings who can act back in such a sophisticated way. That is what makes mankind a superior being.  The power of a mind. Intelligence is what makes mankind superior. Not physical fitness in entirety. This forms the basis of many movies though. Remember Aliens? and Predator? and Planet of the apes? Hehe

[Ungod]

Closed! 

Pip, you get first choice of spellstones, i'm at mdp!

[Pipstickz]

I loved the prompts for this quest, a fun thought exercise, interesting to be pushed in different ways to write into the questions

And I love your unabashed self judging

Keep it up good sir!

[Pipstickz]

On 4/30/2018 at 6:07 AM, Ungod said:

Pip, you get first choice of spellstones, i'm at mdp!

Just checking, since I got first choice does that mean I get an Anniv as well? Bumping so Chew hopefully doesn't forget

[Chewett]

On 21/06/2018 at 5:51 AM, Pipstickz said:

Just checking, since I got first choice does that mean I get an Anniv as well? Bumping so Chew hopefully doesn't forget

I’m not running the quest, the quest owner will need to contact me if they need something. Not sure why you are bumping it for me?

[Pipstickz]

3 hours ago, Chewett said:

I’m not running the quest, the quest owner will need to contact me if they need something. Not sure why you are bumping it for me?

Because I would assume you sponsored it. It's none of my business how you and the quest owner go about fulfilling that sponsorship, but I assumed you were in charge of dispatching Annivs, and was only trying to be helpful as you're often asking for things to be bumped to remind you, as we both know you have a lot on your plate.

[Ungod]

What do you mean, why? It's to keep the idea of the all-knowing wookie alive and so perhaps create a cult. 

I think i requested an anniv for the winner of this quest, but i have no idea if the anniv crits have been delivered yet (for any of my quests)

[Chewett]

1 hour ago, Ungod said:

What do you mean, why? It's to keep the idea of the all-knowing wookie alive and so perhaps create a cult. 

I think i requested an anniv for the winner of this quest, but i have no idea if the anniv crits have been delivered yet (for any of my quests)

Bump the PM please, as far as I am aware everything had been handled by myself or an associate.

If this isnt true, bump it questmakers!