Bad things gonna get you
I can't stand the idea that misfortune is the result of some angry god keeping score with your life. What happens is a result of what's happened before and what you do about it .. cause and effect. The idea that someone's keeping score, and that good things will "eventually" happen to good people and bad to bad .. it makes me sick. It's such a cop-out.
We are responsible for what happens in life. That's a collective "we" .. I'm not responsible for your actions in any way, but I'm also not responsible for what's done TO me. I'm only responsible for what I do then. I don't want to sound like I'm blaming victims here. You're only responsible for the choices you made (which does, however, include the choice to do nothing). But the Divine doesn't act through other people to reward or punish you. What happens is what happens, nothing more.
(this means, of course, that I have to take responsibility for my carpal tunnel problems. I didn't know that typing the way I did could cause problems .. I didn't know what I was doing was damaging myself. But that doesn't change the damage or the fact that it's my own damn fault.)
Question time!
okay, I've no idea where I was going with the first question. Let's assume it made sense at the time. Do my actions match the desired consequences? Well, I certainly try to get the results I want! But more clearly .. since I want to be an author, I don't sit there and moan about my brilliance. I sit on my butt and get my hands on the keyboard and write. And write. Then I edit and edit. THEN I do the hard part, and stick the damn thing in the mail. I don't sit there and assume that if I'm a good person, the Divine will come down and plop a book with my name on it on my lap.
How do I manage misfortune gracefully, and does it help? Well, bitching and moaning doesn't really do much good .. to use the earlier example, my carpal tunnel problems. Sure, I could bitch and moan about it a lot. I could complain and try to get sympathy. I could sit on my ass and try to get other people to take care of me. OR, I can recognize my limitations and live as full a life as I can around my pain. Let me tell you, the second one works a lot better.
Destiny control: there is no man behind the curtain. This is freeing and terrifying. Because it means that if I succeed, I did it because of myself .. but if I fail, that's on me as well. And not because of some bug I squished as a kid, but because I just wasn't good enough/tried at the wrong time/got thwacked with bad luck. What I do affects the people around me, as they affect me. But basically, I have to accept that things are going to happen. It's how I deal with what happens that I grow as a person.
We are responsible for what happens in life. That's a collective "we" .. I'm not responsible for your actions in any way, but I'm also not responsible for what's done TO me. I'm only responsible for what I do then. I don't want to sound like I'm blaming victims here. You're only responsible for the choices you made (which does, however, include the choice to do nothing). But the Divine doesn't act through other people to reward or punish you. What happens is what happens, nothing more.
(this means, of course, that I have to take responsibility for my carpal tunnel problems. I didn't know that typing the way I did could cause problems .. I didn't know what I was doing was damaging myself. But that doesn't change the damage or the fact that it's my own damn fault.)
Question time!
okay, I've no idea where I was going with the first question. Let's assume it made sense at the time. Do my actions match the desired consequences? Well, I certainly try to get the results I want! But more clearly .. since I want to be an author, I don't sit there and moan about my brilliance. I sit on my butt and get my hands on the keyboard and write. And write. Then I edit and edit. THEN I do the hard part, and stick the damn thing in the mail. I don't sit there and assume that if I'm a good person, the Divine will come down and plop a book with my name on it on my lap.
How do I manage misfortune gracefully, and does it help? Well, bitching and moaning doesn't really do much good .. to use the earlier example, my carpal tunnel problems. Sure, I could bitch and moan about it a lot. I could complain and try to get sympathy. I could sit on my ass and try to get other people to take care of me. OR, I can recognize my limitations and live as full a life as I can around my pain. Let me tell you, the second one works a lot better.
Destiny control: there is no man behind the curtain. This is freeing and terrifying. Because it means that if I succeed, I did it because of myself .. but if I fail, that's on me as well. And not because of some bug I squished as a kid, but because I just wasn't good enough/tried at the wrong time/got thwacked with bad luck. What I do affects the people around me, as they affect me. But basically, I have to accept that things are going to happen. It's how I deal with what happens that I grow as a person.
posted by Vieva | 8:58 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home