RoseGoesToYale Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 If you think about, all life advice we are ever given in our lives is completely contradictory. People say if something's meant to happen, it'll happen. Then they say if you want something to happen, you must take action to make it happen. People say you should strive for perfection. Then they say nobody's perfect. People say to live for today, take risks, have experiences. Then they say to play it safe and prepare for the future. People say if you work hard, you'll succeed. Then they wish you good luck. People say there's no place like home. Then they say variety is the spice of life. People say you should work harder. Then they say to not get stressed out and work yourself to death. People say if it's not broke, don't fix it. Then they say change is what keeps us moving forward. People say life is the most precious thing. Then they say everybody dies eventually. In the end, it's all just words. How do you pick through it all? How do we know we should do anything? Or nothing? With so much contradiction, wouldn't it just make more sense to pick the advice that suits your purposes and ignore all else? Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 I think with all of those, it takes some amount of balance. For example, you wouldn't want to depend on luck alone to move forward in life, but if you are already working hard then some luck can make things possible that might not have been otherwise. Link to post Share on other sites
gisiebob Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 I think you are more expressing an issue with calculus, not contradictions. Link to post Share on other sites
RoseGoesToYale Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 4 minutes ago, gisiebob said: I think you are more expressing an issue with calculus, not contradictions. How so? Link to post Share on other sites
firewallflower Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 27 minutes ago, RoseGoesToYale said: With so much contradiction, wouldn't it just make more sense to pick the advice that suits your purposes and ignore all else? Something tells me that's what people end up doing anyway, for the most part. But in seriousness, yes, it's true there are always mixed messages incoming, so many often-conflicting ideas, and we can't live up to them all, so ultimately it does come down to choices, based on what we want, who we trust, etc. I prefer to think of it as a matter of striking a balance, personally, as opposed to out-and-out contradiction—because I do believe there is value in pretty all these pieces of advice, to one degree or another, at one time or another, for one person or another. The challenge is in finding where, when, and how to fit them into our lives in a way that will work. We can strive to be the best we can be while acknowledging that we'll never truly attain perfection. We can appreciate the moment without forgetting the future. We can step out of our comfort zone without being totally reckless. We can make our best effort and hope for the good luck that the work will pay off. We can work hard yet try to stay attuned to our personal needs and not overextend. We can love life without denying death. ... At least, hypothetically we can do all of these things and more. Individually, striking that golden balance is far easier said than done, and for most people I think figuring out what that means for us is a never-complete lifework. But in a way, I think there's value in the challenge of reconciling these seeming contradictions? I hope so, anyway. Link to post Share on other sites
gisiebob Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Just now, RoseGoesToYale said: How so? I don't know, I suck at calculus, couldn't tell you how much fuel to burn on my emergency reorbit to save my life. but have you ever skipped a rock? I think it's something like that. all I can do is rest my head against this thin aluminum wall and hope what my hand tells the throttle is sweet poetry. Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Posted November 12, 2019 Share Posted November 12, 2019 Idk if this counts but Pixar released a trailer called soul and some of the lines are - Spend precious hour that will bring out the real you - Contribute something meaningful to the world and has a scene of a stock broker smashing his equipment and saying "What am I doing?" and then the guy who I believe is the MC falls down a manhole? and dies......now my first problem is that a scooter mowed past him and didnt fall down the manhole but he does so Im not sure if the scooter can fly or not. Second problem is so many things tell us to go out there and be who we wanna be but Pixar movies only show the happy endings, they dont show the poverty or the real damage some of that shit does to people and how that stock broker or whatever will have to go back begging for a job cause he cant afford to do what he does or even do anything with what he wants to do. Like things cost and I get so irked when they make it sound so simple. I get it you want a happy magical movie but goddamn tone down the lines a bit. Makes me as an adult feel like a failure. They will show this and that but then hide some things from the public eye and then you think it must have worked out well for the stock broker but really.... Idk I find it contradicts each other idk if it counts my head is weird and im tired lol Link to post Share on other sites
Lord Jade Cross Posted November 16, 2019 Share Posted November 16, 2019 . Link to post Share on other sites
Calligraphette_Coe Posted November 16, 2019 Share Posted November 16, 2019 On 11/12/2019 at 12:08 AM, RoseGoesToYale said: With so much contradiction, wouldn't it just make more sense to pick the advice that suits your purposes and ignore all else? No, because that doesn't help you _not_ make errors. If you put a pig in a $300 suit, what happens? Too, the cloth of the comical is woven from theads of contradition. So sometimes, if you are wise, these contraditions help you laugh at yourself and own flaws if you listen to what they are telling you. Otherwise, you blunder into dead ends and then pound on the walls in rage. Who wins? The wall or your rage? Two things can be true at the same time, you just may not have acquired the wisdom to compartmentalize competently or legitimately. Too see that a truth denied is a truth empowered. Quote Yaksha:What is the most wonderful thing? Yudhisthira: The most amazing thing is that even though every day one sees countless living entities dying, he still acts and thinks as if he will live forever. from The Mahabharata Link to post Share on other sites
Generalist Posted December 7, 2019 Share Posted December 7, 2019 On 11/12/2019 at 12:08 AM, RoseGoesToYule said: If you think about, all life advice we are ever given in our lives is completely contradictory. People say if something's meant to happen, it'll happen. Then they say if you want something to happen, you must take action to make it happen. People say you should strive for perfection. Then they say nobody's perfect. People say to live for today, take risks, have experiences. Then they say to play it safe and prepare for the future. People say if you work hard, you'll succeed. Then they wish you good luck. People say there's no place like home. Then they say variety is the spice of life. People say you should work harder. Then they say to not get stressed out and work yourself to death. People say if it's not broke, don't fix it. Then they say change is what keeps us moving forward. People say life is the most precious thing. Then they say everybody dies eventually. In the end, it's all just words. How do you pick through it all? How do we know we should do anything? Or nothing? With so much contradiction, wouldn't it just make more sense to pick the advice that suits your purposes and ignore all else? What they have in common is that they are positive statements. If people just have to do something, otherwise they do nothing, then they find a way to be positive about it by pretending they have a solid reason. People say a lot of stuff :l I think you're right. None of those statements are about reality. Decisions should be about reality. Link to post Share on other sites
Zectarash Posted December 11, 2019 Share Posted December 11, 2019 My least favorite pair: "Be positive!" "Be yourself!" Me: "Make up your mind!" I think part of it could be mixing up who's actually advocating for what, but yeah, people sometimes try to give advice for situation B after completely forgetting that they gave you advice for situation A. Also, life is complicated, and trying to boil everything down to a simple formula usually doesn't work. Circumstances matter! I should probably stop here before I go on a full-on Midnight Rant. Link to post Share on other sites
binary suns Posted December 15, 2019 Share Posted December 15, 2019 It’s about dialectics. Two things that seem to contradict or contrast, yet coexist. if it’s meant to happen it’ll happen and it won’t happen unless you make efforts for it. These don’t really cancel each other out. If you do no work it won’t happen, if it’s not meant to be no work will make it happen. If it is meant to be patience will get you there as you work towards the goal. etc ”it’s about a balance” idk about philosophies like this. “Everything in moderation.” Like, yes but actually no. There are a lot of things you want in moderation but some things you can’t do enough so as much as you want is good. And something that you don’t want at all. But it’s a good rule of thumb. If you don’t know how two things coexist, seeing both in moderation can help to understand. Link to post Share on other sites
Jusey1 Posted December 16, 2019 Share Posted December 16, 2019 Context is important with these sayings usually. Link to post Share on other sites
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