Ship of Fools: You can't care only about

Thread: You can't care only about Board: Purgatory / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by HCH (# 14313) on :

You can't care only about:

Yourself

People who are just like you

People who are smart

People who are wealthy

People who are healthy

People who have never been arrested

Posted by Barnabas62 (# 9110) on :

And the topic is .....?

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
You can't care only about:

Of course you can.

Posted by no prophet's flag is set so... (# 15560) on :

Self-centredness and empathy, and perception of some other people as "other" because they aren't like me. This appears to be the topic.

This is why we remember certain groups, people and troubles in our thoughts and prayers, and omit others. I think xenophobia and sticking with those like ourselves is normal for humans, with people like Jesus telling us to deliberately dos something else.

Posted by quetzalcoatl (# 16740) on :

quote:
Originally posted by lilBuddha:

quote:
Originally posted by HCH:
You can't care only about:

Of course you can.

These blasted English auxiliary verbs. I assume that 'can't' here means 'shouldn't', in the obligation sense. You ought not to.

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

Well, you know what they say about assumptions, don't you?
"Even if your assumption is based upon a reasonable conclusion, it is done so without all the pertinent information and therefore might not be correct."
Or something

Posted by Martin60 (# 368) on :

Game, set and match if not fool's mate in one lilBuddha.

Posted by Tortuf (# 3784) on :

You can care about only yourself and people like you. To my mind doing that is a good way to cause your own suffering.

In part because if you only try to like people like you you have probably not spent the time and effort to figure out who you are in the first place. You tend to select only people who meet your ideal about yourself, forgetting that you have bits of you that do not meet those ideals. Then, the people you think are just like you turn out to have issues, so you reject them instead of confronting your own issues and getting to know them as a part of you.

That denial of who you are causes suffering because your interface with the world is off. If you do not deal with yourself as a whole person, you are not going to do a smashing job of dealing with the rest of creation. Then you go on a cycle of perfectionism and ignoring, or disregarding things that indicate you might be less than perfect. All of which just makes your interface with the world that much worse.

To me rejecting those not like me is rejecting reality the way it is. Rejecting reality leads to further suffering.

So, care only for yourself and others like you if you want, just know the price is suffering.

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