Therese Tinkering

Sometimes it appears that people forget about the ...

2010-01-17T01:54:49.595+01:00

Sometimes it appears that people forget about the relationship between freedom of speech and responsibility for what you say.

Cool ideas on the resolution.

Perhaps, but so often, particularly in Asian cultu...

2009-06-26T14:14:27.052+02:00

Perhaps, but so often, particularly in Asian cultures, manners are so far removed from the original intension they have no meaning anymore. e.g. not touching people with your left hand (hopefully) has no relevance nowadays, but it's still often very rude. So, people clearly act upon manners even if they don't think about the intent.

If they don't think about the intent, is it still a virtue, or is it like deeds without belief?
If the belief/intent that is important, then does it really matter if one particular culture categorizes something as "manners", or does the intent itself make it valid?

Though I guess the point of reading things like a guide to excruciatingly correct behavior is to specifically reflect on the intents of these things =)

Rejoice! I look forward to reading about your tink...

2009-06-01T23:21:36.557+02:00

Rejoice! I look forward to reading about your tinkerings. Don't leave us too long before posting again.

I think it's less about Slow vs Fast, Traditonal v...

2009-05-03T21:18:00.000+02:00

I think it's less about Slow vs Fast, Traditonal vs Modern or whatever so much as just a matter of being truthful to yourself and reflecting on what you're doing. If I remember that talk right, my impressions after hearing it were everything he was putting forth as all the things people thought they were gaining by being "fast" were more things to distract them from really having to examine what they're actually doing and a reflection of the false metrics people use to evaluate the value of things in their lives. Once you evaluate things properly and have an honest picture in your mind of what's going on in your life, though, I think it's great to be creative in finding ways to be as efficient as possible.
The Gettysburg Powerpoint Presentation is, I think, in a way a kinda cool satire on how much people today are conditioned to overvalue things that can be checked off as quantitative bullet points and fail to assess more qualitative values when measuring things in their lives.

I took a class on creativity once. Freedom-to-Fail...

2009-04-27T16:46:00.000+02:00

I took a class on creativity once. Freedom-to-Fail was definitely one of the themes that came up pretty much every week.

On the political aspect, the beginning of the recent Jon Stewart interview nicely matches your post. Though the lead-in to it is downright scary.

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Okay, i'm being patient... but for how long must I...

2008-12-02T00:35:00.000+01:00

Okay, i'm being patient... but for how long must I wait?

I hope its ready soon! I'm eager to read more!

2008-11-04T01:23:00.000+01:00

I hope its ready soon! I'm eager to read more!

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is ver...

2008-03-21T21:22:00.000+01:00

Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the OLED, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://oled-brasil.blogspot.com. A hug.

Your readers are not hypothetical! Interesting how...

2007-12-23T12:51:00.000+01:00

Your readers are not hypothetical! Interesting how IMSLP got scared offline...

"Eventually you realize that life has no meaning"<...

2007-07-01T01:14:00.000+02:00

"Eventually you realize that life has no meaning"

I am too tempted to bring in a tint of Douglas Adams by asking: What did you expect? Would not a precise definition of "the meaning of life" directly give the answer?

"what we cannot talk about we must pass over in silence"...

Uhu... When saying that all we can hope for is br...

2007-06-25T12:31:00.000+02:00

Uhu... When saying that all we can hope for is bringing joy and love to our small corner of the world - is not that meaningful?

In all the confused looking for a 'fix' I think it's easy to assume that all things we value give our lives meaning. But is that really so? I personally value time on the computer way too much, but I doubt that it gives my life more meaning. I believe the same thing can be said of booze - the fact that people value it doesn't mean gives their lives more meaning to be drinking it.

Thus if we wish to contribute towards spiritual civilization, we have to sort through our own lives and our own 'vague desires.' It's not necessarily easy, but the difficulty in making the meaningful (love, justice, truthfulness) choices doesn't mean that life has no meaning, only that its challenging sometimes to find it.

I can tell you've never read Ginsberg's "Howl"... ...

2007-06-25T07:35:00.000+02:00

I can tell you've never read Ginsberg's "Howl"...

"I saw the best minds of my generation, destroyed by madness, starving, hysterical, naked, dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix..."

It describes just about everyone in Oxford perfectly. We are all trying to find our fix, to put meaning into our lives, either through faith or education or sex or booze...

Eventually you realize that life has no meaning - it is a collection of vague desires and peculiar travel suggestions. The best we humans can hope for is to bring love and joy to our own small corner of the world.

Since you like Sen, see the World Watch article in...

2007-06-22T04:24:00.000+02:00

Since you like Sen, see the World Watch article in the new Baha'i World volume extending Sen's theory of identity from a Baha'i perspective.

Insightful post! Thank you. The issue of creativi...

2007-05-29T08:17:00.000+02:00

Insightful post! Thank you. The issue of creativity is so crucial. If the Word of God is the source, as Shoghi Effendi indicates, of "creative energy", then all avenues of human endeavor and expression flowing from that Word, including education, must be creative.

Nussbaum's and Sen's capability approach in many ways echoes the capacity building paradigm that is now the focus of the global Baha'i community's systematic effort to develop human resources: a spiritually oriented approach to developing skills, knowledge, insights and attitudes that promote unified human action, innovation, justice and well-being.

Also for a detailed look at the shortcomings of modern forms of polity see the newest edition of the Baha'i World volume where Michael Karlberg examines the weaknesses of liberal democratic systems and Matt Weinberg examines the limitations of current concepts of identity and pluralism.