Wisdom comes from reading and thinking

Read wisdom literature every day. This is a way to focus your mind, train your thoughts and expand your happiness zone.

"Say little, and love much;
give all; judge no man;
aspire to all that is pure and good."
--White Eagle

"If you cannot
find the truth
right where you are,
where else do you
expect to find it?"
Zen Dogen

"The happiest excitement in life is to be convinced
that one is fighting for all one is worth on behalf
of some clearly seen and deeply felt good."
--Ruth Benedict

"Really listening and suspending one's own judgement
is necessary in order to understand other people
on their own terms . . . this is the process that requires trust and
builds trust."
--Mary Field Belenky

Radio on TV

We're listening to music this morning. XM radio on the TV, that seems silly. But on the other hand. It's the best thing on TV right now.

They're playing nice songs . . .
True Colors
You'll always be beautiful to me
How Sweet it is to be loved by you

Stuff that's sentimental . . . it's nice for a rainy Saturday morning.

Secret Society

Socrates Club

Today we addressed the topic of telling secrets.
What constitutes a secret?

Someone asked to give an example of a secret . . . and after telling, it's no longer a secret.

It got rather frustrating because after some heated discussion, we realized that we cannot talk about secrets without sharing the secrets and then they aren't secrets anymore.

Then it was pointed out that two or three of us could keep the same secret and as long as it's a secret from others--it's still a secret.

So . . . we know something you don't know.

Guest Speakers

We had a guest speaker this morning. He was a relationship coach.

It was rather interesting to listen to him.

I have to say that I very much enjoy NPR, books, magazines and TV. They open lots of worlds to me and expand our discussions and philosophical understanding of the universe.

Well . . . some TV . . . some TV is just silly and makes me laugh.

Instinct

Following our Socrates Club discussion yesterday on fight or flight . . . I did some research on the strong impulse of instinct.

The question came up that if you got your tail caught under a rocking chair, you'd never do THAT again, but how come we don't know enough not to sleep under a rocking chair in the first place? Clearly our instincts aren't all preprogrammed. Some instincts have to be learned. So does this make it instinct?

We call it instinct when we pull our tail in and avoid rocking chairs--we do it without thinking. It's something our subconscious takes care of for us. PROTECTION PROTECTION ROCKERS AHEAD! GET THE TAIL OUT OF THE WAY . . . . I don't consciously think these things . . . so it's instinct, right?

Yet I didn't know enough to protect my tail the first time, though logically the situation was always fraught with danger. If I had seriously looked over the operation of a rocking chair, I could have deduced that it was NOT a good place to fall asleep and forget about where my tail was.

Not really sure if it is instinct or not . . . but whatever it is, I'm glad I know better. My tail is sensitive and I like it.

Fight or flight

Socrates club has spent several mornings discussing the fight or flight instinctual response to a threat of danger.

It started when Dougal found a chipmunk, sitting on the window sill and even after yelling at it, lunging at the window and saying very bad words, he wouldn't move. He ignored Dougal completely.

There's different levels of fight/flight . . . .

There's the level of . . . I'm bored. Let's fight.
There's the level of . . . I'm not bored! Stop FIGHTING WITH ME!
And there's the level of . . . real, scary fear.

When your heart is pounding and you feel your breath coming in shorter breaths--and you sense something terrible is about to happen.

Dougal said FLIGHT! run away!!!!!
Tiger said FIGHT! Make IT go away!
I said FIGHT! Make it go away . . . .

And then there are the rabbits.

They freeze. As if not moving, not showing emotion, not saying anything--makes them disappear. I don't know as that works very well. Not all preditors are fooled by this tactic. Lots of bunnies . . . become dinner because they don't know how to fight and are afraid to take flight.

I read once that bunnies can be so scared while they sit frozen, that their hearts pound so hard with fear that they have a heart attack and die.

I suppose . . . this isn't a very good conversation if there are young ones reading this blog. I should probably cheer it up a little.

None of us have ever scared a rabbit, or chased a rabbit or eaten rabbit. In fact . . . Dougal is pretty sure that Rabbits would scare him if they were let in the house.

Dougal has a pretty odd way of viewing threats.

Frankly something soft, fuzzy and quiet--shouldn't scare anybody. They don't even have fangs!

Dougal says, "They have fangs and wings and they fly in the night and howl at the moon and they knock on doors at 4:00 in the morning to say BOO!"

It is very hard to have a socrates club discussion with Dougal when he gets excitable.