Campaign Creations

Xenon wrote:

omega20 wrote: There's nothing to fear but fear itself.

...said a guy who himself created a lot of fear.

Alevice wrote: By fear itself he meant himself

Nah, what I meant was that, actually, you don't fear nothing, yet you still have fear. Fear is just a survival mechanism of our organism to a perceived threat, which just creates a response to an external stimule. So, Desler, in one of your previous examples, where you said you won't escape from something because you don't want to die, but just because you want to live, actually your organism as a whole want to survive. It instinctively runs away from any perceived threat to itself. So, while you may actually get rid of any emotional fear, if you ultimately run away from a threat, it means you are actually afraid from being unable of preserving your life.

Xenon and I meant the author of said quote: Franklin Roosevelt.

omega20 wrote: Nah, what I meant was that, actually, you don't fear nothing, yet you still have fear. Fear is just a survival mechanism of our organism to a perceived threat, which just creates a response to an external stimule. So, Desler, in one of your previous examples, where you said you won't escape from something because you don't want to die, but just because you want to live, actually your organism as a whole want to survive. It instinctively runs away from any perceived threat to itself. So, while you may actually get rid of any emotional fear, if you ultimately run away from a threat, it means you are actually afraid from being unable of preserving your life.

I think when you run away from a superior threat, you are respecting the power of that threat.  After that threat is gone, you can resume your way of life.  Let me put it this way.  You're running from the bull, and fear enters your heart.  Here's what will happen during a moment of fear.  You may question why this is happening to you.  You might feel regret for the way you lived your life.  You might feel regret during the moment you are being chased that you didn't live enough.  You may be afraid of many things in the moment, including either a complete annihilation of yourself as a life form, or fear of the afterlife.  After it is over, you might dwell on how you almost died, about how it all ended.  If fear controls your life, you may even develop post traumatic stress syndrome or another form of mental illness.

On the other hand, if you have no fear and you run away from the bull, you are running with a single purpose in mind, to live.  There is nothing else in your mind but the natural instinct to survive.  Adrenaline may surge to give you strength during that moment.  That is not to be confused with fear.  I despise arguing semantics, but it's very important to understand what fear actually is.  Fear is different from survival or the feeling of wanting to live.  Fear aids survival at times.  But it's just another set of training wheels.  Once it has taught us the value of our lives, we can choose to move past it.  Being mindful of the lessons it teaches us though is important.  We should always keep those lessons in mind so we are never arrogant in the face of danger.

Just a small, "Dont try this at home" addendum:  These are just my perceptions.  I'm not encouraging anyone to try to abandon their fears or even work at that as a goal.  I'm merely sharing my perspective on my life.  I love to analyze and experience and test the limits of my existence, but it isn't for everyone though.

Marco wrote:
I think when you run away from a superior threat, you are respecting the power of that threat.  After that threat is gone, you can resume your way of life.  Let me put it this way.  You're running from the bull, and fear enters your heart.  Here's what will happen during a moment of fear.  You may question why this is happening to you.  You might feel regret for the way you lived your life.  You might feel regret during the moment you are being chased that you didn't live enough.  You may be afraid of many things in the moment, including either a complete annihilation of yourself as a life form, or fear of the afterlife.  After it is over, you might dwell on how you almost died, about how it all ended.  If fear controls your life, you may even develop post traumatic stress syndrome or another form of mental illness.

i'm not sure i'm following. you're saying that if this bull was chasing the general you, there's a moment where you might actually stop and think about your life, missed chances, regrets, etc? i think even the most emotional of men, women and children would run with a single purpose: to get away from the threat. no reasons other than survival. whether or not this life of yours you're trying to save is worth saving, you'll do it in an instant as soon as it's threatened.

funny that you should say that at this moment of panic one would wonder about the afterlife. because i have this theory that nobody deep down inside really believes there is any life after this, nor any intervening powers at your final moments, devine or otherwise. i know i'm touching on a HUGE subject here, and i've definitely considered that i might be wrong, but i think there's only one thing that "controls" this existence and it's chance. luck, good luck, bad luck, weird luck, cool luck, stupid luck, undeserved luck. i believe there was a chance that i was going to die today, but i'm still here.

fear is the response of the living to nature's "who knows?"-policy. "are you going to die today? i dunno, maybe!" says nature. says we "can you give me any insurances?" "not really, so roll with it" says nature smiling broadly.

Legion> That's like, totally the opposite of what my grandmother constantly attempts to lecture me on. She's of the belief that 2012 is definitely going to happen because the bible says so and only the believers are going to heaven ect. She persistently claims that there is no such thing as chance or luck and everything is destined to happen.

Logic is a weapon you just can't use against these people. So, the good ol' palm to forehead works just as well I suppose.

Good science will always explain nothing at best.  It will assign names to every process in your body and even explain why you feel something.  Of course, names and vague explanations of processes may shed light on whats happening, but it is only still a glimpse into processes we've chosen to quantify in a certain manner.  An example is fear.  If I changed the name of fear to love, and left the name love alone, what happens?  Nothing has changed except your perspective.  Imagine fear as a form of love.  Maybe some kind of 'tough love', but love nonetheless.  Suddenly, fear doesn't seem that ominous.  It seems like a necessary part of the human condition.  What if I changed the name of love to fear and left fear alone?  Suddenly you aren't falling in love, you're falling in fear.  You may begin to rationalize that by saying, "yeah, romantic love is a bit like fear.  People do say it makes you crazy.  And it makes people act stupid."  Some people quantified romantic love as a sickness.  This only shows that just because we can define something with a logical explanation, does not make it an infallible concept. 

Another example is blood running through your veins.  If I break that down and say 'light is flowing in a consistent manner surrounded by other light', it would be true.  The atomic particles that make up your blood are flowing in unity and with consistency throughout your bloodstream.  Because of human perceptions, we don't see it as light but as some kind of red gooey substance.  Does that perception make it true?

This is the mind fuck of our society.  This is why I don't care if you're spiritual or religious or atheist or whatever.  There's so much information out there and it's all ultimately (but not completely) fucking useless.  To call any of it the truth except as it pertains to us is a matter of perspective.  It's only how we individually process that information and apply it to our lives does it gain any sort of meaning.  Our perceptions define our reality.  My perception in humanity, religion, and spirituality has taught me is that there is a force beyond our understanding of reality.  I've witnessed this force in the perception of my reality.  How can I convince anyone else though that this is the right or wrong, that this is the truth?  I can't, because the perception of reality changes from person to person.  Those that believe in God though, whether fact or fiction, give that belief something that is tangible and can be measured in their reality.  How else would someone be able to uplift themselves from just a thought?  The fact that something as intangible as a belief can give so many people feelings of contentment and power is quite amazing.  You can label is 'placebo effect', but the boost, even if temporary, is quite real.  If you switch the word 'God' with the word 'taco', do taco's uplift you, give you strength?  Maybe they might if you believed in the power of taco's.  Maybe if you believed taco's were a mystical being, you would worship tacos, and let it give you strength.  You could pray to a taco, and some people might believe some great Taco is running their life if their perceptions told them so.

Does any of this make sense?  I'm explaining it as best as I possibly can, and yet such a concept is difficult for me to put into words.  I once thought of a saying to simplify this.  "God is the reality we must accept within ourselves."  That means that your strongest beliefs do in fact become the reality of your being.  That may very well include the creation of an afterlife using your own human mind.  There are aspects of the human mind whose powers are labeled 'mystical'.  But again, its a name game.  If I switched the word 'mystical' with the words 'scientific fact', suddenly it becomes a concept a lot more people can believe.  I know they are there in that I can actively perceive them.  This awareness might be quantified as delusional by some, although it is tangible in my perceptions.

Believe what you want.  That's my point.  In my reality, we've all confused each other by trying to make each other believe a certain something, when the truth is, we can believe what we want to believe.  You know how those people always say, "Find your own truth."?  Find something in your life that will give you peace, find a reality you can live with, and then finally, live your life.  Buddhist say "The greatest wisdom is to know that we cannot know."  If believing in something gives you power, or believing in nothing gives you power, believe.  Perhaps we are powerless to an unknown force, or perhaps we merely fear to acknowledge that our power is greater than we can comprehend.

The world has nuggets of wisdom and lots of knowledge to confuse everyone.  Or to enlighten everyone.  I find a majority of it highly useful.  I see patterns in the world and if I can define and substantiate those patterns I can begin to predict outcomes.  But that doesn't necessarily make everything I see the truth.  Truth of character, of who you are, is the only thing you can really truly identify.  If you know who you are and where your purpose lies, there should be no doubt on how you should proceed in life.  If you need to keep searching, then search.  It's all a mind fuck if you look for too long though.  I can come up with half a billion useless quotes to confuse you if you'd like to hear more.  Or I can keep talking and going in circles.  Or I can go off in a direction you'd prefer.  Hah.  And people used to say I had an eccentric personality.

I'm not sure if I should even talk about such unusual concepts.  If you want some very basic advice and you don't want to try to improve your life, I'd just say go back to whatever you were doing before this, because you were probably doing ok.  I love to debate this stuff because there's always a new perspective to confuse you or enlighten you or delude you.  The greatest mind game of all is our very existence.  I'll keep playing though.  I'm addicted.  I just have that kind of obsessive personality and hopeless romanticism needed to keep looking for answers even knowing that I'll likely never find one that satisfies me and ends the game.

There's believing and then there's being delusional and making extremely poor decisions and judgment based on what other people have told you to believe (2012 specifically).

Ironic Mesk.  I wish I could convince you of the "2012" of your existence.  By which I mean, the difference in your beliefs as compared to mine, especially those I believe are delusional and cause you to make poor decisions and judgments based on what other people have led you to believe.

There's believing and then there's being delusional and making extremely poor decisions and judgment based on what other people have told you to believe (2012 specifically).

The 2012 of IskatuMesk.  Of course, my beliefs to you are '2012'.  Maybe not as 2012 as your grandmothers beliefs, but 2012 nonetheless.  See my point?  Don't judge her too harshly.  Everyone has their 2012's.

I doubt you could find many flaws in my beliefs, only the execution of my actions. Everything I do is built on logic or observation. I don't deny facts when presented with them in a clear, coherent manner.

Those who believe in 2012 don't fall into any kind of religion. They're just dumb.

Marco wrote: Sure.  Me and Mesk are pretty much separated at birth anyway.

I don't believe you. Make a replay commentary with that awkward and random humor of his.

Those who believe in 2012 don't fall into any kind of religion. They're just dumb.

Wrong. Paul the Octopus will die in 2012 and therefore become the catalyst for the world's end. That's fucking FACTUAL EVIDENCE.

IskatuMesk wrote: Those who believe in 2012 don't fall into any kind of religion. They're just dumb.

Agreed, but I guess we'll find out. I'd like to see it, though. We've been promised this End of the World shit for much too long.