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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by trouble on March 25, 2002, at 11:37:18
Good morning friends,
Today marks a profound beginning for me, I am embarking upon a new and edifying Spiritual Practice, and the first person who stands in my way will live to regret it.
Let me quote from the book I spent this weeks' lunch money on, howzat for starting off a spiritual discipline on the right foot? Ahhhh deprivation, thy name is... er, deprivation.
To wit:
"...What is civility? What does it mean to be civil today, at the beginning of the 21st century? Is civility in decline? How do we make it part of who we are? What are civility's basic rules? How does civility improve the quality of our lives? How do we praciice it among friends, in the workplace, and among strangers? Does it have drawbacks? Are we supposed to ALWAYS be civil? How do we deal w/ the uncivil?
"...I wouldn't want to be considered uncivil for presuming to teach civility. The message here is not that I am a flawlessly civil person but that civility is a wonderfully effective tool to enhance the quality of our lives.
"Cicero voiced the concern that his readers might see a conflict btwn his lofty teachings and his less-than-perfect-conduct. His reply was that he was writing about virtue, not about himself, and that when he condemned vices he first of all condemned his own."...M. Scott Peck chose to open his wise guidebook to smart, decent and loving living w/an utterly plain and simple statement. 'Life is difficult' is the founding truth of his work, and he connects to 'Life is suffering,' the first of the Four Noble Truths taught by Buddha.
"'...Life is difficult.' I like the simplicity of the utterance. We can all benefit from basic truths stated in direct and simple language. In the hasty confusion of our days, we easily lose sight of basic truths. As we fail to make them part of our everyday thinking, we eventually become unable to recognize them clearly and confront them effectively. And so we stumble through life in a cloud of dust raised by our own misguided steps.
"When we manage to make real contact w/ a basic truth, sometimes we are inspired to act upon it, and thus we may change our lives radically and permanently. Greatness is not just in the truth itself but in what we can do w/it. 'Once we truly know that life is difficult-once we truly understand and accept it-then life is no longer difficult,' says M. Scott Peck. Now, we may be able to reach this wisdom and strength or we may not. All of us, however, can find ways to cope effectively with difficulty..."
More to come, if this ain't too halo-corny-n-highfalutin' for the cretins among us.
love,
trouble
Choosing Civility
The 25 rules of Considerate Conduct
P.M. Forni
Cofounder of the John Hopkins Civility Project
(St. Martin's Press, copyright 2002)
Posted by Zo on March 25, 2002, at 15:00:53
In reply to choosing whatchamcallit or give me lunch, posted by trouble on March 25, 2002, at 11:37:18
> Today marks a profound beginning for me, I am embarking upon a new and edifying Spiritual Practice, and the first person who stands in my way will live to regret it.I have finally met someone who is like me but better.
This is an astonishing experiece.Zo
Posted by trouble on March 27, 2002, at 5:40:42
In reply to Re: My kind of Practice! » trouble, posted by Zo on March 25, 2002, at 15:00:53
Hey all,
I'm on page 9 already, and today's lesson is news to me:"...Civility belongs in the realm of ethics.
"Courtesy, politeness, manners and civililty are all, in essence, forms of awareness. Being civil means being constantly aware of others and weaving restraint, respect and consideration into the very fabric of this awareness.
"...To understand POLITENESS, we must think of POLISH. The polite are those who have polished their behavior.
"...When we think of GOOD MANNERS, we often think of children being taught to say 'please' and 'thank you' and chew w/ their mouths closed.
This may prevent us from looking at manners w/the attention they deserve. 'Manner' comes from 'manus,' the Latin word for 'hand.' 'Manner' and 'manners' have to do w/the use of our hands. A manner is the way something is done, a mode of handling. Thus 'manners' came to refer to behavior in social interaction-the way we handle the encounter btwn Self and Other."...CIVILITY'S defining characteristic is its ties to 'city' and 'society'. The word derives from...'civitas', ...the same word from which 'civilization' comes. The age-old assumption behind civility is that life in the city has a civilizing effect. The city is where we enlighten our intellect and refine our social skills. And as we are shaped by the city, we learn to give of ouselves for the sake of the city..."
Well no wonder we're all so upset! If I may add an observation to the above, it strikes me that the pain and cynicism Old School and others are sharing tonight is about the decline of our great cities, our awareness of the "coarsening of America," that good people don't want to contribute to, but feel it closing in on them, and helpless to combat it, lash out in rage and disappointment, our idealism quashed, skidding inexorably into corrosive derision.
Or not. This is just my take on things. I am practically inhaling this book, his view of awareness, yeah, sure, awareness is good, or at least benign, until I get it and then try to erase it. Then awareness turns into rumination, gets demanding, makes me crazy-trying to go back to not-knowing, when it's too late and is no longer an option, I can drink to forget, deny and distort, but that's all temporary. To be aware of the real world w/out letting it eat you up, no, I've never seen that in a human being, never. I'm getting pissed now, itching to shoot him down for spewing granola, then turn to page 10.BEING CIVIL TO ONE ANOTHER IS MUCH MORE ACTIVE AND POSITIVE A GOOD THAN MERE POLITENESS OR COURTESY, BUT LIKE MANY OTHER IMPORTANT GOODS, SUCH AS GENEROSITY, GRATITUDE OR SOLIDARITY, IT IS NOT THE SORT OF THING THAT CAN BE
"D E M A N D E D" AS A MATTER OF DUTY, LIKE A MORAL ENTITLEMENT. (Robert B. Pippin)Somethin tells me I'm in good hands here,
the man looks like a square, and I'm aware of that too.trouble
Posted by trouble on March 31, 2002, at 0:10:38
In reply to Choosing Civility, day two (etymology), posted by trouble on March 27, 2002, at 5:40:42
If this is what the world wants then it is way more f*cked up then I'll ever be.
There are 25 rules of civility and I'm down for the count at number 12.
You're not supposed to touch yourself in public, well EXCUUUUUUUUSE ME!You're not supposed to lean against refrigerators or slouch in doorways, not supposed to twirl your hair, can't soothe, caress, or rub yourself, not supposed to draw my knees up, wrap my arms around them and lay my head on kneecaps while stroking my lower limbs, no stretching, no lithe Yoga moves, no crossing my arms and cupping elbows w/ opposite hands, no swaying of hips like an African Goddess, no intimate, female sensuality allowed or the whole world might just blow off its squeaky clean axis.
No Thanks.
trouble
This is the end of the thread.
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