GrandmasterP

Journeys are good for sure. Just finished Alastair Humphreys 'Moods of future joys' and begun his second book ' Thunder and Sunshine'. The books describe Humphreys' 4-year round the world bike ride. Book 1 England to Capetown. Book 2 Tierra del Fuego to Alaska then through Asia, Europe and 'home'. He's a motivational speaker nowadays. http://www.alastairhumphreys.com/ Now that was an 'heroic journey' for sure.

As what definitions we choose to use I reckon that we can all of us recognise 'negative' people those thankfully few times when we're unfortunate enough to have dealings with those. There are some folks who can suck the joy out of any company and only seem 'happy' if they are bringing down the mood. Not depressives, those poor folk are poorly .. Just wilfully negative types. My ex father in law ( RIP) was one such. The highest praise I ever heard him utter was that something was 'not bad'. We took him to Batley Variety Club one time for a birthday treat and Charlie Williams ( black guy, old timey ex miner Yorkshire stand up comedian) was the headline act. People were literally on the floor with laughter. Father in Law ( we'll call him Albert for that was his real name) sat stony faced throughout sipping a single pint all night and not saying a word. In the taxi home his missus the ex Mom in Law, still chuckling; says something to the effect that... " That Charlie Williams is the funniest man I have ever see or heard." Albert spoke for the first and only time of that evening and gloomily pontificated .... "Aye, he's alright I suppose. If you like laughing."

I had a student teacher once who was a total BBC nerd. She was training to teach media studies but really wanted to write stories and interest pieces for broadcast. She sent loads of unsolicited stuff in and got lots of rejection letters. One producer wrote ( handwritten) short suggestions and encouragement towards success. She flew through her degree and passed ( with distinction) but never took a teaching post. She writes full time for radio and I see her name in the Radio Times regularly

What's NOT Tao about this? Literature. Author. Reader. Stories. ' Crush'. Fan-dom and the Tao of the 'attraction of ideas'. It's all here and more. Not 'pointless' at all I'd say and very Tao. But then , I'm not a Mod.

A linguistics professor was lecturing her class. "In the English language," she said, "a double negative forms a positive. In some languages though, such as Russian, a double negative is still a negative. There is no language, however, wherein a double positive can form a negative." Just then, a voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right!"

Maslow's hierarchy of human needs is a classic " Hero's Path" BTW. A triumphalist yarn told around the campfire to keep the shadow's at bay before bedtime and to ward off bad dreams. The world is full of such.

For any debate to proceed, the participants must first carefully define; in order to agree upon any technical terms. Hence negativity in relation to and compared to what? Once we've agreed which 'negative' we are talking about, at that point but not before- then we can begin discussions. That applies to all slippery concepts and words. Politicians build careers on imprecise or self-serving 'owned' definitions. "Welfare" for example. There's another term with myriad and all self-serving definitions each dependent upon the user thereof.

Well that's Australia written off then.

That's Abe Maslow's heirarchy and life's not like that. Abe did all his research amongst well paid white ( still racially segregated workplace ) Detroit automobile production line workers way back in the late 60s of the last century. Maslow's work hangs around as it's in colour and a triangle hence nice to look at and seems to make sense. However it has that 'production-line based mindset' that insists that each component is in place so that the 'product' can move forward (' upwards') to the next level. Now we all know that is BS as we've all met 'self actualized' people who are potless or homeless or victim-martyrys or whatever. Maslow is ' Mom, home and apple pie', if the 'American Dream' ( circa 1969) is all in place, according to Abe; then you are at the top of the tree. That never ever was, nor is; the necessary case.

You've made a point of meeting them all have you Jetsun? One presumes that's an informed judgement of yours there. Meeting all those thousands of criminal, unspiritual Brit expats on the Costas? What a very busy bee you've been.

Seek professional help buddy you do not sound to be at all well. Stop any and all cultivations that make you feel worse and talk over your issues with a medically qualified professional if you are not already doing so. All good wishes to you for health and wellbeing.

Henceforth I ask not good-fortune, I myself am good-fortune, Henceforth I whimper no more, postpone no more, need nothing, Done with indoor complaints, libraries, querulous criticisms, Strong and content I travel the open road. The earth, that is sufficient, I do not want the constellations any nearer, I know they are very well where they are, I know they suffice for those who belong to them. (Walt Whitman: Song of the Open Road).

Cold Mountain Path... Clambering up the Cold Mountain path, The Cold Mountain trail goes on and on: The long gorge choked with scree and boulders, The wide creek, the mist-blurred grass. The moss is slippery, though theres been no rain The pine sings, but theres no wind. Who can leap the worlds ties And sit with me among the white clouds? (Hanshan)

Mental health issues and religious obsession do seem to go hand in hand with some poor sufferers. All mental illness is treatable but some mental illness is difficult to 'cure'. Psychopathy for one although the text books did used to say that psychopathy lessens after age 40. Having looked after psychopaths I reckon they just get craftier with age and can hide it better, when it suits them.

'Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.' (Abraham Lincoln ).

You'll enjoy this then..... http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php?t=270176

No disrespect to Joseph Campbell but what he 'did' was to gloss and aim to popularise standard academic lit crit. Having done so he puts his own spin on it. Check out "mythopoesis". That's what Mr Campbell ( amongst others) does. There's good money to be made.

Gosh! Where did that all spring from fizix? You having a rough day bro?

"Meh."

Raw here, Drizzled with a good Olive Oil. Delicious.

Potatoes. We're harvesting right now. Delicious they are. We cultivated them, they did all the growing.. That's magic.

Check out 'hesychasm' and 'Jesus Prayer'. Those original Orthodox Christian monks out in the deserts were, for sure; taught by a travelling Buddhist.

There ya go... Gladys Yang and Xianyi Yang, Chu Ci Xuan Selected Elegies of the State of Chu. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press, 2001. ISBN 7-119-02890-1). An academic library could probably get you a loaner via inter-library loan. Contact your local University librarian. Super- helpful folks those are. There's usually a small fee if you're not a student or faculty but it is a very small fee. Sometimes they ask for a refundable deposit.

It's really funny. Been around for years I read it in school. Sort of like Animal Farm but with nihilism. The country is called Nihilon and the narrator guy is a visitor who schlepps about there having adventures , talking to the local Nihilists and commenting on what he sees. Very well written but then Sillitoe ( RIP) IMO never wrote a dud book.

Hero accepts quest. Hero goes on quest. Hero is accompanied by at least one 'comedy buddy' sidekick ( this is compulsory). Hero overcomes problems along the way. Penultimate scene, hero has a massive fight and almost dies but, with a sudden bound; slays the giant (or whatever). Hero discovers that all along he was some sort of super- dude or king-in-waiting but he'd not noticed it 'prior to'. Hero gets to marry the princess. They all live happily ever after. The end. Stories address aspiration, hence their enduring popularity. Aspiration is grasping. Stories are nice though, we all tell them, to ourselves and to others; most of the time.