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My premise is more that there is a truth of the matter. Even if people start with opposite view points, that won't last when sufficiently good/true things are s
by xlnt 19y ago
My premise is more that there is a truth of the matter. Even if people start with opposite view points, that won't last when sufficiently good/true things are said (plus enough help seeing why this new view is better, and how to change, and how that will improve their life, etc).
- gruseom 19y agoYou're assuming that people want to hear the truth. That is not at all what most people want. And if you insist on offering it to them against their desires they will eat you like (dare I say) a caged lion. :)
- xlnt 19y agoThey might not want the truth now, but they could be shown why it's good to want it, and shown how much nicer that lifestyle is, and helped to change. Hard but certainly possible.
- brzozan 19y agoThis lifestyle is nicer FOR YOU. Not necessarily FOR THEM. If I like spinach and you don't, how will you show me, that not eating spinach is nicer? Or the other way around?
- xlnt 19y agoThere are exist some truths about what lifestyles are nice for everyone. If they violate some of those, then changing would benefit them. As far as we know, the truth about eating is a lot more like "eat foods you like" than "eat foods X, Y, and Z but not A, B, or C". So we can all agree that I will eat spinach because I like it, and you won't because you don't. That doesn't contradict, and is no reason for disagreement.
- brzozan 19y agoThe only truths about lifestyles true for everyone I can come up with is "don't hit yourself with a hammer" and "don't eat poison". Definitely not "work for yourself" or "work for corp". A lot of people is unhappy working for corp, but a lot likes it better than being on their own (me included). It's exactly the same way as with food - "work where you like".
- xlnt 19y agoHold on there, I didn't say anything about people should work for themselves. We can do better than "don't hit yourself with a hammer", but nothing like "everyone should work for themselves" (that'd be a bit hard with no possibility of hiring employees, lol).
- brzozan 19y agoOops, sorry. I did stretch it a bit :) The flame with Paul started with him drawing conclusion (or leaving such impression) that natural state for human is to be own boss and that ones that work for somebody are missing something in life (hence their life is somehow inferior). That's why I jumped to "work" topic. You did not mention work, but I connected Paul's essay with your post. My point was that IMO there are very few universal truths about life and they are limited to very basic things. Differences between particular human beings and environments they live in are too big to draw general conclusions.
- xlnt 19y agoRight, I see. But I think there are actually a lot of universal truths. For example, lifestyles that are open to criticism are more successful because they correct more of their errors. Lifestyles with appropriate attention to detail are more successful too (that doesn't mean more attention to detail, it means being good at judging the right amount for the situation and using that. And there exist non-obvious truths about how to judge the appropriate amount of detail for a situation). And there's all that stuff we call "scientific rigor" or the scientific method. While it's normally associated with only science, large parts of it are valuable to thinking in general. And better ways of thinking definitely make for a better life.