3 ms·

What does this mean? Never try to change anything because the world is fixed and fate is immutable? Sounds like a generic defeatist philosophy.

darkerside 7y ago
Try to change what you can, and recognize that the things you can't are vast, innumerable, infinite.
- kgwxd 7y ago
  Seems glass half empty. The things you can change are vast, innumerable, infinite. Maybe less infinite, but infinite.
  - darkerside 7y ago
    What you can change is a drop in an immense ocean. And that's ok. Yo can either ignore the rest of the ocean (denial), or make peace with the fact that the tiny drop of the ocean you can control is all that really matters.
    - andrepd 7y ago
      That's (again, in my opinion) a really depressing and defeatist way to look at things, and at worst, a poetic way of saying "fuck you I got mine".
      - darkerside 7y ago
        Well... it does have the advantage of being true. I'm just explaining one positive method of coping with this vast and amazing universe. Do you have another?
  - AdieuToLogic 7y ago
    Is it that the glass is half empty or recognition that a glass cannot hold everything the world can pour into it?
- wayneftw 7y ago
  Things you can always change are how you think, feel and react to things. Some of these types of books say that yourself is the only thing which you can truly change because, they say, everything else is an illusion or simply that trying to change others is a futile task. How you perceive reality is everything. I find this idea to be very liberating and pragmatic and when I remember to utilize this in practice, things flow much better for me. I become more flexible. As Bruce Lee says - "You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend."
georgebarnett 7y ago
On the contrary. It means that everything will only change when you change yourself. Find your own harmony and don’t worry about others. Their path is theirs.
- quickthrower2 7y ago
  Is this the where the Matrix got it’s spoon bending ideas from?
AdieuToLogic 7y ago
> What does this mean? Essentially, it means "lead by example", "let others learn through acts and not words", "there are situations which no amount of skill can rectify", and "accept that some may not understand what you try to teach."
xelxebar 7y ago
Let me take a different tack, and share a bit of a meta-sentiment. Asking what something means is effectively asking for a translation. Unfortunately, that's almost always a lossy process, and in the worst case it invites an "understanding" that's largely different than the author's original intent. If intended meaning is something you'd like to get at, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the question, "what mindset and situation would I have to be in such that those words come naturally, spontaneously to mind?" Anyway, in my experience with lots of meditation, the sentiment expressed in OP's quote is something that feels close to home. I think it has more to do with staying close to the problem at hand and being keenly aware of how all the pieces of you fit into that picture. There exists a mental space where you can do things and have desires while at the same time seeing a larger context that breeds equanimity. It's a space thst makes things like personal thoughts, feeling and beliefs seem as simple and matter-of-fact as crickets chirping in the night.

darkerside 7y ago

Try to change what you can, and recognize that the things you can't are vast, innumerable, infinite.

kgwxd 7y ago
Seems glass half empty. The things you can change are vast, innumerable, infinite. Maybe less infinite, but infinite.
- darkerside 7y ago
  What you can change is a drop in an immense ocean. And that's ok. Yo can either ignore the rest of the ocean (denial), or make peace with the fact that the tiny drop of the ocean you can control is all that really matters.
  - andrepd 7y ago
    That's (again, in my opinion) a really depressing and defeatist way to look at things, and at worst, a poetic way of saying "fuck you I got mine".
    - darkerside 7y ago
      Well... it does have the advantage of being true. I'm just explaining one positive method of coping with this vast and amazing universe. Do you have another?
- AdieuToLogic 7y ago
  Is it that the glass is half empty or recognition that a glass cannot hold everything the world can pour into it?
wayneftw 7y ago
Things you can always change are how you think, feel and react to things. Some of these types of books say that yourself is the only thing which you can truly change because, they say, everything else is an illusion or simply that trying to change others is a futile task. How you perceive reality is everything. I find this idea to be very liberating and pragmatic and when I remember to utilize this in practice, things flow much better for me. I become more flexible. As Bruce Lee says - "You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend."

georgebarnett 7y ago

On the contrary. It means that everything will only change when you change yourself. Find your own harmony and don’t worry about others. Their path is theirs.

quickthrower2 7y ago
Is this the where the Matrix got it’s spoon bending ideas from?

AdieuToLogic 7y ago

> What does this mean? Essentially, it means "lead by example", "let others learn through acts and not words", "there are situations which no amount of skill can rectify", and "accept that some may not understand what you try to teach."

xelxebar 7y ago

Let me take a different tack, and share a bit of a meta-sentiment. Asking what something means is effectively asking for a translation. Unfortunately, that's almost always a lossy process, and in the worst case it invites an "understanding" that's largely different than the author's original intent. If intended meaning is something you'd like to get at, I've gotten a lot of mileage out of the question, "what mindset and situation would I have to be in such that those words come naturally, spontaneously to mind?" Anyway, in my experience with lots of meditation, the sentiment expressed in OP's quote is something that feels close to home. I think it has more to do with staying close to the problem at hand and being keenly aware of how all the pieces of you fit into that picture. There exists a mental space where you can do things and have desires while at the same time seeing a larger context that breeds equanimity. It's a space thst makes things like personal thoughts, feeling and beliefs seem as simple and matter-of-fact as crickets chirping in the night.