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Fear. Regrets.

H

Harry Hood

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Sep 4, 2006
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You can feel goooood about me
Do you believe fear to be the cause of all personal mistakes and regret?
I came to this insight. It holds out. I have thought it through with numerous examples from my life, and have applied it to other's problems as well. Surprisingly enough (or not), when faced with the sound and logical equation presented them, many people still deny that it is so.
Am I being an asshole? Pompous? I'm pretty confident in this. Please give it some though; offer me some situations from your life and I will think them through as well. <3

Add any meaningful thoughts of your own to add to the conversation!
 
I don't see why mistakes and regret are necessarily borne of fear. Mistakes in my life are often made due to inexperience. In some cases, certainly, my mistakes have been caused by hesitation induced by fear, but this is neither exception nor rule.

If I wanted to, I'm sure I could boil down all the negativity I've experienced to fear, but to do so seems unproductive to me. Different events have different causes. Sometimes this difference is subtle, sometimes not.
 
poor choices due to a plethora of causes are what drives mistakes . fear just counts among these causes.
 
Raw Evil said:
I don't see why mistakes and regret are necessarily borne of fear. Mistakes in my life are often made due to inexperience. In some cases, certainly, my mistakes have been caused by hesitation induced by fear, but this is neither exception nor rule.

If I wanted to, I'm sure I could boil down all the negativity I've experienced to fear, but to do so seems unproductive to me. Different events have different causes. Sometimes this difference is subtle, sometimes not.
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As I see it, when you regret something or you believe yourself to have made a mistake, it's because you are concerned with/ fear the consequences of your actions.
You did not experience the fear as you committed the act you would come to regret; Fear only enters the picture precisely when regret does, they come hand in hand. But fear leads the way; fear being the catalyst for the regret.

And I should just detract my use of the word mistake, because the kind of mistake im speaking of is of the regretful kind.
 
i think you may be right, but i also think it's irrelevant if you are, you know what i mean?
 
Kammoye--- I think it's relevant because it seems to be "truth", but so many people deny it. That can't be healthy, to deny something that is sound and logical. It's counter- productive to knowingly place your beliefs in a "fallacy".

Also, I think once you make the connection, the understanding can help you in future situations you find yourself in. Like you may catch yourself making a decision based on a fear. (This is not to say that making decisions based on fear isn't sometimes a wiser option.) Making decisions based on fear usually holds you back from experiencing as much life as you can.
 
i think truth relative to this subject is something specific to every individual person

it's not like you don't have a good point, but ime you gotta show, not tell
 
KamMoye--- I think you make your own reality (to an extent), so I mostly agree with you there. But I also believe that the realm in which human consciousness tends to soberly reside has some "truths". Truth sounds bad in this conversation because of our throwing around subjectivity, but I don't know what else to call it. A constant? Essentially I mean the same concept, so the choice of words is inconsequential.

1- Action
2- Fear of potential consequences of action
3- Regret of action

It follows through logically, so my logic tells me that it is "true", although... maybe I am delving into a new personal philosophical territory in which i define two separate simultaneous "truths"; 1- the truth that your subjectivity is your reality and 2-the seemingly contradictory truth that your reality is also external and therefore also not subjective? But then again, looking at my use of the word external there, I don't believe there is any separation between myself and the universe, so is anything really external?

I love getting into these conversations and stumping myself/ advancing the theory. Good fun.
 
since we share the same perspective i have no problem w/ you calling it a truth. i just didn't want that pedantic "is there anything as objective truth?" thread to bleed into here, so call it a pre-emptive strike =P

i recently discovered that i spend a lot -- too much; any is too much imo -- of my time thinking about my past. but at the same time, would you agree that the past predicts / hints / repeats? it's a bit of a catch-22 imo.
 
Harry Hood said:
Do you believe fear to be the cause of all personal mistakes and regret?
Click to expand...
Fear and desire.

The two main poles of the emotional mind -- attraction and aversion.

It all boils down to something very simple. Living inside one's mind, instead of in the here and now. Being unwilling to give up all the drama. Fear of being alone and forgotten. These issues must be faced directly.
 
KamMoye said:
since we share the same perspective i have no problem w/ you calling it a truth. i just didn't want that pedantic "is there anything as objective truth?" thread to bleed into here, so call it a pre-emptive strike =P

i recently discovered that i spend a lot -- too much; any is too much imo -- of my time thinking about my past. but at the same time, would you agree that the past predicts / hints / repeats? it's a bit of a catch-22 imo.
Click to expand...

So you're saying you feel like you waste your energies thinking of the past( i will assume by thinking of the past, you mean pondering your regrets). But you also feel as if looking back onto your past is worthy because history seems to repeat itself, and through that you gain insight to prevent yourself from committing more potential regrets.
If you think too much about your past regrets then you will probably be depressed ; and not advancing to where you wanna be. If you never think about your regrets then you gain no incite and will probably continue on the path of suffering.

Look at your regrets and really analyze them, discover why they became regrets, cause they didn't start that way.

Then, when you've discovered the real underlying reason for your regrets, apply your new found wisdom for present and future situations and those potential regrets will be in the bag.
 
Dedbeet said:
Fear and desire.

The two main poles of the emotional mind -- attraction and aversion.

It all boils down to something very simple. Living inside one's mind, instead of in the here and now. Being unwilling to give up all the drama. Fear of being alone and forgotten. These issues must be faced directly.
Click to expand...

DAMN GOOD POINT. Desire completely whooshed over my head hahaha.

I would refine your addition by contributing that it is a single emotional pole of attraction and aversion. Desire and aversion are two extremes of the same concept.
 
There are no mistakes. In the sense that we could have done differently. We could not. Of course if some variables were different, we could have done differently, but they weren't and thinking about 'if they were' is useless. Regretting is useless. It will only cause one suffering, because it makes one wanting something, that can't be changed to be changed (and in reality is just a product of ones own mind) - that's just nonsensical and useless.
Seeing what could have been done different to further ones understanding can be useful, of course. But there's a very thin line between thinking about past events in a rational constructive way and regretting.
 
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Harry Hood said:
I would refine your addition by contributing that it is a single emotional pole of attraction and aversion. Desire and aversion are two extremes of the same concept.
Click to expand...

Indeed.

Attraction and repulsion are also the two poles of the first circuit of the 8-circuit model of consciousness. Known also as the "Biosurvival" circuit, it's the first thing learned by most life forms - the ability to discriminate between what is helpful and safe, and what is noxious or dangerous. It is also the oldest and most basic of the 8 circuits, and thus the one with the greatest subtle influence over thought.
 
thesoundofmotion said:
You can feel good about Hood.
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Give me the powerful pills.

Being--- Regret IS a waste of energy, and it doesn't get much positive done. But most of us have it.

Raw Evil--- Timothy Leary, right? I started re- reading that a few months ago and grasped understanding of it for the first time. I read it a few years back and I was all wtf? Hahha.

Incredibly fascinating stuff.
 
Yep, it's Leary. If you want a thorough explanation of the 8-circuit model and its implications, I highly recommend Prometheus Rising by Robert Anton Wilson. R.A.W does a fantastic job of fleshing out each concept, and maps the circuit-specific behaviors to things you see people doing every day. Definitely worth a look if you're into self-improvement and not afraid of some of the more esoteric understandings of how people, including yourself, work on a psychological level.
 
Harry Hood said:
DAMN GOOD POINT. Desire completely whooshed over my head hahaha.

I would refine your addition by contributing that it is a single emotional pole of attraction and aversion. Desire and aversion are two extremes of the same concept.
Click to expand...
The two go together like a horse & carriage, IMO... lose all fear somehow, and all desire is lost as well. Which means the fearless (if they exist) probably wouldn't be going on any fearless adventures of conquest, but hanging out & chilling, being at peace with nowhere special to go, nothing special to do, etc.
 
Dedbeet said:
The two go together like a horse & carriage, IMO... lose all fear somehow, and all desire is lost as well. Which means the fearless (if they exist) probably wouldn't be going on any fearless adventures of conquest, but hanging out & chilling, being at peace with nowhere special to go, nothing special to do, etc.
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The fearless wouldn't consider a quest or adventure to be fearful, right? I suppose he wouldn't be able to DESIRE going on the quest, but if he were forced into it, he would have no fear.

Raw Evil--- I fully intend to purchase said book, thanks!

I like to think I'm one of those people that isn't afraid of my true self, no matter what things I may discover that I don't admire.
So much better than being in the dark; having an opportunity to better yourself.
Most people would prefer the darkness it seems.
 
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