48 laws of Power?

[dalpat077]

Hehe, no problem my man!

LIke I said, I'm quite skeptical to Myer-Briggs, no matter how "precise" I've seen it struck on friends and myself - but there is SO much more to a person than a caricature of one's traits.
And regarding stars and shit - very skeptical. Haha.

Yes, I know! Worse than written are fucking phone-interviews! HOW THE FUCK I'M I GOING TO SWAY YOU IF I CAN'T READ YOUR MICRO-EXPRESSIONS!?

I do believe @December Flower raises a good point though - books only gets you so far. It's like reading a book on muay thai and then thinking that one can enter a dome and throw and roundhouse heel-kick based on theory.
It does sound as though you have practiced this IRL, considering that you also enjoy a good head to head with an interviewer. I can seldom apply it in writing though - I need to see the person.

Oh, the "unhinged savage" comes when you get the mental equivalent of a rectal prolapse.
Some event that makes you realize that being nice is a perfectly fine trait, but with people being animals and some predatory to the core, nice isn't gonna cut it -
sometimes you need to be merciless, insidious and occasionally, in lack of better words, display and employ relentless fucking savagery.

I believe everybody has the same capacity for being an "unhinged savage", just as everybody has the capacity for endless kindness and compassion.

But again, like @December Flower said, you can't read about vicious and monstrous acts and become a monster; it's only through experience that you can really see what kind of savage you are.

DEF NOT sayin' "go out and fuck a bitch up", but if you're "lucky" (this can be argued, of course), you'll get in a situation in which this shadowy-self of you can grow its teeth and you'll come out in on piece. It's a terrible thing to say, but the whole fucking world is the Serengeti - lions & gazelles, predator & prey - and that's not necessarily physichal.
It's a mental state of mind aswell - the worst fucking predators comes in suits & ties.

But fuck do I know, really? Haha.

Fuck. You sure you don't have a long lost twin somewhere?

 

[December Flower]

Well. I think I'm nice. I know I could introduce you to at very least a few dozen people in real life that'd disagree. Not to mention a forum member or two or three (probably more). But there you go. I reject your (their) reality and substitute it with my own (we're all familiar with that one I'm sure)!

The above notion or school of thought probably covered in some of these books. I just want to make sure they got it right is all!

Not to be morbid or take the thread off topic: but it's something I've always wondered about when someone dies. Have you ever been to a funeral or memorial service where the mourners have said "well he was a down and out cunt"? Not that I've been to many or witnessed many. Just something that's always struck me. While some dude is alive and kicking people are laying into him from all sides. And in some cases the said person was just that i.e. a cunt while alive. But dead: all of a sudden they become angelic and could do no wrong! I think the only other person in the world that's openly addressed this is Bill Burr!

In general, I think being nice raises a lot of issues. Imagine you see someone broke on the street, begging for money. Is giving them money going to persuade them to get their life back in check? Is it helping them defeat the habit that probably brought them there? No, if you give them money, they will likely get a positive experience with begging for money, and beg more.

It's a bit of a double-edged sword. Cruelty breeds strength, and being nice breeds weakness. Hence why I think the true spirit of life is living it. We need the bad, as well as we need the good. Without the bad we cannot appreciate the good. Without all the bad things that happened to us, we wouldn't be who we are.

I don't think one ought to never do something good, or bad - I don't even think that's possible, but it's important to come to terms with what influence your actions will have. It's the essence of both that makes us human, so we should feed both wolves in order to become complete. Sometimes we're going to help someone without any true reason, and sometimes we're going to hurt someone without any true reason.

But I find directing the good and bad things you do is the key. If someone in trouble comes up to me and tells me "I'm going to change my life", there's a different intention. I should feed that intention, and help them, because it's linked with changing the bad behaviour(whatever it is) - I'm not just being nice for the sake of being nice, I'm putting a purpose behind it.

The same goes with bad things. I have a good example of that, actually. A friend of mine, she fucking lies in every second sentence. So I told her a lie, a BIG lie, and she believed me - until after freaking out for days she found out that it was a lie, and funnily enough quit our friendship. I did a bad thing with the intention of showing her how this feels, and I'm positive she will never forget this.

Wall of text, sorry. I fly off the handle

 

[Deleted member 521610]

There is no laws of power. There is only one path to end suffering and that is liberate yourself through spiritual meditation / yoga. Get a english copy of the avadhuta gita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avadhuta_Gita this book will bring true peace once put into practice

 

[dalpat077]

In general, I think being nice raises a lot of issues. Imagine you see someone broke on the street, begging for money. Is giving them money going to persuade them to get their life back in check? Is it helping them defeat the habit that probably brought them there? No, if you give them money, they will likely get a positive experience with begging for money, and beg more.

It's a bit of a double-edged sword. Cruelty breeds strength, and being nice breeds weakness. Hence why I think the true spirit of life is living it. We need the bad, as well as we need the good. Without the bad we cannot appreciate the good. Without all the bad things that happened to us, we wouldn't be who we are.

I don't think one ought to never do something good, or bad - I don't even think that's possible, but it's important to come to terms with what influence your actions will have. It's the essence of both that makes us human, so we should feed both wolves in order to become complete. Sometimes we're going to help someone without any true reason, and sometimes we're going to hurt someone without any true reason.

But I find directing the good and bad things you do is the key. If someone in trouble comes up to me and tells me "I'm going to change my life", there's a different intention. I should feed that intention, and help them, because it's linked with changing the bad behaviour(whatever it is) - I'm not just being nice for the sake of being nice, I'm putting a purpose behind it.

The same goes with bad things. I have a good example of that, actually. A friend of mine, she fucking lies in every second sentence. So I told her a lie, a BIG lie, and she believed me - until after freaking out for days she found out that it was a lie, and funnily enough quit our friendship. I did a bad thing with the intention of showing her how this feels, and I'm positive she will never forget this.

Wall of text, sorry. I fly off the handle

Well all I can say is what a lovely and insightful post. Seriously (no laughing smiley to follow).

And a lot would make for interesting discussion and debate that's for sure (in a nice way I mean). Not sure if the mods. or the OP would be appreciative i.e. could take the thread way off topic. Mind you: I suppose it can all be deleted or moved if necessary.

To be honest: my take on giving people money on the street has changed drastically and in a very short space of time. I'm guilty of being one of those real shits that wouldn't give anybody on the street anything for exactly the reasons you've mentioned. My instinct was always "get a fucking job". Thanks only due to my own wonderful life going down the pan a while ago do I now realize that there's a mere fraction of people, in my opinion anyway, that would willingly choose to be on the street. And the line between a big fat Mercedes Benz and the street is so thin that it'd surprise more than one person I damn sure. The more you have, and if you've not had the foresight to plan for things possibly going awry, the harder and the faster the dominoes will fall once they get going. So I'll admit that now my take really is so what i.e. if they're going to use the money to go score or buy some glue or booze so what. They've got fuck all else and thanks to this pandemic the chances of them ever getting their lives back are slim to none save for a huge stroke of luck and nothing more. And they're actually better people than I i.e. it's a promise that I've made to myself that it will never happen. Could be the only promise to myself I actually keep. But keep it I shall that's for sure. I still don't give anything to anyone on the street. But now that's more of a function of, unfortunately, my own problems. And while I'm sure there's some that'll play the karma card here: sorry. Doesn't do it for me. Not anymore.

And I guess the above is pretty much what you're saying really. I don't think I'm a rotten individual. But my experiences in the last two or so years have had me question a lot of good intentions and acts of kindness and doing the honorable and the right thing. And given the severe outcomes: it's now ingrained. Does it go against my own grain as a person? I'd say yes. But, for better or for worse, now my brain and logic kicks in way before any act of emotion or kind or selfless act. And to be honest: only thing I'm sorry about is that I didn't get it decades ago. Probably sounds bitter and jaded. And it is. But it is what it is. And it is empowering to say the least. Only question I have to which I'll not ever have an answer: is it just me (it's no secret I hold onto years go by) or has the world and people changed and I'm just playing catch-up only now? Or is this just indeed my being a product of circumstance? While I'd like to believe it's the latter I'm more inclined to think it's the former. Not to harp on the topic (of days gone by) but I come from a world where a deal, any deal, could be done on a handshake and an agreement was an agreement (without having to pay six lawyers to make sure you're not going to get fucked over). Now there seems to be no lengths that people will go to in order to get the advantage. So it's pretty much an adapt or die scenario so far as I can tell. There's things that I'd do today without thinking that for damn sure I'd have thought twice, even thrice maybe, about doing a decade or two ago. Oddly enough though and, again for better or for worse, it's liberating anyway. Does it mean I'm going to actively go out and fuck with somebody else or do somebody else in? Probably not. For damn sure though: no longer will I make excuses for somebody else's shortcomings or bad behavior at my own expense or to my own detriment and just so that I can maybe feel good about myself. That good feeling lasts but a few hours at most.

Anyway. Analyze that! And damn sure it's covered in one of these books too!

 

[dalpat077]

There is no laws of power. There is only one path to end suffering and that is liberate yourself through spiritual meditation / yoga. Get a english copy of the avadhuta gita https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avadhuta_Gita this book will bring true peace once put into practice

I can think of a few more paths that have far more definitive and quicker outcomes Einstein (the reference to Einstein my good friend will understand i.e. he's pretty unique)! And none of which involve the use of psychedelics or mirrors or trying to clear my head of all that's worldly!

 

[December Flower]

Well all I can say is what a lovely and insightful post. Seriously (no laughing smiley to follow).

And a lot would make for interesting discussion and debate that's for sure (in a nice way I mean). Not sure if the mods. or the OP would be appreciative i.e. could take the thread way off topic. Mind you: I suppose it can all be deleted or moved if necessary.

To be honest: my take on giving people money on the street has changed drastically and in a very short space of time. I'm guilty of being one of those real shits that wouldn't give anybody on the street anything for exactly the reasons you've mentioned. My instinct was always "get a fucking job". Thanks only due to my own wonderful life going down the pan a while ago do I now realize that there's a mere fraction of people, in my opinion anyway, that would willingly choose to be on the street. And the line between a big fat Mercedes Benz and the street is so thin that it'd surprise more than one person I damn sure. The more you have, and if you've not had the foresight to plan for things possibly going awry, the harder and the faster the dominoes will fall once they get going. So I'll admit that now my take really is so what i.e. if they're going to use the money to go score or buy some glue or booze so what. They've got fuck all else and thanks to this pandemic the chances of them ever getting their lives back are slim to none save for a huge stroke of luck and nothing more. And they're actually better people than I i.e. it's a promise that I've made to myself that it will never happen. Could be the only promise to myself I actually keep. But keep it I shall that's for sure. I still don't give anything to anyone on the street. But now that's more of a function of, unfortunately, my own problems. And while I'm sure there's some that'll play the karma card here: sorry. Doesn't do it for me. Not anymore.

And I guess the above is pretty much what you're saying really. I don't think I'm a rotten individual. But my experiences in the last two or so years have had me question a lot of good intentions and acts of kindness and doing the honorable and the right thing. And given the severe outcomes: it's now ingrained. Does it go against my own grain as a person? I'd say yes. But, for better or for worse, now my brain and logic kicks in way before any act of emotion or kind or selfless act. And to be honest: only thing I'm sorry about is that I didn't get it decades ago. Probably sounds bitter and jaded. And it is. But it is what it is. And it is empowering to say the least. Only question I have to which I'll not ever have an answer: is it just me (it's no secret I hold onto years go by) or has the world and people changed and I'm just playing catch-up only now? Or is this just indeed my being a product of circumstance? While I'd like to believe it's the latter I'm more inclined to think it's the former. Not to harp on the topic (of days gone by) but I come from a world where a deal, any deal, could be done on a handshake and an agreement was an agreement (without having to pay six lawyers to make sure you're not going to get fucked over). Now there seems to be no lengths that people will go to in order to get the advantage. So it's pretty much an adapt or die scenario so far as I can tell. There's things that I'd do today without thinking that for damn sure I'd have thought twice, even thrice maybe, about doing a decade or two ago. Oddly enough though and, again for better or for worse, it's liberating anyway. Does it mean I'm going to actively go out and fuck with somebody else or do somebody else in? Probably not. For damn sure though: no longer will I make excuses for somebody else's shortcomings or bad behavior at my own expense or to my own detriment and just so that I can maybe feel good about myself. That good feeling lasts but a few hours at most.

Anyway. Analyze that! And damn sure it's covered in one of these books too!

Since we're far off the rails I'll try to keep it short:

It's not that I don't empathize with people on the streets, I do feel bad and I do feel their pain. I've lived in a bus for over a year, working as a street performer. And there's the line, I find: If you do something for your money, I don't care if you suck at it, I will give you money. But just sitting there and expecting money, I don't want to feed that delusion.

Nothing in life is free, nobody in life can turn your life around but you. If you get used to getting handouts, you will never really strive to become great. You will never cherish this money. You will not actively work to get your life around, because it's just a handout. You didn't work/suffer for it personally, so there's no real value to it for you, it's just free money, and therefore an excuse to use it frivolously.

 

[dalpat077]

Since we're far off the rails I'll try to keep it short:

It's not that I don't empathize with people on the streets, I do feel bad and I do feel their pain. I've lived in a bus for over a year, working as a street performer. And there's the line, I find: If you do something for your money, I don't care if you suck at it, I will give you money. But just sitting there and expecting money, I don't want to feed that delusion.

Nothing in life is free, nobody in life can turn your life around but you. If you get used to getting handouts, you will never really strive to become great. You will never cherish this money. You will not actively work to get your life around, because it's just a handout. You didn't work/suffer for it personally, so there's no real value to it for you, it's just free money, and therefore an excuse to use it frivolously.

Fine points. Again.

Let's agree to disagree (to a point). But you have indeed lived it. I haven't.

We're probably both going to be taken to task though (I've a feeling) i.e. for either derailing the thread, or for our views, or for both!

 

[tubgirl.jpg]

Fuck. You sure you don't have a long lost twin somewhere?

Very possible XD