Can I be?

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Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 07:42 pm
Can we be anything that we want or need to be?

Can we be only what we want or need to exist?

Can i choose my me?
 
Quinn phil
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 09:18 pm
@sometime sun,
Nope, I can never be god, nor do I think I can be a bird.
 
Zetherin
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 09:40 pm
@sometime sun,
sometime sun wrote:
Can we be anything that we want or need to be?


Well, clearly we cannot be anything we want to be. I want to be a tiger, but I cannot be a tiger. What do you mean by, "need to be"? Can you give me an example of when I would need to be something?

Quote:
Can we be only what we want or need to exist?


I can choose to wish humans did not exist, but that does not change what I am. What I want to exist and what exists, are two different things. What does "need to exist" mean?

Quote:
Can i choose my me?


Can you choose your you? What does that mean?
 
sometime sun
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 09:51 pm
@Quinn phil,
Quinn;112846 wrote:
Nope, I can never be god, nor do I think I can be a bird.

I should have restricted it to being all the human i can be.
(Not all the animal i try not to be.)
 
Fido
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 09:53 pm
@sometime sun,
sometime sun;112833 wrote:
Can we be anything that we want or need to be?

Can we be only what we want or need to exist?

Can i choose my me?


No...
Maybe, if you are lucky...
No...

Just as with children, what they are is cast already in human form...You can do but little to change them and everything to mess them up...By the time you have made them fit for society you have made them essholes...Why bother???They are never better than when young...To raise them is to ruin them... And they have as little control over themselves, and worse; they justify their inability to demonstrate self control as freedom... People never change except through the catalyst of intelligence... When they do change they mearly change their form...
 
sometime sun
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 10:38 pm
@Zetherin,
Zetherin;112853 wrote:
Well, clearly we cannot be anything we want to be. I want to be a tiger, but I cannot be a tiger. What do you mean by, "need to be"? Can you give me an example of when I would need to be something?

Need to pass a test but dont have the knowall. (know even just enough)
Need to be; intelligent, compassionate, wise, soft, hard, funny, attractive, even, odd, studious, musical, poetic,talented, straight, gay, strong, weak, loving, unloving, resolved, undecided, open, closed, healthy. ETC.
Zetherin;112853 wrote:

I can choose to wish humans did not exist, but that does not change what I am. What I want to exist and what exists, are two different things. What does "need to exist" mean?

Can choose to be human, inhuman. A 'need' to be real, a need to be human.
Is our need fulfiled by the fact we are? are we born human whole?
Then why all the longings to be more or less than human if we are as we are created whole without need?
Are we born complete? is the fact we are and in sittue possession of what/who we are without need to exist as more, need to exist need to breath, but not contingent upon air?

Zetherin;112853 wrote:

Can you choose your you? What does that mean?


Can you choose who you are, your personality especially, but could mean the soul you are born without choice to celebrate or condemn,
does the futile changing of ones name give you power over who what you are? Does plastic surgery amongst other opperations and delusions change the you you are always going to be, or can you choose to be another you?
Are you stuck with what you get?
Can anyone change/choose their nature their pattern?
Are we born predisposed to ourselves eventual or not, or are we given the chance oportunity to have some choice over the destinction that is me was and will ever be just me?
Are we destiny or are we change and chioce and evolution? (although evolution proves first the short comings and those who do not survive, they always go first) Can we grow into a better self? works a little. Are we always to be stiffled by the self?
I hope this clears it up a little for you. (It might not but that is just me, can i, should i change to be understood or to understand, do i have a choice over the lessons this life of mine will inevitably have to learn? or is as i am asking, is nothing inevitable especially the 'self' Is it all changable, even redeemable, saveable, giftable?
Am i just born this me, and if so how do i deal with me if i cant even change me?
I suppose it could also be question of what defines a person, is it my/your actions reliabilities upon this earth that define me/you as 'I' or is it my/your wishes hopes and dreams that makes up the bulk of who/what 'I' am, even if left unfulfiled does it still have impact, does it still have presidence, does the inactions/dreams have any place/proof in the 'I' and what the 'I' is, or is there even an is not?
I am reasonable at math, does this make me a mathematician? is this what i should be? instead of dreaming of being worlds strongest man?
Am i less or more for not being able to be either, distracted by the other, should i go with my strengths and leave my weaknesses behind?
Can one even leave their weakness behind, surely what one can do as well as what one cannot do makes the person what/who they are and are they ever to be?

---------- Post added 12-20-2009 at 04:42 AM ----------

Fido;112857 wrote:
No...
Maybe, if you are lucky...
No...

Just as with children, what they are is cast already in human form...You can do but little to change them and everything to mess them up...By the time you have made them fit for society you have made them essholes...Why bother???They are never better than when young...To raise them is to ruin them... And they have as little control over themselves, and worse; they justify their inability to demonstrate self control as freedom... People never change except through the catalyst of intelligence... When they do change they mearly change their form...


Are some people born stupid and will always stay that way, even with the best of upbringings/educations?
Is a stupid man always meant to be that stupid man?
Are we born with our horizons already met?
Bugger the bad raising, this is only a part of the question, things that are learned can always be unlearned, the whole includes perdestiny even genetics, are we predisposed to be who/what we are and as most always will be?
 
Reconstructo
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 10:45 pm
@sometime sun,
I think we all have certain limits. But I also think that faith is essential to progress. If you don't like "faith" we can use the word "courage." How much of failure is caused by cowardice/doubt rather than on the lack of innate capacity?
 
Fido
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 11:30 pm
@sometime sun,
sometime sun;112875 wrote:
Need to pass a test but dont have the knowall. (know even just enough)
Need to be; intelligent, compassionate, wise, soft, hard, funny, attractive, even, odd, studious, musical, poetic,talented, straight, gay, strong, weak, loving, unloving, resolved, undecided, open, closed, healthy. ETC.

Can choose to be human, inhuman. A 'need' to be real, a need to be human.
Is our need fulfiled by the fact we are? are we born human whole?
Then why all the longings to be more or less than human if we are as we are created whole without need?
Are we born complete? is the fact we are and in sittue possession of what/who we are without need to exist as more, need to exist need to breath, but not contingent upon air?



Can you choose who you are, your personality especially, but could mean the soul you are born without choice to celebrate or condemn,
does the futile changing of ones name give you power over who what you are? Does plastic surgery amongst other opperations and delusions change the you you are always going to be, or can you choose to be another you?
Are you stuck with what you get?
Can anyone change/choose their nature their pattern?
Are we born predisposed to ourselves eventual or not, or are we given the chance oportunity to have some choice over the destinction that is me was and will ever be just me?
Are we destiny or are we change and chioce and evolution? (although evolution proves first the short comings and those who do not survive, they always go first) Can we grow into a better self? works a little. Are we always to be stiffled by the self?
I hope this clears it up a little for you. (It might not but that is just me, can i, should i change to be understood or to understand, do i have a choice over the lessons this life of mine will inevitably have to learn? or is as i am asking, is nothing inevitable especially the 'self' Is it all changable, even redeemable, saveable, giftable?
Am i just born this me, and if so how do i deal with me if i cant even change me?
I suppose it could also be question of what defines a person, is it my/your actions reliabilities upon this earth that define me/you as 'I' or is it my/your wishes hopes and dreams that makes up the bulk of who/what 'I' am, even if left unfulfiled does it still have impact, does it still have presidence, does the inactions/dreams have any place/proof in the 'I' and what the 'I' is, or is there even an is not?
I am reasonable at math, does this make me a mathematician? is this what i should be? instead of dreaming of being worlds strongest man?
Am i less or more for not being able to be either, distracted by the other, should i go with my strengths and leave my weaknesses behind?
Can one even leave their weakness behind, surely what one can do as well as what one cannot do makes the person what/who they are and are they ever to be?

---------- Post added 12-20-2009 at 04:42 AM ----------



Are some people born stupid and will always stay that way, even with the best of upbringings/educations?
Is a stupid man always meant to be that stupid man?
Are we born with our horizons already met?
Bugger the bad raising, this is only a part of the question, things that are learned can always be unlearned, the whole includes perdestiny even genetics, are we predisposed to be who/what we are and as most always will be?

In a sense, all people are the prisoners of fate which only few escape, and then, only to run wild over the top of myriads of sensibilities...Only the fortunate few can escape their determined course, and it is by them that we say will is free..Usually will meets counter will and progress is frustrated...
 
sometime sun
 
Reply Sat 19 Dec, 2009 11:50 pm
@Reconstructo,
Reconstructo;112877 wrote:
I think we all have certain limits. But I also think that faith is essential to progress. If you don't like "faith" we can use the word "courage." How much of failure is caused by cowardice/doubt rather than on the lack of innate capacity?

Is bravery something that must be dreamed in order to be?
Does the dream come first or the dreamer?
Or is it that born as well as raised has led you to be so?
Can one who has never had nor been taught to be brave therefore become so?
Can we dream something that cannot be a reality of self because there is no comparison?
Can we be something we have no reference to?
Are we stuck as hopeless, or are we able to break what ever limits we wish we dont have but still do just by hopeing for it?
Or is the need for hope/faith not reliant upon any inevitability but for the fact we need hope/faith?
A dream is still worth something even if not actualised? Of course it is.
A bit off subject here but you inspired me:D

---------- Post added 12-20-2009 at 05:54 AM ----------

Fido;112887 wrote:
In a sense, all people are the prisoners of fate which only few escape, and then, only to run wild over the top of myriads of sensibilities...Only the fortunate few can escape their determined course, and it is by them that we say will is free..Usually will meets counter will and progress is frustrated...


Those fortunate few are what could be seen as our evolutionary leaps forwards, would you not say?
Those who become more than the sum of all their (and our) parts.
They serve as example more than just dream.
Agreed upon.
 
mister kitten
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 12:27 am
@Fido,
sometime sun;112833 wrote:
Can we be anything that we want or need to be?

Can we be only what we want or need to exist?

Can i choose my me?

-In my opinion, yes we can be anything we want; can we be anything we need to be? Need for what? For life? To live? How to live? How to need to live? I don't think we need to be anything. I can, in the depths of my mind be anything I wish. I fancy myself as a cat. Oh wait, I'm not a cat anymore, I'm a lion. A ferocious lion, at that. Does my want to be a lion make me a lion? No, sadly, it does not in this reality. Does that conflict with my original thoughts? Damn reality.
-Say, for instance, I want only to be a drug addict. Can I exist this way? Maybe for a while, I dunno. Completely unrelated to the drug addict thing: I don't want or need anything- am I existent? I don't want anything, all my needs are satisfied- am I existent? I don't need anything, all my wants are satisfied- am I existent?
-Yes, I can choose my me. If I don't, who would choose me for me? Someone else? No one? When would I/that someone/nothing choose me?

Quinn;112846 wrote:
Nope, I can never be god, nor do I think I can be a bird.

You can never be god? You can never be god if you don't try. When I draw I can draw anything I want. I like to think of this as my personal 'god status.'

Fido;112887 wrote:
In a sense, all people are the prisoners of fate which only few escape, and then, only to run wild over the top of myriads of sensibilities...Only the fortunate few can escape their determined course, and it is by them that we say will is free..Usually will meets counter will and progress is frustrated...

All people are prisoners of fate?
Fate is determined by actions, is it not?
I have a fate, and I am the one to reach that fate. My actions determine my fate. I have lots of choices in my actions.
How is this imprisonment?


[A side note: I love your questions sometimes sun. Very thought provoking.] Very Happy
 
Zetherin
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 12:33 am
@sometime sun,
mister kitten wrote:
-In my opinion, yes we can be anything we want; can we be anything we need to be? Need for what? For life? To live? How to live? How to need to live? I don't think we need to be anything. I can, in the depths of my mind be anything I wish. I fancy myself as a cat. Oh wait, I'm not a cat anymore, I'm a lion. A ferocious lion, at that. Does my want to be a lion make me a lion? No, sadly, it does not in this reality. Does that conflict with my original thoughts? Damn reality.


You can think you are a lion (which may be a sign of a mental illness), but you can never be a lion. Why do you think you can be a lion? And keep in mind, the OP asked, "Can we be anything we want...".

The answer is no, we cannot be anything we want. We can be some things we want. Like, for instance, if I wanted to be a nurse, I could probably be a nurse.
 
mister kitten
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 12:52 am
@Zetherin,
Zetherin;112903 wrote:
You can think you are a lion (which may be a sign of a mental illness), but you can never be a lion. Why do you think you can be a lion? And keep in mind, the OP asked, "Can we be anything we want...".

The answer is no, we cannot be anything we want. We can be some things we want. Like, for instance, if I wanted to be a nurse, I could probably be a nurse.

What about caterpillars? Before one turns into a butterfly, can it want to be a butterfly and be a butterfly? Would the want to be a butterfly remain after becoming a butterfly? Does time factor into this at all?

My want to become a lion does not make me a lion. If I dressed up and acted like a lion would I be a lion? If not, how does one be a human? off topic
 
Zetherin
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 01:00 am
@sometime sun,
mister kitten wrote:
What about caterpillars? Before one turns into a butterfly, can it want to be a butterfly and be a butterfly?


I do not think caterpillars desire in the same way humans desire. But, even if caterpillars could desire, its wanting would not make it a butterfly. It entering into a chrysalis for a week (along with other reasons, of course), turn it into a butterfly.

Quote:
Would the want to be a butterfly remain after becoming a butterfly? Does time factor into this at all?


I have absolutely no clue how to answer this.

Quote:
My want to become a lion does not make me a lion. If I dressed up and acted like a lion would I be a lion? If not, how does one be a human? off topic


Having some properties of X, does not make you X. You think if you dressed up and acted like a lion, you would be a lion? Please tell me you're kidding.
 
mister kitten
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 01:25 am
@sometime sun,
Serious questions, flippant attitude
 
Zetherin
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 01:37 am
@mister kitten,
mister kitten;112917 wrote:
Serious questions, flippant attitude


"If I dressed up and acted like a lion would I be a lion?" is a serious question? I also do not see how my attitude was flippant.
 
kennethamy
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 01:55 am
@mister kitten,
mister kitten;112908 wrote:


My want to become a lion does not make me a lion. If I dressed up and acted like a lion would I be a lion? If not, how does one be a human? off topic


Well, maybe if you also leaped on a passing gazelle, sank your incisors into its neck, tore it limb from limb, and ate his haunch, and then slept it off.
One is born human. There is no difficulty. All you need is to have human DNA and, voila.
 
Reconstructo
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 03:21 am
@sometime sun,
sometime sun;112891 wrote:
Is bravery something that must be dreamed in order to be?
Does the dream come first or the dreamer?
Or is it that born as well as raised has led you to be so?
Can one who has never had nor been taught to be brave therefore become so?
Can we dream something that cannot be a reality of self because there is no comparison?
Can we be something we have no reference to?
Are we stuck as hopeless, or are we able to break what ever limits we wish we dont have but still do just by hopeing for it?
Or is the need for hope/faith not reliant upon any inevitability but for the fact we need hope/faith?
A dream is still worth something even if not actualised? Of course it is.
A bit off subject here but you inspired me:D

.

There's a lot of heart in that. Gets down to the human dilemma. Seems like a "leap of faith" is almost a capacity in humans that is switch on by certain myths or concepts. I think there's always a chasm between the self and the self-ideal, for the self-ideal is like a built-in holy dream. It's fantasy perfect power and grace. So much of life is messier than that. Then i think about stand-up comedians and their dirty laughing vulgar sort of energy which is "holy" in its own way. It's almost like mixing chemicals. All this art-personality that effects one, gets one thru. Maybe the dream largely justifies the life. Maybe life is just the vessel of the dream. Who has measured the potential of the human imagination? Do our gods and ideals live there, their maximum intensity buried?
 
Fido
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 08:10 am
@sometime sun,
Beowulf said something to the effect that a brave man may change his fate... Courage is essential to the breaking of all bonds...

Do I think people willing to escape fate represent an evolutionary leap??? No... As people escape their fates they try to bring their families with them just as Lot in the Bible...First save yourself, and as a free person save your society...What we have today is the blind leading the blind, and blindness is accepted as a mark of leadership...It is not... When people use their principals and ideas, not to think, but instead of thought, then they are stuck, and unable to extricate themselves...
 
kennethamy
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 09:01 am
@Fido,
Fido;113017 wrote:
Beowulf said something to the effect that a brave man may change his fate... Courage is essential to the breaking of all bonds...

.


Courage can help me become a lion? How about the cowardly lion?
 
Fido
 
Reply Sun 20 Dec, 2009 10:55 am
@kennethamy,
kennethamy;113023 wrote:
Courage can help me become a lion? How about the cowardly lion?

I will not presume that you have discovered the meaning in that bit of American dreamscape....What do you think it all means???

---------- Post added 12-20-2009 at 11:58 AM ----------

I will tell you one thing I have found...People cannot change their nature, so they change their forms...Lions live short miserable lives, and sheep live in fear....Which one would you beat off his job???I would rather be a people, and stand up on my hind legs like a man, as wary as a sheep, and as fearless as a lion....
 
 

 
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