PHYcos

I've been thinking about this topic for a while. Ever since my gal left me ages ago, and how I responded to it. I look in the news today and read about our technological advances, our urge to comunicate with each other, this spiraling mass called The World Wide Web, the Iraq War, GLOBAL Terrorism, International mail, finding love across boarders such as seas. All this happing in the world makes me think. Are we thinking too much and feeling too little? Emotions are so irational, but usualy are the most human of decision makers. Thinking is so rational, but usualy makes inhuman decisions. We block the out the feelings with thinking. I was watching the Charlie Chaplin movie "The Great Dictator" and the speach at the end of the film made me think even more. Below is the speach:

"I'm sorry but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black men, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each others' happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls; has barricaded the world with hate; has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge as made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these things cries out for the goodness in man; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say "Do not despair." The misery that has come upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to these brutes who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle and use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are men! With the love of humanity in your hearts! Don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to the happiness of us all. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us unite! Hannah, can you hear me? Wherever you are, look up! Look up, Hannah! The clouds are lifting! The sun is breaking through! We are coming out of the darkness into the light! We are coming into a new world; a kindlier world, where men will rise above their greed, their hate and their brutality."

This was written in 1939 by Charlie Chaplin and is what he believed in. Is this happing again?? I think so. And I'm a little scared.

__________________
-All women are 2 drinks away from a GIRL-ON-GIRL adventure!-

NotMVH

I don't see a seperation between emotions and reason. We are emotional creatures and whether we admit it or not, emotion effects our logic and in turn our decisions.

I think humanity needs to recognize personal accountability for each individuals life. We may be engrossed in technology and machinery but it is the backdrop of our lives. You, I and everyone else is owed nothing. No one owes you a kind world, a safe world, a just and fair world, or a happy world. The responsibility falls of each of our shoulders to provide that kind of enviroment and we must be willing to create it. To understand that responsiblity is empowering.

An uprising or a return of power solely to the people will not happen because the people have democraticly choosen who they want in power. The standard of living is incredible compared to only one hundred or even fifty years ago. There are those who complain that despite having a stable enviroment, security (both financial and personal) and democratic power that they are unhappy. I feel these people are unwilling to do what it takes to become happy or find joy. It is not an easy matter but what more can you do then provide these people with an enviroment where they have the tools needed to create a good life. They must then take the next step and become responsible to creating for themselves in that enviroment, that which they want.

Master_Shake

I don't know, those sound like pretty emotional ideas he wants to get rid of.

Sure, because we're still being exploited by the man. The Court Jester lives a more comfortable life than the peasant in the fields, but he only does so at the behest of the King.

Right, give them a carefully controlled environment which will not to hurt or offend those in power and make sure they don't have too much of a good life because then they might not show up at the factory to make sneakers with lights in them.

__________________
-------------
You know something, I don't think the sun even... exists... in this place. 'Cause I've been up for hours, and hours, and hours, and the night never ends here.

CSflim

I couldn't disagree more. If anything, most of the world's problems come from a flat out refusal to think by vast swathes of people.

Mantus

Ah positive thoughts. I disagree; human beings are not innately good nor are we naturally evil. We are a combination of emotions and instincts driving us every which way.

I don’t think we are any less emotional then we ever were. I don’t think society has changed in any major way over the past five thousand years. We are those same people with bigger, brighter, faster toys.

Lak

How ironic that it is the Thinkers who come to realise that perhaps they think too much.

__________________
ignorance really is bliss.

NotMVH

No one is entitled to an income. No one is entitled to an equal distibution of wealth either, the french revolution proves that humanity has a breaking point, where the need is greater then the danger to force change. I do not see employment as a form of explotation when people choose to work, they may starve if they don't but the responsiblity to provide remains with the individual.

I think it would be differcult to argue that anarchy is a better alternative. Most democratic goverments provide their citizens with the right to personal safety, the rights to property and the right to vote. It is an enviroment where citizens will be held accountable for their actions but still have power to define the law and choose the people who control the power.

I also don't see how a democratic goverment is stopping anyone from having a good life. If we define, good living, in financial terms (which you have with the above statement) no one will stop you from making as much money as you can. No one will also force you to work, you are allowed to starve if you prefer it.

What do you belive you deserve MasterSnake? Why do you deserve anything?

Seeker

This is the crux right here (bolding is mine for emphasis)... is it not?

__________________
To those who wander but who are not lost...

~ Knowledge is not something you acquire, it is something you open yourself to.

Killconey

While I agree with the Chaplin quote, I think that this is a very difficult thing to discuss in on the TFP. How can you sit on the philosophy board and wax intellectually about how we might be waxing too much intellectually? Yet that is what I think that we do. Rationalism and modernism go hand in hand and we're not content until we've found the complete and objective truth. God, love and other such emotionally related issues are seen as either abstracts, weaknesses or both by the modern intellectual.

Hopefully the world will focus more on learning from the wisdom of irrationality. If we seek only what can be proven by our intellect then we will be grasping at nothingness and considering ourselves wise. Perhaps we should focus more on the fact that there is no absolute, 100% proveable truth and instead allow our instincts to guide us more. Perhaps we should cling to that which gives us pleasure instead of making virtues out of all forms of abstinance. Think less, feel more and not be afraid to act.

Then again, I'm just thinking about this.

__________________
Look out for numbers two and up and they'll look out for you.

frogza

I agree, people are driven by emotion. It is rare to find a person who actually thinks before acting most of the time. We make decisions based on selfishness, fear, lust, pride, the desire to fit in, etc.

mrpoopoohead

thinking makes me sad because i think irational thoughts

just an idea..but i think that maybe people who have the desire to fit in might think more before they act

Phage

The problem is, how do we balance thinking and instinct? Personally I don't view thinking and feeling as interchangeable; feeling provides goals (like "Everyone should have food and shelter") while thinking provides ways to accomplish goals (like "People can get more food and shelter by doing _____"). If all you do is think logically you are probably never going to come up with a goal... you are just understanding how things work. On the other hand, if all you do is feel you might come up with plenty of great goals but in the end all you can do is say "Everything should be like this.. so umm, get to it or something".

Why does thinking get such a bad rap? I suspect that it stems from the collision of wishful thinking with reality. As Han Solo said "I don't know Princess, I can imagine quite a bit!"; how you feel things should be is rarely practical. Thinking about the issue will lead to problems in implementation or fundamental conflicts with other goals, and sacrifices will need to be made for anything to actually be accomplished. The end result might be the best possible outcome, but because it falls short of the intellectual ideal the "thinking" is blamed for compromises.

In short, if you think less you will probably accomplish less; when you run out of things to think about then you can try feeling more. So far I think everyone has a surplus of feelings and much too little thinking to go around.