PurpleJedi said:

This place where I am at, this chair that I am sitting in, this air that I am breathing... this is it. This is the reality of my life right now; this is the present moment that my soul is living in. And I embrace that, and I smile, and I become happy because I am alive right now in this moment, no matter where I am.

SUPRMAN said:

PurpleJedi said:

More like in other nations, where the difference between the top management and the bottom workers isn't as horrible.

Examples? What range of differences are we talking about?

These were in an article about the destruction of the Middle Class;

• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

from; H.L. Menchen, "Breathing Space," The Baltimore Evening Sun

The first line item is what I was specifically referring to.

PurpleJedi said:

From Yahoo! -

by LBC, on Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:45am PDT

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances." - Martha Washington

Wise words spoken by our nation's first First Lady. This phrase (now taped to my cubicle wall) has helped me find happiness in my daily life. When I graduated college and started my first full-time job, I became pretty depressed and dissatisfied with life. I would wonder: 'Is this is? Wasting my hours away in a cubicle? What about what I want with my life?'

As the years since college have gone on, I've resigned myself to accept that this is my life. This is the only life I'll ever have, and it's time to stop wishing it was different (ie, full of free money and leisure and not having to work) and be happy with what I have. Yes, I do still think our social-economic structure is bogus, and that men and women shouldn't have to virtually slave their days away in offices making money for somebody else, but that's just the way it is. And this is MY life, and I'm going to enjoy it; despite not being happy with "the system."

To do this, anytime I'm feeling a bit down about my circumstances, I try to get myself into the present moment. I think, this is the ONLY 9:05am on June 30th, 2011 that I will EVER live. This place where I am at, this chair that I am sitting in, this air that I am breathing... this is it. This is the reality of my life right now; this is the present moment that my soul is living in. And I embrace that, and I smile, and I become happy because I am alive right now in this moment, no matter where I am.

Errm, no. This just seems like backwards rationalizing and instead of chasing your desires and what your mind finds interesting, you just settle for whats there and disregard your own free will and ability to make change in your life. Which is dumb, because human beings can get anything it puts it mind too. "This IS my life" as if she cant do anything about it.

-1 for this article

Try to find the equalibrium in ur emotions, then happiness will find u..

Being happy is overrated.

PurpleJedi said:

SUPRMAN said:

These were in an article about the destruction of the Middle Class;

• In 1950, the ratio of the average executive's paycheck to the average worker's paycheck was about 30 to 1. Since the year 2000, that ratio has exploded to between 300 to 500 to one.
• 83 percent of all U.S. stocks are in the hands of 1 percent of the people.
• The bottom 50 percent of income earners in the United States now collectively own less than 1 percent of the nation’s wealth.
• More than 40 percent of Americans who actually are employed are now working in service jobs, which are often very low paying
• The top 10 percent of Americans now earn around 50 percent of our national income.

from; H.L. Menchen, "Breathing Space," The Baltimore Evening Sun

The first line item is what I was specifically referring to.

What does that have to do with other nations?

That doesn't tell me what the differences are between compensation in the U.S. and other nations. I don't even know from that first bullet point if it is refering to the U.S. only.

"More like in other nations, where the difference between the top management and the bottom workers isn't as horrible."

Your statement still hasn't been addressed. Or corrected.

in my experience, having ben in my position for over 20 years...

We all make our own deals (in the employment market). To quote the urban poet: "You can pray for YOURS...Imma go GET MINE".

That said, even after you climb the corporate ladder & get to the pinnacle, I think you will find that "happiness" is both over-rated & comes mostly from within. Money, professional respect, credentials....none of that will ultimately fulfill you.

It's a means to an end. Your time AWAY from your "bill payin gig" is what REALLY matters.

Is your stomach full? Do you have shelter & people aroud you that care & love you? If so....fuck it. You're already a "winner".

Genesia said:

You know what? I don't buy any of that shit. And it offends me when people who live lives that are by-and-large carefree toss around the word "slave." Slapping "virtual" in front of it actually makes it worse - it shows that they know it's wrong, but they're going to do it, anyway.

If you don't like where you work, work somewhere else. If you don't think what you do for a living is worthwhile, do something else. If you think you aren't fairly compensated, ask for a raise or get trained to do something at which you will earn more.

Let me hip you to something: As long as you think of yourself as a "slave" or a "bottom feeder," that's what you'll be. Because nobody wants to promote (or even be around) someone with a victim mentality or "poor me" attitude.

Except, of course, other victims - who can't do a damn thing for you, anymore than they can do a damn thing for themselves.

I agree with pretty most everything you say, especially the bolded part.

Alej said:

Being happy is overrated.

SUPRMAN said:

What does that have to do with other nations?

That doesn't tell me what the differences are between compensation in the U.S. and other nations. I don't even know from that first bullet point if it is refering to the U.S. only.

"More like in other nations, where the difference between the top management and the bottom workers isn't as horrible."

Your statement still hasn't been addressed. Or corrected.

I suppose I didn't fully explain myself.

There are other nations where the difference in income between the top and the bottom of companies overall isn't as skewed as it is here.

I can't dedicate much time to finding the specific articles that I have seen...but I'd be surprised if you haven't seen them yourself to date. They've been previously posted on the Org.

For now, let's just stare at this map;

Differences in national income equality around the world as measured by the national Gini coefficient. The Gini coefficient is a number between 0 and 1, where 0 corresponds with perfect equality (where everyone has the same income) and 1 corresponds with perfect inequality (where one person has all the income, and everyone else has zero income).

JamFanHot said:

in my experience, having ben in my position for over 20 years...

We all make our own deals (in the employment market). To quote the urban poet: "You can pray for YOURS...Imma go GET MINE".

That said, even after you climb the corporate ladder & get to the pinnacle, I think you will find that "happiness" is both over-rated & comes mostly from within. Money, professional respect, credentials....none of that will ultimately fulfill you.

It's a means to an end. Your time AWAY from your "bill payin gig" is what REALLY matters.

Is your stomach full? Do you have shelter & people aroud you that care & love you? If so....fuck it. You're already a "winner".

Thanks for sharing, I'm trying my best

Interesting take...

Recently I was reading a book about logotherapy (or existential therapy) by a man named Dr. Viktor Frankl, a prominent psychiatrist. He recounted his days in Auschwitz and other concentration camps that he endured for 3 years before the end of the war.

Even when he was in the worst conditions possible, in a cramped room sharing a cot with several other prisoners, working hard outside in the cold, marching long distances, barely living on any food (a piece of bread a day, accompanied by a thin soup), he managed to find beauty and MEANING in his surrounddings. He said he grew more an appreciation for nature. He discovered that there can be good in anyone, including the SS who reigned terror over them. He said, despite the harsh conditions and the terrible existance they led, he survived. Survived on the memory of his wife (who he died on the first day, but he never knew about it. He said it didn't make a difference, because he felt her with him throughout. He describes it so beautifully in the book), whom he loved very much, memories of the past,

He said...(and he borrows a lot from Neitzsche), that the purpose of human life is to suffer, but to survive, you have to find meaning in your suffering. Life never ceases to have meaning..even in suffering and death. To be a human, you must develop the courage to handle your suffering. If you suffer, it's not a chore or a curse. You have to own up to it and find meaning in it. Find meaning, be happy.

Here's some excerpts from his book "Man's Search for Meaning: From Death Camp To Existentialism":

From his experience in Auschwitz:

"We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor's arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: "If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what is happening to us."

That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth -- that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory...."

On discovering the meaning of life:

"The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected."

"What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment"

"We can discover the meaning in life in 3 different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; and (3) suffering."

On discovering your own outlook in life:

"Everything can be taken from a man, but...the last of the human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one's own way."

"There is also a purpose in life which is almost barren of both creationa nd enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behaviour: namely, in man's attitude to his existence, an existance restricted by external forces."

ThruTheEyesOfWonder said:

Interesting take...

Recently I was reading a book about logotherapy (or existential therapy) by a man named Dr. Viktor Frankl, a prominent psychiatrist. He recounted his days in Auschwitz and other concentration camps that he endured for 3 years before the end of the war.

Even when he was in the worst conditions possible, in a cramped room sharing a cot with several other prisoners, working hard outside in the cold, marching long distances, barely living on any food (a piece of bread a day, accompanied by a thin soup), he managed to find beauty and MEANING in his surrounddings. He said he grew more an appreciation for nature. He discovered that there can be good in anyone, including the SS who reigned terror over them. He said, despite the harsh conditions and the terrible existance they led, he survived. Survived on the memory of his wife (who he died on the first day, but he never knew about it. He said it didn't make a difference, because he felt her with him throughout. He describes it so beautifully in the book), whom he loved very much, memories of the past,

He said...(and he borrows a lot from Neitzsche), that the purpose of human life is to suffer, but to survive, you have to find meaning in your suffering. Life never ceases to have meaning..even in suffering and death. To be a human, you must develop the courage to handle your suffering. If you suffer, it's not a chore or a curse. You have to own up to it and find meaning in it. Find meaning, be happy.

Here's some excerpts from his book "Man's Search for Meaning: From Death Camp To Existentialism":

From his experience in Auschwitz:

"We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor's arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: "If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what is happening to us."

That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth -- that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory...."

On discovering the meaning of life:

"The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected."

"What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment"

"We can discover the meaning in life in 3 different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; and (3) suffering."

On discovering your own outlook in life:

"Everything can be taken from a man, but...the last of the human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one's own way."

"There is also a purpose in life which is almost barren of both creationa nd enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behaviour: namely, in man's attitude to his existence, an existance restricted by external forces."

Wow. Thank you for that.

Makes the other article look like fluff in comparison.

Thank you.

PurpleJedi said:

ThruTheEyesOfWonder said:

Interesting take...

Recently I was reading a book about logotherapy (or existential therapy) by a man named Dr. Viktor Frankl, a prominent psychiatrist. He recounted his days in Auschwitz and other concentration camps that he endured for 3 years before the end of the war.

Even when he was in the worst conditions possible, in a cramped room sharing a cot with several other prisoners, working hard outside in the cold, marching long distances, barely living on any food (a piece of bread a day, accompanied by a thin soup), he managed to find beauty and MEANING in his surrounddings. He said he grew more an appreciation for nature. He discovered that there can be good in anyone, including the SS who reigned terror over them. He said, despite the harsh conditions and the terrible existance they led, he survived. Survived on the memory of his wife (who he died on the first day, but he never knew about it. He said it didn't make a difference, because he felt her with him throughout. He describes it so beautifully in the book), whom he loved very much, memories of the past,

He said...(and he borrows a lot from Neitzsche), that the purpose of human life is to suffer, but to survive, you have to find meaning in your suffering. Life never ceases to have meaning..even in suffering and death. To be a human, you must develop the courage to handle your suffering. If you suffer, it's not a chore or a curse. You have to own up to it and find meaning in it. Find meaning, be happy.

Here's some excerpts from his book "Man's Search for Meaning: From Death Camp To Existentialism":

From his experience in Auschwitz:

"We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor's arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: "If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don't know what is happening to us."

That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth -- that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love. I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved. In a position of utter desolation, when man cannot express himself in positive action, when his only achievement may consist in enduring his sufferings in the right way – an honorable way – in such a position man can, through loving contemplation of the image he carries of his beloved, achieve fulfillment. For the first time in my life I was able to understand the meaning of the words, "The angels are lost in perpetual contemplation of an infinite glory...."

On discovering the meaning of life:

"The meaning of our existence is not invented by ourselves, but rather detected."

"What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general, but rather the specific meaning of a person's life at a given moment"

"We can discover the meaning in life in 3 different ways: (1) by doing a deed; (2) by experiencing a value; and (3) suffering."

On discovering your own outlook in life:

"Everything can be taken from a man, but...the last of the human freedoms- to choose one's attitude in any given circumstances, to choose one's own way."

"There is also a purpose in life which is almost barren of both creationa nd enjoyment and which admits of but one possibility of high moral behaviour: namely, in man's attitude to his existence, an existance restricted by external forces."

Wow. Thank you for that.

Makes the other article look like fluff in comparison.

Thank you.

You're welcome.

His book moved me. It really did. I highly recommend it.

PurpleJedi said:

From Yahoo! -

by LBC, on Thu Jun 30, 2011 8:45am PDT

"The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances." - Martha Washington

Wise words spoken by our nation's first First Lady. This phrase (now taped to my cubicle wall) has helped me find happiness in my daily life. When I graduated college and started my first full-time job, I became pretty depressed and dissatisfied with life. I would wonder: 'Is this is? Wasting my hours away in a cubicle? What about what I want with my life?'

As the years since college have gone on, I've resigned myself to accept that this is my life. This is the only life I'll ever have, and it's time to stop wishing it was different (ie, full of free money and leisure and not having to work) and be happy with what I have. Yes, I do still think our social-economic structure is bogus, and that men and women shouldn't have to virtually slave their days away in offices making money for somebody else, but that's just the way it is. And this is MY life, and I'm going to enjoy it; despite not being happy with "the system."

To do this, anytime I'm feeling a bit down about my circumstances, I try to get myself into the present moment. I think, this is the ONLY 9:05am on June 30th, 2011 that I will EVER live. This place where I am at, this chair that I am sitting in, this air that I am breathing... this is it. This is the reality of my life right now; this is the present moment that my soul is living in. And I embrace that, and I smile, and I become happy because I am alive right now in this moment, no matter where I am.

existentialism at its finest

I'm remembering this now every time I'm starting to feel down. Well, I got a little crazy a few minutes ago when someone I care for was kind of put down, but I'm okay now. I want to stop playing victim when people ask how I am by remembering what you shared, cause I get like that often too.

alphastreet said:

I'm remembering this now every time I'm starting to feel down. Well, I got a little crazy a few minutes ago when someone I care for was kind of put down, but I'm okay now. I want to stop playing victim when people ask how I am by remembering what you shared, cause I get like that often too.