Changing views with circumstance

[CoolidgEffect]

This thought was brought on by reading all of the great books listed in the American Book list thread.

Many of these books I read in my school days and greatly enjoyed them. Some of these I have recently reread. The clearest example is "Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.

When I first read this book I was a sophomore in college and I enjoyed the book immensely. At the time I really identified with Holden Caulfield, the protagonist of the story. As I remember it, I admired his independence and his stand against society. When I reread the book recently, I immediately realized there was something deeply troubled with Holden himself, not just society. I might have caught that the first time, but at that time in my life I was ready to question authority. Some of this is due to my lack of perception or immaturity, while some of it is just the circumstances I find myself in now compared to then.

This changing of view is not limited to literature. I also find myself changing my view point on other issues as well as my circumstances change in life. Do you find yourself changing views with changing circumstances? Or am I the only weak minded kid on the block?

 

[takingchances42]

What would bother me is if my views didn't change. If they were the same at 42 as they were at 32, or 25, or 18 -- that would bother me a lot. Life is dynamic, it is about change, including changing viewpoints. Staying static in viewpoint, and never questioning it, is essentially death -- at least from a personal growth perspective.

 

[intrigued]

What would bother me is if my views didn't change. If they were the same at 42 as they were at 32, or 25, or 18 -- that would bother me a lot. Life is dynamic, it is about change, including changing viewpoints. Staying static in viewpoint, and never questioning it, is essentially death -- at least from a personal growth perspective.

Yes! *orgasmic bliss* Very well said.

 

[70/30]

I never stray far away in any particular direction because I live The Brothers Karamazov. It's incessant trench warfare between between intellectual negativity, passionate reaction, and the carefree nature of spirituality.

 

[oceanbaby28]

What I've found changed most about me is that I'm more understanding of things that before were a cut and dry issue.

I didn't allow room for other opinions or views, just my own.

You can't do that today. Not only that, as you said circumstances and life occurances change people.

Granted there are still things that are blatantly right or wrong. For the most part, I'm more accepting of things that don't quite fit into my way of thinking.

 

[70/30]

I always identified with Jay Gatsby, he gave it a go and did what he had to do. However after the 8th time, I realized Nick Carraway is the model. Find a nice girl and move back to the midwest and live long and peaceful. Almost like Candide tending his garden but restlessness won't let it last.

Martin puts it to Candide, "I would like to know which is worse: being raped a hundred times by negro pirates, having a buttock chopped off, running in the gauntlet of the Bulgars, being hanged and flogged in an auto-da-fe, being dissected, rowing in a galley, in short suffering all the misfortunes we've all suffered, or simply being stuck here doing nothing?"

 

[takingchances42]

Yes! *orgasmic bliss* Very well said.

You came without me???

Damn!!! Give me some warning, and next time I will try to join you...

and seriously, thanks for the kind words...

 

[intrigued]

You came without me???

Damn!!! Give me some warning, and next time I will try to join you...

and seriously, thanks for the kind words...

I am in orgasmic bliss just seeing your name.

Shall I pm you as I roll from one to another? Your box could fill rather quickly....

 

[PepperminTrish]

This changing of view is not limited to literature. I also find myself changing my view point on other issues as well as my circumstances change in life. Do you find yourself changing views with changing circumstances? Or am I the only weak minded kid on the block?

It's hardly 'weak minded' for your views to change as you go through life and all it brings your way.

I know that personally, things are no longer written in stone as I once thought they were. I'd have never gotten to this point if I hadn't had gone through all of the wonderful (and not so wonderful) experiences I've had.

 

[takingchances42]

I am in orgasmic bliss just seeing your name.

Shall I pm you as I roll from one to another? Your box could fill rather quickly....

I keep checking my pm box...

every thirty seconds...

and not one pm to be found...

Must be a technical problem... whoops, gotta go, time to check again...

 

[CoolidgEffect]

I keep checking my pm box...

every thirty seconds...

and not one pm to be found...

Must be a technical problem... whoops, gotta go, time to check again...

I don't think we heard you say "Yes, please." Could be a technical glich.

Carry on.

 

[hot33pussycat]

Well this means you get experience and now you see things from another prospective .

 

[sufisaint]

I have been reading the same version of the Tao Te ching, Rumi poerty, The Inner Chapters, the Vigyan Bhairava, Zen Sories, Hagagori, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Sutras, the Holy bible, the Koran, Gospels of Thomas for 20 years now and each and everytime I read them something new appears in these quite simple words.....the depth of the text is only discovered as far as the depth of the reader.....hopefully as we move through this world...we get deeper into the spirit and the nature of things by learning from the world's hard and sometimes very beautiful lessons and experiences... Even just the meaning of one word...like Love...has changed for me greatly over the past years. If it was not for this, I would havbe taken my own life years ago...

 

[intrigued]

I keep checking my pm box...

every thirty seconds...

and not one pm to be found...

Must be a technical problem... whoops, gotta go, time to check again...

Psst! I haven't seen your name again, until just now...


OMGyessssunnnnhhhhhhGodyessssdon'tstopohhhhhunnhhhh..!



Thanks, hon....

 

[intrigued]

I don't think we heard you say "Yes, please." Could be a technical glich.

Carry on.

 

[takingchances42]

Psst! I haven't seen your name again, until just now...


OMGyessssunnnnhhhhhhGodyessssdon'tstopohhhhhunnhhhh..!



Thanks, hon....

Yes Please!!!!!!

 

[intrigued]

Yes Please!!!!!!

unnnhhhhh.......pleasedon'tstop.....doitdoitdoit....NOW!

 

[PepperminTrish]

Psst! I haven't seen your name again, until just now...


OMGyessssunnnnhhhhhhGodyessssdon'tstopohhhhhunnhhhh..!



Thanks, hon....

Have mercy intigued!
When you highjack a thread, you certainly do it a DAMNED fine job of it!!!!!

 

[intrigued]

Have mercy intigued!
When you highjack a thread, you certainly do it a DAMNED fine job of it!!!!!

oops.

 

[PepperminTrish]

oops.

No, no 'oops' about it.
I'm about to try and drag takingchances back in here so you'll do it again.

 

[CoolidgEffect]

Under the circumstances, I might just change my view of certain individuals.

 

[70/30]

I have been reading the same version of the Tao Te ching, Rumi poerty, The Inner Chapters, the Vigyan Bhairava, Zen Sories, Hagagori, the Upanishads, the Bhagavad Gita, the Sutras, the Holy bible, the Koran, Gospels of Thomas for 20 years now and each and everytime I read them something new appears in these quite simple words.....the depth of the text is only discovered as far as the depth of the reader.....hopefully as we move through this world...we get deeper into the spirit and the nature of things by learning from the world's hard and sometimes very beautiful lessons and experiences... Even just the meaning of one word...like Love...has changed for me greatly over the past years. If it was not for this, I would havbe taken my own life years ago...

Excellent post in the midst of all the orgasmic moaning. I am not blessed with the talent to delve into eastern readings as well as you but I enjoy reading western commentaries on different viewpoints. Joseph Campbell and Jorge Luis Borges get much of my interest. Cesar Calvo's "The Three Halves Of Ino Moxo: Teachings of the Wizard of the Upper Amazon" gets my repeated attention. I really enjoy mainstream classics brought by Tolstoi, Dostoevski, Voltaire, Hugo.

Turgenev's ultrashort story (11 pages) "Mumu" should be widely read. Tolstoy has some great short stories, "How Much Land Does a Man Need", "The Godson", and "The Candle".

There are many times I feel Tolstoi later in life had an eastern and western feel that I could embrace but then I get scared about who is steering the ship and the feelings are ruined. As long as people widely read Tom Clancy maybe we'll stay in the rut, lol. But hopefully later on I can become better at detaching while also appreciating.