Psychological Firewalls??
Wash dishes! 
I do … regularly. 
Though I prefer chopping cabbage … given there’s no wood in the neighborhood.
Loved that pic of you with the hat of eggs, Tom! A new take on the thinking man…priceless! 
Wendy … did you notice the geese in the picture?
I sat in the same place for so long a couple of the geese mistook my hat for their nest. 
Just kidding!
Seriously though … I don’t fully understand my reason(s) for doing it … taking the picture nor for sharing it. 
Sure … soliciting “stroking” is part of it … though not all … do you have any suggestions? Often the “other” sees what we do not.
This is a PG site so no stroking of any kind is allowed…sorry…no suggestions in that regard, but on another front, you need more challenges, mental, emotional, spiritual but you are way too comfortable staying in the safety of a small village when your desires to push yourself farther come from a big city. In other words, stop hiding and playing it safe where you are…and/or you could finally learn Chinese and get into all kinds of trouble with that newly acquired superpower. 
I figured it out!
It’s all vanity … life is useless … it’s like chasing the wind.
What proportion of human activity traces it’s roots to vanity?
Vanity has propelled human evolution … how bland life would be without it.
Vanity may be the cause of the destruction of humanity … and the planet … as well.
Life is useless … it’s like chasing the wid.
pilgrim-seeker_tom
Are you positively sure?
The human condition it seems is more than 97% vanity … I do not think life is useless … it is like chasing the wind.
I would say more than 97%.
Some part of evolution has been propelled by vanity … I contest whether life would be bland without it.
This is more than 97% true.
We can never give up … we have been programmed to live.
The meaning of life is to live.
You’re off to a mountain top to die nobly?
Why die? Why not live nobly?
A popular world view … "Life is a gift! Enjoy it!
A not so popular world view … “My life has a purpose, I want to find it and get on with it … forget about joy!”
Wendy … while reflecting on EC_DC’s comment … "We are programmed to live" … my mind was looking for the words to articulate the distinction between “to live” and “to exist”.
Thank you for providing the answer.
You just said “life is useless”.
What gives? Why are you hanging around?
pilgrim-seeker_tom
You can call me Aaron.
Forget my horrible programmed comment.
We are here to live - to me that is the meaning of life - what we choose to do to give ourselves purpose can be difficult.
I feel I have no real purpose on top of being a person - so I choose to be the best person I can be.
I feel we are social - so I be social.
Don’t let my comments stumble you - if it is just reflection then so be it.
I guess a good distinction would be: Make your life full - live life to the fullest.
I think in many ways you are already doing that.
To niggle you … one good turn deserves another … quid pro quo
Aaron … I like that name
Background
Just read some comments authored by eaglerising … paraphrasing … and perhaps not accurately … "thoughts are fragmented and they don’t know each other exists"
While eaglerising’s comments were placed in the context of the human species I prefer the context of “ALL” … some people believe plants respond to music … dengarden.com/gardening/the-eff … ant-growth
… some people believe water responds to human thought(s) … youtube.com/watch?v=k1-0ulKgmio
Back to eaglerising’s comments … in the context of human thought for the moment.
Fragmented thoughts … thoughts that don’t know each other exist … form clusters when expressed by one human being and encountered by another independent human being … when the thought cluster reaches critical mass it is manifested in our physical reality.
Now on to your comments:
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no need to forget it … the only comment that ‘stuck’ was “we are programmed to live” … the others passed too quickly to notice.
We are here to live - to me that is the meaning of life - what we choose to do to give ourselves purpose can be difficult.
for me … rightly or wrongly … we do not have the opportunity to give ourselves purpose … we all have purpose … individual and unique … our only choice is to discover it … or not.
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From time to time I found some of your comments uplifting … the remainder “simply wind” and these days it takes a pretty strong wind to make me stumble.
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For me … the distinction is … live life for the “other” … embrace selflessness rather than simply tolerate it.
pilgrim-seeker_tom
And so, I be social - I too embrace selflessness.
This brings a tear to my minds eye . . . I find Arcturus Descending and yourself to be the two on this forum in keeping me cheerful.
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And so, I be social -
Aaron … how did you know I wanted to add an addendum to my previous post? An after thought so to speak.
Complete individuation can not be achieved in the crowd … aka … being social.
tom a guru aficionado wrote
Amen. Why is this so repugnant to most folks?
ec_dc (Aaron) wrote
I’d say Arc and tom are more thoughtful, less confrontational than most. Sorry about giving you the blues, my methods of shutting down B.S. can be caustic. I’ll try to be more sensitive when I address you…promise. 