Autistic people are below the theshold

Post Reply New Topic

For a new definition of poverty.
Wealth doesn’t make happiness: it’s an old adage completely disregarded by the current totally economicistic definitions of wealth and poverty. If you are unhappy and wealthy you will probably have access to a lot more surrogates for happiness than if you are unhappy and poor, Heroine rather than glue, sophisticated cultural products rather tha soccer. Shrinks rather than telepreachers (here I am not so sure that the formers are better). But happiness, well being of your mind, or soul, or self or whatever you want to call it, is the result of fitting in a well knit fabric of relatives, neighbors, and real friends. This has nearly nothing to do with revenue and property.

So we're talking about emotional wealth/poverty here.

Tim

It depends entirely on what you want to do with your life, who you want to be, and why.

When I grow up and become better than what I am, I will look down on my inferiors, and smile. Then I will look up, and frown. And then I will work harder, and look down again. That's my success.

Spiritual poverty?

But at some time you will reach your maximum potential. And you will look down and smile. And you will look up and reallise you can never become any better. And what will you do then?

Happiness and success go hand in hand, although it is possible to have one without the other. Personally, if I had to choose, I'd choose happiness.

I will try to jot down some words, I hope they are not only words. Richness, harmonious order, complexity (an agricultural monoculture produces wealth, but feeds on poverty), connection, wholeness. Respect for frames: if you squeeze all frames in a homogeneous flat dimension, that is poverty. You cannot enjoy a painting if you have not a frame that separates the painting from the wall behind.

Last edited by paolo on 05 Feb 2007, 1:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hmmm. I never considered a frame necessary to enjoy a painting.


I don't think happiness has to do with money. I was happy in college as long as I could write. Actually, I was happy living with psychomom as long as I could write (and be alone).

This is definitely not true of me. In actuality, that causes me untold amounts of stress. I'm happy alone and writing. I don't mind my husband around if he's quiet. My neighbors, I don't even know them nor do I want to. The times my neighbors have pressed that, I've moved. My relatives and friends know that I often go for months or even years without contact, just because I have a high need for alone time. I don't get any energy or happiness from people. They zap it. It's all an internal thing for me.

As a matter of fact I never had this well knit fabric and I spent all my life fleeing my family, which was not well knit at all. But I longed for some sort of communion. When I go to see a movie I like to see people hugging, loving mothers like Esma (The secret of Esma) or Gloria (Gena Rowlands). I would like to be Esma's Sara. Apparently loving mothers must not be legitimate mothers. Esma was raped in Bosnia, and Gloria's "son" was reluctantly adopted.

I'd never fully reach my potential; only the gods have that much time.

You would?
I guess it matters how much unhappiness you can take, or are talking about really.

I'd sacrifice some happiness for success, I'm only finite, and I'd rather people remember for greatness than happiness. Too much happiness corrupts and breeds conceit, only through suffering do we grow.

it is precisely this attitude that is the dtriment of humanity. why the need to feel superior to others, regardless of material success and wealth?

The frame is a metaphor, to mean that all reality is stratified through frames. We use the expression “frame” of mind, “within a certain frame”, someone has been “framed” (this is more difficult). Suppose you spend all your life with a mate and late in time, too late do anything about it, you discover that your mate has always betrayed you. All of a sudden your whole life is disqualified by this discovery, the discovery puts a frame around your past life. For me, to make an example, to discover late in life that all my pretending to be “normal” was useless, was a huge waste of efforts, disqualifies my life. There is a sieve, so to say, that divides blocks of you life, separates, stratifies experience, like the frame of a painting separates the painting from the wall.
Being “framed” happens when someone plagiarazing you, or cheating you for exploitation, keeps you in a interpretative frame that is delusionary or misleading. I took years for me to understand that psychoanalysis was one of these misleading frames. Now I can read the relationship with friends, women, parents etc, in a totally different frame. Too late, though.
Sometimes someone, the holder of the frame, is cynic, sometimes is deluded himself and sometimes the holder is halfway in between the two situations.

ACTUALLY, it is also what makes society GREAT! If you can JUSTLY say you are better, and MERELY smile(HECK, even ENCOURAGE others to challenge you by doing the SAME), and look above and feel upset with YOURSELF for not having acheived what you can, and work to JUSTLY become better than others, you have succeeded. It becomes a detriment ONLY when you are haughty, hurt others, or take credit for what others have done. If you ask me, THAT is true success!

Steve

Because I'm damn fed up of people, in the past, telling me I'm inferior.

then why sink to their level, bheid? why not look upon all as your equals, regardless of social status?

Because the problem is, we're not equals.

I used to be inferior. But then I thought, 'hang on, I have consciousness and thus will. I don't like being inferior. Therefore, I will no longer be inferior, but make myself rise.' And lo, I was no longer inferior.

Well said! It's all in how one projects a feeling of superiority. Some people need to feel that way internally to drive themselves to excel in life. It doesn't mean they verbally assault others with their feelings. They use it as a tool to keep reaching their goals.