It all begins and ends in your mind.

@fmf said
“It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it.” Leon Brown

Your thoughts on this?

Rather Buddhist.

But this is wrong.

It reminds me of an old French sixties film, I believe the one entitled Le Petit Soldat.

In one scene, one of the protagonists is tied up to a bath tub and cannot escape. He thinks about his predicament, realizing full well that he is utterly incapable of escaping and that he will be tortured once again...

He enters a monologue, here is a gross paraphrase of it:

I used to always think that intelligence was infinitely superior to strength, but now I find that strength is far superior. If I had strength, maybe I could break away from here, or resist my enemies better. But now all I have is intelligence, and even if I am smarter than my enemies now, my words cannot do anything. Intelligence is powerless against stupidity; it is impotent.

Yet, if I was strong, I would win out over them. Strength is far superior to intelligence because strength always beats weakness.

Of course, you can pick this apart and talk about what if I am so smart I have the element of surprise, etc., acting as if some cunning ambush that an everyday hoodlum can pull off is some measure of intelligence... But hey, let's just let the quote sink in in this context.

@philokalia said
Rather Buddhist.

But this is wrong.

It reminds me of an old French sixties film, I believe the one entitled Le Petit Soldat.

In one scene, one of the protagonists is tied up to a bath tub and cannot escape. He thinks about his predicament, realizing full well that he is utterly incapable of escaping and that he will be tortured once again...

He enter ...[text shortened]... ll off is some measure of intelligence... But hey, let's just let the quote sink in in this context.

You seem completely obsessed with "intelligence".

@fmf said
You seem completely obsessed with "iintelligence".

Lol, responding to a thread about things all being in the mind, I'm faulted for an alleged obsession about intelligence.

Alright, FMF, do you have an argument or just this observation for us, gumshoe?

@philokalia said
Lol, responding to a thread about things all being in the mind, I'm faulted for an alleged obsession about intelligence.

The thread isn't about "intelligence". Your apparent obsession with "intelligence" is displayed by how often you turn what you post into something to do with it.

@philokalia said
do you have an argument or just this observation for us, gumshoe?

I'm content with what I've contributedso far. And anyway, you and I have discussed this before: on the General Forum. Me and my "cowardly" and "dishonest" perspective on what spirituality really is, remember?

@fmf said
I'm content with what I've contributedso far. And anyway, you and I have discussed this before: on the General Forum. Me and my "cowardly" and "dishonest" perspective on what spirituality really is, remember?

The quote was about how a guy is handcuffed to a bath tub and can't break free.

This isn't because he gave control of the handcuffs over him. He couldn't overcome this with his intelligence. Reality is reality, and a pair of steel handcuffs have power over whether you're smart or not.

Glad I could be of service and cut your food for you.

Would you like to eat it now?

@philokalia said
The quote was about how a guy is handcuffed to a bath tub and can't break free.

This isn't because he gave control of the handcuffs over him. He couldn't overcome this with his intelligence. Reality is reality, and a pair of steel handcuffs have power over whether you're smart or not.

Glad I could be of service and cut your food for you.

Would you like to eat it now?

Eat what?

@philokalia said
The quote was about how a guy is handcuffed to a bath tub and can't break free.

This isn't because he gave control of the handcuffs over him. He couldn't overcome this with his intelligence. Reality is reality, and a pair of steel handcuffs have power over whether you're smart or not.

Glad I could be of service and cut your food for you.

Would you like to eat it now?

That went way over his head you're going to have to do some more chopping. 🙄

You posted this quote.

“It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it.” Leon Brown

Your thoughts on this?

No matter how much you want it to begin and end with your mind, steel handcuffs are not under the control of your mind.

The quotation is about how reality is reality, and sometimes even your brains can't help you overcome it.

So, sure, like, you can pretend you are a Bodhisattva and racing away to a realm of clouds and the fact that you are chained to a bath tub waiting to be beaten up and interrogated isn't real, but ultimately the cold steel of the handcuffs and the hard fists of your captors are the most real thing there is, and your mind doesn't overcome it.

@philokalia said
You posted this quote.

“It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it.” Leon Brown

Your thoughts on this?

No matter how much you want it to begin and end with your mind, steel handcuffs are not under the control of your mind.

The quotation is about [i]how reality is reality, and sometimes even y ...[text shortened]... the hard fists of your captors are the most real thing there is, and your mind doesn't overcome it.

I'm not talking about handcuffs or bathtubs or fists. I posted the quote on this forum: spirituality. Religion, ideology, philosophy, culture, emotions, psychological inertia, family loyalty, fear of change, and so on. Abstract things to do with belief and spirituality.

@philokalia said
You posted this quote.

“It all begins and ends in your mind. What you give power to, has power over you, if you allow it.” Leon Brown

Your thoughts on this?

No matter how much you want it to begin and end with your mind, steel handcuffs are not under the control of your mind.

The quotation is about [i]how reality is reality, and sometimes even y ...[text shortened]... the hard fists of your captors are the most real thing there is, and your mind doesn't overcome it.

I'm afraid that also went over his head as indicated by his response to you.

@philokalia said
Of course, you can pick this apart and talk about what if I am so smart I have the element of surprise, etc., acting as if some cunning ambush that an everyday hoodlum can pull off is some measure of intelligence... But hey, let's just let the quote sink in in this context.

Who is the "you" you mention in this peculiar couple of sentences? And who refers to him or herself as "I" near the beginning of it? And What's the bit about an "everyday hoodlum" referring to? And what "ambush" are you talking about? What on earth is this stuff you have typed ~ what is it about?

@fmf said
I'm not talking about handcuffs or bathtubs or fists. I posted the quote on this forum: spirituality. Religion, ideology, philosophy, culture, emotions, psychological inertia, family loyalty, fear of change, and so on. Abstract things to do with belief and spirituality.

I'm talking about how we are limited to the real circumstances around us and thus it does not all begin and end with our mind.

Feel free to mount an argument against that position as opposed to dislodging the context.

@fmf said
Who is the "you" you mention in this peculiar couple of sentences? And who refers to him or herself as "I" near the beginning of it? And What's the bit about an "everyday hoodlum" referring to? And what "ambush" are you talking about? What on earth is this stuff you have typed ~ what is it about?

The you is the abstract concept of the everyman, lol.

It applies to the universe.

Like, for instance, when a car crashes through the window of a storefront, a man might say,

"You don't see that every day!"

Or, a man reflecting on his previous life as a drug addict and trying to make an observation might say,

"You can try as hard as you want, but if you don't truly, actually want to quit, you can't quit."

Do you (specifically you, FMF) see what I mean?

@philokalia said
The quote was about how a guy is handcuffed to a bath tub and can't break free.

This isn't because he gave control of the handcuffs over him. He couldn't overcome this with his intelligence. Reality is reality, and a pair of steel handcuffs have power over whether you're smart or not.

Glad I could be of service and cut your food for you.

Would you like to eat it now?

Who’s the guy in the bathtub and why is he handcuffed?

Is this a homosexual fantasy of yours?