A very brief summary of The Fourth Turning, for use in a TGD discussion.
Per this book, there's a sequence of national moods (USA, and elsewhere), and a resulting sequence of moods of generations.
You have a crisis. The young are in the forefront of resolving it. Great Depression, WWII. They call that particular generation "GI." Earlier crises: US…
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Added by Will on August 3, 2012 at 11:00pm —
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This is by the Sufi poet Hafiz; I just heard it yesterday at a Father's Day retreat. Still thinking about what it means, and being stunned.
Love wants to reach out and manhandle us,
Break all our teacup…
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Added by Will on June 17, 2012 at 8:00am —
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I had the thought a while back to chart when major inventions and scientific theories were done over the past two centuries, roughly. Consider the result. Scientific theories are in <> brackets. Tweak it, add your own, discard some of mine. A few are debatable. For example, plastics weren't invented all at once, so I picked an important one, nylon.…
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Added by Will on May 25, 2012 at 5:00pm —
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What if the human race, the earth, and all traces of humanity were to be erased by some cosmic disaster -- say, in 6 months, or 50 years? What would you do with the time left? Would the elimination of us and our culture -- no prospect even of aliens or future life discovering what we were -- make it all…
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Added by Will on May 10, 2012 at 5:00am —
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Occasionally a new man here will ask for advice about popping the question. To avoid repeating myself, I'm going to put what *I* did here.I talked to her beforehand; it was not out of the blue. We needed to decide if possible reservations were justified. I think this is wise, and I don't think it's a violation of tradition,… Continue
Added by Will on February 22, 2011 at 9:00am —
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I never liked the books I could find on style for men. They always assumed that every man should dress like the one on the right. Which I would do on a job interview, but not to a friend's house, to a ball game, on a date (except my rehearsal dinner, but that's done now), or at almost any other time. How to look on an interview is worth knowing, but there's more to the question than that.
The best advice I knew was given verbally.
I.…
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Added by Will on October 24, 2010 at 5:00am —
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I was depressed for 10 years.
Toward the end of it, I did something that wasn't really targeted at depression: during the season of Lent, I made the stretch to meditate each weekday briefly on: "Not my will, but Yours, God, be done, in regard to _____." I filled in the blank differently the two years I did this.
At the end, I was no longer depressed, or only mildly so. I had energy and was ready to take on the parts of my life I wasn't happy with.
I took this to mean…
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Added by Will on June 29, 2010 at 12:46pm —
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By radical materialism, I mean the statement that only matter and energy exist. (Less radical materialism might say that supernature does not exist; I'm not addressing that.)
I have talked online with someone that held this view, so it's not a straw man. I gave some examples of nonmaterial things that exist: pi; numbers; beliefs; gravity. He said: they all do not exist. (The electrical impulses in your brain as you think about them exist, but that's a distinct electrical impulse from…
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Added by Will on May 22, 2010 at 4:46pm —
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This is about Brett's
post on the main site; I like the Ning discussion board better (for one thing, you can edit replies).
I thought: OK, so what do these rites of passage have in common? Here's what I can think of so far.
*
They are scary. You have to overcome fear to win.
*
When you finish,… Continue
Added by Will on February 22, 2010 at 10:46am —
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I was in clinical depression for 10 years. During that time, out of all the counseling that I had, I had one that was able to tell me something indisputably useful:
"I know you don't feel like getting out of bed and going to work. But you gotta."
Beyond that, maybe one more was slightly useful to me. What's wrong?
Why did it take me 10 years to get out, when I was talking to a counselor once a week?
The short answer is, none of these counselors knew what to…
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Added by Will on February 8, 2010 at 5:30pm —
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We keep seeing it: a bold philosophy that dares to explain the world by rejecting parts of it.
Marxism does this. "All history is class struggle." Those parts of history that aren't class struggle cease to exist; they must be crammed into this limiting framework. Since most of our lives aren't about struggling with other classes of people (we're much more likely to struggle within a class; and we do some things that aren't struggle anyway), we must deny most of our existence…
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Added by Will on February 4, 2010 at 12:00pm —
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"Will," my friend Mike said, "had you considered that maybe the other side is just a bunch of idiots?"
Funny, but it won't get me anywhere.
To understand where someone else is coming from (I stole this from Susan Elgin),
imagine a universe in which what he's saying makes sense.
For example, the "humane society" worker warns the man looking for a dog to adopt, you will *not* touch these dogs or let them sniff your hand. It spreads disease. (Because from…
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Added by Will on January 5, 2010 at 2:45am —
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You've heard it before.
The old man tells the boy, "I have two wolves inside me. One is angry, and the other is peaceful. They are always in conflict, each pulling me its own way."
"Which one is stronger?" the boy asks.
The old man says, reflectively, "The one I feed."
--
Sounds wise, doesn't it?
But here's the question: have you ever known anyone who successfully starved the anger to death?
I haven't either.…
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Added by Will on December 15, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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I’ll admit it: for me, splitting wood has nothing do with lowering the heating bill. I like that satisfying
thunk! and the feeling of power, seeing that big obstinate piece of wood doing what I want. The look of the fire in the evening is nice, too, especially when you didn't have to buy the wood at the supermarket.
Here's how to make it happen.
What you need
An ax. A maul is fine, but you don't need it, unless you're entering a wood-splitting…
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Added by Will on November 16, 2009 at 5:03pm —
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So here's my attempt at a non-political, political post.
A responsible man (or woman) should think through the consequences of a political stance, before promoting it.
Seems obvious, doesn't it? You wouldn't decide on home renovation, or buying a car, or marrying, without thinking of the consequences. Why do it for politics?
Our political views are a sort of entertainment. (They may also be a token of membership to a group that you like.) But they do matter. If enough…
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Added by Will on October 1, 2009 at 2:00pm —
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At Brett's suggestion, I'm writing this up: how to make cheap, sturdy basement shelves you can be sure won't fall over. I am not an expert; don't sue me if yours do. But I'm not worried about mine. (I did take the precaution of putting very heavy stuff on the bottom shelf. Nothing will save a top-heavy structure from falling over -- nothing but an
L-bracket, anyway, and I…
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Added by Will on June 23, 2009 at 11:00am —
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I celebrated a birthday this month.
When I did, and my wife was going with me to Red Lobster, I thought about how my life has become.
It's ordinary. I have a wife and a baby boy. There's little drama in it. We don't fight like cats and dogs (or any other way, for that matter.) My concerns these days are home maintenance, taking care of baby boy and romancing wife, a few other projects.
I like "ordinary."
I once thought that to stand out of the crowd,…
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Added by Will on May 22, 2009 at 9:54am —
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When I was a teenager, there were definitely times I didn't want older heads around. The reason was obvious. I didn't want them telling me what to do, and they had a habit of doing that. (And sometimes I expected it. But sometimes I wanted to be free.)
So teens hang out together.
When I was a young man feeling like a teenager, it was much the same. I didn't realize yet, deep down, that they could no longer tell me what to do unless I let them.
And there's also…
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Added by Will on April 24, 2009 at 1:16pm —
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This is based on a discussion on the Christian Men group.
http://www.bartleby.com/265/295.html
295. Ballad of the Goodly Fere
By Ezra Pound
Simon Zelotes speaketh it somewhile after the Crucifixion.
HA’ we lost the goodliest fere o’ all
For the priests and the gallows tree?
Aye lover he was of brawny men,
O’ ships and the open sea.
When they came wi’ a host to take Our Man 5
His smile was good to…
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Added by Will on April 14, 2009 at 3:00pm —
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Giddy Aunt joined Nolan Poulson's group
Will replied to Ciarán Morrissey's discussion Education
StaggerLee replied to Ciarán Morrissey's discussion Education
