Posts
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Brandon Lee's Sports Car
Today they mentioned something nice on a podcast I currently listen to, the Bruce Lee podcast.
As you maybe know, the son of Bruce Lee, Brandon, was also an actor and he was killed at the set of the movie “The Crow” at a very young age. He was 28.
And the anecdote the two hosts of the podcast told was this:
When Brandon had first earned money he decided to buy a sports car for himself. His mother was against it. He should save the money instead of spending it on a toy, she thought. However after he died, she was glad he got the sports car.
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A General Problem With Advice
This is about Self Help literature. And all the podcasts and Youtube videos:
It seems to me that a lot of the advice is not generally useful. And the reason is that people are simply different. One will value one thing, another will value another thing.
Some care about money, others care about having deep relationships. Some like their apartment to be clean, others love a creative chaos. Some care about work life balance, others love being workaholics. Some wish to improve society, others simply don’t care and prefer to manage their own lives well instead. And so forth.
I wish I had a great concrete example now, but I don’t. But I know that from time to time I read something and think: “Hey wait, this isn’t universally true. Not by a longshot.”
But of course there’s also a lot of useful advice that applies to a lot of people. Like: “Don’t go into debt.” Or: “Listen carefully in coversations.” And that’s all fine.
My point is that we of course don’t have to agree with every life philosophy and life hack out there.
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Eye Contact on The Street
Some people, usually the young, look for eye contact. I wonder why? Are they bored? Are they looking for validation or are they looking for a fight to pick? I heard that in Eastern Europe looking at people can get you into trouble. Especially when you smile at strangers.
It does feel that the person who is looking for eye contact, is signaling inferiority, though. He or she is looking for something. That implies a neediness, doesn’t it? It seems that people who are secure don’t look at others that much. Not unless they are sharing a moment with them. In a conversation for example.
How is it in attraction? Isn’t it a good sign if the other person looks away and then looks at us again? That’s sending some signals, isn’t it? Maybe the young are just constantly fliriting then.
I should google around to find out more about this topic. It seems interesting. On the other hand, there is probably a lot of exaggerated “knowledge” being spread around, too.
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Those Who Read a Lot Are Easily Manipulated
This post is inspired by a random video on TikTok. Someone, supposedly a student of psychology, listed the top personality traits associated with certain hobbies. And then she said “Naivety: Reading”.
So the statement was that if we read a lot we might be susceptible to schemes and con artistry. We could be what is called a sucker.
Hm, well, I think there’s some truth to this.
But not because reading makes us stupid. On the contrary.
We may enjoy reading because we are open minded. A little too open to suggestions. In Jungian personality theory they say it’s about having intuition as the primary mode of functioning. This overshadows our capability to judge. So we do not apply judgement to a lot of things. That can be a good if we want to explore and enjoy the variety that our world has to offer. (Of which reading is a part.) But it can lead us astray. We may even be completely wrong at times. (And then we use our intelligence to rationalize these beliefs.)
This can obviously be exploited. By marketers and so forth. We may accept their offerings quickly.
So in summary: That person on my random TikTok video may have said something quite true.
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Born Again Christian
This is a topic that I shouldn’t even talk about, because I’m not really qualified.. But I listened to a podcast where a guy explained how he found Jesus and why he now considers the Bible the only law and non-believers sinners and basically lost. I thought this was a very hard-core thing to say. He said drugs are sin, other religions are bad, for example Buddha is the devil, and so forth.
I wonder about two things: First, I kind of want to read the Bible now. If it can turn a person around like that it must be at least interesting to read. (I always thought it would be very boring, because of.. well, I had to deal with this stuff as a kid and perhaps that spoiled it for me.)
Second, this guy, he went from atheist to Bible worshipper in less then a year. And he is now apparently absolutely convinced that the Bible is the only truth. Maybe.. But maybe he will change his mind again? In either case, his transformation just seems very impressive to me.
I am not judging him. I think it’s good if someone has faith and it’s good if someone doesn’t. Do whatever works for you. I also understand that if we’re very excited about something, we feel the need to share it with the world.
I felt his enthusiasm.
Personally, I think it’s okay to keep matters of the spirit to ourselves.
However, he impressed me enough so that it came to mind when I sat down to write something for today.
P.S.: Why did I listen to the podcast in the first place? I knew this guy from before and I was just curious how he can be a “Jesus freak” now.
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