The real distinction is between those who adapt their purposes to reality and those who seek to mold reality in the light of their purposes.
Henry Kissinger (1923 - )
Hapy New Year and may you have a good 2006~
Well, for a so called new year's post i am a few days overdue, but hey, doesnt matter innit?
Every time it reaches that time of the year, resolutions are made, promises promised, secrets shared, laughter heard, celebration time. People make a big deal about new years, well maybe it is for some people and i dont have anything against that, it could have been a good year for you, you did well in your exams, finally found yourself a girlfriend, made that bonus or promotion, your baby was born, Great~!! celebrate....
but i personally find the idea of making up new year resolutions abit dumb, wait, dumb may be too harsh a word, let me try useless. yeah, better.
think about it, resolutions made are seldom met.
"i wanna be a better person.... wanna give more money to charity.... wanna find a girl... wanna get marrried.... wanna lose weight, etc etc" : on one level i admire and respect the idea of us giving oursleves goals to achieve like that, i think we all should have goals, but why make a big deal about something we say a night before the new year and forget when its already a week into the new year? pointless innit?
the reason why i put the quote up is because it made me think when i read it.
did it make u think as well?
we get so caught up in trying to make things around us change to meet our needs and demands. we hear people go, "why dont you do this to make the world a better place, why dont you do that so that he does better in school, why dont i dress like this to be cool, to be accepted, i must be this particular kind of person to get attention, etc etc" . it is in my very humble honest opinion that individuals like these are detached from reality, they try *as the quote suggests* mold reality to suit them, by molding it as in changing their very own "realness" by dressing up a certain way, by doing something for that supposed reality to suit themselves. However, it is the person who mold themselves to adapt and survive in the given reality that are people who are attached to it, who are real, who are connected to the essence of what being indivduals are, being REAL by being themselves.
do u get what i mean?
i hope you do...
think about it...
i mean, the greatest achievements of man have been in situations where we have to adapt to our reality, Thomas Edison and the lightbulb, Newton and his apple (gravity), Alex Bell and his telephone and many more. All these, adaptation to the reality that was faced by them. Thats what i am talking about.
it may seem that i m straying off topic...
i assure u i am not..
new year resolutions are pointless because we are creating instances in which we think we are molding ourselves to fit the reality we have seen *over the past year* , i mean, the reason why we come up with resolutions are to basically improve ourselves where we have fallen short. My point is, must we wait till the end of the year to come up with resolutions when the reality of it all is that everyday should be an adaptation to reality and not once a year? i mean, we can aim for something immediately after thinking about it without having to wait....
why wait?
u tell me...
If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.
Maria Edgeworth, O Magazine, April 2004
This quote explains what i mean perfectly, we should take care of the moments, the moments in which we realise we need to adapt, to act, to make ourselves better, and only then will it be in the long run worth it. Eventually, we will meet our demands, at a reasonable and comfortable pace and level.
What were my new year resolutions?
*??????*
I will let you know when it comes
-n-
2 comments:
I myself happen to think New Years resolutions are a waste of time and effort, strive to achieve your goals when you realize it not when 365 days have passed.
I agree with what you have to say for the most part but there are indeed some points which I either need clarification on or I have plainly misunderstood it. For the most part this has to do with what Mr. Kissinger himself has said, I do not believe in the idea of reality as it is. Nothing supernatural, just plain basics of the actual matter of what I perceive, the bottom line being, nothing is real unless you perceive it to be reality. I happen to agree with the latter half of that Kissinger quote as opposed to the former half (which is what I believed you agreed with). I believe it is in our nature to shape reality to our purposes.
Indeed if I were to decide to take up an insurmountable task, such a response that I would get will be “the reality of the matter is Aston is that you cannot do it” simply because the others do not see the reality of the matter as I may, but in shaping reality (perceiving it for what I believe it to be) to my purpose I truly believe I can achieve my purpose. You mentioned “why dont you do this to make the world a better place, why dont you do that so that he does better in school…” Well, why not? Why can’t I shape reality to allow it to grant acceptance of my purposes? Why can’t I do a deed to make the world a better place?
cool, i completely understand your point of view. However, allow me to clarify my position with regards to the points expressed in my post.
You say it is in our nature to shape reality to our purposes, but as i have said in my post, if u consider it, we shape our purposes to fit with our reality. Using ur example as a point of consideration, u said why cant you do a deed to make the world a better place. in a sense, your shaping your reality to enable yourself to do a deed to suit your purpose.
but...
why do you need to make the world a better place? cause the reality of it is that at times, its not a great place, hence the need to make it better. So in essence, what your doing is shaping yourself or your actions to suit the reality ur faced with, and by shaping your actions you are striving to make the world better in spite of the current reality. In line with the former part of Kissinger's quote in which i agree with.
Hope i made sense.
Cheers.
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