First World Problems (SchoolOfLife)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uLL418S1GQ

There is another thread for videos like this but this seemed relevant enough to have it's own thread for potential discussion. What they talk about and the ways in which to address various issues are important to me and also (I believe) are similiarly important to the majority of people here on this site. As Alain says- it's just a start (meaning it's not a complete list of things to do) but the start is actually here and now being aware of these issues. Have a look and share your thoughts whether of agreement or disagreement thanks- I believe I will appreciate reading the reponses either way,

its a cool video - i dont agree with all of the connections/conclusions made

for instance it almost seems to imply that being poor is better for your marriage

not taking into account that many people in "rich" countries get divorced simply because people with access to wealth have the OPTION of divorce

people stuck where they are certainly have more incentive to make the best of it, and in many cases if people would have that kind of commitment because they choose to do so it would make all the differenc in the world in terms of staying together

but overall i think people are better off having the ability to leave behind anything that isnt good for them and that means leaving behind other people too

functional freedom makes puts us in the position of having to redefine some of the traditonal assumptions and cliches

buts its ultimately a good thing if we can get through it

to my way of thinking, ninety percent of what i consider "first world problems" originate from the prioritization of wealth over people

phillip morris poses the easiest example of that

the entire tobacco industry was perfectly aware of the nature of its product and rather than finding a way to maintain itself conscienteously as a corporate entity it chose to lie and lobby and continie on down the path of making money off of death and addiction

that basic ideal - profits over people - is why pharmas will rather sell pills with worse side effects than what they treat (and why drs will prescribe them) and why food industry will go on with gmos and processed poison and all kinds of obviously unhealthy and even dangerous things

why do advertisers lie to us and manipulate our emotions every single chance they get?

why do we keep buying their shit?

first world problems are also thingz that the rest of the world has to deal with RIGHT NOW

ROUND UP is a first world problem that second and third world peoples are also paying for

global climate change

nafta

industrial contamination

second and third world countries pay a much higher price for first world problems because they dont have means to recognize or address the problems

i tell you this and i know how "out there" it sounds, but a "first world" problem that we are facing right now is "who gets to live forever and who doesnt?"

i know how that sounds but it is perfectly logical

between genomes and telomeres and cybertronics and nano technologies and stem cell organ growth, and i dont know what else, functional immortality is on the horizon

its imo our lifetimes or our childrens

and not everybody is going to be able to have it


he mentions that what people really need is to learn how to live and die well

i would counter that this knowledge exists already

there are myriad religious/spiritual/philosophical traditions which were develped specifically to address living and dying well

and to a very great extent they all emphasize the same kinds of things

modern psychology is, imo, leaps and bounds behind the sophistication of ancient peoples in this arena
although progress is being made

peope have known how to live and die well for a long time

the difficulty is that it takes commitment and it means not buying in to the glamour like this video talks about - material possessions as source of happines and such


basically being serious about being a Jedi at heart, in our daily lives, rather than just wearing robes and having cool internet names lol

With other words.. we can build up our world with materials. But we can not build up our own mind in the same way. So it gives us a clash between culture and mental health. My question after watching this movie: How to combine the well being of the mind with the well being of our culture? If the culture likes money and materialism, and some minds do not. How to combine?

How to combine multiple minding ( materialism, non materialism, help for people, relations etc. ) with a solid system? How to combine the solid with the non solid? How to combine letters to words, words to stories? Do people have difficulty with connecting two different aspects of our universe? Do we find it difficult that governments act different than the people? Is it save to combine two different systems? And what kind of result would we see if we had an non materialistic world?

~ Aqua

Ob1Shinobi- your messages are very long! Thanks for taking the time to respond to you both Aqua as well,

I didn't come to the same implications as you did Obi about being poorer helping one's marriage.

for instance it almost seems to imply that being poor is better for your marriage

I believe it was just saying that after a certain point (around 20,000 dollars per year) happiness is unlikely to rise as you get more money.

You are right that richer people are perhaps more 'able' to divorce one another but not sure they talk so much about that in this video so I'm unsure how this is directly related.

to my way of thinking, ninety percent of what i consider "first world problems" originate from the prioritization of wealth over people

I'd disagree that these 'first world problems' originate as you said from the priorization of wealth. More by ignorance and mis-understanding. The majority of people I believe are 'good', just simply are ignorant. And it's impossible to say that I or you are 'aware' of ALL the problems first world or otherwise because how can we ever know whether we're truly aware. I think some humility comes from knowing we can't ever 'Know' everything,

why do advertisers lie to us and manipulate our emotions every single chance they get?

why do we keep buying their shit?

While I enjoy reading your rambling- I feel like we've gone a little off topic! Anyway- I think ignorance again is a good (but probably not complete) answer to your questions above.

he mentions that what people really need is to learn how to live and die well

i would counter that this knowledge exists already

I don't know if you need to counter it- you sound like you agree with it, And so do I- alot of this information is already out there and as you said...

peope have known how to live and die well for a long time

the difficulty is that it takes commitment and it means not buying in to the glamour like this video talks about - material possessions as source of happines and such

Yep. It takes commitment, (or practise) with awareness. I think material possessions can be something that brings out happinness in people, but I think it's the meaning behind the material possession that provides some happiness.

Thanks Ob1Shinobi.

Aqua-

How to combine the well being of the mind with the well being of our culture? If the culture likes money and materialism, and some minds do not. How to combine?

Good question! I don't know. I can quote the- 'Change yourself and that'll change the world' but I don't know if that's the complete story. It reminds me of something Krishnamutri said- "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society."

How to combine multiple minding ( materialism, non materialism, help for people, relations etc. ) with a solid system? How to combine the solid with the non solid? How to combine letters to words, words to stories? Do people have difficulty with connecting two different aspects of our universe? Do we find it difficult that governments act different than the people? Is it save to combine two different systems? And what kind of result would we see if we had an non materialistic world?

I'm not sure how to answer... (btw minding as a noun isn't a word so I struggle to understand the complete sense of the first question above. Also- I believe you meant to write 'Is it SAFE...' instead of 'Is it save...') I don't think there can be or ever will be a 'solid' or 'rigid' system. Everything is in movement. Everything is combined and as much as we try, we'll never quite cut things apart. Nothing 'needs' combining in the largest sense of life.

Ultimately I don't know. But thanks for posing the questions- I enjoyed them,

Have a nice day you guys!

I would like to say that I am happy with making questions, one Jedi told me ones he was happy with my question.. Will not forget that easy. Still like to say that questions can become a difficult thing for some if minding to hard or not be able to let go the question in special... Fun to find the personal edge.

I would like to suggest that you change my text with a color (red,blue) if you make a quote of my post. I like to write proper English, not to forget that there are things that I will not change. (Just because I like to write full out) Thank you for correcting me.

~ Aqua

Edit:

Aqua wrote: I would like to say that I am happy with making questions, one Jedi told me ones he was happy with my question.. Will not forget that easy. Still like to say that questions can become a difficult thing for some if minding to hard or not be able to let go the question in special... Fun to find the personal edge.

I would like to suggest that you change my text (that is written in not correct English) with a color (red,blue) if you make a quote of my post. I like to write proper English, not to forget that there are things that I will not change. (Just because I like to write full out) Thank you for correcting me.

~ Aqua

hi Vusuki thanks for the conversation, i'll keep my reply as short as i am able (prolly wont do very good to be honest)

what he said specifically was "whats been discovered is the disasterous alignment of wealth creation and relationship troubles; divorce rates are very high in rich countries"

he goes on to give statistics pf divorce rates and then mentions that in addition to this there are many who are still married but miserable

so if there is a "disasterous alignment of wealth creation and relationship troubles" its easy to make the assumption that the opposite might be truealso; that being poor is better for your marriage

if being rich is "bad" for relationships then its easy to see how one might draw the inverse that being poor is "good" for them

i dont mean to speak for him, im only pointing put what i see as a possible assumption (based on what he said) and pointing out that this assumption should not be made

my exact words were "prioritization of wealth OVER PEOPLE"

i do stand by that

advertisers lie and manipulate because they prioritize wealth over people

why else would you deliberately misrepresent yourself or your product

or use emotional manipulation

if you actually care about the people you affect more than about the money you make?

companies like monsanto expose their own employees to PCBs and lie to them about the dangers of their work environment even while those employees (and residents within certain radius of monsanto facilities) have like five times the "normal" cancer rate

bill moyers did a documentary on it years and years ago as a matter of fact; i highly recommend it to anyone who has not seen it and especially to anyone who thinks that GMOs "are ok"

simply understanding the company and its history should be enough for any rational person to simpy not believe anything they say

or trust anything they do - BECAUSE they clearly have prioritized profits over people

i dont want to derail us into a conversation about them

i only use them as an example (like big tobacco)

while my percentage certainly isnt exact - i still guesstimate that roughly 90% of "first world problems" originate with the prioritization of wealth (or if its easier to understand; materialism) over people

thats really all i was saying

hope this helps