“To the man who is afraid, everything rustles.”

“To the man who is afraid, everything rustles.”
― Sophocles

I just heard this quote in the Coursera COurse on Buddhism... I am running a bit behind, hopefully they dont remove me, :blink:

I wonder if we ought to be more aware of this concept...

Recently, I have watched a few threads get 'volatile'(?) Accusations abound from all sides, signs of being overly cautious, quick to assume, jump to conclusions, words used for no reason except to dig at another...

We watch for signs of 'cultish' activity, we watch for 'ego', we watch for 'dictatorship', worry about the 'kool aid'...

And, I wonder how much of it is in our own minds?

People make mistakes, best of intentions go awry, to quote something ren said long ago that made me chuckle, "excrement ensues", lol, :lol:...

In our ever present worry of "exclusion" and "hive mind", do we see 'more' than there actually is?

ESPECIALLY when we are the minority?

I am thinking so... :huh:

Im guilty too, just, sitting here, talking to the various people on all sides of these exchanges, and pondering this point...

I will admit that this effect has come up in my own actions. The way around is to ask for clarification(seek to better understand) with out allowing the initial feeling to taint the inquiry.

This post doesn't validate me.

Must be a stab at me then.

:silly:


Turns out "volatile" means "turns to vapour"

Some things do seem to get steamy around here without any actual heat being applied!



To meander to what I feel is the message of the quote - "people who smoke weed think they are being watched by the cops"
Yes, if you're worried about something, you see it everywhere.

That's how they sell you insurance for things you, until you met the salesmen, never worried about

JamesSand wrote: Some things do seem to get steamy around here without any actual heat being applied!

Some of us are always steamy.

Jestor wrote:

“To the man who is afraid, everything rustles.”
― Sophocles

I just heard this quote in the Coursera COurse on Buddhism... I am running a bit behind, hopefully they dont remove me, :blink:

I wonder if we ought to be more aware of this concept...

Recently, I have watched a few threads get 'volatile'(?) Accusations abound from all sides, signs of being overly cautious, quick to assume, jump to conclusions, words used for no reason except to dig at another...

We watch for signs of 'cultish' activity, we watch for 'ego', we watch for 'dictatorship', worry about the 'kool aid'...

And, I wonder how much of it is in our own minds?

People make mistakes, best of intentions go awry, to quote something ren said long ago that made me chuckle, "excrement ensues", lol, :lol:...

In our ever present worry of "exclusion" and "hive mind", do we see 'more' than there actually is?

ESPECIALLY when we are the minority?

I am thinking so... :huh:

Im guilty too, just, sitting here, talking to the various people on all sides of these exchanges, and pondering this point...

"those who act are almost always the minority, no race but situational. "
made me think of the old saying ..."to a man with a hammer everything looks like the head of a nail... to a carpenter, its just a smaller tool handy."

I love that course.

I am starting the course on the 31th Jestor , so you only have to wait 3 weeks if you get kicked out

I'm on week 2 of that coursera course. Where do we post our musings?

Jestor wrote:

“To the man who is afraid, everything rustles.”
― Sophocles

Threat matrix! Relative range and position, then some determination of escape options, followed by a wave of curiosity as to its nature to determine the finer details of other options. I've found it does have a tendency to spread into the autonomous realm of function, which is annoying. I never used to 'jump' at loud noises for example.

I'd say someone who is sensitive to actionable threat detection is someone who is either expecting a threat, or has been exposed to exercising reaction to threats quite a lot. Desensitizing then to the unexpected threat.... other then avoiding circumstances, might be exercise overt measures to plan and prepare viable escape options, to reduce the resting baseline anxiety about reacting to an unexpected threat. That is all fine for rational thought, and can include things like known fears - which can be watered down with gradually increasingly exposure within controlled circumstances to better deal with threats that emerge in more appropriate ways then 'escape', where appropriate.

But the 'flight' instinct seems to be hardwired, and so too much of it too often might increase its availability and potency beyond where it might be needed. But I'd rather be too wary then not wary enough - I guess its about finding the right balance of awareness, planning and still having a good time.

Desolous wrote: I'm on week 2 of that coursera course. Where do we post our musings?

Dunno, I couldn't find a thread specifically.... a dedicated thread in the Additional Courses area might work good if your keen to post often;
https://www.templeofthejediorder.org/forum/Additional-courses