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http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070623/ap_en_ot/books_the_secret
By TARA BURGHART, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jun 23, 2:22 PM ET
(It's too long; put behind LJ cut if you don't want to click on the link.)
( Read more... )
I don't know what to think about this. I'd like to believe in the powers of positive thinking, but sometimes I think that just gets your hopes up. It would be nice if wonderful stuff just happened like that in one fell swoop, but the world isn't always like that. I believe if you work hard, good things will come to you.
I try to think positively, I really do. I've been keeping a positive attitude about the job hunt for the last two weeks, and I ended up getting a new job. It's not really the job I wanted, but it's a job nonetheless and it pays money. If I had a crappy attitude about the job hunt (and I very well could have, considering the job market in this area nowadays), I would probably be having worse luck and not getting a job as quick.
I like to think I'm extremely lucky. Sometimes I do believe in astrology and all of that stuff. I'm a Sagittarius; I'm ruled by the planet Jupiter. We are eternal optimists, we are extravagant, we are generally very lucky. We can also delude ourselves and others about life, and deny realities which are uncomfortable. Because we tend to have good fortune, we also tend to rely on that luck too much. Sagittarians also tend to have addictive personalities. (Anna Nicole Smith was a Sagittarius; that totally explains everything about her.)
I recognize these traits in myself, which is why I tend to believe in astrology. Knowing this about myself--that I've been born under a "lucky" sign and that I'm blindly optimistic--this makes me question "The Secret." I don't know how much I believe in positive thinking, but maybe that's because I don't practice it on a regular basis. Some people are just lucky, and some aren't. Maybe it all really is "mind over matter." Or maybe because I'm so optimistic, good things happen to me. Maybe I'm a walking example of "The Secret" and I've never read it. And if that were the case, then how come more good things don't happen to me? Like (hypothetically speaking) how come I haven't struck it big with the Lotto, and how come I'm still living at home with my parents, and how come I can't have a better job, and how come I haven't had a boyfriend in three years? It's such bullshit.
On a similar note, Hunter was telling me about something he did with his friends the other night. They were over at a friend's house, and they were farting around on the computer, and I guess they found this simulation website. What it does is it flashes lights and/or has you listen to these sounds at the right frequency and beats so you can actually simulate being drunk or on drugs or even to have a "religious experience," if you will. One of Hunter's friends did the "acid trip" simulation, and they were all scared to death watching him "trippin' balls, man." Another one of Hunter's friends did the cocaine simulation, and he was all wired up. He even got the guts up to call some girl he liked and told her he loved her. Hunter did the marijuana simulation. He said he didn't really feel anything from it afterwards...except a little relaxed, maybe. (But pot does that to people; it mellows you out.) Hunter said he wanted to try the "religious experience." I'd like to try that myself. If a "religious experience" can be simulated online, then I think that might say something about the priests and other clergymen at churches; the way they might be delivering their sermons and the environment that people who regularly go to church are in may drive people to have a false "religious experience," and that the hand of God might be a phony piece of shit.
I'm not saying it is, but if an online simulated "religious experience" can make you feel the same way you do in church, I'm just suggesting it. If you believe it, then it will happen. That's all I'm saying. You know, like this "positive thinking" baloney.
By TARA BURGHART, Associated Press Writer
Sat Jun 23, 2:22 PM ET
(It's too long; put behind LJ cut if you don't want to click on the link.)
( Read more... )
I don't know what to think about this. I'd like to believe in the powers of positive thinking, but sometimes I think that just gets your hopes up. It would be nice if wonderful stuff just happened like that in one fell swoop, but the world isn't always like that. I believe if you work hard, good things will come to you.
I try to think positively, I really do. I've been keeping a positive attitude about the job hunt for the last two weeks, and I ended up getting a new job. It's not really the job I wanted, but it's a job nonetheless and it pays money. If I had a crappy attitude about the job hunt (and I very well could have, considering the job market in this area nowadays), I would probably be having worse luck and not getting a job as quick.
I like to think I'm extremely lucky. Sometimes I do believe in astrology and all of that stuff. I'm a Sagittarius; I'm ruled by the planet Jupiter. We are eternal optimists, we are extravagant, we are generally very lucky. We can also delude ourselves and others about life, and deny realities which are uncomfortable. Because we tend to have good fortune, we also tend to rely on that luck too much. Sagittarians also tend to have addictive personalities. (Anna Nicole Smith was a Sagittarius; that totally explains everything about her.)
I recognize these traits in myself, which is why I tend to believe in astrology. Knowing this about myself--that I've been born under a "lucky" sign and that I'm blindly optimistic--this makes me question "The Secret." I don't know how much I believe in positive thinking, but maybe that's because I don't practice it on a regular basis. Some people are just lucky, and some aren't. Maybe it all really is "mind over matter." Or maybe because I'm so optimistic, good things happen to me. Maybe I'm a walking example of "The Secret" and I've never read it. And if that were the case, then how come more good things don't happen to me? Like (hypothetically speaking) how come I haven't struck it big with the Lotto, and how come I'm still living at home with my parents, and how come I can't have a better job, and how come I haven't had a boyfriend in three years? It's such bullshit.
On a similar note, Hunter was telling me about something he did with his friends the other night. They were over at a friend's house, and they were farting around on the computer, and I guess they found this simulation website. What it does is it flashes lights and/or has you listen to these sounds at the right frequency and beats so you can actually simulate being drunk or on drugs or even to have a "religious experience," if you will. One of Hunter's friends did the "acid trip" simulation, and they were all scared to death watching him "trippin' balls, man." Another one of Hunter's friends did the cocaine simulation, and he was all wired up. He even got the guts up to call some girl he liked and told her he loved her. Hunter did the marijuana simulation. He said he didn't really feel anything from it afterwards...except a little relaxed, maybe. (But pot does that to people; it mellows you out.) Hunter said he wanted to try the "religious experience." I'd like to try that myself. If a "religious experience" can be simulated online, then I think that might say something about the priests and other clergymen at churches; the way they might be delivering their sermons and the environment that people who regularly go to church are in may drive people to have a false "religious experience," and that the hand of God might be a phony piece of shit.
I'm not saying it is, but if an online simulated "religious experience" can make you feel the same way you do in church, I'm just suggesting it. If you believe it, then it will happen. That's all I'm saying. You know, like this "positive thinking" baloney.
