All or nothing
Ok seeing as Jon going veggie and the other jon has just had the past 2 years of his life vulnrably spalshed out on his last post i was hit by the idea of all or nothing. Actually what i htought was how many characters we have in this community who probabaly fall into that category. tim pringly myself- these arnt subtle characters.
i know for myself that if i do somehtinging i usually take it very seriously (htose who were at the kabadi tournemant can testify to this) or alternativly i just cant be botheres with it at all. like last week i had this job to do for this guy i 'work' for, and i litteraly did nothing, i just stared at the comp beccause i wnat motivated - it would ahve taken 4 hrs and i probabaly spent 8 hrs infront of the comp and did about a 1/4 of what i was spose to do. But when i put my mind to something i do it with alot of energy.
Now that could be to do with motivation. But as scrivs life and jons veggie shows, certain attitudes have big roll overs into our daily lives. For me its the same, theres just no subtley- no grey. if i dont like someone they generally pick it up and if i like someone they generally feel quite loved.
So wheres the grey. In what aspects in life do we need to hold back - faith? realtionships? eco green shit? going veggie.
Or every time we do these things should we do them and be like YES! This is what its all aobut?
hope that makes sense
posted by justyn @ 4:49 AM
21 Comments:
I usually am more motivated by stuff when I understand the reasoning behind it. For example, I live green because I understand the implications if I dont. but things like rules, If I dont understand why they're made, or feel they're there just to control me then forget them.
For example, we are not allowed to wear coloured socks at work. For no other reason than they look untidy. I do not care about this, so I wear red and pink socks most days.
I think most people settle with a handful of things they are most gung-ho about. if we were enthusiastic about every thing we would spread ourselves too thinly.
mate
why care about anything?
if you're always mediocre you never dissapoint anyone.
really though I dunno if it's a grown-up thing that we all eventually get where you learn to care about things you don't really care about like looking respectable in public or the length of the grass on your lawn
I like this post. Good food for thought (although definitely not of the meat variety).
I always try to ask two questions. Why am I doing what I am doing (to discover the principles that lie beneath my actions) and what would my life look like if I took my principles seriously (to discover what I should be doing to reflect my principles).
All of our actions reflect certain beliefs and attitudes. The only question is what beliefs and attitudes they are.
From a Christian perspective, Jesus called people into discipleship which inevitably involves commitment and hence action.
i enjoyed reading this post.
Obi Wan: "only the Sith deal in absolutes....."
i cnat believe jon matthews veggie joke
id honestly expect that from a 56 year old man with 4 children and 3 grand kids
on actually reading what jon wrote i quite like ur 2 questions, not sure i cna imagine myself asking them very often.
Loved the stars wars quote - im all about absoulotes therefore destined for the dark side. oh well.
geeks. and that's blatantly you trev! dont rise to it justyn.
Definately Trev. Loser. And yes Jon, that was a CRAP joke. Really really bad. Stick to being clever, not funny.
Luke - your disspapointment would lie in yourself.
I'm not very all-in i don't think. there's quite a lot of grey i find. Even with the things i am sold out on, things still seem to progress quite gradually for me i reckon. i think that makes them strong, but maybe a little slow too.
Hey just like me, i'm tough you know, but also, yes a little slow perhaps!!!
Luke - your disspapointment would lie in yourself.
I'm not very all-in i don't think. there's quite a lot of grey i find. Even with the things i am sold out on, things still seem to progress quite gradually for me i reckon. i think that makes them strong, but maybe a little slow too.
Hey just like me, i'm tough you know, but yes admittledly not the fasten on the odd joke or two.
Bugger can you delete one.
Once again, my attempts at being funny have backfired. At least nobody cried with sadness this time.
Maybe your wife is suppossed to be enough grey to make up for you!?!
I think grey is important because the reality of life is that it is messy and won't fit into black and white. I think grey allows us to be flexible and not have to break when things don't fit onto our set structures. My worry is how far to take it, I supposse the same question, what things to be grey on and what is blck and white.
I cannot believe that Ki made the mistake of posting her comment twice just after confessing to being a little slow!...
I'm totally with the greys- I worry a lot that being all in can make you dogmatic and im always scared of being wrong. I think I find it hard to commit myself to a path or opinion or anything in case I change my mind/it doesnt work/I dont know all the facts etc. I'm way too open and half-hearted, maybe only in action though and not in mind.
I heard grey was the new black. Lets face it, the more explore issues, ethics, morals etc the more we blend our black and whites. I think black and white is often a by-product of naivety. It’s my experience that most things in life have two sides and education and understanding of both leads to a balance. I’ve found that only in rare occasions do our greys become defined.
thats the most profound thing i ever heard you say tim.
i doubt it'll happen again.
Tim, I'm not so sure. Black and white can be a sign of commitment too, not just naivety. I agree with your emphasis on understanding and education as important, but to suggest that aiming for a balance is best seems to me to go to far.
Martin Luther King was not interested in greys when it came to the rights of black americans, and a good job too. The feminist movement was not interested in a middle way compromise between equality and subserviance, and rightly so. Nelson Mandela, Mother Theresa, Jackie Pullinger etc etc.
The importance of loving our neighbour is not a grey issue for me. Neither is the importance of caring for our earth.
You are right, some issues currently important to the evangelical church (e.g homosexuality) could do with more education, and this will inevitably allow either side to further understand and appreciate the position of the other. But there are other issues, often central issues, that require an intelligent informed commitment that does not get lost in the 'grey'.
I write something profound and poetic and you rip it apart. The boxing match is on matthews. You say the date and time!
Hello folks, this will be a slightly arsey I-know-the-answer-now-come-and-follow-me comment ...
Right, the thing is, black and white TECHNICALLY don't exist (I talked to a cinematographer about it :) leaving us with two options:
- shades of grey (I think it's a crap option)
- COLOUR!!
[go with me on this]
I love that our diverse perspectives and worldviews actually bring increasing light - they don't counterract one another. It's as if I'm a kind of blueish purple, you are green, and Jodie's socks are red and pink: on our own we aren't anything like THE LIGHT (add Jesus' "I am the light of the world" stuff in here), but together the whole spectrum kind of starts to reflect Him better. People who believe that their shade of yellowy-orange is The Light are WRONG.
And if you're entirely evil and bad - that's being a Sith - you're even wronger.
Which is nothing to do with Justyn's thing of being all or nothing. Mate, I just wanted to let you know: that's the thing I like about you most! I love it that when you can't be bothered it's REALLY obvious, and when your heart's in something you entirely go for it. Affirmation time for you sunshine!
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