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"In the end, only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you." -- Buddha

@admitsWrongIfProven Good question, I asked myself that when I posted it...

How much I loved... that one I have down, I feel fairly universal love for everyone, at least in some sense. There are some edge cases that would need to deep dive into philosophy on "what is love" I guess, but otherwise I feel good on this point.

How gently I lived... not perfect but still pretty close on this one, I try to always be patient, kind, hear people out, forgive, violence is only a last resort and one I've almost never had to use even when justified.

How gracefully I let of things not meant for me.... this one is where I struggle the most, I do fairly poorly on this, poorer than your average person for sure. I do feel I have a good sense of when i should let go, but it is hard as I like to see things through to the end.

@freemo Ah, the engagement i hoped for, and i hope you value the reply with my own thoughts:

To love, i improved. I did badly, maybe was clumsy and incompetent, but i improved. Especially in the sense of loving without a personal connection, to love for "i think this is something special", not because there was someone close to me.

To live gently, i improved. I was rather angry (rightfully so, but it was not helpful) as a youth, but i think i am getting the knack of not pulling someone who is not directly responsible into my outrage.

Things not meant for me? I really struggle with this one. What does it mean? Is living in a world where people work together instead of competing not meant for me? Who would decide what is meant for me?
Maybe this is more of a translation error, it would make more sense to me if it was "let go of things where consent is not given". That i would be able to say to "i improved". I do conscientiously check if something is where someone else has no obligation to me and back off if i get told no instead of trying to make everything right even if someone does not want that.

@admitsWrongIfProven

Early on I was a bit shaky on the love one too. I certainly improved a lot there from my younger years. I probably can still improve.

I was always gentle though I think, just my nature.

@admitsWrongIfProven I think in terms of letting go... I was probably better at that when I was younger...

@freemo Still the question remains: let go of what exactly?

Letting go of the wish to improve the world for everyone? Well give me infinite alcohol and an indestructible liver, why not. But should we?

Letting go of someone who would rather be left alone? Absolutely.

I think this needs more requirement engineering. Something might have been lost in the brevity.

Or, as i said, it could be about consent. Then, it would make sense.

@freemo It's not you, it's nature.
Think about it: those questions make no sense to a child learning to speak. They can only be guidelines to improve, never laws to be judged by.

This is what makes me wonder the most about the third one: if it was consent, they would be complete enough to fulfill a minimalist frame i could agree with, if not... idk, incomplete? bad?

Did you consider in how far this could model how you would unify your wishes? Is it complete for you, and most interesting for me: what would be missing for you?

@freemo
> violence is only a last resort and one I've almost never had to use even when justified.

Yeah, this looks like "I feel like i won if i took a hit and solved it without hitting back"
That's the stuff.

@freemo Hm, pat just got me thinking about boosting and how i rarely do it these days. Thinking about if i should boost this, or the parent toot.

While we're at it, what actually is it we should and what is it we can influence?

All in all, i think solidarity between people should be a goal, improving communication is the last thought i had but i am trying hard and failing (outside of the circlejerk).

Thoughts?

@freemo Just FYI, this isn't really a Buddha quote. It was written by an American Secular Buddhist, Jack Kornfield: fakebuddhaquotes.com/in-the-en

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