(11-08-2010, 06:35 AM)@ndy Wrote: I have no idea what I am - certainly bit of me is here, I may also be a tick on a hedgehogs bum.
HAHA!
(11-08-2010, 06:35 AM)@ndy Wrote: I agree that letting them keep burning down houses would be a silly thing to do. Putting them in therapy - is that not making it someone else’s problem?
If it were my child I'd be keen to know were I was going wrong as a parent - want to know more about my child and see if there was a better outlet for there love of fire.
Of course the parents want to help their child, whether thru therapy or whatever means is appropriate. But I think the point of the analogy is, that no responsible (presumably STO-oriented) parent would knowingly allow their child to harm others on a grand scale such as burning down a house or setting off a bomb at school. There has to be limits to parental permissiveness, if the child is to integrate into society.
(11-08-2010, 06:35 AM)@ndy Wrote: I'd agree with this. I also believe in allowing people the freedom to express there selves.
Sure. But not if that expression harms others! One person's freedom ends where another's begins.
(11-08-2010, 06:35 AM)@ndy Wrote: I can't know the lessons people need to learn for them selves, and wouldn't like to assume that I do.
I agree that when interfering with others that you need to consider if your 'help' is truly needed - or is helpful.
True. But who among us would not stop to help a victim about to get raped or murdered? We'd call the police, at the very least, right?
(11-08-2010, 06:35 AM)@ndy Wrote: I've had friends spend time in hospitals, it has been a lesson for them at that time on there path.
Personally - at the moment, I feel no need to be in a mental health unit![]()
Though were I to enter one for what ever reason, I'm sure I would find things to learn there.
I think this was just an analogy being offered, to show that souls cohabiting with other souls who like to blow up planets, is akin to sane people living in a mental hospital with dangerous psychopaths.
To carry the analogy further, we know that all the souls deposited on this planet had some degree of mental illness, but, were they all of the inclination to blow up planets? Or were some more or less prone to violence than others? Furthermore, and more importantly, should the mental patients be allowed to play with bombs while confined to the hospital, when the bombs are powerful enough to blow up the neighbors next door?
(11-08-2010, 09:32 AM)@ndy Wrote: What is confusing for me is you seem to be implying that the Guardians should regret the choices they made.
I'm not sure that regret is a useful tool for growth.
I think regret is a very useful tool for growth. Don't we all regret mistakes we've made? How else do we learn from those mistakes?
Regret is often confused with guilt.
Both are useful, for a time. Where they become counterproductive is when they linger past the point of reflection.
They serve a purpose: To alert us to a choice that was less than optimal, for whatever reason. Regret serves to trigger reflection about that choice, so we can learn from that experience, and make different choices next time.
If not for the mechanism of regret, how would the convicted murderer ever learn from his actions?
Regret is a temporary state. Once it has served its purpose of bringing the matter to our attention, then we can let it go, replacing it with forgiveness, along with resolve to make more efficient, more optimal choices next time.
It's only when the person hangs on the regret or guilt after they have served their purpose, that it's unhealthy.
If we were part of the decision-making process that set up conditions on this planet, it could be healthy for us to reflect on those decisions, maybe have regret about them, in order to program our future selves to make different choices next time. Just as we do in our 3D lives. Do we not all handle regret, as part of the healing and forgiveness process, on a daily basis? It is part of the process.
To avoid feelings of regret, when they may be appropriate, is being in denial. THAT is unhealthy, imo.