Bad Blood

[Sifu Darkfist]

It seems as we approach the holidays that many are on edge, in fact downright angry. Maybe we should all stop and look at each other for what we are Fancy animals in fancy clothes with to much intelligence for our own good. Lets not take ourselves too seriously. I for one know that the heart can stop at any moment, we are truly only one beat away from death, all of us, each and every one.

Holiday or not a day is a day, when you awake the 26, 27, 28 you will still have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and friends (whatever we have left after crude alienation) to support and love.

Love, that word, Do you have love for anyone beside yourself or those that please you?

I ask myself this all the time in order to keep away from self indulgent lifestyles.

We are all Gung fu Brothers and sisters, if you have an enemy at present, why not make a resolution to make amends.

Success to all of you
James

[David Jamieson]

It seems as we approach the holidays that many are on edge, in fact downright angry. Maybe we should all stop and look at each other for what we are Fancy animals in fancy clothes with to much intelligence for our own good. Lets not take ourselves too seriously. I for one know that the heart can stop at any moment, we are truly only one beat away from death, all of us, each and every one.

Holiday or not a day is a day, when you awake the 26, 27, 28 you will still have bills to pay, mouths to feed, and friends (whatever we have left after crude alienation) to support and love.

Love, that word, Do you have love for anyone beside yourself or those that please you?

I ask myself this all the time in order to keep away from self indulgent lifestyles.

We are all Gung fu Brothers and sisters, if you have an enemy at present, why not make a resolution to make amends.

Success to all of you
James

Nice sentiments and I'm sure your intention is good, but it's not a pollyanna world.

Take a look around you, is love prevailing? Or is it war and hatred that has the attention of everyone?

[Royal Dragon]

Love flowes strong, but so does hate. Do you chose to see only one? or embrace all?

[David Jamieson]

Love flowes strong, but so does hate. Do you chose to see only one? or embrace all?

Love the haters. That's hard.

Hate the lovers. That's easy.

Find the middle. again, that can be hard.

Let your emotions guide you with the ebb and flow of events. That's stupid.

We'll each have whatever perceptions we have. Sometimes they will change, sometimes we will grow more concrete in our certainty of them.

Believe it or not, being a love hippy dippy sort of person is a stae of imbalance. Usually it is just another lie to shield yourself from reality. That's life though.

[Ben Gash]

Hate never achieves anything but more hate. Love is a powerful force, but it's effect is usually less flambouyant and often slower to mature.
Loving those who hate you is hard, not just because it's inherently unnatural, but because it requires you to accept that you're not perfect either.

[Sifu Darkfist]

but it's not a pollyanna world.

Take a look around you, is love prevailing? Or is it war and hatred that has the attention of everyone?

As an individual that dwells in the world of diversity / poverty and has struggled throughout my life with issues involved with these. As a person with unpleasant acts of violence surrounding much of my history both done to me and my lashing back, i will say it does not matter. You can feed me a world of SH it and i will still smile to here the beat of my heart. The fact is what they give does not affect you unless they try to take the heart-beat that god gave you. Ben Gash has a passage from Lao Tzu that sums it up nicely.

I do not know how much hate you have spread or manifested in your life but i can bet i have trumped it and i am not proud.

I have acted maliciously in the self-preservation mode in years past. The time to stop has long since past. You do what you want but i choose to ignore that part of life until it comes close to home then invoke the second part of Gash's signature.

I do not know a da mn thing about hippies I was just a boy when that happened, but I know the old masters come to an epiphany in there lives from years of human toil and I am starting to see what they mean, old or not.

none of this was intentionally pointed at anyone i have seen many angry faces in the past weeks. However if my words are causing a hollow feeling...

[Ray Pina]

Good posts.... funny all of these things are top of mind having almost finished my first book by the Marquiesse De Sade, Justine.

I don't hate anyone. I can say that truthfully. Though I can see at times in the past I have been too nice .

Love, but not as a means to raise yourself above the haters. That's easy. That's doing one thing to feel better about yourself. That's why don't "forgive," either. It brings shame to the one that you can "pardon" or "forgive."

My philosophy now is to help when I can and when I want. But more and more I settle in behind my dark surfer shades and observe. Meditate on why people do the things they do, how I judge them, why I judge them that way, and then move on.

I try not to label good or bad or love or hate anymore. What one may consider evil another may consider nature's way of the strong getting over on the week. What one may consider foolish kindness may be another's way of making right with themself for past deeds.

Who's to say? But I say no one is wrong. But no one is right either.

[SPJ]

A quote from a song lyric:


Bows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air
And feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way

But now they only block the sun
They rain and THEY snow on everyone
So many things I would have done
But clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down, and still somehow
It's cloud illusions I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and Ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way THAT you feel
As every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way

But now it's just another show
You leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care, don't let them know
Don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take, and still somehow
It's love's illusions I recall
I really don't know love at all

Tears and fears and feeling proud
To say "I love you" right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way

Oh but now old friends THEY are acting strange
AND They shake their heads, AND they tell me I've changed
Well something's lost but something's gained
In living every day

I've looked at life from both sides now
From WIN and LOSE and still somehow
It's life's illusions I recall
I really don't know life at all

:)

[SevenStar]

This thread reeks of granola...

[SevenStar]

Hate never achieves anything but more hate.

I dunno if that's true. I've been in fights with people that are friends of mine to this day. We started as enemies, and after fighting, found a new respect for eachother.

[Ben Gash]

You can fight people without hating them. If you'd beaten him down and given him a good shoeing until your anger was spent then I doubt you'd be friends now.
Justine. is that the one where she's led astray by her aunt, has an illegitimate son, unknowingly meets him 20 years later and kills him when he tries to rape her? If so, it's a great story. Which made it really disappointing that I couldn't get past page 3 of 120 days of Sodom, some things just don't need to be talked about at length in detail.

[Chief Fox]

With out hate there can be no love.

All the hate in the world can still make you a better person if you choose to learn from it.

[WinterPalm]

As students of martial arts I think that we can learn to appreciate all that is good in both ourselves, those around us, and the world at large. Everything has its faults. But when we look to the media, we are seeing sensationalism of death, war, crimes, etc,... we should not view the world as this. When one plane crashes, how many didn't crash? With one mistake, how many correct actions? I believe in forgiving, not being naive, but being positive and looking towards the positivity we can foster and encourage.

I hope everybody enjoys their holidays and can come to grips with whatever makes them angry or ill.

[PangQuan]

Do not think all is lost.

In the past, we have had much war, much death. Many nations were conquered. Some in the name of hate, and some in what was believed to be the name of love and betterment. Regardless of the how and why, that is the past and that is what happened.

Today, however, we have more societies, organizations, and groups dedicated to peace, unity and betterment of mankind, than ever before in all of history.

You can see the glass half empty if you like, I personally take this current state of affairs as a sign. This sign being: people actually are waking up.

Radio, telephone, television. All these global communication devices are partially to thank. People for the first time have begun to have the capability to actually see the effect that our past has had on all nations. This knowledge has effected those who truly do have love in thier hearts.

Dont play down our people, there are those that do care, even if you do not.

[David Jamieson]

love and hate are not opposites.

the opposite of love to me is indifference.

hate means you still care on some level. :p

anyway, I'm not much into hate. It's a waste of energy.
Anger however cannot be equated to hate, but can be explained by the situation that brought about the anger.

anger is healthy if it is expressed when it is there. If you bottle it and push it down, it can cause bad things. I like to keep my anger spit out. lol.

My love is not a buddha kind of love though. It's not free and I don't easily trust anyone anymore just because of life experience and the knowing that everyone has potential to be a snake, even the most pious of the pious are only human and therefore susceptable to desire which will drive their action.