Standards
There's a Heineken ad that says simply "You are who you are when no one is looking".
When I got out of the Army, for about 3 years, I woke up at dawn, and moved "with a sense of purpose", as my DS would have said. When I took the train into Union Station, my friends would enjoy that it was such a fast paced deal, and I was upset at how slow and disorganized it was.
My LJ changed dramatically when I started keeping company of people I looked up to and people who held themselves and their peers to a higher standard. However, when I did this, I started using Twitter and Facebook as an outlet for my lowbrow fun. I wasn't really holding myself to a higher standard, I was picking one place to play at a higher standard. Yesterday, I got a friend request from keith418, and my initial reaction was one of hesitation, and, to a very small degree, fear. What if he saw the lower standard I hold myself to over there? What if he realized who I really am, wouldn't I be shunned and destroyed?
I wanted facebook to be this safe place I could decompress and post short rants, and make fart jokes. I didn't want people who I respected. I didn't want people there who wanted me to improve myself. If they were there, I'd be confronted with the standard I sometimes play at, except I'd be confronted in a "safe" place where no one held me to any standards. Sure, I had friends I respected there, but they already knew me, they were "Safe". Other people had only seen me as I presented myself elsewhere. They only knew of the higher standard I tried to hold myself to sometimes.
This got me thinking about the reaction a few of my friends have gotten at local bodies. If the local body is more of an Living room than a studio, then what are we going to get out of it? Is it going to drive us to higher heights, and exalt us, or is it going to become the place we regress? How will we react to people who want us to follow De Cultu, or to study the material? We're going to wish they'd just go away and let us relax, and our behavior will reflect this.
The Star Sapphire space is divided into sections. One section is an office, another a living room/library, another a temple, and a third for eating and drinking. Which do we spend most of our time in? How do we want people to deal with us?
My politics don't match my philosophy. I can check one against the other, to test what I really commit myself to, but the more I surround myself with those who will help me hold myself to my own theoretical standards, not only do I "play" at these higher standards, but the higher my "resting" standard becomes, and my real world actions start to match my theoretical philosophy. This will beat me down, and drive me nuts, but like basic, the result will be stronger. If I fail to subject myself to these people, and to hold myself to this higher standard, my standards will still change, but they will only descend.
-- James
When I got out of the Army, for about 3 years, I woke up at dawn, and moved "with a sense of purpose", as my DS would have said. When I took the train into Union Station, my friends would enjoy that it was such a fast paced deal, and I was upset at how slow and disorganized it was.
My LJ changed dramatically when I started keeping company of people I looked up to and people who held themselves and their peers to a higher standard. However, when I did this, I started using Twitter and Facebook as an outlet for my lowbrow fun. I wasn't really holding myself to a higher standard, I was picking one place to play at a higher standard. Yesterday, I got a friend request from keith418, and my initial reaction was one of hesitation, and, to a very small degree, fear. What if he saw the lower standard I hold myself to over there? What if he realized who I really am, wouldn't I be shunned and destroyed?
I wanted facebook to be this safe place I could decompress and post short rants, and make fart jokes. I didn't want people who I respected. I didn't want people there who wanted me to improve myself. If they were there, I'd be confronted with the standard I sometimes play at, except I'd be confronted in a "safe" place where no one held me to any standards. Sure, I had friends I respected there, but they already knew me, they were "Safe". Other people had only seen me as I presented myself elsewhere. They only knew of the higher standard I tried to hold myself to sometimes.
This got me thinking about the reaction a few of my friends have gotten at local bodies. If the local body is more of an Living room than a studio, then what are we going to get out of it? Is it going to drive us to higher heights, and exalt us, or is it going to become the place we regress? How will we react to people who want us to follow De Cultu, or to study the material? We're going to wish they'd just go away and let us relax, and our behavior will reflect this.
The Star Sapphire space is divided into sections. One section is an office, another a living room/library, another a temple, and a third for eating and drinking. Which do we spend most of our time in? How do we want people to deal with us?
My politics don't match my philosophy. I can check one against the other, to test what I really commit myself to, but the more I surround myself with those who will help me hold myself to my own theoretical standards, not only do I "play" at these higher standards, but the higher my "resting" standard becomes, and my real world actions start to match my theoretical philosophy. This will beat me down, and drive me nuts, but like basic, the result will be stronger. If I fail to subject myself to these people, and to hold myself to this higher standard, my standards will still change, but they will only descend.
-- James