you, yes YOU, are a cosmic Schmuck.

[Professor T]

IMO, this is a great Philosophy..

If you get out of bed each morning and realize that "Oh crap, I am a cosmic Schmuck." You'll become embarrassed by being such a cosmic Schmuck and want to become less of a cosmic Schmuck, and over time, you will become less of a Cosmic Schmuck.. But if you get of of bed each morning and don't realize that you are a Cosmic Schmuck, you will stay being a Cosmic Schmuck for the rest of your life..

This is a great Philosophy, coined by Robert Anton Wilson.. And essentially it entails this..

We all create our own little maps of reality tunnels composed of beliefs and Ideas about reality.. But these reality maps are exactly what they are, a Map of our perceptions of reality, and not the real reality that everyone faces every day. These maps are formed by our ideas about what is real and are composed of less than a single percent of what is actually real.. And the stupid thing about us is that we use these maps to perceive our own reality... A Map is not the landscape the same way a Menu is not the meal.. (The fact that we use these reality maps to perceive reality means we will always be wrong.)

Beliefs Imprison you..

Convictions create convicts..

Stop being right or the time and know that you are wrong, so that over time you become less wrong..

http://www.dailygrai...he-Internet-Age

Edited November 7, 2013 by Professor T

[little_dreamer]

"you, yes YOU, are a cosmic Schmuck." I knew it...

All I can say is that I'm not as self-righteous as I used to be. I am working towards greater tolerance of different points of view. But I do slip up every now and then.

[Nighthawk9653]

Interesting

[Orcseeker]

Wise words indeed

[spacelizard667]

We make our own hells and being a cosmic Schmuck is one of those, like being stuck in an alternate reality where nothing seem to act or function the way that we think that it should. Or maybe it is just an overwhelming psychic connection but a negative one, that appears constantly in one's dreams that connects you to this alternate reality. The Cosmos is filled with dynamic energy that flows and circulates, thus nothing stays the same forever. There can be a sort of metamorphosis to enact, like a caterpillar that makes a cocoon or a crysallis for itself and emerges as a splendid butterfly or a moth, a transformation of sorts. Metaphorically the cocoon is the personal reality that we create for ourselves one brick at a a time, like a wall of separateness that closes the self off from the chaos of outside influences. We perceive through our own personal filters what information is gathered about anything that is not the self, and reality is a selective process rather than an actuality, it much depends on how you feel about something that makes your own reality work for you.

Edited November 8, 2013 by spacelizard667

[Beany]

I was afraid someone would confirm that sooner or later. Is there a Cosmic Schmuck Anonymous I can join?

[spacelizard667]

Unless you first realize what getting bogged down in inertia is first, you never really get rolling. In a sense the Cosmic Schmuck is just a phase that we go through, or like I said before it's another place somewhere else, sort of out there in an alternate reality. So how does one go about breaking out of that pattern other than by metamorphosis or transformation; since you didn't elaborate on that sequence or technique Professor T ? Have you perfected any proceedure ?

Edited November 8, 2013 by spacelizard667

[Professor T]

Nope.. I haven't perfected any procedure..

I suspect that self analysis, self reflection, and trying to reach the seemingly unattainable seems to be a great way to start though. I suspect that most of humanity don't understand their selves and their own thoughts.. (Myself included there) Unless someone experiences something, or tests the boundaries of their own consciousness one is probably going to stay bogged down in a mundane reality for most of their lives..

Over the course of our lives we are told what is right and what is wrong. We're told this law and that law. We're told to believe in certain Ideas. Authorities control us with these illusions and we learn these limitations which effectively create a our reality tunnels and constrict our understanding of reality. And yet, every now an then, we catch a glimpse of something that mysteriously doesn't fit our map of reality? A ghost.. A UFO... An event or an experience that just doesn't fit, doesn't compute, doesn't make sense... These things are telling us that we are Schmucks because their origin is most likely from outside of our reality tunnels. But sadly, most dismiss or refuse to see these things because it's doesn't compute.. (They are the ones who believe their maps of reality is reality.)

It's the folk who get out of bed in the mornings that KNOW they are a Cosmic Schmuck who have greater potential to understand and learn more about the nature and mystery of reality..

Edited November 8, 2013 by Professor T

[White Crane Feather]

This is Dan Millman's fool or foolish jackass philosophy. You should read "The way of the peaceful warrior"

Edited November 8, 2013 by White Crane Feather

[libstaK]

Saw the title of the thread and just had to take a look - I'm pretty sure you're talking to me.

[Professor T]

I was afraid someone would confirm that sooner or later. Is there a Cosmic Schmuck Anonymous I can join?

Saw the title of the thread and just had to take a look - I'm pretty sure you're talking to me.

Me thinks the whole of humanity should start a Cosmic Schmuck support network..

Call it the internet...

Start discussing the depth's of our Cosmic Schmuckery.. Stop being right all the time and just admit that we're all just as clueless as the next man.. Only then can we make a start with making sense of damn near every thread on this site.. .

[Beany]

Schmuck is not one of those traits that a person would eagerly self-identify as. It needs a better working title, don't you think?

[Ealdwita]

I really think those who are at present contemplating owning up to being a 'schmuck' should look up the word's Yiddish origins first!

Edited November 10, 2013 by ealdwita

[lightly]

Most great thinkers down thought the ages seemed to think that the wisest are those who realize that they don't KNOW ... (your 2nd group getting out of bed)

Schmuck .... bigger Schmuck ... sounds like a competition though We are born pretty much schmuckless? We are children. Then we go out into the world/reality and when we Experience it long enough .. we begin to realize how little we know , which makes many VERY curious ? Before then we assume we know it all.. or don't really think about such things?

[Mikko-kun]

Stop being right or the time and know that you are wrong, so that over time you become less wrong..

The golden line I once had a clue of, now only its remnants residing in my thoughts, taken a form of something else.

You can't fill a full cup, it runs over. Can make it bigger this way, cheers bud.

[White Crane Feather]

The golden line I once had a clue of, now only its remnants residing in my thoughts, taken a form of something else.

You can't fill a full cup, it runs over. Can make it bigger this way, cheers bud.

The wisdom and intelligence of recognizing you are neither wise or intelligent always warms my heart in a wise and intelligent way purely given to me by your words alone.

Dam I'm on a Role today. I gave a great speech earlier today at a ceremony. Life is grand.

Edited November 10, 2013 by White Crane Feather

[JGirl]

well if you find you can't pull yourself out of cosmic schmuckdom, then you might consider excelling at it and become the best cosmic schmuck ever!

[Mikko-kun]

Cheers, Feather. You know I could learn a thing or four from your way of cherishing things... and you seem to have found and applied this philosophy to your appreciation.

How about heart-felt sincerity?

[Professor T]

Schmuck is not one of those traits that a person would eagerly self-identify as. It needs a better working title, don't you think?

I really think those who are at present contemplating owning up to being a 'schmuck' should look up the word's Yiddish origins first!

Nope, I don't think it needs a better working title because Schmuck is non-offensive.. Also, in general, people don't care about the origins of their language or the entomology of the words they use.. Today's general feel and meaning of language is more important than what it was used for in the past.. Also it's got a lot more to do with the energy chasing the word than the word it's self.

Being a Cosmic Schmuck, IMO, is not offensive.. Being a c*** is.

(edited to add: Hah? didn't think the slang word for a rooster wasn't aloud. thought I'd better add this in encase someone get's the Idea I typed something else starting with the letter c.)

Edited November 11, 2013 by Professor T

[Bildr]

“The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded. And, the atoms in your left hand probably came from a different star than your right hand. It really is the most poetic thing I know about physics: You are all stardust. You couldn’t be here if stars hadn’t exploded, because the elements - the carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, iron, all the things that matter for evolution - weren’t created at the beginning of time. They were created in the nuclear furnaces of stars, and the only way they could get into your body is if those stars were kind enough to explode. So, forget Jesus. The stars died so that you could be here today.”

― Lawrence M. Krauss, A Universe from Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing

The most astounding fact is the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on Earth, the atoms that make up the human body are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars, the high mass ones among them went unstable in their later years they collapsed and then exploded scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas cloud that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems stars with orbiting planets, and those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky and I know that yes, we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up – many people feel small because they’re small and the Universe is big – but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars. There’s a level of connectivity. That’s really what you want in life, you want to feel connected, you want to feel relevant you want to feel like a participant in the goings on of activities and events around you. That’s precisely what we are, just by being alive…

-Neil Degrasse Tyson, Astrophysicist and science communicator

[spacelizard667]

Best way to start off is to realize you don't know everything, not necessarily does this take 'over time' ....my friend PT.

[spacelizard667]

This thread topic is looking neglected so I'll post again. In spite of the fact that we're all made from stardust, there is a thing which PT calls 'a cosmic schmuck', and what ever that is. Where is it in our culture about the stardust that we're all made of ? A fact that may bring some brilliant new light into a dark and clammy world. Why not a culture of stardust awareness, one that is vibrant and that reflects the purity and essence of this resource ? Just because others see through their eyes like a cosmic schmuck doesn't mean that we all have to. Are there any more fresh ideas out there people ?

[JGirl]

I've been called worse

[SHaYap]

Mindfulness, Precepts and Crashing in the Same Car

by Ajahn Jayasaro

FOR FREE DISTRIBUTION - Holy Books link -

Website : www.thawsischool.com

I’d like to begin by telling a short story concerning a very diligent scholar. This

man put great effort into studying the scriptures, and the Suttas, and the

commentaries, and the sub-commentaries, and the sub-sub-commentaries. He

was always looking for the one special profound teaching which would unlock

the inner chamber of his mind and reveal the true splendour of the Dhamma.

He became greedy for knowledge and for some special information. He was

always on the lookout to find some new source of knowledge with which he was

unfamiliar.

Then one day, when he was already middle-aged, he heard of a wonderful

master who lived in a tree in the middle of a very dense forest in a remote

mountain range. He decided to leave home and endure whatever great

hardships the journey required in order to study some special profound

presentation of the Dhamma which he had never heard before.

He set off on his journey and he climbed mountains and crossed rivers and

trekked through thick malarial forests and eventually he came to a huge tree.

The monk was sitting up above in a tree house (or tree kuti). The scholar bowed

three times and said, ‘Master, I have come a very long way with great

difficulties. Please give me the profound essence of the Buddha’s teachings.

The monk looked down on him and chanted this verse in Pali -

Sabba papassa akaranam

kusalassa upasampada

sacitta pariyodapanam

etam buddhanusasanam

- which translates as, ‘The not doing of all evil (or all unwholesome things); the

perfection of wholesome dhammas; the purification of the mind - this is the

teaching of all the Buddhas.’

And the scholar...his face fell. He said, ‘But master, even a child of five has heard

that verse.’ The teacher said, ‘Yes, but even a man of fifty finds it difficult to

practice.’

The profound teaching is whatever you can’t do yet. It’s not something that’s

always intellectually difficult, but it’s profound if you haven’t yet penetrated it,

you haven’t yet reached it. Indeed, it’s often the simplest and most

straightforward teachings which are the most effective and produce the most

meaningful change in our lives. This is a point to observe about the Dhamma -

that the study and the practice of the Dhamma changes you. It leads

somewhere. In the Pali it is called ‘opanayiko’ that is it leads onwards - or it

leads inwards, depending on how you translate the term.

Mindfulness of the Present Moment (PAGE 6-8/36)

(Baanaree, Bangkok, 9th November 2009)

`Just a nice booklet for simple reference'

`

[Professor T]

Realizing you are a cosmic Schmuck goes a lot deeper than surface examination and adopting new methods, catch-phrases, thought streams, paradigms or views of the world and reality IMO.. Though being mindful is key.. The Philosophy is simple, but living by it is not so simple when you have a lifetime of old habits to fall back to.. Something as simple is looking at the world takes on a whole new meaning when one tries to dump their pree-dispositions and ideas about what the world is like.. Seeing the world as it is and not as it's believed to be is probably the 1st step to understanding the depths of our cosmic schmuckery.. and by no means am I capable of catching anything more than a few fleeting glimpses at the depths of my own schmuckery.

It is often dis-empowering to realize you are a schmuck.. Yet, through that realization comes an awesome power to either lift yourself from moments of despair, or allow yourself to wallow in ignorance.. And ironically, it's though these lows that one learns what is perhaps be best and biggest lesson there is to learn in life, and that is that we create our reality.. The fact that we create our reality IMO is something that cannot be taught in sermon, book or any teacher other than experience. Realizing you are a schmuck isn't easy, luckily for us, life the universe and everything is always letting us know; kicking our butts, reminding us that we don't know squat..

How deep one dives into their cosmic schmuckery and what aspect of it they want to explore depends entirely on the individual.. IMO it is a fuel that can drive us to great things..

Edited December 31, 2013 by Professor T