The desire to imitate .

[Sal]

I'm still waiting for somone to provide me with an assessment of humanity that expresses "success"...

Then you will wait forever for success is subjective. Why must everything be "defined"? Why must your level of success be mine? We do not start equal in the world and we do not finish equal, but what is equal?

If I was born in the ghetto to a crack-mum who is a single parent, perhaps success would be to survive my environment, rise about it, educate myself and move out.

If I were born to some rich, hugely successful business man perhaps success would be to cut the apron strings, move to India and meditate on a beetle for the rest of my days.

wherein is this success that mimicry establishes so firmly....?

BUT all must begin somewhere... and that is where the mimicry comes in. First we learn to be human, to adapt, to survive from whatever source instructs us. Be it good in your eyes or bad. Survial itself is success for with survival comes hope to grow and learn and change.

All must give as their particular gift may warrant. Even those who take may be giving in their own way.

 

[hermanntrude]

to be honest, trying to live your life without mimicking anyone ever, is just plain stupid.

You'd never learn to smile, walk, eat except from the breast, drive a car, run, do your job, read, write....

Standing on the shoulders of giants. It's written around the outside of a GBP2.00 coin. I have a notion it's one of darwin's quotes but I'm not sure. Anyway his point was that the discovery of something new always relies on other people's data. If scientists ignored each other's data and researched everything from scratch, they'd have got nowhere. Maybe one in a hundred people would work out the secret of the wheel, and the rest would ignore them completely. Their sons and daughters would start again from scratch and the knowledge would be lost.

Once again, China, I feel you've come up with something that has a tiny bit of truth in it and a whole lot of wrong.

The tiny bit of truth I refer to is that when we rely on other people's data we set ourselves up for a fall. If the giant's whose shoulders we stand on turn out to be nonexistant, or crippled maybe, we end up standing on nothing at all and any learning we did since assuming that the other people's data were true and correct means nothing, for it is based upon false assumptions.

 

[jimmoyer]

The world is a mirror.

The mirror is the mimic.

You smile. They smile back.

You point out failure. They all agree with you.

You worry. Your worry will be justified.
Unfortunately.

You describe yourself. They'll believe you. Especially if it's self deprecating.

You spit fire. They spit it back.

You emphasize the problem? It will be so. You will have a problem.

The world is a mirror.

A mimic.

But if it's a mirror, is one of the parallel universes behind that mirror ? Is the mirror one of those police versions, where THEY can see YOU, but all YOU see is yourself ?

So smile.

Especially experiment with the smile even if you are not in the mood.

Everything is in reverse.

You don't wait until you feel good to smile.

You smile first and then you feel good.

You don't wait to practice an instrument until you feel like it. Practice first and the desire will follow.

You don't wait until you want to excercise. You'll get into the rhythm after you start.

So smile.

The world is a mirror.

Mimic away .....

You'll write your own little dream.

 

[china]

MikeyDB
Hi,Mikey ,I think success in any form is power, and failure is merely the denial of success. To be powerful, to be successful is to be slavish, which is the denial of virtue. Virtue gives freedom, but it is not a thing to be gained. Any achievement, whether of the individual or of the collective, becomes a means to power. Success in this world, and the power that self-control and self-denial bring, distorted understanding. It is the desire for success that prevents humility; and without humility how can there be understanding? The man of success is hardened, self-enclosed; he is burdened with his own importance, with his responsibilities, achievements and memories. There must be freedom from self-assumed responsibilities and from the burden of achievement; for that which is heavy cannot be swift, and to understand requires a swift and pliable mind. Mercy is denied to the successful, for they are incapable of knowing the very beauty of life which is Love and Freedom.

 

[china]

daisygirl

Yes, but in thinking outside of the box, we do, in the end, conform. Why? Because as Niflmir said, it becomes the norm.
In our rebellions, conformity takes over so in the end we all conform.
You consider yourself free because you dropped out of high school? So do the many, many others that also did the same thing. How totally unoriginal.
I have read your ideas on here and you tend to get angry if someone disagrees with you. So no one if allowed to have an original idea except for you? That is how dictators think and that is not true freedom.
In the end, whether we like it or not, we all conform...some to a greater degree than others, but we all do in some way or manner.

Totally Original ,congratulations.
Not angry,just amused.

 

[china]

Unforgiven ,

Free in the context you use it is hardly what everyone wants.

Don't know, I'm not everyone.
[/quote]

It's natural to liken ones self to the things we desire.

Agree , one has the freedom to that.

 

[china]

#juan

Someone once said that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.

.....and what do You say #juan?

I think it is natural to liken one's self to one who we admire

.
I have many friends whom I love , admire and respect for whom they are, an individuals, and my friends love me for who I am.Non of us pretends to be someone else.
In my younger days ,I had many friends of opposite sex .They liked me (so I've bin told) because I was different.
A boy who admires his father wants to be like his father,there is nothing wrong with that, the child is searching , learning .And when he finds himself, He IS an Adult .

Forced conformity is a cage.

And obviously the cage is your choice- you always have the freedom to say .."yes" or "no".

 

[china]

posted 2x

 

[china]

HI, jimmoyer

Mimicry is like an echo.
We mimic others growing up, sounding the sounds of our elders.
Here on this board we like those who sound like us. We are looking for validation.
Isolation kills.
We are tuning fork

I agree jimmoyerr.May I ask - what is the reason for it?

 

[china]

karrie

I find it funny that by writing this piece China, you've drawn a new circle of expectation for those reading it, and in attempting to be a non-conformist, they would in a way simply be following those other non-conformists they've heard speak, or have admired.

Hi karrie ,thanks for your post .

 

[Curiosity]

China - you respond to Jim Moyer's post

HI, jimmoyer
I agree jimmoyerr.May I ask - what is the reason for it?

Why does a reason have to be in place? A question you might ask of another.

 

[china]

Curiosity,
China - you respond to Jim Moyer's post

Quote:
HI, jimmoyer
I agree jimmoyerr.May I ask - what is the reason for it?

Why does a reason have to be in place? A question you might ask of anothe

Oh how correct you are my Lady ,indeed ,there ought to be a question, that's only reasonable .

 

[china]

HI, jimmoyer
Quote:
Mimicry is like an echo.
We mimic others growing up, sounding the sounds of our elders.
Here on this board we like those who sound like us. We are looking for validation.
Isolation kills.
We are tuning fork

I agree jimmoyerr.May I ask - what is the reason for it?
What I mean is why do you think ... "Here on this board we like those who sound like us".
Thanks , China

 

[jack.windsor]

Great thread, it is a pleasure reading ppl's opinion on this issue. I will need sometime to digest it, but i will be back!