Friends of Sagacity:
Recently I sort of divided friends into past friends, current friends, dead friends, pet friends, and mentor friends of our mind. These friends of the mind are those past or present historical figures whose life insights become absorbed into your own life persona. Early in life your parents, relatives, and childhood friends impact greatly on your own developing persona. This kind of gives you functional operatives in life. You manage to live, of some sort. Entertainment venues of varied sorts, including TV, radio, cell phones, computer games, music, parties, movies, games, sports, hobbies, etc. can keep the mind amused but stunted. Stunted in the sense that any real understanding which leads to contentment in life cannot be achieved by simply being amused. While most all generalizations have exceptions, it just appears to me that those whose life is wrapped up in all these amusement gadgets are anything but happy campers. They strike me as mostly agitated, emotionally fragile robotic shallow minded narrow focused geeks of some sort. They always miss the forest for the sake of the trees---artificial trees at that. It is hard to have an intelligent or stimulating conversation with these modern gadgeterers because they have no real wish to think, they want to be amused, mostly by illusionary fantasies. While they tend to be loners they are loners of a disturbing sort----strangers to reality, and lacking any depth or curiosity to the nature of human existence. They are every bit as out of it as recreational drug abusers. Of course we don't arrest them for gadget abuse or arrest those who sell them these gadgets. Like recreational drug abusers they probably need medical help, but like the drug abusers they don't get medical help. Given the times, people knee deep in all this gadgetry can make a lot of money, but it is mostly useless work, mindless busy work, as far removed from the real challenges at this point in evolutionary history as one can get. It that sense maybe they are the smart ones----swarming as a frantic mob of human mindlessness to the edge of approaching human environmental disasters, themselves cocooned in obliviousness. "What? Me worry?"
Recently I listed several current or historical figures whose examples and words to live by have impacted on my own persona and philosophy of life. It seemed, shortly after, that I ought to catalog---for sort of like my own 'Bible to live by'----their most important words or actions which have bonded to my own persona. But then this would be a mammoth task; just to type out the most important quotes from Lincoln would be an enormous task. Others may have impacted in a less voluminous, but still important way. To make the task more manageable I have decided to simply list the names and add adjectives about them which add perspective on their relevance to my own ranking of their importance to my own mental perspectives.
Lincoln: wisdom, tolerance, principled, understanding, aloof, introspective, noble-minded, perseverance, patience, firmness, bringing out the better angels of human nature in others, empathy, good humored, way with words, unreal, mysterious, appealingly ugly, simple living, reflective, appreciative of diversity, humble, focused, magnanimous of spirit, self disciplined, creative, mellow. spiritual, fair minded, aloof, knowledgeable, inscrutable.
Teddy Roosevelt: Daring, spirited, proud, lover of nature, anti-monopolistic, defender of the common man, overly patriotic.
Barry Goldwater: Honest, willing to alter opinion on matters, independent, fair, blunt.
Victoria Woodhull---openly sensuous, ahead of her times, creative, tolerant, open-minded, defender of diversity, brave, smart, sociable, brazen for noble causes, equal rights advocate, visionary.
Einstein: brilliant, peace loving, insights into religion, God, world peace.
Dalai Lama: gentle, insight into religion and purity of thoughts, tolerant, kind, understanding, patient, peace monger, non abrasive, simple living, unpretentious in behavior and dress.
James Baldwin: introspective, unique, brilliant, ugly, just, ability to project into public consciousness varied injustices, oddly personal, unbending, obsession with personal demons.
Terrell Owens: principled, loyal, self made, fair, raw determination, honest, the not-so-little engine that could, loner, raw emotion, extremely focused, brave, driven, independent, aloof, the ultimate against the odds winner, kind, emotional, controls his own destiny,
Thomas Jefferson---freedom, separation of church and state, breadth of knowledge,
Martin Luther King: non violence to solve conflict, patience, organizer of the oppressed, peace monger,
Malcolm X: brilliant, brave, brutally honest about racial matters, ability to adopt new understandings, non bending in matters of social justice.
Churchill---brilliant, brave, way with words, tenacious,
Mario Cuomo: orator, brilliant defender of the common man, composed rational outlook on political matters, honest
Andrew Carnegie---self achiever, smart, charitable, understood the responsibility to return any accumulation of large wealth back to the society from which it came.
Warren Buffett: self achiever, smart, charitable, understands the responsibility to return any accumulation of large wealth back to the society from which it came.
Peter Singer: moral purity, brilliant,
Tecumseh: defender of American Indian rights, brave, smart, determined, clear concept of what was happening to his people, organizer, a tragic hero of a destroyed ethnic group.
Barack Obama: thoughtful, orator, organizer, brings people together, brings out better angels of human nature, fair, motivator, friend and defender of the less fortunate, appreciator of diversity,
a product of varied environments, a genetic mutt, honest, a positive faith in the future, patience, calmness, self effacing humor, humility, ability to get matters settled without violence, calm, deliberative, a soothing influence on troubled waters.
