shallowness

[tiki_god7]

alright, I'm a psychology/philosophy major in college right now so I spend a great deal of time thinking about what motivates other people to behave the way you do, and I've been wondering what you all think makes people shallow?? I mean not just a learned from you parents kinda thing, where did it begin?

[Timothy]

I believe it's purly one of those in built mechanisms we have.
When we first come into contact with a person, it's normal to size them up, access whether this person is a threat to you or not, ect. It's one of our instincts. As the human race has "progressed", and the influx of information to each of us steadly increaces, people have been forced to rely on this mechanism more heavily, and the abillity to see past what is below the surface, discarded. Let's face it, we live in a throw away society, where everything is a product. This description extends to people now too. Anyone outside of the "norm" is seen to be defective, and people shun it.

[Shadowfax]

well, here's what I think...

The way society's come...people base things on being 'popular' or 'in' so as kids grow up, they try as hard as they can to fit in...that makes them only look at superficiality....

[neveragain]

I think it's simple quite frankly. Use this as your basis: No-one views themselves as worse, or lower than anyone else. An example would be, taking 2 families, 1 upper class, one in poverty. Even though they are separated by economics, no parent rich or poor is going to beleive, or teach their kids that they are worse than anyone else, no matter what the scenario that can be viewed as causing a difference. meaning both families view themselves as "just as good as everyone else". The problem is that no-one can be satisfied with "just as good", we need to be better, bigger, faster... That coupled with the fact that no-one wants to admit they are worse at anything than someone else, be it sports, academics....(it's an infinate list), so there will always be a will to better ones self off than the next guy, even if it means lying, cheating, stealing, or even something as simple as cutting someone off while driving, people feel the need to prove to themselves that they're better than everyone else, which leads to shallow behavior, like listed above, I've also thought about this subjcect alot, and I see my opinion as stupid, because, it's all I've got, it's quite a mystery.

[Shadowfax]

well, it's not a stupid opinion, It's quite true, in that people today have to much ego, and dont think enough about what other people may think/feel and when they are put in a situation with someone else, they automatically think that they are the better...maybe it's just instict, or it could also have to do just with the way we are brought up...

[tiki_god7]

so what would be the best way to get people to realise that we're all just equal pieces of shit that are in this together? thats what we really need, in my opinion

[neveragain]

There was this idea called communism. While fundamentally brilliant it never works. In order to work there must be an industrial revolution, and a revolution of the proletariat. This never happens, though, because no-one can accept having there will or drive to be controlled by a government. There are communist countries still out there, but they are in poverty, because the government can't provide the same good life for everyone, there's simply not enough money. Anyways, we could yak about communism for days, but to aswer the last question, the only way to keep a group of people happy, and perfectly respectful of each other is to have a eutopic communist environment, where no-one works hard, and has anything they want at there disposal, which is (let's all say it together), IMPOSSIBLE! Too bad, I just hope that all the TOOL phans of the world spur a spiritual revolution that will prove me wrong.

[dr_oder]

Originally posted by tiki_god7
so what would be the best way to get people to realise that we're all just equal pieces of shit that are in this together? thats what we really need, in my opinion

So crucify the ego, before it's far too late
To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical,
And you will come to find that we are all one mind
Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.

[Thrakandor]

Originally posted by dr_oder
So crucify the ego, before it's far too late
To leave behind this place so negative and blind and cynical,
And you will come to find that we are all one mind
Capable of all that's imagined and all conceivable.

Yea

But then if we crucify the sense of self, what is there left? Nothing.

This philosophy seems to contradict the Jungian influences... stepping into the shadow etc... that Jung intended (as far as I know) as a path to individuation, to developing the self.

See, conforming to the lowest common denominator is crucifying the ego... it's crucifying anything better, anything higher that you could have achieved.

Crucify blind arrogance, yes, which seems to be what Maynard is referring to with the term 'ego' - at least so far as I'm concerned.

The true ego though, the sense of self - if yours is grounded and honest, and accepted within yourself... that is far too precious to crucify.

It is the essence of the self.

[flipmojo]

I believe that shallowness is a mechanism to avoid personal feelings. Shallowness tends to run in large numbers (groups). Its much easier to write things off then to actually confront the larger scale and deal with the results.

Deep people tend to get hurt much worse than shallow people. They can become addicted to the pain if it is intense enough. Therefore, a deep person has their own dangers.

I have chose to be deep, regardless of the dangers, due to my incredible appetite for truth. The more truth you find, the more truth changes.