Saturday, April 23, 2022

Particular Gifts

"If you buy a gift for someone and that person does not take it, to whom does the gift belong?"

Siddhartha was correct.
Though I rather suspect his words were later twisted just enough. Let's read only the steelman.

If someone offers you insult, simply don't accept. "No, thanks all the same." Talk is cheap because supply exceeds demand. Insults even cheaper; can them by the dozen without spending a penny. If someone wants to waste their breath on such worthless endeavours, that's their call.

If someone tries to humiliate you, turn it down. "I prefer to use other methods to train humility, sorry."

If someone forces you at gunpoint to trample your idols, it's a compliment. "They're so afraid of a bit of canvas and paint that they have to threaten to kill me over it." Recall that if you have a true god, he wants you to live more than he wants you to care about fundamentally meaningless symbols. You're no use to anyone dead.
Conquest #1: they should know whether they ought to be afraid, shouldn't they? Have some faith that their fear will be justified, as long as you don't accept their claims of legitimacy. 

Certainly, if you have been militarily outmanoeuvred, you ought to physically surrender. Weakness is a sin; accept your responsibility and reflect upon your misdeeds. Live, that you might do better next time.

If you spiritually surrender, you accept the gift.


Caino hypocriens is rather fond of being stupid and crazy. If you speak to strangers, you will naturally provoke some of them, especially if you are sane or intelligent. It's a predictable effect, and thus essentially your own fault and your own responsibility. If you do not find it worthy behaviour, then it is your own speeches you need to look at.

Many make the mistake of thinking the speech itself is wrong. No, it's fine: they really are stupid and/or crazy. Being universally liked is something to be ashamed of, not proud. Reworking your words to accommodate stupidity and madness only makes the prose worse. Strictly less valuable. 

Having cray-crays be crazy at you is simply part of the cost of the practice. 

Likewise if the crowd sides with the cray-crays, then they have chosen. At some point, adults are responsible for their own actions. Fraud is inherently limited; anyone who thinks to check discovers it immediately. Even for the oblivious, when the rubber hits the road, it can no longer be concealed.

Simply accept that they have rejected sanity. They are obstacles. NPCs, not people. Simply accept your competitive advantage, and win to taste. Allow them the loss, failure, and suffering that they clearly crave. Free Will is an aspect of the highest law; don't try to abrogate it.

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