The Return to Sanity

This post shows that you’re a conservative and that you can’t discuss things beyond your ideology.
It’s a bit about self awareness actually.
Because you start with a game of words like “nothing is free” which of course is something that I am well aware of. We, the taxpayer pays for everything.
The problem here is that you neglect to address why the army pays 10 times higher the prices that we pay on our daily lives but again that’s something that you’re not able to talk about because of your conservative ideals. Because again, we the taxpayer pay for a lot of government dysfunctions.

The tax rates in any state are in relation to wages.
In 30 years I have seen nothing but an increased cost of living.
Again, something you can’t come to terms with because of your ideology.
Socializing medicine never ever limits care because other people from other states come here because it’s free and the state pays for their costs or we the taxpayers pay for their costs and guess what? No decrease on my standard of living either despite of this.

So I guess the point here is , why are you even trying to have a discussion about this topic if you’re unable to reach the middle ground?

I have to disagree with every bit of this post. Socialized healthcare definitely results in a triage environment at the hospital. A lot of people get fobbed off with jury-rigged health solutions.

It's either that or insane taxes, kind of like Germany. They have great health care, but incredibly steep taxes.

For some reason I feel like I'm at the local diner, in the morning, listening to the old men sit around the biggest table in the place, solving all the world's problems over cups of coffee.

Of course when you're sitting at the old men's table at the local diner, all the solutions are so easy and simple...

A lot of these Revivals in history are a bit outside of our hands but more in God's hands.
The Bible has a lot to say about unbelief, the no excuses of God's evidence in nature and pride but we can only do what we can to show the people around us about what it means to have Peace in Christ, because we can't reach everyone.
This is where on some cases, for a lot of tragedies there is a silver lining. In the of Covid i was hopping that there would be a change of hearts in people in the world, and in some there is a change of hearts. Many re-evaluated their goals and purpose in life while they were isolated for a year at home. Maybe turned to faith in God.
The planet looked a lot clearer too when no one was polluting the skies with smoke.
But since many are slaves to sin, they got back into the habits quickly.
I think that God sends us these trials to wake us up but not everyone keeps their ears open.

I didn't realize the purpose of discussion was to change one's views, but to consider other arguments yet undiscovered. I sincerely appreciate your view even though I disagree with you, and thank you for sharing it.
You seemed to have become annoyed over the way I presented my view, so perhaps closing the discussion is best. And my apologies. This wasn't my aim.

Less than 10% of the US population have no access to healthcare. The money spent on frivolous foreign aid would more than pay for their healthcare.

Nice! I'll make the donuts. I think that the feeling of old men sitting around a fishing hole would be only better. I'm just relieved it doesn't give you the feeling that you're sitting at a bar...

I know by experience, though, that good ideas can come out of such a vehicle as online chat. For example, way back in the time of my debut on the www, and having listened to a sermon by Charles Stanley about God's love, I was inspired to throw out a few lines about the depth, length, breadth, and width of it on a chat (whether it was comic chat, msn, or yahoo chat I no longer recall but) and it inspired someone else to put it to music and I suppose inspired another to produce it because not long after I was listening to my words with only a few slight changes put to music. So, although it isn't so easy and simple, we are never without the possibility of God orchestration within our musings.

And even if nothing else comes of it, I've enjoyed reading every exchange in this series of thoughts. And I don't believe it is of any coincidence that it has somewhat helped to take an edge of my discontent with the state of the world to know you've all cared as much to take a minute of your most valuable, earthly, commodity, that is, your time to share an even more precious one, your mind.

I don't mean ALL of the internet or all of this forum, or even all of this thread.

But some threads, and some participants, make it seem like problems are just so simple and easy to solve... When you don't have to deal with pesky details. Just like those old guys at the diner, solving all the world's problems over coffee cups.

If only it wasn't for those pesky details...

I suppose that most of us are overwhelmed with all the distractions dispersing our focus so thinly that makes it too easy to forget to listen for all the "hey! look!"ing, but I did have every intention of getting on the subject of self-awareness (but I'd been 'hey, look!'ing from where I'd left off and waiting for the first opportunity to present itself).

I believe that self-awareness is key in achieving a healthy wholeness, agreeing with the logic presented of yet another 'coincidental' acquaintance of a rabbinic philosopher who posits that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs should be turned on its head to be more accurate in mapping out an optimal *self-realization. And so, I would like to at least sift the subject for any flakes to collect into my pouch.

Hopefully we can, and will, circle back to the other tangents of the topic that have also been presented but, for starters...In the Forbes article that I shared in the other thread, Only 15% Of People Are Self-Aware (and I do wonder if that implies that 85% of people are off their rocker?), you noted that the idea of adaptability was mistaken for actual self-awareness. What did you mean? Do you think that 85% of people are maladjusted? or do you think the number of self-aware people is exaggerated?

*I realize that, in Maslow's model, it is called self-actualization but I think that self-realization would be more helpful to our well-being. Hopefully, I'll be able to express more on that opinion later.

Lynx come join us brother, you do it too on other threads so in honor of self-awareness come join us with coffee, tea, beer or whatever you like and add your input which I do enjoy and understand because it’s simple and to-the-point.
I told you that you’re a cool cat and I like your ideas about marriage already. So, come join us.
The only “flaw” that I noticed about you, is that you get annoyed when BDF people come into YOUR territorial areas of Singles Section or Miscellaneous section but i know that’s normal for felines so it’s not even a flaw.
Come on down for a drink.

Perhaps repackaging the views that you hold as valuable is in order to gain more interest (not that you haven't peaked mine). That is, what is your vision statement for free-market healthcare? I think an increase in competition would be inherent in that, but how does the 'novel' obtain a license to practice? I mean, there was a time when lobotomies where licensed as a legitimate treatment so, we really can't rule out any possibilities of an achievement.

Competition does 2 things well:
1. Lowers costs over time
2. Creates incentives to improve
In America, healthcare is generally tied to employment. It is used as an incentive to attract workers, as part of an overall package of benefits. There is some benefit in this, as large companies create economies of scale and can bargain for better prices. And individual workers generally get better benefits. The drawback is that it is lost when losing or changing jobs. So in theory, being able to create an economy of scale for all people regardless of employment I see as beneficial. The problem with government control of that is obvious to me. Government lacks the requisite incentive to run efficiently. So unless government officials are both genuinely honest and proficient, any government program will soon become a drag on tax resources and provide substandard performance compared to profit based enterprises. As healthcare is about 1/6 of the American economy, I personally do not trust this to be under government control.

I don't mean ALL of the internet or all of this forum, or even all of this thread.

But some threads, and some participants, make it seem like problems are just so simple and easy to solve... When you don't have to deal with pesky details. Just like those old guys at the diner, solving all the world's problems over coffee cups.

If only it wasn't for those pesky details...

I suppose that most of us are overwhelmed with all the distractions dispersing our focus so thinly that makes it too easy to forget to listen for all the "hey! look!"ing, but I did have every intention of getting on the subject of self-awareness (but I'd been 'hey, look!'ing from where I'd left off and waiting for the first opportunity to present itself).

I believe that self-awareness is key in achieving a healthy wholeness, agreeing with the logic presented of yet another 'coincidental' acquaintance of a rabbinic philosopher who posits that Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs should be turned on its head to be more accurate in mapping out an optimal *self-realization. And so, I would like to at least sift the subject for any flakes to collect into my pouch.

Hopefully we can, and will, circle back to the other tangents of the topic that have also been presented but, for starters...In the Forbes article that I shared in the other thread, Only 15% Of People Are Self-Aware (and I do wonder if that implies that 85% of people are off their rocker?), you noted that the idea of adaptability was mistaken for actual self-awareness. What did you mean? Do you think that 85% of people are maladjusted? or do you think the number of self-aware people is exaggerated?

*I realize that, in Maslow's model, it is called self-actualization but I think that self-realization would be more helpful to our well-being. Hopefully, I'll be able to express more on that opinion later.

Okay let’s talk about self-awareness, a favorite topic of mine.

I think that another concept we can use for self-awareness might be empathy.
Meaning, because you are able to put yourself in the shoes of someone else, you understand them and you also express yourself in a way so you don’t hurt them.
In the medical industry this is very obvious. In many layers of the industry starting from phone operators, assistants, nurses, doctors and anybody else in the chain of things we see that some of them are unable to show empathy. At least try to show empathy.
Because you want to be very careful on how to talk to a cancer patient so you don’t depress them even more. They are trained to be professional but not empathic.
In this group of people, you have the ones who are truly and naturally empathetic with more self-awareness, the ones who at least try to be empathetic and a small minority who aren’t and are rude.
This is also expressed in the body language.
Most of these rude folks seem annoyed, moody and generally tired.
The rest at least smile so they seem friendly and the genuine ones are natural in their glowing of goodwill and it’s obvious that they have a gift to be empathetic and are very self-aware.

Empathy can also be gained with knowledge when you don’t have it as a gift you’re born with.
Meaning, you can gain more knowledge on how to talk to a person of each discipline or profession so you can be understood more clearly by them.
This again makes you more self-aware because you might know how to talk to a person who has been through some sort of tragedy or joy. Let’s not forget joy too.

A person who is not self-aware and who does not have ill-will may say a lot of things that can hurt the other person. And this is where things can get interesting. This simple misunderstanding can result in fights or even wars.
But most of the time, the person who is self-aware is going to forgive the other person who he may label as “less intelligent” to use a kind word.

Then comes the question of who’s more happy? The person who is more self aware or the one who is less?
This is also very complicated but from a Christian POV, we have God who gives us rest while we lay all our problems and anxieties that come from self-awareness and the knowledge we have accumulated to Him. Becoming very self aware or empathetic may not be good for your health so for us who believers, we have God who we lay all our problems to and we gain more wisdom from our experience without affecting our mental health.
The person who is less self aware, could be argued that it’s more happy than the one with more knowledge and this is assuming they have no ill-will.

Regarding Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.
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I don’t have a lot to say here because I agree completely with that. In fact, there’s an ancient Greek saying which says that “Democracy begins with a full stomach”

About that Forbes article.

The article begins by saying that self-awareness is critical for career success. This is true and it aligns to the knowledge gained I mentioned above but what it doesn’t say is the adaptation part. Where, most of people at work, will go along with the politics so they can stay employed. This is an adaptation mechanism so you can survive.

She also says that out of 95% of the people who are self-aware, only 15% of them actually are.
She cites three reasons for this disconnect. First, we naturally have blind spots. We’re wired to operate on autopilot, unaware of how we’re behaving, and why. There’s also the feel-good effect: we’re happier when we see ourselves in a more positive light. She calls the last factor the “cult of self,” the idea that we’ve become more self-absorbed as social media has exploded in popularity.
The auto-pilot part is the part which I also call adaptation. The majority of people in office settings, follow trends not logic anymore, which is why the rest of the herd follows without questioning because they are afraid to lose their jobs. Adaptation. Survival mechanism to go along on auto-pilot.

To gain more self awareness she says you need two things. Internal and external. For us as Christian, we should get our internal from God hopefully and that’s where I’ve been getting mine.
But for external she says that you need a “mentor” who can help you.
This again, from a Christian perspective is someone who can help you grow In Christ but adding to what I mentioned on an earlier post about experience, you can get more self-awareness by falling and getting up again.
I mean i was blessed to have a monk in my youth to help me grow in this aspect but i realize that everyone has a different journey and one factor that applies to us all is that when we fall, we learn how to get up, get more wisdom and in turn self-awareness.

She says that some people fear that becoming more self-aware means seeing the ugly truth about yourself.

Well, from a Christian POV this also means on how you see sin. If you think of yourself as sinless then you’re blue-pilled (no self-awareness) but if you think of yourself as the Chief among sinners, like Paul did, then you are more red-pilled (more self-awareness).

That's all i can say for now and thanks for opening this topic.

re: Maslow's Hierarchy, I've adopted the S'wolsam model because I believe realizing our identity as a child of God (but at the least as an image of God) would be foundational in achieving fulfilling in any subsequent needs. This is the summary the fellow presented.

re: Maslow's Hierarchy, I've adopted the S'wolsam model because I believe realizing our identity as a child of God (but at the least as an image of God) would be foundational in achieving fulfilling in any subsequent needs. This is the summary the fellow presented.