word

Sometimes when you learn a new word, it starts to seem like you hear the word more often. It starts to stand out, you start to pick it out of sentences that otherwise would go to waste.

It’s not that the word is being said more often than before you had learnt it. It’s that now you are aware of it.

The first word where I realized this phenomenon was skeptical.

It also makes me wonder whether we just ignore words and sentences we do not understand. That perhaps we do not even hear them.

unaccomplished

My (e-mail) reply to a friend saying he felt unproductive despite having done a few things.

I think there is some usefulness to that feeling. No matter what or how much I do, I feel like I haven’t accomplished enough. And I am rather comfortable with this feeling now. In some sense it keeps me doing things, which is where I want to be anyway.

do unto others.

The Golden Rule. I’ve always thought it odd and lacking.

First, not everyone loves gold the same. The Golden Rule comes with promises it cannot deliver.

It is a self-centered rule.

Do unto others as you would have others do unto you.

This is much too problematic. Instead of putting yourself in the shoes of others, you have put others in your shoes. There is hubris in this rule, a sense of overreaching self-righteousness. Not everyone wants a pony.

Another modification, taking into consideration the issues above says:

Do unto others as what they would like done unto them.

Or something like that.

This is far too selfless for me. It would be dishonest of me to abide by such a rule. But I can’t claim that I have any better rules to offer. I tread along like one who stumbles, ungracefully threading my steps along vague guidelines.

Do unto others as is consented.