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ShadowRider
Senior Member
since 2001-07-14
Posts 1038
USA

0 posted 2002-08-30 05:44 PM




The Expense of Free Will

Some call it a kingdom without a king
a land that can never be owned
Some lose their life over it
some others die for it
It’s quicker to die
than to lose life

What man can ever be free
whose mind chooses for him what to remember?
illusions
or reality
or slaves to a way of thinking
Where does freedom really lie?
in the absences of cages?
in the achievement of security?
in the words of a document?

just perhaps:
it is the ability
to control self-thought
and few men have ever
been its master

[This message has been edited by ShadowRider (08-30-2002 05:52 PM).]

© Copyright 2002 Picasso Lyrics - All Rights Reserved
Martie
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since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
1 posted 2002-08-30 05:55 PM


Jeff

You are such a thinker, yourself...and wise too, it seems.  You have given me a new thought...so perhaps one can't control ones own thoughts, but can give thought to others?  Interesting write...I always enjoy what you have to say.

ShadowRider
Senior Member
since 2001-07-14
Posts 1038
USA
2 posted 2002-08-30 06:06 PM


Hi Martian:
Here's my thinking at the time:  I was trying to get a handle on what was the common denominator between great men.  You have fingered the 2nd part of the equation that i was missing:  that being the ability to alter other's thoughts as well as control of their own.  If we interpret desires acted upon as potentially uncontrolled impulses, it proves how a disciplined mind achieves greatness.

See!  you got me thinking too....is the world  
quite ready enough for you and me both to think at the same time?????  hehehe
jeff

[This message has been edited by ShadowRider (08-30-2002 06:07 PM).]

Marsha
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since 2000-07-10
Posts 7423
Maidstone Kent England
3 posted 2002-08-30 09:25 PM


Jeff darling heart, ahhhh how true your writing is as always you write and I hear the words deep in the places of my soul.  So true, thought should be what comes before action. If there is no action then what use thought, the wise man / woman thinks and then acts, the fool reacts before thinking and the one who only thinks about acting is less than a fool. I’m not entirely sure which of the wise ones said that but I know it’s in a philosophy somewhere

Wonderful writing my dearest friend absolutely wonderful, bumpity bump up you go to gather a whole quiver full of responses. Truly exquisite writing as always. You know I love your work utterly utterly


Love and warm stuff
As always
Mushy



Breathe through the heat of our desire
Thy coolness and they balm
Let sense be dumb let flesh retire
Speak through the earthquake wind and fire

[This message has been edited by Marsha (08-30-2002 09:26 PM).]

Mistletoe Angel
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since 2000-12-17
Posts 32816
Portland, Oregon
4 posted 2002-08-30 10:13 PM




(big hugggssssss) Oh Jeff, this is such a eerie though indeed, it is as though we all are treated like mannequins on a caterpillar tread, educated the same way and we never get the opportunity to think for ourselves and do what truly makes us happy and follow our endeavors! (sad sigh) This deeply saddens me, it seems the modern definition of freedom is exaggerated and so very ersatz to me! I wish for true freedom to find its page again, sweet friend, we all love you so much! You have such a beautiful heart, sweet Jeff, thank you for sharing!



May love and light always shine upon you!

Love,
Noah Eaton

"Underneath your clothes there's an endless story..."

Shakira

Magnus
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since 2001-10-10
Posts 14135
South Carolina, USA
5 posted 2002-08-31 03:01 PM


Jeff,

Watch out,  you got me thinking now, about
all of this philosophy...

I tend to agree,  one must be in control of
their thoughts to become great, so to speak.

And one must have the ability to bring to
them the flock....

Mayhaps one could also be a wolf in sheep's
clothing as well....Taking into consideration
one who almost changed the destiny of the
world through his self beliefs..(Hitler)

Yet,  I would certainly not say he was in
control,  just very controlling...and
dominating...

I doubt I will ever win the battle of self
control....But,  one can certainly try...

Thanx for this thinker of a poem...You do it
well...

Barry

MidnightSon
Member
since 2002-05-15
Posts 312
between the gutter & the stars
6 posted 2002-08-31 04:38 PM


how socratic...what is true freedom? freedom of thought?

if we're thinking things that have been thought before, are we mimicking or are we free in that we chose to follow that doctrine of thought?

control of self thought... is freedom only control of something else? a cage on our thoughts (with an open door) is freedom?
interesting....

i think you're right in a sense. we need to think for ourselves. but i think other perspectives are necessary to life. none of us escapes life without being influenced, by good and bad.

perhaps freedom lies in the choice.
the choice between influence and self thought, between illusion and reality...
between how others say we should be and how we are?

questions hold more truth than the answers...
enjoyed your write, your ideas. got my mind in gear today.

it's our struggle for identity that leaves us all unknown

Bill Charles
Member Patricius
since 2000-07-11
Posts 10619
highways, & byways, for now
7 posted 2002-08-31 04:58 PM


ShadowRider - you write of thoughts true to think about. Free will, what is it really?

BC

Lady In White
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since 2001-02-12
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USA
8 posted 2002-08-31 05:05 PM



Perhaps one of the better poems
of free will

Madame Chipmunk
Member Rara Avis
since 2001-12-05
Posts 8296
Michigan
9 posted 2002-08-31 09:14 PM


Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us in this beautiful philosophical poem, Jeff...
I think we are all born with the will to make ourselves the best we can be...
but some of us...like this chipmunk, are such control freaks that we try to push others into being what we want them to be...
~ hugs from a controlling chipmunk

Lyra

copyright2002 Lyra Nesius

"poetry is life distilled"  Gwendolyn Brooks

Enchantress
Member Empyrean
since 2001-08-14
Posts 35113
Canada eh.
10 posted 2002-08-31 09:27 PM


Very interesting write Jeff...
We are all given free will...
but, something or someone happens along the way...
you have left much for me to ponder tonight.
I missed reading you while away...
Good stuff here!
~Hugs~

~ Time has cast a spell on you
  So you won't ever forget me ~

Midnitesun
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Member Empyrean
since 2001-05-18
Posts 28647
Gaia
11 posted 2002-09-01 02:03 AM


Free will is cool. I never did like having to pay for my thoughts. HUH?
I enjoyed this thought provoking write.
Now if only I could find where I left that damn will!

Dulcinea
Senior Member
since 2001-07-22
Posts 774
IN
12 posted 2002-09-01 05:14 PM


I suppose I have always considered a great man to be one who has the integrity and will to master his own thoughts, and inspire others to do the same. To me, that is what embodies a truly great man... IICor. 10:5
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