Wednesday, November 02, 2005

THE KOAN OF THE SACRED [FWD:]

Only a man whose heart is pure can wield the knife, and only a man whose ass is narrow can get down these steps. And if mine's is such an ass, then I shall have it.

- Eddie Murphy, from The Golden Child

I remember the early days of web-based e-mail, the days before junk mail filters, Nigerian money-laundering schemes, and penis-enlargement advertisements. Back in the days when Hotmail and Yahoo were pretty much the only games in cyberspace. Sure, there were UNIX-based e-mail clients, with names like BLUE and PINE. But they were clunky and required basically a memory full of command lines...or a cheat sheet.

It blows my mind how far we've come in the last decade.

One of the stalwarts of e-mail, that annoying 9-year-old cousin in your inbox that has long refused to grow up, has been the 21-questions-about-nothing chainmail.

You know, the ones you've filled out at least a dozen times already? The tedious forms where one fills in information about favorite colors and birthdays and first loves and favorite flavor of ice cream and...

Well, you get the point.

For the first time in years, I finally got one that was, well, a bit deeper than most. I actually had to, well, think. Think about deep things.

I'm starting to think there's some secret society out there that's been collecting responses to these things for the last decade.

Now that they know our favorite colors and first crushes, what will they do with this information?



Answer these seven questions and send it to whoever you like:

1. You're in a room with Jesus, the Buddha, Lao Tze, and the Prophet Muhammed. They ask you if you think they made a positive influence in the world. How do you answer, in five words or less?

You provided us with hope.

2. If you could end three - and only three - of the world's biggest problems, what would they be?

Poverty, hunger, war.

3. In 1945, the United States became the only country to deploy nuclear weapons in a war, destroying two Japanese cities. The justification for this was that a land invasion would've cost possibly two to three times as many lives on both sides. If you were Harry Truman, would you have made the same decision?

Yes.

4. Given only these two choices, would you (a) choose to have an enormously successful sex life and never again fall in love, or (b) fall in love and never again have sex?

Tough one... B.

5. Which one (and only one) of the following would you choose, if you had to choose a lover tomorrow? (a) a person of strong mind but weak will, (b) a person of weak mind but strong willed, or (c) a person of weak mind and will but who is only physically attractive to you? Why?

B. A weak mind can be fed.

6. Would you lie to someone if you knew the truth would end your friendship/relationship?

No.

7. Kindness. Is this a concept that have value (like money or other tangible things) or does it exist as simply emotion? Why?

I think it has value, but that value lies in the emotion.



Damn, that gave me a headache.

At least I didn't get threatened with seven years of bad luck for not sending the e-mail to seven people in seven minutes.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

LOL...I havea friend from h.s. that sends me these things all the time and i think i got this one a while ago. now that you mention it, there are a few that seem to be getting more philosophical. maybe aliens? gathering data for the invasion?

Anonymous said...

Hey, I NEVER threatened you with bad luck if you didn't pass it on! ;-)

Anonymous said...

That's like serious zen meditation shit, man. i was at this peace group meeting where somebody was arguing about the Truman nuke stuff. that's a hard one. sos the sex one ;)

Anonymous said...

1. In me, you did.

2. Poverty, hunger, reality TV. There are occasions where war is (unfortunately) the only recourse. Reality TV has no excuse whatsoever for telling me the petty melodramas of someone I will never meet are more important than my daily life. Stand around the watercooler at work to see what I mean.

3. No. Simply because a possibility was realized ... that of instant, collossal elimination ... and the door was opened to the dangers of such weapons technology falling into certain hands.

4. B. Easily. The joy of sex lasts in terms of hours and minutes. The joy of love lasts for life, and is a greater thrill than any sexual conquest.

5. B. For the same reasons ... a weak mind can be made strong. A strong will can commit. A weak will, on the other hand, is more difficult to strengthen.

6. Maybe. Depending on what the "truth" is. Depends on whether or not I could still like myself after the lie, frankly. If it's something such as cheating on them or using them, or along those lines, then No, I would not lie. If it is something lesser, such as an issue of who other friends are or what someone else said, then likely it's a Yes, I would lie to keep the friendship/relationship.

7. Kindness is an act driven by the emotion of love, which drives all goodness. The emotion of love carries an intangible value, one that is felt more than is seen.

Kendra K. said...

that is definitely one of the tougher questionaires i've seen on the net. i don't think i could answet it.

i still use pine, and i love it.

Leigh said...

I agree with Kendra, that is a very insightful group of questions. Very well answered I might add Mr.J :)

Anonymous said...

Nice answers. and already having a headache, too much for me to think about.
I think you answered them quite well though.

I never get any thoughtful spam mail.

Cooper said...

hell i can't seem to do this word verification correctly.

That was alice above.

Unknown said...

My 2 cents as follows

1.If you believe you did

2. Overpopulation, Laziness, intolerance

3. After Pearl Harbor (being shot in the back) all bets were off!

4. Love is a need sex is a desire.

5. Without a strong will I would eat them alive.

6. I would like to be able to say no but I think if the lie would hurt them no if the lie would hurt me but benefit them maybe.

7. Depends on if you believe in Karma. All kindness has a value. When you do for others in enriches your life and all does come back.

The ZenFo Pro said...

Katherine:
I think the aliens thing may have some validity...:)

MM:
No, yours are generally inciteful, as areSmurf's And not threats needed ;)

Brit:
Nukes and sex...yes, tough indeed.

G:
Nice answers, dude.

Kendra:
LOL, hope I didn't come across as bashing PINE. I have colleagues who still love it.

Leigh:
Hey, thanks! It did give me a bit of a headache, though...but I think too much anyway ;)

Alice/Anon:
Yeah..the word verification thing is strange sometimes, but it keeps the spammers away. And yes, do not try to answer it whilst nursing a headache :)

KFig:
No. 5 --- hmmm...yes, you would.