RE: Tranquility

From: Lee Corbin (lcorbin@tsoft.com)
Date: Fri Jul 11 2003 - 00:29:16 MDT

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    Randall writes

    > > But anyone who has the presence of self to have resisted so
    > > hard and so long, why had she not the ability to say and do
    > > what they wanted, yet continue to lead a quite separate
    > > inner life? I would have had no trouble after the age of
    > > eleven or so.
    >
    > Some people can do this, and some people cannot, or refuse to.

    Why, that might be The Answer! She may indeed go through
    life completely unable to control her tongue, whether it's
    in class, in movie theaters, talking to the police, or in
    church.

    But if it's not, then I agree: she's just *refusing* to.
    I still don't get why. Unbelievably fierce stubbornness,
    pride, and resolve are parts of it, no doubt. I wonder
    if Robert Roy MacGregor ("Rob Roy", the great Scottish
    rebel) would have acted the same way in the same situation.
    Somehow, I can't help feeling that at Tranquility Bay, he'd
    be more sensible, and plot his revenge with more cunning.

    > You appear to be asserting that Multiple Personality Disorder
    > is preferable to less than two years of physical discomfort.

    Joking? Actors, deceivers, and other people in good control of
    their outward expressions and appearance hardly have MPS.

    > > I wonder if she had managed to learn at a tender age
    > > that if you scream long enough and do whatever else
    > > it takes, you *can* win the contest of wills with your
    > > parents.
    >
    > It may be that she did learn that. Nevertheless, it isn't
    > a good excuse to use force against her.

    I wasn't saying that this was a justification, I was only
    submitting it as an explanation. But yes, parents shouldn't
    always surrender to the whims of their children, no matter
    how resolute the children are.

    > >> I know, intellectually, that I'm capable, but there's something
    > >> very deep in me that is only satisfied if I'm very far from the
    > >> goal, and makes actually finishing any project harder than stopping
    > >> just shy of success. I often "come to" saying "What the hell am I
    > >> doing?" when I find myself playing a video game for hours on end
    > >> when I would otherwise have finished a weeks-long project that day.
    > >
    > > Now this part, I intuit, doesn't really add up. I think
    > > some other factors must be at play.
    >
    > Really? I'm interested to know what your opinions are on that.

    I don't know for sure, just a feeling. I take it that you have
    subtracted the usual effects

      1. as the most interesting and stimulating part of
         a project is done, it is often very distasteful
         to finish it off
      2. fear (learned unconsciously from previous instances)
         of not having anything to do when the project is
         finally done. Some people just feel at awful loose
         ends with themselves in these situations.
      3. We all "come to" and ask ourselves "what the hell we
         are doing" from time to time; it's still to be figured
         out if your case is in some way specially different
         (it could be)

    > Are you saying that you think "being a rebel" is a genetic
    > predisposition,

    Of course. Besides, what else could it be?

    > such that their brains are actually different and not susceptible
    > to the ordinary mind-altering behaviors that the rest of us are?

    Everyone is susceptible; it's always a question of degree.
    Remember, even that girl after 18 months eventually got out
    of lying on her face.

    Religious martyrs who suffered unbelievably because they
    would not say "it's one in three" instead of "it's three
    in one" (or some fool thing like that), probably would
    have broken under modern forms of brainwashing, wherein
    the prisoner is starved and beaten for months.

    Off for a three day weekend.

    Later,
    Lee



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