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A brilliant Essay


DarterBlue

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3 hours ago, DarterBlue said:

Written by a man I philosophically disagree with, but it's worth a read and totally reflects the reason I lack respect for many that post on this board.

https://archive.org/details/pdfy-x4ByD3mMjIdTMC0H/mode/2up

Yes it was a very interesting and well written essay.  It has of course forced me to examine my own failings in regards to honesty.  While I can't find disagreement with anything he said, I do/have questioned my ability to distinguish between merely my opinion, which may or may not be accurate, and whether I even have the knowledge or expertise or experience to give an opinion on the question asked.  I know that this point was addressed but it is still something that I need to work out before I could confidently be 'honest' about a particular question.  What if my advice or opinion has the opposite affect of my well intentioned honesty. 

Example: If somebody asked what I thought about their clothing designs, as they wanted to be a designer, and having no knowledge or experience about this my opinion would be IMO meaningless.  It could influence that person to go into another field or go all in and try to be a designer.  Maybe what  I had originally thought was a bad design would, after a few months,  change to thinking it was great.  But by that time the person decided to go in another direction and thus not follow a passion and career that they would have been best suited.  

I also think that there are times when being honest about 'does this make me look fat' questions that we have all heard before can have lifelong consequences for the person if the honest answer is yes.  While the honesty may be appreciated on some level, the hurt can also be profound on another level and is not always reconciled.  

Thoughts?  

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2 minutes ago, World Citizen said:

Yes it was a very interesting and well written essay.  It has of course forced me to examine my own failings in regards to honesty.  While I can't find disagreement with anything he said, I do/have questioned my ability to distinguish between merely my opinion, which may or may not be accurate, and whether I even have the knowledge or expertise or experience to give an opinion on the question asked.  I know that this point was addressed but it is still something that I need to work out before I could confidently be 'honest' about a particular question.  What if my advice or opinion has the opposite affect of my well intentioned honesty. 

Example: If somebody asked what I thought about their clothing designs, as they wanted to be a designer, and having no knowledge or experience about this my opinion would be IMO meaningless.  It could influence that person to go into another field or go all in and try to be a designer.  Maybe what  I had originally thought was a bad design would, after a few months,  change to thinking it was great.  But by that time the person decided to go in another direction and thus not follow a passion and career that they would have been best suited.  

I also think that there are times when being honest about 'does this make me look fat' questions that we have all heard before can have lifelong consequences for the person if the honest answer is yes.  While the honesty may be appreciated on some level, the hurt can also be profound on another level and is not always reconciled.  

Thoughts?  

It's very complicated. I think the best we can do is to try and live our lives with as much integrity as we can. Too many of us do not to the point where some have difficulty even discerning the very nature of truth itself.  

In the case you cite around design, perhaps the best answer would be, "I honestly don't have the expertise to give you an opinion, but to my naked eye, it looks (insert your feelings about the design)." 

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3 minutes ago, DarterBlue said:

It's very complicated. I think the best we can do is to try and live our lives with as much integrity as we can. Too many of us do not to the point where some have difficulty even discerning the very nature of truth itself.  

In the case you cite around design, perhaps the best answer would be, "I honestly don't have the expertise to give you an opinion, but to my naked eye, it looks (insert your feelings about the design)." 

That is how I would handle that.  I know how a single comment can stick with people forever, especially the negative ones, so it is something that I do think about.  

It was a great essay and I hope others do read.  There is also the idea about perception and that people see what they believe is there and they believe it because they want it to be there.  No 'truth' can convince them of what they do not want.  There is a lot of that going on today with projection leading to perception and thus becoming true for that individual.  That is true just for others and not us though.  :D

 

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