"And" is such a better word than "but"

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bradly1101

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See what I mean? It's namby pamby to fill your sentences with "little," "a bit," "anyway..." Take a stand, goddamnit.
Efficiency in writing is appreciated with so much to read. I know this may sound ridiculous, but I pare down a lot when I edit, which is almost as fun as the expression. Writing uses a prismatic lexicon, extracting all the colors of the mind, but if you add fluff it never gets read.
 
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interchange

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There are psychotherapies which direct people to rephrase statements from the use of the word "but" to the use of the word "and". I agree that they are not simply interchangeable, but they are both conjunctions used to join independent clauses. Each independent clause would be accurate as a sentence, so the choice of and or but indicates an attitude toward each clause. Sometimes use of but unfairly invalidates the first clause in a way that is reinforcing of an undesirable behavioral pattern.

For example:
"I really want to change, but I'm too anxious about it"
"I really want to change, and I'm anxious about it"

This also involves removal of the word "too" which changes things further. In either statement, a person could be experiencing anxiety which at that point in time prevents change from occurring. The first statement makes a person unlikely to imagine change could occur. The second allows a person to imagine that it might be possible to untangle anxiety from change.
 
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bradly1101

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There are psychotherapies which direct people to rephrase statements from the use of the word "but" to the use of the word "and". I agree that they are not simply interchangeable, but they are both conjunctions used to join independent clauses. Each independent clause would be accurate as a sentence, so the choice of and or but indicates an attitude toward each clause. Sometimes use of but unfairly invalidates the first clause in a way that is reinforcing of an undesirable behavioral pattern.

For example:
"I really want to change, but I'm too anxious about it"
"I really want to change, and I'm anxious about it"

This also involves removal of the word "too" which changes things further. In either statement, a person could be experiencing anxiety which at that point in time prevents change from occurring. The first statement makes a person unlikely to imagine change could occur. The second allows a person to imagine that it might be possible to untangle anxiety from change.
Yes!
 

Carson Dyle

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I had a heart attack and a stroke.

I had a heart attack, but it was a very mild one.

I'm going with "but".
 

bradly1101

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They're obviously not interchangeable in every sentence.

The impetus of this thread came in 1978 when I was 16. I had attended the Erhard Seminar Training (EST). They articulated this as interchange did a few posts up. Despite my age, they allowed me to attend the adult version. Two weekends of the most education about myself, people I had had to that point. Mom had done it and was a changed woman.

Some saw it as a cult. So what [is what's so].

It's also where I learned that boredom is just a hair's breadth from serenity with only the judgment of not having something to do in between. Do something or relax is what I tell myself now.

Boredom is a high state.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhard_Seminars_Training

Edit: these people did it too. The "notables:"

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erhard_Seminars_Training#Notable_participants
 
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Muse

Lifer
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Haven't looked at the second link yet, but that first is fantastic!

Edit: Just finished reading that first link. Erhard gave credit to Zen as the foundation for EST. I've been into Zen since 1970 or so. Back then I read a little book called Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. I reacquired the book a few years ago and have been rereading it the last week or so. I suppose, more than anything, it got me into Zen. Also, I'm partial to Alan Watt's teachings, his writings and lectures (many can be found on Youtube). Watts was deeply into Zen. It can be said that he was himself a Zen master.

Edit2: Ah, I see reading further that Erhard credits his intensive experiences directly with Alan Watts in the 1960's having paved the way for his eventual development of EST.

Edit3: Interesting, the link starts with this: Not to be confused with Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

It's interesting because I had the idea that this thread probably had something to do with NLP, which is an intriguing area I haven't explored much but I think might be worth considering.
 
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Muse

Lifer
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bradly1101, I have been editing the last post I made, subsequent to your liking it. Please reread it. Thanks for the like! :)
 
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bradly1101

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Haven't looked at the second link yet, but that first is fantastic!

Edit: Just finished reading that first link. Erhard gave credit to Zen as the foundation for EST. I've been into Zen since 1970 or so. Back then I read a little book called Zen Flesh, Zen Bones: A Collection of Zen and Pre-Zen Writings. I reacquired the book a few years ago and have been rereading it the last week or so. I suppose, more than anything, it got me into Zen. Also, I'm partial to Alan Watt's teachings, his writings and lectures (many can be found on Youtube). Watts was deeply into Zen. It can be said that he was himself a Zen master.

Edit2: Ah, I see reading further that Erhard credits his intensive experiences directly with Alan Watts in the 1960's having paved the way for his eventual development of EST.

Edit3: Interesting, the link starts with this: Not to be confused with Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP).

It's interesting because I had the idea that this thread probably had something to do with NLP, which is an intriguing area I haven't explored much but I think might be worth considering.
One of the brain's jobs is mind. Mind is physical, able to be trained like a muscle, what doesn't serve can be dropped like a hot potato. Mind control is the warmest, most self serving and therefore globally serving, compassionate, educational path.
 
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Muse

Lifer
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One of the brain's jobs is mind. Mind is physical, able to be trained like a muscle, what doesn't serve can be dropped like a hot potato. Mind control is the warmest, most self serving and therefore globally serving, compassionate, educational path.
I must assume what you mean when you use that hot button term is not the kind George Orwell addressed in 1984 but a very different kind, i.e. controlling your own mind, or as I've heard it said better I think, controlling your emotions. Your emotions dictate your mind and actions. If you are in command of your emotional life you should have reasonable control of your destiny -- my thinking.
 
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bradly1101

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I must assume what you mean when you use that hot button term is not the kind George Orwell addressed in 1984 but a very different kind, i.e. controlling your own mind, or as I've heard it said better I think, controlling your emotions. Your emotions dictate your mind and actions. If you are in command of your emotional life you should have reasonable control of your destiny -- my thinking.
Controlling one's mind is a better way of saying it. Part of my experience has always been to redefine things that seem unnecessarily fearful, and had a different side to them. "Shrinks" are bad? Snowflakes? Bleeding heart (liberal)? SJW? Sometimes my opinions leak out of my head.

I can be somewhat harsh in my assessments. As I learned about stuff (Zen Buddhism, meditation, EST,....), I realized that they were all talking about what I'd call mind control, the most efficient term to me, and a bit manipulative since it would garner questions. 1984, A Clockwork Orange, Brave New World... all spoke of mind control in its most malevolent form. And self hate causes all sorts of controlled thinking, I knew it well and was waking up. There's also benevolent mind control coming from the self or from others with good intentions. My thinking has changed for the better from internal and external mind control many times over my life.

I like making lemonade out of lemons. Cult schmult.

There was a thread I posted in Discussion Club that got little traction, but it was about the built-in calming effect we all have in our minds. An electro-chemical serenity mechanism, and how we stunt it with substances (alcohol, Xanax, Ativan,...- more mind control). When we do that we weaken a crucial "muscle of the mind." Calming ourselves is easy, but pharmaceuticals are easier. Ce la vie.

https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/the-parasympathetic-nervous-system.2525417/
 

Smoblikat

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Have you considered that the letter K is not a fan of you either? Last time I checked, Mayne isnt in the alphabet...........yet K remains............

K:1, Mayne:0
 

bradly1101

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But I thought this thread was about semantics.

“I'm simply saying that there is a way to be sane. I'm saying that you can get rid of all this insanity created by the past in you. Just by being a simple witness of your thought processes.

It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.

And this process of watching is the very alchemy of real religion. Because as you become more and more deeply rooted in witnessing, thoughts start disappearing. You are, but the mind is utterly empty.

That’s the moment of enlightenment. That is the moment that you become for the first time an unconditioned, sane, really free human being.”
Osho

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/zen
 

bradly1101

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Regarding the bawdy talk earlier in the thread; for some reason the best verbal sexual back and forth I've had has always been with straight guys (who knew I'm gay). o_O:eggplant:

Edit: We used to say, "Straight guys are just two drinks away." ;)
 
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