3) For me, C) would be the hardest to accept, in which almost no one has any chance of justice or a fair trial; in other words, you need to be liked by the right people in order to have a shot in a court of law. Even if I were liked by the right people I'd hate to have to take advantage of that, and of all the things you could take away from me - ability/motivation, freedom of thought and/or speech, and justice/fairness, I value fairness the most. B) comes a close second though, since it is pretty much impossible to controll your thoughts. In D), I could always choose not to speak up, no matter how hard that might be, but in B) I don't see how you really have a choice whether or not to break the rules. I think A) would be crippling for my motivation to do anything at all because I need competition or a challenge to motivate myself. I'm driven by wanting to be the best, so knowing that there is no "the best" would take the wind out of my sails, but I suppose I could deal with it.
4) Not a fan of either, but if I have to choose river wins out. While I don't like being IN water, I like being NEAR water, so as long as I can stay by the river and not enter it I'll be fine. The river offers more guidance and direction than the forest. It's ridiculously easy to get lost in a forest, but you can always follow the river up- or downstream without much trouble.
1) Probably not the answer you're looking for, but... a bit of both. I do believe in knowledge as an end in and of itself, to a certain extent. Society dictates that everything we do must be directed towards some sort of goal, and that status and money are the most important things, and I don't really know why that is. If I enjoy spending an entire day reading wikipedia articles on the most obscure topics I can find, who says it's wrong to do so? I love just discovering a new topic and reading up about it until I feel like I know enough to be satisfied with it, even if it's something that will never be of any further practical use to me in my entire life. Every now and then. I could not, however, spend every day doing that. I find productivity a lot more satisfying in the long run. I couldn't be a profession student, going through one subject after another, or specialising in one, and spending all my time with theories and questions that have nothing to do with the "real world". It's a privilege that I got to do that for several years, but I need to put my knowledge to use and see what can be done with it, other than just admiring it for the fact that it exists.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2012-07-16 07:24 pm (UTC)B) comes a close second though, since it is pretty much impossible to controll your thoughts. In D), I could always choose not to speak up, no matter how hard that might be, but in B) I don't see how you really have a choice whether or not to break the rules.
I think A) would be crippling for my motivation to do anything at all because I need competition or a challenge to motivate myself. I'm driven by wanting to be the best, so knowing that there is no "the best" would take the wind out of my sails, but I suppose I could deal with it.
4) Not a fan of either, but if I have to choose river wins out. While I don't like being IN water, I like being NEAR water, so as long as I can stay by the river and not enter it I'll be fine. The river offers more guidance and direction than the forest. It's ridiculously easy to get lost in a forest, but you can always follow the river up- or downstream without much trouble.
1) Probably not the answer you're looking for, but... a bit of both. I do believe in knowledge as an end in and of itself, to a certain extent. Society dictates that everything we do must be directed towards some sort of goal, and that status and money are the most important things, and I don't really know why that is. If I enjoy spending an entire day reading wikipedia articles on the most obscure topics I can find, who says it's wrong to do so? I love just discovering a new topic and reading up about it until I feel like I know enough to be satisfied with it, even if it's something that will never be of any further practical use to me in my entire life. Every now and then. I could not, however, spend every day doing that. I find productivity a lot more satisfying in the long run. I couldn't be a profession student, going through one subject after another, or specialising in one, and spending all my time with theories and questions that have nothing to do with the "real world". It's a privilege that I got to do that for several years, but I need to put my knowledge to use and see what can be done with it, other than just admiring it for the fact that it exists.