Before we as individuals are even conscious of our existence we have been profoundly influenced for a considerable time (since before birth) by our relationship to other individuals who have complicated histories, and are members of a society which has an infinitely more complicated and longer history than they do (and are members of it at a particular time and place in that history); and by the time we are able to make conscious choices we are already making use of categories in a language which has reached a particular degree of development through the lives of countless generations of human beings before us. . . . We are social creatures to the inmost centre of our being. The notion that one can begin anything at all from scratch, free from the past, or unindebted to others, could not conceivably be more wrong.
quote by Karl Popper
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Related quotes
I believe that individuals can make a difference in society. Since periods of change such as the present one come so rarely in human history, it is up to each of us to make the best use of our time to help create a happier world.
Dalai Lama in Speech (1992)
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Over the past year, several cases of human rights abuses, specifically sexual exploitation and abuse, by individuals involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations have raised the suspicions of many Members of Congress and members of the International Relations Committee.
quote by Michael McCaul
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It avoids a self-conscious relationship to the act. We live in the most self-conscious society in the history of mankind. There are good things in that, but there are also terrible things. The worst of it is, that we find it hard to give ourselves to the cultural process.
quote by Larry Harvey
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The Comfort in Talking Shop
there is a warmth that comes with the talk of work-
when two or more individuals converse about skills & their
prospective mutual context,
of which they may or may not have worked together in
for weeks, months or
years,
but which all parties speaking
know something about because they all hold relevant
experience
in the area being discussed-
people who genuinely work at their jobs,
whatever they may be,
are able to find a kind of sustenance in the work itself
which others may never find,
if they spend their whole lives
complaining
about every little thing it is that they do-
these individuals
may never know the comfort
which comes with discussing the simple nuances
of a job that is shared,
which brings with it no obligation except
the present work that is needed to be
done-
unlike other communities which members of a workplace may also be involved in,
together or alone,
the job
brings with it a sense of solidarity
that may be unique to our species
&
which can lead to discussions of past employment and
past experiences in our lives
revealing that our paths have led us to such a specific
juncture in time
wherein we now toil
together,
until that time when we part ways & move on.
poem by Andrew Delapruch
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Ancestral domain my quest
history tells on people, geography, race, culture and
events, is a wonderful topic for, the process gives
meaningful aspect of human sphere
great civilization started in common principle, an
inherent idea, that all men are created equal, above
other living animal who lives in this wonderful earth
a unquestionable notion that all species are free to
procreate, free to exist, free to subdue of what is
given and has all the opportunity to live in any given
time
the land is the only living testimony that witness the
existence of our races in many ages, for it is the race
who own the land, any dishonor of the human race is
worse than death
not need to go, beyond cultural languages and principle
but only we need to know the basic principle that before
the culture comes to existence the human lives, owns
the land
defination of terminology, even indigenous people as
defind has nothing to say on the real meaning of race,
words definition, hutchs the essence of human race
it is now the quest of every race, to praxis and achieve
our meaningful existence, for only our race lives forever,
and zeal by time in the history of ancestral domain,
a quest of our human race.......
poem by Antonio Liao
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Concepts, like individuals, have their histories and are just as incapable of withstanding the ravages of time as are individuals. But in and through all this they retain a kind of homesickness for the scenes of their childhood.
quote by Soren Kierkegaard
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The History of Now
The recording of culture is history;
but our culture is more than that.
It's the world of human action,
and the myths we make of the fact.
The recording of history is culture,
but our history is more than that.
It informs a hidden agenda.
Unconscious of motive we act.
It's the history of now, the history of now.
It's only the present that exists as endowed.
It's the history of now. The moment - KAPOW!
That knocks you right over and muddies your brow.
Through the prism of language, we know what we know.
We carry our baggage and stories of woe.
Victor and vanquished pride cannot budge,
the dead weight of hatred and ancestral grudge.
We fight our good fights with our hand on our heart;
the music is swelling as loved ones depart.
As sheep to the slaughter, the script cannot chart,
a course more ignoble: the propagandist's art.
The recording of history is culture,
but our culture is more than that.
More than the great individuals,
the scholars so love in their tracts.
The recording of culture is history;
but our history is more than that.
Not simple dates or statistics,
the full horror and gore still attracts.
It's the history of now, the history of now.
A strange contradiction that makes sense somehow.
It's the history of now, a mystery and shroud.
The past and the future: best fiction allowed.
poem by David SmithWhite
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But the history of the changes produced by a universal idea is not a history of changes in the individual, but of changes brought about by the successive efforts of millions of individuals in the course of many generations.
quote by Lafcadio Hearn
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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We human beings are what we have been for millions of years — colossally greedy, envious, aggressive, jealous, anxious and despairing, with occasional flashes of joy and affection. We are a strange mixture of hate, fear and gentleness; we are both violence and peace. There has been outward progress from the bullock cart to the jet plane but psychologically the individual has not changed at all, and the structure of society throughout the world has been created by individuals. The outward social structure is the result of the inward psychological structure of our human relationships, for the individual is the result of the total experience, knowledge and conduct of man. Each one of us is the storehouse of all the past. The individual is the human who is all mankind. The whole history of man is written in ourselves.
quote by Krishnamurti
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Even the most wretched individual of our present society could not exist and develop without the cumulative social efforts of countless generations. Thus the individual, his freedom and reason, are the products of society, and not vice versa: society is not the product of individuals comprising it; and the higher, the more fully the individual is developed, the greater his freedom — and the more he is the product of society, the more does he receive from society and the greater his debt to it.
quote by Mikhail Bakunin
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Complicated Suicide
Another Complicated Suicide,
it all went according to plan.
Another Complicated Suicide,
will be the one that killed me.
The one that i tried to cut myself down,
i belong to heaven.
The one that I will do over again,
I will be gone for good.
Another Complicated Suicide,
another one that failed.
Another Complicated Suicide,
and it is the same old shit.
Tried to cut myself to die,
i guess it is not my time.
Same old trip,
that did not work.
Another Complicated Suicide,
Man, I did not do it right or something.
Another one of my stupid suicide's,
Why am i still alive.
poem by Bianca Baier
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Complicated Suicide
Another complicated suicide,
it all went acording to plan.
another complicated suicide,
will be the one t kill me.
the one that i tryed to cut myself down,
i belong to heaven,
the one that i will do over again,
i will be gone for good.
another complicated suicide,
another one tha faild.
another complicated suicide,
and it is the same old shit.
trye to cut myself to die,
i guess it was not yy time.
same old trip,
that did not work.
another complicated suicide,
man, i did not do it right or something,
another one of my stupide suicide's,
why an i still alive.
poem by Bianca Mae Baier
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Black History Month
In January...
There they are making history.
In February...
There they are making history.
In March...
There they are making history.
In April...
There they are making history.
In May...
There they are making history.
In June...
There they are making history.
In July...
There they are making history.
In August...
There they are making history.
In September...
There they are making history.
In October...
There they are making history.
In November...
There they are making history.
In December...
There they are making history.
But...
It's nice to know
The shortest month of the year
Was chosen to celebrate
The great deeds of African-Americans!
However...
It is those LEAP YEARS,
That really have the blacks jumping for joy!
Note: 'Black History Month' along with other
works of interest can be found in...
*'MindPrints from Untouched Places-VOL I'*
~Now available online at a PC near you~
poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar
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Complicated Shadows
Well you know your time has come and youre sorry for what youve done
You shouldve never have been playing with a gun
In those complicated shadows
Well theres a line that you must toe
And itll soon be time to go
But its darker than you know in those complicated shadows
All you gangsters and rude clowns
Who were shooting up the town
When you should have found someone to put the blame on
Though the furys hot and hard
I still see that cold graveyard
Theres a solitary stone thats got your name on
You dont have to take it from me
But I know what I spake
You think youre like iron and steel
But iron and steel will bend and break
In those complicated shadows
Go!
Sometimes justice you will find
Is just dumb not colour-blind
And your poor shattered mind cant take it all in
All those phantoms and those shades
Should jump up on judgement day
And say to the almighty Im still stinking of sin
But the jury was dismissed
Took his neck and they give it a twist
So you see you wont be missed in those complicated shadows
You can say just what you like in a voice like a john ford film
Take the law into your hands
You will soon get tired of killing
In those complicated shadows
Complicated shadows
Complicated shadows
Complicated shadows
Go!
song performed by by Elvis Costello
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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It is rather a problem of how to secure the best use of resources known to any of the members of society, for ends whose relative importance only those individuals know.
quote by Friedrich August von Hayek
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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The History Teacher
Woman!
Where exactly
Did you put me
In the women's history?
Am I History?
Or a part of it?
And for how long you are lacking me in;
Between
Your History,
Women's History, and
Your archives?
Does time make sense to you
As a History teacher or
As a History professor?
Cause', History, buying time, and rejuvenation
Are for emperors.
Are you making me
An emperor?
Or a Faeroe?
If so,
How precise your are?
And if you can't feel my present presence
how possibility could you feel me through your archives?
poem by Atef Ayadi
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My Mirror
The mirror and I have this relationship
complicated as can be;
sometimes my shadow it is
non-consequential.
But other times I gaze
for minutes on end
to see which me
lives there
gazing back at me.
Sometimes I wince
touching the tiny scratches
to see
if they are in the mirror
or in my skin.
I've looked naked into it
turning slowly
front back
and sideways
using my critical eye;
not so bad here
gravity winning there.
I have this relationship
with my mirror
complicated it seems.
But it lights up times
when I suddenly
feel your arm
at my shoulder's edge;
when your light
shines in my mirror's eye.
I want to keep you there
for this
and many years.
I have had this complicated relationship
with my mirror
uncomplicated
by you and all these
many years.
poem by Lonnie Hicks
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Like their personal lives, women's history is fragmented, interrupted; a shadow history of human beings whose existence has been shaped by the efforts and the demands of others.
quote by Elizabeth Janeway
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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There Is No Such Thing As An Individual
She looked at me
and asked.
'What is your answer? '
I was startled
and caught up short.
Simple question.
But I did not know
what the answer was.
'Who am I'?
I blurted out
vying for time;
I gave her my name
narrowing it to the millions
of Jim Jones in the world.
But am I my name?
She said
What else.?
'I am Hedi's Father
and Lisa's husband'
but before this response rolled away
into silence
I knew it wasn't enough.
So who else?
'I like hockey' I said
and knew even this
fell short.
How do I single out
the Me among millions?
What could I say
without out offering
fingerprints or DNA?
What would you say?
Maybe I should have given her
an address.
Only I live there.
But my address
is not my essence.
So who
in fact
is the I-
the me,
that I see-
as individual
and precious?
I really didn't
at that point
have an answer.
What about achievements?
.
How many individuals have
my job
and my name?
Fewer still.
This at least narrows it.
But then
the thought came;
I am not an individual.
I am the Me that
has a family and a history
a genealogy;
only me
has that.
I am not an individual
but a person
who can be identified
in the web of relationships
which surround me;
have surrounded me;
which in the end
have defined me.
I am not an individual.
I am all the people who
have influenced me-
nurtured me been kind to me or hurtful.
So there is then
this myth of the individual
which is not so.
But if this is not true
is it not so that much
of society and indeed Democracy itself
is premised
on the creating the conditions
for individual expression;
individual growth?
Is this premise correct
and the individual lives;
or is it that more real
is society and social relationships.?
So which is which?
But then again, one cannot touch society.
Confusing no?
poem by Lonnie Hicks
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Formation of a new race takes place when, over several generations, individuals in one group reproduce more frequently among themselves than they do with individuals in other groups.
quote by J. Philippe Rushton
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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