Life or death?

For what are you willing to die?
To what are you willing to live in servitude?

Please, nothing trite.

I'm not willing to die, but i would die to save my children...

I think most of us would do so, and I certainly would do that for my wife as well as my kids.

But, I wonder if that same devotion would motivate someone to spend a lifetime - decades - putting the loved ones' needs ahead of their own.

Easy to say "I'd die for you."

Not so easy to actually "die" to your dreams for them.

This is a conflicting question. I think the sad part is I have no one in my life I would die for. If I "die" for a complete stranger would it be worth it?

But, I wonder if that same devotion would motivate someone to spend a lifetime - decades - putting the loved ones' needs ahead of their own.

Easy to say "I'd die for you."

^^^^

Lots of people do this Larry...think of families with sick members who are looked after for decades by their family. My own person experience ..dealing with someone with Alzheimer's. So..this part..

Not so easy to actually "die" to your dreams for them.

I could quite easily change to..

Very easy for your dreams to die because of them.

I think its easy to say but hard to know until you are put in a situation.

If I could save a few lives in sacraficing my own, I think I would probably do it, esp if they were kids, friends or family.

People die for religious causes. People die for their believes , for their countries. I saw people who died sincerely for the idea of democracy and equality.
I would die for helping others to understand, but I would never die crusading to force them, to obligate them to believe as I do. I would die defending my people but if my people are those who were the aggressor, or they are the ones at fault, I have no obligation to defend them. My oat is not to my country, to my religion or my believes my oat is to defend justice and innocence whether in my side or opposite. truth has no side, light has no side but clarity. absolute clarity.

Umm, I wouldn't die for anyone in particular, I'm not that selfless. I don't know. Maybe when I'm a parent, I will change my mind. But I'm so willing to contribute to medical research by donating my whole body for scientific experiments, any time! :D

I agree, Hellon, that people do subjugate their lives all the time. But I see too many people who should, yet refuse. They palm off the responsibility on others without concern & with weak excuses.

If you die to the temporal
you'll become timeless.
Rumi

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AA9SPF1mehI

^^^^

I'd love to hear your analysis on this statement and also on the link you provided?

* Edit

Actually if you could provide the words that would be a bonus. I've tried to find them online but it's always someone reciting them and I'm having problems hearing all the words being said.

I'd still like for you to come back on your analysis but...I've done a little research on this guy who is doing the voice in the link you provided...Deepak Chopra?....charlatan is all that comes to mind...well, mine at least.

I have to disagree. Whether or not you agree with his approach to holistic medicine, which I personally do not, he has an insightful philosophy. Even to sustain a charlatan pose for over forty years would require a certain core of truth.

Haha I don't do it Hellon you do not deserve it.
what I meant was the first poem about death in respond to the Larry's subject, the next two recites were unavoidable, for I could not find the first one alone.
by the way it is Rumi's poem not Dr. Deepak and it is not even translated or even recited by him. so everything you brought up is absolutely irrelevant.
About Dr Chopra, how long took you to investigate into his life to find out that he is a Charlatan?? your posts show only few minutes: from absolute nothingness to absolute rejection and judgment of another human being!! (( so tragically sad)) A real doctor in which helped million people to change their lives to something at least a little better, including yours truly.
You did not even bother to read any of his books such as: "Quantum Healing" and so many others!! And I am sure if you did you wouldn't enjoy or even understand.
I myself am one of his fan, but he is not my guru. He is a student of Maharishi and that itself is a great source of honor for the practitioners of transcendental meditation all over the world

Actually I am a firm believer of "Integrated Medicine " in United State or "Integrative Health" in United Kingdom .
I do not believe that the conventional medicine is the only answer and as the good Dr. ""Andrew Weil"" mentions, the real answer could not exclude it also.
You should check this out, I firmly believe this is the future (( and almost the present)) of the medicine.

I have to say dear RM that your post is probably the best one on this site!
Absolutely enlightens the truth!

Now don't get me wrong, I believe in science and modern medicine but due to the position in the life I m in I can safely say that the mainstream science and medicine have become corrupted aiming for nothing more than profit and monopoly!!!!! If you don't believe me you need to seriously educate yourself and read upon the side effects of flu shoots, chemotherapy and antidepressant drugs! 21st century science has become the 15th century of church, oppressing alternative thinking and medicine! Naturopathic and homothetic doctors have so much to offer to make someone's life healthier yet their voices are annulled.. Of course you have to keep one thing in mind;
Naturopathic and homothetic remedies only work in a balanced environment!!!!
And since we, humans have blown up so many nuclear bombs, have use so much chemicals to harvest our food and to pollute the environment so recklessly, I'm astound
by the miracle that we are still here by the count of 7+billion

As for the original question of this Life or death thread, I would take care as long as I can or give my life for someone to live if I felt true love towards her or him..

I believe you; even the alternative medicine is going that way. It is the human condition to turn and twist everything to profit and profit to greed and when you role down on the slope of greed there is no stop. When we climb those mountains unfortunately we drag our egos along and then the Newton gravity would take us down again. This is why I do not believe in communism that says: by changing the system, we could change the people. If you do not change the people, they, with their corruption, like termite chew your system bit by bit from within.
just enlightened people, people in the state of heighten awareness could only hold on to a solid system. This is a long discussion.

By the way thanks for the compliment. but let me tell you the truth. in this site they do not care for these things. You are new you do not know the heavy burden of resentment of others that I carry here, of every time thinking: they are going to crucify you again. But this time they do not need so. The community is so small and hand picked. The new one very soon learn that it is better for them to ignore me too. And even the few that like what I stand for they have no guts to come forward in the main board. Even my friends act differently in the main stream.
And all these is because , as you said it, my post might have something to do with the enlightening the truth. I am the Ugly duckling of this site!!
And haha if you are nice with me is because you haven't acquainted with the crowd of beautiful duckling yet

For what are you willing to die?

Interesting question there Larry, so thanks for that. I think, if I had to stop and think about it like I am now there isn't much I'd be willing to sign up to give away my life for at this moment. I say that as I sit with a cup of team in my PJ's safe and sound at home. However, I have had people I work with attack each other with knives and I've stood between them on pure instinct, which could have been fatal so I think in the spur of the moment I have it in my to protect people I care for to the point it might cost me my life.

To what are you willing to live in servitude?

Death and Taxes unfortunately like everyone else! :)

On the subject of alternative medicine...well I think that should be a discussion for another thread, but I will say this. Taking just Homeopathy as an example...do any of you actually know how it is supposed to work? They take an active ingredient, say something like nitroglycerin (used to treat angina) and then they dilute it with water by such a massive factor that in most cases not a single molecule of the active ingredient is left...just water...and that is what they give patients.

Water.

It is a joke and not a single systematic review has ever found solid evidence it does anything. The same can be said for Reiki and many other questionable alternative medicines and practices. There is a reason they are still alternative and it isn't some vast conspiracy to keep their ancient secrets away from the profit based drug companies etc. They don't work or they don't work even a fraction as effectively as scientifically tested methods.

Check this for info on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWE1tH93G9U

^ Ddavidd: You're far from the ugly duckling. Controversy breeds nervousness & from memories of the past people fear the escalation into religious and political flame wars.

It's been some time since that has happened. I think sometimes you have too thin a skin. if someone doesn't like what you say, so what? That's as much their business as it's your business to say it.

On my part, the experiences I've had with alternative medicine has primarily been with chiropracty. This particular alternative did not originate in any place other than the USA; started by a blacksmith who became convinced he could cure most ills by manipulation of the spinal column.

As you say, no opportunity goes by without greed rearing its head. Chiropractic diagnosis became the darling of personal injury attorneys. As a result the conspiracy to defraud insurance companies created a conspiracy among insurers to discredit the personal injury industry. The resulting losers are those with legitimate injuries.

In Texas other alternative treatments are seized upon by chiropractors and that leads to suspicion on my own part as to their efficacy. I do believe they have promise, just not in the form they are currently offered. That's why I respect people like Depok Chopra. He stands by his own beliefs without resort to changing for the sake of greed.

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Kevin, I congratulate you both for your security you currently enjoy & for the willingness to preserve life that lets you instinctively throw it away.

Regarding homeopathy. It's not the medicine that is given but the poison itself. It's diluted to the point it cannot kill you in the premise that your body develops defenses against it.

It's not much different than allergy treatment in that sense.

The integrative medicine do not exclude the conventional medicine. It is the time to use all the good sides of any medicine and do not limit ourselves to any particular practice. DR. Andrew Weil has the most progressive attitude towards the subject. He is a Harvard graduate doctor and a professor in university of Arizona and also a practitioner of shamanistic medicine and acupuncture, and you name it. he is someone that I had the advantage of meeting (and also Dr. Chopra.) DR. Weil says: to deny the conventional medicine is the out most ridiculous thing to do. We have to integrate it to the new era of medicine.

Only by one example if it is true, from one small branch, we could not reject all movement of the modern medicine . There are thousand and thousand cases of bad chemistry from the conventional medicine documented also.

Dear Larry if you remember the Hans Christian Anderson's story you would know the ugly ducking in real is not ugly.

Hey Larry,

you are being too generous to Homeopathy to suggest it works in much the same way as a vaccine. People are not given a small dose of whatever is harming them in the hope their body developes a resistance. They are given nothing but water or such a tiny does of active ingredient it is scientifically impossible for it to have any serious effect.

Homeopaths believe the water "remembers" the active ingredient and so it doesn't matter if you dilute it out of the water...the water has memory.

I'm all for drinking more water but come on.

The ugly duckling turned into a swan? I liked that story.

Edit: hmm.. I would die for when death greets me, not sure when nor how or for whom or for what caused, i just hope it is for a good one.

It was a swan from the beginning. But he did not tune to the sound of other ducking so they all rejected him.

Not like vaccine, not at all.
I underwent allergy desensitization a while back. The shots were comprised of minute amounts of the allergens which gradually built up to higher levels.

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Dd: I understood your simile.

Well Larry, I can't speak to the specifics of the treatment you recieved but if the Homeopath was following their training, whatever you were given would have been diluted to the point it would not have helped you over and above being a placebo.

I'm open to someone challenging me on the validity of this as I'm by no means an expert but a cursory reading of the theory and practice lets me make a fairly safe bet it isn't a worthy therapy.

Good good Larry so you know ::

"Swans Protected by the Queen's charter as they are considered as an endangered species. These birds belong to the Crown under an ancient charter and the queen has the prerogative right of ownership for all the mute swans in England and Wales."

Lets move to England

Rather amusing video about Homeopathy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMGIbOGu8q0

Some thought on Homeopathy from the integrative practitioners:

Homeopathy was a dominant medical system in the U.S. in the 19th century. It was gradually replaced by a system of medicine based on substances that directly counter symptoms, rather than increasing them in hopes of stimulating the body's healing response.

Dr. Weil feels that homeopathy has value, even if it merely evokes a placebo response. If that response does indeed heal then it has great value - in other words, rather than discounting the placebo response, physicians should exploit it as a safe, effective way to treat disease.

Dr. Bell recommends treating yourself with homeopathic remedies only for acute problems that are likely to be self-limited. Dr. Weil agrees. Only a highly trained and experienced homeopath can determine which of the available remedies would be right for a specific patient in any given chronic health condition. Therefore, it is of great concern that individuals may try to self-treat a condition with homeopathy that should be treated by a medical doctor. As far as internet advertising of homeopathic treatments goes, in general, if you have a serious health problem, Dr. Weil suggests you rely on the advice of health professionals rather than on remedies promoted on the web.

So you are the One, the ugly duckling lol If you really think about it, its an honor though..

Kevin, I may have implied my treatment was by homeopathic method, but it was standard allergy treatment by regular MDs. It's merely the same concept.

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Dd: ok, I accept that you have discerned yourself as UD [ugly duckling]. From this point you may sign on as UDDdavidd.

Please stop there, we are running out of Ds for new members.

Haha Larry soo funny. worry not I have extensive supply of vitamin D in my integrative medicine cabinet

thanks NIN that certainly is. The most painful honor though. You have to endure a huge amount of alienation, humiliation and depression....

Back to the subject of death:

"A warrior considers himself already dead, so there is nothing to lose. The worst has already happened to him, therefore he's clear and calm; judging him by his acts or by his words, one would never suspect that he has witnessed everything."

~ Carlos Castaneda