Cliché Series # 1: The Proverbial Volume in the Glass

By Doug “Uncola” Lynn via TheBurningPlatform.com

I like to collect thoughts.  For me, it’s no different than someone who collects baseball cards, or antiques, or classic cars, or books, or coins.  In all of these examples, the collector finds value in the collected.  The value may be manifested as monetary worth, private enjoyment, personal or professional significance, of educational benefit, or, of course, in many other ways.  Very often the thoughts collected in me noggin are delivered in the form of clichés.  For many people, especially writers, the fact that a saying has been handed down through many generations, or shared by millions of others, tends to detract from its overall value; or, at the very least, is considered as somehow “less than” the same concept formulated into original wording or revealed in an otherwise novel manner.

But why?  Doesn’t the very fact that a saying has stood the test of time, so to speak, prove it to be of more value than, say, other untested premises?  Yet this is very often not the case.  It seems the standard cliché is commonly viewed in an unfavorable light; and even assigned various names with negative connotations hidden within, like: banality, bromide, platitude, proaism, et al.  Maybe people dislike cliché’s because they feel these lead to lazy thinking. Or perhaps many folks consider what is “common” to be of less value.  Or, maybe they believe what is old, is simply worn out.

Yet, it is they who are being lazy.

Is the glass half empty?  Or half full?

Think about that for a second.  You’ve most likely heard this cliché hundreds of times in your life.  But have you ever really meditated on what it really means; on how it might apply to you; or why this common expression has entered into the Phraseology Hall of Fame within the vast lexicon of Mankind?

Is the glass half empty?  Or half full?

Seriously, a non-judgmental, and non-lazy, writer could type an entire volume of books on these very questions; even applying them to numerous perspectives and worldviews of diverse individuals and societies alike. This timeworn adage could, in fact, be scientifically studied to determine the effects of attitude on motivation; the yins and yangs of pessimism versus optimism; failure as opposed to success; even life and death.

And, what of the philosophical implications regarding the relevance of truth on perspectives? Or the consequences of choice and action?  In other words, when considering the proverbial glass as either half empty, or half full, does truth even matter?  Is it not true that both perspectives are factual; that the glass is half full and half empty, simultaneously?  And, if this is the case, does it not mean that all perspectives are “relative” and in the eyes of the beholder? Or, is there a universal dividing line in the glass to define its volume; truth versus falsehood, light against dark?

These are the questions I ask myself from time to time; and, I keep coming back to this conclusion:

Our perspective determines our reality.

  

What you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing; it also depends on what sort of person you are.

C.S. Lewis

 

Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.

Marcus Aurelius

 

There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception.

Aldous Huxley

 

Today, America stands at a crossroads.  We are a nation ideologically divided; a country in the throes of divorce.

There are those who look at America as the home of gluttonous capitalists and merciless imperialists; pillagers of the less fortunate societies throughout the world.  These people long for social justice, economic socialism, and the establishment of a world state to administer harmony and equality. They dream of “one world” without borders, or war.

What could go wrong?

On the other side, there are those who embrace the healthy separation of cultures and endorse national pride, free markets, and fair international trade. This group views America as an economic engine of the world and understands how only capitalism and moral law can lift all nations from poverty; thus allowing for individuals and families alike to prosper in free lands.

Obviously, these groups have different values and share no desire to compromise.

Again, what could go wrong?

Had Hillary Clinton won the 2016 Presidential Election, America would no doubt be on the fast track for universal single-payer healthcare, stricter gun laws, expanded climate change initiatives, and increased illegal immigration. Conversely, President Donald Trump has delivered a conservative judge to the United States Supreme Court, decreased illegal immigration by almost 70%, and has implemented over 150 presidential actions all designed to make America great again, including: regulatory reform, a federal employee hiring freeze, decreased funding for sanctuary cities, construction of a border wall, and removing the U.S. from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Climate Accord, just to name a few.

 

 

Moreover, since the election of Trump, the illegal and corrupt collusion between the corporate mainstream media and the neoconic deep state military industrial complex has been fully exposed for all those willing to see.  Indeed, the fake news Russian election hacking narrative has completely removed the veil from the nefariously unscrupulous establishment power-brokers and their minions.  Even if they are successful and Trump is one day removed from office, or is proven to have been a pawn all along, there is no going back. The damage has been done. The hidden powers have been unmasked.

At the same time, Trump, like his presidential predecessors, bombed a middle eastern nation under phony pretense; geopolitical tensions have increased with Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran; the Federal Reserve-induced economic bubbles are about to burst around the world; Obamacare remains the law of the land; and chicks with dicks, plus boys with tits, are now banned from fighting in the United States military.

Is the glass half full or half empty?  It depends upon where you look.

Author: Uncola

I am one who has found the road less traveled while remaining a whiskered, whispering witness to the world. I hope what you just considered was worth the price and time spent. www.TheTollOnline.com

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Not quite sober
Not quite sober

Very good read. Especially the thoughts on perspective. I guess you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

Javelin
Javelin

One of my favorite philosophies in life is about perspective:
“The key to happiness is gratitude”

Stubb
Stubb

Yep. If one looks at what is actually in the glass instead of what is thought to be missing, there is always much to be thankful for.

Ned2
Ned2

You are absolutely correct, being the contents of the glass pictured appear to be BEER!

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

I go with Phil 4:6-7 on that.

Javelin
Javelin

Also,verse 8. One of my favorites

suzanna
suzanna

Interesting indeed. And we know perspective is everything.

Some days I think the 1/2 glass is tainted and I experience
despair. I worry about the entire population of the world
because crime and corruption runs rampant. People suffer
because psychopaths seek to enrich themselves by
exploiting the weaker vulnerable countries and groups.

We in the US are played, propagandized, and manipulated.
We cannot be sure what is “correct” or unbiased, and that
creates a vast cynicism, and a lack of trust. Deliberate
mistrust, and even hatred toward other groups, is
manufactured.

On a personal assessment? I am filled with gratitude for my
simple life, and I treasure it. The glass is half full.
And I get to respond to elegant essays on TBP! I love that.

Maggie
Maggie

If I might interject a thought? I prefer my glasses 1/2 to 2/3 full because I’m a spiller.

Or perhaps dribbler is a better term.

In the world of cliché gone mad, let’s not cry over spilled milk.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

I don’t get what Snoop Doug is trying to say but, for me, the jugs are half full. I’m looking at you, Maggie.

Dutchman
Dutchman

It doesn’t matter if the glass is half full, or half empty. Rather it’s not beer. Someone pissed in the glass.

Hollywood Rob

This is just nihilism. It doesn’t matter whether the glass is half empty or half full. It is a non-question, a conundrum, an irrelevancy. Precision allows one to step beyond the silly question to the heart of the matter. Almost surely, to the eye, it appears as though the glass is half full or maybe half empty, but this is not the case. It is always just slightly more to the full side or more to the empty side making the question mute.

If you really care about the question…drink the damned beer and make the glass all full again. Problem solved.

Norman Franklin

Uncola, That was a welcome break from the political skullduggery on a drizzly Friday morning. Nicely done. The wife and I are grateful for the life we live now. As they say we have bloomed were we’ve been planted. So much rain lately everything is growing by inches on a daily basis, which makes us busy as a one legged man in an ass kicking contest.

TJF
TJF

Perception is reality.

BB

Being in pain can change you perspective.It can get to the point all you want is to be pain free.

Francis Marion

It’s the little things that matter most BB.

That perspective has been brought on over many years of battling chronic pain.

For me, there is something intensely satisfying about a warm (not hot), clear summer day with a light breeze that makes the leaves of the poplar trees along the river rustle. Reminds me of lazy summer days at the lake as a child. Sometimes I wish I could bottle that feeling and perspective and carry it around for stressful moments then just uncork it.

Anyhoo,

Uncola, you had me at cliche, buddy. It was a good way to start my Friday.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Get well soon, Beebs.

Hondo
Hondo

Half full, half empty: It’s not about perception, it’s about thirst, and therein lies the problem…americans no longer thirst for greatness. Instead most spend their day apologizing for the greatness already achieved. Pathetic indeed!

Robert (QSLV)
Robert (QSLV)

Nasruden came across a small, emaciated old man sitting under a palm tree repeatedly hitting himself in the head with a medium sized hammer. ” Why are you hitting yourself in the head with a hammer?” Nazruden asks. The old man replies “Because it feels so good when I stop.”

Gayle

Rather than full or empty, I find a more useful paradigm to be True or Not True.

For example, doing for others what they are capable of doing for themselves will help them = not true, despite the emotionally-laden pleas
to be empathetic and generous on their behalf.

I can walk, see, hear, am healthy and pain-free, have good food to eat whenever I want it, and a busy and interesting life = true. If I see my glass as half-empty on a bad day, I am temporarily choosing to perceive a lie. We all do it.

Our culture is becoming fractured because people deny the truth. Neither side is innocent in this respect. Because we are lied to constantly, the task of discerning what is really true has become a huge challenge. Climate change is a good example. The statistics presented as evidence on both sides of the question are all over the place. The truth is that those who hysterically claim the planet is in danger express no interest in the truth of the Pacific-killing radioactive pollution from Fukushima. This leads to questioning the true motives of the climate change crowd. And so on.

A. R. Wasem
A. R. Wasem

A is A (Ayn Rand). Reality is reality. Fact is fact. We exist in a plenum of absolutes (the Heisenberg Principle of Indeterminacy only applies at the sub-atomic level and though we may choose to ignore reality we cannot choose to ignore the consequences of that act). In consequence we must deal with the duality of good and evil and, based upon the facts of reality, we will always find, in any particular situation, that there is an absolute line of demarcation between the two. There may be an exception that tests the rule but I have yet to see it.

JIMSKI
JIMSKI

A Hiesenburg particle is walking down the street. A scientist sees this and takes out a stop watch and a t square and does some calculations. He yells across the street. ” you are walking exactly 1.309 meters per second”
” Great ” the particle replies, ” now I have no idea where I am “

Ned2
Ned2

Never trust an atom, they make up everything.

Diogenes
Diogenes

I remember reading the “The Last Days of Socrates” by Plato and the only thing I took away from it was : Pleasure is the absense of pain, which was the observation of Socrates when the chains are removed from his legs.
Defiant Goyim
Diogenes

AC
AC

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Poor Whine From Full Glass
Poor Whine From Full Glass

“Forgive Me When I Whine”
-Author Unknown

Today, upon a bus, I saw a lovely girl with golden hair,
I envied her….she seemed so beautiful….and wished I were so fair.
When suddenly she rose to leave, I saw her hobble down the aisle.
She had one leg and wore a crutch; but as she passed….a smile!

Oh God, forgive me when I whine,
I have two legs. The world is mine!

I stopped to buy some candy. The lad who sold it had such charm.
I talked with him. He seemed so glad. If I were late, it’d do no harm.
And as I left, he said to me, “I thank you. You have been so kind.
It’s nice to talk with folks like you. You see,” he said, “I’m blind.”

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two eyes. The world is mine.

Later while walking down the street, I saw a child with eyes of blue.
He stood and watched the others play. I stopped a moment,
When I said, “Why don’t you join the others, Dear?”
He looked ahead without a word, and then I knew he could not hear.

Oh God, forgive me when I whine.
I have two ears, the world is mine.

With feet to take me where I’d go, with eyes to see the sunset’s glow,
with ears to hear what I would know….

Oh God forgive me when I whine.
I am blessed indeed. The world is mine!

Hondo
Hondo

I hate you…for now, because of you, I have no valid reason to complain!

Mary Christine

Job did some whining. In fact he was pretty much yelling at God some of the time. He never cursed God, though and that’s why God double blessed him in the end.

Chemo treatments, or probably any kind of health challenge, will give you a different perspective. You really do have to keep those verses from Phillipians in mind.
I can’t say I always had a positive, sunny attitude all those months.
In fact, chemo makes a lot of people cry. People who rarely cry, like me. About 4 days after each treatment of Red Devil, you just spend the whole day crying. . It’s not just me, happens to many others, men and women, both. I’m pretty sure it was left off the list of common side effects.
You never lose sight of the end, of your treatments, that is. And you always plan to do some fun things on the days you feel good.
And you do have to keep a “half-full” attitude or the people you need to have around you to keep your mind off of things won’t come around so much.
That’s the key to getting through hard times.

Uncola

Mary,

Something about the stoic manner by which you commented above, and your matter-of-fact courage in the face of extreme difficulties, made me cry out a little. Even if on the inside. Not from pity, but rather from an inner place of appreciation and respect.

I raise my glass to “ripples in the pond”; and my hope for you soon:

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Ghost

Awesome. Lost my best friend from kindergarten five years ago this summer. I offered to shave my head, but she said she was sad and sick enough without having a bald friend.

Chuck
Chuck

The engineer’s answer:
The glass is neither half full or half empty. It is simply twice as big as it needs to be.

Stated another way, why are you looking at the glass? Isn’t the important item what’s inside? The vessel is simply a shell used to contain what is valuable, whether it’s beer, gold, or a human soul.

People need to quit focusing on wha they want and look at what they have. Most would be amazed at the amount of things they have
which they think bring them happiness, but instead are chains around their neck binding them to a life of misery and jealousy.

Pardon my ramblings. I’m on my 3rd glass (mostly empty) of scotch as I wait for my flight home from Japan this morning.

Robert Gore

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep
No more; and by a sleep, to say we end
the heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks
that Flesh is heir to?

It is all a matter of perspective, isn’t it?

Uncola I just posted your article, because from my perspective, it was great.

Uncola

“To sleep, perchance to dream—ay, there’s the rub, for in that sleep of death what dreams may come when we have shuffled off this mortal coil, must give us pause. There’s the respect that makes calamity of so long life.”
___________

I wonder if Shakespeare were to reprise Hamlet today, if he would write something like: “To slumber is to sleep, and sleep is death. O AWAKE dear citizens! Reclaim what thine hath lost!”

Thanks Robert. I appreciate it very much.

EL Coyote
EL Coyote

Uhm, I think Hamlet is dithering because he has no guarantee that death will bring an end to his pain. He says he doesn’t know what nightmares await him in death’s embrace.

The bible says that the dead don’t care about anything on earth. Nothing.

The young widow tells the same thing to Chigurh, that he has no obligation to keep his promise to her husband since he is dead and won’t know or care.

OnPoint
OnPoint

“Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Matthew 8:18

“Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8

R
R

“You’ll find that many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view”
– Obi-Wan Kenobe, Star Wars

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