Category Archives: Philosophy

Spirituality From an Unlikely Source: Will Smith

I was on YouTube like I had been a and on the sidebar, I noticed a video under the suggestion heading by the title of: . I’ve always subscribed to the theory that our words and thoughts have an effect on the world around us (check out our or , and you’ll see some of the kinds of books that I recommend discuss these principles in their books), but I didn’t expect this kind of wisdom from a famous actor.

It’s not that I don’t think that Will Smith has the capacity to understand or even believe these kinds of things, it’ s just that with entertainers, it’s harder to imagine them outside of some of the roles they’ve played. After watching the almost 10-minute video of many clips spliced together where Will advocates the theory that our thoughts have a decided effect on the outcome of our lives, I couldn’t help but write a post here about it. In fact, I’ve even included the video at the end because I really think it’s worth the 10 minutes it takes to watch it.

One of the interesting perspectives that he offers is on talent and skill. He says:

Talent you have naturally. Skill is only developed by hours and hours and hours of beating on your craft.

I think that there is definitely truth to this and it is backed up by the work of in his book . In it, Gladwell purports that to be over-the-top successful at something, you need to spend upwards of 10,000 hours doing that something. Gladwell cites an example of , explaining to the reader that for 4 straight years, The Beatles were able to perform live in Germany. In this time, Gladwell claims that The Beatles accumulated over 10,000 hours of (practice) at their craft and that when they came back to England, they were an instant-hit. Gladwell also cites the example of Bill Gates who, when in high school, gained access to a computer. Gates spent nearly all of his free-time on this computer, accumulating hours and hours of (practice), which eventually led to .

Another interesting quote from the video:

You don’t try to build a wall. You don’t set out to build a wall. You don’t say I’m gonna build the biggest, baddest, greatest wall that’s ever been built. You don’t start there. You say, I’m gonna lay this brick, as perfectly as a brick can be laid. And, you do that every single day, and soon you have a wall.

I’m sure this concept is not new to anyone, about “,” but it’s something that I think is worth repeating, and I think it’s also adds a different level of authority to hear someone like Will Smith say it.

I want to do good. I want the world to be better because I was here.

Wouldn’t it just be fabulous if we all walked around with this attitude: wanting the world to be better because we were here. Performing acts, volunteering, making a difference – making the world a better place.

I just believe that. I believe that I can create whatever I want to create.

Around of the video, he begins talking about how our thoughts are physical things in the universe.

Our thoughts, our feelings, our dreams, our ideas — are physical in the universe. That, if we dream something, if we picture something, if we commit ourselves to it, that is a physical thrust towards realization that we can put into the universe. That the universe is not a thing that’s gonna push us around. That the world and people and situations are not something that’s gonna push us around. That we are gonna bend the universe and command and demand that the universe become what we want it to be.

Celebrities can be a mixed bag. They can run the spectrum from those that are having a hard go of things, like , to those like Will Smith who use their celebrity for other means. Whenever I learn that a celebrity is involved in the kinds of thinking that Will Smith is, I can’t help but smile just a little bit, knowing that maybe our world really is changing faster than we know.

Behavior of Sports Fan(atic)s Rival Behavior of Religious Fanatics

A couple of days ago as I was driving into town, I heard the guy on the radio talking about some sort of . Given the , my attention wasn’t immediately tuned into what was happening. As the reporter expanded upon the story, I was appalled. The reporter proceeded to tell the listeners that one, , 42-year old and San Francisco Giants’ fan, is showing signs of brain damage after having been severely beaten by, Los Angeles Dodgers fans.

The history of violence involving fans is well documented, and typically, violence in spectator sports is more closely associated with football (or soccer for those folks in the US and Canada). The last incident of “fan violence” in baseball was in August of 2009, when a at and hit, Philadelphia Phillies centerfielder, Shane Victorino. The outfielder had some beer land on him, which is unacceptable of course, but other than that, nothing too serious.

Some of the more recent incidents of violence include a match between Italy and Serbia in October of 2010. The start of the game was delayed over half an hour. Once the game got underway, before they were ten minutes into the 1st half, a flare was thrown onto the field causing more rioting. The game was called and one team was later awarded the victory based on the fans that were causing trouble.  In March of 2010 during a game, climbed over the glass, into the bench of the opposing team, and proceeded to strike one of the goalies over the head several times with a stick. The goalie had to leave the bench area, as blood was running down his face, and he was later diagnosed with a concussion. If you’re interested, there’s a .

On the face of these myriad incidents of violence by fans in sports, I can’t help but think of the true meaning of the word fan. The word fan, comes from the word fanatic, which means, “. . .” In my opinion, these fans are definitely exhibiting “extreme enthusiasm” in support of their team. In the definition I provided, I left out five words that appear after the word zeal. These five words: “as in religion or politics.”

When I hear about these horrendous acts of violence committed in the “name of one’s team,” I can’t help but make the connection to another brand of fanaticism — religious fanaticism. After the events of , the world was led to believe that these attacks were committed by religious fanatics (and that may well be the case, but I don’t think anyone can be absolutely certain of any of the explanations for what happened). Since then, opening up the or the to find an article about someone killing in the name of religion has become somewhat normalized because of how often it happens. Is there really a big difference between religious fanaticism and sports fanaticism?

If there is, to me, the difference is negligible, and I for one, think this is awful. Fans identify with their teams so much so that they feel compelled to harm another human being! I was an athlete and I can tell you, after the game is over, life still goes on. You go on and eat your meals, sleep, read books, and do all of the other things that people do. To some fans, when the game ends, their life, in a way, ends. I think this kind of attachment to sports is unhealthy. Similarly, I think the attachment to religion that is displayed by those who believe they are doing right by their religion by killing in the name of their deity is also a little bit too far. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the thinking that goes into their decision and prosper in the afterlife, but it is my opinion, that there is never a valid reason to kill another human being, (or one’s self for that matter).

Egypt – Taking a Closer Look

I wrote about how some of the things happening in Egypt are not necessarily new occurrences. These things that we’re seeing happen have happened before (). I argued that what is happening in Egypt is something that has been playing out in history in different ways for quite some time. Today, I’d like to take a closer look at some of the implications of what is going on in Egypt and how we might be able to mitigate some of the possible conflict.

I work with organizations to more efficiently allocate their resources and optimize their production. Right now, as I watch what seems to be the deterioration of equilibrium, I am struck by how this could have been avoided. When the protestors first began their charge, things seemed to be very peaceful — on both sides. As time went on, and it was clear where things were going to have to go in order for the demonstrations to end, things slowly started to take a turn for the worse.

First, we heard about or reporters being told that in the country. Then, we started to hear about the escalated violence in the streets. Pretty soon, now we’re hearing reports of deaths as a result of this situation in Egypt. Like I said yesterday, I won’t begin to say that I fully understand everything that’s going on and maybe what’s happening couldn’t be avoided, but I can’t help but wonder if this is not the case… especially with the kind of work that I am capable of providing.

It seems now that the government is in the midst of a transitional period from the old regime to the new powers that be. While this may seem like a ‘victory’ for the protestors, I wonder if this may be causing more harm than good. Particularly, I’m interested in how effective a new government can be walking into this kind of a crisis situation. Not only that, but the energetics of the situation. That is, I wonder if the people who are leaving their posts early shouldn’t be leaving their posts early because of the energetic relationships that they were maintaining, consciously or subconsciously, which was serving to keep the situation stable.

Every living thing in the world is dynamic — organizations included. The structure of an organization is forever changing with the people who move through the various positions. If one of those people happened to be the symbolic holder of the masculine energy (think: The Godfather) or feminine energy (think: Grandma), and the person who entered that position (or someone else in the organization) was not seen as fit to carry that energy, the organization can tumble into an awful downward spiral.

I wonder if part of what is happening in Egypt is because the energetic relationships within the Egyptian government were not healthy. This is not something that we’ll ever actually be able to cognitively evaluate (from the outside), but given how things have slowly fallen apart, I can’t help but wonder if having someone like me working with the government could have prevented the inevitable fallout.

Of New Beginnings: The Inauguration

The beginning – the inauguration. An introduction into a venture whose future is yet to be determined. I always find it interesting to go back to a blog’s first post to see where the author began – to see where they started – what was it they had to say first. Technically, I suppose, this isn’t my first post as I’ve crafted a along with a , but for all intents and purposes, this is my first post as a blogger – Jeremiah Stanghini.

In my time, it seems that beginnings are not always viewed as prosperous as they really are. For instance, as we learned from , “…every new beginning comes from some other beginnings end.” Usually when I think about endings, I think about endings and I forget that there is even a beginning to something else. Not until I’m well into the beginning of something else do I realize that the ending of one thing was the beginning to another.

This pattern seems to have persisted in this case, too. Not until I sat down to write this inaugural post did I realize that not only was it the beginning of my ‘blogging career,’ but it was also the ending of my non-blogging career. Yes, I can see how that may sound redundant, and it is, but it is in keeping with the laws of the universe. I suppose we could call it philosophical, too, couldn’t we? Let me explain.

Look up from your computer screen (or from whatever you’re viewing this post) to the nearest window. Depending on what time of day it is, you will either see light or dark. Now, imagine you had no concept of the opposite – are you still seeing what you see as what you see? Let’s make this more concrete. Suppose you look outside and you see light. Great! Maybe it’s sunny where you are or you’re enjoying an atypical sunny day in the midst of winter. While your eyes are seeing light, pretend that you have no concept for dark – you don’t know what it is and you’ve never heard of it. Got it? Now that you don’t know what dark is and you’re looking outside and seeing this ‘light,’ can you really say you are still seeing light?

Without dark, there can’t be light. Without the contrasting nature of the absence of light, there can’t be light. Without light, there can’t be darkness. Without ending, there can’t be beginning. Without beginning, there can’t be ending. There are countless instances from life where without the experience that we are having now is directly tied to the non-experience of what we’re having now. Meaning, if you are experiencing joy, it is because you have experienced no-joy that you can feel the difference.

At first, this may sound a little strange or off-the-wall, but when you really sit with the idea of it, you begin to understand. If all you knew was one half of something, would you really know that it was half of something? If all you knew was the sky to be bright, you would take it for granted that the sky was bright. And not because you weren’t perceptive or anything to that effect, but just because that’s all you know. Another example we can use here is the fish in water. Does the fish know it is in water? No, not until it jumps out of the water and realizes that it can’t breathe!

When you consider this, it has to make you wonder a little… what is it that I’m taking for granted right now that’s preventing me from seeing the whole picture?