Saturday, May 27, 2006

Indulging Temptation

"I never resist temptation, because I have found that things that are bad for me do not tempt me." (source)

-George Bernard Shaw

True! True! True!
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13 comments:

Tala said...

nice quote :)

is temptation a weakness?

27/5/06 11:29 AM
Devil's Mind said...

Guess its closer to be a strength rather than a weakness :S, or what?

27/5/06 3:53 PM
Ghaith said...

I think temptation is a weakness.

If it was about "desire", I would have said it can be a weakness as well as a point of strength. For example, desire towards a goal encourages you to work and thus helps you to achieve it, while desire towards life’s material pleasures makes you lose money, time and effort, which is devastating.

As for me, the word "temptation" is more about the negative side of desires. Temptation is never about work, goals, or achievements, but desire is :)

27/5/06 4:39 PM
Tala said...

according to wikipedia

A temptation is an act that looks appealing to an individual. It is usually used to describe acts with negative connotations and as such, tends to lead a person to regret such actions, for various reasons: legal, social, psychological (including feeling guilt), health, economic, etc. Temptation also describes the coaxing or inducing a person into committing such an act, by manipulation or otherwise of curiosity, desire or fear of loss.

"Temptation" is usually used in a loose sense to describe actions which indicate a lack of self control, such as procrastination or eating junk food.

In advertising, temptation is a theme common to many of the marketing and advertising techniques used to make products more attractive for purchase by consumers

In a Christian religious context, "temptation" refers to the inducement to commit an act of sin or immorality; in a strictly Biblical sense, the word means evil that is tempting, or the state of being tempted by Satan.

can anyone be tempted to do the right thing :) ?

I guess its true.

27/5/06 11:24 PM
Devil's Mind said...

I think anyone who can indulge in his desires, rather than being compulled to desire, can see clealy what George Bernard Shaw really means!

I remmember Ghaith once told me, how when he wants his brother to do something, he justs asks him for the oposite of it, and he knows well how his brother will do the oposite of what he asked him to do, so he ends up doing what Ghaith originally wanted!
So instead of being to tricked to want something, you can take command of what you want! Once you are in command, there is no reason to restrain those desires or abstain from the temptation


Excerpt from the satanic bible:
Indulgence NOT Compulsion:
SATANISM encourages its followers to indulge in their natural desires. Only by doing so can you be a completely satisfied person with no frustrations which can be harmful to yourself and others around you. Therefore, the most simplified description of the Satanic belief is: INDULGENCE INSTEAD OF ABSTINENCE!
People often mistake compulsion for indulgence, but there is a world of difference between the two. A compulsion is never created by indulging, but by not being able to indulge. By making something taboo, it only serves to intensify the desire. Everyone likes to do the things they have been told not to. "Forbidden fruits are sweetest."

28/5/06 12:04 AM
Devil's Mind said...

while desire towards life's material pleasures makes you lose money, time and effort, which is devastating

And why exctly should you save money, time or effort? Do we take any of these to the grave?

Money is made for material pleasure, They are useless in themselves, but the way life is going now is that you provide "services" to someone, and get other "services" in return... Money is just something to keep scores...

28/5/06 12:40 AM
Anonymous said...

but for most people falling for what they're tempted by, only gives them temporarily satisfaction, it doesn't last for long, it's only because I know I SHOULDN'T be doing it that I feel tempted by it, as you said "forbidden fruits are sweetest"


"Only by doing so can you be a completely satisfied person with no frustrations which can be harmful to yourself and others around you."
still you should have some sort of control of your desires, if one is obese and indulges in his constant desire of eating, well now that couldn't be considered good for him, could it?

it all comes down to who decides what's considered good and what's considered bad

28/5/06 1:25 AM
Devil's Mind said...

And who do you think makes that decicion? Who has the final word on whats good or bad?

Why do you assume that such obese guy wants to impress you with his fitness?

I guess, its subjective!

28/5/06 1:45 AM
Anonymous said...

who said anything about impressing me!
last time I checked obesity wasn't good for one's health.

it is subjective, that's what I meant, you may decide that indulging in some desire is good for you while other people, society, cultural norms.... don't see it that way and you may end up hurting yourself and/or others around you, and of course it could be the other way round, i.e. society, cultural norms and religious views may regard something as a taboo, whereas it's your right to indulge in it.

What I'm trying to say is that not everyone's temptation, if fulfilled, would make him/her a better person.

28/5/06 2:52 AM
Tala said...

ok Zeid here is a real story, i tried what you said once with my uncle, i was so upset with him because he smokes,he has little kids and he is early 50s his lungs are clearly saying please stop and he started coughing heavily. what i told him is that im not telling you not to smoke i told him here are three packets, you can smoke as much as you want .. i would love to see you finish them today.

whenever i see him i tell him do you need a cigarette, shall i bring you one? well it worked , his consumption decreased. but i didn't stay for long to let him quit. it works, im saying its not wrong or something.

Don't you think Temptation causes slavery, you end up unable to control yourself, you can't command yourself to stop?

i think what is meant by temptation is this quote is: whenever anything no matter what was its definition according to you ( good or bad ) out of desire, curiosity , unfulfilment of anything you just wanted to try it. simply i would say go and please go try it, try and judge for yourself instead of obssessing and making your life miserable. don't take anything for granted. be tempted, but be wise enough to tell or classify what do you want to do with the outcome.

the quote does not agree with this : "you are allowed to abuse what you are tempted by " there is a limit for everything after that it would fire back in your face ..

this obese guy is a slave of burgers, his not master of his own anymore and don't think that he is quite happy with what he is doing, balash he might be at the highest point when eating ,, lets say the consequences of what he did, does and will do out of the NO CONTROL STATE .. he is a slave of greed.

28/5/06 2:58 AM
Devil's Mind said...

As long as the person is happy with himself, I see no harm done..

If someone aknowledgably does something (subjectively) bad for them, then thats no more indulgence, thats compulsion... And its stupidity, which i wouldnt advocate!

Dont confuse misjudgement with temptation! Stupid people will hurt themselves wether it was temptation or not....

28/5/06 3:48 AM
Anonymous said...

if it was only bad for them, then who cares? they're the ones ruining their lives,
but what if they could be hurting others? what if by gambling, smoking, cheating on your husband/wife you're causing harm to your family? what if you're tempted to kill, rape? and in these cases you don't identify what you're doing as bad, so it isn't misjudgment or compulsion

28/5/06 4:21 AM
Devil's Mind said...

The scope of this entry is personal liberty... Examples include: sex, smoking(in limited sense), drugs, homosexuality, suicide, self-mutilation, eating,... many things of the like.

I'm not going to the scope of breaking the law... You still can do them, and doing them or not is not an issue of temptation... In conventional terms, those are not part of your (conventional) rights or personal liberty to start a debate of doing them or not!

Anyways, anyone willing to restrain themselves, be my guest! :D

28/5/06 4:50 AM

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