Sure. I'm an old school computer nerd so a generalist. "Whiz Kid" from the 1980s, self-taught programming, had various computer jobs, did systems analysis for a pharmaceutical company for a bit, running a business now. Been making little videos for a time for fun. I'd say: if it's something on a computer that it needs to be done, I can do it or figure out a way to make it happen. == nice smile emoticon I would never have qualified for military service - 1/2 deaf, 1/2 blind, although I look outwardly fine, although I'd considered navy. Did a little college; was supposed to go into Theoretical physics (1990) but the professor I wanted was on sabbatical, so ended up taking child psych/cog development classes instead. Ran out of money, and just found myself going to and from wherever life took me so far . Been a good journey so far - can't complain smile emoticon == Ah yes - I read bits of the Zen book as a teenager. My first exposure to that kind of thinking, oddly enough, was a book on Tennis I got at a garage sale around the age of 11.. Didn't even play tennis much, but it showed how to hold the ball like a bird, not too tight, not too loose, and had other Zen-type concepts in it. The cover had a review that said, "This should be called Zen and the art of Tennis!" which eventually led to the other book. == *I should try it again. I had biofeedback training as a kid to control anxiety issues, which taught me breathing techniques and guided medication (and also made me feel powerful enough to control a computer with my mind, making the beeping go up and down at will). Early 20s, religious questing, stopped at Vipissana meditation, Quaker, Unitarian, a few others, ended up Eastern Orthodox for 5 years, staying at a monastery for a few weeks teaching myself some Russian, got hooked on Osho for a year or two, was Mr. science for about 10 yrs, and the past three years, been tying it together as best I can by consolidating life's memories so far and even investigating areas I've avoided, like Philosophy for about 9 months. Always on a quest. == I refer to myself as agnostic 'cause ppl like hearing _sometihng_. I genuinely "don't know". I'm open to it though. My main thing is: be civil. That's something all people are capable of at some level of any culture, from any background. Master civility, you have the potential for diplomacy. With diplomacy any disagreements can be ironed out eventually. Seems to work well enough when people work at it in earnest. == *Almost became Catholic. I found out about the Orthodox while doing data entry at a Catholic university (Seton Hall in NJ USA) - and. I was pretty close. The priests in training there seemed like kindred spirits. == * was raised Methodist, so we had it pretty simple; the Jesus presented was a good guy to emulate, emphasis was "do good, be good" with bible stories as examples, and most everything was considered more or less metaphorical in nature. == *What drew me to the Orthodox at the time was its emphasis on "prayer as medicinal" - sin was "missing the mark" (as in, "you could've done better you now") - with the spiritual disciplines as allowing for a kind of theosis here on earth - tangible benefits of participating in the Triune God's energies. Very experiential and powerful. == At the monastery, I remember one late night with my notebook and pen, just puzzling over Trinity and it hit me. It was a neat experience - reminded me of when I was studying theoretical physics in high school (as much as my public library had on it which wasn't much) and was trying to 'get' the whole relativity thing... how participation and perspective can relate to everything and yourself - and it's, I dunno, transcendent I guess. You participate in that state. Unfortunately, words don't qualify properly - it's an experience. But it's a nice one. == *Yeah, I don't hold that one's affiliations is what's critical; I hold a medicinal view of things; but the participatory process of love is truly a universal phenomenon, accessible to all peoples from all times and places and connects all things.Our rational comprehension may be necessarily limited; we're human and our capabilities, while potentially limitless within our own species nevertheless has limitations from a Universe perspective; and there are aspects of this Universe that we aren't likely to be able to objectively measure, cut, count, weigh - and it's those things which go beyond and inbetween that bind us together. == *hehe, I'm not a grammar nazi. I'm very informal. My world travels, outside of a trip to Ireland for a week, have been exclusively online. I've been lucky to have had early exposure to it - from 1989 onwards. So I've had contact with peoples of various nations and cultures from the comfort of my home computer and fell in love with the connective capability of the Internet very early and use it to the greatest capacity that I can to connect me with other people, people with each other, and try to help out as best I can from here. == Unfortunately, I turned off the news a few years ago. I find out about things when people I know (online or off) care enough to tell me about them - and then I research - but otherwise, I try to keep a clear head. I'm glad good things are happening in Burma. == *It's marvelous. It doesn't even do 1/2 of what I want to see it do, but I've seen hopeful signs of its even greater potential: I've had a friend for a few years, from Google+ (another social network) - who liked one of my posts. But he only wrote in Korean. But thankfully, we have Google Translate. Over the years, we've talked back and forth now and again, he in Korean and me in English - each using the translator. By the way: Google Translate does a HORRIBLE job with Korean. But it's enough. And we've talked about his area of study (Quantum physics, which he's studying at his university there), girlfriend troubles he's had, issues with his family, and it's really marvelous that we're at that point today. I can't wait to see what's coming next. == *I don't even know if he's north or south korea - and my knowledge of political science is so limited, I don't know who is in power, anything about the regimes, who is fighting whom... I just see people. Individuals. Kind people, I talk to. Unkind people I avoid == *'m hopeful for the future. My nephew's 10.5 and what I've seen of generation z - the first all-internet generation - I think they have the potential to really bring the future into a good place when they get into positions of power, replacing us and those that come after us. Not that they're without their own problems of course; but I think their unique exposure to universal connectedness; seeing the word less through geographical boundaries and other barriers and more as individual-to-individual.... it has to have a positive impact on their development, attitudes towards others and their world, and I'm hopeful that they'll do very good things with it. == I don't know if they will anytime soon though. I think geopolitical/financial systems will likely be just as muddy and messy as they ever were - I hope I'm mistaken - but powerful like staying that way. At the same time though, the "regular people", which is the vast majority of the populations of the world, will have a new relationship to each other - in fact, we're really there "now" - and like in businesses (and likely military as well - you can answer for that) - often the most significant changes happen out of the direct chains of command. I remember at the pharmaceutical company, progress nearly ALWAYS took places interdepartmentally, informally... connections hidden, unseen by the corporate charts. I think those "hidden networks" will continue to grow, not just within orgnizations but NOW inbetween geopolitical units, allowing an unprecidented opportunity for human growth as a species in our interactions... even if the financial and political sectors remain the oligarchies they like being. == *But such is my bias: I'm an individualist == *My poor nephew was having trouble with his American Revolution homework tonight. Poor kid - the way they teach history now in 2016 is *just as awful* as it was for me when I was his age. Ugh. I had to analogize to today's news a little and to his video games and then he 'got it'. Well, what I'm thinking about isn't so much warfare but rather a potential peace-among-peoples of different nations, despite their politics - a world that exists separate from the traditional boundaries. == *Example: I had a friend - I'll likely never know what happened to him. He was going from job to job on a work visa here in the US. Not from Pakistan but he had friends there. A good friend in various groups online. Smart guy, deep thinker. Anyway, the thing in France happened. Next day, he left a cryptic message. A week later, I got one more message from him and I knew: he had to leave the states for his safety and it's _likely_ he had to defend wherever he ORIGINALLY came from. I never knew his home country, but I suspect he was dragged into obligations he didn't want to participate in. == Oh it's fine. - I don't usually go to sleep for another hour or two. I don't usually talk on instant message for so long; but you were interesting and I apprecate our conversation. Usually I talk in public but occasionally I talk in private. I enjoyed our conversation tremendously and it's great to get to know someone smile emoticon ==