Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Use this forum to discuss the January 2023 Philosophy Book of the MonthEntanglement - Quantum and Otherwise by John K Danenbarger
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Stoppelmann
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Stoppelmann »

Sculptor1 wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:45 pm
Stoppelmann wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:36 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:18 pm
Stoppelmann wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:35 am
That is probably your experience, as it is mine, but there are exceptions that do reveal a potential that is worth investigating. I think it is also the reason why people started thinking that love is something divine, and to experience it we have to imitate it. It is something like we say of beauty, that it is in the eye of the beholder, or the way a smile often causes a smile, or a laugh causes a laugh. Many people I knew in nursing, especially the older nurses, had a tale to tell of help they had along the way. I'm sure it has an infectious property.
Do you have any example where people offer help unconditionally..

Don't worry - I can wait...
I shall not hold my breath.
The old ladies in the neighbourhood regularly get help from their neighbours, but you would say they do it conditionally, and we go shopping for one regularly, because we are able, not for any wage. When our cellar was flooded, about ten neighbours came and heped spontaneously, even they weren't affected. When a woman without any family quarantined herself because of covid and was having a hard time, people rallied to cook, wash and shop for her. These are just recent examples in a small house of flats.
And do you believe in the Christian god?
I believe that there is a wholesome, beneficial way of living, and there is an egotistical way to live, but my neighbours are not Godfearing people at all.
“Find someone who makes you realise three things:
One, that home is not a place, but a feeling.
Two, that time is not measured by a clock, but by moments.
And three, that heartbeats are not heard, but felt and shared.”
― Abhysheq Shukla
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Sculptor1
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Sculptor1 »

Stoppelmann wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:49 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:45 pm
Stoppelmann wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:36 pm
Sculptor1 wrote: February 1st, 2023, 2:18 pm

Do you have any example where people offer help unconditionally..

Don't worry - I can wait...
I shall not hold my breath.
The old ladies in the neighbourhood regularly get help from their neighbours, but you would say they do it conditionally, and we go shopping for one regularly, because we are able, not for any wage. When our cellar was flooded, about ten neighbours came and heped spontaneously, even they weren't affected. When a woman without any family quarantined herself because of covid and was having a hard time, people rallied to cook, wash and shop for her. These are just recent examples in a small house of flats.
And do you believe in the Christian god?
I believe that there is a wholesome, beneficial way of living, and there is an egotistical way to live, but my neighbours are not Godfearing people at all.
That's a round about way of avoiding the question.
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Stoppelmann »

Sculptor1 wrote: February 1st, 2023, 5:09 pm And do you believe in the Christian god?
I believe that there is a wholesome, beneficial way of living, and there is an egotistical way to live, but my neighbours are not Godfearing people at all.
That's a round about way of avoiding the question.
That is a way of saying that you will claim that everything depends on something else, and is therefore conditional. I am saying that the people I listed were spontaneous in their assistance, and whether they were doing it for a reason, I do not know. It was more a case of, I can, I will. Probably others thought that they couldn't, for example those who already need help, and so they didn't help.

I still claim that love, also neighbourly love, is a feeling of belonging, and spontaneous acts of benevolence, be they small in our estimation, can be jewels of compassion that pay out at later times. A "good morning," a smile, a short talk when meeting on the path, a gathering in the hall, or in front of the house on New Years Eve, an invitation to the terrace in the summer, a barbecue on the lawn in front of the house, looking after plants when people are on vacation, and many more examples encourage that bond. People who live in such an environment, may be spontaneous outside as well, because it has become normal.

It is secular, not religious in a formal sense, but in an informal sense. You may have noticed that I understand God to be the ground of being, the primary consciousness out of which we all emerge, and to which we all return. We belong in that, and each feeling of belonging we experience is a reminder of that. So, benevolence is for me a religious act, whether the person is formally or nominally a member of a religious society or not.
“Find someone who makes you realise three things:
One, that home is not a place, but a feeling.
Two, that time is not measured by a clock, but by moments.
And three, that heartbeats are not heard, but felt and shared.”
― Abhysheq Shukla
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Sculptor1
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Sculptor1 »

Stoppelmann wrote: February 2nd, 2023, 1:15 am
Sculptor1 wrote: February 1st, 2023, 5:09 pm And do you believe in the Christian god?
I believe that there is a wholesome, beneficial way of living, and there is an egotistical way to live, but my neighbours are not Godfearing people at all.
That's a round about way of avoiding the question.
That is a way of saying that you will claim that everything depends on something else, and is therefore conditional. I am saying that the people I listed were spontaneous in their assistance, and whether they were doing it for a reason, I do not know. It was more a case of, I can, I will. Probably others thought that they couldn't, for example those who already need help, and so they didn't help.

I still claim that love, also neighbourly love, is a feeling of belonging, and spontaneous acts of benevolence, be they small in our estimation, can be jewels of compassion that pay out at later times. A "good morning," a smile, a short talk when meeting on the path, a gathering in the hall, or in front of the house on New Years Eve, an invitation to the terrace in the summer, a barbecue on the lawn in front of the house, looking after plants when people are on vacation, and many more examples encourage that bond. People who live in such an environment, may be spontaneous outside as well, because it has become normal.

It is secular, not religious in a formal sense, but in an informal sense. You may have noticed that I understand God to be the ground of being, the primary consciousness out of which we all emerge, and to which we all return. We belong in that, and each feeling of belonging we experience is a reminder of that. So, benevolence is for me a religious act, whether the person is formally or nominally a member of a religious society or not.
Woe betide anyone who, having received some help at some point did not reciprocate.
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Stoppelmann »

Sculptor1 wrote: February 2nd, 2023, 5:20 am Woe betide anyone who, having received some help at some point did not reciprocate.
What a sad statement, warranted by nothing I have written, and indeed in opposition to what I was giving as examples.

What disappointment has made you so pessimistic?
“Find someone who makes you realise three things:
One, that home is not a place, but a feeling.
Two, that time is not measured by a clock, but by moments.
And three, that heartbeats are not heard, but felt and shared.”
― Abhysheq Shukla
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Sculptor1
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Joined: May 16th, 2019, 5:35 am

Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Sculptor1 »

Stoppelmann wrote: February 2nd, 2023, 5:28 am
Sculptor1 wrote: February 2nd, 2023, 5:20 am Woe betide anyone who, having received some help at some point did not reciprocate.
What a sad statement, warranted by nothing I have written, and indeed in opposition to what I was giving as examples.

What disappointment has made you so pessimistic?
You know it is true.
When you receive help do you not feel under obligation. Be honest!
Belindi
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Belindi »

"Pure sympathy" i.e. not empathy or obedience to a moral code, is spontaneous. You can feel sympathy only where the object of sympathy is immediately present, or where the object of sympathy is excellently portrayed by a poet or artist or your own imagination.
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Agent Smyth
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Agent Smyth »

Many crimes are unreported. I guess the same goes for good deeds as well. Underreporting for various reasons f*cks up our calculations, any conclusions drawn from such poor-quality data is bound to be, at best half-right or at worst completely wrong. That's when we call in the national guard if you catch me drift.
Never send a man to do a machine's job. 8)
Dalia Chaouaf
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Re: Helping a total stranger with pure sympathy; do we still see that?

Post by Dalia Chaouaf »

Sushan wrote: January 2nd, 2023, 10:52 pm This topic is about the January 2023 Philosophy Book of the Month, Entanglement - Quantum and Otherwise by John K Danenbarger



Joe, a gay stripper, saved Beth, a prostitute, from dying from malnutrition, and treated and nourished her with his hard earned money. They had no connection in between, and Joe had no benefits by doing so. When Beth asked for a reason to treating her like that, all that Joe said was "I saw my mother die".

What do you think about Joe? Is he a real character or just a fictional one? Is this the good Samaritan? Do such people still exist?
I think that compassion is still present in the world. Yes, it is harder to find, but there are good samaritans who just enjoy helping others without any benefit. It may be a silly example, but you can see it in those experimental videos that circulate in social medias such as youtube, Instagram or tiktok where there's a person (or sometimes even a child) struggling with something -money, health, or even carrying something- and you can clearly see how different strangers react to those scenarios.

There are surprisingly very many people who are willing to stop whatever they are doing just to help a person in need. There's still hope in humanity I think!
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