> He seems generally angry at people giving him something for 
> free.  Kinda an odd reaction that I've seen before and don't 
> understand.

I've noticed that people only get angry with themselves... They take it out
on others but only actually get angry with themselves. He was probably, like
me, pissed at himself for not being able to get a *nix box running
correctly. He feels betrayed and incompetent (I did) and carries this
message to others.

I went with a friend to a Buddhist temple the other Sunday (I know some
interesting people!) and while the "sermon" was as boring as any I had
heard, there were these little sayings in the hymnal including this one,
that almost brought tears to my eyes; it was so true and presented such a
challenge for me:



Some have minds like rock: Their thoughts can be damaged by an angry blow
and they will retain the marks for all to see even after a long time. 

Some minds are like sand: They also give way and carry a violent message but
these marks pass quickly from their thoughts. 

Some minds have thoughts like letters written on running water: they let
abuse pass by unnoticed and do not carry uncomfortable gossip, their minds
are always pure and undisturbed.



I'm in the sand group, but I would love to be more like water. I keep trying
to think of this goal when my kids, wife or someone else pisses me off. Some
others if you enjoy that sort of thing, I have paraphrased them so don't
blame the Buddhists if they are wrong:

- Water is round in a round receptacle and square in a square one, but water
has no particular shape.

- The fool who knows his foolishness is wise to that degree.

- Whoso is compassionate is ... At death his heart is full of peace.

- Mind your own business.

- We limit our world by thought.

- Human wisdom divides all in to good and bad and it must, for to live, we
must seek good and avoid bad. But it is wrong to only seek meaning in the
good. If we do this, our lives must end in meaninglessness for we will all
die. Limitless wisdom seeks meaning in ALL things, and floods ALL places.

- Teacher, wisdom, awakening.

- Light of a flame represents wisdom. It is lost if it is not passed on.

This last one is the point of massmind.org and my driving passion in life.
Learning about Linux is perhaps frustrating to me mostly because I don't
really have time to do it.

---
James Newton, massmind.org Knowledge Archiver 
james@massmind.org 1-619-652-0593 fax:1-208-279-8767 
All the engineering secrets worth knowing:
http://techref.massmind.org What do YOU know?



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