Originally Posted by
2Sox
First I want to say that anyone's desire to research and learn more (and having the humility to listen) - including yours - is something to respect very much. Although unspoken, I believe there is an enormous amount of mutual respect among the members of this forum for this reason alone. I believe many of your questions will be answered by the links provided by Dave in post #10 above. I'm studying them now myself and learning from them. I'll try to address the points you make in your posts above. Firstly, I don't think you are being honest with yourself regarding vanity. If you look up the definition from various sources you'll see that vanity is an excess concentration on oneself and one's appearance, and one's effect on others. My life history is a study in vanity so needless to say I recognize it and speak from firsthand personal knowledge and experience! For most of my life, I used my appearance - and what I saw as my "charm" - to affect people and to get what I wanted. To make this point clear: When my wife and I first started dating she would sometimes tell me that it frustrated her when women would stop and stare at me when we walked down the streets of Manhattan. Things were not too difficult for me, particularly in the woman territory. Not surprising, it was easy to fall into depending on my appearance and the result was that for many years this dependence crippled my mind and stunted my intellect. In my thirties, when I began to study ethics and philosophy and heard kind criticism, this began to change dramatically. I became more aware - and I believe - a more thoughtful, kinder person. Anyone can P.M. me if they'd like to know more about what I have been learning. Furthermore, ANYONE who spends time in a gym has a question about vanity and it doesn't take a big brain to see this. I say this dogmatically. And anyone who is honest with himself will admit it to himself. They don't put mirrors on the walls for nothing. Need I go into specifics? So let's dispense with any denials regarding vanity. I would also like to suggest that from how you speak above, you have respect, strength and beauty all mixed up. History shows that a man is respected in direct proportion to how interested he is in justice. A man commands respect if he has the conviction to do what's right even in the most difficult of situations. And this, I learned is the same as good will. I'll give you a definition from the philosophy Aesthetic Realism: "Good will is the desire to have something else stronger and more beautiful, for this desire makes oneself stronger and more beautiful." Think about the greatest and most respected men in history and you'll find the least vain, and least self-concentrated men in history. So you can bulk yourself up, and get powerful enough "to rip a car apart with your hands" but people will not respect you - just for that. They may fear you; they may be in awe that you worked so hard to get that strong - but this has nothing at all to do with respecting you. Bodybuilding is big "business" in men's lives at this point in time, so needless to say I'm not writing all of this just for you. I'm writing this for myself and for the other guys on this forum because I think it will be of benefit. We've all got to see what our true strength is and where it lies - and it has nothing at all to do with bulking up. I think it has all to do with building our ethics, our characters, as we build our bodies. Mind and body as one.
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