/r/totd

Photograph via snooOG

This a subreddit where anyone is allowed to post any philosophical thoughts towards the reddit community to promote thought-provoking discussions and to give the community of reddit a different view of the world. Posts can be quotes from your favourite people and also thoughts that you have thought yourself. There are weekly threads with varying topics.

We want to promote thinking on this subreddit. Post what you are thinking about the world or post a famous thought. We want people to reflect on these thoughts and think how they affect them. You can post links to thoughts or post in a text post. We hope you find interesting thoughts and enjoy thinking!

Formatting for quotes: "Quote" - Author

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Rules:

  • Post good, clever quotes and thoughts but do not repost thoughts or link to widely overused images.

  • Do not attribute the quote to the wrong person. Make sure you know exactly who said the thought

  • Do not post your inappropriate thoughts

  • Refrain from using profanity, unless it is part of a direct quote

  • Be nice to each other when discussing thoughts

  • No religious posts, please try to remain secular

  • The mods have the right to remove any thoughts we deem racist, hateful, or inappropriate in any other way.

  • /r/totd is not a platform for advertising

Have fun on this subreddit and enjoy thinking!

/r/totd

887 Subscribers

1

Sponsored YouTubers Who Leave the "Most Viewed" Bar Enabled

These are like the "Neutral Evil" alignment YouTubers. Yes, they're going to randomly segway into a VPN ad at some point in the video, but at least they left the little stat bar enabled so you know right where to click to skip that part of the video.

It's like "You could have turned this off and maybe earned a few more dollars...but you didn't.".

And for that, I am strangely appreciative. What an odd world we live in.

0 Comments
2024/01/21
22:04 UTC

2

Baby Love by The Supremes is actually a very sad song

It’s not only about a break up but also about a woman begging for a man to stay with her despite him mistreating her.

I always sang the chorus without thinking much about the lyrics and always saw it in rom coms thinking it was actually a romantic song. I decided to listen to it more carefully and was surprised at how misled I have been about the song all these years.

0 Comments
2023/09/09
22:51 UTC

1

Villain

0 Comments
2022/11/29
13:03 UTC

1

A melancholic quote from Ancient Egypt

0 Comments
2022/11/22
15:44 UTC

3

My interest in Ancient Egypt has been waxing and waning.

I feel that this existence is dreamlike, fleeting, impermanent, slippery, empty, changing. There is nothing to hold onto. Nevertheless my interest in Ancient Egypt is providing an antidote to this, as it represents for me permanence, stability, durability, concreteness. Just like a reference point around which the whole universe revolves. If this interest of mine wanes I know that I will feel like I am floating in emptiness again. Idk why I think Ancient Egypt represents these concepts of permanence, stability, concreteness, etc. for me. (It might be because of the magnificent edifices such as pyramids from the Old Kingdom, the pyramids of Khufu, Khafre and Menkaure. It might the beauty of ritual of the weighing of the heart against the feather of truth. It might be the authority and divine power of the pharaohs alongside the gods and goddesses they represent on earth and by whom they're inspired. It might be the writing system of hieroglyphics. It might be the symbols such as djed, was sceptre, wedjat eye. It might be the mystery and symbolism of the Ancient Egyptian religion. It might be the wisdom literature/teachings/instructions which is called sebayt. It might be the interesting division of the historical period by the historians into the periods of prehistoric, early dynastic, Old, Middle, New Kingdoms, and the two intermediate periods. I do not know much other than these superficial things about Ancient Egypt.) But, as I said, even this mental concept that I've invented in my mind is unstable, despite me taking it to be stable for a while. Even this perfect concept of the mind is bound to wax and wane, and even disintegrate. Is there more to say about this? Still, my interest is staying, it hasn't disappeared. But the thing is even mental concepts which are unbreakable are susceptible to change and a decrease in interest.

0 Comments
2022/07/22
16:39 UTC

2

Unconditional love?

Love is never unconditional. It's a feeble idea fed to people through tv dramas and wishful thinking. Love is like water it ebbs and flows. Sometimes you get a great big wave of it and sometimes you have a drought. But it is never unconditional. that's just my two cents

2 Comments
2022/04/03
05:13 UTC

2

Now I Lie Me Down To Sleep

I might consider following some people on OF, but only if they start using "lay" and "lie" correctly.

0 Comments
2021/07/08
01:33 UTC

0

Pro athletes wearing "jewelry" around their neck while "playing"/performing in an acutual game/match. Should at least have the responsibility and respect to attach a leash to said jewelry.

Pro athletes in any sport shouldn't wear jewelry unless it enhances their performance which would then be cheating. Otherwise society should look at it as if they are still shackled..

0 Comments
2020/11/17
03:00 UTC

5

There is something peaceful but chaotic about this time of year. I love September. It feels like everything slows down and yet speeds up simultaneously. Do others feel shift in the world in September?

2 Comments
2020/09/08
01:48 UTC

2

What's normal isn't always what's right; what's normal is what you see everybody else seems to be, but we assume there's a good reason for it, even when there isn't.

0 Comments
2020/08/14
09:12 UTC

5

Had a kinda odd thought about the post-apocalyptic future I would live in from seeing repetitive YouTube ads for a streaming service

The ad I’m referring to here is one of the ads for Peacock. Their ads are done right, I want to say. They’re eye catching and they get me to not press the skip ad button right away. I’m interested, but I’m not at the point of actually downloading the app and using it.

This specific one is for a new movie on their service. In it, everyone is always happy because they are constantly medicated with drugs to make their unhappiness go away. This kind of thing has been in media before I’ve seen, but only now a weird thought came to my head.

I wouldn’t mind that.

Like if I’m happy and it’s my life experience, then it’s real to me. It doesn’t matter how fake it really is overall, because I will never know or understand the breadth of it. Because all I experience is constant happiness and content.

It’s better than a weird dictatorship-like thing trying to kill me every day and I have to flee. They are giving me constant happiness and they aren’t doing anything to hurt me. I’m still alive and healthy, just heavily medicated.

I understand that most would be baffled by the idea of that being a good thing. Everyone being highly medicated all the time while the few in control do things behind the scenes. I definitely understand the bad in it.

But overall, I personally wouldn’t mind it. I’d still live a happy life and that will be the universe as I know it and that sounds pretty decent to me.

2 Comments
2020/07/26
16:30 UTC

11

God help us if Trump ever gets something right, it will be on eternal loop at every press conference

0 Comments
2020/04/25
18:51 UTC

2

Taticool drifter

With all the corona viruses and people taking about the apocalypse sure makes me glad I bought all my tactical appeal a couple mouths ago. Now I can look like a bad ass with my shemagh and respirator with black clothing and poncho riding around on my motorcycle with gun on my hip ready for any of those he looks shady af but is actually a good guy situations.

0 Comments
2020/03/12
17:47 UTC

2

Probably a lot.

Sitting in a cafe bathroom wondering how many shits this toilet has seen.

0 Comments
2020/01/24
18:39 UTC

2

thought

No man died in the Emperor's service that died in vain

0 Comments
2020/01/05
04:34 UTC

1

(you) need to relax and read this.

I will comment varying types of comments and generally off kilter comments knowingly saying thought provoking comments. Alas, people will find a way to be offended by it and proceed to argue against said comment.

No offense, but relax.

Why get offended at something that doesn't affect you? Not just my comment, but other comments? It's just a thought, idea or commentary relating to a topic in which you have no control over. They are other people. You trying to change other people by trying to convince them leads to no benefit for you nor anyone else. They are just thoughts and opinions on a forum.

The only reason you care is for your own selfish reasons. The same selfish reasons that lead to people posting comments. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what you post. Your effect on the world is insignificant, just as insignificant as someone else's comment.

So before you decide to post whatever you were planning to post. Take a minute and think about why you are reading this. Inhale. Exhale. Just relax.

I don't want beef with you. I don't care about you.

Stop trying to ruin other people. Stop trying to do negative things. Go outside. Do your job. Do something aside from trying to ruin my day. Thanks.

0 Comments
2019/05/17
19:54 UTC

1

Mission impossible

The new episodes of blind spot on nbc and last man standing on fox both made references to mission impossible ghost protocol. I wonder why they did that

0 Comments
2019/03/18
17:10 UTC

4

Depression is not a mood, it's a lifestyle

0 Comments
2018/11/24
07:52 UTC

2

Mind-Traps

Quote of inspiration

“…if you move from the countryside into a flat located near a railway line, initially you will hear the noise of each train that passes. Immediately you describe what the noise is. Once you become accustomed to the noise, you will stop giving it a description.…

…Most of us are very attentive when it comes to knowledge, when we think we need to have knowledge in order to pass examinations or to maintain our position within society. But are we really listening when it comes to how our brain works and what thinking consists of? … We do not, because we think we already know everything there is to know about thinking, as we do it all day long. In the same way we cut out the noise of the train, we cut out the description, which means that we have reduced our awareness.

This state of mind is what Gurdjieff called being “fast asleep”,and in his work he tried to wake us up to how easy it can be to go through life being unaware of how we relate to ourselves and to others. Whenever we create habits within a relationship, it becomes miserable and will start to fall apart. Sooner or later the relationship will end because we stop listening to each other… If we believe we know everything about someone, we fail to really listen and see what is happening; we never create any space.”

from “Healing with Qualities – The Essence of Time Therapy” by Manuel Schoch

Thoughts on Mind-traps

As a society we have created the belief that consistency of character is a very precious and meaningful quality. My thoughts on the matter are more targeted around the idea that this turn of events is highly connected with the very basics of brain’s role and processes. In a biological level, brain was a huge evolution as it could support the act of movement for the bigger, multi-cellular lifeforms. Movement as going from one place to another. This movement requires the ability of dynamic interaction with the rapidly changing environment; a process completely different from plants’ approach of life where the changes of the surrounding environment is usually slow. But the state of constantly being on edge and aware of all your surroundings is very tiring and requires a tremendous amount of energy.

At this point I will ask you to allow me a huge leap forward on our train of thought as well as on the evolution trail, to put forward that formatting societies [where the threats of the surroundings are limited and our collective power to overcome them greater] is a way to relax our minds. Unfortunately, the mind knows only how to work. It was created for this reason, and in a way we can say this is it’s purpose. As a very young organ, compared to most of it’s colleagues, our brain and therefore mind is still growing and maturing. So we can safely say it doesn’t always do its best. For example, for the time being we can agree on mind’s obsession of paying attention to possible threats or even creating “new” ones when in luck. But this is not a matter we will discuss here.

Back to our train of thought, mind knows how to work, but non-stop work tires the body. So in many circumstances brain tries to find solutions to ease its way through life. Limiting the threats is the main goal (which allows to bring down the working hours), also limiting its own awareness of the threats (perhaps sleeping is such a mechanism too). On the other hand, unable to understand and comprehend its own process and existence,the mind weirdly keeps finding new topics to worry about when the schedule is free. With this I only want to underline the constant need for simplicity and safety that occurs and the struggle around this vicious circle that brain unconsciously maintains.

This is the time for one more leap forward, where I go and say that consistency of one’s personality eases the minds of the others, making easier to categorize the person or the acts of the person. In that way behavior is more or less expected, easier to manage and allowing us to let our first-line guards down. On the other hand, unexpected acts and personalities that keep changing or even dare to express self-contradicting behaviors tend to make us uncomfortable and vulnerable to one extend. We mostly do not feel it that way, though! One probable cause may be that society has slowly seeded the idea that for our survival and best co-existence we should sustain specific beliefs and qualities that promote the team-spirit. Achieving and maintaining stability is the first step for building a construction. This is a very logical and fundamental idea especially for the West civilizations and as an engineer I can confirm that to be true, although nowadays I keep thinking that this is not the only way. So, this is where morality and ethics come to the game and in a way they twist our minds. So instead of being aware of the emotions that these, let me say, «more flexible» characters bring forward in us, we have a ready-to-go logical belief explaining why we feel uncomfortable; they are wrong, bad, crazy, etc. I don’t say that morality and ethics have only this effect. Of course history has shown their value and I am not here to take it away. I only think that through the ages we misused this primarily necessary concept (to state some ground rules so that we can ensure our survival as species while also «upgrade» our quality of life by limiting the amounts of stress caused by environment ).This misunderstanding, which we let intact through ages, «confusing our fear (for something different, unpredictable, not easy to comprehend therefore to control,something unknown) with the actual threat that may exists», this is the reason why from people that supports morality most we have seen acts like fascism, racism, even sexism.

But let’s not get out of rail too much as we are finally reaching our destination. So, how consistency and stability affects ourselves and our relationships? Concerning our inner self, having the belief that we should construct steady, durable structures and not withdraw when some difficulties occur ( life has always a way to find some obstacles for us, as a gift!), we may come to a point of exaggeration. To make mistakes is the most usual, let me say natural, way to live. ( Have in mind, that «mistake» is also a vague concept as well, most of the time depending on the outcome and not the act itself!) So let’s say that we reach a point when we understand that a behavior, a thinking mechanism of ours has driven us to an unbearable state. For this example we assume that we have self-reflected and have come to recognize the roots of our «problem». «Problem» is definitely the wrong word to use. There is a reason I am using it though, the certainty that it produce in our minds that we are wrong, at fault, broken. Even there we can see how the concept of consistency affects our thought! If something leads to our discomfort or misery then it is a problem, it is wrong it is bad, there is no middle way, only good and bad. Unfortunately when it comes to our psychology things are not that easy as in most materialistic issues. For example, if you chose the wrong t-shirt to wear today you may feel a little awkward, someone may make fun of you but as soon as you can change the t-shirt the problem is gone and you know how to avoid it in the future. Behaviors on the other hand, most probably have started forming at a very early age and the reasons you act in one way is intertwined with most of your way of being, as an ivy they grow up with you spreading through you at various directions. So even if you are lucky and aware enough to point out your «problem», most certainly there is no easy way to just get rid of it without changing anything else. If you look closer, you may find that the same behavior is beneficial to some other aspects of your life as well, and the situation gets more complicated. So, your personal growth may implies that you should change yourself, even aspects that at the moment you believe that are great, even ideas that you still have memories standing for in many conversations. It feels like you will betray yourself. But on the other hand you experience everyday that if not, you are stuck in a misery producing loop. That’s where this ethical sense of consistency turns bad for your health and furthermore for the people around you.

With relationships things are a bit different. Not only we tend not to give enough space to our friends or partners so they can feel supported when they want to change parts of their selves, we also project parts of ourselves onto them. We unconsciously make them vessels of our desires. We take pleasure of being able to fulfill our desires while sharing the moment with some others. Sharing our way of understanding life, feeling that we are understood and accepted for what we are (even if that’s not exactly the case). We bond that happiness with the people involved instead of the moments when it was experienced and that is one of our great mistakes. Because we then start to demand the same happiness from those people. But this inner feeling of peace, acceptance, joy is the product of the moments that our vibration coordinated with other vibrations (not necessarily people’s vibrations). The circumstances brought us to this state, not the other person. We can only go as far as to say that we can coordinate with one person more frequently than with others, but we cannot expect an on-demand coordination. *Whenever we create habits within a relationship, it becomes miserable and will start to fall apart. Sooner or later the relationship will end because we stop listening to each other…*We should give enough space to the others, especially to our partners, as we have a bigger tendency to tightly bond with them. And that’s natural, there are lot’s of biological mechanisms developed for this bonding to occur. We should not feel ashamed or enraged for letting that happen. But we should ask ourselves «Are the environmental circumstances that lead to those mechanisms that same as today? Is these feeling good for ourselves and our partners just because they naturally appear?» If we believe we know everything about someone, we fail to really listen and see what is happening; we never create any space. We should create more space. We have discussed our need to know and categorize the behavior of our partner so that we can feel safety and relax our minds around them. We have also discussed that personal changes are part of ones growth and sometimes the only way to go forward. So we may understand why creating and maintaining this space is so important. We should aim for relationships where we help one another and not hold them back. We should accept the others for what they are and for what they may be in the future, as we are all constantly changing. From my current point of view, this is the way to navigate through the love we receive, the way to reach the point of accepting and loving ourselves, at a level that receiving that feeling from our surroundings would stop being a necessity. At a point when we would just joyfully be.

https://nicktheyits.wordpress.com/2018/11/03/mind-traps/

0 Comments
2018/11/03
15:18 UTC

1

Chase the Devil - Max Romeo

The lyrics of the famous song remind me a bit of where mankind is headed. We're doing a lot of damage to the Earth and it seems it's turning on us in the form extreme weathers and now we're making plans to inhabit space. We are Satan being chased off this Earth and being sent into Space.

I told my boss this at work but the message didn't resonate with him - too busy sipping his palm oil infused mocha coffee from a paper cup.

0 Comments
2018/09/20
14:27 UTC

3

Putting people to sleep by hitting them in movies is dangerously wide-spread

Hitting someone and thus just putting them to sleep for a while is probably the most common misconception spread by movies, and it just struck me how casual and routine-ish it looks in newer action movies and series. Surely, some idiots have already hit each other with a rock or something somewhere, killing their buddy or giving them massive brain damage?

0 Comments
2018/03/19
20:39 UTC

1

Thought of the day with meaning

  • There is much potential inside than you see in the world.
  • People are rewarded in public for they practiced for years in private

source:Thoughts with meaning for school assembly!

1 Comment
2017/09/29
12:12 UTC

1

Dream....wish...but dont forget to complete it!!!

0 Comments
2016/10/14
07:13 UTC

1

The best cold seat is a toilet seat.

I wouldn't want to sit on a warm one.

0 Comments
2016/08/31
15:13 UTC

1

Why do people worry about finishing their 'bucket lists' when we're all going to die anyway?

I don't see the point. Sure, crossing everything off one's bucket list might give one satisfaction/fulfilment later in life and on their deathbed, but does it ultimately even matter? We'll all cease to exist anyway; our lifetime of experiences and memories gone in an instant.

The way I see it, don't worry about anything. The end game is the same regardless of what you do in life.

0 Comments
2016/08/17
10:29 UTC

5

Randomly Timed Thread: New Years Resolutions 2015

What are your resolutions for the new year? How do you want to go about accomplishing them? Are they much different from last year's? As always, please respect the subreddit rules when commenting!

0 Comments
2015/01/09
02:53 UTC

3

WEEKLY THREAD: Ukraine

What are your thoughts on the crisis in Ukraine?

1 Comment
2014/10/07
06:53 UTC

12

Reddit is readers digest for the internet generation

Useless facts, corny jokes and crappy advice all wrapped up in a nice easily digestable package that your parents would love if they could get their computer to work properly ;)

0 Comments
2014/08/22
07:31 UTC

3

"We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible."-Vince Lombardi

1 Comment
2014/06/08
13:34 UTC

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