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Acceptance is when you are in a situation that you either accept or face the inevitable consequences from not accepting.
I find that the inevitable consequences happen..whether you accept or not.
I suppose some peace of mind could come from the acceptance..but that's all!
Philosophically, one could make a strong case re: prayer/religion is not acceptance.
If the 'serenity prayer' is:
'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.'
...and we assume a secular stand-in term for 'god', then this 'prayer' like many prayers is really a plea to oneself to 1.) accept that which seems or is likely to be permanent, 2.) motivate oneself to work towards undoing harmful or unwanted habits, and 3.) to ponder the battles that are worth fighting/most prudent to fight.
It's a terrific 'prayer'--it's the sort of thing the ancient Greek Stoics probably would've endorsed without any appeals to monotheism (though potentially with appeals to the gods of their time--heh)
I find that the inevitable consequences happen..whether you accept or not.
I suppose some peace of mind could come from the acceptance..but that's all!
I apologize to most of the people who commented on my post, however there are a few that understood what I was trying to say. I should have put it into the Spiritual form, as acceptance is an action, not something in the Philosophy section where people pontificate over things they obviously don't understand.
I find that the inevitable consequences happen..whether you accept or not.
I suppose some peace of mind could come from the acceptance..but that's all!
Just peace of mind....but's that's all.
OMG. If you think that peace of mind is a small thing, inconsequential, I feel sorry for you. Many people spend their whole life looking for peace of mind and to you it's no big deal. WOW!!!!!
'God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.'
...and we assume a secular stand-in term for 'god', then this 'prayer' like many prayers is really a plea to oneself to 1.) accept that which seems or is likely to be permanent, 2.) motivate oneself to work towards undoing harmful or unwanted habits, and 3.) to ponder the battles that are worth fighting/most prudent to fight.
It's a terrific 'prayer'--it's the sort of thing the ancient Greek Stoics probably would've endorsed without any appeals to monotheism (though potentially with appeals to the gods of their time--heh)
If you want to pray, by all means, do so. My point, as an atheist (in the here and now), is prayer (or asking 'serenity') isn't acceptance. It's the belief a higher being exists who has the power to change things (or to grant us serenity, for that matter). How is that acceptance, and how can it change our lives in terms of philosophy, or the thread?
It doesn't; prayer is simply religion. We must find our own 'serenity' and acceptance (and consider what is/isn't worth fighting for). It begins with asking our own questions.
Just peace of mind....but's that's all.
OMG. If you think that peace of mind is a small thing, inconsequential, I feel sorry for you. Many people spend their whole life looking for peace of mind and to you it's no big deal. WOW!!!!!
"small thing"...inconsequential.."no big deal"...Your words,not mine.
Please, don't feel sorry for me.
Guess I didn't realize how fortunate I am to have that peace of mind
Acceptance can be making the best of a bad situation, seeing the glass as half full rather than half empty. There are many things you don't have to put up with, that you can change by making the right moves. But there's some things that you can't overcome, and accepting those things rather than to keep fighting a losing battle only makes sense.
That's not to say you accept everything. But you need to pick the best time and place for your battles. And many things are viewed negatively because they don't measure up to some imaginary goal and never will. Example, you hate your job, you have tried for years to get a better one and can't. You have two choices, accept your lot and make the best of it, or continue to feel miserable. With the first choice you may actually learn to enjoy your job. With the second path you stay miserable.
Example, you have an incurable illness. You have two choices. First choice is to keep "fighting" the illness, using any snake oil solution that you become aware of, spend all your time trying and wishing to be cured. Second choice you accept it and make the most of the things you can do, forget the things you can't.
Example, you have been depressed for many months. You seek every form of counseling, pills, alcohol, etc. trying to fight your depression. Nothing works. So you accept it, forget about it, do what you have to do and accept you may never feel better. Choice one, you stay miserable. Choice two, by not fighting it and continually thinking about it, your depression eventually lifts by itself from lack of attention.
These are all examples from my own life, so I definitely believe that acceptance is the only way to handle situations you cannot change. Accepting them changes your experience for the better and often changes the situations as well.
If you want to pray, by all means, do so. My point, as an atheist (in the here and now), is prayer (or asking 'serenity') isn't acceptance. It's the belief a higher being exists who has the power to change things (or to grant us serenity, for that matter). How is that acceptance, and how can it change our lives in terms of philosophy, or the thread?
It doesn't; prayer is simply religion. We must find our own 'serenity' and acceptance (and consider what is/isn't worth fighting for). It begins with asking our own questions.
Clearly, you're working on 'acceptance', per the thread, relative to opinion and fantasm.
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