Sexual Dimorphism in Clueless Pool Players
- Thread starter Dhakala
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Flex said:
Of course you would. It's all in how the advice is offered.
Then have it now: if you ever bump into me anywhere, a simple apology will suffice. I don't offend easily.
BTW, Flex, you may address me as "Dave," "David," "Hakala," or "Mr. Hakala," according to your need for formality or familarity. Just don't call me late to dinner.
Cameron Smith said:
I fear many respondents misunderstood the questions, which ask why people do specific things. The question is not, "Why do people do things that strike me as silly or annoying, such as..."
For example, why do so many women cross their legs to shoot instead of doing something else with their legs - like sticking one heel behind an ear, to choose an absurd but titillating example?
You have identified the very problem that Zen Cueism addresses: delusions! One achieves satori by eliminating delusions from one's life. If pool is a significant part of that life, then walking the Four-Bank Path to Enlightenment and Correct Thinking will help eliminate a significant portion of the delusions which impede spiritual development. With distracting delusions stripped away, one is free to deal with the true nature of pool correctly and wholeheartedly.
Dhakala said:Of course you would. It's all in how the advice is offered.
Then have it now: if you ever bump into me anywhere, a simple apology will suffice. I don't offend easily.
BTW, Flex, you may address me as "Dave," "David," "Hakala," or "Mr. Hakala," according to your need for formality or familarity. Just don't call me late to dinner.
Mr. Hakala,
You have a knack for ticking people off -- and you've actually managed to do so to me -- something that is not easily acquired.
I'm putting you on my ignore list. I don't need your pro-ecology/politically correct/uppity/in-your-face condescension cluttering my mind.
Good day to you.
Flex
There is a very simple answer to the original post...maybe nobody has ever shown them how to do it correctly. Maybe they don't have anyone that actually knows how to shoot pool to help them. Maybe they don't know there is a right way to shoot pool. Maybe they just don't care. Maybe the people you observed are more interested in having a couple of drinks with their friends/boyfriends/girlfriends, hitting some balls and then moving on to different activities. Not everyone takes pool as seriously as many of us on this forum. Those who do, usually find a way to learn.
I ran into a guy yesterday, and in the course of the conversation, I told him I was an instructor. He was shocked when I told him that I often spend several days with students. He didn't know there was so much to learn about pool. He asked what kind of things I taught, and when I told him, he said "Wow, I never thought about all those things".
As Randy has said so often, "They don't know what they don't know".
Steve
I ran into a guy yesterday, and in the course of the conversation, I told him I was an instructor. He was shocked when I told him that I often spend several days with students. He didn't know there was so much to learn about pool. He asked what kind of things I taught, and when I told him, he said "Wow, I never thought about all those things".
As Randy has said so often, "They don't know what they don't know".
Steve
Flex said:
I don't know Mr. Hakala. But I do know that someone else cannot tick off another, with that other's permission. So, you gave permission for Mr. Hakala to tick off yourself. IOW, you decided to be ticked off when you read Mr. Hakala's words. Note, I wasn't ticked off by his words, even though I read them, too, so his words aren't the problem, your response to them is. Correct?
This type of "outside authority" thinking that allows others to control your emotions is delusional, and if you have him on ignore you didn't see his post about not deluding oneself, something I wholeheartedly agree with, IF your goal is happy pool.
fwiw,
Jeff Livingston
pooltchr said:
You're an instructor. Naturally, the obvious answer is "instruction".
Again, I seem to have failed to communicate my intent clearly. I'm wondering why they do something incorrectly in a specific way. For example, I hypothesize that moving a frozen cue ball off of a rail 2-3 inches is a behavior carried over from miniature golf, where moving a ball off of the curb is permitted. I could test that hypothesis by asking such ball-movers, "What experience do you have with miniature golf?"
Do women's legs cross naturally? If not, under what circumstances did they learn to cross them, and how did that learning cross over to pool?
And what's with the hand-edge bridge? Where did that come from?
The most opaque mystery, to me, is how one learns to rack at the head of a coin-op table, when the rack is stored and all the balls come out at the other end. There's a Zen koan in that, somewhere.
True. Most people don't think about most of the things they do. They're busy thinking about things in the past or the future that are associated with what they're doing in the present. The goal of Zen Cueism is to think intently and exclusively about all that one is doing at every instant - and not only when one is playing pool.
And often, what they think they know isn't so, as I have often said Mark Twain said. (I sometimes wonder if that is so!
)
Dhakala said:
Well in those cases I think it has a lot to do with the person or what comes naturally to them. I have pretty good understanding of why people do things it is just difficult to get it accross. I know plenty of women who don't like to assume a low stance because a). they don't want anyone seeing down their shirt, b). they don't want people looking at their ass.
As far as the legs crossed, I'm not too sure. Women (not all) often stand with their feet together anyways, it's not too much of a stretch that they would do so playing pool. I think the legs crossed thing is something that they may start doing for whatever reason and just get into a habit. I don't think they even know that it makes a difference, good or bad.
There are many people who start doing silly things due to a false association. That is a player might manage a tough shot, or even run out, and do this while standing on their toes, or perhaps with a spread eagle stance, and assume that this one silly change facilitated the feat. Again, I remember this quite well.
chefjeff said:
Jeff,
Can't agree with you on this one, regarding being ticked off/offended. Your skin may be thicker than mine, if so, so be it. As for someone controlling the other's emotions, I also don't agree with your understanding of it. Some people have "buttons" that when pushed the wrong way will really set them off. As a Catholic, I believe that I may not knowingly say something to someone that will most likely lead them to lose their temper. It's uncharitable, and can be sinful.
Best,
Flex
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Flex said:
The only thing one really controls is one's thoughts. When something outside happens, a person has that special moment, that one quark of time to choose his/her reaction to the event. That is where true freedom lies. Thick skin doesn't matter so much but my reactions do--and they're MY choice.
Now, depending on the situation, I may react quickly and angrily to a surprise or something that I haven't had the time or opportunity to control, but even those become less and less as my overall controlled-reponses become a part of my soul and therefore more automatically reflective of my true inner self.
I don't understand why you're so anxious to give away something so precious as your choice of thought---especially to someone who is trying to harm you. Why not simply disconnect the "buttons" from that irrational response mechanism? Or reprogram them to create something else.
On the Versus network (besides IPT), they are running a really great series called, The Soul Of a Champion. They're interviewing people who have accomplished much, and are really getting into their heads, so to speak. One of the main things I'm getting from this series is how everyone of those champions refers to how s/he doesn't let the outside interferences negatively influence his/her goals and performances. I think this show would be great for pool players who are troubled by sharkers.
Thanks for your reply,
Jeff Livingston
chefjeff said:
I'm not sure I understand what you mean by giving away "your choice of thought." Perhaps it would be helpful for me to say that Mr. Hakala's ideas and responses and way of being as shown on this board and elsewhere online are extremely offensive to me as a Catholic, as well as a person. I won't go into all the reasons why, and don't have the time or want to make the effort to do so, as I think it would become a neverending debate, of dubious value to him and to others, and as he is given to ridicule along with his other traits, I've no interest in engaging him further.
As for suggesting that "buttons" can simply be disconnected as an "irrational response mechanism," you seem to think that we are just a bundle of thoughts and that we can mechanistically eliminate any sort of emotion when serious offense is intended by someone out to harm us psychologically. There are some real sickos out there, who like to psychologically terrorise people, especially those whom they hate. We are composed of body and soul, and to take the view that someone cannot be scarred psychologically against their will is irrational, IMHO.
Flex
In reading Dhakala's various postings in numerous threads, they generally appear to revolve around the following quote taken from another thread by Dhakala:Klopek said:
"I am practicing Zen Cueism, walking the Four-Bank Path to Enlightenment and Correct Thinking to perfect my karma, escape the Wheel of Samsara and attain Satori."
While a big part of playing pool (or any other sport) is mental, when I read Dhakala's postings on zen cuism, it all comes across to me as Buddhist gibberish. For those of us who don't live in Tibet and aren't Buddhist monks, it's unclear what "escaping the Wheel of Samsara and attaining Satori" even means in relation to playing pool.
In many ways, I agree with Klopek that that these Zen-ish preachings are over-bearing and very poorly articulated.
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PoolSharkAllen said:In reading Dhakala's various postings in numerous threads, they generally appear to revolve around the following quote taken from another thread by Dhakala:
"I am practicing Zen Cueism, walking the Four-Bank Path to Enlightenment and Correct Thinking to perfect my karma, escape the Wheel of Samsara and attain Satori."
While a big part of playing pool (or any other sport) is mental, when I read Dhakala's postings on zen cuism, it all comes across to me as gibberish.An example is the ambiguity of what "escaping the Wheel of Samsara and attaining Satori" even means in relation to playing pool?
I don't know about Dhakala's thinking concening Zen, but mine seems similar and I've never studied Zen.
I wrote a whole pool book mostly about this very subject: why/how improving the self integrates with improving this pool shot. I use pool as a methphor for understanding self-integration and it's inevitable results, whether one chooses to consciously manage it or not. When this integration moves one toward happiness, the pool shot naturally improves, too, as it is merely another part of the whole self. What else could it do? And flip/flopped: the pool shot, if integrated honestly, can be used to improve the self, via the same connections.
Check out this post I just made in another thread that demonstrates an example of what I am trying so poorly to say here:
http://forums.azbilliards.com/showthread.php?p=479444&posted=1#post479444
Jeff Livingston
Flex said:
I know that Flex has set his preferences to ignore all of my posts, but perhaps others will gain something from this one.
First, let me dispose of Flex's assertion that one is morally obliged to avoid offending others. It is a delusion promulgated by those who would dominate. Its purpose is only to discourage conflicts among the subdued that might trouble the dominant or distract the subdued from doing as the dominant wish. It is akin to the preposterous proposition that one must not urge the Pope to refrain from apologizing for nothing because it might draw unwanted attention to a pissant suburb of Denver, Colorado.
"Justice is incidental to Law and Order." ~ J. Edgar Hoover, Presbyterian.
And now, the story of my conversion to Zen Cueism:
I am recovering from Catholicism. I spent most of my elementary school years in a Catholic military academy - quite possibly the nearest legal approximation to crucifixion for a young spirit. It took me nearly seven years to figure out how to get expelled without receiving a "black mark" on my "permanent record". (My strategem worked - Mom got me into a literally ivy-covered college prep school where I had to wear a sport coat and tie.
)But the Catholic school's library - in which I spent many hours of detention for "sins" such as accidentally dropping a missal in chapel - featured a five-feet long collection of massive books that held my salvation: The Encyclopedia of World Religions!
How these many learned words, 99% of which constitute Catholic heresy, got into that school's library is a mystery.
Some would call it Providence, others the work of Satan. I call it karma, of the "good" variety. I deserved them, so the Universe gave them to me.In any case, I read every word of all 26 volumes at least five times during my years in that purgatory. This exercise cultivated in me a useful objectivity concerning religions. I did, indeed, consider all sides with great care.
I concluded that the first principle of Catholicism, and most of its related Christian sects, is this:
One is born unworthy and can never make oneself worthy.
Virtually all human beings have been born damned - every one since the year zero A. D.! - and only the sacrifice of someone else enables their salvation. That's Catholicism's prime directive. Until one believes it, one cannot be Catholic.
Nothing could be further from the reality invariably experienced by every child born and every parent who gives birth. One glance at any baby refutes Catholicism's foundation with utter finality.
It takes years and the ruthless vigor of a Torquemada to inculcate such delusions of despair into a person. Catholicism, upon which I was crucified as a child, is entirely a product of delusion.
So, it should surprise no one that I have striven since seventh grade to eliminate delusions from my life through the practice of Zen, or that I have adapted my favorite game of billiards to that purpose.
Nor should it surprise anyone that Flex chooses to ignore me. The tiniest measure of water can wreak havoc upon a sand castle.
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