It's simpler than you think.

by Introspection 21 Replies latest jw friends

  • Introspection
    Introspection

    Ok, with all this talk about beliefs and whatnot I thought this might be a good post.. I have addressed it before but I think I can make it clearer now.

    It kind of comes down to this: There's no such thing as a true thoughts, but all thoughts are real. All thoughts are real simply in that you're having the thoughts - even if it's not true, it is true that you are having a thought. But no thoughts are real in that none of the thoughts are the things you're thinking about, they are only processes that are going on in your head! I mean, it would be like if you have a bunch of model airplanes and you thinking you can take a squadron of F-16's and go fight - that would be silly. Your thoughts are only models for reality.

    Unfortunately this is a mistake most people make with religion, and even relationships. As nice as the thoughts or even feelings are, they are simply stuff that's going on in your mind and body. I find it sad when someone who thinks they know a person project their idea(l) on to them, whereas it is only how they think of and feel about him or her. This applies to God too, or any thing really. It doesn't have to be a bad idea or feeling or even an inaccurate (which is only relatively so) or inappropriate one, but if the mistake is that they think their concept or feeling about them is the real deal, they are only falling in love with their own thought or feeling.

    Now in saying this I realize it may be a sad thought for some, (still yours, btw) but the truth is you can really connect with a person intimately, just as you can connect with reality - without conceptualizing about it. You just interact, be a part of it. Thinking can certainly be there too, but in that case it isn't a matter of taking some little bit of information then weaving a big story out of it, whether it's about a person or whatever. At any given time, you are not only thinking but also have other stuff going on inside you and around you - it's just a matter of being open to everything. We say it's good to have an opened mind, but that really can be kind of misleading. What is the mind open to?? More mind? Just stuff other people's mind generate? If those people you open to is just in their own mind then just being open to their mind will only keep you in thought! Even if they have more than just an opened mind, you connecting with them only on that level limits you to the mind only. So having said that, don't think about this too much, or atleast really think if you just want to think - but sooner or later you're gonna do things other than thought.

  • Introspection
    Introspection

    Oh yeah, I think I left out this rather significant point: Basically, what happens is your thoughts, your mind becomes self aware. It isn't the center of the universe anymore.

  • Undecided
    Undecided

    Life is just some electrons and chemicals reacting in the brain to sight, sound, and pressure to certain nerves, unless of course you are blind or deaf or both. I wonder what your thoughts would be like if you were deaf, dumb, and blind from birth, without any feeling in the skin? How would you picture the world in your brain?

    Why does my mind go off on these tangents? I think maybe I should go eat breakfast.

    Ken P.

  • Inquiry
    Inquiry

    hey Introspection...

    I think I love you... hahahahahah... you sure are a doll to try to explain all that in a post, and IMO you did a great job.... It's kinda like walking around outside in your underwear though isn't it? ;)

    I think an interesting saying that sums up that thought is "There is no reality, only perception." Neat eh...

    Toodles for now love

    Inq

  • Inquiry
    Inquiry

    Hi Undecided....

    roflmao... you and intro gave me the best start to my day I've ever had... thanks sooooooo much....

    Inq

  • Introspection
    Introspection
    Life is just some electrons and chemicals reacting in the brain to sight, sound, and pressure to certain nerves, unless of course you are blind or deaf or both.

    Ken, I would also point out that the ideas of electrons, chemicals and so forth are only more concepts that we use to organize a system of knowledge - it is also a set of perceptions, even if it is a logically organized framework. Most people seem to go from one framework to another - how good that framework is is not something I'm concerned with, but rather just simply dropping all preconceived notions - taking a really fresh look at everything.

  • Introspection
    Introspection

    Inq, do you have a "story"? Were you a JW? Kind of curious.

  • SYN
    SYN

    Couldn't agree more, except for where you state that thoughts and reality are separate.

    This is becoming less true every day, as our simulations of reality performed by computers become more and more finely grained and accurate.

  • Introspection
    Introspection

    Syn, I didn't mean that thoughts and reality are separate at all, but thoughts are only a part of reality. Thoughts exist, so of course they're real, but even if you have a perfect replica of something in your mind or modeled in a computer, or just a duplicate, that is still something different. It's sort of like identical twins right, because even if two people or two things are completely identical, once you put them in the world - which is what I'm considering reality - then the way the environment interacts with them will change them in different ways. It's simple really, even if you have the complete plans for some machine or whatever, the plans are the plans, and actual product is the actual product. And of course, it takes someone who knows how to read those plans to even compare them with the actual product. There is the matter of "accurate knowledge" to go by dub language, but I am merely pointing out the difference between knowledge and that which it points to since people don't seem to distinguish between the two. When you're talking about something that deals with ultimate reality as religion attempts to do, that is a BIG step in the wrong direction. Instead of taking the attitude of "this is the best picture we have based on the knowledge we have", it becomes "the picture is reality." It could be that it's a very, very accurate picture, but from a psychological perspective to have that ego centered attitude will only cloud your thinking.

  • SixofNine
    SixofNine

    Isn't this a rather long an convoluted way of saying "it's healthy to admit you could be wrong, and most likely are under-informed (be it about a person, place, thing, or concept)"?

Share this

Google+
Pinterest
Reddit