RE: Mind from the Inside
September 12, 2016 at 10:50 am
(This post was last modified: September 12, 2016 at 10:51 am by bennyboy.)
Okay, so far I'm seeing refutations of the value of my request in the OP, but little interest in what it's like to do things with the mind. People say there's little value in talking about the mind if it isn't in accord with what we know about the material world. However, I'd say there's even less value in talking about the material world if it can't improve the richness of my experiences. How does knowing what brain parts do deepen my enjoyment of a sunset? How does adopting a belief in physical determinism usefully inform me on what it's like to push the mind to new places?
Whatever the underlying mechanism, I don't much care about it except for academic interest. What really matters is what it's like to be me, and how at my age I can still find something new to experience. My knowledge has put everything in categories, packaged everything away in boxes, so that I cannot see a tree but as a "tree," and I cannot see myself except through the eyes of a narrative that narrows in scope every time I turn the page.
It seems to me that knowing so much prevents me from learning, and that understanding so much prevents me from experiencing.
So I'm back to my original request: is there anyone there who has a sincere interest in studying what it's like to be themselves, and how different thoughts and processes affect them? Is there anyone who has picked up neat little tricks they can do with their minds?
Whatever the underlying mechanism, I don't much care about it except for academic interest. What really matters is what it's like to be me, and how at my age I can still find something new to experience. My knowledge has put everything in categories, packaged everything away in boxes, so that I cannot see a tree but as a "tree," and I cannot see myself except through the eyes of a narrative that narrows in scope every time I turn the page.
It seems to me that knowing so much prevents me from learning, and that understanding so much prevents me from experiencing.
So I'm back to my original request: is there anyone there who has a sincere interest in studying what it's like to be themselves, and how different thoughts and processes affect them? Is there anyone who has picked up neat little tricks they can do with their minds?
