RE: "You may say I'm a dreamer..."
September 26, 2013 at 8:47 pm
(This post was last modified: September 26, 2013 at 8:49 pm by bennyboy.)
Joe, I'm with you.
The difference is between the average person, and the "extreme" person. The average person can't really have a clean mind, or find peace. I think it takes either an unusual person, or very unsual circumstances, for a person to let go of the habitual thought patterns that piggyback on instinct. So over the whole population, only x% of people are ever really going to do that.
However, I very much believe that each individual has the chance to shed the monkey brain instincts, or subjucate them to the intellect, or whatever. ALL kinds of success leave someone in the top 1%: wealth, athletics, art, whatever. And people accept all those pursuits as valid.
And here's the clincher, for me. If you look at wealth, many MORE people are very wealthy than used to be. Many MORE people can run a 4-minute mile, or a 2.5-hour marathon, than used to. Many MORE musicians can play the hardest piano music with perfect technique and also deep emotion. There's no reason to think that all these successes can't be mirrored by an improvement in the way people think about life.
That bell curve moves very slowly, but I think the WAY people choose to think is evolving faster than the mechanism of thought. So the top 1% will always be separate from the rest-- but the normal guy can be where the top 1% USED TO be. And that's very encouraging.
The difference is between the average person, and the "extreme" person. The average person can't really have a clean mind, or find peace. I think it takes either an unusual person, or very unsual circumstances, for a person to let go of the habitual thought patterns that piggyback on instinct. So over the whole population, only x% of people are ever really going to do that.
However, I very much believe that each individual has the chance to shed the monkey brain instincts, or subjucate them to the intellect, or whatever. ALL kinds of success leave someone in the top 1%: wealth, athletics, art, whatever. And people accept all those pursuits as valid.
And here's the clincher, for me. If you look at wealth, many MORE people are very wealthy than used to be. Many MORE people can run a 4-minute mile, or a 2.5-hour marathon, than used to. Many MORE musicians can play the hardest piano music with perfect technique and also deep emotion. There's no reason to think that all these successes can't be mirrored by an improvement in the way people think about life.
That bell curve moves very slowly, but I think the WAY people choose to think is evolving faster than the mechanism of thought. So the top 1% will always be separate from the rest-- but the normal guy can be where the top 1% USED TO be. And that's very encouraging.
