THINKING:
How to Think (a continuation of What am I ?)
Trust me on this. Most people are hopelessly inadequate when it comes to
thinking. That’s why the world’s a mess. This is why your life is so confusing.
One could start with the "Primacy" question here but having to deal with all the
permutations would chew up a lot of your time. Let’s simplify the issue a
little.
Small minds are obsessed with "grey areas" and trivia. All they see are trees.
Megalomaniacs only see the woods and are willing to sacrifice the trees in order
to get to where they are going. The real trick is to see both the woods and the
trees simultaneously and not get confused.
On the other hand, perhaps we don’t need to see anything at all. The woods and
trees analogy is based on the assumption that information is, in some way, Good.
Let’s start here.
Information is anything that irritates your neurons. Don’t let anybody tell you
otherwise. A lot of brainy people get really anal about trying to define that
which is Information and how it becomes Knowledge. They get especially upset
about KNOWLEDGE. In this regard the thing to remember is that Newtonian physics
enables you to play Football whereas Quantum physics doesn’t. In other words,
your common-sense is the best guidance as to that which is going to be useful
when you are trying to figure out some theoretical issues. Coincidentally, you
will find that simplicity and aesthetic elegance fall in alongside and march in
unison with common-sense. It is no accident that Mathematicians and Physicists
are constantly in search of the Holy Grail of theoretical elegance. This would
put Catherine Deneuve alongside E=MC² and "Go ahead, make my day" as a
contenders for the all-time best Zen poems.
So, in order to retain the element of Simplicity, let’s say that Information is
anything that irritates your neurons. One might well ask for some further
illumination. Ok, it implies that ANYTHING that causes some neural activity is
Information. What’s wrong, don’t you get it? How many ways can I say this?
EVERYTHING that you experience is information. This includes your dreams and
little meditative thoughts you have while sitting on the toilet. But, you say,
"I create those thoughts! How can they possibly be Experience?" The answer is
that your "new", "spontaneous" and "self-generated" thoughts actually cut new
neural pathways. This is how you learn and, hopefully, remember. The bottom-line
here is that Creative Thinking is a way of creating new information. The
left-hand now knows what the right-hand knew. The right-hand has just been
treated to some new Information. It has a new Experience. This is called the
"Wet-Dream Syndrome". Whether or not you learn from your wet-dreams depends on
how seriously you take them as experiences.
This can lead to some problems. The more serious you take your Internal Life the
richer you are going to make the Psychologist who tries to calm down that
snake-pit you so humourously call your Mind. Or you’ll be spending a lot of time
in the Confessional telling Father O’Hagen about your inexplicable erotic
attraction to Trolls. He doesn’t want to know. Please don’t scare him. He’s got
his own problems dealing with the cherubs.
There are some stick-in-the-mud Psychologist/Philosophers who will argue
bitterly that we do not think new thoughts. We merely discover what was always
there. Where? THERE, dammit. In your brain, in the air, everywhere.
An easy way to approach this is to recollect what musicians from Bach to Prince
have said about songwriting. Musicians of similar mystical bent have said that
they do not "compose" as such. They re-discover what God has already created.
They "channel" God’s ideas. They tap into the Zeitgeist. They do the Hokey-Pokey.
When a jazz-musician is improvising in the "Zone" the point almost becomes moot
as to whether he is playing the music of whether the music, in some way, "plays"
him. At this point the Behaviourist would step in and say that this is merely an
illusion. The musician is the sum-total of all his life-experiences and
therefore only thinks he is playing something brand-new or discovering or "channelling"
because he is not intellectually rigorous enough. Point taken.
This whole idea creates a Primacy dilemma. But it can be simplified. The
Behaviourist says the musician plays the music. The mystic says that some
"Other" is responsible for the music. The mystic is confused. Remember that at
any point that one includes God and oneself in the same breath then one is
talking, to a degree, about the same thing. Yes, you’ve got it. The musician
plays the music. The musician is also dumb. He shouldn’t stay up so late in an
alien environment with bright flashing lights while taking interesting drugs.
It’ll turn your brain into cottage-cheese. Then you’ll start thinking like that
notorious coke-fiend Freud.
"Aha!" You say while twisting the argument around. "This also implies that God
created the music."
Aha! Yourself.
If one keeps on dragging God into all these discussions we’ll never learn
anything new. We’ll stop thinking the moment God is brought into the argument as
a First Cause. We’ll never discuss anything or learn anything new. Civilisation
as we know it will become static and we’ll all slip back into the Primordial
ooze. It’ll all be your fault.
Go figure.
So, anyway, I’m trying to simplify your life somewhat. One might think that
having God inside all your ideas about life is going to simplify things for you.
This is a fallacy. God gave you a brain. This was a Good Idea. Your brain is a
tool you have been given so that you may adequately negotiate living in the
material world. Brains are good at telling your hands how to light a cigarette.
Otherwise you’ll set your nose-hairs on fire. Brains are also really good at
getting people to the moon and back.
For the sake of simplicity; it matters not whether one believes in God or does
not believe in God when it comes to thinking. It simplifies everything if you
accept that the mind interprets all experience and creates other experiences and
that questions of causality that precede the mind are unanswerable and,
therefore, not worth pursuing.
The trick is to distinguish between fantasy and reality.
One would think that common-sense is sufficient in this regard. Alas, that is
often not true. This is the reason people have to be schooled in ways of
thinking. Churches, Universities, Schools and Hard Knocks all play a roll.
We don’t have time to re-hash all the great teachings. Let’s distil it down to
the essence:
a/ Moderate your feelings. That way you can trust your instincts better.
b/ Use linear logic when communicating.
i.e. If A is equal to B, and B is C, then A is equal to C.
Also; all stories and essays should follow one line and one line only. Leave the
kitchen sink out if it is not pertinent.
Also; tell ‘em what you’re about to tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em. Then tell ‘em what
you’ve just told ‘em.
c/ Remember; nobody Knows anything. They just have ways of doing things that may
work. But you better listen in any case.
Is this all? Of course not. A lot of people feel insecure because they don’t
"know" enough. The problem is that one could read and study for the rest of your
life and not make much progress. There is too much to absorb. More importantly,
Facts are not Knowledge.
Most of us are in possession of the fact that buildings are composed of concrete
and steel. This doesn’t mean we know how to construct the Trump Towers. You can
know a lot of facts without possessing any Insight, Understanding, Wisdom or
Knowledge of anything useful.
Knowledge is always related to specifics. You either know a specific fact or you
don’t. You either know how to build the Trump Towers or you don’t. Knowledge is
also always something that can be tested via scientific method. If you know how
to build the Trump Towers then go out and build it. Better still is to give the
plans to someone else and let them build it. Knowledge is something that be
communicated to someone else.
You don’t have Knowledge of the metaphysical. You can experience it and even
have insight into it but you cannot communicate the experience to someone else
so it ain’t Knowledge. It’s a bit like trying to describe the Mona Lisa. It’s
impossible. The person has to stand in front of the Mona Lisa and then the
experience will be purely subjective and unlike your experience. It is a
complete red-herring and very mischievous to say one can "know" God. This would
be poetic license.
Knowledge is a communal thing. The transferral of knowledge is why they set up
schools and universities. One can know how to do something but one cannot know
about something. One can have heard about something but one doesn’t really know
that something. So when someone says that they’ve seen a ghost and say that they
know that ghosts exists it becomes pretty useless information to the rest of us
mortals that haven’t seen a ghost. It is not knowledge until they can show us
how to see ghosts.
One can really simplify life by not believing everything one reads. People are
the same the world over. There are no gurus or priests or psychics that are
gifted beyond the level that you or I are gifted. These people have the same
experiences that you or I have but they interpret them differently and use a
different language in explaining their experiences.
It is not the case that God does appear to some people and not to others. If god
exists then he is manifest to all. If god doesn’t exist then god has never
appeared to anyone and some people are just good story-tellers. This is
common-sense.
Nevertheless, one can have a really interesting time trying to figure out why
people keep talking about metaphysical matters.
"No-one Knows Anything" is because at the end of the day Knowledge is contingent
on specifics and confined to the practical. The moment you say you have
knowledge of how to build the Trump Towers I ask if you know how to mix the
concrete in the Trump Towers, or the chemical bonding in the concrete, or the
subatomic structures of the atoms in the molecules, or the exact position and
velocity of the electrons in the upper left quadrant…..and at some point you are
going to say "I Don’t Know". Ergo you know nothing. You don’t really know how to
construct the Trump Towers. And yet you do. So I listen to you and go off to
build a better Trump Towers because I do know how to replace the steel in
reinforced concrete with bamboo.
Avoid grey areas in your thinking. Most things can be reduced to a Black or
White scenario. It's either 1 or 0, Correct or Incorrect and you either Love
someone or you don't.
You'll notice that these choices are not between Love and Hate, for example, but
rather between Love and Not-Love. Where people get confused is to think that
polarising thinking means that if you're not for it then you're against it. One
could just be indifferent to it. If I am not a Muslim it doesn't mean that I am
against Islam. But ultimately the question will occur; "What am I For?”
This "grey area" is where a lot of confusion comes from. It simplifies life
enormously if one doesn't sit on the fence and allow events to overtake oneself.
Make a choice now. Even if it later appears to be the wrong choice. By choosing
you will force yourself to act. Action in the world is the catalyst that will
assist you in finding your personal truth. But always understand that things are
in flux and that truths shift on a daily practical basis. You might discover a
new way to tie your shoelaces or kiss your partner. It doesn't mean that the old
way was Wrong. The new way might just suite you better. Nevertheless, you still
have to plant the first kiss. So Act.
How does this affect Large Questions? Well, you still have to decide. What have
you lost by living your life as a Buddhist for a few years? If it is correct for
you then you will blossom and reap the dividends. If it is not correct for you
then you will reap the dividends of certainty and be closer to finding clarity
in the world. Either way you win.
One cannot progress in life if one is curled up in a foetal position in bed and
"thinking" about the Big Questions. Your life is defined by your actions. This
is not only how society will judge you but it is the only way you can be certain
of whether your life has personal meaning. For example; Stephen Hawking is about
as isolated as a human being can get (because of his infirmity) yet he continues
to publish his thoughts on Cosmology. You may know a very large Truth but it is
no use to the world if you keep it locked up inside. Is mozart Mozart if he
never plays a note? The crux of the problem is this....you know an Answer but
you cannot be sure if it is Correct. So you have to bounce it off other people.
Otherwise you will keep contemplating your navel in a dark room for ages until
you think your way up your own backside. What will then happen is that the guys
with the butterfly nets will take you away and nurse Ratchet will declare you a
Schizophrenic and give you happy tablets and then you'll really be fucked
because you won't be able to think anymore. Much less be able to go out and buy
ice-cream.
You and the society you live in are inextricably linked. Whether you like it or
not. To know the truth you have to decide on something and then act. And the
environment or society will give you an answer. If they decide to shoot you at
dawn for treason or heresy you will, at least, die secure in the knowledge that
you brought something to our party. (There is the possibility that the Whole
World is Wrong and you are Right. In which case the correct form of Action is to
Shut Your Mouth.)
Beware the Jabberwocky!!
Language is a bugger. The world could have saved itself a lot of pain if it had
never invented language.
For example; just because I say the word Jabberwocky it doesn’t mean that
Jabberwockies exist. Or Ghosts, or God, or Angels, or Demons, or Dragons. This
is particularly true and confusing when one is dealing at the cutting edge of
Science. When somebody says that they have mathematical proof that Superstrings
are the fundamental elements of the universe people tend to rush out and live
their lives according to this new paradigm. Freud says the words Id, Ego and
Superego and lo! We have almost a century’s worth of heads being shrunk in
accordance with this "insight". These theories are just theories. They are not
reality. Until they can do a "touchy-feely" experiment on the superstring ain’t
no-one gonna be convinced. Yet many people live their lives as if Jabberwockies
exist. This is because people need a belief-system. It distracts them from how
unbelievably mundane and boring their lives really are.
All around the world people wake up, work, eat, shit, fuck (if they get lucky),
and go to sleep. Every Day. Year In, Year Out. It brings a new dimension to
one’s life if one believes in fairies. One can pray to fairies, talk about
fairies and live one’s life according to the fairy disciplines that will assist
one in reaching nirvana. But they are still fairies. Cut the Jabberwockies and
fairies out of one’s life to simplify one’s life. Get depressed by the complete
lack of anything interesting in your life. That way one can start building one’s
life all over again, starting with the fundamentals.
What is Good and Evil? Try figuring it out without resorting to language
inspired by or containing the words Fairy or Jabberwocky.
If you really get down to the nitty-gritty language has no real meaning and we
don’t really communicate anything to each other at all. What I intend and you
interpret are always very different things. I am an island and so are you. For
example; there is a world of difference between the mathematical language that
enables you to build a bridge and the English I use to weave you a tale of myth
and madness. Yet both are tenuously related to reality. Numbers do not exist
anywhere but in the imagination and words merely allude to things that are
subjectively interpreted.
In order to simplify things one should give up trying to be understood. Accept
that you will always be misunderstood to a greater or lesser degree. Then stop
caring about it. Let the bastards figure it out for themselves. If you have a
problem, then figure it out for yourself. If they have a problem, then you can’t
help them. The best you can do is to listen.
Listening is a powerful tool in assisting someone to illumination. This is
because one has to be logical if one is trying to explain something to someone.
For example; if you’re trying to test a kid’s knowledge of a subject then get
the kid to explain it to you in their own words. The kind of processing the
brain has to do to re-interpret the data to get to the point of verbalising it
will be the "learning" process. I.e. it cannot be verbalised unless it is
understood. (Regurgitation doesn’t count. It must be the child’s own words.) If
you really want to learn something then try and teach it to others. From
mathematics to macramé this technique works. Spend less time swotting and more
time talking or teaching.
By now you’ve figured out the basic principle of psychotherapy. The therapist
listens while you work it out for yourself.
I have accepted, for example, that this essay is intrinsically meaningless. I
amused myself by writing it. That’s all. Nevertheless, you might agree or
disagree with what is being said. This is good. It means that I have acted as a
catalyst for your thinking. That is the best one can hope for.
So, to reiterate, think simply, think realistically, speak plainly and stop
caring about whether or not you are understood.
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This page was last updated : Tuesday, November 04, 2008