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Something worth adding is that there isn't anything in your brain that is immutable. We aren't really capable of observing some changes as they happen so gradua
by jm__87 9y ago
Something worth adding is that there isn't anything in your brain that is immutable. We aren't really capable of observing some changes as they happen so gradually, yet it is quite obvious the changes have occurred. The way you perceive the world is going to be significantly different today than it was when you were an adolescent, yet you can't recall exactly what it was like to be that adolescent since you would have had to create an exact copy of your brain/body at that point in your life to have access the same context.
I always try to remember this fact when dealing with others. Past experiences and environmental context (that is to say, internal environment, e.g. blood sugar levels, hormone levels, neurotransmitter levels, etc) are extremely important to how you experience life on a day to day basis. It is literally impossible to fully imagine what someone else's experience is like, so it is important to listen carefully and be empathetic with others.
- mistermann 9y agoThis is a very important and true perspective. It makes me wonder, have you ever used psychedelics of any kind?
- mr_overalls 9y agoA valid question, but I want to point out that Buddhism (and modern psychology, to a certain extent) have been using this transitory, conditional model of the self for a long time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatta https://www.amazon.com/User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousness-Penguin/dp/0140230122 https://www.amazon.com/User-Illusion-Cutting-Consciousness-P...
- mistermann 9y agoMany people think psychedelics are an alternate path to the same destination, although I haven't done any major searching on whether any significant research has gone into comparing experiences.
- jm__87 9y agoAs I mentioned, I haven't tried psychedelics but from listening to Sam Harris and a few other experienced meditators talk about it, it sounds quite useful for witnessing firsthand the context dependency of human experience. I think this is an important insight in to our existence - the person you feel like you are is whatever is happening in your brain right now and that can change quite easily and quite quickly. A bit unnerving.
- mr_overalls 9y agoI think you're partially right. At least from the Buddhist side of things (and in more than one Buddhist tradition), the spiritual path consists roughly of: 1) an initial awakening to the true nature of one's own self-construct 2) a lifelong process of deepening and integrating this deeply liberating insight into all aspects of one's mind, life, and behavior The Buddhist canon contains a lot of stories about people who attained at lease a glimpse of 1), sometimes seemingly triggered by a random event (especially in the Chan/Zen tradition) such as hearing a loud shout. So I wouldn't be surprised if psychedelics could drop-kick one's consciousness into this realization. But I would be surprised if drugs alone could produce the kind of long-lasting shift in perspective and well-being that 2) brings - mainly because it requires a lot of meditative effort, and effects of pharmaceuticals tend to be transient.
- mistermann 9y agoFrom personal experience, I believe it can create the shift in perspective, but you're right about the permanence of it, that seems elusive in a way that cannot even be described.
- jm__87 9y agoNope. I just read a lot and meditate.
- rokhayakebe 9y agoWhich is why it is ExtremelY important to email yourself lengthy details of your thoughts on important subjects. It is a record of your thought process and world view at that moment in life. I am amazed every time I go back and read things I wrote 5+ years ago.
- gxs 9y agoI ordered a typewriter - for some reason it makes this easier for me. For me I think it's a few things: feeling of security, knowing no pw leak or other hack will reveal my thoughts, the immediate gratification of seeing my thoughts on paper, and lastly a dedicated machine that I associate with the task and doesn't allow me to wander.
- balabaster 9y agoYou mean like at the end of the day so you can remember what you were doing the next morning when you sit back down at your computer? :D
- rokhayakebe 9y agoI mean what I think about "big ideas" such as Love, Family, Work, Humanity, Theos, XYZ person etc... Or for example if I read something that affects me I email myself a commentary. My favorite, which I have not done in a while, is to simply record a summary of the conversations I have with friends.
- Fnoord 9y agoEmail yourself? You could simply use an offline diary in any text editor or in physical space.
- rokhayakebe 9y agoI am one of those people who use email for everything including file storage.
- narag 9y agoyet you can't recall exactly what it was like to be that adolescent since you would have had to create an exact copy of your brain/body at that point in your life to have access the same context. Or I could just simply remember what I felt. I actually do. And to people talking about writing down your thoughts, the thing that always surprises me when reading my texts from decades ago, is how similar they were to my current thoughts. Circumstances are very different, I'm not.
- alexashka 9y agothe thing that always surprises me when reading my texts from decades ago, is how similar they were to my current thoughts. Circumstances are very different, I'm not. I've had the exact opposite experience. I blush at the posts I see on facebook from what I've posted 2-3 years back, and that's stuff that I had given a little thought to, before posting. If I kept a diary/journal, I'd be perpetually embarrassed of my past trail of thoughts.
- jm__87 9y agoI'm more or less in the same boat as you :). But to look at it in a more positive light, that discomfort at looking at your past self just shows how far you've come. So it can also be an indicator you're on the right track.
- da_chicken 9y agoHm. I used to be the same, but now I look back and I'm no longer embarrassed. I'm already so hard on myself about everything, I really don't want yet another thing to beat myself up about. What's the use in being upset because I was wrong in the past? I'm wrong about things every day. All I can do is try to do better. I think one key was that I have gone back and read something that I wrote which I no longer remember writing that genuinely impresses me. I've stumbled upon my own answers on, say, StackOverflow, or found old posts on discussion boards before for topics I find interesting, or found some old scripts I wrote long ago that do something I now have need of. When I've had a question that needed an answer and discovered that my own answer from years ago is the best one I can find, it feels pretty good. When the argument I've used in the past is still well-reasoned, that also feels pretty good. When the code I used in the past was correct and complete and well commented, that really feels good. No, not everything I've done before has been good quality, but it's a lot of fun to stumble on your own things that are good quality. It also makes it easier to forgive yourself for all the errors that you've made in your life.
- Parcissons 9y agoYeah, lets inform the imprisoned madmen and perverts that there is hope yet. Is there a way you can get a refund, if the package you sell us turns out to be just brain- and proofless optimism of the american kind - rewrapped for the ten-thousands time- good as new. And if people cant change - its not biologoy, its not society, its a personal flaw- they deserve to suffer for that- or at least be looke down upon, or they should self-deprecate with drugs, for beeing failures. Wish there was a similar outrage to this optextremism, against scientific reality and its horrors as it is against more obvious morbid ideologys.