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I'm about half your age and I don't know much about anything but, I think I'd agree based on my experience so far. I realized a while back that I'm some sort of

I'm about half your age and I don't know much about anything but, I think I'd agree based on my experience so far. I realized a while back that I'm some sort of chemical soup and I don't know where my thoughts or emotions even originate from. I don't seem to produce them voluntarily – they just bubble up out of the silence inside me. I have some moment of control, though it doesn't seem very effective a lot of the time. However I fail or succeed appears to be largely determined by abilities I don't have much control over in the first place. I mean, how the hell can I read? Why am I able to speak and understand language? My heart keeps beating, my cells repair themselves, I somehow remember to breathe. I understand math, programming, but none of the internal mechanisms which make that possible. I've come to the conclusion that my emotions are something to observe a lot before allowing responses, to whatever degree I can accomplish that, because I don't truly understand where they came from or why later on, let alone in the moment. The truth I'm living is a very arbitrary and subjective one at all times. Like you say, these feelings and reactions are often based on "facts" that aren't really true anyways. Reality is a very thin veil over something I can hardly comprehend the physics or magic of. If I can manage to develop better temperance and courage to restrain my reactions and questions my thoughts, feelings, and beliefs, I think I'll be pretty content with that. The sense of sleepwalking through life is very apt. I've felt very alive, focused, and attuned to reality at many points in my life while being very much completely out of tune and dead to the rest of the world. I didn't know who I was, what was going on, anything. And I still don't. Here's to trying to figure it out I guess!

okareaman 6y ago
Your ideas are very much in line with Stoicism (I can't control the world, but I can control my reaction to it), the teachings of Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:25-34 lilies of the field), Buddha (Discourse on the Forms of Thought), ancient Hindu wisdom (lookup "Vāsanā" for starts) and modern Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Some people like to focus on one, but I have learned from them all.
- martinmakesgame 6y ago
  I am currently in the process of making a game that focuses on these ideas. It's a 2D fishing, farming, mining and philosophy game. I would like to give people the opportunity to practice a calm and peaceful state of mind by knowing that as people we can choose our thoughts and how we feel. Just as people can get stronger physically with physical exercise, I believe that people can become better at responding, by choosing how they think and feel, rather than reacting to what happens. There may be no tears or laughter in the land of Vulcan but we can certainly feel more joy by choosing how we think and feel.
  - gverrilla 6y ago
    ok but how many gold coins can I make by selling the trout?
- steve_adams_86 6y ago
  Stoicism is actually what sent me down this path of thought. Something I read, and I wish I could recall, emphasized that the stuff of thought and reason is a fleeting, tenuous, unpredictable thing and prescribed a number of ways to compensate for that. I was really struck by how true that is and how practical the advice was. Digging deeper into stoicism, I discovered that the dichotomy of control presents a world in which we have a laughably small amount of control over anything at all - including most of the components which make up our ‘selves’. What remains is all that we can ever utilize in order to be virtuous people. There’s not much there to work with, but in its isolation, it’s somehow immense and incredibly difficult to manage at the best of times. Like you though I find value in several religions and philosophies. Some of the most valuable things I’ve learned have come from a few of them. I’ll have to look into the Hindu Vāsanā - thanks for that.

okareaman 6y ago

Your ideas are very much in line with Stoicism (I can't control the world, but I can control my reaction to it), the teachings of Jesus Christ (Matthew 6:25-34 lilies of the field), Buddha (Discourse on the Forms of Thought), ancient Hindu wisdom (lookup "Vāsanā" for starts) and modern Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Some people like to focus on one, but I have learned from them all.

martinmakesgame 6y ago
I am currently in the process of making a game that focuses on these ideas. It's a 2D fishing, farming, mining and philosophy game. I would like to give people the opportunity to practice a calm and peaceful state of mind by knowing that as people we can choose our thoughts and how we feel. Just as people can get stronger physically with physical exercise, I believe that people can become better at responding, by choosing how they think and feel, rather than reacting to what happens. There may be no tears or laughter in the land of Vulcan but we can certainly feel more joy by choosing how we think and feel.
- gverrilla 6y ago
  ok but how many gold coins can I make by selling the trout?
steve_adams_86 6y ago
Stoicism is actually what sent me down this path of thought. Something I read, and I wish I could recall, emphasized that the stuff of thought and reason is a fleeting, tenuous, unpredictable thing and prescribed a number of ways to compensate for that. I was really struck by how true that is and how practical the advice was. Digging deeper into stoicism, I discovered that the dichotomy of control presents a world in which we have a laughably small amount of control over anything at all - including most of the components which make up our ‘selves’. What remains is all that we can ever utilize in order to be virtuous people. There’s not much there to work with, but in its isolation, it’s somehow immense and incredibly difficult to manage at the best of times. Like you though I find value in several religions and philosophies. Some of the most valuable things I’ve learned have come from a few of them. I’ll have to look into the Hindu Vāsanā - thanks for that.