Stephanie Meyer, Breaking Dawn
The Mind is a curious thing. This is a little heady, but it is fun to think sometimes and to see where the currents of the mind may take you, sometimes it you are pushed along gently and steadily by one particular enthralling idea, other times it is like a Hurricane in your head, with idea after idea swirling in and out of your consciousness.
One such thought that struck me today as I was reading an online comic called Freak Angels, which was suggested to me by a friend of mine. Are the thoughts we think our own or are they put there by someone/something else? In the story there is a character who can put thoughts into peoples minds. He says at one point that he is giving a lecture on the nature of time in the minds of several, randomly chosen people. This got me to thinking... he was putting thoughts into my head too apparently. Occasionally I will be thinking to myself, but it won't be thoughts that are in my own voice, rather it is like someone else is speaking in my head. No, not like voices in my head, just thoughts that are out of the vein of my usual thoughts. The process of thinking is strange and mysterious to me, that is why I struggle to abstain from it as often as possible. These thoughts, though, must come from somewhere. For every causes there is an effect, this surely must be true of thought. Someone tells you Not to think of two apple pies having a lightsaber duel, suddenly, that is the only thing you can think of... cause - effect. Is there ever any such thing as a truly original thought? Logic would say that there must be, original thought breeds innovation. But does it really? The Light Bulb, Edison's wonder, but really it was just an improvement on the candle.
One day Thomas Edison was working in his lab when he thought, "We need something that can help us to see when it is dark..."
His assistant said to him, "It is called fire... a candle"
"Yes, but I want to make the candle better"
"It is already pretty good, I mean we even have scented candles for when you not only want to see, but smell as well."
Edison promptly fired that assistant for being a jerk, and just to stick it to him, named his candle improvement after him... the assistants name was Benjamin Lightbulb, and man did he feel like a dork.
This is a completely made up, original, story used to illustrate my point of complete non-originality. Edison's idea for the light bulb wasn't an original idea, man has been trying to see in the dark since the beginning of dark, he is simply the only one to do something about it... well, the second one anyway, someone, I'm sure discovered fire way back when.
The more I think about it, the more I come to realize that the vast majority of my thoughts are not really my own. They are the product of my environment, what I hear, see and do. On the other hand, Where I take those thoughts, or rather, where those thoughts take me is completely my own... I think. Just like Edison. Sure, tons of people probably thought that the insubstantial light from a candle should be improved upon, but Edison actually did it. While the thought may or may not have been original, the result was.
No one thinks in the same way, which is why presented with the same prompt or stimulus people will invariably develop their own unique perspectives (or conclusions). I think this is why one person can love a book or movie or song and someone else can completely abhor it. how do you feel about country music in general?
But what about someone actually having the ability to implant their thoughts, ideas, views, into someone else's mind... telepathy? Is it real, is it possible? Probably not, but maybe, let's pretend it is. It is an incredibly ubiquitous idea. In Harry Potter Voldimort uses a form of "magic" called Occlumency to see into the mind of others, and on occasion to plant thoughts and ideas in the mind of his victims that will cause them to bend to his will (whether they are aware of it or not). Professor Xavier of X Men (as well as a few other mutants) has the power influence read/manipulate/control minds, and with the help of his "Crerbro" could connect to every human and mutant mind on earth. He used his power benevolently. I am sure you can think of other examples form some of you favorite books, TV shows, and movies. So, how about it, The thoughts you are thinking right now might not be you own. They could be mine. What if I placed them there for my own amusement? For the betterment of mankind? For my own nefarious purposes? What if it was Professor X's thoughts? what if they are "The Man's"? Well...?
I don't have an answer, I was just thinking. It is a scary thought, but I suppose it wouldn't make much difference to me as ling as I remained blissfully unaware. But what do you think? ... think for yourself
Tangent:
Each of us has a completely unique mind. It is this that has allowed for the Einsteins, and Edisons, and Schrödingers, Galileo, Newton, etc. of this world to thrive. The uniqueness of the human mind has also allowed the Alexanders and the Napoleons and the Atillas... even the Hitlers of the world to be in some sense great, if only for a time. The Builders and the Destroyers. It is said that some people have the ability to capture peoples imaginations. This is a particularly worrying thought if the people who are doing the capturing are of the destructive persuasion. These people who "capture the public imagination" have the ability to put thoughts into peoples heads. Not like mind control of course, not like Professor X (although I think I remember reading somewhere that Hitler did experiment with mind control, good thing he didn't get his hands on "Cerebro"). They have power, derived from who knows where, but it is the power to tell us, the normal people, exactly what and how to think, and we willingly, dumbly, even enthusiastically oblige. Unquestioningly.
That power can also be used for great good. Revolutions that freed oppressed people, Revelations that freed men to explore the earth. Thinking men and women, who could capture the imagination of the world, have changed the course of history, many for the better, some for the worse. Despite this, people have decided somewhere along the line that it is OK to not think for themselves. They have decided that because they don't know something, aren't experts in the field, they are somehow incapable of understanding a concept. They will defer to the "experts". No one can know everything about everything... philosophers will tell you that no one can know anything about anything. Philosophers are silly sometimes (sorry Tom). The fact that the extent of human knowledge is finite should not, however, cause us to limit ourselves in what we are willing to try to understand, or know, or believe. Take any topic you fell strongly about... Global Warming, Abortion, the Existence of a God or gods... or how bout something less controversial, like the best kind of car, or your favorite music. Are your thoughts (beliefs and opinions) about those things your own? Have you tried them and found them to be ...well, as correct as you can know them to be? Or, do you hold on to thoughts that other people who are "smarter" than you claim are the only correct thoughts? Don't limit yourself. Search. Understand, if for no other reason than the fact that you can. Try new things. you like *insert musical genre here* why? Did your friends tell you that it was cool and *other genre* was not, so you stopped listening to it because they told you to? global warming is a problem because Al Gore says it is, or because the surface temperature of the earth is truly rising because of human action? what is it isn't, what if it is a cyclical change that occurs every couple of hundred years? I'm not telling you how to think, I'm just asking that you do.
this has really been nothing more than a thought game I played with myself and unfortunately for have written down for you to ponder. Do you want to know the point, here it is:
It is fun to think sometimes...
The Mind is a curious thing. This is a little heady, but it is fun to think sometimes and to see where the currents of the mind may take you, sometimes it you are pushed along gently and steadily by one particular enthralling idea, other times it is like a Hurricane in your head, with idea after idea swirling in and out of your consciousness.
One such thought that struck me today as I was reading an online comic called Freak Angels, which was suggested to me by a friend of mine. Are the thoughts we think our own or are they put there by someone/something else? In the story there is a character who can put thoughts into peoples minds. He says at one point that he is giving a lecture on the nature of time in the minds of several, randomly chosen people. This got me to thinking... he was putting thoughts into my head too apparently. Occasionally I will be thinking to myself, but it won't be thoughts that are in my own voice, rather it is like someone else is speaking in my head. No, not like voices in my head, just thoughts that are out of the vein of my usual thoughts. The process of thinking is strange and mysterious to me, that is why I struggle to abstain from it as often as possible. These thoughts, though, must come from somewhere. For every causes there is an effect, this surely must be true of thought. Someone tells you Not to think of two apple pies having a lightsaber duel, suddenly, that is the only thing you can think of... cause - effect. Is there ever any such thing as a truly original thought? Logic would say that there must be, original thought breeds innovation. But does it really? The Light Bulb, Edison's wonder, but really it was just an improvement on the candle.
One day Thomas Edison was working in his lab when he thought, "We need something that can help us to see when it is dark..."His assistant said to him, "It is called fire... a candle"
"Yes, but I want to make the candle better"
"It is already pretty good, I mean we even have scented candles for when you not only want to see, but smell as well."
Edison promptly fired that assistant for being a jerk, and just to stick it to him, named his candle improvement after him... the assistants name was Benjamin Lightbulb, and man did he feel like a dork.
This is a completely made up, original, story used to illustrate my point of complete non-originality. Edison's idea for the light bulb wasn't an original idea, man has been trying to see in the dark since the beginning of dark, he is simply the only one to do something about it... well, the second one anyway, someone, I'm sure discovered fire way back when.
The more I think about it, the more I come to realize that the vast majority of my thoughts are not really my own. They are the product of my environment, what I hear, see and do. On the other hand, Where I take those thoughts, or rather, where those thoughts take me is completely my own... I think. Just like Edison. Sure, tons of people probably thought that the insubstantial light from a candle should be improved upon, but Edison actually did it. While the thought may or may not have been original, the result was.
No one thinks in the same way, which is why presented with the same prompt or stimulus people will invariably develop their own unique perspectives (or conclusions). I think this is why one person can love a book or movie or song and someone else can completely abhor it. how do you feel about country music in general?
But what about someone actually having the ability to implant their thoughts, ideas, views, into someone else's mind... telepathy? Is it real, is it possible? Probably not, but maybe, let's pretend it is. It is an incredibly ubiquitous idea. In Harry Potter Voldimort uses a form of "magic" called Occlumency to see into the mind of others, and on occasion to plant thoughts and ideas in the mind of his victims that will cause them to bend to his will (whether they are aware of it or not). Professor Xavier of X Men (as well as a few other mutants) has the power influence read/manipulate/control minds, and with the help of his "Crerbro" could connect to every human and mutant mind on earth. He used his power benevolently. I am sure you can think of other examples form some of you favorite books, TV shows, and movies. So, how about it, The thoughts you are thinking right now might not be you own. They could be mine. What if I placed them there for my own amusement? For the betterment of mankind? For my own nefarious purposes? What if it was Professor X's thoughts? what if they are "The Man's"? Well...?I don't have an answer, I was just thinking. It is a scary thought, but I suppose it wouldn't make much difference to me as ling as I remained blissfully unaware. But what do you think? ... think for yourself
Tangent:
Each of us has a completely unique mind. It is this that has allowed for the Einsteins, and Edisons, and Schrödingers, Galileo, Newton, etc. of this world to thrive. The uniqueness of the human mind has also allowed the Alexanders and the Napoleons and the Atillas... even the Hitlers of the world to be in some sense great, if only for a time. The Builders and the Destroyers. It is said that some people have the ability to capture peoples imaginations. This is a particularly worrying thought if the people who are doing the capturing are of the destructive persuasion. These people who "capture the public imagination" have the ability to put thoughts into peoples heads. Not like mind control of course, not like Professor X (although I think I remember reading somewhere that Hitler did experiment with mind control, good thing he didn't get his hands on "Cerebro"). They have power, derived from who knows where, but it is the power to tell us, the normal people, exactly what and how to think, and we willingly, dumbly, even enthusiastically oblige. Unquestioningly.
That power can also be used for great good. Revolutions that freed oppressed people, Revelations that freed men to explore the earth. Thinking men and women, who could capture the imagination of the world, have changed the course of history, many for the better, some for the worse. Despite this, people have decided somewhere along the line that it is OK to not think for themselves. They have decided that because they don't know something, aren't experts in the field, they are somehow incapable of understanding a concept. They will defer to the "experts". No one can know everything about everything... philosophers will tell you that no one can know anything about anything. Philosophers are silly sometimes (sorry Tom). The fact that the extent of human knowledge is finite should not, however, cause us to limit ourselves in what we are willing to try to understand, or know, or believe. Take any topic you fell strongly about... Global Warming, Abortion, the Existence of a God or gods... or how bout something less controversial, like the best kind of car, or your favorite music. Are your thoughts (beliefs and opinions) about those things your own? Have you tried them and found them to be ...well, as correct as you can know them to be? Or, do you hold on to thoughts that other people who are "smarter" than you claim are the only correct thoughts? Don't limit yourself. Search. Understand, if for no other reason than the fact that you can. Try new things. you like *insert musical genre here* why? Did your friends tell you that it was cool and *other genre* was not, so you stopped listening to it because they told you to? global warming is a problem because Al Gore says it is, or because the surface temperature of the earth is truly rising because of human action? what is it isn't, what if it is a cyclical change that occurs every couple of hundred years? I'm not telling you how to think, I'm just asking that you do.this has really been nothing more than a thought game I played with myself and unfortunately for have written down for you to ponder. Do you want to know the point, here it is:
It is fun to think sometimes...
No comments:
Post a Comment