POKO said:
Both sides of this issue have strong points. Anyone here think it would
be a good idea to see what Dr. Phil would propose?
Some people need to let out steam now and then, as they slowly unwind
from a very intensive state of mind, or a personality based on anger.
It is like living in a house where there is a man who just can't keep
quiet, he always finds a reason to start some quarrel or make some
sounds so others can hear him, and so he clears up what needs to be
cleared up.
Sometimes these high strung minds even believe in telepathy, that means
that he has to take care of the state of mind of all the people in the
house.
Sometimes they are very singleminded, and just cannot see things from
different perspectives, and it doesn't matter how much others try to
explain to such a person, he is so convinced that he is right that it
is impossible to make him see things from another perspective.
When others talk to him he says; You don't understand this.
I wrote an article about understanding and states of mind the other
day, which ended a long and heated argument, where people told me that
they talked about things that I didn't understand.
........
Some people say: You don't understand this.
It doesn't matter how you try to talk sense to them, they keep on
saying, you don't understand this, and it is nothing to discuss, this
is just how things are.
Such people can be impossible to deal with, because they have their
minds made up, and it doesn't matter what you say, they have their
convictions and won't even talk about it.
To them I want to explain something:
"To understand" is a dangerous thing to do.
To see things in the simple and direct way is often the opposite of
"understanding".
I tried to explain that when I talked about opera.
If you study it for long you might get used to it, learn to like it,
even love it.
But if you see it directly and in a simple way, like a child, it is
just people shouting in a very unnatural way.
The kind of stupidity that is a problem in the world is not a lack of
genius, it is an abundance of genius. A state of mind that is
overexcited and feels like intelligence, but it isn't intelligence, and
it is not natural either.
It is a created state of mind and is based on a mixture of anger and
conviction.
It makes people think that opera is fantastic, it makes them think that
they understand.
It makes people understand doublespeak, and understand why the society
has to be like it is. It is a state of mind closely related to
religious conviction.
The religious people "understand" that God exists, they "understand"
why it is right to be religious, they are mental acrobats who can make
anything fit into their world view, and they can "understand" how it
all supports their religious view.
That's why it is a lot more difficult to see things in a simple and
natural way, than to "understand" practically anything, because you are
in a state of mind which is overexcited and you can make anything
support the conviction you have.
Thank you for bringing up the issue of "understanding" things, this is
one of the pieces of knowledge which are badly missing in the minds of
people in general, and media people more than others.
If you have a mind which is like you recently took LSD you can
"understand" everything, everything fits, the world is complete,
everything is wonderful.
Only those who cannot "understand" this are poor people who we cannot
help, they do not have the mental acrobat skills needed to realize that
there IS a God, that God is good, that we all should get bibles, or use
LSD, or get married in a special way, or become mormons, or go into
scientology, or whatever..
This is the reason a lot of people think they are so right, they have
never learned that "understanding" is a dangerous thing to do, unless
you know where you are, what ground you stand on, what state of mind
you are in.
Lao-Tzu said: To get used to something is a terrible thing to do to
your mind.
Lots of writers are geniuses, overexcited minds that are basically
letting out steam from their boiling minds.
The world was dominated by geniuses, most of them were religious mental
acrobats, until the humanists appeared around the year 1500 and said
that we cannot build a world on the views of religious geniuses, on
God.
We have to build the future on mere mortals, people who are not
geniuses, mere humans. Humanism is the opposite of theism.
That was in opposition to the church, which is built on the views of
angels, of overexcited prophets, on supernatural minds, on the holy
spirit.
Humanism became the start of a new, rational, world order, a scientific
way to see things, a simple human way to see things.
This humanist approach led to great advances in science and technology,
it led to secularisation, it led to a massive decrease in power for the
pope, it led to democratic constitutions in most countries, equality
between men and women, human rights, and the whole modern world of
thought.
The churches tried desperately to counter this movement of humanism and
enlightenment, it changed itself in reformation and counterreformation,
it split up in protestantism and other half religious churches, they
even invented religious humanism, which is like compassionate
capitalism, a way to defend the current order by renaming it into its
opposite.
Humanism is atheism, and religious atheism is a contradition in itself.
But the people who think, who "understand", that their lifestyle is the
best thing ever invented, even though it is thousands of years old, are
trying desperately to defend their old culture, they could rename it
into anything if they just can go on creating men out of boys, if they
can continue being overexcited mental acrobats.
They don't mind calling it humanism, or atheism, or whatever, as long
as they can continue to be in an overexcited state of mind, as long as
they can keep the feeling of being absolutely convinced.
When a genius unwinds, as his mind is cooling down, he has a lot to
say, and it comes flowing, many writers are that kind of writers.
Few are the kind that has really studied certain issues and worked to
understand things from the simplest possible level.
Occams razor: Choose the simplest possible theory to fully explain
something. Simplicity is the basis of science.
Simplicity is also the goal of the most advanced eastern philosophy, to
become empty, is the goal for those who have their brains too full of
everything.
The western civilization in general has not really understood what this
means, it is based on too complex thinking, on supernatural strength,
on the idea of superhumans as an ideal. Only the most advanced
scientists and philosophers have even thought about this issue.
The philosopher Montaigne tried to remind the perfume-smelling and
powdered french aristocracy that humans are actually animals, and our
most basic needs are eating, shitting, and some simple lovemaking.
Darwin, who came with similar ideas, that man is just another animal,
was met with the same hate as Montaigne, because their views clashed
violently with the religious geniuses view, that humans are something
very different than simple animals.
To really understand something you first need to understand yourself,
and especially your own state of mind. This is simpler if you have a
lot of experience in different states of minds, and experience in
unwinding an overexcited brain, from positive overexcitement as well as
from negative overexcitement.
You need experience in how to become simple and natural, how to come
out of a heavy mind into an easygoing mind. And do it without
disturbing other people with your excess steam, no matter the excess
steam comes out as pure anger or as ideas.
A lot of people have only become extremely excited only once in their
lives, and have still not fully unwinded from that state of mind.
Others have been overexcited all their lives, by being trained into
strong personalities by their parents, and have never exprienced a
naturally relaxed mind.
Therefor they can easily be overcome by the experience of love, which
throws them into a very convinced state of mind, but just as unnatural
as their first personality as very strong minds.
The traditional cultures have made a mess out of people's minds, with
manipulation and violence, convictions and a social regulation system
for how people are allowed to be in their minds. And that is the big
cultural problem we are dealing with in the world today.
To judge the performance we can expect from scientific instrument,
like a voltmeter, we need to know what design it is and where and when
it was made, when it was last calibrated, etc..
"This voltmeter is made after a japanese high quality design and
specifications set up in Japan 1972, it was made by Mitsubishi in 1985
and it was last re-calibrated in 2004."
To judge the performance we can expect from a mind we can say, for
example, this mind is made after a well known design and specifications
set up in the middle east 3000 years ago, this specific mind was
created in Great Britain 15 years ago, and its history after the
creation has been mainly a lot of sex and watching football on tv,
drinking beer. It has a history of reinforcement and backup from the
community that made it.
By the way, the well known design set up in the middle east 3000 years
ago is infamous for its design flaws, tendencies towards aggression,
fanaticism, instability, dependency on a certain community, and other
problems.
Main types of minds:
1: The kind that was trained from early years by a dominating father
and/or mother and since then has not changed much. Has never
experienced another state of mind, and getting drunk on alcohol doesn't
count as experiencing another state of mind.
2: The kind that is the same basic design as number 1 type but has
experienced a change in the state of mind once, and that was organized
and manipulated by a community of other people which kept it locked
into this second state of mind with the help of social pressure and
rewards.
This is the most dangerous type of mind, as it is very convinced that
it knows best, that it has come out of darkness into the light and is
superior to the type 1 mind and all other kinds of minds. This is the
religious type of mind. This state of mind is overexcited and it feels
like intelligence, it feels omnipotent, all seeing, all knowing.
It usually comes in flocks and can be very dangerous, flocks of this
type of mind has had the power in some parts of the world for thousands
of years and has a history of violence, social domination, slavery,
bully culture,
superhuman ideals, torture, etc..
3: People who grew up with non-dominant parents, and was rebuilt by
itself during youth, has experienced many changes in the state of mind,
rewinding from both negative and positive experiences, has studied
cultures and knows itself fairly well.
4: People who grew up with dominating parents, but has since then
experienced a lot of changes in the state of mind and is not part of a
certain secret community.
The number 1 and number 2 groups are the biggest groups, and the number
1 type is the result of the social rule of the number 2 type.
If you grow up with a strong father whose mind is built on anger or
conviction you often become a strong character yourself, a type 1
personality.
Both types are slowly unwinding as they get older, and that often
happens in ways which others are disturbed by. Fanaticism of all kinds
comes from this type of culture where the number 2 type rule. Strong
convictions and anger is the basis for this culture. Those are also the
social tools used to uphold these created states of mind.