I think that isolating oneself in a cave might be best.
Imagine an illusion, the matrix, built not of scifi machinery but of habit, maintained by the presence of others.
Get alone and the habits dissolve. And then the invisible becomes visible.
Because drugs are bad mmmkay?
And drugs are defined by tv shows. Drugs are pills.
Also, talk about drugs anywhere and you’ll encounter 40-somethings with an unreasonable hatred of drugs. They get crazy. That’s the “just say no” propaganda talking. It was pushed in the schools in the 80s, and we still hear the echoes.
It’s a testament to the power of media and propaganda.
When both sides are full of professional liars, that won’t work.
We might have to settle for not knowing.
I might add, “become comfortable with uncertainty”. Because nothing drowns you in a swamp of bullshit like an excessive need for certainty.
That’s the best way
our thoughts are given form by language and vocabulary
And our experiences, and our intelligence, too. Right?
Which makes the challenge one of navigating that mess.
There is the theory that we feel emotions first and then we think only to justify the emotion.
This would imply that it isn’t the thinking that needs to be managed but the emotions.
Everything written by Greg Egan for the first decade or so of his writing career
Ever tried to play a difficult video game while also baking a batch of cookies and discussing Christmas plans with your parents?
You see how it works.
Godzilla (Japan). In one zap of the breath weapon takes out 100,000 people. No pause for reflection or comment on the meaning of it. Just immediately cut to next scene.
We don’t do that in USA
Immortal 2004. (A very kickass movie if you haven’t) (French). Horus (The egyptian god) has this relationship with Nickopol (badass poet/politician). It’s hilarious. Horus sees humans as at best children or pets or disposable tools. There’s no aside or smirk or “yeah but…”. No, they just go with it 100%. 100%! That’s something you don’t see too often.
What I’m asking is, if you have none of those sexual urges coloring your consciousness, would you find romcoms boring?
It might set a certain mood. You feast upon the global conversational banquet, yet you still feel hungry.
That’s an excellent one :)
One thing I think about is the incredible poverty of text.
When you look at a word you get a meaning. But that meaning, it comes mostly from your entire life’s experience, your memory, what you’ve been taught. That’s huge. And the word is very very small, comparatively.
So when you’re reading, 99% of the content is coming from you. So reading is basically you just talking to yourself. And social media is a million people talking to themselves.
And that’s pretty weird.
I would teach arts and crafts to grade school kids. I’m really good at that stuff (I even have a degree). And I have a good course plan worked out.
Everybody tells me I’d last about an hour tho. I am not good with stress. Grade school kids have like 3x normal energy.
Every single time. I just like it.
Well, you answered your own question 3 times. Consider the nature of that kind of conversation.
In a nutshell, thinking coarsens as it passes hand to hand. First-hand is finest. Fourth-hand is a crude and nigh-solipsistic.
So that’s one argument for independent thought.