"I don't believe there are separable conscious experiences that can be taken from one brain and put into another."
"You'll know I was successful if you get a vertiginous feeling."
:D
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I appear to be a third type of person. I see parts of cheeks, a mouth, and what appears to be a nose.
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"I could be wrong about anything, the world could be an illusion, but the one thing I cannot doubt is my own existence, for if I did not exist, there would be no one to perceive the illusion, and no one to do the doubting.
But everything else is doubtable, and I have no good reason to think that these feelings I have, the pressure on my fingertips, the sound of the wind, or the patterns of colors that form into objects, are actually out there in the world somehow external to myself. All that I have direct access to are my experiences."
Something else exists, other than your idea of yourself, even if it's only in your mind, or else you could never have the experience of novelty, or learning.
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In child development there are models of development. I can't recall them at the moment, but they include things such as concrete thinking. I think this idea of solipsism is a like stage of development in philosophical thought (given the basis of the pre-existing philosophies we have all been exposed to). Because I've been there and found it mind opening, but it's been long enough that it doesn't really do anything for me anymore.
A lovely start to my day as always. I will be spending today “unmaking” inferences about people and their reactions. Maybe i’ll learn something new about myself!
Love the imagery of being a body with a universe, rather than a head. That’s truly what it feels like to be a person observing other people. Our experience is so rich, so full, so personal — it’s impossible to really imagine everyone else also feels like that all the time, swimming in their own universe.
Thanks, Rose! Your comment reminds me of an almost mystical experience I had once getting on a crowded bus. There was light snowfall and I was thinking about the old "every snowflake is unique" and then looked around at all the people on the bus and was suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that each of them had a depth of experience on par with my own incredibly rich varied life. It's an obvious fact that everyone has their own story but somehow it just really struck me in that moment, one of those cliches that when you really "get it" feels profound despite sounding trite before.
Thank you for pointing me at Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. There should be a some sort of ontological proof (h/t Anselm, of course, or maybe Liebniz) that such a work had to exist :)
I believe that my brain is simulating my reality but I also believe that other minds are the simulation of their brains and that we all inhabit the same base reality from which our worlds are interpreted (or hallucinated in a controlled fashion). Does that make me semi-solipsistic?
Nice! His app Waking Up is full of good stuff including lots on Harding, looking for your head and a whole series on 'The Headless Way'. Super interesting.
I’m writing about some weird philosophical stuff this week also so it’s nice to perceive someone else doing it too. and I learned a new word Vertiginous!
Your fine essay brings me to thoughts of Hesse's STEPPENWOLF, Sartre's NAUSEA, and Ivan Antics' SYNCHRONICITY. Our non-physical bodies are always communicating with the universe and, though generally unaware of it, with all of humanity.
I question DeCartes, though. I believe everything is alive and aware of itself.
You're missing an interpersonal perspective. Personally I think C should go before B, but that may be personal.
A long time ago I studied personality theory and focused on the Enneagram and the three instincts. When it comes to point of view the three instincts and their relative ordering fundamentally effect our psyche.
Personal anecdata as a type 5 (subject to overwhelm) who is self-preservational first, sexual second, and social last (who, of course, has my own personal set of coping mechanisms that an otherwise typologically identical person may not have): With respect to the "sonder" posted about by Rose Tyler in these comments, if there are too many people around I defocus my eyes and look at the spaces between people. Others would focus on singular individuals, and others on the collective of individuals. Or various combinations thereof (such as noticing key people who appear to be archetypes of the general gestalt).
These psychological traits affect how you take in your culture and make it a part of you. And I don't know that I'd link subconscious up with cultural.
"I don't believe there are separable conscious experiences that can be taken from one brain and put into another."
"You'll know I was successful if you get a vertiginous feeling."
:D
-----
I appear to be a third type of person. I see parts of cheeks, a mouth, and what appears to be a nose.
-----
"I could be wrong about anything, the world could be an illusion, but the one thing I cannot doubt is my own existence, for if I did not exist, there would be no one to perceive the illusion, and no one to do the doubting.
But everything else is doubtable, and I have no good reason to think that these feelings I have, the pressure on my fingertips, the sound of the wind, or the patterns of colors that form into objects, are actually out there in the world somehow external to myself. All that I have direct access to are my experiences."
Something else exists, other than your idea of yourself, even if it's only in your mind, or else you could never have the experience of novelty, or learning.
-----
In child development there are models of development. I can't recall them at the moment, but they include things such as concrete thinking. I think this idea of solipsism is a like stage of development in philosophical thought (given the basis of the pre-existing philosophies we have all been exposed to). Because I've been there and found it mind opening, but it's been long enough that it doesn't really do anything for me anymore.
It is a well written piece though.
A lovely start to my day as always. I will be spending today “unmaking” inferences about people and their reactions. Maybe i’ll learn something new about myself!
Love the imagery of being a body with a universe, rather than a head. That’s truly what it feels like to be a person observing other people. Our experience is so rich, so full, so personal — it’s impossible to really imagine everyone else also feels like that all the time, swimming in their own universe.
Thanks, Rose! Your comment reminds me of an almost mystical experience I had once getting on a crowded bus. There was light snowfall and I was thinking about the old "every snowflake is unique" and then looked around at all the people on the bus and was suddenly overwhelmed by the fact that each of them had a depth of experience on par with my own incredibly rich varied life. It's an obvious fact that everyone has their own story but somehow it just really struck me in that moment, one of those cliches that when you really "get it" feels profound despite sounding trite before.
I love this short Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows video that captures this exact feeling. They call it “sonder”: https://youtu.be/AkoML0_FiV4?si=b-18MZuCtQ0o9zDc
That was lovely
Thank you for pointing me at Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. There should be a some sort of ontological proof (h/t Anselm, of course, or maybe Liebniz) that such a work had to exist :)
I believe that my brain is simulating my reality but I also believe that other minds are the simulation of their brains and that we all inhabit the same base reality from which our worlds are interpreted (or hallucinated in a controlled fashion). Does that make me semi-solipsistic?
Diet solipsism
Hah love it.
Love this, Tommy! Super mind bending. Reminds me of getting intensely frustrated meditating following Sam Harris and trying to look for my head.
Thanks! It was actually a Sam Harris book that recently reminded me of the Harding writing (On Having No Head) that partially inspired this
Nice! His app Waking Up is full of good stuff including lots on Harding, looking for your head and a whole series on 'The Headless Way'. Super interesting.
The trick for me was his alternate suggestion of *imagining* having no head.
I’m writing about some weird philosophical stuff this week also so it’s nice to perceive someone else doing it too. and I learned a new word Vertiginous!
Your fine essay brings me to thoughts of Hesse's STEPPENWOLF, Sartre's NAUSEA, and Ivan Antics' SYNCHRONICITY. Our non-physical bodies are always communicating with the universe and, though generally unaware of it, with all of humanity.
I question DeCartes, though. I believe everything is alive and aware of itself.
This essay is weird. And I like it.
You're missing an interpersonal perspective. Personally I think C should go before B, but that may be personal.
A long time ago I studied personality theory and focused on the Enneagram and the three instincts. When it comes to point of view the three instincts and their relative ordering fundamentally effect our psyche.
Personal anecdata as a type 5 (subject to overwhelm) who is self-preservational first, sexual second, and social last (who, of course, has my own personal set of coping mechanisms that an otherwise typologically identical person may not have): With respect to the "sonder" posted about by Rose Tyler in these comments, if there are too many people around I defocus my eyes and look at the spaces between people. Others would focus on singular individuals, and others on the collective of individuals. Or various combinations thereof (such as noticing key people who appear to be archetypes of the general gestalt).
These psychological traits affect how you take in your culture and make it a part of you. And I don't know that I'd link subconscious up with cultural.