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"Mind expanding" practicable practical exercises intended to broaden & strengthen cognitive & philosophically-based coping skills | |
| trapped in a frame? |
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index word pair ponderables -:- good questions -:- try these divides -:- etc. -:- choices These questions are meant to be explored as interesting, possibly envelope-widening exercises and not meant to be invitations for discourse. Though I would love to discuss them with any and all that might want to discuss them, time restrictions just make this impossible. I really would like to discuss them but I really can't. Please read them, ignore them, think on them, accept them or reject them with that in mind. - Dr. J |
| word pair ponderables | compliant vs. complaint |
| used vs. useful | casual vs. causal |
| normal vs. extra-ordinary | good vs. practical |
| right vs. wrong | good vs. bad |
| good questions |
| Can you define in 25 words or less how you generally -- in your own personal life -- judge the difference between what you would call "good" versus what you would call "bad"? (That is, can you put into 25 words or less, a global, in-all-situations-applicable definition of the difference between what you consider "good" versus "bad" when it comes to your own personal life?) |
| Is time real, relative, illusory or imaginary? Why would time seem to go faster as one gets older? Why would time seem to go by faster when one is having fun? If time were real, how could the same period of time in the same place be different to two different people? |
| How would you know if you were hallucinating and not realizing it? |
| d i v i d e s | ||||||||
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The following questions are meant to be explored as fully and as seriously as possible:
1. Can you conceive of a coin with only one side? 2. Can you imagine the possibility of "up" without any possibility of "down"? 3. What would the term "right" mean if there were no such concept as "left"? 4. If the world were changed so that there was no possibility of failure, what would that do to the concept of success? 5. Can you imagine what the word "happiness" would mean if you had no concept of what you now call "sadness"? 6. Some words have an emotional feel to them that goes along with their definition. What would the words "happiness" and "pleasure" mean to you if you had never experienced any pain, frustration, anger, hurt, sadness, fear, tension or distress? 7. What would each of the following words mean if you had never experienced anything that you would assign them to or associate them with?
8. If all "bad" was eliminated from all thoughts, memories and experiences, what would be experienced as "good"? 9. If all challenges were permanently removed from your life and you were to live another 50 years, what would your life be like for those years? 10. Suppose you knew of a couple with lavish resources who were raising their children in such a way as to be certain their children never wanted for anything and were never hurt by anything. Suppose you also knew of a couple with lavish resources who were withholding their resources from their children - except for clothing, shelter, food and medical care - and were insisting that their children go without whatever they (the children) couldn't earn themselves. Suppose you also knew of a couple with almost no resources who hated to - but had to - ask their children to go without whatever they (the children) couldn't earn themselves - other than food, clothes, shelter and medical care. Which couple would it be most fun to be? Which would it be least fun to be? Which set of kids would it be most fun to be? Which set of kids would it be least fun to be? Which family would you guess would probably produce the most resilient kids? the most self-reliant? the most loving? the most emotionally healthy? | ||||||||
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the Relativity of Reality What if the fundamental, basic element in all or any experience -- the "reality" of any experience -- is based on the experience of contrast or relativity? For example, what if a person 6' tall is neither short, average or tall unless contrasted to someone else? Or, for another example, what if the loss of $100 only has reality when compared to another loss. That is, losing $100 is bad when contrasted to losing nothing at all, but it's not as bad when contrasted to the possibility of losing a much greater amount of money. Further, it can even be considered good luck if it's possible that having learned a $100 lesson, you're smarter and less likely to make an even more costly lesson in the future. (This is along the lines of accepting that education, formal or otherwise, often does cost money.) What if the fundamental, basic element in all or any experience -- the "reality" of any experience -- is based on the experience of contrast or relativity? the Relativity of Reality Question
If you could manipulate the experience of reality whenever you wanted by simply altering how you contrast elements to other elements (i.e., contrasting 6' to 7' versus 5'), how would you decide which way you wanted to contrast things? When would it be appropriate to see things as one way versus another -- "great" versus "crappy," "good" versus "bad," "needing to be changed" versus "okay as is," etc.? Can you devise an answer that fits into 25 words or less? the best vs. the rest If a person is the sum of his or her parts, is it possible for anyone to purposefully, intentionally do anything that he or she believes is not at least a little bit to his or her best advantage? How could anyone do other that what he or she basically believed was best -- at least more best than not best? being true to yourself With regard to the saying, "Be true to thyself," is one being more "true" or more "real" if one does what is spontaneous and reactive or is one being more "true" and more "real" if one does what is well thought out and purposeful? |
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What if there were stretch of mind that comes in two, quite basic, kinds -- the kind that means "quite over-wound," the kind that means "much larger round?" |
Might it be it's up to you to choose in life which one you do? (Could you believe you simply can't, when all that is is simply rant?) |
 What is "choice"? What is "chosing"? |
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If on any given day our "choices" are made on the basis of knowledge, inclinations, urges and attitudes --
and if inclinations and attitudes and urges and knowledge are based pretty much entirely on sensory input, past experience (learning) and biology past and present -- and if we can't be expected on any given day to be able to "choose" what past experiences, attitudes, sensory experiences and biology we've had and have -- then would that mean that what we call "choice" is really just the experience of finding out the result of the computation our brain does when faced with a decision to make? Can one choose to go against what one choses? And if one thinks that he or she does "choose" to "go against" his or her "choice," isn't that just another basically non-chosen outcome -- a "choice" pretending to be free will? free will divided by predestination IF every decision you make is based on a) what you have already learned through all your experiences so far and b) your current situation with regard to your biology, your situation, your resources, your options, AND if these are all fixed and not chosen at any moment of decision, THEN when you feel like you are making a choice are you really chosing or are you just finding out the conclusion your brain comes to when it adds up the pertinent, current, unchosen facts and elements? If your "choice" is based on simply "doing the math" and adding up the elements already there at the moment of "choice", where is the "free will"? Would this not mean that, though no behavior or "choice" could be predicted with any science we know of yet, there is no actual free will? AND if this was the case, then would it be best for society to forgive all behaviour as not in the control of any behaving person OR would society be better off in applying the appropriate consequences that might change a behaving person by changing that person's set of available facts used for choices -- so that, in future, the behaving person is less likely to behave in ways that are not wanted by society. And if this is the case, is it not then a good idea to forgive but not forget anyone's behaviors that might put you in danger or harm's way. free will and change and growth Do you think a caterpillar has "free will" about when or if it will change into a butterfly or moth? Do you think that some caterpillars might prefer to stay a caterpillar -- rather than deal with such a major metamorphosis into something seen at a distance but virtually unknown? If someone told you that you could fly if you just let yourself change into a completely different creature, how bad would your life have to be to get you to leap to that opportunity? (Note that the question is about how bad things would have to be to get you to actually make the change, not just sit around dreaming about making the change, wanting to make the change.) Do you think a lot of caterpillars stay caterpillars? How would they do that or why would they not? Might some things be in the hands of a greater power than one's "free will"? |
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