Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Pastimes : Triffin's Market Diary -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Triffin who wrote (332)	12/13/2007 6:21:16 PM
From: Triffin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 869

BC: PERCEPTIONS OF REALITY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. . . .... .Nate, thanks for bringing this up. All the references you listed are pointing to what I assert is a fundamental confusion people make. People mistake circumstances (what is reality and includes things) with the meaning or interpretation of the circumstances (which is subjective). In fact, we humans tend to make our happiness dependent on circumstances. If I get that car, then I will be happy. If I get that new job, then I will be happy. If I marry that person, then I will be happy. If I divorce that person, then I will be happy. I must have married the wrong person. Maybe if I marry that person, I will be happy. And on we go spinning in the hamster wheel. By connecting happiness with circumstances, we abdicate responsibility for how we're feeling, and we'll argue to whomever says otherwise that "I can't possibly be happy without x." Then when we get x, we're happy for a little while until we argue that we now need y. The interpretation we invent is alway entirely up to the person doing the perceiving. It may not always feel like it is, especially when we're feeling overwhelmed or hungry, but humans through their capacity to use representative language are in charge of their interpretations. It just takes the willingness to watch how one's mind is working and practicing guiding it down different paths. Victor Frankl started a whole school of thought around the capacity for humans to separate their experience of reality from reality itself (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Frankl) based on his experiences in the concentration camps. Richard K mentioned that Alexandr Solshenitsyn discovered the same thing while in the gulag. This confusion between what we perceive to be reality and reality itself is why we can enjoy books and movies and other artificial realities. In the final analysis, our brain can't tell any difference between 'reality' and whatever is getting through our senses at the moment. In some schools of thought, since I'm in charge of my interpretations and since interpretations are invented by brains quite separate from reality (i.e. the concept I have for 'chair' is not the 'chair' itself), it's possible to invent infinite interpretations. Pick the ones that get you the result you want. Of course many people reject this sort of relativism, and they tend to be quite obstinate about the existence of 'absolute truth' and very often claim to be the ones who are custodians of 'the truth.' I like to avoid these people because they often are up to no good, in my view. A current, widespread interpretation is that more things equals more happiness. This is easily demonstrated to be false, but as shaman pointed out, a small group of people can start providing an alternative point of view. Maybe someday it will be common knowledge that circumstances do not equal happiness. That indeed would be a transformation on a global scale, and there are many, many people working toward that goal. It is not necessary to "turn off the TV" -- just start practicing noticing the interpretations that one is making, remind yourself that they are all made up (the result of humans using representative language), invent another interpretation (all interpretations are valid since they are all made up) and go live a happy life. ---------------------------------------------------- www.InspiringGreenLeadership.com/peak-oil-climate-change-and-business