Brit Girls - Fat

[tree-fancier123]

24 minutes ago, the village idiot said:

Fundamentally you can't, but if the brain is seeded with the appropriate information and it processes/stores it in a certain way (dictated by the brain's physiology and chemistry which is constantly morphing) it may 'open your mind'. If these inputs don't happen in this way you will have a different outcome. 

ah that sounds better, much more hard core sciency, better than saying Matelot can help it, no one can help it, it is all written in the stars,

 

re the criminal justice system - my dad was a prison officer - he had one con who had cut someones head off with a penknife. I say save the taxpayer and use the killers as fertilizer. And the current wisdom is of course if we kill the killers we are no better than them

Edited December 23, 2017 by tree-fancier123

[Stubby]

I need a poo . Got no control over that . I know I need one though .

[the village idiot]

2 hours ago, tree-fancier123 said:

ah that sounds better, much more hard core sciency, better than saying Matelot can help it, no one can help it, it is all written in the stars,

 

re the criminal justice system - my dad was a prison officer - he had one con who had cut someones head off with a penknife. I say save the taxpayer and use the killers as fertilizer

I fully understand the sentiment, and this individual certainly needs to be kept away from society. But what we need to ask for pure moral clarity is 'what caused him to do it'? It needs to be broken down into smaller chunks than 'because he has an evil temperement'.

 

Really love the first sentence though!

Edited December 23, 2017 by the village idiot
idiocy

[WesD]

2 hours ago, Stubby said:

I need a poo . Got no control over that . I know I need one though .

Based on sensory information, rational thinking and past experiences when you have been to the toilet your subconscious will give you a pat on the back and let you believe your free will took you there. 

[the village idiot]

4 minutes ago, WesD said:

Based on sensory information, rational thinking and past experiences when you have been to the toilet your subconscious will give you a pat on the back and let you believe your free will took you there. 

Pretty close, and you're certainly thinking along the right lines to internalising the argument.

 

Young babies have not had time to develop the Self illusion. They get the same signals from their bowels to their brains and from their brains back to their bowels and they subsequently fill their nappies. They just have no concept of themselves having done it! We dont blame the baby, we understand that it had no free will to act otherwise. Once the infant has constucted the illusion of self we feel justified in apportioning blame if there is a toiletting error. This is unfair as the infant (or adult) had no control over how it's biology acted. It is just suggested by the brain that it did immediately after the event.

 

After inputs from the parents (potty training) the brain learns new patterns of behaviour and the process, in adulthood, is thankfully a little different. Adults are still acting automatically though, and as you point out the brain signals to us that we masterminded the whole enriching experience.

 

Do we blame an elderly relative with a damaged brain (dementia) when they soil themselves. Could they have acted differently? Did they have free will? Their brain was in exactly the state that it was to produce the result. This is the state of affairs for all of us all of the time. The state of the brain dictates our actions and we do not pick our brain state in any one moment in time.

 

There is a hack (mindfulness meditation) which can make a huge difference to the probability of potential outcomes and dramatically change how your life unfolds and your enjoyment of it. Hopefully we can talk some more about that over Christmas. It would be great to get your thoughts.

[Mark J]

That explains why you can only really get in the 'zone' in activities you've practiced a great deal. 

 

[Mortimer Firewood]

47 minutes ago, Mark J said:

That explains why you can only really get in the 'zone' in activities you've practiced a great deal. 

 

Master mindfulness you could be in that zone constantly. 

It's harder than it sounds though I've been trying for 5 years it comes and goes. 

[the village idiot]

32 minutes ago, Mark J said:

That explains why you can only really get in the 'zone' in activities you've practiced a great deal. 

 

Absolutely! It doesn't have to be a complicated activity though like snowboarding or motorcycling. The reason these colouring books have become so popular is because they put people in a state of flow. They lose themselves/ tap into the ever present state that exists beneath the 'self' illusion, and this feels good.

 

Attachment to the Self has served us very well in the past, it has helped us to stay alive long enough to reproduce and ensure the passing on of our genes. The world is a very different place now, we no longer face anything like the same level of threat. Our brain evolution has not been able to keep pace with the rapidly changing modern world and as a result the 'self' construct is now generally causing us more harm than good.

[Mark J]

I've never really looked into meditation or mindfulness.  In the past I've settled for a yearly forage of field mushrooms to set 'myself' straight.

 

I'll look into it, cheers.  Also, the Foundation books are mint.  Mind, I'm yet to read anything Asimov did that wasn't.

 

[the village idiot]

1 minute ago, Mark J said:

I've never really looked into meditation or mindfulness.  In the past I've settled for a yearly forage of field mushrooms to set 'myself' straight.

 

I'll look into it, cheers.  Also, the Foundation books are mint.  Mind, I'm yet to read anything Asimov did that wasn't.

 

Mushrooms are certainly another route into experiencing the feeling of 'no self'. It is certainly an avenue worth exploring for some. The issue with psychedelics is that (as Sam Harris points out) it is akin to embarking on a journey by strapping yourself to a ballistic missile with no guidance system. Meditation is more like raising a sail on a steady ship with a rudder and cruising gently towards a better life. Each leg of the journey is more interesting and enhancing than the previous one. There are a few light storms on route, but by steering a good course the voyage is transformative.

 

Blimey, that was a bit flowery wasn't it!