You don't know what I'm thinking right now. And I don't know what you're thinking. And neither of us know what that other guy is thinking. What was his upbringing? What life experiences has he had? What social and financial pressure is he under at the moment? Is he artistic? How intelligent is he? What's influenced him to hold this view? Does he practice what he preaches, or is this opinion just a front so he'll look good in our eyes? What other implications are there? Is he hypocritical? Is he happy with life at the moment? Does he really agree with me, or have we just got caught up in semantics and he's completely misinterpreted my point? Existence is subjective. To me, that's the biggest mind-fuck. Your entire life - everything you've done, everything you've learned, everything you've experienced has been through your perspective. Every judgement you've ever made on anyone else has been made through you. You are all you've ever known. Fundamentally, you know of no one else's perspective. Your whole life has been all about YOU. Just think, right now, you're reading these words which are written by me. You may think you resonate with everything I've said, but in actuality, all you're resonating with are euphemisms. Words are just euphemisms - symbols that attempt to convey thought and emotion. You're not actually resonating with me. How can you? You don't know me. At all. In fact, you don't know anyone. You don't know your brother, your mum, your girlfriend/boyfriend, or your best mate. You may think you know them, but really you only know them through your perspective. You only 'know' them through yourself. But then that raises the question, who is yourself? If your ability to communicate was borrowed through those who created the English language, if your understanding of physics was only made possible by the scientists before you, and if your general knowledge of the world was gained through your personal upbringing, then aren't you just another conglomerate of humanity's collective consciousness? No. Because you are not your mind. And that's the inherent flaw with people's attitude to life.
I agree with the previous post, you said it very well man. Like how words are just labels for experiences that we could never really express to someone else, we can just agree to call it this or that, but we never can have the slightest clue how the other person experiences "this" or "that". Its always easy to see it if you imagine trying to explain an aspect that you've learned about this world to someone who had never been born into it. You should quickly conclude that its impossible. They'll never comprehend what it means to have "dimensions" or what it means to "change" with "time". Labels, labels, and more labels. Reminds me of the quote, "Sanity is just madness put to good uses." - George Santayana I think. Its like the ultimate version of the old philosophical chestnut about how colors appear from person to person. Again, great post Pilky.
In this thread we learn discriminations are useless. Enlightenment cannot be transmitted. Language cannot articulate reality. No one can ever really know anyone else. Notions of self are illusory. And that PilkyHigh is the man.
Nice man I was thinking about a part of that yesterday That right now of all the hundreds or thousands of people I've ever met are all conscious right now and doing something and seeing things from their points of view and they have their own shit to do just like everybody else pretty crazy
Thanks for all the positive replies everyone Exactly. It's just the craziest thing to think that every single human being perceives from their own unique point of view. We're all so, so different in that way.
yeah man and i've always had that belief but to me its makes it more real but better to think about like how people say ooh what about the starving kids in africa...its more words then thought but if you really wonder whats going on thousands of miles away right now with those kids, even more then sad its just kind of amazing and crazy that its happening...and not just there but all over the world and same thing with like "what would jesus do" to me its just became too cliche and the words have lost their value
I feel the same way. It's seen most prevalently in politicians. For instance, past presidents have always ended their speeches with 'God bless America'. What does that even mean? Nothing. They're just taking advantage of the concept of language by saying something under the guise of it being positive, when really all they care about is more power and support. Same goes for everyday expressions like 'Thank you' and 'Welcome'. I'd say very few people genuinely mean it when they say it.
Definately worth the read. I wish more people thought like this, instead of prescribing to one way of thinkin; those with tunnel vision eyes and minds
Yeah exactly. People associate with too many ideas and beliefs. And when you associate yourself with something, you're associating your ego with it. And when you attach your ego to something, then it fiercely defends anything that goes against that belief, because it feels threatened. Dissolve the ego, cut the bullshit, open your mind up, and accept that you don't know everything and that as you learn and experience more, you'll realise that you were wrong about some things. And that's perfectly alright.
Haha yeah exactly I wonder about all these things...but its just our way,,,and thats where the whole idea of fear comes into play because its like if we were just truly ourselves 24/7 and spoke the way we wanted, when we wanted, and to whom we wished to things would just be a little chaotic or at least weird which is why people like movies and video games so much because those people get to things we feel we cant in real life mmm its interesting but they do say be the change you want to see Haha yeah i think most people got caught up in life and "whats popular" early on basically its all they knew, its not necessarily that they aren't interested...but everybodys gunna be different
o yeah and i started watching an idiot abroad with that guy karl pilkington...hes mad funny i never knew who he was but i remembered him from your old avatar
Bro you sound enlightened as fuck... im saving that quote to my book with your permission...you see i keep this book of memorabilia, things worth taking note of
Hahaha bro, An Idiot Abroad is brilliant. I love Karl Pilkington so much. Because he's different. He's so simple, and his questions are so innocent, and yet so relevant. He's just a confused little human being, and we're all too arrogant to realise that we're not any better off than him in the grand scheme of things. I've listened to over 120 hours of Ricky Gervais, Stephen Merchant and Karl Pilkington talk. Just them talking. My favourite thing in the whole world. Thanks man. Yeah, go right ahead. And nah I'm not enlightened. Not yet. But I've learnt and understood a hell of a lot in the past few months. That knowledge is just accelerating day by day. I guess being relatively eloquent helps as well. Glad you took something out of it
haha yeah true i guess i should check out some of their podcast cause i didnt even really know anything about ricky gervais till he had me laughing at the emmys or the oscars when he was making fun of everybody...then i saw him in idiot abroad ill check it out though
Ricky Gervais is absolutely brilliant. Although I feel a lot of Americans are only just finding out about it him now, which is a shame because they'll most likely skip all his brilliant work that he did earlier last decade. The Office UK is my favourite show of all time. Sheer genius. And Extras, the TV show he did after that, was also fantastic. It's the best thing ever when Gervais, Merchant and Pilkington sit in a room and talk. Not sure you'd appreciate it being from America though. But this is getting completely off topic!
Ricky Gervais is probably the second funniest human alive... behind Larry David. But on topic... Keep in mind that everyone percieves everything from the same place. That is to say, there is only one such thing as 'awareness.' Not being able to know someone else is a bit misleading. We actually know everything there is to know about anyone else, but we make up other things that could be hypothetically known about them. Or as they say, the unknown will always surround the known. In no moment is there anything missing.
True. I meant it's everything external that we don't know about each other. Through what conditionings is their perception filtered? Obviously above and beyond that is awareness itself which is the same for all of us.