Friday, January 04, 2008
The Edge
(2)
This is a good subject for my blog, because it deals with ideas which interest me. I have 'changed my mind' in major ways throughout my long life, and those changes have determined my behavior and the behavior of others. Here is the thesis:
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When thinking changes your mind, that's Philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that's Faith.
When Facts change your mind, that's Science.
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The thesis, such as it is, is hopelessly naive, and yet it serves to categorize our thinking processes into terms we can talk about. But here are the 'facts:'
'Thinking' never changes your mind. 'God' never changes your mind. 'Facts' never change your mind. Only 'experience' changes your mind. An entire book could be written on this utterly delicious subject, but I will content myself with 'experience:' In the most general terms, 'experience' changes your mind. Nothing else is capable of changing your mind. Have you 'changed your mind?' Then you no doubt you did it on the basis of experience. Day-to-day experience changes minds although most such experience tends to reinforce existing ideas, causing minds to change only very slowly. Minds change slowly over time through experience.
But fast changes of mind are possible. Violent experience produces fast changes of mind. So does drug experience. Examples in these regards are war veterans, violence victims, and drug users. 'Mind' is a slow, stable process unless accelerated by unusual circumstances.
My favorite mind changer is drugs. Drugs are a short cut to new ideas. Drugs are capable of accelerating the normal rate of cultural mind change. Ganja and LSD are the most common modern mind changing drugs, but Booze ranks equally in that category. Indeed, it seems to me that Nature provided drugs as a synergetic compliment to the explosion of Modern Science.
This is a good subject for my blog, because it deals with ideas which interest me. I have 'changed my mind' in major ways throughout my long life, and those changes have determined my behavior and the behavior of others. Here is the thesis:
----------
When thinking changes your mind, that's Philosophy.
When God changes your mind, that's Faith.
When Facts change your mind, that's Science.
----------
The thesis, such as it is, is hopelessly naive, and yet it serves to categorize our thinking processes into terms we can talk about. But here are the 'facts:'
'Thinking' never changes your mind. 'God' never changes your mind. 'Facts' never change your mind. Only 'experience' changes your mind. An entire book could be written on this utterly delicious subject, but I will content myself with 'experience:' In the most general terms, 'experience' changes your mind. Nothing else is capable of changing your mind. Have you 'changed your mind?' Then you no doubt you did it on the basis of experience. Day-to-day experience changes minds although most such experience tends to reinforce existing ideas, causing minds to change only very slowly. Minds change slowly over time through experience.
But fast changes of mind are possible. Violent experience produces fast changes of mind. So does drug experience. Examples in these regards are war veterans, violence victims, and drug users. 'Mind' is a slow, stable process unless accelerated by unusual circumstances.
My favorite mind changer is drugs. Drugs are a short cut to new ideas. Drugs are capable of accelerating the normal rate of cultural mind change. Ganja and LSD are the most common modern mind changing drugs, but Booze ranks equally in that category. Indeed, it seems to me that Nature provided drugs as a synergetic compliment to the explosion of Modern Science.
