Things That Blow Your Mind

Dr_Rez · 12-09-2013, 02:19 PM

We can only really understand ourselves. Sure we may get extremely close to a family member, a friend, a boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, but at the end of the day we are the only one who really understands why we make the choices we do. And are these choices really even our own, if we are made of matter that is in everything else in the world are we not essentially computers who are just living out what evolution/biology put forth?

I read these two today:

"i think that young kids over in south africa have to survive on their own in every sense of the word, (get food clothing water ect) they live in places that literally look worse than the garbage dumps where i live. but yet im still unable to "not sweat" the small problems that i have. "

"I think about homeless people...
I think about how when they were children, they never thought that someday they would have no one to care for them and they would be living outside. Like I imagine homeless people as children and I think to myself, some people I went to high school with will most likely be homeless one day and not taking care of themselves, not eating and all of that.
Feels sad man."

What kinda stuff do you ponder?

djchameleon · 12-09-2013, 03:06 PM

I've come to realize that I tend to value knowledge and the pursuit of it over other values in life and it pains me when I can't share the knowledge that I do have with certain people or they won't listen to what I'm sharing with them.

I walk through the streets and see them struggling and they don't have to. They are caught in a poverty cycle that can be broken if they could just turn around the negative mentality that they have. I do know that's not an easy thing when that is all you have known in life and you are just trying to survive on a day to day basis but I wish I could find just a select few with enough passion and internal drive to break from free the mental chains that are holding them back.

Mr. Charlie · 12-09-2013, 03:20 PM

I adore knowledge too and seek it everywhere, it's in my nature. But I regard all knowledge as grains of sand on an infinite beach that can never reveal to us the whole picture. Like the zen proverb goes: possessing much knowledge is like having a 1000 foot fishing line with a hook, but the fish is always an inch beyond the hook.

But I ponder loadsa stuff. I ponder whether everything we see really exists or are mental illusions. I ponder whether we live in a multiverse. I ponder what portion of reality our senses can detect, I ponder what might be going on in that undetectable portion. Whether the past, present and future all happen at once - as Einstein believed. I ponder whether, as Rez alluded to, we can ever really know ourselves, whether we have free will or whether we're nowt but organic machines playing out our evolutionary programming. I ponder too much to be honest. But it's fun as it broadens our sense of what things might be. The danger is in reaching any concrete conclusions.

~~butthead aka 216~~ · 01-07-2014, 01:20 AM

i think about the butterfly effect a lot and not just cause ashton kutcher is my dawg

like i think of what if in 2nd grade i woulda went on a field trip that i didnt go on. and what if i woulda met a bunch of kids who i dont even know. and what if the douches i disliked through school were actually my friends instead. and what it i would grown up hangin out with them and there was a hott chick there whos virginity i took in high school and then we dated and won prom king and queen.

think about chance too. i guess a lot of military guys question it, like someone died but i survived just cause he was 2 steps in front of me.

RoxyRollah · 01-14-2014, 01:11 PM

This blows my mind...so much so I bought it last year, and have to read each chapter, twice, once to myself and once aloud (to ensure I am not mentally challenged)

Paul Smeenus · 01-14-2014, 01:17 PM

WWWP · 01-14-2014, 02:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by djchameleon

I've come to realize that I tend to value knowledge and the pursuit of it over other values in life and it pains me when I can't share the knowledge that I do have with certain people or they won't listen to what I'm sharing with them.

I walk through the streets and see them struggling and they don't have to. They are caught in a poverty cycle that can be broken if they could just turn around the negative mentality that they have. I do know that's not an easy thing when that is all you have known in life and you are just trying to survive on a day to day basis but I wish I could find just a select few with enough passion and internal drive to break from free the mental chains that are holding them back.

You seem like the type who would suggest a depressed person just try yoga or watch a sunrise.

Plankton · 01-14-2014, 04:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junkyard Donner

You seem like the type who would suggest a depressed person just try yoga or watch a sunrise.

I've tried that, it's not very effective. A punch in the face usually gets better results.

ladyislingering · 01-14-2014, 04:26 PM

My first real, pure, intimate encounter with human death really blew my mind.

Spoiler for long story about death:

I met Ki's grandmother on her deathbed.

I was disappointed to think that it would have been the only time I'd met this woman. Everyone who knew her had something nice to say about her; from what I'd always heard she was a truly remarkable human being and it saddened me that I just never had the time or the opportunity to meet her before she became so sick.

She was laying still, in the bed she would eventually die in. She was alive, awake, though hardly functioning. I knew when I looked in her eyes (though several feet away, as the family had a vain hope that she'd make it out alive and didn't want anyone to go germing her up or anything) that her soul, her actual human spirit, her life force was right beneath. It was practically on the surface of her skin.

She couldn't speak much above a whisper. Her son (Ki's father) smoothed her hair down, held her hand and listened very closely to what she was saying (he had to lean in with his ear close to her face). I tried to remain emotionless. I really tried to just put on a face, even though I knew she'd never make it out. Somehow I knew, deep down, that I was looking into the eyes of a dying woman.

Tears stung my eyes. I pretended to adjust my glasses and used my sleeve to gently brush away what I couldn't manage to contain. I smiled. I felt such an immense sadness for someone I hadn't met before, sadness for the people who loved her. Sadness for the son who would be left to take care of his father (who is suffering from severe dementia) after his only caretaker would be gone. We were there for all of but ten minutes.

Less than a week later she opted for doctor-assisted death with dignity. Within a day the medicine put her to rest.

A week or two later we went to her funeral. I'd never really seen a corpse up close before. She was striking. She looked so beautiful. She looked much better dead than she did in the hospital. I suddenly realized that all the pain had stopped; her heart was no longer beating, her mind was no longer able to enable her body to feel anything at all. She was at peace. She really did look magnificent. Almost like a porcelain doll.

It was only then that I considered the possibility of the human soul, only contained within the confines of tissue and bones until the final breath is exhaled. Where does it go?

And that's what blew my mind.

djchameleon · 01-14-2014, 05:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Junkyard Donner

You seem like the type who would suggest a depressed person just try yoga or watch a sunrise.

Why would you make that assumption? I have been depressed in the past and would do no such thing.

12-09-2013, 02:19 PM	#1 (permalink)
Dr_Rez Registered Jimmy Rustler Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: USA Posts: 5,361	Things That Blow Your Mind We can only really understand ourselves. Sure we may get extremely close to a family member, a friend, a boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, but at the end of the day we are the only one who really understands why we make the choices we do. And are these choices really even our own, if we are made of matter that is in everything else in the world are we not essentially computers who are just living out what evolution/biology put forth? I read these two today: "i think that young kids over in south africa have to survive on their own in every sense of the word, (get food clothing water ect) they live in places that literally look worse than the garbage dumps where i live. but yet im still unable to "not sweat" the small problems that i have. " "I think about homeless people... I think about how when they were children, they never thought that someday they would have no one to care for them and they would be living outside. Like I imagine homeless people as children and I think to myself, some people I went to high school with will most likely be homeless one day and not taking care of themselves, not eating and all of that. Feels sad man." What kinda stuff do you ponder? __________________ Best chance of losing virginity is in prison crew Always Checks Credentials Crew nba > nfl crew Shave one of my legs to pretend its a girl in my bed crew

01-14-2014, 04:26 PM	#9 (permalink)
ladyislingering Maelian Join Date: Apr 2012 Location: Seattle Posts: 695	My first real, pure, intimate encounter with human death really blew my mind. Spoiler for long story about death: I met Ki's grandmother on her deathbed. I was disappointed to think that it would have been the only time I'd met this woman. Everyone who knew her had something nice to say about her; from what I'd always heard she was a truly remarkable human being and it saddened me that I just never had the time or the opportunity to meet her before she became so sick. She was laying still, in the bed she would eventually die in. She was alive, awake, though hardly functioning. I knew when I looked in her eyes (though several feet away, as the family had a vain hope that she'd make it out alive and didn't want anyone to go germing her up or anything) that her soul, her actual human spirit, her life force was right beneath. It was practically on the surface of her skin. She couldn't speak much above a whisper. Her son (Ki's father) smoothed her hair down, held her hand and listened very closely to what she was saying (he had to lean in with his ear close to her face). I tried to remain emotionless. I really tried to just put on a face, even though I knew she'd never make it out. Somehow I knew, deep down, that I was looking into the eyes of a dying woman. Tears stung my eyes. I pretended to adjust my glasses and used my sleeve to gently brush away what I couldn't manage to contain. I smiled. I felt such an immense sadness for someone I hadn't met before, sadness for the people who loved her. Sadness for the son who would be left to take care of his father (who is suffering from severe dementia) after his only caretaker would be gone. We were there for all of but ten minutes. Less than a week later she opted for doctor-assisted death with dignity. Within a day the medicine put her to rest. A week or two later we went to her funeral. I'd never really seen a corpse up close before. She was striking. She looked so beautiful. She looked much better dead than she did in the hospital. I suddenly realized that all the pain had stopped; her heart was no longer beating, her mind was no longer able to enable her body to feel anything at all. She was at peace. She really did look magnificent. Almost like a porcelain doll. It was only then that I considered the possibility of the human soul, only contained within the confines of tissue and bones until the final breath is exhaled. Where does it go? And that's what blew my mind. __________________ You and I, We were born to die.

12-09-2013, 03:20 PM	#3 (permalink)
Mr. Charlie Shoo Thoughts Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: These Mountains Posts: 2,308	I adore knowledge too and seek it everywhere, it's in my nature. But I regard all knowledge as grains of sand on an infinite beach that can never reveal to us the whole picture. Like the zen proverb goes: possessing much knowledge is like having a 1000 foot fishing line with a hook, but the fish is always an inch beyond the hook. But I ponder loadsa stuff. I ponder whether everything we see really exists or are mental illusions. I ponder whether we live in a multiverse. I ponder what portion of reality our senses can detect, I ponder what might be going on in that undetectable portion. Whether the past, present and future all happen at once - as Einstein believed. I ponder whether, as Rez alluded to, we can ever really know ourselves, whether we have free will or whether we're nowt but organic machines playing out our evolutionary programming. I ponder too much to be honest. But it's fun as it broadens our sense of what things might be. The danger is in reaching any concrete conclusions.

01-07-2014, 01:20 AM	#4 (permalink)
~~butthead aka 216~~ Account Disabled Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: freely swimmin thru the waters of glory much like a majestic bald eagle soars thru the skies Posts: 1,463	i think about the butterfly effect a lot and not just cause ashton kutcher is my dawg like i think of what if in 2nd grade i woulda went on a field trip that i didnt go on. and what if i woulda met a bunch of kids who i dont even know. and what if the douches i disliked through school were actually my friends instead. and what it i would grown up hangin out with them and there was a hott chick there whos virginity i took in high school and then we dated and won prom king and queen. think about chance too. i guess a lot of military guys question it, like someone died but i survived just cause he was 2 steps in front of me.