Interesting mindset for an uninteresting experience

[motai]

Recently I had a slightly transcendental moment during a band trip, and it involved me throwing a rock into a pond. So if that sound uninteresting, it probably is. It turned out to be more philosophical than I would have imagined though, which is why I bring it up here (it might make some discussion perhaps). Currently it is in my journal, but id hate to have this particular scientific-philosophical entry locked up there forever .

https://www.physicsforums.com/journal.php?s=&journalid=4702&action=view#Do%20I%20dare?%20Do%20I%20dare?

It should be the one with the T.S. Eliot quotations all over the place, and the constant "Do I Dare" stuff. I guess I should have put this out here in the forums in the first place, oh well.

Since I brought it up... does anyone else here frequently quote poets and throw stuff in the water? Or am I strange to do so? If anything, I know that the PFers here are at least a little more inclined to philosophy than the general populace, where I'd get nothing but blank stares.

Does anyone else have any enlightened moments they wish to share?

 

[BicycleTree]

I attain enlightement every Tuesday at 4:37 PM.

 

[Monique]

I used to feel all alone on a continent while I was in the US, it was a wonderful feeling strangely enough, particularly strong when I was bicycling at sunset. You get the strong sense that you're alive when familiar or safe things are taken away.

 

[BicycleTree]

Bicycling at sunset is a wonderful thing.

 

[stoned]

Hey Motai ! I was born also on September 01 WOW !

 

[hypnagogue]

You are not strange to do so, Motai. Those quiet reflective moments can be some of the deeper ones we experience in life, and have undoubtedly provided unlimited inspiration to poets (and scientists, and philosophers) of all the ages.

I sometimes have similar experiences if I focus my attention on a certain way of looking at the world in the proper way, if I am lucky. I recall one moment when overlooking a bay of water underneath a bridge, bordering a favorite park of mine. It was a very calm and beautiful scene, but I was concentrating on the idea that everything I saw before me was not the world 'out there,' but rather the world 'in here,' the qualitative world constructed by my brain/mind. This consideration is always an intellectual surprise in some ways, as we always revert to our naive realist ways of understanding the world when we are not actively thinking about these things. But on this particular occassion, something deeper clicked inside of me; instead of understanding this intellectually, I felt it in my bones, so to speak. I saw, felt, and understood the visual scene before to not be 'me looking out at the world,' but something more like 'me looking into my own mind'; the structure of the bridge that I saw was not that of the bridge, but that of some part of my brain (in some convoluted, non-obvious way); and so on. It was quite deep and strange and invigorating to viscerally feel something that I could normally only touch in an abstract, intellectual way.

I remember another occasion where I had just been introduced to the philosophical idea of solipsism in an undergraduate philosophy class. After the class, I decided to make myself feel as if solipsism really was true, that I was the only true entity in existence and everything I saw-- land, trees, people-- where just constructs of my own mind, with no underlying objective reality. For a couple of minutes, it clicked into place, and I really did seem to see and feel the world as if it were that way. It was actually quite disorienting and troubling, but still very interesting on the whole. (I don't believe in solipsism, by the way; I was just doing a little mind experiment.)

 

[motai]

You are not strange to do so, Motai. Those quiet reflective moments can be some of the deeper ones we experience in life, and have undoubtedly provided unlimited inspiration to poets (and scientists, and philosophers) of all the ages.

There seem to be too few who do this, I have only met a few besides myself out of the hundreds of people I know. Its sad almost, because everyone else is missing out on it. The experience I described took place almost a week ago yet I can remember every single little detail.

I saw, felt, and understood the visual scene before to not be 'me looking out at the world,' but something more like 'me looking into my own mind'; the structure of the bridge that I saw was not that of the bridge, but that of some part of my brain (in some convoluted, non-obvious way); and so on. It was quite deep and strange and invigorating to viscerally feel something that I could normally only touch in an abstract, intellectual way.

I too occasionally find symbolism like this as well, though it often takes me a lot of introspectiveness to bring together such correlations. It almost seems like it occurs anyway, with me instead finding the symbolism instead of creating it. I remember once during a particularly troubled time period when I was depressed, I ended up relating to the Tartar in Chekhov's In Exile. Unbeknowest to me, this story (which is also my favorite) influenced me when I created some computer-generated art during that time period. I didn't realize until several months afterward that the scene I created was like the setting in that story.

I remember another occasion where I had just been introduced to the philosophical idea of solipsism in an undergraduate philosophy class. After the class, I decided to make myself feel as if solipsism really was true, that I was the only true entity in existence and everything I saw-- land, trees, people-- where just constructs of my own mind, with no underlying objective reality. For a couple of minutes, it clicked into place, and I really did seem to see and feel the world as if it were that way. It was actually quite disorienting and troubling, but still very interesting on the whole. (I don't believe in solipsism, by the way; I was just doing a little mind experiment.)

Hmm, interesting. I know that perspective can change outlook on the world, and it is quite amazing how we are able to switch these outlooks so quickly, and to note how much of an impact they have.

 

[hypatia]

How many times we have each held that rock in our hands pondering, to toss or not?
I, more often then not, tuck the rock in my pocket. Bring it home and add it to the pile.
Its this pile of rocks I look at and smile{theres so many by now}knowing full well the power they once held.

 

[hypnagogue]

How many times we have each held that rock in our hands pondering, to toss or not?
I, more often then not, tuck the rock in my pocket. Bring it home and add it to the pile.
Its this pile of rocks I look at and smile{theres so many by now}knowing full well the power they once held.

Maybe I'm reckless, but more often than not I toss it. I recall one instance walking by a shallow stream in a gorge. There were an assortment of rocks in the stream that bifurcated the flowing water in various ways, in some places making swirling eddies and in others producing what looked like small, relatively still ponds. It was quite interesting and entertaining to move the rocks around just so and see the large differences they would make in the patterns of the water flow. The removal or displacement of just one rock could make radically different changes, destroying old eddies and creating new ones in non-obvious ways.

 

[BobG]

How many times we have each held that rock in our hands pondering, to toss or not?
I, more often then not, tuck the rock in my pocket. Bring it home and add it to the pile.
Its this pile of rocks I look at and smile{theres so many by now}knowing full well the power they once held.

What a disturbing thought. At least the "knowing full well the power they once held" part. Hopefully, each rock doesn't represent someone you'd like to see castrated and powerless.

Someone, quick! FREE hypatia's ROCKS! Set them free to express the power inherent in their rock solid spirit!

 

[hypatia]

lmao..who knows? Someday I may just go crazy and start chuck'in rocks.

 

[loseyourname]

I throw rocks every time I see one. I used to be a baseball pitcher and still like to pretend. I'll hit streetsigns that are 30 yards away to impress my friends.