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My Thoughts For The Evening
By: Quigley
on Friday, December 13th 2002 at 1:14am
Tonight I am completely insane. My mind has wandered so far that I'm not sure I have any reference point at all, nor a framework in which to place the world. Perhaps there should be no framework. Perhaps I have reached a state of reasoning which the most dedicated Buddhist would envy - except that they wouldn't, because they're Buddhist. Whatever it is, good or bad, or neither, I have to say that I don't like it. At times like these I hold fast to my morality and my convictions for one driving force: worry. I worry that I'm missing the entire point of my existence. Perhaps even more so I worry that this blissless ignorance will not last forever - that somehow there IS a framework, and I simply cannot see it at present. Right now I have no postulates on which to base a sense of right and wrong, or to help myself to explain what my eight senses are telling me.
Yes, eight senses - touch, hearing, smell, taste, regular sight, extra sight (referring to my ability to perceive electromagnetic vibrations outside of the "visible" EM spectrum), my brain's sensitivity to conventionally unexplainable energy patterns closely proximate to myself (auras, for example), and my ever more frequent visions of the nearly impending future. I would have mentioned also my intuition - that thing to which most people refer as the "sixth sense" - but it is not so much a sense (the ability to perceive variation, by my definition) as a guess at the world, based on an extremely complex subconscious analysis of information gathered by the other five (or eight, as the case may be) senses.
So here I am with eight senses plus a sixth to help me learn about the world around me, and all this information wasted on a mind that is too lost in itself to assemble a grounded picture from it. What am I to do? I have no motivation at all, and not for a lack of drive, but for once a lack of direction. If left to my own devices, I will accomplish nothing; if not, I will probably drift in whatever general direction I'm pushed, until friction slows me down.
But it's all good, really. I know that this is not anyone else's fault or responsibility; it's all me, baby. I also know that it will go away within a day or two; it always does. Until then, I will create rather than evaluate, and I will muse, and I will let habit carry me through life, as it generally does to a large degree anyway. Here are the results of some of my musings:
· I think, therefore I probably am.
· To kill without reason is the ultimate in worthlessness - that which has no reason has no purpose, and that which has no purpose has no value.
· To kill with reason is the ultimate in weakness - it is an admission of one's helplessness to correct an offensive circumstance, brought on by a person or people, in any less drastic fashion.
· To wholly believe something is the ultimate in foolishness - to believe something is to take it as truth. To do this, you must first cease to question it. To cease questioning is to cease thought - to trade analysis for stupidity.
Tell me what you think about those. If you've read closely, you'll know that I'll be extremely interested to hear your thoughts, and that I probably won't care at all. ;)
P.S. If I remember correctly, the last of my three musings bears such resemblance to some element of some famous philosopher's philosophy that I could potentially be accused of plagiarism. I came to it of my own accord; nevertheless it is not really mine. I would have simply done some research and found the example that is trying to come to mind, thereby enabling me to give proper credit, but I'm afraid I lack the time or the energy to sift for answers amidst a collection of some dead guy's other works of "brilliance" - no doubt a mixture of the self-explanatory and the incorrect, as is the work of most philosophers I have read. No, make that all of them. No matter; I can't be accused of reinventing the wheel if both myself and the original inventor got the idea from a picture of a wheel.
P.P.S. Yes, I know there were actually four musings. Smartass :P
Other Articles
Next: Linky's Ranting Response, #1. I think. from Quigley
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Previous: Moral Philosophy is Empirically Denied from Ak0dem1x
Comments for My Thoughts For The Evening
Ak0dem1x Wrote...
Friday, December 13th 2002 at 12:38pm
I just wrote a rambling response ((c) credit to Wildman for that phrase) to my own moral philosophy article... for some reason, I didn't see yours in the list, otherwise I would have crafted my response to meet the ideas that you have just presented. I would like to make a couple of points.
How do you determine which of these two contrary states of being accurately represent the world? Should you be comfortable with your quasi-framework? Or should you seek something more?
I'd like to respond to each of your "musings" or premises. First, you say that you are because you think. You really believe that what defines your existence is thought, or reason (as evidenced by the three following premises.) What if, however, reason was responsible for so much less of your existence? What if scientists, and maybe philosophers of the mind, are able to demonstrate that so much of our mental processes are dictated by things like hormone levels, which are in turn influenced by the foods that one eats, which is determined by one's concern with one's nutrition or ability to nourish onesself? Things of this nature. The reason that I mention this is because I am aware of certain critiques that argue that people should act on the basis of feelings, emotions, and instincts. These critiques also abandon moral philosophy, which says things like "Don't fuck shit up too bad." I tend to ignore said critiques.
Moving on to your second and third musings. I apologize for grouping the two together. I recognize two distinct claims, but I think that their interrelated nature allows them to submit to such an impromptu grouping. You're essentially saying "Don't kill." Ever. Without, or with, reason. I am particularly interested in the "with reason" premise - as you have often cited your willingness to kill people (See By the way, the AutoTitle(tm) feature rocks! See how your emotional responses can easily differ from the reasonable conclusions at which you arrive using logic and the best available evidence? My concern, in general, is just that people prefer emotion to reason where they are unable to wrap their minds around certain complex issues - like moral philosophy. I digress on this point. Your second premise goes beyond "Dont' kill." You express certain positive sentiments: you value purpose, and you value the strength to confront difficult situations. What do these words mean? "Purpose," and a cetain "strength?" How far will this get you? They are certainly great strengths for a person to have, but how do they tell us how to lead our lives? Imagine you were answering the question "How should I live?" as it was asked to you by an eleven year old child. Now, suppose that this child is intelligent and asks, "Why?" What answers, then, does one formulate? (This exercise courtesy of my professor.)
Your final premise exalts analysis and questioning above "whole beliefs." What are the dangers to not having firm beliefs, or convictions? Can you question your beliefs? What about the word "faith?" What about my faith in human kind to "do the right thing" and not blow my planet away? It's my planet dammit! Oh, wait... Nevermind.
I invented the knee, and the wheel. My inventions are screwing you over, Q. I should stop inventing shit.
Alien Wrote...
Thursday, December 19th 2002 at 8:11pm
You love paradox notions...
I have one of my own, or though it could just be that the maths class finally go to me...
Insane people don't know that they are insane. People who think they are insane, aren't. So if I think I'm crazy, and you think you're sane (this is theoriectical, I very much doubt you believe yourself sane...though I apologise in advance if you did), then wouldn't that make me the sane one, and you insane?
Ak0dem1x Wrote...
Thursday, December 19th 2002 at 11:08pm
No, theoriectically, that would make you bat shit crazy and him a genius.
Saggio Wrote...
Tuesday, May 31st 2005 at 11:22pm
Hm. You people seem awfully good with this Paradox stuff, etc. So, I'm gonan ask you to try something, if you feel like spending any time on it. For a project in my Honors English Literature class, we have a very crazy teacher. One he chooses to "look outside" the box. All the time. Constantly. On everything. So, he gave us a project, to argue a point. He gave us the point, we HAD to agree with it. So, here's the point I want you guys to try.. "Insane people think they're sane." Just try to formulate a small paragraph of argument for it. Just wondering if anyone can find what I came up with the for the project.
Elvish Kitty Wrote...
Friday, June 3rd 2005 at 12:28am
I actually know an insane person who is fully aware that he isn't sane...he's a paranoid schitzofrenic and surprisingly is the only person I trust with a portable butane torch and/or the 500 volt capacitor from a microwave.
Anyway...Linky, I suggest you go wandering, to wherever it is calls you the most. Apart from wandering all over the world before petroleum becomes far too expensive for us regular types to be allowed to use (waste), you might just find what you're looking for.
Asrai Wrote...
Friday, June 3rd 2005 at 5:36am
This is kind of late, but whatever.
Maybe all those Friday the 13th vibes were getting to you.
I mostly agree with what you said, Linky, except for the killing with reason bit.
The only actual *reason* to kill someone is if you've exhausted all other useful options. Therefore it is not a sign of weakness, but just that you're pragmatic and level-headed. For example...
...If someone were to kill, say, Karla Homolka, that wouldn't be weak, it would just be good. The other options (Set her free / jail her for life) just aren't useful. I don't think I need to go into why setting her free is a dumb idea. As for jailing her for life, that wastes tax payers' money. Weakness is the government *not* wanting to kill her because they can't face the idea of standing up to "human rights" activists. Therefore, citing my very long-winded example, to kill with reason often shows strength.
PS: I know you probably weren't going on a whole lot of sleep when you wrote this post, and also that that may not have anything to do with anything. Mainly, you just made me think of some stuff.
thunderchicken Wrote...
Saturday, June 4th 2005 at 9:10am
That's awesome that you have the sixth sense. I do also. Seeing things before they happen, and feeling peoples thoughts and actions before they vocalize or do them. I find that I don't mention it because when your an empath and you tell people they look at you like a freak and then try to get you to perform for them when it doesn't work that way. Someone is always disbelieving, take for example Morgan. I've been on a year long mission of proving I'm not crazy, oh wait..haha that might not have anything to do with empathic abilities as much as I just am crazy.
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SmrtySsa Wrote...
Friday, December 13th 2002 at 9:36am
holy, smoke some crack? ;)