An "I" for a "We"

I object to the usage of "we" in philosophical questions, e.g. "Why are we here?" etc. Here's why: the use of "we" as a reference to all people assumes a common answer to the question (an unwarranted and likely harmful assumption); and, it distances the questioner from what he or she is questioning. In other words, it makes the question general rather than specific to him or her. So, if you find yourself asking yourself this age-old question, or if you find "we's" popping up in your other philosophical concerns, please, do me a favor, and substitute and "I" for a "we". Ask yourself: "Why am I here?" and restrict this answer to you. This simple substitution will result in a more active existential justification. (Plus, who are you to answer this for all people if you cannot answer it for yourself?) Then, once you've got it and you think it's appropriate, you can generalize your Answer (because it does deserve a capital "A" at that point) from yourself to others. And you can include me in your "we", because I personally enjoy people with Answers.

Double Sense

Try a simple experiment. Touch something (e.g. your desk, your keyboard). Concentrate on how that thing feels. Really feel it. As you're doing that, pay attention to what you are looking at (e.g. your monitor, a blank wall). Really see it.

Now, while you're seeing and feeling, observe your thoughts.

Can you pay attention to both at the same time? Are you sure that you are sensing touch and sight simultaneously?

If you were successful, tell me how you did it and how you knew you did it.

I's eyes

You. Me. You see it your way. I see it mine. We simply can't see through each other's eyes.

At least that's the conventional wisdom.

But!

Let's not accept it. Let's assume that you really could see what the world looked like to someone else. Perhaps it's a close friend, a partner or a spouse. Try it. (You don't have to imagine how their world looks, just imagine that you've seen it.) Got it? Good. Done.

Now, (and this is the interesting part) how would you verify to them that you had done it successfully?

Holding onto an idea

In the movie The Weatherman, there is a scene where Nicholas Cage's character is walking to the store to pick up food for his family. Prior to leaving, his wife had "asked" (i.e. told) him several times to bring home the sauce she likes. She knows his history of flakiness and absent-mindedness. As he is walking, we understand her perspective. A mental voice-over plays his highly fragmented thoughts: we hear him fighting, fighting, fighting to hold in his mind this idea of "buy the sauce". By the time he arrives at the store, the idea is gone. He forgot. Again.

I think most of us can identify with this - as we've all forgotten something at one time or another. But what is particualrly interesting to me is why it is sometimes so difficult to "hold" onto an idea, and what makes it difficult. How do we get distracted in such a short period of time, when just prior we were sure we were going to remember?!

I Got The Serotonin Smiles

Sometimes we wake up in the morning and we want to do everything (that day). We are excited about being alive, we sing in the shower, there is a bounce in our step. In today's terminology we would probably say this is a case of cheerfulness. In tomorrow's terms, we might say that our dopamine and serotonin levels are well-balanced. In principle, I think it makes no difference which terminology we choose: in either case we are identifying a mood with a description. However, something seems different, and that difference is precisely what strikes fear about psychology and studying the mind. Ask yourself: if I know why I'm in the mood I'm in, does that change anything about it?

Complimentary thoughts

Think about the last compliment you received. Think about whether or not you believed it. If you did believe it, it is likely that you had already praised yourself. The compliment was reinforcing what you already thought. If you didn't believe it, you were likely unsure or critical toward what you had done. Because of that, the compliment probably seemed flimsy (e.g. you thought the person was just "being nice"). It seems to me, other people's praise is only believable when we already believe it ourselves. Is this the case?

2% Human

Scientists often cite the statistic that humans and chimpanzees are 98% genetically similar. This reveals - perhaps shockingly - that there is "only" a 2% difference between chimps and humans. Now, I understand the value of genetic analysis, but isn't there some harm in slapping a number on something like this? I know two percent sounds like nothing... But, obviously, this "little" difference matters in some important ways! The question I have is this: how do we characterize the similarities and differences between us and other animals in a meaningful way?

Sudden self-awareness

Every once in a while we cease thinking about what we were doing and "wake up". This sudden awareness of ourselves seems to last for a while and then disappear, only to spring up again later. We do not observe our transition out of this state of mind. (If we do, we cease the transition out and "wake up" again.) For anyone who has experienced this, what would you call it? Is this one element of consciousness?

Talking down

What is happening in our minds when we are worrying about something, and we are telling ourselves not to worry about it? Are these simultaneous, separate thoughts? Is this a quick back and forth? Why doesn't this "talking down" seem to work?

Thought pain

The insertion of doubt into a tightly held belief is the most painful and unstable of all conscious events.

If state

Rather than imagining anxiety as a feeling of fear, we can conceptualize it as a thinking state of "what if." To be in an "if" state is to experience possibilities as if they were real.