Share your favorite "brain software," different ways of thinking or perspectives

This is a thread for those who find themselves thinking and experiencing life in ways they would consider unorthodox, uncommon, unusual, unique, etc. In other words, not "mainstream" or "normal" or "stereotypical" (and I realize we all have different ideas of even what those are). I want to know how you like to look at the world that's different, and how you think your way(s) of seeing things is (are) beneficial to you or what you like about them (we could probably do well keeping the negative ones to ourselves).

So, I would think this applies at least at some extent to everyone who will read this thread (this is a conspiracy website, after all ). It can be anything you can think of: little seemingly trivial tricks or shortcuts you know, whether for a game or for cooking or various repairs, unusual techniques for analyzing problems, the way you "sum up" somebody when you first meet them, an experience that changed your life, an entire philosophy that your life follows, or all of it all together, etc. Anything that you would be comfortable enough to share and describe so that we can all learn something cool or be exposed to different ways of seeing things, those types of interesting things.

I plan on adding some things here later but I thought I would start the thread first since I really am curious to see how a lot of you describe your own thinking. Who better knows you and what makes you different, than you? I just hope some of you guys will take the opportunity to really screw with my head.

I'll just bring up some common examples that I think a lot of us will find we share:

Creative Efforts.

A lot of people here probably draw, paint, write music, write poetry or other literature, and those sorts of things. Any unique expression exposes our individuality and our personal way of interacting with the world, and the creative methods people have for writing or drawing or composing are all just as varied as the end products. I always love to hear the methods to how people go about their artistic endeavors.


Science/Technology.

I bet quite a few of us tend to think of a lot of things from a scientific or engineering perspective, when we think of how things work or where they come from. I know a large variety of engineers alone post on these forums: civil, electrical, mechanical, chemical, etc. I'm sure a structural engineer, for example, doesn't always look at a building and see quite the same thing as a person with no interest or even understanding of where any forces are acting. I'd be interested in seeing someone trying to sum up and convey those kinds of thoughts, too, even though I realize asking a professional to sum up the technical essence of what s/he has learned about his field would be much easier said than done.

People with leanings in psychology (a very broad subject) or various brain sciences also always seem to have interesting views. I just watched a presentation on YouTube last night of a brain scientist who had suffered a stroke and actually learned a lot about her brain from it, and it was amazing to listen to her.


Religion/Philosophy.

Another huge couple of subjects that I think most people share, but with enormous variety. Almost everyone has, if not a religion, then at least certain attitudes or ideals of how they should conduct themselves, based on some kind of reasoning or belief.


Those just being three examples of general things that I think a lot of you could immediately relate to and share your views on in some way.

This is a good thread idea and will certainly make for some good reading.


My own personal life philosophy can be summed up as follows:

To take on many different viewpoints from which to experience the world

So instead of telling you my way-of-thinking, I will tell you that I enjoy looking at different ways-of-thinking.

This means, Im not really looking for "the truth" as such, but simply enjoy studying the many different "truths" the world has to offer, and "trying them on" like you might try on a piece of clothing.

I am very fond of the diversity this planet has to offer, and very well aware of the fact that residing in the same viewpoint all the time will disable my ability to experience new things. The more viewpoints I learn and temporarily assume, the more my consciousness expands and the more Im able to experience.

I want to be all of it...everything life has to offer. I want to be left, right, up, down, bad, good, poor, rich, funny, serious, extremist, moderate, radical, reserved, free, bound, black, white and all colours in between.

I dont know where I am from, where I am going or who I am, but Im enjoying the ride.






[edit on 26-11-2008 by Skyfloating]

Originally posted by Skyfloating
My own personal life philosophy can be summed up as follows:

To take on many different viewpoints from which to experience the world

That's what I would like with this thread, too. I want to consider the perspectives of as many thoughtful people as will participate, on an as many subjects as we can cover. I want to really challenge my beliefs and attitudes, all of them if possible!

This means, Im not really looking for "the truth" as such, but simply enjoy studying the many different "truths" the world has to offer, and "trying them on" like you might try on a piece of clothing.

And then to compare and contrast them is just as rewarding. I am fairly convinced that no one perceived reality takes precedence over any other except through its own perception, so they are all just as arbitrary and meaningful and meaningless to me anyway. The experiences are what interest me.


To start with some things specifically, I guess I'll give a brief background on my "religious" views. I was raised Christian (I would say I was Christian by default, though I never regularly attended church) but I started having serious issues with the logic behind the teachings, and I was never satisfied with the "because the Bible says so" answers that I got so many times. So I quietly dropped religion out of my picture when I was about 12 or 14, but gained an interest in psychology and philosophy while I was in high school. I also programmed for a bit, which gave me an appreciation for the exactness required by a formal logic system. I had the feeling that, as long as you are careful not to make a mistake, systems like calculus were built on the soundest and most obvious logic and were the most useful and infallible of man's tools for understanding his world. In other words, "science" was my ideal of sound reasoning. Studying Zen Buddhism, and then reading Douglas Hofstadter's G.E.B. changed that. I was shown you can produce logical contradictions in calculus or any equally powerful system of logic, and that this is an unavoidable consequence of recursiveness. I also realized there is also a form of "reasoning" that comes before any reasoning, that directs reasoning and makes it up. This is the impossible-to-prove foundation of any formal system.

So I suppose that's one particular view many people might not share with me:

Calculus is Inconsistent and Produces Contradictions

This was actually proven in 1931 by a German mathematician named Kurt Godel.

This is how Wikipedia summarizes it:

In 1931, Gödel published his famous incompleteness theorems in "Über formal unentscheidbare Sätze der Principia Mathematica und verwandter Systeme" (called in English "On formally undecidable propositions of Principia Mathematica and related systems"). In that article, he proved for any computable axiomatic system that is powerful enough to describe the arithmetic of the natural numbers (e.g. the Peano axioms or ZFC), that:

1. If the system is consistent, it cannot be complete. (This is generally known as the incompleteness theorem.)
2. The consistency of the axioms cannot be proved within the system.

These theorems ended a half-century of attempts, beginning with the work of Frege and culminating in Principia Mathematica and Hilbert's formalism, to find a set of axioms sufficient for all mathematics. The incompleteness theorems also imply that not all mathematical questions are computable.

en.wikipedia.org...

#1 also means, in other words, that if the system is complete, then it must be inconsistent. That is to say, if the system is complete, it is capable of producing apparent contradictions that cannot be resolved from within the system. Specifically, the theorem that contradicts itself basically states "this theorem is not a theorem." And Godel showed how unavoidable this contradiction is.

So I've come to see calculus and the sciences that use it as just another "lense" or "interface" to think of things through. It's one that can be very accurate and useful in the right circumstances, but is still based on associations that are ultimately unprovable, and obviously there is much, much more to the world than can be expressed scientifically, too.

[edit on 26-11-2008 by bsbray11]

I find this thread interesting as I've suffered 2 different head traumas as a child and always knew there was something different about me. First my parent's left me in a 1 ton chevy truck with the windows open, and being 1-2 years old, I crawled out the window and fell on the concrete parkinglot right on my head. Heres a truck like it for an idea of how far of a fall it was.


Then at 3 or 4, I was playing with a friend in an old farmhouse and fell down the stairs backwards, and the back of my head hit the sharp corner of an old ceramic wall heater.
And still to this day, I have huge dents and high spots in my head.

But there is an upside somehow, It seemed to "make" me mechanical minded and that is a definite plus to being in the troubleshooting area of networks/pcs and a backyard mechanic.

I tend to not look at the product, but look around it on how it could of been made and how exactly it works, taking tv's, vcr's and other stuff apart when I was about 12 (sometimes with very shocking results lol) and having people come to me to fix their CB radios at 12-14 was a little abnormal.

Not saying I am the smartest person in the world, but I do know my way around electronics and cars, yet had less than one (1.0) GPA for my whole highschool year as it just didn't intrist me at all.


Old saying is the hardest thing to do is know thyself, and that is proving very, very hard to do.

One thing I do, which I believe if everyone would do this, would change the ENTIRE WORLD.

When I have a disagreement with someone, about anything, I try to start with the basic assumption that I might be wrong or I might have something to learn from the other person. This approach enables me to see my own fallacies of logic much more readily, it enables me to more fairly assess the truth of the other person's point, it enables me to adapt my viewpoint to reduce friction, it enables me to treat the other person with more respect, it is more intellectually honest, etc.
I have had major paradigm shifts more than once in my life as a result of approaching each disagreement with open-mindedness and humility.

It also makes it very easy to forgive harsh words and apologize if I have contributed any ugliness.

I am not always able to divorce my ego from my intellect, but when I can, it is a beautiful thing!

[edit on 26-11-2008 by OuttaHere]

Originally posted by Snift
I find this thread interesting as I've suffered 2 different head traumas as a child and always knew there was something different about me.

Snift you have to read this thread and I have some experience of Caring for people in the past with this type of trauma,

The thread is interesting indeed for yourself to view other people's experiences of this, and indeed do please look at ALL my posts on this thread and the info & links and experience I offer to the OP:

Can Head injuries cause Mental Illness?

Please do not take any notice of the Thread name as such and do ignore some of the more sweeping statements from some posters on this issue, I hope you enjoy what I add there

Bsbray11 thanks for this thread I will add more from my own point of view soon, late here need sleep and up early, have enjoyed the contributions so far and hope to add some interesting perspectives tomorrow.

I think the Thread I mention above is allied to this thought you are exploring anyhow and how this can or sometimes not change as a result of external factors and experiences, and maybe brings into question wher those perspectives, thoughts come from anyhow, as said have a look at all the info I offer there, may dovetail nicely with this thread.

What happens to the software if the computer is broken or non present?

Kind regards

Elf

Thanks for the U2u as said late soon you star!
one for you too

Well I certainly look at life differently than most.

For starters, I think of reality as a shared dream and that we're all connected on a deeper level that is mostly unconscious.

I also believe that we're all one soul experiencing life simultaneously through different perspectives. This gives me a particular 'emotional advantage'. Death isn't something I worry about, but look forward to - 'the only thing that dies is the ego'. I also find it easier to refrain from judging people. I understand that everyone has a reason for what they do, even if it adversely effects me. I understand that if I were in someone else's shoes, I'd probably do the same thing.

I enjoy using artwork to get a better understanding of the universe, and also as a means of portraying my thoughts to others. My avatars for instance aren't just random works of art. They're based on some fundamental nature of reality.

We're all both teachers and students so it's important to be open to the truth no matter where it comes from.

S&F
(the non-conformist in me says I should reply)

I like to think I'm unique, because it makes me feel unique.

One of my outlooks is really the same as the golden rule, I just catch myself always doing though. I constantly try to put myself in another person's shoes. (sometimes I forget who I am, because I'm usually not in my head) It's not all the time, usually when it comes to moral decisions, or something that doesn't come off as an instant explanation.

Recently, I just found out how dumb I am!
It's amazing, and fun* to discover your flaws and ignorance in life. -
I constantly tell my self to not live my life in comparison, because all I will do is keep trying to define normal. I sometimes wish I had this crazy classic "tell-all-book-worthy" life that would make household gossip, but then I'm really flipn' glad I don't

my philosophy has been pretty consistent about life. - as surprised I am about my beliefs constantly changing (taking adjustment) every year, my outlook remains the same. I wish I was a musician, just because I've always felt I've had the "ear". It doesn't matter the genre, There is a universal ingredient in all (considered) music - and that is the rhythm. I can't get over how consistent it is in every type of music regardless its sequence, Music is one of the things that every culture participates in and has always served for the positive intention of human fellowship. I am almost surprised that Music didn't take over as a religion, considering it's effect on people. here: My entire perspective of the world through the eyes of man is in the form of music.
I guess you could say this is how I would like people to live.

- Life song -

Music is living in all of us -
From the beat of the heart to the rhyme of the thought -
Life is but a song with a rhythm, not everyone likes dancing to -
Of that, no one dances the same -
We all hear our notes played together, But I ask, "are you just outputting noise, or melodic harmonies?" -
Find out what sounds beautiful while you are still here -
Get up, dance with one another, and when you're not dancing -
Sit back, lounge, listen.

Anyone ever read into Jewish mysticism or the Kabbalah?

There's a whole system of thought/analysis to itself, seeing 10 sepiroth present in everything as a conceptual diagram for how reality is generated:



Each sephiroth (the circles) represents different concepts that inter-relate as the diagram (the "Tree of Life") shows. The right column is considered relatively right-brained and masculine, and the left column left-brained and feminine. Energy is depicted as constantly swirling around the tree from sephiroth to sephiroth. The middle column is a little more transcendental and I've seen a lot of associations of the top sephiroth, Kether, to the human head (specifically the highest part), and the center sephiroth, Tiphareth, associated with the heart. The bottom sephiroth, Malkuth, is "the world," the summation of all the parts. Outside the entire tree are different concepts of nothingness that everything comes from. All the sephiroth in our world are considered to be all entangled and interdependent on each other. Scientifically you can imagine this as all the different levels of activity all going on at the same time and all requiring each to finally manifest, for example, a human being. You have quantum stuff going on all around you, atoms changing bonds, molecules breaking and reforming, on up through your biological processes and organs and body systems. It all has to happen to make you happen, and if anything is changed on one level it will affect the end result of them all. This is the same idea behind the sephiroth of the tree.

Here is a site with interactive frames that explains each sephiroth: www.ucalgary.ca...

The system is so old, it has a rich and very extensive body of literature behind it, enough to make it pretty accessible without a whole lot of effort I think, and it can really make you think about anything you apply it to, on any level.



Thought I'd add this Taoist equivalent:



If you check them out you'll see some uncanny similarities, but this Taoist symbol is known as a Taigi or the Taijitu and represents Taoist philosophies.

[edit on 28-11-2008 by bsbray11]

This is somthing ive only recently realized and understood. Infinity veiwed from outside of time would have a pattern, or design. That design would be god. My personality... my very thoughts are shaped by the pattern of infinty that i am living in. I am a sum result of my expreiances and thoughts, which are in turn the sum result of the design of infinity. I used to veiw myself as a person with everything grown by myself on the inside, but now i see myself as a sum result of everything givin from the outside. Not an image or an item... but an outline that can expand beyond myself and into infinity.

great idea love reading other peoples take on reality.

i would love to put my version of reality down but its too long and complex and filled with contradictions.

but if i had to summaries i would say we all think differently and im no exception im too inquisitive for my own good, always felt like there was more to the world that what we were being told as far back as i remember. i like to watch humans and their interactions. i see people and get vibrations off people i guess u would call that empathic i can tell negative people from positive people just by looking at them sometimes im wrong most times im not. but apart from that im as flawed as the rest of us

reply to post by bsbray11

I was shown you can produce logical contradictions in calculus or any equally powerful system of logic, and that this is an unavoidable consequence of recursiveness.

this is an example of what gets me through my day -

I have no abilities when it comes to math - but it interests me very much

I love systems, patterns and anomalies - and somehow I see answers in these

I'm not exactly sure how to approach this thread - but I guess I could say that I've always felt like I've been looking for clues

I am clueless about what clues I'm looking for - and what they might be a clue to

but I always have this sense that I'm supposed to figure something out

so, for me - everything counts - I have a hard time excluding anything - meaning - I'll listen to anybody's thoughts on any subject - and I'm always somewhat interested in everything - science, religion, philosophy, nature, art, music, math...

I'm always interested in what people think - how they think and what they feel, sense or believe

I'm not very knowledgeable in any one subject - but I'm usually always interested

I do paint - I see meaning in everything (which can be tiresome and annoying - and not just for me) color, pattern, sound - it's endless

I'm not sure if I got that from art, or if art came from that - the chicken or the egg

anyway - I'm hot on the trail

this is another one of those threads I wish would keep going - it would be great to hear more


[edit on 11/30/2008 by Spiramirabilis]

This is why I use the internet. Great thread, thank you.

I've really enjoyed reading these posts. Without this machine in front of me, I would really never have known just how many entirely unique perspectives people have. Yup, I too have always felt like I live in a parallel universe of sorts, and have struggled in my life more than I've been comfortable. I turned to music and art at a young age in an attempt to mold the world - or create a new one - in my vision. Have felt a longing for the paranormal and for contact with the spirit world. Have fought the system, have lost, have triumphed and seen some unreal things as well. Currently I am extremely content and grateful for this life, and I still toil on in my own humble little way with my music and art and mysticism. I'm afraid to leave my "ultimate view of reality" because I know I'll want to come back and edit it.


Thank you ATS

[edit on 30-11-2008 by Nox Vulpes]

i use a freeware program called "gnaural"

Bsbray I just deleted 6000 or so words, as I realised it reminded too much of my own journeys of understanding myself, and the healing I experienced on that journey, and did have when doing Psychiatric Nursing when younger. Also I took counselling courses at a fairly young age too, in a voluntary organisation to help youngsters from difficult backrounds, and this is not the place for that

When you read the below you can imagine what I deleted, or maybe not lol... anyhow...

So I will make a long story indeed as short and descriptive as possible in reply to your question, I hope it still is relevant.

I had very little contact with my Parents, not seeing one of them until the age of four/five years old when first born, and was raised by other family member's therefore. I though was brought up in a deprived area, but another family member paid for me to go to an very exclusive Roman Catholic private school, and all my formative teaching was done by Monks/Brothers of the order that run the school.
Even though I was lucky enough to be taken in by those other family members, they had lost their own child of under 10 yrs old, exactly 1 year to the day I was born in a tragic accident.
I nearly immediately was placed with them. I also was in a incubator first for a long time in those days, an unusual amount of time for medical science then, and was lucky to live, due to my very very early birth.

In those days it was very sterile and don't touch attitude to premature children, so as far as I know I had no Human contact, besides medically for the first 6 weeks of my life. Then I was placed into a mourning and reactive depressed family as explained...

So I mention this not looking for Ah bless, very much dealt with many many many moons ago to say the least!, But to explain that I obviously developed ways of experiencing the world not as the "norm" and learnt, to be very happy indeed with my own company at an early age.

Not needing or desiring to recreate the normal contact with caregivers most have, which then translates in life when older as constantly looking for peer and social validation.
So my internal world became more of a focus at an early age than most, who look out to others for approval and justification. Without those Parents to ask questions of or gain guidance from, I had to formulate my own ideas about how things were, and should be.
It made me a lifelong rebel of sorts, in that If I really Really think something is right, I don't really care what others think of me, I will do it, stand up for it and fight for it.

This is actually something in retrospect I am glad of. However I have due to this trait, to make sure that streak is not allowed to go the wrong way as in "Right for Me/Selfish" and not the really really right, as in a good moral/spiritual basis.

I know I am there at my time of life, but once or twice I strayed and it has got me a couple of times in hot water!

So with that basis I intended for you to understand the following. Due to the pernicious and all emcompasing religious brain washing I suppose, which If anyone who has been educated by Monks/Brother's will understand, I experienced when young a strong faith indeed.
It was stronger in me than most as explained above, it was a certainty for me to hold onto, something that would not change, a "Father" a such, a crux to fill the void I had compared to others with external figures to look up to and adore.

Well I was 12/13 and taken to the Vatican in Rome, I had served as an altar boy with the local Cathedral for a long time, mass 5-7 days a week since about 4 yrs old.
I had then just started to understand Politics and the outside world, and become aware of Famine, Africa etc...Maybe those pictures of crying children touched me more on an empathetic level because I could really empathise with their lack, not food but other things...

I just couldn't understand It, I will never forget being in the Vatican square , eagerly anticipating going into the basilica, and a large convoy of police bikes and cars, swept up to the front, and a cardinal got out.
He had such fine robes, big gold ring, an air of arrogance and oppulance about him as he strode up the steps. I started to doubt my faith..., my life had taught me young to see throw the "Surface" appearances of people, that a smile and all the associated labels and "Front" could mean something very different indeed.

Then 20 minutes later being inside and all the majesty, gold, wealth from within the Vatican. I couldn't figure it out why were children starving when this was here, in Gods place....

It was a real breakdown of sorts, my last belief in anything external, in the illusion of Maya was broken, nearly me with it though to!!
I now had nothing external to trust or believe in.

I did "Act Out" following that for a year or two, but also started exploring other faiths and my own mind, looking for that rock, and perspective to trust and believe in. I devoured mainly books on Tibet/Buddhism and the Mystical Paranormal & Politics of all cultures.

I had just chosen my Confirmation name "Francis" from St Francis of Assisi as I loved nature and animals. So I explored this aspect of the world views deeply too.

So long story short I had my first night of the dark soul at a very young age, and I am soo glad in retrospect. I took up meditation and Tai Chi.
Now from my short description with many aspects left out of the "interesting" life experiences, that I have been blessed with many more have followed often quite from an observers point of view tragic, but as you ask about perspective, well it is everything.

I care not what really is happening "out there" but what my response to it is "in here".

That is not to say I don't care about other people etc, so very far from it, just in terms of my own life events, Bring it On I say because I am more likely to be upset, when I get angry at someone for pulling out in front of me, rather than seeing a tragedy unfold in my life on the same day later.

If I can deal with that later situation with patience and love, and see it for the illusion it is.

I had an NDE as well some 4 years ago, and the contributers who state they try and see things from the others point of view is so right.
I experienced the classic Life review, and I promise all reading this that when you leave the physical, there is something else, and you WILL experience every word, deed and hard to explain but they affect others to Thought, you have ever had, said or done to others, from how it feels to them amplified a hundred times or more.

This is difficult for me as for many years with meditating etc, I have once or twice experienced the reality of Emptiness. But in this NDE review it seemed so real and there, so I am struggling now spiritually with this dichotomy.

All I know is LOVE is truly the only thing there is really, and devoid of that empty nature, and we must all strive to Love Unconditionally all of time, no matter how the "screen" or "play" we experience shows us, for if you hate another you are truly hating yourself.

Another aspect to my experience also is from before my NDE and the meditation practise of mindfulness. I have over the years now become very aware of the NOW, and the relaxing of the illusion of then and later breaks down, making even very simple things like washing and eating extrodinary at times experiences.

I love the quote in Buddhism

Can you see the clouds in your tea?

As in a cup of tea, the interconnectedness is true, and this simple truth can be so profound, I have realised and nearly tasted the stars in the tea too!
Or the moisture laden out breath of Jesus or Buddha, and conversely later when thinking of this.....realising Hitler too, But Now the same water is now being carried in the air of the Dalai Llama's next outbreath, or maybe his Pee lol, maybe your's reader.

I think I shall leave you with that to ponder and I am sure that last paragraph will challenge many peoples perspective!

Love and Light to you All really, and deeply, It is my sincere wish that what I have added may help some clear the illusion in their minds.

Elf.

[edit on 1-12-2008 by MischeviousElf]

reply to post by MischeviousElf


You've had some life thus far. (Who else has the honor of being turned off to Christianity by a Cardinal? ) Thank you.

I've enjoyed all the other posts too. What else is out there?

[edit on 2-12-2008 by bsbray11]

I like the thread concept, inquisitive natures is what keeps us learning.

I would endorse openess and independence as the tools of a developing psyche. When used in the right way, all doors can be opened for you. Put simply, to be open is to be free. Free from the shackles of belief systems, attitudes, foregone conclusions, assumptions - all the things that block growth. Free to learn. The task is to widen your perception, and never to isolate it. It's a journey to accept all experiences and all angles of thought, the more you become accustomed to this the richer your perception becomes.

Independence is used to maintain that freedom. Sometimes, we are all too willing to subscribe to a particular way of thought, or even a behavior or real life situation that only serves to hold us back. Nothing is more limiting to your journey than a diminished freedom to experience. Untold opportunity, potential, creation and wisdom lies ahead if only we are spiritually cognizant of our direction in life. Very few reap the full rewards.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
I want to be all of it...everything life has to offer. I want to be left, right, up, down, bad, good, poor, rich, funny, serious, extremist, moderate, radical, reserved, free, bound, black, white and all colours in between.

I dont know where I am from, where I am going or who I am, but Im enjoying the ride.

I love this! So much so that I wish I'd said it.

Very nice, all sentiments I share but have never found the right ordering of words, thanks for helping me out there. Don't forget sane and insane though...there is fun to be had there!!

see bill snoebelens video 'exposing the illuminati from within.. he speaks about the Kabalistic 'tree of life'

video.google.com...