(not Jack Handy style)
....what's the point?
....what's the point?
posted by:
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Portland
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 11:20 AMIllustration and illumination.
At least, that's what *I* get out of them.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 11:51 AM;p
I'm in transition about this I think. I have always thought that deep thoughts are like eyes for your mind heart and soul. But I am growing to see the value of less thinking more being...but I am going to have to think about that more(o; -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 2:03 PMMe too in fact. Having recently come out of a relationship that it appears I over thought and over talked and over requested I now find myself in a new relationship where the roles are reversed.
I discovered, in a moment of overload, that I am much more enjoying the "just being" part of life right now and don't need to think so much about life and relationship.
Thus...my point. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Sun, March 4, 2007 - 9:46 AMone of my thoughts lately is about...do we need to use our brains to untangle some of the knots they have created already? Or can we simply just let go and they will disappear? and can we really let go if we don't understand what was going on? -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Sun, March 4, 2007 - 10:42 AM"one of my thoughts lately is about...do we need to use our brains to untangle some of the knots they have created already?"
There is a school of thought...
They tell us that we cannot get out of a problem using the same toolset we used to get INTO the problem.
I'm not entirely sure I agree with that.
A lot of the problems we get into, it seems to me, have more to do with our own views of what's possible and what's not -- what's acceptable and what's not. In other words, a lot to do with our VIEW of the Universe and how we fit into it.
Viewpoints can be changed, if done properly.
When I hear or read the things that pass for deep thoughts, it often reminds me of some of the more intriguing math proofs. The conclusions are actually really, really simple, but proving it is an outrageous amount of paper. Usually in the middle of those proofs, I discover I had an erroneous assumption that initially made me reject the simple conclusion.
I think the best of those "deep thoughts" are the ones that recognize and challenge some deeply held assumptions, that cause a conflict in our own heads. That conflict is between "well, THAT makes total sense" and "Wait, that contradicts something we already think is true."
So, in a thinking person, this forces a reassessment of the internal assumptions, to see if, in fact, the reason we're IN whatever problem we're in is BECAUSE of our own errors (which happens more often than not).
An unthinking person just gets more frustrated and angry because the speaker of those "deep thoughts" is CLEARLY not adopting THEIR own personal restrictions (which represents a personal threat). Usually they fuss and call 'em names, or in some other way try to knock down the speaker. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Mon, March 5, 2007 - 7:03 AM<<An unthinking person just gets more frustrated and angry because the speaker of those "deep thoughts" is CLEARLY not adopting THEIR own personal restrictions (which represents a personal threat). Usually they fuss and call 'em names, or in some other way try to knock down the speaker. >>
Blair, if you're out there: does this sound familiar????
SV, I totally get what you're saying too. I think I said before that there's a tricky balance to be had between putting things aside and burying them. Something buried festers and gets worse. Something set aside gently floats away. How to tell the difference is really hard for me to identify, let alone articulate. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Mon, March 5, 2007 - 9:25 AM"...there's a tricky balance to be had between putting things aside and burying them."
Nothing has to be forever. You can set something aside with a label saying "Can't handle right now -- re-open next March."
I do that a lot.
Most of the time, I NEVER reopen the issue. 8)
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Re: deep thoughts...
Mon, March 5, 2007 - 9:47 AMUm, does that mean you have a ton of unresolved crap festering just beneath the surface, or do things just kind of float away? Or a little bit of both? -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Mon, March 5, 2007 - 10:01 AM"Um, does that mean you have a ton of unresolved crap festering just beneath the surface, or do things just kind of float away?"
Ha-ha! Good question. I should have been more clear.
Mostly, "b".
My theory is that most of the intense immediacy of an issue has to do with it being in the here-and-now. My reasoning is that three months later, my then-perspective will allow me to better deal with it, or even allow me to see it as the non-issue it really was.
Most of the time, I find it's a non-issue.
On rare occasions, I find that perspective has made it something I can better deal with.
But no, no, nothing festers long under my skin. Not really.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Mon, March 5, 2007 - 10:24 AMLOL -- yeah, I was thinking along the same lines you were when I read Edward's post.
SV said "less thinking, more being" and there's a great big pile of merit to that. Sometimes the knots get so tangled and so tight that you just can't unwind them yourself.
Actually, that's a great analogy! Remember when, as a child, you had a ball of string that got so tangled that you just madly start pulling it in every direction because you were so frustrated??? Sometimes you have to put the string down and patiently work through one strand at a time. Sometimes you might need a friend to hold a strand. Sometimes you just have to put it all away and go out and play.
The trick is to know and recognize when you've just plain done enough thinking on a problem and you have to put it away.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 11:59 AM-t-h-e--m-i-n-d--i-s--a--t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e--t-h-i-n-g--t-o--w-a-s-t-e-
the mind is a terrible thing, waste it
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 12:18 PMPure joy and pleasure, a sense of connection, intelligence, creativity, deep thoughts--yum! -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 1:24 PMSometimes I can be having a perfectly shallow conversation and it will move to profound in one sentence...To me, that's enlightenment!
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 1:38 PMi find myself wondering what's the point of your recent questions, angel? just to see if people are willing to fill in the blanks for you? -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 2:01 PMLeslie,
I like asking open ended questions with broad scope of answer potential. I find it interesting to see what people will say or do when given little or no indication of the intended result or direction. I think it reveals something about us depening on how we answer the question.
My point - is noted in my response to SV above. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 4:57 PMhmm. ok. to me, putting out a few words is more of a social experiment than a question.
which is why i rarely play.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 3:03 PMDeep thoughts are their own answer. Anybody can be superficial, but it takes time and patience to think deeply. And look at all the great thinkers and philosophers who have done so: Schopenhauer, Spinoza, Plato, Virginia Woolf, Einstein, Marcus Aurelius, the list goes on and on. They are remembered and quoted centuries after their own time.
Human Being + Deep Thoughts = Immortality. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Thu, March 1, 2007 - 4:04 PMI'd rather live fully in the now than be immortal after I'm dead.
That doesn't mean I'm opposed to deep thinking but it doesn't have to be all the time. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Sun, March 4, 2007 - 9:15 AMI'm with you there, Angel! I was really hit over the head with that this week, actually. There does indeed seem to be a time and place for everything, including deep thoughts. And a time to just let things go. The trick is to let things go without burying them. Deep thoughts are the only way THROUGH issues. But I think we can go THROUGH issues at speeds other than light-speed, which is the way I have been approaching life.
What hit me smack in the face this week is that we need to make sure we are in the right frame of mind to even address the deep thoughts. Otherwise we drive ourselves further into an abyss of despair and hopelessness.
I find I have involuntary "power down" periods, where my brain will turn itself off and I will take a long nap and the next day everything looks different. It's like a reboot. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Sun, March 4, 2007 - 9:53 AMoh oh oh...I think I just had one of those light bulb moments...when I realize something and then think DUH!
So I'm thinking the key is to be totally in the deep thoughts when it is time and then the real trick is to then really be NOT in your thoughts when it is time to be in moments that are not thought moments.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Sun, March 4, 2007 - 3:41 PMYes - this is exactly what I am working on in my life right now. -
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Re: deep thoughts...
Sun, March 4, 2007 - 9:15 PMMe too -- it's something my counselor calls "containment". Putting thoughts away until it's time to look at them again. She says some people like to envision a physical container, or have one in a special place that reminds you to put things aside.
Focus for me is evasive these days. My work demands total self-motivation and it's HARD sometimes to stay present. I have to admit that finding tribe has NOT helped me on that quest. I've had days where I had to declare tribe off-limits just to get anything done.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Tue, March 6, 2007 - 11:45 PM(o:
It's always interesting to me the serendipity of the lessons the people around me seem to be working on as I am.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Mon, March 5, 2007 - 10:34 AMUm, yeah, that's a pretty deep thought SV ;-);-);-)
There's probably a time to realize when you've worked something through to a point where it just isn't going to get much better too. We all want issues to resolve nicely and neatly but sometimes they just aren't gonna play along. Putting those issues into containment, as Karen says, is the best place for them. Recognizing when to do so is the challenge.
So my deep thought for today is that we should try to learn that part of our thought process is always to evaluate whether there's any point even untangling that particular skein.
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Re: deep thoughts...
Tue, March 6, 2007 - 11:57 PMthanks(o:
I tend to think that if I need the skein...if I have to carry it around then it needs to be untangled if I can leave it behind then it doesn't.
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