From: Paul Hughes (paul@i2.to)
Date: Sun Aug 08 1999 - 13:24:45 MDT
Edwin Evans wrote:
"But egoism is more than this. It is the realization by the individual that he
is above all institutions and all formulas; that they exist only so far as he
chooses to make them his own by accepting them. " Lets go ahead and ignore how
silly that sounds.
Please lets not. I agreed with your post, unless I misunderstood you in some
way, except for your dismissal of the above point of view. This is a point I
come back to time and again. Here is a quote I'm quite fond of:
"In the province of the mind, what one believes to be true, either is true or
becomes true in one's mind, within limits to be determined by experience and
experiment. These limits are beliefs to be further transcended." - John C.
Lilly
Applying this attitude in conjunction with the above quote, it becomes easier to
conclude that the Robinson's quote does have merit. Since our experience and
experimental data is inherently limited, it is better to _operate_ within a
system that accepts no limits until those limits impose themselves anyway. And
even then, perhaps those limits are created through your own limited belief
system. This has all sorts of practical outcomes, least of which is the
realization that most of the time you can achieve states of freedom or extropy
that you thought were not possible because of misapplied belief based on your
limited understanding of the facts.
For example, there is a lot of evidence that our notion of free will is an
illusion. If we decided (a pun) to operate within that belief, then it becomes
increasingly likely that we will not 'decide' to do a whole assortment of
things, even things that may benefit us a great deal; and in this case deciding
not to decide would become a complete cop-out. Therefore, I choose to belief
that I do have a free will and I increasingly take responsibility for more of my
actions, states of mind, mood and emotional states. Because I believe I can
change my brain, I have become increasingly adept and achieving my goals and
increasing my overall happiness and freedom. Equations and formula's be
damned! :-)
Paul Hughes
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