GENIUS FORUMS

I'm a kid who knows absolutely nothing about enlightenment or genius or any of that stuff. I do consider myself to be intelligent though, so teach me. I'm a clean slate. An uncarved sculpture. Lets see what you guys can make of me.

There's no such thing as a clean slate, you come here shaped and formed by definition. Know yourself! Be honest about motives! Boredom?

Perhaps start with listing what it is you do know or think about. The rules you've ended up living by so far, if nothing else. Why would you bother with them?

Go to http://theabsolute.net and check out the links to Thinking Man's Minefield (or is it Mindfield?) or click on "David Quinn's site" up top and read the links. Its a good place to start!

There's no such thing as a clean slate, you come here shaped and formed by definition. Know yourself! Be honest about motives! Boredom?

Perhaps start with listing what it is you do know or think about. The rules you've ended up living by so far, if nothing else. Why would you bother with them?

Perhaps I was feeling to eager for the input to bother myself with the output.

So I guess for an introduction to myself...

My name is zach. I'm in the 11th grade and I'm a musician and I plan on being a professional composer in the future. I am, in almost every outward aspect, an extremely typical teenager. I'm lazy and moody and rebellious and head over heels in love in a relationship that is typically destined for failure except that the only people who don't believe that are me and her. The one thing that I think makes me truly unique from other kids my age is my ability to think objectively without bias or weighted opinion. I am also very good at logical thinking and problem solving. I am unsure as to wether or not I believe in happy endings or wether I believe that there are higher powers or wether anything that I can see or touch is real (my point is that my theological and philisophical views are not yet developed). Alright now lets see where we can get from there. Feel free to ask more questions.

Yeesh...as far as the rules I live by...(thats a hard one)...I would probably say that I don't truly live by one set of rules. Maybe the rules that I see will bring me happiness and comfort. It sounds stupid but it makes sense doesn't it? The more responsibilities I've been getting though, the more rules I have to follow in order to survive comfortably. I'm at that stage where responsibilities hit hard and fast and then stick there for the rest of your life.

Tomhargen wrote:I'm lazy and moody and rebellious and head over heels in love in a relationship that is typically destined for failure except that the only people who don't believe that are me and her. The one thing that I think makes me truly unique from other kids my age is my ability to think objectively without bias or weighted opinion. I am also very good at logical thinking and problem solving.

Okay Zach, are you thinking objectively before, during or after the moods and romantic feelings ;? And how did you establish the lack of bias and weight, especially when you admit to the 'usual' teenage whirlpool of emotions and drives? Does it affect your abilities in any way?

And in what way do you see yourself as rebellious while at the same time some extremely typical teenager? You mean you join the teenage masses in having rebellious feelings towards the ones that run the place? My question is I guess: what does your objectivity bring you apart from intellectual games. There are many smart kids around these days, is your uniqueness perhaps more of a feeling than an actual observation? Feeling very special and unique is part of normal development.

Okay Zach, are you thinking objectively before, during or after the moods and romantic feelings ;?

Throughout the whole of every situation I have a part of me that processes and learns and takes note without emotion. It's rather strange to sometimes dip my thinking into an emotionless pit of data based conclusions.

When I say rebellious I simply mean that I don't like to be told what to do so I scheme to get around rules. Simple teenage games.

I honestly don't know where I established my lack of bias and weight. But it isn't that I don't have any, it's just that I have the ability to put my brain into a state where I forget all my wants and emotions and things like that and simply put things into raw data. It's helped me sort out my life many times actually. My brain can basically turn into a computer.

As for wether or not this uniqueness is just a feeling...I'm sure my eagerness to BE unique is because of that drive, but I do truly believe I've developed a certain skill far beyond what a normal person my age has. Not to say that I am the only person who can think objectively at all, but I think you get my point.

I try my best to be humble by the way.

Well here's a start.

You are intensely insecure

You are bored, and likely your parent smoked, drank or used drugs whilst you were a fetus.

You curently have a drug problem

Not a word of that is true. But thanks for your input. :)

Hey Zach!

What is youre motivation for engaging yourself in philosophy?

From my point of view you just seem to be boored and want something challenging.
But with that kind of attitude you might at best or worst (depends on how you see it) become a philosophy dilettante.
If you only want to have intellectual discussions. I'd suggest you look for other forums.


Mohamed

Diebert is correct in that you are not a blank slate. I think what he is suggesting is sound. It is important to know that philosophy is less of a body of knowledge than it is a skill; in order to develop that skill, it is essential to discover what is already written on your slate.

It is not an easy thing to do. If it seems easy, you are not really doing it. If you patronize a gym and find all the exercises easy, you will not become stronger, more flexible, more coordinated, or healthier. In addition, if you do not make it a regular routine, your results will be negligible.

Many people resort to therapy because they realize some lack in their constitution. This may be better than nothing, but it is relying on somebody else to read your slate. It is good to read philosophy of others to see their techniques, but it is vital not to draw the same conclusions they do.

You must be brave enough to draw your own conclusions. It is your slate which you need to concentrate on first. You will in time learn to process what is being written upon it as you go through life as it is being written. This is a profound advantage. You will also be able to arrange and add and subtract to what is there.

Reading the writings of this forum's founders is as good a place to start as any, but remember this philosophy is not for the immature mind. Know what Poison for the Heart is before you take any.

Tomhargen wrote:Not a word of that is true. But thanks for your input. :)

Are you sure you are being entirely honest with yourself there kid?

It's up to you, noone else.

Tomhargen wrote:Throughout the whole of every situation I have a part of me that processes and learns and takes note without emotion. It's rather strange to sometimes dip my thinking into an emotionless pit of data based conclusions.

It's one thing to draw a conclusion but another thing to embody the potential truth in that conclusion. For example, everyone's life is driven by value, one is always chasing, sacrificing oneself on some altar somewhere. So the moment one values change, everything else changes as well. But it's easy to ponder and think about values but the real emotional attachments only arise when it becomes more than an intellectual meditative exercise. This way it's tempting to believe in some 'emotionless' process going on while its conclusions remain harmless in light of the attachments. It's like a bubble that only reflects real non-attachments like a photograph can reflect a real setting.

Anyway, this is just meant as well-intended questioning to learn from or disregard. It's hard to assess the reality behind ones words no matter the amount of personal detailing. If you did indeed achieve the level of objectivity you imply, Zach, it would be a mistake to ask to be taught by "you guys" as you can figure it all out for yourself now or as good old Prince said "it's up to you".

starting with the idea of determinism and lack of free will is a good start. An exercise that can be beneficial is to imagine all the ways in which your behavior and thoughts are determined on a day to day basis.

Basically, examine the content of your thoughts and daily activity of your body, and realize their related causes.

Ryan Rudolph wrote:starting with the idea of determinism and lack of free will is a good start. An exercise that can be beneficial is to imagine all the ways in which your behavior and thoughts are determined on a day to day basis.

Basically, examine the content of your thoughts and daily activity of your body, and realize their related causes.

Wouldn't it require like free will to do this?

Are you sure you are being entirely honest with yourself there kid?

I'm sure I'm being honest. The motivation behind coming here is that I want to develop...beliefs. Thats the stage I'm in right now. I've grown up in one of those families that believes in not instilling any specific belief in their children beyond skepticism so that they can figure it out for themselves later on. I've recently just began believing in Jesus, but I think that shouldn't take the place of having sound philisophical views.

It's one thing to draw a conclusion but another thing to embody the potential truth in that conclusion. For example, everyone's life is driven by value, one is always chasing, sacrificing oneself on some altar somewhere. So the moment one values change, everything else changes as well. But it's easy to ponder and think about values but the real emotional attachments only arise when it becomes more than an intellectual meditative exercise. This way it's tempting to believe in some 'emotionless' process going on while its conclusions remain harmless in light of the attachments. It's like a bubble that only reflects real non-attachments like a photograph can reflect a real setting.

When my grandmother died when I was 12 or 13, I was crying about how unjust the world was and all manner of irrational things, and then something happened. I lost the emotion of the encounter in my thought process, and came to the simple conclusion that everything dies in its time. I can't help it or do anything about it, so I should use my emotion in a productive way. I spent the next few days writing a eulogy that truly used my emotions to capture the essence of my grandmother, who was by far the most giving and caring person I have EVER met. It's that state of mind that helped me channel my emotions into something that could help. Does that explain a little better what I mean? Since then, I've used that state of mind many times and now it feels almost physical to me. Like I'm in some sort of trance where I can put the pieces back together when I'm broken.

Tomhargen wrote:It's that state of mind that helped me channel my emotions into something that could help. Does that explain a little better what I mean? Since then, I've used that state of mind many times and now it feels almost physical to me. Like I'm in some sort of trance where I can put the pieces back together when I'm broken.

Are you sure you are being entirely honest with yourself there kid?

This sounds very useful and you may well be mentally advanced beyond your peers. If you have been trained to be skeptical about everything, then you have been well brouhgt up thus far. That is just MHO.

Take it easy Mohamed everybody has to start somewhere and even if the intentions r not virtuous perhaps with time they will develop them towards that

Yeah maybe I overreacted a bit.
But I'm still not taking it completly back. :-I