george - Jun 11, 2008, 12:45p
you are trying to hold and understand everything way to tight.

Buddy, you have got to just lighten up.

Could I make a simple suggestion?

Quit looking for some reason, ideal or whatever. Quit thinking so dern much!!!

Its time to just grind. Go towards the finish line for whatever that may be, graduate school completion....whatever.
and quit trying to figure out the why.
Trust me.

You want to know the answer to all the mystery. The answer "thinking man" is so simple I don't know if you'll ever stop to understand it instead of trying to analyze it.

The whole silly thing, creation, being, conciousness, human condition is all so simple. Its about family.

Love

the thing that God breathed into us that no other beast on the planet has.

Thats it, whole nine yards.

Everything else just is.

When you hold your first child, you will understand, when you fully understand what it means to not be first in any way, shape or form. That someone on the planet comes before you, your thoughts, your creative philosophical ramblings, every single time until they are no longer a cub.

You probably know it in a fashion with your mate, but you hold something back for you.

walk up to your home in the still of the night (winter is best), look through the window and see what you hold dear. That my friend is what it is ALL about. If there is no one in there?
Then you have something to dwell on.

Good luck my friend


Harpoon - Jul 25, 2008, 9:42a
If you want to ask me, you should practice Taiji, or more contemplative forms of motion. The exercise of focusing intently on following a physical pattern, i.e. no competitive or cognitive objective like traditional sports. It may sound ridiculous but the simple act of moving yourself through space will, through dedication, become a processes of renewal for you. I know it sounds like indoctrinated hogwash, but, then why does one assume that something seeming so simple such as relaxing should come so easily? It's a skill that takes a while to master, 2 - 3 years you can get some hang of it. Standing meditation is also an important exercise - it seems utterly futile to most people at first, but there is something going on worth studying. I believe if you want to study consciousness then why not keep a log and try to conduct experiments of such claims to compare with your own claims of "method to remove distractions"

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Garry - May 25, 2008, 2:53p
What's your opinion of Csíkszentmihályi's work around flow? He seems to posit that perhaps flow is a desirable / good state, one that brings us a step closer to self actualization. But is that the same thing that you experience when studying hard or working hard, when consciousness gets traded?


nikhil - May 26, 2008, 12:13a
I read his "Flow" book a few years ago, but I think what I experience when studying is something a bit different.

What I experience is an absence.

You may experience something similar when you're giving a presentation. Esp. if you're a little nervous and you've practiced a lot, once you get into the preso, you may have a feeling that your words and movements are not in your control. Afterwards, you may even feel like you've "blacked out", because you have very little memory of exactly what you said and did. It just goes by in a blur, and like that <snap> it's over.

I think of flow as a different state, one where your level of perception and awareness is quite high, perhaps even peaking, while you're working or doing something else that has a clear path ahead. My problem sets often don't have a clear path ahead, instead being shots in the dark that hopefully eventually hit. So no, I wouldn't describe it as flow.

Flow may be a good state. But since it seems to require a clear path (in my experience), I question whether it's not just the easy road ahead. Perhaps shots in the dark, while uncomfortable and risky, are a better/more exciting/more unpredictable/higher pay-off, though rougher, avenue through the wilderness. But, depending on your persuasion, maybe such avenues are better avoided...


neha - May 30, 2008, 4:04p
how are things going now, nikhil? i think many grad students struggle with the balance of the rat race (need to have concrete accomplishments) and free time to think and explore. maybe you just need to find the way you work best -- if i left myself to go at my own pace, i wouldn't get anything done :) i've realized after the fact that when i've learned the most is when i felt like i was running on a hamster wheel. sometimes it's not a bad thing.


george - Jun 11, 2008, 12:24p
simplify,

problem is that when you look at things in an intellectual state, you are looking to solve something that may not be a mystery.

You've sat alone in the dessert, you already have the understanding and knowledge of what you seek. You have known conciousness.

Don't lose the forest because can't see past the trees.


Harpoon - Jul 25, 2008, 10:16a
I think you hit the nail on the head toward the end - Do you want to study consciousness or do you want to experience it? Perhaps to experience, we have to give up on studying it in a lab, and vice versa.

My rather unscientific views on consciousness are that you can only go a very short distance to study it in a lab, you can only pinpoint where it isn't. The brain is a physical object with physical properties and consciousness is metaphysical. That is to say even after you have fully documented neurons and their phenomena, you won't ever be able to describe in mathematic, linguistic, or biological terms something purely conceptual such as "love" , "pleasure" , or "suffering". It's like poking through the software for a game with a hex editor, and trying to locate where the "fun" is.

Furthermore, what if consciousness exists not as a process of the brain, but as function of interactions between individual and society? How can you ever hope to control what the environment has done to your subject, in a lab setting?

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