Altering One's State of Mind

[Ezra]

Do you believe it's possible to actively control the way one perceives phenomena in the world? If so, do you think this is functionally related?

I ask this because I've had various experiences whereby I've been able to change the way I think about something, so that it enhances my actual experience. I'm also curious as to whether it would be related to a particular function.

 

[Atomic Fiend]

This will become a thread about drugs.

 

[cascadeco]

Do you believe it's possible to actively control the way one perceives phenomena in the world? If so, do you think this is functionally related?

I ask this because I've had various experiences whereby I've been able to change the way I think about something, so that it enhances my actual experience. I'm also curious as to whether it would be related to a particular function.

To a degree, yes. Mind over matter. Shifting how you look at things/perceive things so as to be more palatable, or to enhance experience, etc. Shifting focus.

I think in some cases it can take a lot of conscious effort and work, and probably doesn't come naturally either (hence...why it's an active thing you're doing). I've written that for me it's like trying to re-wire my brain, and re-wire my thought processes/patterns.

I'm not certain it's something that will ultimately 'stick', though. In the short term it might work, but in the long term I think it's debatable. You might inevitably shift back to your natural tendencies/thoughts. But it probably depends.

 

[Lady_X]

yes i do.

 

[nozflubber]

perception of what kind(s) of phenomena? when I've been smoking trees, the maxwell equations can be perceived as "divine instructions for matter"

 

[velocity]

behavior can also alter perception. trying something new with unexpected result yields new insight, for example.

 

[Mole]

Do you believe it's possible to actively control the way one perceives phenomena in the world? If so, do you think this is functionally related?

I ask this because I've had various experiences whereby I've been able to change the way I think about something, so that it enhances my actual experience. I'm also curious as to whether it would be related to a particular function.

There are many functions of the mind, but let us divide them into two.

The cognitive functions and the creative functions.

The cognitive functions are things like analysis, judgement and humour; and the creative functions are things like the appreciation of beauty, empathy and imagination.

The cognitive and the creative are mutually inhibitory - so as you turn on one cognitive function, you turn off a creative function, and vice versa.

And so a particular trance is defined by what cognitive functions are turned on, and which creative functions are turned off, and vice versa.

Normally we have little choice about which are turned on and which off because trances are largely culturally determined.

Unless, of course, you learn how to design your own trances - then you can decide what trances you wish to enter and leave.

But how could you possibly learn how to be a trance designer?

 

[Tiltyred]

Practice, practice, practice!

 

[Mole]

Practice, practice, practice!

Yes, they say it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a master.

As it took Mozart 10,000 hours of practice to become a composer.

And it took Bill Gates 10,000 hours of practice to become a programmer.

And it takes 10,000 hours of practice to learn how to empathise.

And it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become a trance designer.

But Tolle tells us on Oprah that we live in the now. It requires no practice at all. You can do it right now.

So wada ya want?

Do you want Mozart, Bill Gates, empathy and trance design, or do you want Tolle right now?

 

[Tiltyred]

Better a Tolle in the hand than two in the bush, I always say.

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

Yeah, you can definitely influence your perception. I was talking with my roommate about perception and we agreed that sensation is the stuff that enters your mind from the outside. Perception is what happens when it commingles with your memory/associations. So I might see an object moving (sensation) but when it "enters" my mind, it gets associates with bird, and all the stuff "bird" does, and there might be some idea about it's purpose and intention, etc.

The sensation component is pretty constant while the resulting perception is very fungible, since it's dependent on the ideas and associations you invoke, consciously or subconsciously. When you use drugs, you influence some of those associations, either by suspending them, or making them conscious so you can see that they are just associations and not objects themselves.

Does it bear some relationship to functions? I don't really care. (Not to sound mean, I just don't think it matters and just leads to confusion.)

 

[Anja]

"Fungible!" Edahn said, "fungible!" You were lawyering today?

 

[ThatsWhatHeSaid]

I lawyer every day, whether at work or not.

 

[Anja]

I think for me it matters. I need to do reality checks with people from time to time and find them useful for interpreting my environment.

As far as whether it's possible to alter one's attitude/behavior by altering one's thoughts, that's the basis of Rationale-Emotive therapy. I think it works better for some types than others.

 

[Anja]

I lawyer every day, whether at work or not.

I get that. Too bad you can't get paid for the days off.

 

[nomadic]

yeah, sometimes my perception of things and events change depending on who im dating...

 

[ajblaise]

Whether it's through meditation, drugs, realization, changing your point of view... I think there are endless ways for us to alter perception and state of mind.

Some people say it's "unnatural" and some just fear altered consciousness because of fear of the unknown. But this has been happening for as long as human history is old.

 

[Mole]

Better a Tolle in the hand than two in the bush, I always say.

How could I resist?

 

[Mole]

Some people say it's "unnatural" and some just fear altered consciousness because of fear of the unknown. But this has been happening for as long as human history is old.

Yes, for instance we radically change our consciousness twice every day.

As we move from wakefulness to sleep, we pass through the hypnogogic state.

So at the most mundane level we have three levels of consciousness - awake, asleep and hypnogogic.

And of course we keep changing the levels of our consciousness all during the day - whether by driving a car, watching TV, making love, taking a drug or going for a run.

Our consciousness is altering all the time.

As indeed l'alternance is the secret to happiness.

But most altering of consciousness is culturally induced, and so completely conformist.

So the possibility exists of us taking the alteration of our consciousness into our own hands. And so take our altering consciousness out of the hands of culture and into our own creative hands.

In other words, the possibility now exists of becoming a trance designer.

 

[ajblaise]

Yes, for instance we radically change our consciousness twice every day.

As we move from wakefulness to sleep, we pass through the hypnogogic state.

So at the most mundane level we have three levels of consciousness - awake, asleep and hypnogogic.

And of course we keep changing the levels of our consciousness all during the day - whether by driving a car, watching TV, making love, taking a drug or going for a run.

Our consciousness is altering all the time.

As indeed l'alternance is the secret to happiness.

But most altering of consciousness is culturally induced, and so completely conformist.

So the possibility exist of us taking the alteration of our consciousness into our own hands. And so take our altering consciousness out of the hands of culture and into our own creative hands.

In other words, the possibility now exists of becoming a trance designer.

We are not very conscious in the moments before sleep and in the moments before waking.

For it is the process which brings on the most rapid change that the conscious is most fearful of.