A question

[Doctor Cringelord]

I have noticed when participating in discussions on the forum/vent (and IRL) that I like to use other members/people as sounding boards to bounce my own ideas against. I will sometimes refine my ideas following their feedback, to the point that it might appear I am disagreeing with my own previous statements. Other members sometimes highlight a point I didn't consider, or their own statements lead me to examine my idea from another angle or perspective, and I then might refine or tweak my ideas accordingly, if I think they are sound and logical refinements/tweaks.

In other words, I thrive off of discussion with people, despite my leanings toward introversion. It energizes me to some extent, and it helps to get my mental juices flowing when people lead me to consider new ideas or different perspectives of my own ideas, which can be very exciting.

To some degree, other intelligent people are merely a utility for me (assuming I am intelligent myself). I use their own intelligence and ideas to help stimulate my mind to think outside of the boring boxes I find myself in when I've been inside my own head for too long without any intellectual contact with the outside world.

What type(s) do you think this suggests?

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

INTP

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Do you think it is cold or inhumane of me to view people in this manner (as utilities)? I mean, I care about people and have some measure of compassion for humanity, but ultimately individuals are either useful or useless to me. If I can't use them to stimulate my own mind, then I probably have little need to associate with them beyond a passing nod or greeting. I can feign the small talk thing to survive in situations where small talk is deemed necessary by others, but it's really hard to hold my attention in those situations. Also, work meetings, et al, are really hard for me because I'm not getting the mental workout I'd like, so I find my mind wandering off to other pastures.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

Do you think it is cold or inhumane of me to view people in this manner (as utilities)? I mean, I care about people and have some measure of compassion for humanity, but ultimately individuals are either useful or useless to me. If I can't use them to stimulate my own mind, then I probably have little need to associate with them beyond a passing nod or greeting. I can feign the small talk thing to survive in situations where small talk is deemed necessary by others, but it's really hard to hold my attention in those situations. Also, work meetings, et al, are really hard for me because I'm not getting the mental workout I'd like, so I find my mind wandering off to other pastures.

Do they feel like you treat them as utilities?

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Do they feel like you treat them as utilities?

To the extent that I don't often care about them as much on an interpersonal level, yes.

Although intellectual stimulation from others can eventually lead me to find some basic, primitive emotional connection with people in some cases.

Hard to say, because I struggle with this even with people who I should be close to, such as family members and close friends. Ultimately, I want to talk about ideas and interesting subjects, and if that's not happening, I get bored with them very easily.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

To the extent that I don't often care about them as much on an interpersonal level, yes.

Although intellectual stimulation from others can eventually lead me to find some basic, primitive emotional connection with people in some cases.

Hard to say, because I struggle with this even with people who I should be close to, such as family members and close friends. Ultimately, I want to talk about ideas and interesting subjects, and if that's not happening, I get bored with them very easily.

Maybe God is calling you to something else. A more secluded life in devotion to Him somehow.

All I know is that we are called to love our neighbor, not use him. And not sin against him. If you cannot keep this from happening, then it is better to leave off being around people until you can.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

A more secluded life in devotion to Him somehow.

I don't know if that's something I need right now, but I briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a buddhist or catholic monk when I was 17.

Plus, I'm kind of an agnostic/weak atheist (probably a 4 or 5 on the Dawkins scale), so I don't know how well devotion to God would work for me. The monastic life holds some appeal to me, but it would be for selfish reasons, at least from the perspective of people who "give" themselves to God.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

I don't know if that's something I need right now, but I briefly flirted with the idea of becoming a buddhist or catholic monk when I was 17.

Plus, I'm kind of an agnostic/weak atheist (probably a 4 or 5 on the Dawkins scale), so I don't know how well devotion to God would work for me. The monastic life holds some appeal to me, but it would be for selfish reasons, at least from the perspective of people who "give" themselves to God.

Without God you will continue to have meaningless relationships.

Even with God, relationships of meaning are rare, and a treasure to behold.

Shalom~

 

[ZNP-TBA]

I have noticed when participating in discussions on the forum/vent (and IRL) that I like to use other members/people as sounding boards to bounce my own ideas against. I will sometimes refine my ideas following their feedback, to the point that it might appear I am disagreeing with my own previous statements. Other members sometimes highlight a point I didn't consider, or their own statements lead me to examine my idea from another angle or perspective, and I then might refine or tweak my ideas accordingly, if I think they are sound and logical refinements/tweaks.

In other words, I thrive off of discussion with people, despite my leanings toward introversion. It energizes me to some extent, and it helps to get my mental juices flowing when people lead me to consider new ideas or different perspectives of my own ideas, which can be very exciting.

To some degree, other intelligent people are merely a utility for me (assuming I am intelligent myself). I use their own intelligence and ideas to help stimulate my mind to think outside of the boring boxes I find myself in when I've been inside my own head for too long without any intellectual contact with the outside world.

What type(s) do you think this suggests?

So what do you think is your purpose when you bounce ideas off other people? In other words what motivates you more, exploring ideas for their own sake or using the knowledge you gained from ideas to fit into some grand scheme of general understanding you have?

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

Without God you will continue to have meaningless relationships.

Even with God, relationships of meaning are rare, and a treasure to behold.

Shalom~

I didn't really intend for this thread to go in a direction of religious discussion, but I don't mind either.

What are your thoughts, if any, on Vedanta? I know many people I've met of the Abrahamic faiths have mentioned the idea of having god in their hearts, which is similar to Hindu Vedantic thought. The basic idea in vedanta is that God is infinite and endless and embodied through all of creation, every atom, every being, every life, etc. I think that's really similar to the Gospel of John--you know, God literally breathing life into everything, to paraphrase; there's also some similarity to the Tao there. I can get down with that idea of God, but I have a hard time with the more evangelical ideas of God as the benevolent dictator lording it over the universe from some distant perch, whilst his creations are ugly and undesirable and should work to reach some other supernatural realm--in my mind, we're already in that realm and simply don't realize it because we get to focused on the nitty gritty of details and lack the perspective to see the grander essence of everything.

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

So what do you think is your purpose when you bounce ideas off other people? In other words what motivates you more, exploring ideas for their own sake or using the knowledge you gained from ideas to fit into some grand scheme of general understanding you have?

Mental masturbation, dude. I don't know. Probably a bit of both, but perhaps slightly more the latter, since everything I learn is fitting together somehow in my understanding of the universe and the essential truths behind it. Everything is connected, in that sense. It's just so vast and sprawled out that I feel it would take multiple lifetimes to make every single connection and realize ultimate truth. However, I'd get bored once I literally knew EVERYTHING and how everything fit together, so as much as I'd like to live longer to learn more, I can take some comfort in knowing I will never live long enough to learn everything and become utterly bored.

 

[ZNP-TBA]

Mental masturbation, dude. I don't know. Probably a bit of both, but perhaps slightly more the latter, since everything is fitting together somehow in my understanding of the universe and the essential truths behind it. Everything is connected, in that sense. It's just so vast and sprawled out that I feel it would take multiple lifetimes to make every single connection and realize ultimate truth. However, I'd get bored once I literally knew EVERYTHING and how everything fit together, so as much as I'd like to live longer to learn more, I can take some comfort in knowing I will never live long enough to learn everything and become utterly bored.

If you came across some new knowledge that strongly compelled you to reconfigure your entire understanding of something ( we're talking changing an understanding you've had for a long time) how would you react?

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

If you came across some new knowledge that strongly compelled you to reconfigure your entire understanding of something ( we're talking changing an understanding you've had for a long time) how would you react?

Excitement. I'd have something to think about and I'd probably spend a lot of time thinking about it and researching anything I could get my hands on which might relate to said new knowledge.

The idea that things were not as they'd seemed doesn't really scare me.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

I didn't really intend for this thread to go in a direction of religious discussion, but I don't mind either.

What are your thoughts, if any, on Vedanta? I know many people I've met of the Abrahamic faiths have mentioned the idea of having god in their hearts, which is similar to Hindu Vedantic thought. The basic idea in vedanta is that God is infinite and endless and embodied through all of creation, every atom, every being, every life, etc. I think that's really similar to the Gospel of John--you know, God literally breathing life into everything, to paraphrase; there's also some similarity to the Tao there. I can get down with that idea of God, but I have a hard time with the more evangelical ideas of God as the benevolent dictator lording it over the universe from some distant perch, whilst his creations are ugly and undesirable and should work to reach some other supernatural realm--in my mind, we're already in that realm and simply don't realize it because we get to focused on the nitty gritty of details and lack the perspective to see the grander essence of everything.

To clarify my understanding of what you are saying: You believe God is in everything and without everything, but that He is passive. And that we, by the mere fact of being created into this God-in-everything are already great, like God? Did I encapsulate it accurately? Do you believe in an afterlife? Or not?

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

To clarify my understanding of what you are saying: You believe God is in everything and without everything, but that He is passive. And that we, by the mere fact of being created into this God-in-everything are already great, like God? Did I encapsulate it accurately? Do you believe in an afterlife? Or not?

We're not great. We just are.

Define afterlife and I can better address that last question.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

We're not great. We just are.

So then you think God is not great? Because you said God was in everything, including us.

Define afterlife and I can better address that last question.

That your soul, or essence of you, lives on somewhere. Versus just rotting in the ground.

 

[Luke O]

Somehow it feels like there's some kind of salesperson on this thread. Just saying.

 

[ZNP-TBA]

Excitement. I'd have something to think about and I'd probably spend a lot of time thinking about it and researching anything I could get my hands on which might relate to said new knowledge.

The idea that things were not as they'd seemed doesn't really scare me.

ENTP

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

So then you think God is not great? Because you said God was in everything, including us.

What's great? We define things as great in relation to things we deem not great. From a larger perspective, there is neither great or ungreat until we assign those values to things.

That your soul, or essence of you, lives on somewhere. Versus just rotting in the ground.

I'm not sure souls are real and tangible parts of our being, so I can't answer that part.

Our essence? Yes, in some form we continue on in the chain of life and existence. Our energy is transferred elsewhere. Our bodies decompose, but ultimately that matter and energy is recycled and gives way to new forms, shapes, beings, etc. It happens on every scale. We come out of the universe and return to it and come out of it again. Rinse, wash, repeat. There is some comfort to be found in that. Not to go all Sagan, but we're from star stuff and shit.

 

[AphroditeGoneAwry]

What's great? We define things as great in relation to things we deem not great. From a larger perspective, there is neither great or ungreat until we assign those values to things.

If God is not great, then what is He?

If He is not great, then why is calling stuff God even necessary?