Do we come here and express ourselves to expose ourselves, or to develop greater skill at self-expression? What happens when we come with the intent to expose ourselves and find that all we’re exposing is how poorly we communicate? What if we communicate so poorly that we can’t even tell how poorly we communicate? Who/what are we when we can’t see the writing on the screen for what it is?
What is self-knowledge when I’m effectively blind and tone-deaf? Truth, actuality, are, like everything else I am, words, concepts, images, notions, suspicions, beliefs, fears and desires. Can I know what I am if I can’t express it, articulate it? Can I know anything when I am nothing but sounds and symbols I can’t even examine? Have I been out of my element too long to be elemental?
I come here to read others’ thoughts and express some of mine. It has helped me understand some of K’s teachings, and to unravel some insight. I also look for responses to my postings, and probably get a shot of dopamine like I do when I get an email, leaving me feeling good. I learn here and love here. It’s a feel good place for me.
@DeNiro
What happens in the brain when a ‘complex’ of connections is formed there around say a fervent belief in some religion? What happens to that ‘tangle’ of neuro pathways when the belief in that religion disappears? Do the connections disintegrate or are they bypassed by newer connections? I’m thinking of the ‘self complex’ in this way; what happens to it when insight say shows it to be unnecessary and limiting, divisive even destructive? Does the space it was occupying become freed, open? As well as the energy it was consuming?
I’ve seen neuro connections break apart and reconnect elsewhere (in brain scans). Undoing fervent religious conditioning is probably the best thing we can do, if possible.
I’m questioning the presence of the ‘self-image’ in the same way one with insight might drop a religious belief or a belief in the sanctity of one’s tribe or nationality? We ‘believe’ in psychological ‘time’ but as we begin to look at it and question its actuality, something must happen in the brain that disturbs that ‘pattern’ of belief. I know this happens with psychedelics (Leary used to call them a “carnival blast”) but those insights fade with time in my experience. It seems different somehow to see through these belief systems ‘by oneself’? Quietly.
To paraphrase an old political saying “ it’s the ‘occupancy’ stupid!”
I come here to read the questions, and to respond to the initial question, posted by to the author, if it sparks in me some depth.
Occasionally, I read one or two answers.
I cannot follow a long topic, with hundreds of posts.
I do not read long phrases even when the topic is attractive to me.
I can connect with people’s responses in a live dialogue, but reading posts does not create for me the atmosphere of a dialogue.
Some of us are guilty of writing too much! (I am guilty of this).
One issue is that it is usually only by chance that two people are on Kinfonet - on the same thread - at the same time (which then allows for an immediate exchange).
When there is no simple back and forth replying in real time there is a need to write more to fill in the gaps.