A big reason for becoming aware of what my own mind is doing is that people's minds are a major determining factor in their overall life. Last night, Lynn fixed mango peach tea for herself and peppermint for our guest. He wasn't blown away with the mintiness of his tea and she was wondering if there was really any mango in her tea. Then, she realized that she had accidentally switched the cups: her "mango" tea was really peppermint and his "peppermint" was really mango.
A month ago, I posted some original computer art, a drawing of "The Kiss" by Rodin seen from a really great distance, and a drawing of the same famous statue seen from very, very close up. I did not get many offers of purchase of that art but I really didn't expect to. Still, I love to find where I have been influenced by my assumptions and surroundings without realizing it. When I see something, I rarely take into account the zoom level, the amount of magnification of the image, my distance from the sight. Similarly, I am rarely aware of the type and intensity of the lighting in which I am viewing something. Yet, no light (as inside a deep cave) or very, very intense light, as in trying to view a bird against the sum, as well as the hue and steadiness of the light very much affect my impression.
Ten minutes a day of meditation help me remember to think of my mind, of the context, of influences that might be at work in forming the impression I am carrying in my mind. It wasn't until my wife thought of the context, the situation that might be contributing to the odd teas that she was able to clear her mind and taste her tea and smell his, that she was able to verify the cup mix-up.
Related to the variables of distance and light and similar properties that affect our other senses, is the matter of quantity of thought. Throw in the quantity of speech, writing and all the intake of all our senses and we get a large amount of data. Computer and statistical scientists are getting better at analyzing large, I mean LARGE, quantities of data. When I got my first computer, it had a memory of 125 kilobytes. My brother-in-law bougt a 2 terabyte hard drive for about $80. That single object has an information capacity of 2,000 of my original computers (in 1984). Some day, older people may have their thought patterns and error patterns from their previous decades analyzed to see into their own minds and habits better.
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Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
