Peeing on the fire
While getting a job and cleaning the old apartment are still ongoing summer projects, I’ve also decided it’s high time that I examine the ins and outs of the way I think. Most people probably aren’t overly worried about why they think what they do, but a year of law school has me questioning how the ol’ noggin does its thing.Generally May is the month when I do the most head-up-ass introspection, and a cursory glance at the month of May in my writing books revealed a depressing amount of pop psychology and whining and terrible poetry. For my entire life there has always been a gap in May between what I did during the school year and what I did during summer, and the lack of activity always puts me in the Let’s-think-about-Thomas frame of mind.
Firstly, I’ve been looking at opinions I have, starting with popular culture—don’t want to tax myself—but moving onto politics and religion. Why do I like certain things and dislike others? Are my political and religious (or anti-religious) views based entirely on what tickles my fancy? How rational are my decisions?
Currently I’m reading Irrationality by Stuart Sutherland. I’m only 20 pages in and I’ve already identified three situations where I act irrationally. By the end of the novel I’ll probably find that nothing I think is based on rational thought, that my entire worldview is a house of cards waiting for someone to blow it down.
In terms of religion I plan on reading Leviticus; that seems to be the source of most of the church’s more offensive claims. I want to understand why millions of people would elect a president because they think gay marriage is the anti-christ’s masterplan.
Other books I plan on reading are Edward de Bono’s Water Logic, Italo Calvino’s If on a winter’s night a traveler, and John Mighton’s The Myth of Ability.
A member of wkw.net has put together a very cool trailer, and on the strength of that effort has secured funding after his trip to Cannes. Check out the excellence here. Dig the Cat from Red Dwarf as an assassin!
posted by Thomas @ 16:00
1 Comments:
just went through a book that argued that we form our opinions and beliefs based on the lessons we derive from the painful experiences of life. so far the idea has had some merit for me. so many of the values i hold now are because i learned some lesson the really hard and painful way, and pain is a good teacher.
and truthfully, sometimes i hold opinions and beliefs just to be obstinant, a thorn in the flesh to the people who think they've figured me out.
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