Quest for an Unlimited Mind

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   marinealways24posted 13 years ago

   I would like to get everyones idea on whether or not you believe a mind can be unlimited.
   
   Do you believe it is more limiting to the mind to believe in creation or evolution?
   
   Do you believe it is more limiting to believe in absolutes or no absolutes?

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      AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      It cannot be unlimited. It is woefully limited even in the most enlightened of people. That is why it makes little to sense to take literally anything written by man (such as books in the Bible or The Qur'an), or said by man (such as most things politicians say).
      
      It can *feel* unlimited in certain forms of meditation, and maybe the mind can "unite" with the universe, or with God (in Christian  meditative practice), but no person's mind is limitless.
      
      Absolutes are usually dangerous, but there are some almost-always absolutes -- common decency is important, for example; slapping a child across the face is wrong; abusing pets is wrong; nature deserves our respect; we must begin from the assumption that all people have rights. These are more-or-less absolutes. We can't prove their truth, but I don't think we need to.

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         marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         How can you say you know that no mind is limitless when you don't have everyones mind? I agree with you on some of those common sense absolutes you proposed. When you say absolutes are dangerous, how do you know it's not dangerous to think you have a limited mind as being absolute when you can't logically map it's limits?

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            AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            This is a paradox. I cannot know that no mind is limitless. I am making an assumption.

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               marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               So, if it's limits are unmapped, why assume it has limits? Not trying to pick a fight, I like your ideas.

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                  AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  I know my mind is limited. So I am assuming everyone else's is too. I've never met anyone whose mind seemed to be limitless. The Dalai Lama certainly does not seem to have a limitless mind; or Leonard Cohen (they both spent years meditating, hence my use of them as examples )

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                     marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     Alright, let's go on one question at a time. Do you think it's more limiting to believe in creation, evolution, both, or neither?

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                        AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        The Genesis account of Creation.

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                           marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           What about it?

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                              AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                              It's the most limiting of the options you suggest. Evolution is open-ended, it could theoretically be disproved, and in any case it is not a theory of the beginning of the universe, or even of earth. to believe in both sounds pretty open, if you can work it. To believe in neither I guess is pretty damn open too, unless you believe we all just showed up yesterday and all your memories and knowledge are fantasies -- which would be pretty friggin' limiting

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                                 marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                 I agree with you that it is pretty open to believe in both. Do you think both should be believed as absolute or do you think it would be limiting? I think believing in neither would not be a belief of absolutes, but I don't know which is more limiting.

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                                    AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                    I think believing in Genesis is limiting. The difference is that, in theory, someone could come along in a hundred years and say -- I've got proof there were no dinosaurs -- and if he/she has proof, they have to revise their picture of the past; that's freakin' open-ended. No-one is going to come along and say -- Noah's Flood, no it never happened, and then all literalist Muslims/Jews/Christians will revise their views. Can't happen; doesn't make sense.

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                                       marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                                       Yeah, I don't give many things in the bible much credit when it is based on irrational thinking and contradictions. I agree that it's idea can possibly be limiting.

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      Colebabieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Everything depends though, it is difficult to answer these questions.

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         marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         lol , I know, I want them to make people think. You can't be wrong.

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            Colebabieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            After reading the questions I just thought "Eh well everything depends, usually I just ask 'why?' " it didn't make me think more than that.

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               marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Why ask the questions?

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                  Colebabieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                  Because I have a level of satisfaction and understanding.

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                     marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                     lol I meant was you asking why I am asking the questions.

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                        Colebabieposted 13 years agoin reply to this

                        Oh no no. It doesn't matter to me why you're asking the questions. Sorry for the confusion

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                           marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

                           lol It's alright, I like being confused sometimes. It's less stressful.

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      adamareangereposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I feel the we set barriers on our minds. They are capable of retaining vast amounts of information and comprehending anything, however, there are mental blocks we institute in ourselves that limit what we can sanely understand.
      
      I think it is more limiting to the mind to believe in evolution ... an easy out (though I believe in evolution, I also believe in a higher being). Where creation, God, and whatnot is so vast, limitless ideas on how the earth came to be, who the higher being is, etc, that there is only so much our minds can handle with that information before that mental block comes up and says ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
      
      Same for absolutes, we need to believe in absolutes because thinking of no absolutes is too much to fully comprehend!
      
      Not sure if anyone gets what I am attempting to put into words here, but there you go!

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         marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I agree that we set barriers. I think the first barrier is assuming our minds are limited. I do think those blocks can be overcome in logical thought or even faithful thought. Lol I completely agree with you that the "what if's" can nearly drive a person to insanity if anyone was ever really sane to begin with. Maybe there could be no such thing as "too much to comprehend"? Great thoughts, thanks.

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            adamareangereposted 13 years agoin reply to this

            Well it was an excellent topic choice, Marinealways. The human mind is an interesting thing to comprehend, many people fall short in their assumptions of what they're exactly capable of accomplishing.
            
            Like I always told my brothers...I do not believe in smart or stupid people. There are only those who are willing to unlock and focus their minds on improving them, where others are content to just use their "generic" mindsets. Smart people are only smart because we have struggled to overcome our natural mental barriers.
            
            (And no, I'm not being cocky in thinking I am smart. I know I am intelligent, just not super so) :-D

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               marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

               Thanks. I agree, I think many people limit themselves or allow others to limit them. I do believe we are all ignorant in something and I think we are all hypocritical or have been in the past. I think what separates the intelligent from the others are the ones that are content in their faults compared to the ones that are always trying to improve. I think a lot of people place generalizations on others based on education level, salary, or title as well when all are irrelevant. I agree, barriers are meant to be busted. Thanks.

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      itechposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If I wont forced by other humans & they can give me financial freedom,
      I am ready to set my mind to unlimited.

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         marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         lol That has nothing to do with the questions. You can't have an unlimited mind without financial freedom? I think that is limiting to believe.

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      DogSiDaedposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      If a mind is limitless it would encompass everything and know every situation and everything that has ever been or will be. Time has got us up against the wall on this one

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         marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Maybe it is limited in some areas and makes up for it in other areas.

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   Colebabieposted 13 years ago

   Resort to the attitude of a 5 year-old and just ask "Why?"

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      marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      lol huh? Are you saying it can or can't be limited?

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      lyricsingrayposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      

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   WriteAngledposted 13 years ago

   Mind is less limited when not bound by religious dogma.

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      AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I think it can be stretched by religious mysticism, though. All religions have this tradition ( I once heard that Islam was in fact spread in the form of the Sufi tradition, chiefly; don't know if it's true). And it often stands in contrast to dogmatism

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         WriteAngledposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         I totally agree with you. However, mystics in all the major religions have always been persecuted by the dogmatists.

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      marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I agree, I think group thinking often limits individual thinking. People tend to agree with the majority when in a group.

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   WriteAngledposted 13 years ago

   Incidentally, greetings adsensestrategies from one translator to another

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      AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      Welsh?

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         WriteAngledposted 13 years agoin reply to this

         Oh no! Wales is the land that adopted me and I love it, but the language is quite another matter. I go to Welsh class for two hours each week but the mutilations (errr mutations) are still defeating me. I translate exclusively in the medical/pharma field out of Croatian, Serbian, Slovenian, Polish, French, German and Spanish into English.

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   mtsi1098posted 13 years ago

   limits only exist for physical things but there are no limits in thinking, if you are objective...

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      AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years agoin reply to this

      I'm sorely tempted to say you are disproving your own assertion as you type, but maybe I'll button it

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   AdsenseStrategiesposted 13 years ago

   Having just had a tete-a-tete (if you'll pardon the pun) with a fellow translator, also on this thread, I am reminded of how few of the world's Americans/Brits/Aussies, heck, even English-speaking Canadians, know more than one language. Given how many languages there are, how can the mind be limitless.
   
   Then I think of how many works there are in philosophy. How many concepts, how many schools of thought. And each time you go back to them, you say -- mmmmm, ohhhh, ahhhh, I never saw that before.
   
   I mean, come on, maybe there are some limitless minds out there, but without some super hardcore education, good luck even coming close to attaining it.
   
   Conversely, it is super dangerous to think of limitless mind *without* hardcore education. If more Americans had more education, then perhaps you wouldn't have ended up in Iraq (I take that back; those neo-cons didn't care what any of you thought either way).
   
   I'm not being rude. There are plenty of ignorant Brits too (my native country). But be very careful thinking you can expand your mind without some hardcore education -- most of us would fail even a first year logic course at university, let's face it

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      marinealways24posted 13 years agoin reply to this

      lol you are making comparisons and generalizations based on faith, not logic. What is hardcore education? A person can educate themselves on and individual level as much if not more than public education. Then you are making a generalization that Americans are uneducated for the acts of government and politicians, not very logical statements. Thanks

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   lyricsingrayposted 13 years ago

   I'm  so confused ;

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