ReCan

This is a bit different view, some might say opposite view to what I wrote earlier about cannabis. This thought differs from previous basically in one way, why people get slow, in the previous post I wrote that it might be due to the alternative ways of thinking, and there is simply too many connection, but I think this is a better one:

We already established in previous discussions that a person, after smoking cannabis gets his/hers views expanded, I will not go through it again, but I really didn't give any explanation to why It was so, instead I focused on consequences of that, here comes a thought about why:

This is based on a documentary i watched where it is said that smoking cannabis affect the brain in such a way that a certain chemical is released. This chemical is always present in our brains and is released in smaller amounts to counteract another chemical that is released in our brains that does create connection between neurons. Because if too much of chemical that connect neurons is released it will spill over and short circuit several neurons, that is what we call for epilepsy, hence that other chemical counteract that, and when smoking cannabis more of that counteracting chemical is released.

How come then that people are able to think of things when they are high that they would never have thought of otherwise, why do artists and writers smoke cannabis to get inspiration, should it not have the opposite effect, people just getting slow not able to think of anything? Well there is two possibilities, research mentioned above is wrong or perhaps following:

As mentioned in previous post, brain is like a network, a graph where connections are reinforced if they are used a lot, for example if you try to remember something it helps to repeat it over and over again until those connections in your brain are strong enough, hence your remember. Therefor when you think, hear, say , smell, see something those strongest reinforced connections for that particular situation will fire and you will do, say, hear, see, remember as you have always done thus far, since your brain is trained that way.

Therefore by smoking cannabis and releasing more of the chemical that counteracts those strong connections, your memory gets worse and your thinking slower, while at the same time the strength of all connections get more even. Hence seeing, hearing, thinking something while being high will results in other neurons being fired instead of the usual ones that are always fired, resulting in new thoughts and experiences that would never have been possible otherwise, allowing writers to write what no one else thought about, artists to paint what no one else could imagine.

Everything above can be easily illustrated with following example, imagine making deep paths in the ground with a stick, and when you pour water in one end you will be certain that most of it will follow the paths and end up on the other side, that is you memory, every time you se water in one end you know where it ends up. Water that spills over and end up somewhere else is the creative process, it can spill over anywhere creating new wet spot, like new idea, but they will still be close to the path. Now imagine you erase, flatten out, those paths so they get really shallow temporarily, pouring water in one end will just end up in one big wet spot, with very little ending up on the other side.

Creationism

Consider how todays technology would appear like magic to people hundred of years ago, and now imagine following:

Future technology appearing like magic to us.

Since humanity is so fascinated by origin of life and creation of the universe it is reasonable to assume that this kind of research will continue.

Big part of science is experiment and observation, and there is no better way to know what really happened then by recreating same conditions or events.

That is there is no better way to examine dinosaurs but to clone them and put into controlled environment for observation.

Hence it is possible that in the future science will advance so far that humans will be able to recreate big bang on a small scale in a controlled environment.

But in order not to contaminate the experiment they adopt a policy of non interfering.

Hence if intelligent life arise in that controlled universe on some planet, that life will have seemingly all powerful and all knowing god which knows what is good and what is bad while still doing nothing about it.

The question then arises if we are not inside such an environment, then there is no contradiction that all knowing and all powerful god that loves his creation don't interfere, he don't in scientific purpose to learn more about his own origin, and hence we have the potential to be gods is the future over our own controlled universe.

One can take this one step further and consider computers that were very large, expensive, slow, used only for scientific and military use in just a few countries. While over time they got smaller and cheaper, owned by regular people in millions.

In the future technology to create universes might evolve in the same way, and as people have maps on the wall today, people in the future might have their own universe standing on the table.

You can be wise, but why?

There are people saying that increasing wisdom is the goal of life. Wether it is so or not seem for me impossible to know, yet I believe wisdom to be quite important in life, if for nothing else then simply for making good decisions that you don't have to regret, or at least know why you do.

To be able to apply wisdom in a reasonable way one needs also knowledge to apply it on. Majority of people separate knowledge/intelligence and wisdom, and from real life examples I agree that those are two different things.

Then those who pursue enlightenment must acquire both, in order to have any success. Obvious question arise then, how? Gathering of knowledge is well established practice in the developed world, one goes to school and universities to learn the facts revealed thus far in a certain field. Hence ones higher education, where one has more freedom to choose, should agree with the personal interests so that knowledge gathered during that time does not only help you to find work and do it properly but also to help you with your personal enlightenment.

Enlightenment is loosely used to describe highest level of whatever one is determined to acquire.

So we know how to get knowledge, but how about wisdom?

It is understood that wisdom comes with experience, and can not be learned, but must be practiced.

Thinking is a way to practice wisdom, thinking alone or with a group of people, if you are lucky enough to have people around you that are interested in the same thing. Also to think before doing everyday things that we usually do automatically. Meditation focuses the mind, making it easier.

The reason I am writing this is about how to acquire experience. Well you might think now, everyone knows how to get experience, but problem is I don't have the skills / money / courage / time / freedom / something or other, to get that experience.

Let me then ask you this, aren't majority of people older then you also wiser then you? And did they all had what you “need” to get their wisdom? The trick is in the amount of different experiences over time, not in specifics. Then it seems that wisdom will come to you when you are old and experienced enough, and it will, but there is a simple way to speed up the process, the answer is: Live faster.

The idea of living faster did came to me about half a year ago, but until recently I didn't know how to make cense of it, what does it mean to live faster, what should I do?

For couple of weeks ago I did start a project that I have been going around and thinking about. It was nothing complicated, nothing hard to test, but yet I spend endless hours thinking about it imagining different outcomes for two years. It was then I realized how little I experienced, how slow I was living, I spend two years thinking about something that took me one day of work to test. I thought I didn't had the time and energy to really do it, while in reality I was wasting enormous amounts of time and energy thinking about it and getting frustrated.

Don't misunderstand me now, thinking things through is good, but there is a limit, there are things that need to be thought about, and things that need to be done. Only thinking about things that can easily be done is equally bad as doing things without thinking, but I know that majority only thinks without doing because it is safer that way. But being safe, only thinking/imagining, brings no experience, hence the life is standing still, and wisdom increases very slowly, if at all. Some people all so far gone into being safe that they don't do simple things even though they know that nothing will happen.

Here are some examples to make the point clear.

You like a girl/boy but doing nothing about it, hoping she/he will notice you one day.
Chances are slim, but fantasies in your head are many, how to approach, what to say, what it will be like and so on. My experience tells me, it will never happen, but will continue as it is until you two eventually separate, by changing work, school, cities and so on. And you can spend years thinking about it, and years after you two no longer see each other, when it only takes couple of words to find out.

You have something on your mid you want to say to somebody, and it is keeping you awake at nights, don't be “safe”, find the right moment and say it.

You are thinking about doing something, but you want to think about it first, good, do think, sit down and do nothing else, just think about that, and if you thought it through and decided not to act on it, then let go of it, if you can't let go, then do it, there is no point of thinking any longer.

I think therefore I am! [René Descartes]
I do therefore I live! [Me?]

This is the difference between existing and living, and without life comes no experience.
To live fast is to cut those endless years of pointless thinking and do in order to experience. We do make mistakes in life, and it is safer only to imagine what doing would be like. In order not to make any mistakes there is no other chose but not to live.

To do or not to do?
Pick one and do it!

Wisdom comes with experience, and more experience you have the wiser your are, but people we consider wise are the ones that can help us when we have a problem or hard decisions to make. Hence to be considered wise one must experience many things.

The question is then, why would anybody want to be wise? It sounds painful.