Reality is a distraction

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BelieveNothing
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Reality is a distraction

Post by BelieveNothing »

Consider this:
The more progress you seem to make in any pursuit through focus or diligent effort then the more you begin to realize distractions are everywhere.

If you learn something even for a moment then distraction can make you forget it. Repetition of focus or diligent effort can not rescue you from distraction.

If you weren't distracted you would realize that repetition is a waste of time, but time is just another part of the distraction!

If reality is a distraction then you might ask "a distraction from what?"

I think that question should be pulled apart and examined in the same way that reality should be. The only way to make progress is to realize what the distraction is so that we can move on. Whatever else there is apart from distraction is unreal or unknown which is why you notice the distraction if it stops you from making it known.

My best guess is that reality is a distraction from whatever has not entered your mind yet. Maybe it is a distraction from reality? :roll:
Reality is not all in your mind.
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Jan Sand »

It is worthwhile to consider what reality might be. Living things are endowed with a limited way to sense what is meant by reality if that word means all the phenomena in the universe. Humans, like all other animals, have developed these senses to survive and reproduce and prosper so it is understood that humans can only be aware of the limitations that those senses provide. There are many common phenomena like magnetic and electrical fields and nuclear radiation and a good deal of the spectrum of light which we can sense only slightly if at all and which we are aware of through instrumentation. And each of our senses merely provides a special kind of abstraction of outside reality which is fed to our central nervous system through nervous impulses and reassembled by the various brain sectors into some kind of internal pattern. We do not see with our eyes nor hear with our ears. We do that with our brain which reassembles the nerve impulses into a pattern like assembling the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and it is that assembly that we assume is reality. Our senses are flooded with many kinds and intensities of phenomena and this is far more than we can find useful so it is rejected. Bees, fish, spiders, dogs, starfish, snails, octopuses, etc. all require a slightly different set of awareness to prosper so they all live in a somewhat different world than humans do and their reality is suited to their needs.

To be distracted is to focus attention away from whatever is considered vital for a particular task and, depending upon circumstances that can be good or bad. Pedestrians concentrating on their smart phones these days are frequently distracted by being struck by a car or falling down an open manhole and that seems to me unfavorable.
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Atreyu
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Atreyu »

"Reality" is both what distracts you, and attracts you (depending on circumstance), to the realization of your true self...
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Spectrum »

BelieveNothing wrote:My best guess is that reality is a distraction from whatever has not entered your mind yet. Maybe it is a distraction from reality? :roll:
Reality per se is not a distraction.
Reality is to be realized spontaneously and lived optimally.

To live optimally one has to understand the various perspectives of reality.
Perhaps the distraction from one perspective of reality is an attraction to another perspective of reality.

I don't quite agree but perhaps, an understanding of the atomic or sub-atomic world is an attraction to it but a distraction to the common sense view of reality.
Not-a-theist. Religion is a critical necessity for humanity now, but not the FUTURE.
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Jan Sand »

The concept of a true self is, no doubt, a fascinating idea and my personal difficulties over a life somewhat longer than average - I will be 92 next February, has led me an interesting chase through this quite small planet in a rather undistinguished solar system, to vaguely indicate that whatever a human being might be, and whatever physiology I possess, it has very little to do with what other humans seem to desire. This species which I seem to resemble, seems to be immensely excited and fervently devoted to exercising every possibility of cruelty and destruction of the planet and its life that can be imagined. There is nothing within me to compare with these motivations, so I am approaching the end of my life in the same mental state as I began it, completely confused.
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Spectrum »

Jan Sand wrote:The concept of a true self is, no doubt, a fascinating idea and my personal difficulties over a life somewhat longer than average - I will be 92 next February, has led me an interesting chase through this quite small planet in a rather undistinguished solar system, to vaguely indicate that whatever a human being might be, and whatever physiology I possess, it has very little to do with what other humans seem to desire. This species which I seem to resemble, seems to be immensely excited and fervently devoted to exercising every possibility of cruelty and destruction of the planet and its life that can be imagined. There is nothing within me to compare with these motivations, so I am approaching the end of my life in the same mental state as I began it, completely confused.
Wow.

As I had stated,
Reality is to be realized spontaneously and lived optimally.

In one way it is best not to make judgement unnecessarily based on the past which may often lead to regrets.
I am sure what you have lived was realized reality spontaneously and lived optimally to the best of your ability and specific circumstances.
Not-a-theist. Religion is a critical necessity for humanity now, but not the FUTURE.
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Sy Borg
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Sy Borg »

Jan, I must take issue with you (and Douglas Adams) there - our solar system is a most distinguished one :)

Re, the OP: "Life is what happens to you while you are busy making other plans" - John Allen Saunders.

Interesting OP and responses, and always good to hear from one such as Jan who has lived through such extraordinary change in his life.

It depends on one's perspectives and aims. If one seeks the simple life (not so easy in this ever more complex and intrusive world), then reality may be the main show. If one is managing issues regarding our social hyper-reality and display behaviour, such as money, people's wants and opinions and workplace policies, then actual reality can certainly be a distraction.

As humans, there are times in our lives where we have no choice but to fully engage with our hyper reality at the expense of focusing on actual reality, to perform one's responsibilities as a cog for the machine. The machine giveth and the machine demandeth its pound of flesh. Ultimately, though, any task - be it real or abstract - that commands our complete attention is one that reveals the intrinsic and conditioned aspects of our character (aka the "true self"). It's generally considered, from Buddhists to Maslow, that our flow states are the most valuable, intrinsic and enjoyable.

I always felt it is rather a ripoff that we must necessarily be effectively absent from the very best moments of our lives. This particular aspect of reality is simply poorly configured and after I fall off the perch I shall be having stern words with whomever (or whatever) is in charge about this obvious failing :)
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Jan Sand »

I appreciate your concern, but the past is all I have to approach my understandings. I have experienced both good and bad times but the most brief observation of the world at present reveals extremes of these that I cannot even approach. I have no regrets over this passage through a thin slice of time but my general negativity is unappreciated by those facing a future being constructed by the people and the forces now in control. The growth of human power over natural forces does not appear to me to be accompanied by human growth in wisdom and fundamental consideration for each other so this unfortunate combination does not contain the elements required for much hope. I am very sorry.
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Sy Borg
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Sy Borg »

Jan, I have only more immediate and medium practical concerns.

I have absolutely no fear of the long term. Humanity has believed it was going to hell in a handbasket for thousands of years. What actually happens in the the poor and lower middle class go to hell in a handbasket, and after the dust has cleared the survivors inevitably thrive rapidly and go on to bigger and better things. I think life is going to do what it does to preserve itself (ultimately with a select few enhanced people and AIs going offworld) and, as has been the case throughout the Earth's history, individuals are simply collateral damage along the way.

Still, without wanting to go all Logan's Run on you, what is death and destruction but a clearing away of the old to make way for the new? If not for the dark side of life, everything would stagnate.

Along the way, inevitably, much beauty is destroyed. Sadly, it's clear that humanity's population (given our energy needs) has developed huge areas of stagnation that, if nature was left to its course, would be well overdue for renewal except for the fact that "renewal" means a prohibitive number of dead and suffering people. A wicked problem, as the economists would say - in the short and medium terms, anyway.

It's easy to worry because, over time, the conditions in which we live change from those to which we were adapted in our youth. There is always the sense of being overtaken by a rush of change as, one by one, everything we ever valued is rendered redundant in some way. My parents (your generation) complained of it too. So did their parents when they were teens too, and probably theirs, and so on.

Alas, everyone we ever loved will suffer and die, and everything we ever valued will one day be reduced to dust. The losses are locked in; it only remains as to how and when these things play out. I figure one might as well just watch the show, and if there is any way that anyone of pensionable age can still make themselves useful without folding letters and licking envelopes, then maybe pitch in.

However, as far as I can tell, every skill I have has been rendered completely redundant. My skills are now considered "quaint" :lol:. So I mostly just watch the show. Detach. Everything today is now very big and I'm very small.

-- Updated 22 Nov 2017, 01:50 to add the following --

Pls pardon the long post. Too much blabber, as usual.
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Burning ghost
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Burning ghost »

Don't storm clouds look beautiful in the distance though?
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Jan Sand »

In these last few days there has been detected a very odd interstellar asteroid with an extremely elongated shape, estimated to have traveled millions of years en route to this neighborhood. As with anything out of the ordinary it has been presumed to be some weird space rock with a high metallic content with no reference to that wonderful Clarke tale, "Rendezvous With Rama". This visitor has been named ‘Oumuamua and no one yet suspects that it is a vehicle commanded by one of the prominent explorers of the intellectual group of astronauts who have descended from the scientific community of brilliant dinosaurs who understood the implications of the approach of a huge space rock towards Earth orbit so long ago.


The bulk of the dinosaurs, their politicians and people in control of the business community at that time who had strong financial interests scoffed at what they called fear mongers who had claimed that the large rock aimed at what we now know as the Gulf of Mexico would do severe damage to life on the planet. They pointed out that Earth had undergone frightful changes in all sorts of ways in the hundreds of millions of years of dinosaur existence and dinosaurs had come through nevertheless with hardly a feather disturbed. So dinosaur life went on, unconcerned that a mere pebble from outer space could, in any way, disturb the vast conquest of Earth the dinosaurs had accomplished. Of course, we now know better.


So this troupe of dinosaur tourists from the current interstellar dinosaur civilization has returned in its tour of the universe to have a second look at what they presumed to be a destroyed planet and no doubt is quite astounded that the rats that managed to survive that ancient impact and mutate in all sorts of innovative ways has blossomed unexpectedly. As the current rats will again when the pestilence which calls itself humanity has graciously removed themselves from the true destiny of the rat species.
Steve3007
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Steve3007 »

Jan:
As with anything out of the ordinary it has been presumed to be some weird space rock with a high metallic content with no reference to that wonderful Clarke tale, "Rendezvous With Rama".
Yes! I've read that book and its sequels myself, and when I saw the news about this strangely shaped interstellar traveller I also immediately thought of that story. It's a pity it's already on its way out of the solar system. I guess we missed out chance to send some human exhibits to the zoo.

-- Updated Wed Nov 22, 2017 12:46 pm to add the following --

Hopefully massive interstellar travelling rotating tubes containing atmospheres are like busses. You wait ages for one to come and then three turn up together.

-- Updated Wed Nov 22, 2017 12:48 pm to add the following --

I like your intelligent space-faring dinosaurs story. Works for me.
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Spectrum »

Jan Sand wrote:I appreciate your concern, but the past is all I have to approach my understandings. I have experienced both good and bad times but the most brief observation of the world at present reveals extremes of these that I cannot even approach. I have no regrets over this passage through a thin slice of time but my general negativity is unappreciated by those facing a future being constructed by the people and the forces now in control. The growth of human power over natural forces does not appear to me to be accompanied by human growth in wisdom and fundamental consideration for each other so this unfortunate combination does not contain the elements required for much hope. I am very sorry.
Note the above is very subjective.

Generally to facilitate survival, all normal individual humans are programmed fundamentally to be self centered like most animals. So when we look and read of what is happening in the world at present what is most noticeable is humans are very self-centered, selfish, prone to evils and violence. Besides these bad news naturally and necessarily often attract a greater attention than good news.

But evolution has also endowed human beings with progressive traits like co-operation, altruism, compassion, empathy, wisdom, etc. Note progressive, thus growth where they will continue to expand and improve to overcome the stagnant instincts which can be negative depending on the circumstances. As humans continue to evolve each individual in the future will be endowed with greater number of mirror neurons which promote greater compassion and empathy.

I make an attempt to get in touch with what is going on around the World as much as possible. Despite the obvious evils and violence, I noted there is a trend of increasing knowledge [obvious], moral, wisdom, co-operation and other positive traits. Morally, humanity has at least agreed to ban slavery and making attempt to reduce slavery in practice as guided by such laws. Humans are co-operating globally on many fronts and notably the ISS with the hope human can get to another planet.

Generally it would be more advantageous for an individual to take the optimistic view [given whatever real evidence] which generate positive emotions than the optimistic one which is likely to generate negative emotions [subliminally or explicitly].

I believe when deliberating on such an issue it would be more effective to assign weightage to both the positives and the negatives, e.g.
  • 1. Positives [evident and real] = 75%
    2. Negative [instinctual].........= 25%
Therefore if one were made the following observations;

1. Positives = 48 points thus x 75% = 36
2. Negative = 80 pints thus x 25% = 20

Therefore the above assessment of reality with biasness [realistically] towards the positives will favor the positives and thus generate positive emotions rather than negative emotions.
Not-a-theist. Religion is a critical necessity for humanity now, but not the FUTURE.
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Sy Borg
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Sy Borg »

There is little need for concern. No matter what happens to all of us, you can rest easy knowing that those in the circle of Murdochs, Kochs, Rothschilds, Buffets and so forth will almost certainly be just fine. The future of humanity is assured. Did anyone read Ben Elton's Stark? :)
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Re: Reality is a distraction

Post by Jan Sand »

Although the current informational sources grant huge numbers of people access to the state of our planet it must be granted that each of us, in the agenda of personal experience and vital judgments on the nature of trends exhibited in human activity, to sum up the directions of our civilization and the consequences of its dynamics. For any individual to make claims to speak for other than him or herself becomes an intolerable impertinence. Obviously we each live lives that can be very different from each other, equipped, as we are, with highly variable abilities and opportunities, but to declaim that our sum judgments have no values merely because of the necessity that we speak as individuals pushes the negation of our viewpoints much too far. None of us possesses any more than the summation of our personal experiences and abilities and we each have to settle for that.


My own negativity is openly admitted and I must lay the blame for that on my understandings of current activities and what I know of past human behavior. I am fully aware that this viewpoint evokes strong objections and I am not at all happy that I feel forced in this direction. But the choice I must make is that not acknowledging that disastrous direction of our planet encourages unjustified inaction on permitting total catastrophe or speaking as forcefully as I can may encourage others to accept that the immense necessary changes to save ourselves and our future generations is still possible and very worthwhile. I am an optimist in that humanity still retains the good sense and the strength of purpose to preserve this gift of a planet that created all of us. I hope I will not be disappointed.
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