{"id":3646,"date":"2023-11-26T11:44:17","date_gmt":"2023-11-26T11:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/?p=3646"},"modified":"2023-11-26T12:01:12","modified_gmt":"2023-11-26T12:01:12","slug":"i-am-thoughts-unhappy-gimp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/2023\/11\/26\/i-am-thoughts-unhappy-gimp\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Thought\u2019s Unhappy Gimp"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When thought runs us <\/a><\/em><\/strong>then everything we say or do is for a reason – it has<\/em> to be for a reason because that’s how thought works – but the problem with this is that this causes us to be fundamentally insincere<\/em><\/strong>, which can hardly be counted as a good thing. There\u2019s no way that we can do something (or say something) for a reason and yet be sincere. To be sincere we would have to do<\/em> something (or say <\/em>something) without thinking about it first.<\/em>

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Doing stuff for a reason\u2019 sounds perfectly sensible to us; it sounds great<\/em><\/strong> in fact – there’s nothing as good as \u2018having a purpose\u2019, as far as we’re concerned. Having a purpose or having a goal or having a particular direction in life validates our existence<\/em><\/strong> – if someone were to come along and challenge us all we\u2019d have to do in response would be to point to the purpose, to point to the goal! We can take cover<\/em> behind our purposes; we can hide <\/em>behind them – and this is exactly what we do<\/em> do in everyday life…

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is why we \u2018overvalue\u2019 the rational mind in the way that we do – because our ideas and beliefs – if we don’t question them – can provide us with a structure to orientate ourselves around. Thought \u2018gives definite shape to our lives\u2019, we might say. Thought gives us guidelines to follow, boundaries to observe, rules to take seriously, and this is far more important to us than we are willing to admit. We are dependent upon thought for our ontological security and that\u2019s why we’re never going to challenge it. In CBT<\/strong> we’re told to \u2018challenge our thinking\u2019, which sounds impressive, but rationally based therapies such as CBT<\/strong> can never <\/em><\/strong>challenge thought – what they do is offer us the opportunity of \u2018switching one type of thinking for another\u2019, whilst creating the impression that this is a meaningful thing to do. Switching one thought for another is not<\/em><\/strong> a meaningful thing however – to challenge thought means to challenge all <\/em>of it, across the board, in whatever guise it might come.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thought is not the friend to us we think it is – we don’t really need it to excuse to excuse our actions or validate our way of being. We can be in the world without<\/em> thought giving us permission, without<\/em> the rational mind whispering in our ear the whole time telling us what we should and shouldn’t do, in the way that it does. We don\u2019t need <\/em><\/strong>a middleman, no matter what we might have been lead us to believe, and yet we simply don’t know what it means to be in the world without thought guiding us every inch of the way – we don’t dare to do anything<\/em> without its say so. We have no independence whatsoever in this regard. We are not however generally aware <\/em>of our dependence upon an external \u2018say so\u2019 and so we go around feeling that we are completely independent and that we don’t<\/em><\/strong> have to conform to thought\u2019s obstructive bureaucracy in all things. We have a kind of false pride (or arrogance) in this regard.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So – just to recap what we’ve said so far – our tendency is very much to say that the only type of activity which really counts in life is that activity that the reason behind it – we see having a purpose as being ennobling<\/em> <\/strong>for us. This is a cheap trick however – it’s a cheap trick because our \u2018purpose\u2019 only validates us when we\u2019re very careful not to examine that purpose too closely<\/em>. In this case we can say that our cause is super-important and so this gives us the opportunity of \u2018partaking in the glory\u2019, so to speak; it’s not just the case that our activity is sanctified, but also that we<\/em> are. This is how the package is presented but were we to dig a bit deeper we would uncover a much less palatable truth, which is that we can’t actually do anything unless that thinking mind rubber stamps it for us (which basically means that we have no autonomy). We’re being controlled by external mechanical forces every step of the way.<\/em>

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the same way, when we feel sure<\/em> of ourselves, secure <\/em>in our ego-identity, this may be regarded as healthy self-esteem oh confidence we call this self-belief and we (very naively!) see it as a crucial element of mental health. What we’re actually <\/em><\/strong>saying here though is that it is mentally healthy to \u2018feel good about ourselves because we have accepted thought\u2019s definition of who we are\u2019. We feel that it is \u2018OK to be in the world\u2019 merely because we have conformed to the generic picture or image of ourselves that has been provided for us<\/em>. We fit into a pre-existing mental category and so this \u2018green lights\u2019<\/em> us, this supposedly empowers<\/em> us to live life in whatever way we want. We\u2019re \u2018good to go\u2019. This is \u2018upside-down thinking\u2019 of course – it’s upside-down thinking because what we’re actually<\/em><\/strong> saying is that we are free to feel OK about being in the world just as long as we’re following the rules that have been given to us, just as long as we’re fitting into that categories that thought tells us we have to fit into.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is like me telling you that \u2018you are free to do whatever you please just as long as you do what I say\u2019 or \u2018you’re free to be yourself just as long as that \u2018yourself\u2019 is who I say you are\u2019.<\/em> What we\u2019re seeking in life is the validation that the TM<\/strong> bestows upon us when we agree to play the narrow little game that it wants <\/em><\/strong>us to play. We don’t have the courage to \u2018go it to alone\u2019 and chance living in the world in a way that hasn’t<\/em><\/strong> been approved of in advance by the external authority; we don’t have the nerve<\/em>, we don’t have the audacity <\/em>just to be whatever or whoever we are regardless of whether this accords or doesn\u2019t accord with the unspoken rules of the game. The extent of our conformity is such that we can’t even imagine<\/em> questioning our artificial existence; it would never occur to us, in the general run of things, that there might be another way of looking at things (other than the way we’ve been provided with, that is). We can\u2019t ever depart from the script because we can’t see that the script is only \u2018a script\u2019.<\/em>

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is similar to the familiar idea of \u2018being exiled from the tribe\u2019 – being exiled from the tribe may not sound<\/em> like the ultimate punishment but if the tribe is all we know then we can’t see that there’s any life outside of it<\/em> and so when our lives are defined by our socialised existence, by our identity in the group, then being excommunicated is as good as a death sentence for us.<\/em><\/strong> In the very same way, we can’t ordinarily see that there is any existence outside <\/em>of the script that has been written by the thinking mind and this means that we will experience pure terror<\/em><\/strong> at the prospect of departing from it, even though we have no way of knowing what we’re actually terrified of <\/em>(since we don’t know that the script is only a script, or that the conceptual version of reality is only a conceptual version). All we know is that an unspeakable disaster<\/em><\/strong> is about to befall us – a disaster which we have to fight against as hard as ever we can. All we know is that we’re being pushed against our will towards a terrifying precipice. What’s really<\/em> happening here (outside of our inverted perception of the situation) is that we are actually being born – <\/em>we\u2019re coming into actual being<\/em> (as opposed to the virtual being<\/em> that was all we knew up to this point). \u2018Existence\u2019, Paul Strathern tells us, \u2018is a colossal risk\u2019 \u2013 we absolutely don\u2019t know what we\u2019re doing (whoever \u2018we\u2019 are) or how it (whatever \u2018it\u2019 is) will work out for us. The risk is 100%<\/em><\/strong>, the risk is total.<\/em><\/strong>..<\/p>\n\n\n\n


We have no way \u2018validating our existence\u2019, no way of knowing whether we are \u2018allowed\u2019 <\/em>or not. Are we really going to get away with this? We feel that we can get away with it [1]<\/strong> if someone in authority says<\/em> we can (so it must<\/em> be OK), or [2]<\/strong> if we see that someone else<\/em> is \u2018allowed to exist\u2019 so that then we can copy<\/em> them (because there\u2019s no risk). If there is no precedence however then we have nothing to go on.<\/em> Just to exist \u2013 without any <\/em>justification, without any<\/em> explanation, without any <\/em>mind-created \u2018reason\u2019 \u2013 is inconceivably<\/em><\/strong> audacious to us and we will shy away from it every time. We will languish instead in our mind-created \u2018limbo\u2019 (otherwise known as hyperreality<\/em> or samsara)<\/em> for \u2018as long as it takes\u2019, so to speak. And once we have<\/em> adapted ourselves to some taken-for-granted framework (and obtained the cheap and cheerful validation for existing that this FW<\/strong> provides us with) then we are loyal<\/em><\/strong> to it \u2013 we\u2019re loyal to it because we owe it everything<\/em><\/strong>. Even when it becomes abundantly clear that our relationship with the External Authority of thought is one in which we are being abused<\/em>, we still can\u2019t walk away from it – we’re being disloyal<\/em><\/strong>, we’re letting the side down<\/em><\/strong>, we\u2019re betraying the sacred trust<\/em><\/strong>, and so on. We\u2019re rule-breaking<\/em><\/strong>.

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the one hand \u2013 therefore \u2013 we\u2019re afraid to \u2018go it alone\u2019 outside the comfort of the group and on the other we feel guilty<\/em><\/strong> about doing so (or wanting to do so) and this guilt fuels our internal conflict. We\u2019re torn between wanting to leave the abusive relationship and our loyalty to the abuser. Underlying<\/em> this conflict \u2013 we might say – is our fear of breaking with precedence and venturing forth into the radically unknown. As we have said, there’s nothing<\/em><\/strong> more audacious than reaching out beyond the bounds that have been set for us by the thought \u2013 we\u2019re going against everything we\u2019ve been told, we\u2019re \u2018disobeying the sacred commandment\u2019, and so on and so forth. What awaits us on the other side of thought\u2019s limits isn’t eternal damnation however but life itself<\/em>, the genuine article and not a mere mechanical analogue! According to Hermann Hesse in his novel Steppenwolf<\/em> the price for admission to the magic theatre is the everyday mind – what we have to leave behind is our means of making sense of the world, our map<\/em> or model <\/em>of the world. We could equivalently<\/em> say therefore that the price for being alive (or for \u2018being conscious\u2019) is that we have to leave the conditioned identity<\/em><\/strong> behind, even though doing this goes against everything that we have ever been told. We would rather \u2018play it safe\u2019 and continue to live the dull, grinding, mechanical life of the self-concept even though that so-called \u2018life\u2019 isn\u2019t actually real.<\/em>

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If I insist on sticking <\/em><\/strong>with the defined identity (i.e., if I opt to stay with who I am in thought\u2019s sterile game) then I simply cannot live<\/em> therefore – there is no life<\/em> (no genuine being)<\/em> for \u2018the idea that I have of myself\u2019. There is only the idea<\/em> of life, only the notion <\/em>of being. \u2018\u2026you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.\u2019<\/em> [Revelation 3:1] If I cannot bring myself to step out from under thought\u2019s shadow (and take the ultimate risk of seeing what happens then) then my fate is to be chained up in Plato’s cave for eternity along with all the other unhappy prisoners. If I cannot find it within me to \u2018dare to exist\u2019, without any reason<\/em>, without any explanation <\/em>or justification<\/em>, without any narrative<\/em> to hide behind, then I will have to endure what is surely the<\/em><\/strong> least enviable fate of all<\/em><\/strong> – the fate of \u2018being thought\u2019s unhappy gimp\u2019 until either hell finally freezes over or pigs miraculously learn to levitate at will\u2026





Image – offidocs.com<\/strong><\/a>



<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When thought runs us then everything we say or do is for a reason – it has to be for a reason because that’s how thought works – but the problem with this is that this causes us to be fundamentally insincere, which can hardly be counted as a good thing. There\u2019s no way that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3651,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[273,143,272],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/graffitiwallpainting-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3646"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3661,"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3646\/revisions\/3661"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3651"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/intrinsicspace.me\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}