I want to make a small post mostly to just spill some thoughts I've had recently and to perhaps stir a little discussion. To provide a little something to ponder on in quiet moments for the next few days and to maybe open people up to some new ideas.
What is the prevalence of individuals capable of exceptional, non-conventional actions? I mean individuals who are capable of experiencing, intending, and knowing things that are beyond the scope of convention? Is the answer that there are many? Just a few? None at all? Is the number of such individuals dependent upon the extent to which you are presently capable of accessing your own capacities? Are any of the great or famous characters of history such individuals?
Or are you and you alone the only such person who could presently have such a capacity? Is your current conception of reality compatible with others expressing such non-conventional capacities at all? If not, what would have to be different about how you conceive of the world? How might you go about changing your conception of the potential of reality?
I know that most of us, even in weird communities like this, still routinely experience the world around us as stale and unmagical. Even if it is idealistic and not physicalist in nature, that doesn't instantly make it appear to us as full of magic. Why not? If currently-unconventional and magical actions were so ubiquitous that they were every bit as common and conventional as currently-conventional actions, would they still be magical in any way? Is there any fundamental difference between that which is currently perceived as unconventional and magical and that which is currently perceived as ubiquitous and conventional? Or is it arbitrary?
Can you conceive of currently-unconventional things being completely conventional? Can you conceive of currently-conventional things being completely unconventional? Can you actively experience either of them as such? Can you make a chair unconventional and magical? Can you make a dragon conventional?
Have you ever seen anyone perform, or performed yourself, an action (be that knowing, intending, or experiencing) which is utterly non-conventional? Was the non-conventional action perceived as something internal (e.g. a bizarre dream) or something external (e.g. something featured on /r/Glitch_in_the_Matrix)? Do the divisions of "inner" and "outer" experiences seem to have different definitions for what seems unconventional?
Where is the line that divides the inner and outer and why is it where it is? Can it be moved to facilitate unconventional actions?
Just some thoughts to grease those rusty gears. I welcome all discussion on any of the dozens of questions I posed.
I also find the term imaginary allows ideas in this realm to slip into others minds with much less resistance than the term magic. Although, on a very basic level magic can be explained as slight-of-hand. A stage magician commands the audiences attention away from the real performance and the result is "as-if" he used some occult force. Politics works the same way, just on a grander scale.
This took me awhile to integrate, and I went and researched growth models after reading this. I really like the idea of a growth model so I appreciate you bringing it into my awareness! :)
I've personally pushed my subjectivity passed breaking on multiple occasions thanks to the help of some modern science techniques meshed with South American spiritual rituals. I can definitely say my subjectivity wasn't ready for it... On the upside, it led me to communities such as these that provide context for those experiences. Explaining the experience itself is arbitrary due to the nature of language, but having a way of explaining the mechanics is useful beyond belief.
Thanks! Some friendly advice to help with remembering weird things: At the time, a weird experience will seem foreign and probably make you uncomfortable, if only briefly. I've found that by letting that feeling flow and relating that feeling to the situation you provide a better context for the memory to form. That way, when you have a weird experience, upon reviewing your emotional/mental space and contemplating the reasoning behind those feelings you're in a way indexing said experience. It's way easier to navigate a library if there's an index :3
Originally commented by u/Scew on 2016-07-21 07:29:11 (d5k45q3)