[LadyRuby]

Every now and then you come across someone who is apparently reading the same books as you, and even on the same page. Ah... it's so refreshing! Sometimes it seems as if our collective consciousness is going in the same direction. We all know we are living unsustainably, beyond our means, and that we are heading toward change.

And yet other times I see so many people so blissfully out of touch. Wouldn't that be nice.

[aldente]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Aaron', 'I') tend to revisit many different lines of thought in a given period of time, returning to each thought process & "picking up where i left off" on each topic, so to speak.

[greenworm]

Albente,

That is the sh*t! I have been addicted to groove for over a year. I got one of my neighbors addicted to it as well. I am at the point where I know 90% of the songs, which means I need to take a break from it.


Sorry, back on topic. I once took a test for my work (Perl programmer/Engineer), we had to go to the local Holiday Inn and listen to a speaker who was lecturing on group dynamics, which is what the test focused on. The test actually attempted to measure the way you think (problem solve), I have a major in Sociology with a minor in Psychology so this was intriguing, but I was blown away with what I learned. It is based on the left brain/right brain paradigm. Left brainers are those that are more reasonable, logical and tend to use the same problem solving tools over and over, because quite frankly these tools are effective. Left brainers like to simplify everything, an example is a left brainer wants to condense 3000 lines of code to 300. They tend to paint the same way, using the same brushing techniques over and over. The right brainers are crazy. They are the alpha dogs, they smash through things to get to the answer and often think "outside the box". They will have 100 different ideas, but only one of them is any good. They tend not to play as nice with others in an alpha dog manner. They are completely innovative. So we take this test which attempts to measure this and we actually got in a semi circle to see who was who. OMG! This test was pretty accurate, the psychopaths were to the right and boy were they, the perfectionists were to the left, all the really social people were smack dab in the middle. I knew a lot of these folks and worked with them and couldn't believe the accuracy. What is the most interesting part is that far lefties and far righties tend not to work very well together and I found this to be very accurate as well. In fact, the best way to get these two together is to incorporate a person who tends to use both sides of the brain, as the centrist has the strange ability of overall better communication.

Lastly, I had a chemistry teacher in high school who first introduced this to me. He had the most amazing way to teach righties to relax and use the left side of the brain. He would relax you and tell you to visualize 1 + 1 = 2 with blocks inside your head. It works, I kid you not.

[Vexed]

Greenworm,
your post got me thinking about a moment in my life.

In community college, before moving on to a 4 year university, I was in a a leadership class (doesn't that sound lame) taught by the president of the the school.

One day, he presented the class with a test that was supposed to determine whether you were an introvert or an extrovert.

I imagine most of the people on this site are familiar with the concept of introvert and extrovert, but the president of my c.c. acted as if these were newly introduced words into the human language.

He handed out the test results very solemnly. Little did I know I would soon be the center of attention.

As it turned out, I was the only introvert in the classroom (like 8 people). And when the president pointed this out, the rest of my classmates began to tell me it was alright, and not to worry, that just because I was different didn't matter, and such. They were all so concerned that I didn't fit in.

And, like a perfect introvert, I sat there the whole time thinking: What the hell do I care what you think? And really honestly feeling that way.

[Liamj]

I think i think visually, with diff coloured and shaped facts and ideas free floating in space (no drugs involved, honest yer 'onour), making and breaking associations, going through all the possible compounds. Yesterday i was trying to explain to my 6y.o daughter yesterday how pen and paper can help with thinking, for me its a necessity if focus is required, else my play-mind will always drag in whimsical associations, all-possible-outcomes, weaknesses in assumptions blah blah. Somehow a pen keeps that side in line.

I'd be careful thinking that more reading makes you mentally stronger/'bodybuilder', could be its just driven by the dopamine hits resulting from our believing that consuming more information increases our fitness. This is true sometimes, but information ain't knowledge until its integrated, which usually requires more complexity in world view and you remember what Tainter says that comes to (if in an entirely different context .

[Anthrobus]

good topic, Aaron;

since being a teen, i engaged i ways for knowing or at least thinking about myself. It became common over the years for me to constantly watch and judge myself from outside or from some reserved consciousness that remained absolutely unmoved by the outside world and that evolved only very slow. Each conscious thougth was instantly accompanied by a bunch of reflections and metareflections about what was going on. This had the curious and detrimental effect that i was constantly wondering what an ass i was making of myself while trying to go along a way for which i was not absolutely mentally prepared, convinced and that seemed totally natural and logical for me. So, playing games in teams, flirting with girls, applying for jobs or being with people i disregarded secretly was therefore quite a tough and mostly doomed exercise. Lies and false show were impossible for me, i hat them written on my front. Hamlet was my best friend.

From the mentioned state of mind and the curiosity to understand, whats going on and to beat some path for me and my mind into the world, interests in a variety of themes developed (literature, science, people, philosophy) that yet still (having lots of friends and a family now) cluster around the question, what the heck is the reason i am here and what is the best thing to do. I was lucky to meet good friends, dive deep into other languages and cultures like yours and had long years on the university to straighten out some unsocial behaviour.

Reading means for me finding people that searched in a similar way than i did and do, maybe on different fields or in different languages. And it means the try to advance my understanding for life.

And the good writers all knew it, and they suffered it, it loomed over them, the big question. And for the others i care hardly. The good writers are the good youth-propelled poets, the angry old men (like Henry Miller and some in german you probably heard of: Brecht, Arno Schmidt, Goethe in his "Faust"), some Scifi-writers, the old philosophers, the people with deep roots (like Thoreau). People, who seem to say, how horrible and bottomless yet how interesting and infinitely rich to life. And all the true riches can be lifted out of the depths of the human mind, by some miracle.

At a hundred given moments in my life, it seems to me that i encountered by chance just the appropriate book or writer to open a new door that i needed desperately. The eagerness seemed to have waned somewhat with having a little family now. Until i found this forum where imho a bunch of well educated literate and intellectual people are sharping their intellect in engaging some of the most crucial questions for man.

[oowolf]

I obsess. Several girlfriends have told me "You think too much!". (The use of the modifier "too" indicates this is criticism.) I read to relieve stress. The more stress, the more difficult the book--all time most difficult book: Heath and Lachs' translation of J. W. Fichte's Science of Knowledge. I've been told it's a form of this:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intellectualisation