Thursday, May 22, 2003
I Should Listen To Myself
I have to start this pedantically. Sorry, but it must be done. If you don't want philosophy, and just want to read about my life, then go to the next paragraph. I named this blog Ordinary Language for a reason. It's a good philosophy. One of its main proponents was a fellow named Gilbert Ryle, who wrote a piece called The Concept of Mind, which I read at least part of, and liked. It's about how the mind, and intelligence, are completely different from classical view of them, where the mind is something different from the body, and gives orders to the body through thoughts. An intelligent person, ie, one with a strong mind, is supposed to be a good thinker, who practices logic in the mind. Wrong! says Ryle. Mind and body are inseperable, and thus an intelligent person (with a strong mind) is one who effectively accomplishes things. I'm a bit hazy on this, so all you philosophy majors can jump in with details if I'm screwing it up. In The Best Argument From Example In Philosophy Ever (and there's a lot of them), he talks about how he uses logic about why smoking is a bad idea . . . and the logic seems to come right as he's lighting up his pipe. Logic is a trap, having nothing to do with intelligence. Thinking is the same sort of trap. It might even be considered the opposite of intelligence, if taken too far.
So anyway. I spent much of today thinking. I'm living with a friend of mine. Crashing on her couch, actually. This is a fantastic arrangement, in that I don't have to pay rent. On the other hand, we all know that it's supposed to be temporary, my bags are still packed, and her couch isn't the most comfortable. So I'm looking for a place for the summer. I find a really great, relatively cheap place for what it is, but it happens to be on the high end of my price range. The girl in charge of it says she's basically giving it to the first person who shows up with a check. I get an e-mail from her at 1 PM saying it's still available. So I'm thinking about it. Do I want to pay $300 extra for the summer? Can I afford it? And get a laptop, maybe? Do I really need a 1-bedroom when a studio will do? I'm just sticking around for a couple months. And so on. I'm thinking, instead of doing. Being unintelligent. And when I call, at 4 PM, after the lovely Bef reminds me that I can afford it easily, someone else has beat me to it.
This is where thinking got me. Nowhere. And it's all because I didn't learn the lessons of the damn philosophy that I titled the journal of my thoughts.
Repeat after me. "Here is one hand, here is another. Here is one hand, here is another . . ."
I have to start this pedantically. Sorry, but it must be done. If you don't want philosophy, and just want to read about my life, then go to the next paragraph. I named this blog Ordinary Language for a reason. It's a good philosophy. One of its main proponents was a fellow named Gilbert Ryle, who wrote a piece called The Concept of Mind, which I read at least part of, and liked. It's about how the mind, and intelligence, are completely different from classical view of them, where the mind is something different from the body, and gives orders to the body through thoughts. An intelligent person, ie, one with a strong mind, is supposed to be a good thinker, who practices logic in the mind. Wrong! says Ryle. Mind and body are inseperable, and thus an intelligent person (with a strong mind) is one who effectively accomplishes things. I'm a bit hazy on this, so all you philosophy majors can jump in with details if I'm screwing it up. In The Best Argument From Example In Philosophy Ever (and there's a lot of them), he talks about how he uses logic about why smoking is a bad idea . . . and the logic seems to come right as he's lighting up his pipe. Logic is a trap, having nothing to do with intelligence. Thinking is the same sort of trap. It might even be considered the opposite of intelligence, if taken too far.
So anyway. I spent much of today thinking. I'm living with a friend of mine. Crashing on her couch, actually. This is a fantastic arrangement, in that I don't have to pay rent. On the other hand, we all know that it's supposed to be temporary, my bags are still packed, and her couch isn't the most comfortable. So I'm looking for a place for the summer. I find a really great, relatively cheap place for what it is, but it happens to be on the high end of my price range. The girl in charge of it says she's basically giving it to the first person who shows up with a check. I get an e-mail from her at 1 PM saying it's still available. So I'm thinking about it. Do I want to pay $300 extra for the summer? Can I afford it? And get a laptop, maybe? Do I really need a 1-bedroom when a studio will do? I'm just sticking around for a couple months. And so on. I'm thinking, instead of doing. Being unintelligent. And when I call, at 4 PM, after the lovely Bef reminds me that I can afford it easily, someone else has beat me to it.
This is where thinking got me. Nowhere. And it's all because I didn't learn the lessons of the damn philosophy that I titled the journal of my thoughts.
Repeat after me. "Here is one hand, here is another. Here is one hand, here is another . . ."