It has been said that we use only 10% of our mental capacity at one time. It has also been disputed as a nonsense claim.
I believe it to be approximately true. We spend 25% of our mental capacity obsessing about things we have not decided to do something about: i.e., weight loss and exercise and good nutrition and stop smoking, hoarding, etc. etc. etc. We think about it, but do not get around to doing it.
We spend 25% of the remaining mental capacity obsessing about sin, guilt, and our overwhelming shame.
We spend 25% in hate, anger, road rage and other hormonal-chemical washes that whip-saw us.
We spend 15% in watching cable TV - an entity which is far dumber than we are! - entertain us with shows about people we think are far dumber than we are!
That leaves 10% to useful enterprises; close enough.
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4 comments:
Keep this blog up, Montag. It's a gold mine of intelligent insights. Ever since I stumbled across it, I've been an avid reader and will continue to do so.
Do you think that if perhaps everyone in the world channeled their minds towards useful things such as innovation and methods of dealing with the world's problems, our world might be a little less scattered and we could in fact, with time, move towards a Utopian society? The problem is that many people are all so worried about themselves.
I think the Dalai Lama sums it up perfectly when he said: "Our thought is like water running in every direction. But just as water, when channeled, becomes powerful, so it is with our minds."
It is much easier to dwell on our own problems then to break away from that and think of deep, meaningful things, and ways of making the world better. People who are on the path of inner peace are less assailed by this problem.
Thank you, Ben. You are too kind.
I do think if everyone was directed towards useful things, the world would be better. However, not everyone has to be directed towards the same things. I think our intelligence requires us to be constantly "politicking": i.e., giving and receiving and processing information to be successful.
(The biggest problem with our nasty political climate is the fact that it discourages this active flow of information. Close off the flow of information and stop the processing and you come to the dead-ends of Authoritarianism and Tyranny where people are forbidden to voice their views anymore.)
The Dalai Lama's words are interesting. I think most people would interpret them as saying that "there is one channel... get the water flowing the right way in that one channel and things will happen."
But I do not think that's what he is saying. I think he is saying something like "Find your own private sea level... and flow to it."
You have brought up some intricate stuff here.....
I shall have to think more about it.
I'm not at all sure how to think about it.
I would say right now that once I saw that life was meaningless, life suddenly took on meaning.
Once I realized that I could not talk to God and my prayers were mute, God was there.
Everything is very different after wards... yet it is very much the same, too.
Possibly once we fight through our differences and realize that after all "There is no way we can all live together in peace and harmony!"... suddenly we discover that there indeed is just such a way? I don't know.
However, I would not be totally surprised.
Now I started thinking about "inner peace". It is a concept that seems clear, but might not be.
I was wondering about the Arhats in the Buddhist tradition who, having reached Nirvana, choose to remain within the cycle of Dukha and Rebirth in order to teach mankind. Thus, "inner peace" might have its own demands, and they might forbid an absolute breaking away...
I've done an awful lot of writing for someone who thinks language is very limited.
Paradox.
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