Carl-Richard

Practice.

Futile outside its field of relevance.

Unironically the truest post that has been written on this forum.

I don't know about anything "scientific" in this regard, but you could always go alternative (energy healing, meditation, etc.). "But what effect could there possibly be from that?". Well, the placebo effect is a real effect, and it's actually surprisingly powerful. For example, SSRIs have been consistently shown to be only 2% more effective than placebo pills. "But that is more mental. What about physical ailments?". For example, there have been done placebo studies on knee surgeries where one group was given a fake surgery and the other a real surgery, and both groups experienced an identical improvement in knee pain. You might think that the improvement was merely pain-related and not an improvement of function, but surely, the patients who had knee pain also had problems with walking (function), but after the fake surgery, their ability to walk improved. Of course, that isn't proof that their knee function was actually improved on a physical level, although that could certainly be the case (you should probably look into the specific studies on that if you want to find out). Regardless, there is certainly hope for you. On a more extraordinary note, Sadhguru has claimed that he broke his ankle once and magically healed it during meditation. Of course, you don't have to believe that, but at least it serves as a sign that a change in function is possible.

@UnbornTao Is this when I post a video of Peter Ralston (Brendan's guru) speaking positively about methods? Most of these apparent disagreements is about a difference in emphasis or language, and the emphasis might vary depending on the context and who is being talked to. Somebody who is very far along the path and who has tried many methods but doesn't seem to get anywhere, might benefit from being pointed to "directness", while somebody who can't even sit still for 2 seconds without getting lost in a neurotic storm of thoughts, might benefit from learning how to follow their breath. Yet somebody else who is both naturally contemplative and extremely adept at sitting in silence, might need very little direction or practice. Spirituality is generally not a one-size-fits-all enterprise.

When I'm writing a post that requires some kind of conceptual thinking, my mind sometimes goes to a specific place in my episodic memory. For example, in my last post, I was writing about the concept of being smart (IQ, etc.), and for some reason, my mind is stuck on this one entrance of a convenience store near my apartment. When I think about experimental designs in psychology, my mind goes to this specific sports field from my younger days. I could probably think about more examples, but you get the point. Am I the only one who does this? Why does this happen?

Based on the two examples that came to mind, the episodic scenery doesn't seem to be obviously relevant to the concepts. For example, that specific convenience store doesn't seem to have anything to do with the concept of being smart.

Well-established memories get integrated across the cortex, so there could simply be a spatial overlap of the areas coding for the episodic memory and other semantic memories. That would explain the arbitrary nature of the episodic memories that are activated. But as you say, there can also be more explicit associations. For example, one possible explanation for why my mind goes to this one sports field from my youth when thinking about experimental designs in psychology might be because in that place, I've often engaged in similar abstract tasks, for example learning the rules of a sports game. Learning a sports game seems quite conceptually similar to learning an experimental design in psychology: you have to imagine different people performing different sequential actions according to some specified constraints.

I've really only noticed it happening with visual scenes, but it could probably also happen with other sensory modalities.

No. It's not sudden and it's not in the forefront of my attention. It's quite persistent and it's more like a scene in the background that I don't usually notice. It's as if I'm painting the conceptual thinking on top of an episodic canvas. For some reason, it's the same canvas for similar concepts, and it's not obviously relevant to the concepts in question (for example, what does being outside that specific store have to do with being smart?). It seems more like a thought than a hallucination.

You might also think that if you're less smart than most people, then you'll be constantly reminded about it when you're around most people. But on the other hand, the person who is smarter than most people might think "ugh, why am I here among all these stupid people? I'm wasting my time". So the mind can always find a way to criticize itself despite the circumstances. The mind can't help itself but want to expand, often in less fortunate ways. You can help that desire to expand through things like meditation. Then your mind will be so expanded that it can't help but to shut up. But of course, you shouldn't neglect the impulse to expand in the realm of wordly self esteem either. Do improve on yourself in ways you find conducive to building a healthy self in the world. It's not an either/or game.

I made a thought experiment in another thread that can give insight into this: There is also the phenomena of always comparing yourself to somebody who you perceive as being superior to yourself. Even Einstein could possibly have compared himself to some other great physicist which he admired and which he perceived as superior to himself. Even if Einstein is considered by most people as the "best" physicist, he might not perceive it that way (besides, most people are less intelligent than Einstein, so why should he care about their opinion? They're most likely wrong anyway). Likewise, even if you have a higher IQ than most people, and these people think you're a "smart person", you might aspire to be like somebody greater than yourself, and by comparison, you would not consider yourself a smart person. Then you might ask "but if you compare yourself to those who are less smart than you, then you're actually smart". Yes, but nobody does that. Nobody bases their self esteem on that (except people who get high on their own farts). You don't compare yourself to a 5th grader to make yourself feel better about your intelligence. Try it. So yeah, there are many ways to have low self esteem even if you're smarter than most people.

Having a high IQ doesn't necessarily stop you from having low self esteem, even specifically about your IQ.

*sips coke*

I think when I see a fat person, the only thing my mind reliably goes to is "this person probably doesn't eat too little food"

I should probably just take something for the placebo anyway. SSRIs are only 2% more effective than placebo pills.

But then, if the outside is truly a reflection of the inside, what does that look like on the outside? 🤔

You shouldn't be. You were inaccurate in your language, people responded, and then you clarified your statement. It's quite understandable.

What does that mean?

Or just say "it might mean" instead of "it means". There are many reasons for being fat. One possibility could be that they're just not concerned about health and have unhealthy habits. I'm someone who is concerned about health and have healthy habits, but I don't have to exert much self-control to maintain my habits. They're habits — they're generally the default response. Of course, a donut is at some level inherently tempting, and even I might sometimes feel an impulse to eat one if I see one, but people underestimate how much your impulses are dictated by habits. In the last few years, I haven't eaten anything sweet despite seeing it front of me so many times (except when I was essentially forced by my grandmother 😂), so I haven't reinforced that type of stimulus-response. For me, the stimulus-response of seeing something sweet and eating it is just not there to the same extent. On the other hand, what requires a lot of self-control is to break your habits and establish new ones, but once they're established, sticking to them becomes easy.

What if they're fat but also a straight A student?

😂

How long did you take them for?

There is a song called "Karma" by Swedish progressive Death Metal band "Opeth"