On Wed, Apr 27, 2011 at 6:18 AM, cdb wrote: > SW, it is apparent that you are not going to be convinced that whilst we > all perceive things slightly differently, in the round experience in life > does count for something. IOW there is nothing new under the sun in human > behaviour or thought patterns. > That is correct, nothing that is too different. However, not every genetic combination for a human* has been produced. And therefore, not every specific thought pattern has been produced. Furthermore, not every life history has been produced, and never will be produced. I believe that human thought is much like a chaotic system, or, a butterfly effect, if you will. Everyone's thought patterns can be thought of as "similar", yes. But then again, so very different. And every interaction between such entities will yield yet more possibilities, and so on. I really didn't want to use this example, but I now feel I must. It was not many weeks ago that I found myself in a rather emotionally distressing situation. I am/was in love/love (with) this girl - (for approximately two years), but the situation because /extremely/ messy. So naturally, I talked to people about it because I know nothing about nothing about nothing regarding life, as does every other human being on this planet. I talked to kids younger than me, my age, as well as kids older tha= n me. Even spoke to professors who I was close to, of all sexual orientations and experiences (you all would be quite surprised with the diversity of my circle of friends). Not one person gave me a "correct" answer with respect to how to handle the situation. I had to pull various bits and pieces out of all their theories and experiences as well as from my own and formulate my own "answer" to my "problem". What I'm saying is, yes, the theories of my friends were correct for their own situations and their own past experiences, but not for me. Their advice regarding life and human interaction may be correct for their own infinitesimally specific situations, but no more than that. Nothing could help my situation. In the end, I did have to make a decision and only I kne= w the total truth of my situation. And now, my theories on "life" and human interaction only pertain to me and my situation and my unique life history and time line and no one else's. I guess you can't teach anyone these things. You can only teach them how to learn. > > Many of us can now sit back safe in the knowledge that at some point in > your life (assuming you live to your 30's plus, more so your 40's) you wi= ll > find yourself coming to the same conclusions that we have spoken of here. > You only say that because YOU possibly have come to these conclusions. But = I will not. You believe you are right only because of your age. You believe that your age and your age alone has given you the experience to believe yo= u are correct in this regard. But your assumption would be invalid. Your age doesn't really do anything for you except possibly make you a little more tired and annoyed with the amount of energy and philosophical thought put into such choices and discussions. And what would be the result of that? Maybe it would make you all the more inclined to settle on an answer that makes you happy and leaves you with one less question. > > Of course if you were correct, you have just put out of work many > psychobabalists, behavioural thingos and sociologists, maybe even some > philosphers, Alain de Botton would have to stop writing books. Not necessarily true. I am not saying that their theories are invalid. I'm just saying that no one can make a generalization about life and say it is correct. There are just too many variables. The whole field of psychology i= s nothing more than general observation. I've read lots of psychology books and even taken a course (I would take more, but it is not in my field of study). Most of the "theories", I found, did not apply to me whatsoever. I did find them interesting, though. --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .