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How do you know the sun will rise tomorrow? Do you go through the same process that lead you to that conclusion or do you just "know" and go about with your life?
When I was a kid in the 70s my brother and I used to play cards together. We started playing cribbage and at first, our counting was slow and methodical. After a while, we'd just know what a 19 hands was. No need to break it down or do the math. Of course, that feeling of certainly came from an accurate conclusion but I agree with that guy that certainty is a feeling or emotion. It's when you know you don't have to double-check because you've already been there, done that. I believe our emotions are there to help us so it makes sense that instantaneous certainty would be a useful emotion.
It wasn't that I had trouble with the podcast. I felt really uneasy when he was talking about how we can't even backtrack with any accuracy. If the question "why did I do that" can't be asked with any accuracy then....ewwww
Can't really argue with what you explain here, but I'm not sure who needs this explaining...
You can't accurately backtrack because the vast majority of our decisions are NOT made cognitively with full awareness of the reasons. That causes us to reverse engineer the assessments of our prior decisions based on the circumstances that exist at the time of assessment and NOT the original factors. I have seen various estimates from studies but a rule of thumb is that 80% of our decisions do not involve full cognitive awareness of the inputs.
That reminded me of my experience of recovery. I felt compelled to drink. I didn't know why I had to do it I just had to. I rationalized it wasn't that bad and maybe someday I'd tackle it because I had at least some shame over it. That "ahha" "road to Damascus" moment came when I became aware of my self-talk after my daughter got busted drunk. There was this voice in my head I never recognized and it was making plans to cover up the drunk daughter so my own drinking wouldn't be looked at. I could not believe those were my thoughts. All night I listened to it and became very concerned. The next day I heard it say "I don't care I just want to get drunk and stay that way" and it did something to my brain and I had spontaneously remission from active alcoholism in one second.
Is that a cognitive process or was that addictive voice below consciousness. I don't remember ever hearing it before or maybe it was just intertwined with my thought process. IDK
Interesting questions L8, and good for you to be in recovery...
A very good friend of mine is into his 4th year now and works to help others with drug addiction at a drug rehab center. He credits me for staying a supportive friend during that time when he lost all his other friends. Too bad it all too often takes a very serious sad lesson or two, or three, or four..., before that "ahha" moment takes hold. How long have you gone without?
It was always there but below awareness. Your daughter presented an external source of concern (not about YOU) that engaged your cognitive machinery with awareness of your own motivations for drinking. That it manifested as an actual conversation with yourself at the level of awareness is probably attributable to that external concern that was more important to you than YOU were.
We all always have conversations with ourselves. Do we not? I know I do...
Not verbally as a rule, but there is always that "other voice" we are hearing and addressing one way or another. Not sure that is a manifestation of anything but how our brains work. AKA thinking.
Can't really argue with what you explain here, but I'm not sure who needs this explaining...
Clearly you do because you seem to be the worst victim here of your own unconscious controller. You are clueless of its existence making any penetration of its barrier walls impossible.
Clearly you do because you seem to be the worst victim here of your own unconscious controller. You are clueless of its existence making any penetration of its barrier walls impossible.
QED!
So my brain is like a big prophylactic to prevent the truth as you know it from penetrating?
I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, but no doubt so far it seems to be working...
We all always have conversations with ourselves. Do we not? I know I do...
Not verbally as a rule, but there is always that "other voice" we are hearing and addressing one way or another. Not sure that is a manifestation of anything but how our brains work. AKA thinking.
What you seem unable or unwilling to grasp is that the unconscious controller is not normally accessible to that internal conversation. That is what makes it so powerful and so difficult to override. Protecting YOU from its existence is the entire reason for it being hidden from your conscious awareness. A stimulus that evokes your concern for some externality more important to you than yourself is what tends to break through the wall and it reveals itself.
Interesting questions L8, and good for you to be in recovery...
A very good friend of mine is into his 4th year now and works to help others with drug addiction at a drug rehab center. He credits me for staying a supportive friend during that time when he lost all his other friends. Too bad it all too often takes a very serious sad lesson or two, or three, or four..., before that "ahha" moment takes hold. How long have you gone without?
Feb 10, 2013.
People die waiting for that aha moment to get free. Most people I have seen recover don't get to have that. They have aha moments in recovery. They just get themselves in a position that the pain becomes too great and they are forced to that way.
So my brain is like a big prophylactic to prevent the truth as you know it from penetrating?
I'm not sure that's such a bad thing, but no doubt so far it seems to be working...
It has nothing to do with the truth as I know it. It is whatever truth that YOU are unwilling to face that is not allowed to penetrate your conscious awareness for whatever reasons.
It has nothing to do with the truth as I know it. It is whatever truth that YOU are unwilling to face that is not allowed to penetrate your conscious awareness for whatever reasons.
I feel like I know what you are talking about tho. That "aha" moment included more than just showing me that I was in big trouble. It gave me a foundation to build on. Did you read my angel/demon thing in the Christianity forum when I posted it?
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