Sometimes I think that what goes on in our minds can resemble so much mangled plasticine - a shapeless dull lump of colourless clay. All our thoughts blend in to one, past and present. All our decisions are the same decision; all our choices the same choice. We don't imagine that things could be any different.
This monotony affects our outlook and belief system, too. We roll along without knowing why we believe the way we do. This will continue to be our state of mind until we take the time to accomplish the seemingly impossible: When it comes to plasticine, the old lump has to be thrown out, and a new batch bought. We don't have such a luxury when it comes to our thought patterns. No, we have to take the lump of plasticine and patiently separate the colours. We do this by questioning who we are; asking ourselves why we think the way we do about matters.
This is why when Paul talked about 'stripping off the old personality and clothing ourselves with the new', he went on to speak about "being made new in the force actuating your mind." He was speaking about rewiring the brain. Our thought patterns have been taught to run along certain pathways. They have learnt the route. But, it's a route that is harming us. When we take the time to review our lives, and question our preconceived ideas, we are performing the difficult task of 'separating the colours' - redirecting our neural pathways. This can have the amazing affect of changing who you are - transforming you into the authentic you.
The "authentic self", is a free person. Free to believe what you want to believe; free to think what you want to think; free to dream and imagine.
"How tall is a blade of grass?"
In connection with the article "God and the unconscious", someone passed on a quote they had received. Offered verbatim, it read, "So often we forget we no every thing we just have to call it to our memory.every atom that ever was still is and every atom no's every thing there is to no in its hard drive it can be part of every thing & anything and it doesn't no that the atom next to it is in existence."
This sort of nonsense would not be countenanced by the evidence-seeking skeptic. Until there is proof first, it wouldn't even be entertained unless it is to gather around and ridicule it, like bullies in a school playground. Or it is disdainfully dismissed with a derisive snort of Ben Goldacre proportions.
Are memories made of atoms? Are atoms made of memories? What substance are thoughts? Search Google for "Are memories made of atoms?" and you will get plenty of results. But is the internet really the place to go to find the answer to such questions? Forums seem to be populated with vast mixed crowds seeking a community of some sort. Anonymous voices throwing down their multitudinous opinions which end up being lost in a sea of noise - and they go back for more, and more, and more. An article on the New Scientist website - Brain entanglement could explain memories - was followed by four pages of arguments and counter-arguments, including many comments removed because "This comment breached our terms of use."
Even the skeptic who needs evidence for everything is only acting on colourless impulses programmed into his thought patterns by past experiences. One of the commenters exclaimed, "Could and could. We have to look for evidence. Otherwise we may be fooled by some arbitrary authority. Don't like that." What is at the root of such fear? Perhaps it boils down to a struggle with that most basic of human needs: Love. Maybe the one who demands evidence can be compared with the person who is unable to commit to another because ultimately they fear rejection. They fear being let down.
Yet, what is evidence really? All it says is "this is what we understand at the present time." This can change at any moment once new evidence comes to light.
No scientist would be so foolish as to claim that there was enough evidence to show that his theory was absolutely true. No matter how much evidence can be found, there is never enough to be absolutely certain of anything.
Dorothy Rowe - Different Ways of Thinking: Science and Religion
Oh, and the answer to "Are memories made of atoms?" is...um...there is no definitive answer. Someone said, "Asking what thoughts are made of is like asking how tall is the colour green. It makes no sense."
"We are stardust..."
If God - the "something other" - exists, it obviously exists outside and beyond anything that can be measured or quantified by human and scientific means. That in itself is enough for the concept to be dismissed by many. However, the very fact that science is unable to disprove the existence of "something other" is enough reason to accept it for some. The dreamer is not enslaved to evidence. The dreamer says, "If there is no evidence to the contrary, I am free to let my imagination soar."
The beginning and end of this existence of ours stretches off into infinity at both ends like Hammy's hedge. Do we really think that in a few billion years time, when the universe grinds to a halt, they'll be saying, "Ha! What d'you know, they were right back then in 2012"? No, if it's ending, there will be much weeping and gnashing of teeth. So, with no definitive answer either way, we are free to fill in the blanks with whatever seems most likely to us. Three cheers for "could and could" because we are not afraid of the consequences.
We know we are star stuff, but does star stuff know it is us? Many people think we are all just ephemera passing through - a little slice of life, sparking into being and blowing out again. Life existing because it did and then it didn't. "That's right. That's all it is," the naysayers exclaim, "Don't think so much of yourself. You're not so great. Deal with it," they shout...on the internet...because being heard, even just a little bit, really does matter.
Beliefs, philosophies, dreams - these are what some would call "thought forms", and they can take all kinds of colourful shape. Even more so when we know who we are, and why we think the way we do. Even the black can be used judiciously when we know the source of our darker thoughts, and we don't allow it to dominate the others.
Moulding our thoughts into any shape we want is not done to offer some unsubstantiated hope, or to nail down an uncontestable doctrine. It is done because it is fun - an unmitigated joy. We dream because we can. Experience the wonderful sensation of being intellectually free. It screams, "Anything is possible!"