Hey! Get an Intellectual Hobby

[coberst]

Hey! Get an Intellectual Hobby

 

My experience leads me to conclude that there is a world of difference in picking up a fragment of knowledge here and there versus seeking knowledge for an answer to a question of significance. There is a world of difference between taking a stroll in the woods on occasion versus climbing a mountain because you wish to understand what climbing a mountain is about or perhaps you want to understand what it means to accomplish a feat of significance only because you want it and not because there is ‘money in it’.

 

I think that every adult needs to experience the act of intellectual understanding; an act that Carl Sagan describes as “Understanding is a kind of ecstasy.”

 

This quotation of Carl Rogers might illuminate my meaning:

 

I want to talk about learning. But not the lifeless, sterile, futile, quickly forgotten stuff that is crammed in to the mind of the poor helpless individual tied into his seat by ironclad bonds of conformity! I am talking about LEARNING - the insatiable curiosity that drives the adolescent boy to absorb everything he can see or hear or read about gasoline engines in order to improve the efficiency and speed of his 'cruiser'. I am talking about the student who says, "I am discovering, drawing in from the outside, and making that which is drawn in a real part of me." I am talking about any learning in which the experience of the learner progresses along this line: "No, no, that's not what I want"; "Wait! This is closer to what I am interested in, what I need"; "Ah, here it is! Now I'm grasping and comprehending what I need and what I want to know!"

 

When we undertake such a journey of discovery we need reliable sources of information. We need information that we can build a strong foundation for understanding. Where do we find such reliable information? We find it in the library or through Google on the Internet or combinations thereof.

 

I have a ‘Friends of the Library’ card from a college near me. This card allows me, for a yearly fee of $25, to borrow any book in that gigantic library. Experts in every domain of knowledge have written books just especially for laypersons like you and I.

 

I often recommend to others that they get an intellectual hobby. The following is the essence of my message.

 

Hobbies are ways in which many individuals express their individuality. Those matters that excite an individual’s interest and curiosity are those very things that allow the individual to acquire self-understanding and understanding of the world. Interests define individuality and help to provide meaning to life. We all look for some ideology, hobby, philosophy or religion to provide meaning to life.

 

Not many of us have discovered our full potentialities or have fully explored in depth those we have discovered. Self-development and self-expression are relatively new ideas in human history. The arts are one means for this self-expression. The artist may find drawing or constructing sculptures as a means for self-discovery. The self-learner may find essay writing of equal importance.

 

I recommend that each person who does not presently have some similar type of hobby develop the hobby of an intellectual life. We could add to our regular routine the development of an invigorating intellectual life wherein we sought disinterested knowledge; knowledge that is not for the purpose of some immediate need but something that stirs our curiosity, which we seek to understand for the simple reason that we feel a need to understand a particular domain of knowledge.

[Turtle]

...Hobbies are ways in which many individuals express their individuality. Those matters that excite an individual’s interest and curiosity are those very things that allow the individual to acquire self-understanding and understanding of the world. Interests define individuality and help to provide meaning to life. We all look for some ideology, hobby, philosophy or religion to provide meaning to life.

 

Not many of us have discovered our full potentialities or have fully explored in depth those we have discovered. Self-development and self-expression are relatively new ideas in human history. ...

 

before i do some agreeing with you, i have to point out that you seemingly contradict yourself here. first you affirm many, then you assert all, but then you say, not many. make up my mind man!

 

now what i agree with, or perhaps what agrees with me, is the mountain reference you wrote, inasmuch i recently climbed one to see what i could see much as you described. guess you wouldn't know about that though, eh? :hyper:

 

do you have any hobbies other than writing your essays? if so, what are they and why do you never report on them? if not, then what comes to mind is that those who can, do, and those who can't, preach. you're preachin' to the choir here c-man. :)

 

surprise me with your reply if you can and direct it to the other side of the mountain.

[coberst]

I haven't seen so many smilies since the fifth grade.

[freeztar]

I haven't seen so many smilies since the fifth grade.

 

That's sad to hear. :)

[Donk]

I haven't seen so many smilies since the fifth grade.

Which indicates that you probably don't look at any threads but your own. As Freeztar says, that's sad to hear.

 

If you believe that Critical Thinking is essential - and you clearly do - surely it would be worthwhile to demonstrate its effectiveness elsewhere on Hypography by commenting on other people's threads.

[coberst]

Which indicates that you probably don't look at any threads but your own. As Freeztar says, that's sad to hear.

 

If you believe that Critical Thinking is essential - and you clearly do - surely it would be worthwhile to demonstrate its effectiveness elsewhere on Hypography by commenting on other people's threads.

 

I have much to accomplish and little time in which to do so. I am trying to convince people to get an intellectual life.m

 

Can our civilization survive much longer if our citizens fail to become more intellectually sophisticated? Presently it is apparent to me that few citizens have any idea of the problems that we face. If the citizens do not comprehend what is going on they certainly will be unwilling to make the sacrifices required. I see CT as fundamental to increasing our level of sophistication.

 

We were born smart enough but we weren’t born intellectually sophisticated enough to handle this high tech world we have invented.

 

What is the difference between “being smart” and “being sophisticated”? I would say that we can use the handyman and his tool box as a good analogy for comprehending this difference. The number and quality of the instruments in a handyman’s tool box is a measure of his smartness and his experience using those tools is a measure of his sophistication.

 

If a handyman has only a hammer then every job is a job that will get hammered on. If that handyman has a great tool box but has experience only with a hammer then that handyman will look for things that can be hammered into place.

[Turtle]

I haven't seen so many smilies since the fifth grade.

 

you silly old man; there were no smilies when we were in 5th grade. B) :hyper:

 

I have much to accomplish and little time in which to do so. I am trying to convince people to get an intellectual life.

 

:doh: you're getting nowhere fast ol' codger. how do you know how much time you have anyway? don't answer that; it's rhetorical. fact is, you don't know. the folks visiting and posting here evidence an intellectual life by visiting & posting here. it's a science forum, remember? you decry not adapting to and adopting the new technology, but you show no evidence of yourself doing what you implore others to. you hide behind your age like a timid toddler behind a mother's leg. grow some stones man, and practice what you preach.

[freeztar]

What is the difference between “being smart” and “being sophisticated”? I would say that we can use the handyman and his tool box as a good analogy for comprehending this difference. The number and quality of the instruments in a handyman’s tool box is a measure of his smartness and his experience using those tools is a measure of his sophistication.

 

If a handyman has only a hammer then every job is a job that will get hammered on. If that handyman has a great tool box but has experience only with a hammer then that handyman will look for things that can be hammered into place.

 

Likewise, we can extend this analogy to the forum here. If one's hammer is the philosophy forum, and the other tools (other forums) are not used, then would not one's smartness and sophistication be greatly reduced?

 

If you want to hammer nails all day, that is fine, but realize how it appears to others carrying around screwdrivers and saws as well.

[Kharakov]

Unfortunately, the view from my anthill is blocked by your mountains.

 

Not that you put the mountains there, but looking up at the mountains already scaled by others is disheartening, at least in the sense that I can compare how far I have been able to tread to what others have been able to do in much less time... and see that all I will ever have is an anthill from which I look up at the climbers of mountains, or look down at the others climbing their grain of sand, always knowing that one of the mountain climbers will stomp on my hill.

[coberst]

Unfortunately, the view from my anthill is blocked by your mountains.

 

Not that you put the mountains there, but looking up at the mountains already scaled by others is disheartening, at least in the sense that I can compare how far I have been able to tread to what others have been able to do in much less time... and see that all I will ever have is an anthill from which I look up at the climbers of mountains, or look down at the others climbing their grain of sand, always knowing that one of the mountain climbers will stomp on my hill.

 

 

Books allow us to stand on the shoulders of giants if we choose to take advantage of their great gift to us.

[dieadderalls]

Books allow us to stand on the shoulders of giants if we choose to take advantage of their great gift to us.

 

(And sometimes all I can say is "Eh". Those books are freakin' awesome, I love reading and trying to understand the thinking of people far more advanced in their mental faculties than me, but we must never lose sight of the fact that education arises from knowledge that is not absolute, and stems from the individual. We would have more luck trying to understand the unconceivable than categorizing the conceivable, because that's just going to lead to hundreds of different terms describing the same thing, confusing people and by extension stressing them the **** out. Everyone is trying to understand (unless they've been scared out of it by people convinced they know what they're talking about), and they're latching onto all different words to describe what they're thinking.

 

Or not.

 

I dislike the concept of a hobby, because hell man, why should it be a hobby? It could be your life if you wanted, it seems disrespectful to call it a hobby. I would prefer to title my job (as it fits in the cogs and wheels of society) as a hobby, than to categorize and stigmatize my pursuit as a hobby. I understand that is just semantics, but it is infuriating that hobbies are degraded as less important than what keeps society running on and on and on. Owait you already made that point, much love to you my friend.

 

It might be better if you ignore this part of the post, because the point is that I really shouldn't even try to talk about it or explain it to you. It is more a description of where i'm coming from with my next statement)

 

 

I wouldn't limit it to an intellectual hobby, you can come to a greater understanding from hobbies that require physical exertion as well! A friend of mine is a diver, and a lot of the more profound philosophical thoughts that he has are apparent sixty metres under the ocean. Runners require great concentration, and co-ordination, to achieve the great feats you see at the olympics. Mind and body need to be in sync for proper functioning, but the body is even more important than the intellect, because it is through a healthy body that you gain a healthy mind.

 

And so saying I'm going to go swim at the pool for a few hours.

 

Just thought I'd bring that point to the discussion.