Re: New Thread - Big Bognition
Dear Gadfly
Your praise for “The Psychology of Man’s Possible Evolution” was so infectious that I ordered a copy from Amazon and have just finished reading it.
Now I remember I first got to hear about the work of Gurdjieff and Ouspensky when I joined SES (School of Economic Science). They were into these two before they got into Transcendental Meditation.
Up till now I have not read anything of Ouspensky and I found several things in this book of interest. The idea of putting being before personality is something I can relate to although I would put personhood before being as the essence of personhood is love.
Also he believes that being and knowledge must be studied together and then makes the case that knowledge without understanding has no application and points out that only when knowledge is located is it understanding. So it does seem that love andunderstanding are quite central to Ouspensky’s views.
I was encouraged by the idea that man in his natural state does not easily accept new concepts, but has a tendency to relate them back to known and accepted material. This explains why the concept of ChristianScientology is not readily accepted. I think Mrs Eddy had the same problem with Christian Science. Mark Twain is purported to have said “Christian Science is neither Christian nor Science” Yes! That is right, it is Christian Science.
Pip,
another reason why some ideas are not readiy accepted is because they are nonsense.
The main thing I got from Ouspensky was the notion of the great need for personal effort to "observe" ones inner workings. I never paid much attention to much other than that. If one doesn't take the ideas contained in the book, USE THEM in real life, and spend no small amount of time OBSERVING ones own "thinkingess", one might as well have NOT read the book at all.
Of course, Man doesn't easily accept new concepts.
Fixed ideas prevent one from doing so.The model of "fixed ideas" well explains
why and how the "known and accepted material"
prevent the acceptance of new concepts. The notion that
existing ideas can inhibit the acceptance of new ideas, and even block a willingness to LOOK and OBSERVE, is not a new concept.
There is really only one book that I put at the the top of the "necessary-reading list", and it has
much to do with breaking down sloppy conceptual thinking. It is from the subject (General Semantics) where Hubbard "borrowed" his concepts of "fixed ideas", "multi-valued logic", "differentiation", "identities", the ideas of the Data Series, etc. Understanding and
polishing "conceptual thinking" is something Hubbard NEVER touched on AT ALL, probably because he wanted adherents stuck into HIS concepts, though Hubbard borrowed many of his ideas from the same fellow (Korzybski) who taught this author:
Language in Thought and Action by S.I.Hayakawa
The original title included the phrase "
A guide to accurate thinking, reading and writing". It
is such a guide. I don't see that it is possible for
any person to
think straight or communicate well without being familiar with the information in this book. I say that with all sincerity and I mean it. Just like the reviewer below, I also gave away copies to friends some years back (I liked it that much and thought the ideas therein were THAT important to ANY person who "uses their mind").
From Amazon Reviews:
"Like a previous reviewer, I was required to read this book for an English class, and also like that reviewer I re-discovered it a few years back.
Senator Hayakawa's main point is that, since it is language we humans use in order to think, and since language has such an extraordinary power to influence others and ourselves, we should pay heed to how we use it and how we interpret it.
In *Language in Thought and Action* Hayakawa discusses ways of better understanding language, and therefore thought, and therefore action, including the use of the "operational definition" and the need to recognize different levels of abstraction.
His essay comparing poetry and advertising is, all by itself, worth the price of the book. You'll never again be so smug about your pronouncements or those of others after reading about two-valued logic versus the multi-valued orientation. You'll learn why the words "Tell me more" can make a difference to you.
I like this book so much I decided to mail several copies to people I know as surprise gifts, along with a letter explaining my enthusiasm for it.
If you use language, if you think, if you act, you should read this book."
