Can't you tell? Oh right I haven't said anything yet. What if you could read my mind? What if you knew my thoughts before I spoke? What if our sub-text was not safe, our private opinions were publicised and our deepest desires were demonstrated for all to see?
The concept of mind-reading or telepathy is mainly paralleled with the supernatural and fantastical. Defined as 'communication from one mind to another by extrasensory means', telepathy as an idea, provokes many questions about its nature and if it exists at all. Many films and TV shows have telepathy as a skill of fantastical creatures; wizards, witches, werewolves and more currently the human companions of vampires. These characters usually possess this skill as a detective aid to sniff out the clues, as what people actually say is not always what they are thinking. This tackles the honesty of humanity as a whole. By using telepathy in ficitonal stories only, this limits its credibility as a concept that could actually exist in reality.
However, what if it did? Could you imagine what life would be like? The film What Women Want sums up rather comically, how men would react if they had to listen to women's thoughts all day. Yet, in reality if this was so, I don't know how long we would be laughing. Would anyone actually bother to talk at all?
There must be a reason humans were created without this ability. Obviously some humans are more honest than others, but we all filter our thoughts. Minds wander naturally. They go off on tangents, procrastinate into corners and fly away into dreams, fantasies and nightmares. Often dreadful or obscene things come into our heads for a brief moment without our consent and we quickly banish them before they settle. If anyone else heard these evil mutterings we would all surely be looked upon in disgust.
It must be a safety mechanism. We cannot hear each others thoughts because it is not safe to do so. It is barely safe to speak our thoughts allowed in some circles! Within reason, I more or less say whatever I am thinking. This can sometimes get me into trouble, but I find honesty is usually the best policy.
Maybe if more of us spoke honestly, we wouldn't even need the concept of telepathy as what we say would be enough. Until then, I'm sure people will still be asking...'What are you thinking?'
Tuesday 31 August 2010
Tuesday 24 August 2010
It's a small world after all...
We all know that the world is quite large, okay not as large as the sun but large enough. There are 195 countries and an estimated six billion people living in them, so we expect that in our lives we are only given a tiny glimpse of what this glorious planet has to offer.
Assuming that idea is true we are often surprised when world seems to be smaller than we think. We can discover unexplained coincidences, and strange occurrences where our perception of the world's size is altered. Recently I have found many of these surrounding other people in my life. I went away to University and met new people from all over the United Kingdom and found that one of my new classmates was dating a guy from my secondary school. They are now living together not far from me! I have recently re-met an old acquaintance and found that they live round the corner from my grandparents! You can bump into old friends after years have gone past and they already know your new best friend. A famous idea that relates to this is the 'six degrees of separation' concept created by Frigyes Karinthy and then written into a play by John Guare. It is the 'idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.'
With social networking sites like Facebook it is often quite easy to see how this concept works with the 'mutual friends' feature. We are often surprised at how our friends from one area of our life know others from a completely unrelated area.
Whether these concepts and occurrences are all just coincidences not to be analysed or explained, remains the question. I seem to overuse the world 'random' when describing something that I find surprising or out of the ordinary. While some may argue that everything is random, I am then without a word to describe what such affairs mean.
Without an explanation and not even sure if I need one I am left to realise that It's a small world after all and in the words of the Disneyland Attraction, 'It's a world of laughter, A world of tears. It's a world of hopes, And a world of fears. There's so much that we share, That it's time we're aware, It's a small world after all.'
Assuming that idea is true we are often surprised when world seems to be smaller than we think. We can discover unexplained coincidences, and strange occurrences where our perception of the world's size is altered. Recently I have found many of these surrounding other people in my life. I went away to University and met new people from all over the United Kingdom and found that one of my new classmates was dating a guy from my secondary school. They are now living together not far from me! I have recently re-met an old acquaintance and found that they live round the corner from my grandparents! You can bump into old friends after years have gone past and they already know your new best friend. A famous idea that relates to this is the 'six degrees of separation' concept created by Frigyes Karinthy and then written into a play by John Guare. It is the 'idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer.'
With social networking sites like Facebook it is often quite easy to see how this concept works with the 'mutual friends' feature. We are often surprised at how our friends from one area of our life know others from a completely unrelated area.
Whether these concepts and occurrences are all just coincidences not to be analysed or explained, remains the question. I seem to overuse the world 'random' when describing something that I find surprising or out of the ordinary. While some may argue that everything is random, I am then without a word to describe what such affairs mean.
Without an explanation and not even sure if I need one I am left to realise that It's a small world after all and in the words of the Disneyland Attraction, 'It's a world of laughter, A world of tears. It's a world of hopes, And a world of fears. There's so much that we share, That it's time we're aware, It's a small world after all.'
Wednesday 11 August 2010
Who needs realism?
Over the last three years I have become more realistic as a person. Whether this was intentional I am yet to know, but it is an attribute that comes with growing up and one that unfortunately cannot be avoided.
Realism affects our ambitions, our hopes and dreams. That's why children are encouraged to fantasise, create stories and fuel their imagination in every way possible. Their innocence, determination and positivity is short lived. By adulthood it is replaced, by responsibility, cynicism and realism.
Often having a realistic outlook is beneficial. It is part of self-preservation, by enclosing ourselves in the idea of realism we expect to be disappointed, rejected and confused. That way we do not set our sights above our reach and can be pleasantly surprised on the rare occasions when our negativity is proved false.
However, realism can also cause extreme bitterness as it can vanquish the purity of undiluted ambition and prevent the desire to succeed. Many of us give up before we have begun, not because we don't believe we can do it, but because the stakes are too high and the statistics are against us. Therefore we provide the excuse that we are just being realistic.
I have uttered the previous sentence on many occasions in the last year, but when someone asked where my ambition had gone, I thought it was still intact just slightly matured. I was wrong it had been worn, eaten away by the need to grow up and think of the obtainable.
What is realism anyway? It is defined as 'a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary' in the dictionary. So a dream is now considered impractical. Haven't they missed the point? The whole idea of dreaming is to reach for something more, something you cant see, something that you may never reach but at least you tried.
That is the point, to try. To endeavour to reach your own goals however unachievable they seem on a daily basis. However realistic we are, we cannot foresee the future. We do not know what reality may throw back at us. How do we know if reality as we know it even exists at all? We don't.
So next time you really really want something that's slightly out of reach, dont accept that it is too difficult and impractical. Just ask youself, 'Who needs realism?'
Realism affects our ambitions, our hopes and dreams. That's why children are encouraged to fantasise, create stories and fuel their imagination in every way possible. Their innocence, determination and positivity is short lived. By adulthood it is replaced, by responsibility, cynicism and realism.
Often having a realistic outlook is beneficial. It is part of self-preservation, by enclosing ourselves in the idea of realism we expect to be disappointed, rejected and confused. That way we do not set our sights above our reach and can be pleasantly surprised on the rare occasions when our negativity is proved false.
However, realism can also cause extreme bitterness as it can vanquish the purity of undiluted ambition and prevent the desire to succeed. Many of us give up before we have begun, not because we don't believe we can do it, but because the stakes are too high and the statistics are against us. Therefore we provide the excuse that we are just being realistic.
I have uttered the previous sentence on many occasions in the last year, but when someone asked where my ambition had gone, I thought it was still intact just slightly matured. I was wrong it had been worn, eaten away by the need to grow up and think of the obtainable.
What is realism anyway? It is defined as 'a concern for fact or reality and rejection of the impractical and visionary' in the dictionary. So a dream is now considered impractical. Haven't they missed the point? The whole idea of dreaming is to reach for something more, something you cant see, something that you may never reach but at least you tried.
That is the point, to try. To endeavour to reach your own goals however unachievable they seem on a daily basis. However realistic we are, we cannot foresee the future. We do not know what reality may throw back at us. How do we know if reality as we know it even exists at all? We don't.
So next time you really really want something that's slightly out of reach, dont accept that it is too difficult and impractical. Just ask youself, 'Who needs realism?'
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