I was about 27 when I realised what = means. I'd always just kinda taken it to indicate something more like "and then". So 2 + 3 and then you have 5. It blew my mind to understand that = means that what's on each side of the equation is the same, just written differently. I had this epiphany after I finished an MSc. My childhood was somewhat math deficient.
It's amazing how similar we all are and yet can have such drastically different understandings of the world.
I suppose we must all take for granted the ideas we've lived with that we perceive as knowledge. To me it is mind boggling to not see = as equivalence, but that is the way with understandings formed long ago.
An anecdote to give you an idea of a different way of thinking. When I was very young I didn't have any friends and played a lot of games, including quite a few with map builders like warcraft 3 and age of mythology. This was a very early taste of programming.
Because of this however, when we got to learning about equations in school, I already had a more procedural idea of how things work. If I do 2 + 3, something gives me 5. This way of thinking was pretty good for algebraic problems but absolutely demolished my understanding of geometry.I only managed to get over it and understand equivalences in my third year of engineering school because I was doing terrible in the courses.
I'm pretty sure our way of thinking is extremely affected by our early lives and how our young brains optimized themselves to solve ever increasing challenges
Reincarnation is true, although not necessarily how it's usually portraited.
Reincarnation means becoming flesh again. I am the flesh of my mother and father and all the living beings I've eaten. And my grandmother and grandfather, and all the species before homo sapiens, up until the first living being.
I don't have memory like "that day when I was chased by hyenas in Africa", but I have a type of memory encoded in my DNA. My fear of snakes, my disgust for bitter foods, the color of my skin, and much more. These come from my past lives.
If I have kids, I'll also reincarnate myself. But even if I don't, my body will feed other living beings, and the molecules that now constitute "me" will constitute someone else. Given billion of years, someday parts of me and you will roam the earth as some future being.
I always had a hard time accepting some religious ideas because they required so much magic thinking that my reaction was to discard them. My epiphany was realizing that many have a core of truth. It's all a matter of perspective.
Joseph Campbell's theory of archetypes blew my mind. He basically reverse-engineered stories and myths from cultures past and present from around the world to find the common "hero stories." So, studying primitive, superstitious passed down "myths" can lead to deeper understanding of the human psyche and real universal, timeless truths.
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[ 3.1 ms ] story [ 31.8 ms ] threadI suppose we must all take for granted the ideas we've lived with that we perceive as knowledge. To me it is mind boggling to not see = as equivalence, but that is the way with understandings formed long ago.
Because of this however, when we got to learning about equations in school, I already had a more procedural idea of how things work. If I do 2 + 3, something gives me 5. This way of thinking was pretty good for algebraic problems but absolutely demolished my understanding of geometry.I only managed to get over it and understand equivalences in my third year of engineering school because I was doing terrible in the courses.
I'm pretty sure our way of thinking is extremely affected by our early lives and how our young brains optimized themselves to solve ever increasing challenges
Reincarnation means becoming flesh again. I am the flesh of my mother and father and all the living beings I've eaten. And my grandmother and grandfather, and all the species before homo sapiens, up until the first living being.
I don't have memory like "that day when I was chased by hyenas in Africa", but I have a type of memory encoded in my DNA. My fear of snakes, my disgust for bitter foods, the color of my skin, and much more. These come from my past lives.
If I have kids, I'll also reincarnate myself. But even if I don't, my body will feed other living beings, and the molecules that now constitute "me" will constitute someone else. Given billion of years, someday parts of me and you will roam the earth as some future being.
I always had a hard time accepting some religious ideas because they required so much magic thinking that my reaction was to discard them. My epiphany was realizing that many have a core of truth. It's all a matter of perspective.
For insights like this and more, check out the "Religion for the non-religious" post by waitbutwhy: https://waitbutwhy.com/2014/10/religion-for-the-nonreligious...