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Is thought just a metaphor?
May. 27th, 2011 03:42 pmFor a long time now, I've been pretty comfortable with the idea that time is not actually any sort of real thing unto itself, it's just a useful metaphor that is rarely contradicted.
In a similar way, it just occurred to me that thought itself may be just a metaphor: we only *think* that cogitation is what we're doing when we think about cogitation.
(is that meta enough for you?)
Now if you want to transcend the metaphor of time, there are some fancy mathematical tools out there that do some pretty counter-intuitive things. And it can be pleasant having ones preconceptions shattered.
But try to do the same for thought, and it's not pleasant at all. I feel as if I'm teetering n the brink of some kind of existential abyss where I can't even claim authorship over my own mind.
If there were a way to break the metaphor that didn't violate one's spiritual assumptions, though, then I don't think it would hurt much at all. So I guess it's time to firm up on the woo-woo.
In a similar way, it just occurred to me that thought itself may be just a metaphor: we only *think* that cogitation is what we're doing when we think about cogitation.
(is that meta enough for you?)
Now if you want to transcend the metaphor of time, there are some fancy mathematical tools out there that do some pretty counter-intuitive things. And it can be pleasant having ones preconceptions shattered.
But try to do the same for thought, and it's not pleasant at all. I feel as if I'm teetering n the brink of some kind of existential abyss where I can't even claim authorship over my own mind.
If there were a way to break the metaphor that didn't violate one's spiritual assumptions, though, then I don't think it would hurt much at all. So I guess it's time to firm up on the woo-woo.
