#ways of thinking

[honourablejester]

I just went swimming, my second time swimming in the sea this month, after nearly two years without getting to. It was excellent. You don’t know how much I’ve desperately missed the sea.

We were talking about orienteering on the drive home, however, because we drove past a place you used to be able to do that, at least a decade or so ago, I’m not sure if they still do it, and we were talking about maps and being able to read maps and having a decent sense of direction, and it reminded me …

One of the moments I’ll never forget in college was a class on how to read the Ordnance Survey maps (OS maps for short, really excellent maps of Ireland with a LOT of detail and information), and the lecturer had put up a magnified section of the map on the projector and was asking us questions about it. One of the questions was a grid reference between two contour lines, and he was asking what height range the reference was in. One of the lines was numbered, but the height of the other line was off the edge of the magnified section of map, so we only knew one of the line heights for definite. So basically, if you’re just using the lines, it’s plus-or-minus 100ft and we don’t know which. He asked for the height range, and the first person he asked guessed wrong. Then he asked me, and I gave the right range, and he asked how I knew. And I said that there was a spot height on the other side of the line from our grid reference that was higher, so we were clearly on the lower side of the range, plus we were on the side of the line with the river, so that also placed it lower.

And another girl in the class, looking at me, asked in this sort of shocked tone: “Wait, are we allowed to do that?”

Are we allowed to use other environmental information to figure out where on the map we are. It always struck me as such a weird question. Like she thought it was cheating, that because the question was based on the contour lines that we could only use them to figure out where we were, even when half that information was missing on the section of map we had.

It says something, I think, about the way we’re taught to look at problems and information, that we look at them in this really artificial and isolated way. There was all sorts of information around the lines on the map that could be used to help figure out what side of them we were on, and that’s actually the point of reading a map, to help yourself figure out where you are using whatever information you have, but she just … apparently felt like that was almost cheating? That because the question was asking in a class setting and it was asked about a particular feature, that you could only use that feature to answer it, even if, in this particular instance, that wasn’t actually possible.

I don’t know, that moment always felt really strange and weird to me, and in hindsight I think it does highlight a sort of … artificiality about how we’re taught to use information sometimes? How school sort of breeds in this instinctive and honestly arbitrary notion of what sort of information we’re allowed to use, and how things like open-book learning and contextual and environmental clues are, if not forbidden, at least apparently frowned upon. And I know there are circumstances where the environment can bias interpretation of information, and that is the sort of thing where there are pros and cons depending on the situation, but it just …

It stuck with me. The sort of shock she had. That the question was phrased, not as ‘wait, should we do that’ but as ‘wait, are we allowed to do that’. Allowed. Not ‘is that method a good method to use, will it affect the information somehow’ but ‘is that a method we’re allowed to use, will we get punished for relying on information we weren’t specifically told was permitted’.

I’m not sure how to fully articulate why that moment stuck with me so much. In the moment, it just felt strange and weird, that way when you just bump into a way of thinking that just strikes you as weird because it didn’t occur to you that that could even be a question, but …

In hindsight I think it really does say something about the ways we’re taught to think and view information, both finding it and using it.

IDK, it was just a weird moment, and it really stuck with me

[bitletsanddrabbles]

Fellow Writers: How Do You Write?

One of the things I get complimented on the most is my dialogue. Particularly with Mrs. Hughes, people comment that they can hear Phyllis Logan saying the lines. The easiest answer to this is that I’m a highly auditory writer. I hear the dialogue in my head before I put it down. The better I can hear a character’s voice in my head, the easier a time I have writing them. Now, this isn’t the only criteria for my being able to write a character, mind. If it were, I could write O’Brien. I do need to be able to get into the character’s head as well, but the sound still needs to be there and the ones I can hear best are the ones I can write best as supporting characters.

(There is a slight exception here in the Dowager Countess, but that’s because I just can’t come up with that many zingers in a row. Seriously, Violet needs to be On Point, and if she’s not talking to you today, that doesn’t happen.)

On the other hand, one of my betas has stated that she’s a highly visual writer (and reader). She can see what’s happening, in detail, which I honestly have a lot more difficulty with. For her a story - whether she’s writing it or reading it - is like a movie.

So I’m curious - how do you write? Auditory? Visual? Tactile?

[interestedinthosegirls]

I wish the world was as innocent as children are. So loving and understanding, unjudging, and willing to learn. There is peace in their bones and it's stolen from their soul when the rest of the world gets jealous that they don't think like them. They take away all of that innocence and feed them cruel thinking and it feels like emptiness. We suck the life out of the most growthful beings on this planet, to what? Cause chaos? Make yourself feel as if your way of thinking is right? To not feel alone in your darkness? If only you let their light in and allowed their seeds of love to grow within you, we wouldn't be in this mess.

-j.g.

[ricardochavezt]

Do you file things away or throw them in a pile?

[curvymommy70]

What are your top 3?

[karlyanalora]

There is no escape from philosophy [or ideas]. the question is only whether a philosophy is conscious or not, whether it is good or bad, muddled or clear. Anyone who rejects philosophy is himself unconsciously practicing a philosophy.

Karl Jaspers

This is so true. In my psychology class we are exploring the ideas behind different psychological and scientific theories and it’s fascinating. Greek philosophy shapes Western thinking and honestly, the conclusions of those ideas are not great. There’s a lot of truth to them, but it’s not perfect. I implore you to do a little searching and find the assumptions behind your thinking and see where it leads and if you agree with the conclusion. Become conscious of your philosophy so you can change it if it’s not healthy.

[mythicalllamaxo]

That made me sad too, especially as someone who has been in that spot and had it drilled into me that everything is always my fault. It’s hard to overcome that thinking. I absolutely adore Link and don’t like to see him be sad either. I wished I could hug him. 🤗

Yes anon, it’s hard to overcome thinking that way, I know it to be true, I myself deal with that daily and have been my entire life. Just know that no matter what others say, you’re worth it and if no one else thinks so, know that I do, I’m a very excepting and loving person and care about people equally, doesn’t matter who or what you are and also know that it’s NOT YOUR FAULT!!!! I too adore Link and if I could give him a hug either to make him feel better or just cause I would without a doubt do so. Honestly if anyone(within reason) asked me for a hug whether because they needed one, wanted one, whatever I would.