A lot, but not all of my fears, centre on the following nexus. Within this nexus there are numerous variations on a theme and elaborations, and I am perhaps misrepresenting what is going on in some respects, but this is the basic story. Suppose a random thought of groping someone on the subway pops into your head. At first, so long as you recognise that they are not really your thoughts or desires this thought may not be very frightening. Suppose though that you began to worry that because such thoughts had popped into your head so many times, that you might perform them on auto-pilot- as a kind of mechanical reflex- without even being aware of it, and certainly not intending to. You now have a plausible story about why you should be afraid of these thoughts, and a story about why being afraid of these thoughts is dangerous in itself. So trying to be rid of these thoughts becomes like trying not to think of a pink elephant. You will think these thoughts more because you perceive them as dangerous, and in your mind that makes them even more dangerous. — dePonySum
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