I learned a very important lesson when i was 2 years old.

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That everyone in the entire world is at least to some degree clueless and unsure about everything they do and that is going on, and that people in this world survive solely by convincing themselves that at least SOMEONE if not them know what is going on and is handling stuff.

That someone is God. We learn that early and forget it for a long time, convinced we understand the unfathomable complexity of what is going on around us, living under the delusion that we are in control of anything. Then, we learn again the hard way we have no control, although it usually takes a sound pretty loud to wake us up. Trusting in that means to have faith.

Ever noticed how people will often blindly follow each other, if the person being followed just acts confident enough? It seems they are so much in need of a leader that they will follow anyone rather than no one at all.

It seems like people are fundamentally insecure and worried about doing the acceptable thing--so that any action is made easier if someone else is also following that same action. Like that study by Solomon Asch, where people would often point to the obviously incorrect answer if other people also did so...

Perhaps there was a deeper meaning than that that you have missed? I, personally, don't think that we have to convince ourselves that someone knows what they're doing. But rather, that because noone knows what they are doing, why worry?

Danlo wrote:
But rather, that because noone knows what they are doing, why worry?




Because if no one knows, then we are all in big trouble! Sort of like the Titanic! (only that captain KNEW, he just didn't BELIEVE!)

Humans generally like predictability and stability, and believing "someone else" is handling things gives one a sense of inner comfort-- whether or not someone is actually handling things.

I was generalizing. I continue to exist because I don't care. But the number of people in this world which need to believe that they or someone else is right or knows what theyre doing or has a purpose and a plan for us suggests to me that that lesson i mentioned is a good rule of thumb. I know some people continue to exist for different reasons than what i mentioned, i was intentionally being a bit cynical.

The assumption that people who believe that someone is in charge just need someone to follow and so they throw in their lot with whoever they believe that someone to be, is presumptious and not necessarily true. There actually is someone in charge whether some admit/like that or not; and following that someone is optional. (of course, like everything in life, there are consequences.)

Strange, my Mommy is still trying to drill that lesson into me. I keep on believing that everyone else knows what is going on, as if Sally and Ann are part of an enormous telepathic network and I am the only clueless one.
That is not to say that I believe every idea ever to be adhered to by large masses--I can think half the planet is incorrect about something and still admire their ability to have figured out what they were supposed to be thinking. Alternatively, I can sometimes assume that they all know something I do not, and wait in frustration for that elusive piece fo data to be revealed. Inevitable manifestations of human stupidity are good for wiping out my assumption of collective knowledge, but it the truth is sinking in very, very slowly.

I think it's amazing how we, as humans, manage to confuse ourselves by linking so many ideas together. Religion and politics are prime candidates for this. That everything happened by accident in the universe goes against every bit of overwhelming evidence we have. How do we talk ourselves out of knowing something so ultimately axiomatic? We take the concept of a creator and link him with an abusive nun, a polticial party, abortion rights, a priest's face we don't like, a television personality that said the wrong thing, some friend of a certain religion that did something we didn't like -- it even more mundane and silly -- the list goes on, until the very concept is in the center of this big ball of riding ideas that have nothing to do with the core. We take enough stuff around the core and say, "I know this to be false," and then apply that conclusion to the core by association. It's a fascinating thing to watch and, perhaps, the very mechanism that leads to irrational thought.

It amazes me that people can see everything that was made and say, "My, some dust particles collided and made everything in the universe. No one is in charge. We can just do whatever we feel is right for us" Sounds like fairy dust.

Exactly! And since we link behavior to religion, religion to the creator, because we resent being told what to do, we resent religion and, if the resentment is deep enough, that resentment bleeds to the idea of a creator. It's a network of linked thoughts. The stronger the emotion, the more that emotion travels to those other thoughts and affects our perception of them. It's fascinating how this happens and is the very means that politicans and corporations use to control us.

I think part of being an aspie is having a natural immunity to a lot of that, which frustrates a lot of authority figures, particularly corporations, that are going to rate your worth based on how much you non-verbally and verbally show that you are a "true believer" in what they've told you to link together and feel. Since we don't think that way, we get in trouble, even when we don't open our mouths. Our ability to take things literally can be an asset and a form of protection against exploitation.

We just have to learn how to smile and nod like Winston in 1984 to get through the day. I've gotten good at that.

I'm not very good at smiling and nodding. I am always going against the grain, it seems: at church, at college, at social gatherings, at home.
I guess that's not one of the lessons I learned when I was two.

(I had to tie this in to this thread somehow! Is that like smiling and nodding? Maybe I am getting good at this!)

You can get away with that at college. Once you have bills to pay, everything changes!

Well, it's worked so far since my college classes are on-line and I am self-employed (cleaning houses) but I still feel like I'm selling out if I smile and nod. This is bad because I feel that if I haven't learned how to play the game by age 38, I'm in trouble when I graduate and attempt to work in the school system.

Is the "smile and nod" game pretty much the same as the "kiss your butt" game?
'Cuz I'm not good at that one, either.

It's unfortunate, but true: it isn't what you know or what you can do, it is how you make those in power feel. If you're lucky, you can make someone feel greed because they think they can use you for their own ends. It's sad, but true.