To assume, one of my favorite professors always said, makes an ass out of you and me.
She taught me, and I ASSUME the rest of the class about assumptions, though of course I shouldn't assume, after all how do I know if the others were paying attention that lecture? Paid it any heed if they did? Maybe they took something out of it completely different than I did?
It's hard not to assume it's built into us, it makes life, makes THINKING easier to do. Think how much time you would have to spend on THINKING if you didn't assume. Didn't stereotype, didn't categorize? We do it not just in thought but also when we process memory, process hearing, process vision. How many times have you read or seen something that turned out to be something completely different when you took a closer look?
Our minds are, not to say lazy, but they prioritize, you assume that the round ball you saw was just that a ball and not let's say a melon, or a rock. The mind categorizes incredibly quickly or most likely if it didn't you'd spend most of your time just listening, watching and feeling.
Which isn't to say that is wrong, I think everyone needs to do that. Everyone needs to stop, and look, examine and understand what it is that they are assuming with every breath, every thought.
This can take a life time.
And no I'm not saying that I am better than the rest, I know for fact that I assume all the time. But every so often I will catch myself and go, "Enh, isn't that funny." And start 'looking' examining what it is that drove me to categorize or assume something about what I have seen/heard/felt/etc.
When I do I find myself delving deep, looking anew at things I've learned or experienced years ago and even just moments before hand. Why did I assume that melon was a ball? Well seems that it was in the middle of a basketball court. (No I have not recently mistaken a melon for a ball, but that is the first example I could think of.)
I find myself often sitting on a bus, train, metro, or walking, just thinking about my thoughts and where they lead and what is it that others think? Do I have any right to think that I can even guess at what others think? To be able to understand the forces, internal and external, that have shaped them.
I find myself more and more often looking more inside myself, and less outward for answers.
How can I understand anything if I do not first understand myself?
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A couple of thoughts. First i think id separate the 2 concepts assumptions via thinking vs/ assumptions via sensory information processing. In one you consciously assume stuff and come to some conclusion in other your sight or hearing (or some other sensory physiological process) makes a decision that you often not even aware of or do not control.
ReplyDeleteSecond, i think looking into yourself is good, but you cannot take yourself completely out of your environment. In fact the best way to learn about yourself is often going through some new experience, then you have good material to introspect on. Often realizations come to you right when you have the experience without deep introspection. This is coming form a REALLY deep introspecter ))