I remember that I had enlightenment for about two days, back in fourth grade.
But of course, it wasn’t real enlightenment, because I can explain what I mean.
When you consider whether to do something (e.g. my fourth-grade homework), you do many things. You think about what other people will think. You execute habits, both good and bad. You might let yourself get distracted, which is itself a sort of habit. And there is also some small part of you that can predict the costs and benefits of doing the thing.
In my state of enlightenment, I felt the costs and benefits, and then I did the thing. And what this felt like was that I was just able to satisfy or turn off all those other things I do when planning. There is a relationship here to generating validation from within—and then using that validation to fix some of your mental machinery, like the mental machine that worries about what other people will think, in one state.
So, either enlightenment, or someone spiked my water with Ritalin.
I remember that I had enlightenment for about two days, back in fourth grade.
But of course, it wasn’t real enlightenment, because I can explain what I mean.
When you consider whether to do something (e.g. my fourth-grade homework), you do many things. You think about what other people will think. You execute habits, both good and bad. You might let yourself get distracted, which is itself a sort of habit. And there is also some small part of you that can predict the costs and benefits of doing the thing.
In my state of enlightenment, I felt the costs and benefits, and then I did the thing. And what this felt like was that I was just able to satisfy or turn off all those other things I do when planning. There is a relationship here to generating validation from within—and then using that validation to fix some of your mental machinery, like the mental machine that worries about what other people will think, in one state.
So, either enlightenment, or someone spiked my water with Ritalin.