@GeoEng51 said:
My thoughts on this are a bit different. I feel there is value in understanding how we reached the point at which we now are in life; retaining some vestiges of the journey is necessary in that regard. And sharing the journey helps instruct or mentor others. I find myself in that position with many young engineers - they always appreciate the embarrassing stories of their "senior" as it illustrates that we are all on a similar journey. The lessons are better understood within their context. There is no shame in making mistakes or discovering truths about ourselves from experience.
Records would fall under self-created historical records.
I'll have to refine the presentation of my position. I always think through the lens of pure knowledge work first. Thinking always comes in iterations, and most of them are forgotten anyway. Nobody knows the various ways how to fall from the bike. We just ride the bike.
The journey, however, is already a refined experience, enriched with meaning and has a real purpose to serve.
Examples of my trash-bin-philosophy of self-reflection:
I don't have any pictures of my ex-girlfriends and though I wrote a lot about my relationship to the other sex, I am married and left everything behind. I don't have any relationship to the other sex, but just a relationship to my wife.
I did a lot of reflection on my role in life in general and how to conduct myself. Now, I both know the process and I have no questions left about me. All that writing and drawing is also in the trash.
I rarely make pictures in general. I'd rather just be in the moment, instead of treating the present as the future's past, which prevents the mind from truly connecting to Being.
I don't visit the grave of my father. I visited it once after the funeral. Then, I only went there only if I am asked to show it. I completely processed the death of my father. There are open loops that cannot be closed, and I just live with it. Instead, I just focus on my task which is to improve what my father gave me (lectures, character, etc.) and try to let go of the mistakes he did.
To me, the past is only as relevant as it helps me to deal with the present or prepare the future.
You will find that when you are 70+, your memory is not as good as it once was, and having a few recall aids is essential. I was writing about some memories of my oldest (47-year-old) daughter this past week and was startled by how difficult it was to recall details of her life. I was thankful for many albums of photographs.
I am thinking about that. I, personally, don't look at my old photos. I stored them just in case and to show my wife and daughter. But I'll set up a routine with my wife to create a rough log for the development of our family. I shouldn't impose my inclinations on my family.
None of the practical insights I ever had spawned from meticulous records.
Perhaps I should point out that if one is using a Zettelkasten for wissenschaftliches Arbeiten (scientific/scholarly works), keeping meticulous records of evidence and arguments (even the evidence and arguments that one is arguing against), and using relevant epistemic metadata (as discussed above back in December), is good data management for producing competent work ("Behind every great research project is great data management"). This is particularly true when using methods such as reflective equilibrium that involve trying to construct a theory from competing claims. Such theory construction is very different from learning to ride a bike, the analogy that @Sascha used in the previous comment. Constructing a scientific/scholarly theory is mostly explicit and propositional and aims to become public knowledge, whereas learning to ride a bike is mostly implicit and non-propositional and remains private knowledge.
When I wrote above about rival hypotheses back in December, it was such wissenschaftliches Arbeiten that I was thinking about. My own note system is partly devoted to this kind of research, and the argumentative conventions that I use for that research tend to affect the rest of my notes about more personal issues. But, of course, meticulous data management may be completely inappropriate for someone who is not involved in such research.
The journey, however, is already a refined experience, enriched with meaning and has a real purpose to serve.
I agree. And the meaning is not always or completely apparent in the moment. Some of it comes over time and with reflection brought on by and in the light of subsequent experiences and learnings.
Examples of my trash-bin-philosophy of self-reflection...
I rarely make pictures in general. I'd rather just be in the moment, instead of treating the present as the future's past, which prevents the mind from truly connecting to Being.
The two are not mutually exclusive
I don't visit the grave of my father. I visited it once after the funeral. Then, I only went there only if I am asked to show it. I completely processed the death of my father. There are open loops that cannot be closed, and I just live with it. Instead, I just focus on my task which is to improve what my father gave me (lectures, character, etc.) and try to let go of the mistakes he did.
I certainly think that way about my father. However, my mother died when I was three years old, which led to a decade or more of loneliness, until I connected with others as an adult. I don't go to my mother's grave often - once every few years or so. I use those visits to contemplate what changes have occurred in my life and, odd as it may seem, to "report in" to her. I have few memorabilia of her life (a couple of photos, old bible, address book) and even fewer memories. Infrequently, I feel the need to revisit those. Perhaps it is just fanciful thinking on my part, but on those occasions I feel a present connection to her and I don't want to lose that.
To me, the past is only as relevant as it helps me to deal with the present or prepare the future.
You will find that when you are 70+, your memory is not as good as it once was, and having a few recall aids is essential. I was writing about some memories of my oldest (47-year-old) daughter this past week and was startled by how difficult it was to recall details of her life. I was thankful for many albums of photographs.
I am thinking about that. I, personally, don't look at my old photos. I stored them just in case and to show my wife and daughter. But I'll set up a routine with my wife to create a rough log for the development of our family. I shouldn't impose my inclinations on my family.
In the past year, three older relatives have died. I was close to one aunt but not as close to two other aunts (once removed). There are cousins and second cousins who were in a similar position - we were simply living our own lives and communicating only occasionally. Now, we are talking quite a bit, and the focus of those discussions is mostly reflecting on the lives of those who have died, using old letters and photos as a source of information. Remembering and sharing memories brings a degree of comfort, as we renew our connections to those people.
As an aside, I have always regretted that I learn much more about a person at their funeral than during their lives.
I have a pack of letters from my mother's father, written to me when I was between eight and seventeen years old. Again, I look at those only on the odd occasion, usually as prompted by some thought or feeling. When I do, I enjoy reminding myself of how our relationship felt and what I learned from him.
Hopefully I have encouraged you to save a few things for later, when you will want to remind yourself about feelings and teachings that have fled from your memory. Clearly, some things don't need to be remembered and you can safely let those records go. But others deserve to be retained and remembered.
I rarely make pictures in general. I'd rather just be in the moment, instead of treating the present as the future's past, which prevents the mind from truly connecting to Being.
The two are not mutually exclusive
Elaborating on what @GeoEng51 said: The present is, of course, always already the future's past and the past's future: ignoring this fact does not make one's mind more truly connected to Being. In the context of this forum, I'm thinking about Sascha's position in terms of the criterion of value creation: Would taking photos in the present situation create or destroy value? It is understandable that Sascha does not want to reduce the value he finds in the present moment, and it may be that he has so little interest in and enjoyment of photography that taking photos would destroy value for him. In contrast, I enjoy making, editing, and viewing photos so much—and I learn so much from them, not to mention what other people might learn from them—that photography pretty much always enhances both my knowledge of and experience of Being. Many photos convey so much more information than I could have comprehended in real-time that a photo often does much more than combat the forgetting curve: it gives me insight that was impossible to capture without the camera.
@Sascha I envy your certainty and serenity. This is for sure a fascinating subject. I love your analogy of falling from the bike Vs. riding the bike. But is life that clear cut? (Not a rhetorical question, a sincere one, for which I have no answer.)
I would venture that the underlying philosophical outlook is the space made for mistakes. Mistakes inform our path, leading where we are now, stronger from them. Can we trash them, considering they have served our purpose, or do we think they hold value still for the future? I currently lean towards thinking that when we do, we recognize that our current understanding is incomplete – indeed, our current understanding of ourselves may well be always incomplete – and that the current state may inherently be tomorrow the mistake of yesterday.
But no absolute governing principle may reign here. Always consider you are in a state of error and you do nothing because nothing has value; always consider you are right and you leave no room for evolution. As with so many things, this is a state of balance.
I have gone way off the path (and it's gonna get worse, brace yourselves), but I believe the way you think about those things will reflect in your PKM. And I believe a useful lens to view this is not being but direction. Not what is current, but what will lead you forward. The real game is identifying the directions you are aiming towards, and owning them. What is it you are trying to achieve? When so many self-development talk about "personal truth", I think this is where it lies. What is it you want to move forwards to?
I trash all notes when a book is done. I only keep that which can help build further stories in the same universe and the lessons of process earned along the way. All of this will get more refined in the next projects, which are made of intent.
This post is in no way an answer to anything. 😆
"A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it." - Ernest Hemingway
I rarely make pictures in general. I'd rather just be in the moment, instead of treating the present as the future's past, which prevents the mind from truly connecting to Being.
The two are not mutually exclusive
Elaborating on what @GeoEng51 said: The present is, of course, always already the future's past and the past's future: ignoring this fact does not make one's mind more truly connected to Being. In the context of this forum, I'm thinking about Sascha's position in terms of the criterion of value creation: Would taking photos in the present situation create or destroy value? It is understandable that Sascha does not want to reduce the value he finds in the present moment, and it may be that he has so little interest in and enjoyment of photography that taking photos would destroy value for him. In contrast, I enjoy making, editing, and viewing photos so much—and I learn so much from them, not to mention what other people might learn from them—that photography pretty much always enhances both my knowledge of and experience of Being. Many photos convey so much more information than I could have comprehended in real-time that a photo often does much more than combat the forgetting curve: it gives me insight that was impossible to capture without the camera.
AThere is a very important distinction between being in a moment or in the moment. I wish I did on purpose, but at least incidentally I always wrote the moment.
When I play with my daughter, I am in this moment with her. To even think of the act of taking a photo, I'd have to remove myself from the moment and diving into another. The very act of thinking of a making a photo entails break of the flow and then entering another one. First, I was with my daughter. Then I will be an observer of my daughter. If I would have been an observer from the get go, let's say I'd watch her play with my wife from a distance, it would be different. This is, however, never the case. I am always involved and with my daughter (not truly always, but it is the ideal that I strive to).
B The Present is neither just a point in time nor metaphysical.
This quote stood out to me.
@Andy said:
The present is, (1) of course, (2) always(3) already the future's past and the past's future: (4) ignoring this (5) fact does not make one's mind more truly connected to Being.
There are at least these five indicators of a dogma (the sixth would be the lack of argumentation or evidence for this very strong statement). I don't use the word "dogma" to criticise, but rather to indicate that this sentence is most likely connected to one or more core beliefs of you. So, I need to write the disclaimer: I try to be nice. However, I am unapologetic in my position.
If we are talking metaphysically about time, then this is pretty much an analytical truth which I wouldn't dare to dispute. At least, I cannot think about time in a different way and don't know how to even approach it without non-linear shenanigans that are even difficult to pull off in stories. (Good examples: 12 Monkeys, Memento; Bad examples: Everything MCU)
However, the moment is not a metaphysical phenomenon but a phenomenological one. (what a sentence...) Or, hopefully, better put: We are not talking about objective facts, but subjective relationships.
The Present, truly experienced,1 is eternal timelessness. Spiritual practices try to find words for that by imagining that there is some universal experiential ocean that you dive into and become part if you get in the moment. This is where the notion of a collective spirit is born. But this is also why both psychedelic drugs and unguided deep meditation practices mess with people's minds: When you get in the moment, you disconnect from the past and from the future subjectivelly (this is why this is antidepressant, antiruminant, antianxiolytic, anti sorrow), the mind sometimes can't take it. People get addicted to the accompanying emotions (spiritual bypass), misattribute the experience to them personally (spiritual materialism) etc.
When I am playing with my daughter, the moment asks from me to be with her as her father. Another moment might offer me to be a keen observer, a photographer and in that different state of Being even an artist. But being present with my daughter is fully filling my mind and soul. I do not have any alternative.
So, I am not ignoring a fact. Rather, nothing else can arise in my mind. Only later, when I am not in that moment, right now for example, I can lift my mind up and become an observer.
C There is a price that has to be paid.
There is one smile that will forever be engraved in both my mind and my soul: During the first time we went swimming. My daughter gave my wife a hard time the two times before and basically just screamed at her. I braced for a scream fest and it didn't happen. Instead, we had the greatest fun and joy I could imagine (until I messed up and she got a lot of water in her mouth... ). Memories of my father and me in the water crushed me with sorrow and happiness at the same time, the angelic face of my daughter (to make matters worse: my daughter is objectively blessed with an angelic face. I hope puberty doesn't messes her looks up), pride (in a narcissistic way) that of course my daughter likes swimming with me and much more -- all was focussed by the prism of the moment.
Last week, on the other hand, we went on a playground we had a great time. She sat on a swing on her own for the first time, we rode a big slide for the first time, we were crushing it. Every couple of minutes, my daughter made an effort to look me deep into my eyes and smile. Right now, it is one of my fondest memories. In a couple of weeks, I might still have it. But after that, it will be gone. My mind will merge these moments with other moments in a way that I will merely remember an amalgam of playground memories, some abstraction with a couple of instances that feel like real memories which might be just confabulations that my mind creates to give me something concrete.
Even just writing this elevates my fear of loss, and I can feel doubt rising from my subconsciousness. Perhaps, I could sneak in a photo, just to keep the memory. Be sure, that I have something concrete that assures me that at least these instances are real and not just confabulations.
But there is a sacrifice to be made: Being with my daughter is exactly 0 percent about me, exactly 100 % for my daughter. Everything that I feel, is a gift I thank God for. But even in the moments, when my daughter behaves like a little shit or I am tired, worry about something, or whatever tries to pull me from the moment and seduces me to commit the fallacy that I should take care of myself, too, I give 100 %.
D It is not about joy, but about meaning.
@Andy said:
Sascha does not want to reduce the value he finds in the present moment, and it may be that he has so little interest in and enjoyment of photography that taking photos would destroy value for him.
It is not about the value that I find or the value for me. It is not about that because it is not about me. This "me" is not part of the equation:
Technically, my ego disappears because of the nature of presence, flow etc.
Spiritually, I do not care about what I get from all of this. It is 0 % about the value I get and 100 % about the value I create. If there is something for me, awesome. If not, as equally good.2
E Yes, "ignoring" connects you to Being
This is the last pushback: All techniques of getting into the moment could be described as "ignoring that present is the future's past and the past's future."
One of the super powers of Michael Jordan was to ignore everything but the moment. (https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/founders/340-michael-jordan-and-kobe-09Tobc7ExYj/) One of the amazing quotes was: Their (both MJ and KB) mind was stronger than their emotions. This one way, often denied by spiritual bypassers, to get into the moment: Just using the strength of your mind to force it. (I don't think this is the best way and it often comes with a price for both oneself and for the others)
Attaining a mindful state entails a letting go, also off the past and the future.
The flow state entails letting go of the past and the future.
The list could go on and on with various experiences (from Kaufman, Trancend, 203, not fully processed by me):
The interplay by both states of being is one of the core abilities in my own work on way of living and Lifeworld. Applications are for example:
There are certain exercises that elicit the greatest benefit from your awareness. But often, they're still benefit from being quantified. The straight forward solution is to just set a timer and then just focussing on the exercise. You (1) treat the present as the future's past by making sure that you can measure the training volume, then (2) you let go of everything and get into the moment as deeply as you can.
I plan my week in distinct time blocks. This is especially important when I write or think: In my weekly review and preparation I (1) in advance setting up the frame work necessary (treating the future as presents to be experienced) and then (2) when the time block arises, ignore everything and get into the moment. It seems to be that the less technical the stuff to write is the more important this gets.
Even in writing. I took the opportunity to write about a certain phenomenon (treating the present as the future's past, or: the experiential as something to be recalled) by (1) seeing your reply as a writing prompt. However, (2) I copied the quote into a writing app and then fully immersed myself into writing an honest and authentic answer, directly from mind and soul to a fellow human being.
So, it is not about always ignoring a fact. It also not always just be in the moment. Rather, it is about oscillating to match what Life is asking you:
We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life — daily and hourly. (Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, don't know the page in English)
To hone in on the one point: I, at least this time, consciously contrasted "ignoring" with "letting go". It might be too much of a wordplay, but both terms mark two different types of flow (Waitzskin, 2007, 54):
Hard Zone. Roughly speaking, you force yourself in the moment by the power of your mind by ignoring everything else.
Soft Zone. Roughly speaking, you let go off distractions as soon as they enter the mind.
Josh Waitzkin (2007): The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, New York: Free Press.
The first one is achieved by forcefully ignoring everything else, the other one by softly letting go of whatever is not part of the moment. To me, the hidden difference is that the former is done by the mind, the later by the soul.
D Redeeming photography
This is a rather short one. Sometimes, you are just an observer anyway. When my daughter plays a sport, crushes her enemies, see them driven before her, and hears the lamentation of their parents, I can still cheer for her, be embarrassing, mess with the other children's parents destroying all sympathy for me while holding the camera. Or when there is a family gathering, we can together make a photo for good memories.
Or if you are not immersed, and there is no need to. This would be the case for me in family meetings, since I get bored by the adults talking most of the time (especially, with politics and stuff like that).
@KillerWhale said: @Sascha I envy your certainty and serenity. This is for sure a fascinating subject. I love your analogy of falling from the bike Vs. riding the bike. But is life that clear cut? (Not a rhetorical question, a sincere one, for which I have no answer.)
I cannot give you the direct quote, but it is from the Drenai Series by David Gemmel
He has true nobility in his heart: I knows that the world is grey in grey but he acts as if it was black and white.
I think the vast majority of the personal confusion about life is due to self-generated emotional turmoil. I really like the difference that can be found in Hinduism: Atman is the eternal soul while Ahamkara refers to your current soul. (Highly probable that I butcher the correct terms) The difference between the eternal and the current is the amount of confusion about Being and Life. So, I think Life is that clear cut. However, I don't see Truth and therefore take part in confusion. But the consequence to me is, that I attribute the confusion to me and not to Life.
However, the way how I present my ideas is also governed by my exceptionally low agreeableness (1st percentile), my exceptionally high assertiveness (98th percentile), and my high enthusiasm (70th percentile).
I would venture that the underlying philosophical outlook is the space made for mistakes. Mistakes inform our path, leading where we are now, stronger from them. Can we trash them, considering they have served our purpose, or do we think they hold value still for the future? I currently lean towards thinking that when we do, we recognize that our current understanding is incomplete – indeed, our current understanding of ourselves may well be always incomplete – and that the current state may inherently be tomorrow the mistake of yesterday.
Practically speaking: I would trash the mistakes themselves, but not the knowledge about the mistakes.
But no absolute governing principle may reign here. Always consider you are in a state of error and you do nothing because nothing has value; always consider you are right and you leave no room for evolution. As with so many things, this is a state of balance.
I think the trick is to be found in the above quote by Gemmell: I completely agree with you on a factual level: Nobody is exactly right anytime. But it is not about being right and the right solution is not to allow self-doubt to get a grip on you. Instead, it is about acknowledging that you only have the best option available to you and your honesty in its dependability. When you need to act, you act on the best you have, but fully commit to acting accordingly.
If I don't know if the area is secure, I need to be environmentally aware, take my weapons with me, and don't let my mind wonder. But I don't act upon my insecurity, flinching and allow my gaze to become restless. I am just mindful of the insecurity of the situation.
If I don't know if I got the basic facts right, I make sure that I communicate this to my wife. I need to first formulate my epistemic state, ask for her side, etc. But I don't overload my speech with markers of insecurities or feel afraid to stand by the facts that I see as facts.
I guess it's more about proper emotional regulation which then allows you to both act smoothly and still consider the eternal existence of the space in-between the isles of getting something right.
I have gone way off the path (and it's gonna get worse, brace yourselves), but I believe the way you think about those things will reflect in your PKM. And I believe a useful lens to view this is not being but direction. Not what is current, but what will lead you forward. The real game is identifying the directions you are aiming towards, and owning them. What is it you are trying to achieve? When so many self-development talk about "personal truth", I think this is where it lies. What is it you want to move forwards to?
Totally agreed.
I trash all notes when a book is done. I only keep that which can help build further stories in the same universe and the lessons of process earned along the way. All of this will get more refined in the next projects, which are made of intent.
This is interesting. I am really curious which notes you trash.
In an ironic twist, this is an empirical and objective fact, that can be measured and is often measured with interviews of meditators, in flow research, research and psychedelics etc. ↩︎
Luckily, it seems to be always the case that this creates lots of value for oneself. Sadly, I can only give you a Christian reasoning for that. But I am confident, that this can also be justified and explained in secular terms. (Ironically, this confidence is also fulled by my faith) ↩︎
@Sascha, I'm glad we provoked you into writing all that; it was fun to read. Thanks!
If we are talking metaphysically about time, then this is pretty much an analytical truth which I wouldn't dare to dispute.
That's why I said "of course". I assumed that you would agree with it as an a priori metaphysical framework, and you did. I don't consider it to be a Kantian ahistorical analytic a priori; I am a modern post-Kantian fallibilist, so there is no dogma here, just a reasonable assumption that has a history, although we don't need to rehash the history every time we invoke the assumption. And the framework itself is not a fact, but when we apply it to any data, we consider it a fact.
You are entitled to your subjective phenomenology, so I don't have much to say about that. I will just say that if my mind is 80% observing what is happening and responding to it, and 20% metacognitively assessing what it all means in light of my knowledge of the past and future, I do not feel disconnected from Being. I don't have to shut off that temporal metacognition to be in the moment and truly connecting to Being. I think that 20% metacognitive assessment, so to speak, helps me self-regulate and make wise decisions. I am not an athlete, but I imagine that Michael Jordan ignores everything but present-moment sense data because the game moves so fast with such a flood of new information that he doesn't have the cognitive bandwidth for anything else but playing the game, and he has to shut off any metacognition that doesn't help him play the game. So Jordan is not going to whip out his cell phone and take a photo while he's flying across the ball court.
For sure, there are situations where I have a responsibility to devote all my cognitive resources to interacting with other people, and/or where my cognitive capacity is limited, and taking photos would be irresponsible. If I am leading a workshop, I am not going to stop every five minutes and take photos: I have a responsibility to give my full attention to leading the workshop, and I have to assign the task of taking photos to someone else. But I will probably still want photos of the workshop, even if I can't take the photos myself, because the photography creates value, and not just for me. So the way to create the most value in that situation is to devote all my cognitive resources to leading the workshop and to ask someone else to take photos.
I agree with you that the general principle is "match what Life is asking you".
Even just writing this elevates my fear of loss, and I can feel doubt rising from my subconsciousness. Perhaps, I could sneak in a photo, just to keep the memory. Be sure, that I have something concrete that assures me that at least these instances are real and not just confabulations.
Last week, when I was writing a "post" about the childhood of my oldest daughter (who is turning 47 this year), I had to reach for an aide-mémoire. Some old photos helped, but the biggest bang came from reading my wife's journal. Her observations of our daughter's behaviour, written shortly after they occurred, were priceless.
My point is that if you normally don't want to take photographs, then writing about what happened (as you did in your post) will capture her behaviour and your thoughts and emotions, which, when you are my age, will help you not to lose the moment.
When we meet in heaven, we will discuss if I will be wrong. Right now, I'd rather take it on the chin then taking chances.
EDIT: My lifestyle might be an important context to understand my position. I have the following "hobbies" or moments of free time: I phone with Christian once per week and take a long hike with him once per week. In my movement breaks, I do 1-3 repetition of one arm chin-ups (with support). This considered hobby because doing this isn't purely justified by health span improvement, but rather by me practising this with an idiosyncratic aim. In the evening, when I am done reading non-fiction for work, I read a couple of pages of fiction writing. Other than that, I do nothing for leisure, for fun or something like that. Sometimes, I fail by falling victim to the YouTube algorithm when I need to find a video for a client or watch a talk on something. So, I am forced to really hyperfocus on all of what I do.
@Sascha, I prefer your earlier maxim "match what Life is asking you" over your latest maxim "really hyperfocus on all of what you do". I find that a broader awareness, including broader temporal metacognition, helps match what Life is asking me in general, and requires no less discipline than hyperfocus. But indeed this may be a lifestyle choice, and even to some degree an aesthetic choice.
Comments
Records would fall under self-created historical records.
I'll have to refine the presentation of my position. I always think through the lens of pure knowledge work first. Thinking always comes in iterations, and most of them are forgotten anyway. Nobody knows the various ways how to fall from the bike. We just ride the bike.
The journey, however, is already a refined experience, enriched with meaning and has a real purpose to serve.
Examples of my trash-bin-philosophy of self-reflection:
To me, the past is only as relevant as it helps me to deal with the present or prepare the future.
I am thinking about that. I, personally, don't look at my old photos. I stored them just in case and to show my wife and daughter. But I'll set up a routine with my wife to create a rough log for the development of our family. I shouldn't impose my inclinations on my family.
I am a Zettler
@ctietze said:
Perhaps I should point out that if one is using a Zettelkasten for wissenschaftliches Arbeiten (scientific/scholarly works), keeping meticulous records of evidence and arguments (even the evidence and arguments that one is arguing against), and using relevant epistemic metadata (as discussed above back in December), is good data management for producing competent work ("Behind every great research project is great data management"). This is particularly true when using methods such as reflective equilibrium that involve trying to construct a theory from competing claims. Such theory construction is very different from learning to ride a bike, the analogy that @Sascha used in the previous comment. Constructing a scientific/scholarly theory is mostly explicit and propositional and aims to become public knowledge, whereas learning to ride a bike is mostly implicit and non-propositional and remains private knowledge.
When I wrote above about rival hypotheses back in December, it was such wissenschaftliches Arbeiten that I was thinking about. My own note system is partly devoted to this kind of research, and the argumentative conventions that I use for that research tend to affect the rest of my notes about more personal issues. But, of course, meticulous data management may be completely inappropriate for someone who is not involved in such research.
I agree. And the meaning is not always or completely apparent in the moment. Some of it comes over time and with reflection brought on by and in the light of subsequent experiences and learnings.
The two are not mutually exclusive
I certainly think that way about my father. However, my mother died when I was three years old, which led to a decade or more of loneliness, until I connected with others as an adult. I don't go to my mother's grave often - once every few years or so. I use those visits to contemplate what changes have occurred in my life and, odd as it may seem, to "report in" to her. I have few memorabilia of her life (a couple of photos, old bible, address book) and even fewer memories. Infrequently, I feel the need to revisit those. Perhaps it is just fanciful thinking on my part, but on those occasions I feel a present connection to her and I don't want to lose that.
In the past year, three older relatives have died. I was close to one aunt but not as close to two other aunts (once removed). There are cousins and second cousins who were in a similar position - we were simply living our own lives and communicating only occasionally. Now, we are talking quite a bit, and the focus of those discussions is mostly reflecting on the lives of those who have died, using old letters and photos as a source of information. Remembering and sharing memories brings a degree of comfort, as we renew our connections to those people.
As an aside, I have always regretted that I learn much more about a person at their funeral than during their lives.
I have a pack of letters from my mother's father, written to me when I was between eight and seventeen years old. Again, I look at those only on the odd occasion, usually as prompted by some thought or feeling. When I do, I enjoy reminding myself of how our relationship felt and what I learned from him.
Hopefully I have encouraged you to save a few things for later, when you will want to remind yourself about feelings and teachings that have fled from your memory. Clearly, some things don't need to be remembered and you can safely let those records go. But others deserve to be retained and remembered.
@GeoEng51 said:
Elaborating on what @GeoEng51 said: The present is, of course, always already the future's past and the past's future: ignoring this fact does not make one's mind more truly connected to Being. In the context of this forum, I'm thinking about Sascha's position in terms of the criterion of value creation: Would taking photos in the present situation create or destroy value? It is understandable that Sascha does not want to reduce the value he finds in the present moment, and it may be that he has so little interest in and enjoyment of photography that taking photos would destroy value for him. In contrast, I enjoy making, editing, and viewing photos so much—and I learn so much from them, not to mention what other people might learn from them—that photography pretty much always enhances both my knowledge of and experience of Being. Many photos convey so much more information than I could have comprehended in real-time that a photo often does much more than combat the forgetting curve: it gives me insight that was impossible to capture without the camera.
@Andy Well said!
@Sascha I envy your certainty and serenity. This is for sure a fascinating subject. I love your analogy of falling from the bike Vs. riding the bike. But is life that clear cut? (Not a rhetorical question, a sincere one, for which I have no answer.)
I would venture that the underlying philosophical outlook is the space made for mistakes. Mistakes inform our path, leading where we are now, stronger from them. Can we trash them, considering they have served our purpose, or do we think they hold value still for the future? I currently lean towards thinking that when we do, we recognize that our current understanding is incomplete – indeed, our current understanding of ourselves may well be always incomplete – and that the current state may inherently be tomorrow the mistake of yesterday.
But no absolute governing principle may reign here. Always consider you are in a state of error and you do nothing because nothing has value; always consider you are right and you leave no room for evolution. As with so many things, this is a state of balance.
I have gone way off the path (and it's gonna get worse, brace yourselves), but I believe the way you think about those things will reflect in your PKM. And I believe a useful lens to view this is not being but direction. Not what is current, but what will lead you forward. The real game is identifying the directions you are aiming towards, and owning them. What is it you are trying to achieve? When so many self-development talk about "personal truth", I think this is where it lies. What is it you want to move forwards to?
I trash all notes when a book is done. I only keep that which can help build further stories in the same universe and the lessons of process earned along the way. All of this will get more refined in the next projects, which are made of intent.
This post is in no way an answer to anything. 😆
"A writer should write what he has to say and not speak it." - Ernest Hemingway
PKM: Obsidian + DEVONthink, tasks: OmniFocus, production: Scrivener / Ableton Live.
A There is a very important distinction between being in a moment or in the moment. I wish I did on purpose, but at least incidentally I always wrote the moment.
When I play with my daughter, I am in this moment with her. To even think of the act of taking a photo, I'd have to remove myself from the moment and diving into another. The very act of thinking of a making a photo entails break of the flow and then entering another one. First, I was with my daughter. Then I will be an observer of my daughter. If I would have been an observer from the get go, let's say I'd watch her play with my wife from a distance, it would be different. This is, however, never the case. I am always involved and with my daughter (not truly always, but it is the ideal that I strive to).
B The Present is neither just a point in time nor metaphysical.
This quote stood out to me.
There are at least these five indicators of a dogma (the sixth would be the lack of argumentation or evidence for this very strong statement). I don't use the word "dogma" to criticise, but rather to indicate that this sentence is most likely connected to one or more core beliefs of you. So, I need to write the disclaimer: I try to be nice. However, I am unapologetic in my position.
If we are talking metaphysically about time, then this is pretty much an analytical truth which I wouldn't dare to dispute. At least, I cannot think about time in a different way and don't know how to even approach it without non-linear shenanigans that are even difficult to pull off in stories. (Good examples: 12 Monkeys, Memento; Bad examples: Everything MCU)
However, the moment is not a metaphysical phenomenon but a phenomenological one. (what a sentence...) Or, hopefully, better put: We are not talking about objective facts, but subjective relationships.
The Present, truly experienced,1 is eternal timelessness. Spiritual practices try to find words for that by imagining that there is some universal experiential ocean that you dive into and become part if you get in the moment. This is where the notion of a collective spirit is born. But this is also why both psychedelic drugs and unguided deep meditation practices mess with people's minds: When you get in the moment, you disconnect from the past and from the future subjectivelly (this is why this is antidepressant, antiruminant, antianxiolytic, anti sorrow), the mind sometimes can't take it. People get addicted to the accompanying emotions (spiritual bypass), misattribute the experience to them personally (spiritual materialism) etc.
When I am playing with my daughter, the moment asks from me to be with her as her father. Another moment might offer me to be a keen observer, a photographer and in that different state of Being even an artist. But being present with my daughter is fully filling my mind and soul. I do not have any alternative.
So, I am not ignoring a fact. Rather, nothing else can arise in my mind. Only later, when I am not in that moment, right now for example, I can lift my mind up and become an observer.
C There is a price that has to be paid.
There is one smile that will forever be engraved in both my mind and my soul: During the first time we went swimming. My daughter gave my wife a hard time the two times before and basically just screamed at her. I braced for a scream fest and it didn't happen. Instead, we had the greatest fun and joy I could imagine (until I messed up and she got a lot of water in her mouth...
). Memories of my father and me in the water crushed me with sorrow and happiness at the same time, the angelic face of my daughter (to make matters worse: my daughter is objectively blessed with an angelic face. I hope puberty doesn't messes her looks up), pride (in a narcissistic way) that of course my daughter likes swimming with me and much more -- all was focussed by the prism of the moment.
Last week, on the other hand, we went on a playground we had a great time. She sat on a swing on her own for the first time, we rode a big slide for the first time, we were crushing it. Every couple of minutes, my daughter made an effort to look me deep into my eyes and smile. Right now, it is one of my fondest memories. In a couple of weeks, I might still have it. But after that, it will be gone. My mind will merge these moments with other moments in a way that I will merely remember an amalgam of playground memories, some abstraction with a couple of instances that feel like real memories which might be just confabulations that my mind creates to give me something concrete.
Even just writing this elevates my fear of loss, and I can feel doubt rising from my subconsciousness. Perhaps, I could sneak in a photo, just to keep the memory. Be sure, that I have something concrete that assures me that at least these instances are real and not just confabulations.
But there is a sacrifice to be made: Being with my daughter is exactly 0 percent about me, exactly 100 % for my daughter. Everything that I feel, is a gift I thank God for. But even in the moments, when my daughter behaves like a little shit or I am tired, worry about something, or whatever tries to pull me from the moment and seduces me to commit the fallacy that I should take care of myself, too, I give 100 %.
D It is not about joy, but about meaning.
It is not about the value that I find or the value for me. It is not about that because it is not about me. This "me" is not part of the equation:
E Yes, "ignoring" connects you to Being
This is the last pushback: All techniques of getting into the moment could be described as "ignoring that present is the future's past and the past's future."
The list could go on and on with various experiences (from Kaufman, Trancend, 203, not fully processed by me):
The interplay by both states of being is one of the core abilities in my own work on way of living and Lifeworld. Applications are for example:
So, it is not about always ignoring a fact. It also not always just be in the moment. Rather, it is about oscillating to match what Life is asking you:
To hone in on the one point: I, at least this time, consciously contrasted "ignoring" with "letting go". It might be too much of a wordplay, but both terms mark two different types of flow (Waitzskin, 2007, 54):
Josh Waitzkin (2007): The Art of Learning: An Inner Journey to Optimal Performance, New York: Free Press.
The first one is achieved by forcefully ignoring everything else, the other one by softly letting go of whatever is not part of the moment. To me, the hidden difference is that the former is done by the mind, the later by the soul.
D Redeeming photography
This is a rather short one. Sometimes, you are just an observer anyway. When my daughter plays a sport, crushes her enemies, see them driven before her, and hears the lamentation of their parents, I can still cheer for her, be embarrassing, mess with the other children's parents destroying all sympathy for me while holding the camera. Or when there is a family gathering, we can together make a photo for good memories.
Or if you are not immersed, and there is no need to. This would be the case for me in family meetings, since I get bored by the adults talking most of the time (especially, with politics and stuff like that).
I cannot give you the direct quote, but it is from the Drenai Series by David Gemmel
I think the vast majority of the personal confusion about life is due to self-generated emotional turmoil. I really like the difference that can be found in Hinduism: Atman is the eternal soul while Ahamkara refers to your current soul. (Highly probable that I butcher the correct terms) The difference between the eternal and the current is the amount of confusion about Being and Life. So, I think Life is that clear cut. However, I don't see Truth and therefore take part in confusion. But the consequence to me is, that I attribute the confusion to me and not to Life.
However, the way how I present my ideas is also governed by my exceptionally low agreeableness (1st percentile), my exceptionally high assertiveness (98th percentile), and my high enthusiasm (70th percentile).
Practically speaking: I would trash the mistakes themselves, but not the knowledge about the mistakes.
I think the trick is to be found in the above quote by Gemmell: I completely agree with you on a factual level: Nobody is exactly right anytime. But it is not about being right and the right solution is not to allow self-doubt to get a grip on you. Instead, it is about acknowledging that you only have the best option available to you and your honesty in its dependability. When you need to act, you act on the best you have, but fully commit to acting accordingly.
I guess it's more about proper emotional regulation which then allows you to both act smoothly and still consider the eternal existence of the space in-between the isles of getting something right.
Totally agreed.
This is interesting. I am really curious which notes you trash.
In an ironic twist, this is an empirical and objective fact, that can be measured and is often measured with interviews of meditators, in flow research, research and psychedelics etc. ↩︎
Luckily, it seems to be always the case that this creates lots of value for oneself. Sadly, I can only give you a Christian reasoning for that. But I am confident, that this can also be justified and explained in secular terms. (Ironically, this confidence is also fulled by my faith) ↩︎
I am a Zettler
@Sascha, I'm glad we provoked you into writing all that; it was fun to read. Thanks!
That's why I said "of course". I assumed that you would agree with it as an a priori metaphysical framework, and you did. I don't consider it to be a Kantian ahistorical analytic a priori; I am a modern post-Kantian fallibilist, so there is no dogma here, just a reasonable assumption that has a history, although we don't need to rehash the history every time we invoke the assumption. And the framework itself is not a fact, but when we apply it to any data, we consider it a fact.
You are entitled to your subjective phenomenology, so I don't have much to say about that. I will just say that if my mind is 80% observing what is happening and responding to it, and 20% metacognitively assessing what it all means in light of my knowledge of the past and future, I do not feel disconnected from Being. I don't have to shut off that temporal metacognition to be in the moment and truly connecting to Being. I think that 20% metacognitive assessment, so to speak, helps me self-regulate and make wise decisions. I am not an athlete, but I imagine that Michael Jordan ignores everything but present-moment sense data because the game moves so fast with such a flood of new information that he doesn't have the cognitive bandwidth for anything else but playing the game, and he has to shut off any metacognition that doesn't help him play the game. So Jordan is not going to whip out his cell phone and take a photo while he's flying across the ball court.
For sure, there are situations where I have a responsibility to devote all my cognitive resources to interacting with other people, and/or where my cognitive capacity is limited, and taking photos would be irresponsible. If I am leading a workshop, I am not going to stop every five minutes and take photos: I have a responsibility to give my full attention to leading the workshop, and I have to assign the task of taking photos to someone else. But I will probably still want photos of the workshop, even if I can't take the photos myself, because the photography creates value, and not just for me. So the way to create the most value in that situation is to devote all my cognitive resources to leading the workshop and to ask someone else to take photos.
I agree with you that the general principle is "match what Life is asking you".
@Sascha
Last week, when I was writing a "post" about the childhood of my oldest daughter (who is turning 47 this year), I had to reach for an aide-mémoire. Some old photos helped, but the biggest bang came from reading my wife's journal. Her observations of our daughter's behaviour, written shortly after they occurred, were priceless.
My point is that if you normally don't want to take photographs, then writing about what happened (as you did in your post) will capture her behaviour and your thoughts and emotions, which, when you are my age, will help you not to lose the moment.
When we meet in heaven, we will discuss if I will be wrong.
Right now, I'd rather take it on the chin then taking chances.
EDIT: My lifestyle might be an important context to understand my position. I have the following "hobbies" or moments of free time: I phone with Christian once per week and take a long hike with him once per week. In my movement breaks, I do 1-3 repetition of one arm chin-ups (with support). This considered hobby because doing this isn't purely justified by health span improvement, but rather by me practising this with an idiosyncratic aim. In the evening, when I am done reading non-fiction for work, I read a couple of pages of fiction writing. Other than that, I do nothing for leisure, for fun or something like that. Sometimes, I fail by falling victim to the YouTube algorithm when I need to find a video for a client or watch a talk on something. So, I am forced to really hyperfocus on all of what I do.
I am a Zettler
@Sascha, I prefer your earlier maxim "match what Life is asking you" over your latest maxim "really hyperfocus on all of what you do". I find that a broader awareness, including broader temporal metacognition, helps match what Life is asking me in general, and requires no less discipline than hyperfocus. But indeed this may be a lifestyle choice, and even to some degree an aesthetic choice.