In my last post I introduced the idea of floating (in our mind) toward the apex of the hemisphere that is our Done of Heaven. The purpose of this exercise is to transcend the actual contents assembled within and sense the importance of what is there. The inspiration for this post, and posts to follow under this category, are all the result of that mental process.
The first thing I sensed within my dome of heaven is the importance of ideas. I seem to thrive on ideas and even revel in them. Not just my ideas, but the ideas of others as encountered through literature, art, music, science, through personal encounters, and observations of what is going on in the world. The more I let the sense of ideas sink in, the more I believe that it would be difficult to populate my personal hemisphere of life without them. Having ideas, explaining them to others (as teacher for much of my working life), and exploring ideas leading to new and interesting places (studying the pure sciences for years and participating in the experimental process), have been a constant in life. Even writing this blog on a regular basis is an outlet for an insatiable desire to express and explore ideas.
When we have our own ideas, it is concrete proof of our cognitive activity and relates to a basic level of awareness and understanding of ourselves, and the world around us. Some ideas generate from impressions however slight, and some ideas might be expressed as opinions which may or may not be well founded. Plans of actions are a sequence of ideas directed toward achieving a goal, which are best thought through carefully before implementation. Just the same, all these are evidence of our functioning brain and intellectual activity, and what are we without those two aspects of self.
Ideas need to have a rational and some valid information behind them, or else they may fall under the category of supposition and fantasy. Ideas that come from others, outside of our trust circle need to be validated. There is always the possibility of self-interest and ulterior motive working behind the facades of personality presented in public. There is a segment within society that is bent on having their ideas adopted as correct notions and worthy of belief. I include politicians, all bureaucracies, advertisers, lobbyists, purveyors of panaceas, populists of all sorts, the dogmas of religion, and over zealous religious or political leaders, to be within in this category of individuals. Ideas from these sources need to be measured against our personal form of “Occam’s razor”, or common sense reasoning, before there are accepted and perhaps adopted.
In the end, I was comfortable that the ideas I selected to be within my Dome of Heaven, were selected with due care. What about the ideas you might include within your DOH? As I reflected on this important component of my Dome of Heaven, I considered what naturally flows from having ideas including: ideals, ideologies, and ideologues, but those are topics for my next post.
Preserve Memory and Save Your Self 