Going Beyond Black and White

[gruntal]

At some point in time and place far removed from the here and now and a man was just going about his existence. But he was being acutely observed by another. This existent man blew on his hands to warm them up. He then proceeded to eat his soup but it was too hot so he blew on it to cool it down. The observant man seemed disconcerted over this.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"Because you are able to blow both hot and cold air out of the same mouth".

We can only hope after some life times the observant man learned about shades of gray ....

[donq]

Hmm...it reminds me of some funny English signs from around the world.

A Japanese information booklet about using a hotel air conditioner:

Cooles and Heates:

If you want just condition of warm in your room, please control yourself.

[mojomojo]

I maybe completely off topic here, but your posts reminded me of an experiment done on a class of kids.
They had to stand a certain distance from a circular board, with their back facing the board and throw these sponge like objects which would stick to the target.
Each child was in the room alone.
They had three attempts each.
Needless to say, no one could manage it.
Almost every child cheated, ran up to the board and stuck the sponge on directly.

For the second part of the experiment, a chair was placed in the room.
The kids were told an invisible person of royalty and significance would be sitting in the chair and observing.
No one cheated.
Hmmmmmm m makes you think.

[donq]

Hi Robert,

I was going to post this on another thread but it seems to be a right fit (with your post) here.

A student of a military academy, returning home after graduation, stopped at a village inn to rest his horses. In the barn he noticed numerous chalked targets on the wall of the barn, each with a bullet hole dead center. He inquired about the marksman with such extraordinary aim. A small, barefoot boy appeared to be the masterful marksman.
“How in the world didy ou learn such marksmanship? ” inquired the military student.
“It’s quite simple, ” replied the lad. “First I shoot at the wall and then I draw the targets.”
“I do the very same thing, ” the Dubner Maggid replied. “Whenever I hear a clever story or a good parable, I keep it in mind, then I eventually find the right fit for a subject I want to draw a moral from. ”
(Adaptedfrom Newman, 1962)

[mojomojo]

Hi Monty,
hope you are keeping well, I do enjoy these old parables.
A while back, I was considering doing a degree in psychology, but it was a lot of money, and I would have been too old to recoup my investment when qualified, so I decided not to go ahead.
But, I did a bit of reading on the matter prior, to get a feel for the subject.
Even at the beginning stages, the ways of manipulating and controlling the human mind was scary.
Can we ever truly know ourselves at all.

[donq]

Hi Robert,

Do agree with you. Trying to manipulate and controlling the human mind is worse. Even for helping purpose, it still works only a few times or just one (or even just a role playing to just satisfies the helper/doctor) More than that it might turn to be spoiling not helping.

Thanks for asking. I feel like, ahem , what said in this William Wordsworth's poem:

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream,
The earth, and every common sight,
To me did seem
Apparelled in celestial light,
The glory and the freshness of a dream.
It is not now as it hath been of yore;—
Turn wheresoe'er I may,
By night or day,

The things which I have seen I now can see no more.

-Intimations of Immortality