There are many reasons people read. Starting with the obvious, as one of the earliest forms of escapism, to unscrupulous people trying to wedge themselves into a conversation with the intelligent bookworm chicks. At the dismay of Natalie Angier, whose book I most recently am reading titled "The Canon", I read because it recharges my mind like a battery. To answer your question about the previous statement, batteries aren't "charged", a chemical reaction takes place when electricity is added that separates the positive and negative ions to create potential energy.
But much like the battery scenario, if I don't put my "charged" mind to use, it slowly atrophies back to the current uncharged state, until I read something else that triggers the potential energy again. When I observe different people out in the world, I wonder whether or not we all work like this. Most days I feel sluggish, while there are people I know in life that never slow down. Setting aside our biological differences that are in place for the survival of the species, I wonder sometimes if one can train one's self to increase or decrease their batteries. "Mind over Matter" so to speak.
We know that the quote Mind over Matter is an idealistic standpoint. A person in remission from Cancer, or a person trying to stop an addiction, they can tell you that after awhile matter is such a huge driving force, the mind finally gets overwhelmed. But what if we could think hard enough to change the way our physical bodies react to the outside world? The myth that we only use 10% of our brains, paved the way for metaphysics to assume that the other 85% could be used for telekinesis, and the remaining 5% has been killed by drugs in the people who actually believe them. The argument becomes circular at this point because it's your mind that causes the chill up your spine that you mistake for the ghost of Christmas past.
Movies can inspire me in many of the same ways books do. The interesting aspect is that movies inspire me in a physical way. In action films I see the fit, perfectly handsome guy, turn some chaotic situation by executing some on the fly decisions that no one in their right mind could possibly conceive. As an aside, does a person who spends so much time in a weight room develop such snap-dendrite enhancing skills? I think to myself, wow if I lost a little weight and started going to the gym more, I could be looked at with the same awe. This is incorrect obviously, in this society people are only looking at themselves. But I take inspiration wherever I can get it. Because in part, although motivation to be physically symmetrical is mostly a physical desire it also motivates the mind into doing activities that I normally wouldn't have. Thus increasing my energy level closer to those people who bounce though life like jumping beans.
Going back to the mind, it is then no surprise to me that books inspire me to want to create, invent, and question things around me. Instead of a director telling me what I want to see, my mind is painting a picture with the words dancing across my line of vision. I'd tend to be disinterested in movie day at school, and really used it as a chance to rest my brain from all volumes of book work we would do on any given day. I would zone out because it wasn't my imagination at work, and let's face it fantasies always turn out better than reality. As for the charging elephant, can we really stop it with just our mind? I'd like to see a room of metaphysically enhanced people try. But for things such as Cancer and HIV, we have thousands of scientist and chemists trying to stop those elephants, and I think eventually we'll succeed.
But much like the battery scenario, if I don't put my "charged" mind to use, it slowly atrophies back to the current uncharged state, until I read something else that triggers the potential energy again. When I observe different people out in the world, I wonder whether or not we all work like this. Most days I feel sluggish, while there are people I know in life that never slow down. Setting aside our biological differences that are in place for the survival of the species, I wonder sometimes if one can train one's self to increase or decrease their batteries. "Mind over Matter" so to speak.
We know that the quote Mind over Matter is an idealistic standpoint. A person in remission from Cancer, or a person trying to stop an addiction, they can tell you that after awhile matter is such a huge driving force, the mind finally gets overwhelmed. But what if we could think hard enough to change the way our physical bodies react to the outside world? The myth that we only use 10% of our brains, paved the way for metaphysics to assume that the other 85% could be used for telekinesis, and the remaining 5% has been killed by drugs in the people who actually believe them. The argument becomes circular at this point because it's your mind that causes the chill up your spine that you mistake for the ghost of Christmas past.
Movies can inspire me in many of the same ways books do. The interesting aspect is that movies inspire me in a physical way. In action films I see the fit, perfectly handsome guy, turn some chaotic situation by executing some on the fly decisions that no one in their right mind could possibly conceive. As an aside, does a person who spends so much time in a weight room develop such snap-dendrite enhancing skills? I think to myself, wow if I lost a little weight and started going to the gym more, I could be looked at with the same awe. This is incorrect obviously, in this society people are only looking at themselves. But I take inspiration wherever I can get it. Because in part, although motivation to be physically symmetrical is mostly a physical desire it also motivates the mind into doing activities that I normally wouldn't have. Thus increasing my energy level closer to those people who bounce though life like jumping beans.
Going back to the mind, it is then no surprise to me that books inspire me to want to create, invent, and question things around me. Instead of a director telling me what I want to see, my mind is painting a picture with the words dancing across my line of vision. I'd tend to be disinterested in movie day at school, and really used it as a chance to rest my brain from all volumes of book work we would do on any given day. I would zone out because it wasn't my imagination at work, and let's face it fantasies always turn out better than reality. As for the charging elephant, can we really stop it with just our mind? I'd like to see a room of metaphysically enhanced people try. But for things such as Cancer and HIV, we have thousands of scientist and chemists trying to stop those elephants, and I think eventually we'll succeed.