Your inferences create your frame of reference. Those things you have denied create your problems. Anything you felt you must actively deny, that it was meaningful to reject, to disbelieve in, later create all your problems. Name a problem and I will name its anti-belief.

Insanity-belief? The belief in insanity or the beliefs of an insane person? The beliefs of an insane person are anti-beliefs. I can’t escape my enemies. I can’t find my worth. I can’t heal. I can’t be one of them. These break inference do they not? Break causality? Are incoherent?

Well, they seem to lead nowhere.

Is there mental illness without discontinuity? I can’t stop washing my hands. I can’t do what I know is right. I can’t control my emotions. I can’t see you. I can’t understand my pain. Am I missing any of the beliefs of insanity? The insane are doing what the sane do also. They are just doing it better, are better rehearsed, more fully immersed. Is this nonsense?

Normal people don’t seem insane, not because of their ability to recognize what isn’t true, but because of their ability to refocus on the true. And that for many is rather limited. Why is that?

Mental inflexibility characterizes insanity. Yes. Refocusing implies flexibility. What weakens mental flexibility in the sane? Things they believe are true?

Belief, yes. Things they believe are lies, is my view. Christians believe any other faith is a lie. Politicians believe other political philosophies are wrong, lies.

Ah! So in the larger view it’s ALL true! It’s all true, and it gets back to the issue of what is meaningful. I started a model. We know what is meaningful to us to the degree it supports our continuity. Eating supports my continuity. Belief in my safety or ability to be safe supports my continuity. It is meaningful for me. Belief in our knowledge or skills creates continuity. What does attacking any of these things create?

Neurosis. Ultimately, insanity. And even further, death, and death for what reason? Because they weren’t being rational people?

Death by lack of connection… For want of meaning, for lack of range in inference. If there is only one choice, there is no choice. If there are only two choices, there is no choice. If I am always a choice, then there are always enough choices. If I can infer freely, then my life is full. No amount of pleasure will do this, nor pain, no single goal. We weep for martyrs, no? We mourn heroes, do we not?

Some, yes. Because they were good people we feel life was better when they were still here, but they were good to the degree they were in touch with meaning. Is this false?

In touch with meanings that we can relate to, also, as meaningful. That is why we see rescue of people as meaningful. We can relate to it. It enables the inference that we are among friends, family, that we are of a common people. Does being a republican do this? Does being a democrat?

Not for me, it doesn’t. Not for anyone really. Otherwise, no one would ever defect. There would never be a crisis of faith, never loss of belief. So when looking at your life, which is the better story? The story of your problems? Or the story of your states of being?

The stories of my ways of being in the world which means my relations and the rest of my connections of all sorts. The story of your accomplishments? Or the story of your relationships? My wife can tell stories of her accomplishments. Is it a good story? She can also tell stories of her relationships, and how they changed recently with her attack. Now is that a good story?

Yes. It is HER story. Hers in that it’s the point she shared with others.

Yes, and when ill I found others have a lot of those stories. Yes, they could feel more connected.

And we need to share them with each other. Yes. You learn and remember everything better as a story, even I do as out of touch with people as I am. I can tell you stories of causality though, of the relationships between things and how they can and do change. They have a word for that. Guess what it is?

Tao? Metaphysics. Magick. Some say those are the first and most primal stories.

So, I do hope this wasn’t too obtuse or meaningless. Any suggestions for future class topics? Perhaps I am stretching for things we can all relate to. I do value topic suggestions very much.

Maybe some thoughts on HOW we make these connections? Quality of connections, etc.? Merely talking our stories to others doesn’t seem to be sufficient but the quality of that conversation, story, narrative? Ah, the topic then will be listening to grandmother spider.

Your thoughts are welcome. Be well friends.

Travis Saunders
Dragon Intuitive
~science,mysticism,spirituality~