We are born from a giant genetic lottery and there is little we can do about it. We can not “change our mind” we can only make the best of it.
Deep into a scarcely imaginable future, we may be able to adjust our qualia, to choose our emotions. To elect to suffer or live in Elysium. I believe that day will come. Kurtzweil and gang, the redoubtable David Pearce – their day will come.
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven” as it says in Matthew 6:9-13.
Except of course it will not. Not unless we ourselves make it so.
In the meantime we must fend for ourselves, struggle along as best we can with what blind fate alloted us.
I have argued elsewhere that we can expect limited success in our endeavours to change but some change is better than none. And if we learn what drives us we may be able to tip the balance in our favour.
On really, really “bad hair days” go and lie in a darkened room and switch the world off. Part of meditation for some of us is the ability to tune out. Tubby old Siddhartha may not have approved of this use of the technique, but what do I care. You shouldn’t either.
Part of my “meditation” technique is to almost physically switch off what passes for my brain. To simply refuse to function. It is a difficult discipline but works a treat when you can get it right and is probably rather better for you than ketamine or quaaludes.
It also has the advantage of being legal. I don’t think even sharia law bans it, although I would have to check that one out; it seems to ban much else in life.
So next time you feel like god has got you in a vice and is squeezing your extremities, give it a go. You usually wake up the next day feeling no end of improvement.
Weltanschauung 