Friday, February 17, 2012
Language Allows Hypothetical Thoughts
I found the concept on language and how it allows hypothetical thought in Chapter 4 really interesting. The author describes how language allows us to "contemplate things that have no real existence" (p. 101). For some reason, the first thing that popped in my head when I read this was how I always think about ghosts. Although I have never seen one for myself, there are many ghost stories that I have heard and I have also had friends that tell me about their experiences with ghosts and how they can see them from time to time. It is especially annoying late at night when I am at my apartment alone, and lie in bed, but cannot seem to get my mind off the hypothetical existence of ghosts. Despite that I have not had any personal encounters with ghosts in my present situation and have not even had anything eerie and supernatural happen, the idea of ghosts continue to frighten me.
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This section in the chapter also made me think about certain circumstances like yours. I thought about how thinking hypothetically means planning your future and your dreams. I thought about my relationship with my boyfriend. There have been times where he has mentioned moving in together and things like that and I find myself thinking hypothetically. I found myself asking if I could really see myself moving in together and making that next step, and also marriage. When people asks questions that can influence your future, you can’t help but take the extra time to think about how things would be if the certain situation actually happened.
ReplyDeleteMichelle,
ReplyDeleteThe hypothetical concept is interesting when you stop and think about the purpose it serves. Me and my husband love the “suppose…“ game. We have laid in bed and talked about how we will never remarry if one of us were to pass away, we have asked each other how the other would reject the advances of a tawdry homewrecker (nobody wants us J ), and we have argued about how we should invest our millions once we’ve won the lottery. What’s that all about? J While pondering over things that don’t exist can be fun, it also serves a useful purpose in that it allows us to prepare ourselves for certain situations. If we have a bad feeling about how a semester is going, we can imagine retaking courses and how we will explain our failing grades to friends and family. In this sense we are preparing ourselves for a situation that can exist by letting our mind wander to a place that does not.
I can completely relate to your situation. I have grown up being frightened of potentially seeing a ghost one way or another. Although you haven't had ghost encounters yourself, I have. I've never technically seen one (or that's what I hope) but I feel, hear, and see them in my dreams. I'm sure you heard of the term sleep paralysis and/or astral projection and I have actually had both. They are not nice experiences, let me tell you. The fear of having them at night gives me back anxiety. Even though I've never actually seen a ghost, I feel that as if I am going to one day eventually so that "hypothetical thinking" really eats me away at night. If it really gets to you where the point you can't sleep at night you should talk to a therapist, that's what I did and it made me feel a lot better believe it or not. It was my anxiety that was made me so scared and have these nightmares/encounters. Venting about it helped and made me realize it was all in my mind. And if I do see a ghost, I know they can't hurt me. Which I have accepted and now am living an easier life.
ReplyDeleteWow! I really enjoyed your example of talking about hypothetical thoughts. It really caught my attention since I am someone that actually feels a connection to this topic. I was always raised with hearing ghost stories that would always make me wonder contemplate if there was another world outside of the living. I can't say that I truly believe in the paranormal, but can also accept that it can be true. I came to this conclusion when my girlfriend and I took a tour of the Winchester Mystery House on Halloween night. Our group was taking a tour through this house that evening and came across some eerie events that happened that evening. Our group kept on hearing footsteps and noises coming from one of the rooms in front of us before while we stood in the hallway. The final factor was that we had heard voices coming from another room that we were only a few feet away from. Our group, including our guide were completely quiet listening to these voices talking. The voices continued for about a good minute from what I remembered. What made it even more extremely freaky was that someone asked our guide if this was normal for them to hear. I could see the terrified look on her face when she responded, "No. I have never had this happen before, and I have been working here for a little over a year now." To this day I still can't say that ghosts exist until I physically see one, but that night made me a lot less of a skeptic than before and made my girlfriend a believer. Hypothetical thinking can cause us to have thoughts in our head of things that we want to find true or an answer for. In this case until we (individually) have evidence that the paranormal does exist we can only continue to only have hypothetical thoughts, and wonder what that creepy sound was in the next room.
ReplyDeleteThis was a great example of how language can make our minds run astray on a tangent and freak us out. I have had a similar experience before with ghosts. My friend was convinced that her house was haunted and that she would always see a ghost walking down her stairs. One time while we were over a buddy of mine even said hi to what he thought was her mom coming down the stairs. Now when Im in my house, I sometimes see things moving around corners, especially in my room. Creeps! But in all seriousness, I really enjoyed this post.
ReplyDelete