From: Scott R (jse885@spinn.net)
Date: Wed Jun 04 2003 - 15:07:48 BST
Paul, Steve, etc,
[Steve:]Especially, how do you
> distinguish a social pattern from an intellectual
> one in general?
[Paul]: In general, I see a social pattern of value as a
specific group of people, the UK Labour Party, the MOQ
forum members, the Roman Catholic Church, the United
Nations
I've found it useful to see the distinction between social and intellectual
levels in my own thought, rather than in externals. Social level thinking is
that which is driven by social concerns, and is not much under my control.
What Buddhists call monkey-mind. On examination, one can usually see that it
is driven by fear, greed, anger, etc. It is the "when he said X I should
have said Y" kind of internal monologue.
Intellectual level thinking is, then, thinking for the thought itself. What
scientists or philosophers do when they are not influenced by dreams of
Nobel prizes or tenure, or sounding good in a discussion group. Or what
anyone does when they are being mindful
Intellectual thought is autonomous thought -- driven by the thought and not
the ego of the thinker. (Ego, as I see it, is a social level phenomenon).
In practice, since the intellectual level is young, the intellectual thought
is rare and when present, mixed in with the social (e.g., a thought sequence
can start on the intellectual level but soon gets overwhelmed by social
concerns.)
- Scott
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