Another take on awareness

While the saying is true in the sense that if person has a passion that drives him to become the best of his self has to offer (the path to fullfillment) allowing him to fill up the gaps he might have from not learning other stuff he wants to learn, I believe it doesn't apply to what you define as aware.

That is obvious in the mechanic example and the musician example.

I do not agree with you Joe. Is it that obvious? Does it not apply? I'm not convinced.

Re: Another take on awareness
CYRACUZ

"How aware are you?"
I am aware of all external stimulus according to a intentional perception.
We have the perception we intend to.
I also have a passion for music. When I am in a train, (in my country trains diffuse classical music), and if the music is very appealing to me - I remember Bach's 2nd Partita for violin - I am indifferent to the images given by the windows, to the talk of other passengers and to an infinite number of external stimulus.
In general, we interact with things according to a previous intentionality.

I understand you in the sense that our interactions are determined by our intentions? I can agree with that, but I don't see how it collides with my statements above.
What I am saying is that the level of awareness is not absolute. You enjoy Bach's 2nd Partita for violin you say, and that I can understand. But the first time you heard it, did you hear all the details? Did you understand the moods that Bach conveyes immediately, or did it take a few hearings? To listen, and not just to sound, is the key word. Sometimes intention can get in the way. When a battle leader sends scouts out they are never told what to look for. What may go unseen because the scouts were told to look for something particular?

Some people lean incredibly fast, while others need more time. I think this comes down to how aware you are. Not only that, of course, but I think it's an important factor.

Let me try to clarify a little:



I believe one has to gain knowledge of one area in order to be aware when that person has contact with something of that area.

Being proficient in one area might make you more aware on others. If you appreciate music for the way it sounds, makes you feel or because you like to decipher the message it conveys it might help you do a similar thing with movies or even a car engine on a car because you have trained your ear to distinguish similar sounds from one another.

No matter how trained you are on being aware and perceiving your surroundings it's different if you know about it. Take the scouts for example, they aren't told what to look for so they could see something that they hadn't seen before. But if they knew about their surroundings they could build upon that knowledge and examine their surroundings.

JoeFX wrote:


I think it goes deeper joe. Experience gained in one specific area is not applicable only to that area. Another example about music:
I enjoy to listen to it, but I also make music. A piece of music can be viewed as a creation from start to finish. The time a piece of music follows varies between songs. One might have a totally different time than another. The experience I've gained by making music has in turn given me a clearer understanding of the nature of time itself.

What I am saying is that no matter what you do, you can reach your full potential of awareness, because no art or craft has clear boundaries between them. Everything relates, and the more advanced your understanding of a topic is, the better you can see the relations to it, and the similarities in other things. A scientist who is facing a moral dilemma is better suited than a person without any special education. Not because his science can solve the dilemma, but because he through his work has learned steadfastness and resolve. No matte what you do you will get a higher understanding of how to solve problems than if you don't do anything at all.

Cyracuz

I agree with you: the the level of awareness is not (never) absolute. Intentionality directs our perception of things but in variable levels. Our experience of something is always changing. Sometimes our awareness is more acurate, sometimes it's not. When I first studied the Largo of Beethoven's 7th Sonata I didn't understand it. I liked it, but I didn't understand it, because I couldn't see any leading idea. Now, after so many years, when I play this Largo I am aware of a pattern, a global structure. But I cannot say I am completely aware of the Largo. Not only because it depends on my own disposition - mind, emotional - but because there always details that once seemed irrelevant and, with time, acquire a new meaning.

Yes val. That is how I think also. Having said that, I feel it is safe to say that the process of training awareness is a process we have to work on to the day we die.

Re: Another take on awareness


Expertise and awareness are related in the examples you provided, but I think the range is probably endless, so there can never be "full awareness" of anything in an ultimate sense. However, you could be fully aware to the extent of your abilities (and knowledge) if you were focused.

No argument from me rosborne. Although "full awareness" might be an impossibility I believe the best result will be achieved when you try for it anyway.

I agree with this statement.

But if we say a person goes to the hospital. A doctor has a high probability of knowing what is wrong with the patient as he has a database of illnesses on his mind and also he can perceive some symptoms the patient might've left out. A physicist who is in top of his awareness on his area of expertise will not be suited to treat the patient in the same form a doctor is.

Maybe not. It occured to me when I read your post that I haven't thought this through. Need to do that first, or I'll just spew out something ridiculous.

random: you know what bothers me, i can spout out something and it may sound intellegent but really if it does its unintentional or i have no clue as to why its intellegent, or im just lucky. i can't explain it. But i try so hard to be smart..im a mimic, a mime of things i've heard. I come up with a few idiotic sounding things some sounding a bit far fetched others possibly brilliant. But im never so sure. I dont ahve that assurance or ability to back up anything i say or think. It's all just a bunch of silly teenage notions whether or not it sounds barbaric or smart. I read this and im just abashed. Im in awe, at how you say one thing and your able to back it up when others pick at what you say whether or not they agree. Arguing, you see arguing is really a good thing helps you to look at your view and ideas from others views. Makes you take a stand and pick a side. But i'm horrible at doing that, im too quick to agree with the other. Im inconsistent in my thoughts. You just all seem so sure in your standpoint. And so...well genius. I do apologize that was random, and made very little sense.

And you know, even as i say that part of me is thinking,"No you dont sound stupid you sound like a genius too." I say it so as a means to manipulate..so people will tell me i dont sound as stupid as i make myself seem. Or my ideas arnt just rubish. Thinking to myself the whole time that im not stupid and just using you. I've done so well to convince myself i can be smart i forget how stupid i can be. how human i really am, how predictable i am despite my inconsistantcy. I dont even know what i mean half the time, nor do i say what i mean. chaos...

Seems to me you're on the right track. You have discovered the difference between intelligence and wits. Seems you have both. Now tame your forces