Thingamajig
How much do we need to know about something before we
are willing to commit to it? Is our decision based on
a mathematical number or gut feeling?
I have been thinking about the thought that goes into making big life decisions! I find that I rely on my gut for the most part and let the thinking happen subconsciously.
For instance, my gut says I might mess my pants if I were to dive down from a bridge with an elastic cord tied to my ankles. But it also said, diving down 50 feet in the middle of the ocean with a tank strapped to my back is a good idea. I have never bungee jumped, but I would scuba dive again and again (even though I had an accident during my last experience, when my oxygen mask gave way after I made it all the way down to the bed)
But going with one’s gut is not just about making life-threatening choices. They also have to do with the matters of the heart like quitting your cushy job to pursue that wild dream, making a commitment to your relationship, deciding if having a baby would jeopardize the good things you have going for you, believing or not believing in god and so on.
While I have gone with my gut on all of these decisions so far, I cannot still quantify how successful I have been with them thus far, and will be in the future. I doubt that I will ever think of them as being 100% successful only because I don’t know what that 100% is or if what feels successful now will turn out to be unsuccessful later! I can only say I have no regrets as yet. How then do I quantify the ramifications of life decisions made on intuition?
Not many days from now, we will carry this little game-theory thingamajig to help us make these decisions. But, how far can it take us with the matters of the heart? How successful is successful, or happy is happy! How do we quantify superlatives. How do we define infinity.
Will the thingamajig leave us feeling just as unsure of our future? Will it deprive us of the pleasure of making decisions on gut feeling? Or should I on gut feeling reject the thingamajig!
I have been thinking about the thought that goes into making big life decisions! I find that I rely on my gut for the most part and let the thinking happen subconsciously.
For instance, my gut says I might mess my pants if I were to dive down from a bridge with an elastic cord tied to my ankles. But it also said, diving down 50 feet in the middle of the ocean with a tank strapped to my back is a good idea. I have never bungee jumped, but I would scuba dive again and again (even though I had an accident during my last experience, when my oxygen mask gave way after I made it all the way down to the bed)
But going with one’s gut is not just about making life-threatening choices. They also have to do with the matters of the heart like quitting your cushy job to pursue that wild dream, making a commitment to your relationship, deciding if having a baby would jeopardize the good things you have going for you, believing or not believing in god and so on.
While I have gone with my gut on all of these decisions so far, I cannot still quantify how successful I have been with them thus far, and will be in the future. I doubt that I will ever think of them as being 100% successful only because I don’t know what that 100% is or if what feels successful now will turn out to be unsuccessful later! I can only say I have no regrets as yet. How then do I quantify the ramifications of life decisions made on intuition?
Not many days from now, we will carry this little game-theory thingamajig to help us make these decisions. But, how far can it take us with the matters of the heart? How successful is successful, or happy is happy! How do we quantify superlatives. How do we define infinity.
Will the thingamajig leave us feeling just as unsure of our future? Will it deprive us of the pleasure of making decisions on gut feeling? Or should I on gut feeling reject the thingamajig!
[A thought comes to mind. There are days when I listen to music on the radio because the station I tuned to has created a mood that I want to be in. I like the unpredictability of it all. There are new songs interspersed with ones that I am familiar with, each winding down to the deep, rich voice of the host and his antics. You feel like you are in a conversation with him, and are being entertained without having to say anything. Then there are days when I want to be in control and in familiar territory. When I am sure of what mood I want to be in, I pick an artist or a genre in Lastfm or listen to Genius in itunes. When I want to be all over the place, but with songs I am familiar with, I go with Shuffle. I also have hundreds of playlists I created, some with as few as four songs, and some with as many as 30, and I play them again and again, until I have heard enough.
This thingamajig gizmo I was talking about, might be the kind of thing I would use when I am in a mood to listen to the radio]
