Reality-tunnels
In reading a bit of Robert Anton Wilson, I've been turned on to the concept of "reality tunnels." The idea is that as you grow and you experience things, you get imprinted and conditioned and learned, and you develop a certain way of looking at things. Your brain receives thousands and thousands of signals constantly, and the result of active processing and dismissal of some or all of these signals results in your reality tunnel. I don't think anyone can deny that an Aryan German in 1939 would see the world the same way as an Southern Baptist in 1975 or a San Fransiscan Linux guru in 2005 would.

I'm butchering the concept. There isn't really any way to condense the topic into a paragraph. Still, an exercise Wilson recommends is to try and adopt someone else's reality tunnel. If you're a Liberal, subscribe to Conservative magazines and become a Republican for a while. If you're an atheist, try being Catholic for a while. (He suggests doing this the same way method actors do: pretend and pretend until it becomes belief.)

I have tried doing some of these, and ultimately I have yet to develop the attention span to see it through. The problem as I see it, is that there are some people that have reality tunnels so foreign that it's like an alien mind. Take Jack "People Who Play Videogames Are Incapable Of Forming Rational Ideas" Thompson. Or take this dude.

John Rogers put a pretty good spin on it: "The incredible mix of personal hubris and societal intolerance here is ... it is fucking MAGNIFICENT. I could not imagine talking with someone like this -- even polite elevator conversation -- for more than three seconds before the crazy physically forced me back, like an overpressure blast. Seriously. Wow." His ongoing motto also rings ridiculously true: "Everyone who wants to live in the 21st century, in this line. Everyone who wishes it was the 1800s again, over there. Good. Thanks. Good luck with that."

All I can say is, every morning read one of these quotes and be glad and happy that you don't have the same retarded beliefs.

"What college student has foremost in his (or her) mind that he is preparing to be a family leader, a godly spouse, a parent to children, and that from this base will spring his greatest effectiveness in every other area of life? None that I know."

"The very act of sending a daughter away on a mission trip for a couple weeks or on an apprenticeship for several months teaches her to have a spirit of independence that will not suit her for her calling as a helper to her husband."

"One statement caught the attention of my oldest daughter (who does a lot of home-centered work and has never been to Russia). The girl wrote: When I left Russia, I left part of my heart there. What struck both my daughter and me was this: Why is this young lady being put in a position where she is developing affections for a work that is neither her father's nor her husband's? How is she being trained for the life that God is actually calling her to as a woman?"

"Psalm 112: 1,2 says, Blessed is the man who fears the LORD, Who delights greatly in His commandments. His descendents will be mighty on earth…. How many men can say that his descendants are mighty in the earth? Perhaps part of the reason is that his descendants are scattered over the earth with no sense of connection or obligation to the rest of their extended family."

"I have six children (20, 18, 16, 14, 12, 6). All have been homeschooled from the beginning. We consider it sin to send children to public school, and we don't find most Christian schools much better."

"All [my] girls have hope chests (whether or not it is a chest) in which they are setting aside things they can use when they are married and have a family. This is a constant focus for them all, even now for six-year-old Alice. It is a form of dowry that I can offer a prospective husband along with my daughter. And it will be substantial. When we moved last December Sarah alone had nearly 60 boxes of her own things that we had to move, most of it hope chest things! It has grown since, and she has virtually everything she would need to set up house, from dishes and kitchenware, to linens, to home decorations. (I don't know what people could give as wedding gifts.)"

"[We] reject the notion that it is normal to send children away just at the time that they are ready to make the most important decisions in life. We believe it is a lie that they need distance from their parents or the training of some distant experts to be adequately prepared for life. Their best training is in the context of the home, church, and community. This is real life."

  ¶ 12:45 p.m.