Author's note: This would have been better, and probably longer, but I'm still sick. If only you could blow your ear like you can blow your nose.
Since last week's entry was such a success, I figured I'd just keep going ("...let's keep this going in sight, never an ending, we don't ever want to hear this word ending..."). Hopefully this time I can stay a bit more on topic, since I don't have to introduce the gimmick and I think I have a better topic, too.
So you see the thread title. The word "ontological" means something like "existing whether you like it or not" or "objectively real". (That's certainly not the textbook definition of it, and that's deliberate.) There are two rather different ideas contained in the phrase "ontological fatness", and I'll handle them one at a time.
The first is that you are a certain size. You just are. Maybe you want to be smaller. Maybe you're a feedee and want to be bigger. These things can happen but they won't without some real reason.
Also, there is a right size for you. Some people are naturally small, some naturally large. You might do something to change size (or shape!) but if it's not right for you, it probably won't stick, or won't make you happy. I see a lot of this side of things in posts here. Many of you just know what the physical meaning of the word "me" is. A 300-pound person is a 300-pound person. Works that way for 400 and 200, too, you know?
The other concept is less complicated but probably harder in some ways. It is that there are some things not included in the above idea. Like, is a given person "fat"? Well, what does that word mean? How about "big", "thick", "heavy", or "chunky"? These words do not have much of the ontological nature. They live in the minds of people. (Granted, the concepts "pound", and for that matter, "weight" are also created by humans, but they're at least a bit more solid.) You get to decide whether these words are proper descriptions for you. You also get to decide whether they apply to others even if the "others" happen to be cats or frogs or something.
Now wait a minute, I hear you say. If I can decide how labels apply to others, how am I protected from getting that back? You're not! These concepts (and many others off-topic to this board) have a separate reality in the mind of each person who thinks of them. (For all I know, the cats and frogs have their own personal Platonic "chunky", too.) There are as many different worlds as there are participants of the world.
If you do not want to be "thick" but do want to be "fat", that's completely within your power! If you hate the word "heavy", remove it from your world! No one need ever be "heavy" for you again if that's what you want.
This creates a magical reality, doesn't it? Do you realize what you can do with it? Your mind is programmable like a very messy computer. (Can't you see the spaghetti squash code?) So go forth and program it! Respectable folks call it psychology but those of us who really look know it's pure magic.
Since last week's entry was such a success, I figured I'd just keep going ("...let's keep this going in sight, never an ending, we don't ever want to hear this word ending..."). Hopefully this time I can stay a bit more on topic, since I don't have to introduce the gimmick and I think I have a better topic, too.
So you see the thread title. The word "ontological" means something like "existing whether you like it or not" or "objectively real". (That's certainly not the textbook definition of it, and that's deliberate.) There are two rather different ideas contained in the phrase "ontological fatness", and I'll handle them one at a time.
The first is that you are a certain size. You just are. Maybe you want to be smaller. Maybe you're a feedee and want to be bigger. These things can happen but they won't without some real reason.
Also, there is a right size for you. Some people are naturally small, some naturally large. You might do something to change size (or shape!) but if it's not right for you, it probably won't stick, or won't make you happy. I see a lot of this side of things in posts here. Many of you just know what the physical meaning of the word "me" is. A 300-pound person is a 300-pound person. Works that way for 400 and 200, too, you know?
The other concept is less complicated but probably harder in some ways. It is that there are some things not included in the above idea. Like, is a given person "fat"? Well, what does that word mean? How about "big", "thick", "heavy", or "chunky"? These words do not have much of the ontological nature. They live in the minds of people. (Granted, the concepts "pound", and for that matter, "weight" are also created by humans, but they're at least a bit more solid.) You get to decide whether these words are proper descriptions for you. You also get to decide whether they apply to others even if the "others" happen to be cats or frogs or something.
Now wait a minute, I hear you say. If I can decide how labels apply to others, how am I protected from getting that back? You're not! These concepts (and many others off-topic to this board) have a separate reality in the mind of each person who thinks of them. (For all I know, the cats and frogs have their own personal Platonic "chunky", too.) There are as many different worlds as there are participants of the world.
If you do not want to be "thick" but do want to be "fat", that's completely within your power! If you hate the word "heavy", remove it from your world! No one need ever be "heavy" for you again if that's what you want.
This creates a magical reality, doesn't it? Do you realize what you can do with it? Your mind is programmable like a very messy computer. (Can't you see the spaghetti squash code?) So go forth and program it! Respectable folks call it psychology but those of us who really look know it's pure magic.
