When I was a kid - imagined

M

MrPink

Registered Senior Member
I imagined that it would be impossible that anyone else had their own personality and thought process. In fact the whole world was a stage that was in place for me. Thinking that other people had free thought and different thought than my own was impossible to imagine. I also thought that people's percepetion of colour was different. To me Green was Green but to them it could be blue or red and just called Green and their perception of the world would be completely different.

This early thinking was an indication of my adult personality which is rather selfish, self centered, and egotistical. Interesting.

How has your early childhood imagination shaped the character you have become today?
 
I'm confused. You say that you couldn't conceive of other people having their own thought process, but then you say you assumed that they perceived colors differently. That seems inconsistent.

My childhood thoughts were dominated by 1. Rebelling against the authority of my parents, who were too stupid to be entitled to wield it; 2. Speaking the exotic foreign languages I heard all over the city; 3. Understanding the fascinating world of science.

Those thoughts certainly shaped me.
 
When I was a kid, I was somewhat similar to you, MrPink. But instead of thinking such perceptions of reality were different for everyone else, I always doubted the fact that they had to be the same. As long as someone's red was blue to me, I could never prove it. And it did not matter, because the colors nevered changed. I questioned a lot.

When I was 7 or 8, I would test my own free-will. At that age I found that no matter what I did that I thought was free, I could always find a way to dispute my claim.

I used to also wave a morality stick around at people. "You cannot do that!" "That is wrong." "You will get in trouble." I do not anymore, however.I say "do it if you want, just don't get me in trouble."
 
Mine was similar as well, maybe all kids had this idea. You know when we were younger we haven't really experienced the many variations of life at that age, we haven't even been educated enough about the world and culture yet. My younger years were really mundane, no real interests or hobbies, no direction, and certainly not much intelligence; as far as I can remember. It was about 10 when I started noticing the idea of perspectives, espscially when I was in social studies class. I knew people had to think differently if the governmnet had to go extra length to make people basically think, feel, and act the same. Plus I knew from my class mates that people were different and had their own minds. The moment I started watching TV full time(10-14yrs) It pretty much solidified my suspicion; people were different.
 
Mr. Pink, that phenomenon is known as "theory of mind". People that lack it are generally autistic.
 
Mine is sort of an inverse of Mr. Pink, though with the same conclusion. I could conceive other people's minds, and I could understand them, but I wondered how I could prove that everyone else wasn't just acting out a pre-set script. I wondered how I could prove that I wasn't actually completely alone in the world. Developed solipsism at around six. The idea that maybe everyone should serve me instead of worrying about their own selfish needs (they don't have needs... they're automatons) crossed my mind, I never got completely selfish about it. It scared me more than empowered me.

It bothered me for a long time. This was one early dillema that science DID actually solve, and without a depressing answer; I learned at around 12 that consciousness was a product of the brain, and that they could see it happening in people's heads. If I can accept that I am a brain, then other people are brains too, so I'm not the only one who sees anything.

These kinds of thoughts show an ability to think abstractly and logically, (the concept of self plus the need to prove that the self exists) though the child's naiveite colors them.
 
We need a good collection of average and below average people for this thread to work. Right now it is just conformity incest because I think we are all pretty intelligent and it usually shows at an early age.
 
A couple memories stick out to me.
As a child I always thought it was possible that my entire life had been nothing but a dream, and that one day I would wake up from a looong nap as a squirrel. Sounds crazy, yes. I still wouldn't be surprised if it did happen, though. Of course, to this day I continue to question everything and everyone in the world around me.
Another thing that sticks out probably reflects my current state of being somewhat self-centered, but in an I'm-different-and-no-one-gets-me kind of way. I used to lie in bed and wish that I could die, not because I wasn't happy, but because I so badly wanted to see "the other side". I felt I didn't belong in the earthly realm, but in Heaven or another dimension where things were more enlightened. I think both these "imaginings" relate to what ya'll are describing: a self-absorbed world. Kids fail to see that we're all more or less the same. I don't still have the desire to see the other side, but I do continue to think I'm somehow spiritually transcendent above others.
 
Later on in my teen years while experimenting with LCD, Hashish, and the weed my theory went further in my mind. I imagined that the world was really what I made of it. I thought that I was interconnected with everyone and everything on the planet. The entire world was a stage however it was a stage that I created instantly in my mind. All things that happen actually happen in my mind and appear.000000000000001 seconds later. All experiences good and bad are created to develop a story that is interesting. This would explain why so often you think of someone and suddenly they appear, or you have an idea and the next day you see it already in production.

When The Sims became popular I never played it for very long, however it led credence that this earth and people could actually be an extremely advanced civilization based on The Sims. That our entire planet and history are simply the actions of an alien youth (our god) controlling our destiny on the world's most advanced AI computer.

I am now an adult and do not experiment with LCD, Hashish, or other substances of the mind. However the game theory is still one that makes me go hmmmm....
 
Carcasm said:
A couple memories stick out to me.
As a child I always thought it was possible that my entire life had been nothing but a dream, and that one day I would wake up from a looong nap as a squirrel. Sounds crazy, yes. I still wouldn't be surprised if it did happen, though. Of course, to this day I continue to question everything and everyone in the world around me.
Another thing that sticks out probably reflects my current state of being somewhat self-centered, but in an I'm-different-and-no-one-gets-me kind of way. I used to lie in bed and wish that I could die, not because I wasn't happy, but because I so badly wanted to see "the other side". I felt I didn't belong in the earthly realm, but in Heaven or another dimension where things were more enlightened. I think both these "imaginings" relate to what ya'll are describing: a self-absorbed world. Kids fail to see that we're all more or less the same. I don't still have the desire to see the other side, but I do continue to think I'm somehow spiritually transcendent above others.
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God damn... of all the posts I seen of yours, you sound a lot like me. I bet you are my long lost twin. :cool:
 
This is so weird... When I was entering my teens I used to think the same thing too. The world felt to me like a large stage and everything in there was for me.. for what purpose I couldn´t fathom. But due to my religious upbringing I used to think it was for God to test me...
 
FlannelShirtMonster said:
I learned at around 12 that consciousness was a product of the brain, and that they could see it happening in people's heads. If I can accept that I am a brain, then other people are brains too, so I'm not the only one who sees anything.
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Yep. Assuming for a moment that the studies on consciousness aren't a figment of your (my?) imagination like the rest of the world: at some point I changed my theory to one of "people may be different, but there's an awful lot of genetic similarity. So maybe everyone does seem the same red (or at least have 'red' fire off similar areas in the brain)?"
 
Well, I still am a teen. I'm fifteen, and I can relate to bits and pieces of each of all of your comments. Right now, I have a very confident attitude, usually bordering on insubordination at school. Honestly, it's because most of the teachers I have are complete morons who couldn't actually teach me the material; they can lecture it, but teaching apparently is not their forte. I understand that, yes, people are different from me because they have all had different experiences, met different people, and read different books than I.

I'm not exactly sure if I can actually add anything of value to this thread, though...after all, the OP doens't really apply to me.

AmishRakeFight
 
When I was knee-high to a grasshopper, I used to think little things lived inside me, working together to meet the demands of my body. Specifically, little developed people, like the Fraggle Rock construction workers who were sentient enough to carry out their duties, but not enough to destroy my liver with excessive drilling or something. Haha, very silly of me.
 
Anyone else ever have the thought (as a kid) that when you eat food, it fills up your body from your feet all the way up? Like a trash bag almost.
 
Absane said:
We need a good collection of average and below average people for this thread to work. Right now it is just conformity incest because I think we are all pretty intelligent and it usually shows at an early age.
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yeah when i was one I could recite the complete works of shakespeare backwards.....
 
Well you just sounded a leetle bit arrogant when you said you needed a collection of average and below average people for this thread to work.
 
sniffy said:
Well you just sounded a leetle bit arrogant when you said you needed a collection of average and below average people for this thread to work.
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Well because I am curious if other people have these kinds of experiences. What's wrong with that?
 
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