THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS

TEiP DEEP 33

AWAKENING?

SPOILER ALERT

Here is the Thought Experiment that we’ll discuss at TEiP DEEP.

It is broken into three chapters.

I recommend waiting to read the chapters sequentially at the event

…but if you’d like to know what they are ahead of time, here you go… :-)

CHAPTER 1

“At some point in your life, you will encounter something that lights you up.

Call it a craze, call it a phase.

Call it enlightenment, call it an awakening, call it a breakthrough.

Whatever you call it, it’s something radical and wonderful.

It takes over your mind and warms your heart.

It inspires you and uplifts you and gives you a new lease of life.

Maybe this has already happened to you. Maybe a few times. Or maybe not yet.

But it can happen…TODAY.”

There is a small crowd around the source of this speech.

You stop walking.

Through a gap in the crowd, you catch sight of a beautiful man dressed in all red. He is smiling and talking into an old fashioned megaphone.

He continues:

“Today, you can discover the thing that will light you up. The thing you should worship. It will be different for all of you…and the same.”

Someone in the crowd calls out:

“Are you selling something, or is this a religious cult?”

The man in red says:

“I have discovered a practice that will change your life. I can teach you if you want to learn, but there’s no pressure if you don’t.”

The heckler responds:

“Sounds dodgy to me! No thanks!”

Someone else calls out:

“Well I’d like to learn. Why wouldn’t you at least be curious about something that might change your life for the better?”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

How would you feel in this scenario?
What thoughts would be going through your mind?
Why might the first heckler feel suspicious?
What do you think of the second person’s question: “Why wouldn’t you at least be curious about something that might change your life for the better?”?
What are your assumptions about the man in red?
How might past experiences influence people’s responses to the man in red?

SOURCE: BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

CHAPTER 2

You’re not sure about staying to listen to the man in red, but you’re with two friends, Billy-Jean and Zafar, who show no signs of moving.

Billy-Jean says:

“Please can we stay and listen for 10 minutes? I’m so curious about these kinds of things. Whether there’s anything to what he’s saying or not. I think it’s good to keep an open mind.”

Zafar says:

“Yeah, I just watched a documentary about a cult, I’d like to see if anyone actually believes this guy.”

You agree to stay for a while and the three of you sit at some public tables just behind the man in red. You can hear what’s going on and observe the crowd.

The people in the crowd have a mixture of expressions:

Skeptical
Riveted
Irritated
Enthusiastic
And disinterested - looking at their phones.

Gesturing to a couple of people right at the front of the crowd, who are both smiling and nodding, Zafar says:

“These two are clearly under the spell. I think they should be protected. They could be vulnerable.”

Billy-Jean replies:

“They’re adults! And as far as we know this guy is just going to give them some good advice. It might really benefit them. There’s nothing wrong with being enthusiastic. In fact, I recently read that being enthusiastic about something is extremely good for people’s wellbeing and mental health. It’s the nihilists we should watch out for.”

Zafar replies:

“You haven’t seen the documentary I’ve seen. It’s called Kumaré. It’s about this guy who dressed up in orange robes and grew his hair long and put on his Indian grandmother’s accent and convinced all these people in Arizona that he was a guru.

Loads of them fell for it and by the end of the documentary, when he revealed that he wasn’t a guru, they were devastated and embarrassed. Normal people can be really gullible and trusting. That’s how bad cults start. I think the skeptics are safer.”

Billy-Jean replies:

“I actually have seen Kumaré, and you’re right that lots of them were embarrassed, but there were a few who found the teachings really life changing even when they knew the ‘guru’ wasn’t a ‘guru’. I think it’s more important to let people be free to discover things for themselves than to wrap them in cotton wool. I mean, you never know, what if this guy is the next Jesus?”

Zafar says:

“He could be, or he could be the next Jim Jones, ready to get people to drink poisoned Kool-Aid.”

Zafar turns to you and says:

“You’ve been quiet, what do you think?”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

What would you say to Billy-Jean and Zafar?
Which do you think is more important: protecting people or giving people the freedom to choose what they do in life?
How does the state protect people?
How does the state leave them to make their own choices?
Do you think the current balance is right? Why/why not?
What do you think of Billy-Jean’s comment that this man could be the next Jesus?
What makes someone trustworthy? Or not?

SOURCES:

BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

Gandhi, V. (Director). (2011). Kumaré [Film]. Kino Lorber.

CHAPTER 3

While you and Billy-Jean and Zafar have been chatting, the crowd has been shuffling. Some people have left, others have joined.

Suddenly, the man in red blows a horn. A loud note floats up into the Spring air. He calls out:

“Lets go! Anyone who wants to learn, come with me.”

They all start walking away.

Zafar says:

“Poor things, so gullible.”

Billy-Jean says:

“Good on them for trying something new. If I wasn’t with you two, I’d join them.”

The next day, at work, your colleague sits next to you. She tells you about an experience she had over the weekend.

“It was amazing. I found a totally new source of inspiration. I feel rejuvenated and excited about life in a way I didn’t before.”

You notice that your colleague, who is usually fairly conservative in her dress, is wearing a lot of yellow today. You ask her what happened on the weekend.

She says:

“Well, shall I try it on you? I’m not sure if it will work the same way because obviously I haven’t done it before, but it’s a pretty simple technique.”

You say ok and she tells you to think of a time when you felt really good, alive, and curious about the world.

You think for a few moments and a memory comes to mind.

She invites you to tell her about it saying that she’ll listen for 10 minutes without interrupting you.

You are dubious about this. 10 minutes feels like a long time to talk about the memory that you have in mind.

She says,

“Just give it a go”.

You start talking. You tell her a bit and then run out of steam, but she doesn’t speak. She just sits there, listening. You say a bit more. And then a bit more. Suddenly, the 10 minutes is over.

She thanks you and then repeats back to you some of the key things that you told her.

She notices that there were certain features of what you told her: the feeling you had, the place you were in, who else was around you. She asks you to think more about these things, to really try and feel that feeling again.

Then she asks you to tell her what the predominant colour of that day was.

You look at her, puzzled, but a colour does flash in your mind.

You tell her, but explain that the colour was probably just because of the weather and the light of the day and what you were wearing and all that rather than anything significant.

She says,

“Maybe, but I want you to associate that colour with everything you just told me about feeling uplifted and inspired and full of life. Every day, look for that colour and when you do, remember those feelings from that inspiring moment. Try and really feel them. It will start to change things.”

She goes on:

“For me, it was instant. But I don’t think it happens the same way for everyone. And it only works if you participate in it. So we’ll see how you get on. It’s up to you to believe, but if you do, you’ll experience the benefits.”

She adds:

“There is a whole ideology behind this, but for now, just try the practice. I think it works even if you don’t know the doctrines.”

QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER:

When the man in red blew the horn and invited people to follow him, were you, like Billy-Jean, tempted to go with him? Or were you suspicious, like Zafar? Or something else?
What do you think of your colleague’s experience?
Would you be up for trying this? (Are you generally up for trying new things like this or not? Why/why not?)
Could you decide to opt-in to this belief? Can a person choose their beliefs?
Can practices work without belief?
If your colleague is feeling good, does it matter how it happened?
Would you be more likely to be curious about this practice if you were hearing it from the man in red, or is it more palatable because it is coming from someone you know (your colleague)?

SOURCE:

BA, THOUGHT EXPERIMENTS IN PUBS Group Member

Inspired by: Greene, D. (Director). (1973). Godspell [Film]. Columbia Pictures.