Why do you hear your thoughts?

At this very moment you are talking to yourself, in your head. Everything your eyes read, is translated in spoken words by a mysterious voice in your head. The one you hear right now. Yes, that one.

You can’t stop it. It’s not even worth trying. It’s impossible to get rid of it.

Why does the mind work that way? Every thought you have - so that must be like every second, all day long – is spoken by that voice in your head. And it’s not always the same voice. You can change that voice into every voice you want, every accent you want and every language you want (but you’ll obviously have to know the accent and/or language). I sometimes think in English or let that voice talk like a famous person. Why? Just because I like it and just because I can.  

We’re lucky we can control that voice, unlike schizophrenics. Different voices talking uncontrollable in your head at arbitrary moments. I can’t imagine how mentally exhaustive that must be.

I also wonder if people who are born deaf also have a voice in their head. I think they do, but I don’t know if they can also change the voice like we can. Do you know?

Six Word Story

Cognitive dissonance

I think you’ll all recognize this. You’re shopping and just bought an item that was on sale. Then you go to the next store where you see this great shirt or whatever. You look at the price tag and see it’s actually too expensive for you. But then you’re thinking: ‘Hmm, I just saved me some money on something that I would’ve bought anyway. So if you subtract the money I saved from that item, from this shirt, it’s actually not that expensive. I’ll buy it!’.

Or this: You’re on a diet and you’re not allowed to eat snacks. Then one day you have something to celebrate, like you passed all your exams you worked really hard for. And then you’re thinking: ‘I worked so hard for this, I now deserve a nice piece of pie!’.  

We all do it. We all sometimes try to justify our behaviour, feelings and/or thoughts. It’s called cognitive dissonance. Trying to talk something straight so you won’t feel guilty about your actions. It’s a natural habit I guess.

Think about all the things you tried to justify the past seven days. I’m pretty sure you can at least name one!

What happens when you're drunk?

I can't remember.

What if there were no drugs and alcohol?

Without drugs and alcohol there won’t be any (drug and alcohol) addicts, no rehabs, no liquor stores, no drinking games and probably less homicides, assaults, robberies and adultery. Would there even be bars and clubs?

Some people got famous because of their drinking and/or drug using habits. Or because of what the alcohol/drugs made them do. So without alcohol and drugs some famous persons would´ve never been famous and some things would’ve never been invented, some art works would’ve never been made.

Also some famous artists – apart from whether they would’ve been famous without the existence of drugs and alcohol – would’ve lived longer. Think about Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison and Herman Brood.

Without alcohol and drugs everything would be a lot different. It could save you from some embarrassing moments.
I think the world would be a lot better without it. But I guess we’ll never find out.

What if no one could die?

Not being able to die seems nice, don’t you think?

Well, think again.

If no one could die, that would be just weird. Imagine a world filled with people. So crowded, the only buildings are skyscrapers. Not the ones you´ve seen before. No, way higher. So everyone will have a place to live.  

If no one could die, everyone lives forever. So eventually there will be people at the age of 300 and older. What do they do? Probably laying down all day because they are too old to move. There’s just nothing else they can do! How awful that must be.

On the other hand, without the ability to die there will be no more suicides, no more homicides, no more funerals. People will dare to do more, because the fear of death is out of question.

But eventually (and pretty soon), the world will get overpopulated. Sources will run out. Life on earth will be miserable. They’ll probably figure out a way to let a part of the world population live on another planet. And then that planet will get too full, and so on.

In my opinion, death is a horrible part of life, but it’s a good thing it exists. 

What if everyone in the world spoke the same language?

If everyone in the world spoke the same language, the world would be more boring. Every culture would speak the same language, so no linguistic distinction. Communicating would be much easier though. No troubles explaining yourself in another country. Everyone can understand what you say.

That can also be a disadvantage. No more gossiping about that foreign guy while standing right behind him. One language also means no other languages. Wouldn’t that make school a lot easier?

If you ask me, I like having different languages in the world. It makes a country and its inhabitants more interesting. Trying to explain yourself abroad sometimes becomes a real challenge and I like that. It can be frustrating though, but most of the time creative communication will get you there. 

What if...

Are you bored? Here are some things to think about. That will keep you busy for a while.

What if everyone in the world spoke the same language?

What if everyone had the same character and interests?

What if no one could die?

What if your parents wouldn’t have met each other?

What if Albert Einstein was never born?

What if dinosaurs wouldn’t be extinct?

What if we could control the weather?

What if there were no drugs and alcohol?

I’ll give you some time to think about this. In a few days I’ll give you my view on some of these ‘what ifs’. 

It all comes down to jealousy

Think of people you don’t like or who bother you, people who annoy you, people you can’t stand. Does she annoy you because she’s always singing in public, even though she can’t sing? Do you hate him because he ran off with the girl you like? Don’t you like him because he’s always showing off?

I’ve got news for you. You are actually jealous. Jealous of her because you wish you had no shame to sing like that in public. Jealous of him because he got to be with the girl you like. Jealous of him because you wish you had such self-confidence.

This doesn’t count for everything, though. In some extreme cases I can’t think of a reason to be jealous. Like when you hate someone because he killed your brother, for instance. Or you can hate Hitler for all the bad things he caused. That’s just true hate. So this theory only goes for smaller cases. Why don’t you test it yourself. Think of the person you hate. Is it really hate or are you actually jealous in some way?

It’s hard to be intelligent

Ernest Hemingway once said: “Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.”. I don’t fully agree with him, but I understand why he said it. I believe intelligent people sure can be happy. But it’s harder for them to live a happy life.

I’ll try to explain what I mean. In my experience, intelligent people think a lot. They worry about all kind of things and they mostly think before they act. And all that thinking can block their actions. Or make them worry even more. While less intelligent people don’t worry much, or worry about other things. They don’t think about everything they do, they just do it.

That’s why I think less intelligent people lead a much easier life than intelligent people. They have simple jobs, a lot of friends, not much worries. They just have less inhibitions.

Sometimes I wish I could be more like them, you know. Don’t worry and think that much for once. Who knows what my life would’ve looked like if I were less intelligent. It would’ve been different, that’s for sure. But if I had the choice, I’d rather be as intelligent as I am now, than be less intelligent. 

Homonyms

Have you ever heard of a homonym? Maybe not, but I think you have heard of some examples.

A homonym is, in linguistics, one of a group of words that share the same spelling and the same pronunciation, but have different meanings.

Why do we have those words? Were they tired of making up new names, so they used the same one of something already existing? Mostly these objects have the same name because they look alike in some way.

Look at the homonyms I photographed. Can you tell which words are represented?

Six Word Story

Why war?

It surely is a men thing, fighting and war. Why do men always have to settle arguments with violence? Is it part of their instinct maybe? I don’t know.

Fighting man to man is one thing, but when they involve other people in their fight, it goes too far in my opinion. Especially when it comes to war. It always starts out with an argument between two people, or two governments maybe. And then they use a whole army to settle the argument. Not to mention the number of innocent people dying or being traumatized. Why?

Don’t those ‘war leaders’ care about other people’s lives? It seems like they play a game, with innocent souls as their pawns. But will they ever put their own lives at risk? Of course not! They just start a war, let a lot people get killed and meanwhile they hide themselves like a cat during fireworks. They aren’t great men, not even when they win the war. All war leaders are cowards. 

"Fear is the father of courage and the mother of safety." (Henry H. Tweedy)

Everyone is afraid of at least one thing. Like me, I told you I’m afraid of heights. Well, afraid of falling down actually, and hurt myself. Can anyone be afraid of heights alone? Isn’t it just the idea of what all can happen to you? To fall down, get hurt, or even die?

I think that’s the deal with a lot of fears. Like being afraid of the dark. Is it the actual fear of darkness or the fear of the unknown, that you can’t see things? Just think about the things you fear. And then think if that is the actual fear.

Maybe you’re thinking about spiders right now. Lots of people are afraid of those small creatures. Why? Yeah, some can be lethal, but not in Holland (if you don’t count the ones in zoos). So you’re not afraid of the insect itself, but of what it might do to you. What can a harmless spider do? Walk on you? Make a spider web in your hair?

See, not all fears are named correctly. They forget the next step. Most fears involve dying or getting hurt, at least something unpleasant for you. That’s of course not weird, because you can’t be afraid of something you like (to do). Can you?

‘If a tree falls in a forest..’

Have you ever heard of the well-known philosophical question ‘If a tree falls in a forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?’? I have, and I don’t really understand why people can have a discussion about this. The answer is obvious to me.

The question suggests that it’s a fact that a tree falls, so I believe that. Fact: a tree falls. We all know that a falling tree must produce sound. Fact: a falling tree produces sound. 1+1=2, a falling tree makes sound. So to answer the question: yes of course it will make a sound!

Why must someone be there to hear it fall for it to be real? A lot of things happen without anyone noticing it. And still it happens. Maybe some people just have trust-issues, they won’t believe it unless there is an eyewitness to establish the fact.

Time rules the world

It’s funny what time can do with you. It changes you, it can make you work harder, or forget. Without time there wouldn’t be much structure. It rules your day, your week, your whole life. It actually rules the world.

Your alarm clock tells you when to get up. A calendar tells you how much time you have left for that deadline, or when your birthday is coming up. Time decides when to eat: breakfast in the morning, lunch at midday and dinner in the evening. Time makes you go to sleep. Time lets you grow up, change and get older. Well, I can go on and on about what time can make you do, but you probably get the point.

Time is unstoppable, it just keeps going. You can hear the seconds ticking away. It goes fast when you’re having fun and it’s slow as hell when you’re waiting for someone or something. Yeah, time’s a real bitch sometimes, but we can’t live without it.