“…for everyone thinks, and only can think, from the ideas he possesses.”
--Maurice Nicoll, The Mark
Because thinking is both a conscious and unconscious act, the ideas that we think with can be both conscious and unconscious. Unconscious ideas, or beliefs, are usually called assumptions.
Ideas can be likened to tools. Different tools are suited to different tasks. If we are faced with a river to cross, would we rather have a raft or a hammer? Thus the importance of introducing new concepts, to be grasped and used consciously. The process of acquiring conscious concepts.
But we can also become aware of, and remove if necessary, unconscious assumptions. For, faced with the river, we may need to leave behind the ropes that helped us climb the mountain a few miles back as much as we need to build a raft. Also, different ideas are useful for different situations, and we are always faced with new situations (though, perhaps Nietzsche would say that we are faced with similar patterns of situations, in his idea of eternal return). This is why ideas cannot always be clung to, especially as life constantly carries us into new situations.
--Maurice Nicoll, The Mark
Because thinking is both a conscious and unconscious act, the ideas that we think with can be both conscious and unconscious. Unconscious ideas, or beliefs, are usually called assumptions.
Ideas can be likened to tools. Different tools are suited to different tasks. If we are faced with a river to cross, would we rather have a raft or a hammer? Thus the importance of introducing new concepts, to be grasped and used consciously. The process of acquiring conscious concepts.
But we can also become aware of, and remove if necessary, unconscious assumptions. For, faced with the river, we may need to leave behind the ropes that helped us climb the mountain a few miles back as much as we need to build a raft. Also, different ideas are useful for different situations, and we are always faced with new situations (though, perhaps Nietzsche would say that we are faced with similar patterns of situations, in his idea of eternal return). This is why ideas cannot always be clung to, especially as life constantly carries us into new situations.
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