Dr.J20
Well-Known Member
yes, facts may remain facts, regardless of who presents them, but when do they become facts?
And peer review, in science, is precisely to check whether a datum is consistently reproducible within a range of error; that groups of scientists have dedicated their lives to preserving and investigating these facts does a great good for humanity, but only because we trust those scientists to engage in unimpassioned investigation. If each person had to continually prove every scientific fact for himself continuously, we would not be able to function as a society. But, please recognize that you are basically taking it on faith that the above adherences to rigor were undertaken in the production of fact. Also, please recognize, that you are still, eventually, deferring to consensus as the marker of fact--e.g., "lots of smarter people than I have tested fact x and find it reasonable to declare x a fact, therefore I should take their word, because i just don't have time and resources to read through and try to reproduce the experiences which led them to accept fact x. I ought to believe a "fact" because others have already done the skeptical work and found it reasonable to accept that "fact;" That is, of course, until the fact comes under question by another scientist who tests his claims and produces reproducible, peer reviewable studies which refute the fact, leading to the formation of a more honed, more accurate fact. This is a good system, but it does ask a large cross-section of humanity to just believe its results. It may not care whether you question those facts, but neither do ALL religions prohibit such contemplation, and, indeed, many encourage such exploration and struggle.
be easy
It's never occurred to me to ask those people I dreamed about if they had dreamed of me simultaneously, and it's never come up. Of course, some of those people were dead at the time. 
And, though I know you may laugh a little, dreaming of deceased people applies here for sure. There's heaps of study into it. It's all linked in with coincidence, healing the family tree, and all that 'new age' stuff that is actually very old. Anyway, when I practice music I reach a meditative state. I'm right fckn out of it. To me, there's a more pronounced faculty involved, because, I'm 'there' playing, but not. Always doing my best to remember to get out of my own way. I remembered that you play with a piano friend from the early days of the Music thread. Sounds cool.
Consciousness gets in the way of many intricate, learned skills: athletes, performers, artists, etc. report that thinking consciously about what exactly there bodies are doing throws a wrench into the works and trips them up. It seems that consciousness is very necessary in technically learning a piece, but once muscle-memory is established consciousness can be detrimental to performance. Do you get to play regularly?
