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jrlewis's picture

My Pony Told Me…

Last year, my pony told me that she didn’t want to compete at horse shows anymore.  She was extremely burnt out, physically and mentally.  She was asking for a long break from the strenuous schedule of chasing year end points. 

There are a variety of reasons why I might choose to justify my decision to limit my mare’s competition schedule this year.  It could be a case of projecting my feelings about competition onto neutral substrate.  Or maybe anthropomorphizing my pony and her behavior. 

Our discussion in Thursday’s class allowed me to add another option to the list.  The idea that my intuition about my pony is informed by the sensory input I receive from her.  This information is processed by my unconscious and crafted into a story that the I-function receives.  This explains how I can know something without knowing how.  Her behavior creates the sensory input that I receive from her and the way she behaves is a reflection of her mental state.  So I can interpret something about her mental state.  Maybe my pony was communicating with me.

For a similar story about a different observation see:

/sci_cult/bridges/matspirit.html

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