Greg Proffit Writing

Tag: Thoughts

  • What, or How to Think? That Is The Question

    Rodin's sculpture The Thinker. What, or How To Think? That is the question. Philosophy, Conclusions, Thinking.
    Hmmmm….(The Original Thinker, The Musée Rodin: Adobe Stock image: licensed by author)

    Your knee-jerk response to my title question reveals a lot about you…even if you lied to yourself. Some “think” with their television remotes or youtube search bars. They scan, select, watch, and listen for popular voices to tell them what to believe, unquestioningly adopt what they hear, and call this thinking for themselves. The intellectually lazy prefer the false security that comes from drinking the kool-aid of their current tribe. What about you? Do you prefer to be told what to think, or how to think?

    ”Philosophy is an unusually stubborn attempt to think clearly.”

    ~ William James

    Not all have the unusual stubbornness required of philosophers. Therefore, not thinking clearly, they consign their beliefs and views to a supposed authority. These cannot even think for themselves enough to defend their views, but will point to the words and opinions of their chosen spokesperson.

    ”Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so”

    ~ William Shakespeare, Hamlet

    I hold the above to be categorically, undeniably, terrifyingly true. 

    Certainty is a nice, cup-of-hot-chocolate illusion. It is temporarily pleasing and satisfying. But it is easily and quickly consumed.

    In a world of uncertainty, where guesses matter and context is everything, knowing how to think is of more worth to me than being told what to think. But I’m not telling you what to think. I trust you to decide for yourself. Once you have, just be able to tell us how you came to your conclusions.

  • Your Will Cannot Control Your Emotions – Truth To Live By

    Your Will Cannot Control Your Emotions – Truth To Live By

    Your will cannot control your emotions. Image show Thoughts>Emotions on tie-dyed fractal background.
    Thoughts yield Emotions, Emotions come from Thoughts. However you think of it, you cannot will emotions into, or out of, existence (Image by author)

    # 48 on my, 99 Life Tips – A List is: Emotions cannot be directly controlled by the will. Try to be scared now. You have to first think of something scary, right? All emotions are this way. They are the fruit of your thoughts.

    You Will Never Un-See This Truth

    There are some truths that, once presented to the mind, become irrefutable. The truth that emotion cannot be directly controlled by the will belongs to this class. Try it. As demonstrated in the example above, feelings don’t respond to your will. Your mind and thoughts must play an intermediate role. This role is indispensable. Your will cannot control your emotions. It cannot produce fear on its own initiative.

    If you try now to be joyful, say, as an act of will, you will encounter the same obstacle. You must think of something joyous first. Once you do, the emotion is easy to produce. In fact, it is impossible to feel any other way for as long as you keep the joyous thought in your mind.

    Likewise, unfortunately, this quote is also true:

    My life has been full of terrible misfortunes, most of which never happened.

    ~Michel de Montaigne

    If you cannot make yourself feel a certain way by willing the feeling into existence, neither can you will the feeling out of existence, once you’re feeling it. 

    While I am a staunch advocate of controlling everything you can. The linked discoveries that my will cannot control my emotions, rather, that my emotions come from my thinking (which I can control), has proved of incalculable worth to me. I hope you will find the same benefit.

    Exactly How Does This Help You?

    Knowing the general rule of where your emotions come from, allows you to know how to change them. And it will keep you from wasting time and energy listening to bad advice like, ”Don’t be (angry, afraid, anxious,)” 

    Your will doesn’t control your feelings. So you can safely stop trying.

    Sometimes, knowing what not to do is an important step in discovering what to do.

    Now, you realize the following:

    1. Your will does not produce your emotions, instead;
    2. Emotions are the products of your thoughts, and;
    3. Thoughts can be controlled by a conscious, willful choice (in the absence of mental illness of neurological pathology), therefore;
    4. You can change how you feel by changing how you’re thinking (or what you’re thinking about).

    Your will cannot control your emotions, but if you change your mind, you can change your world.

  • We

    The framers of the United States Constitution faced a daunting task. In 1787, fresh from the heady, yet costly victory of the nine-year Revolutionary War, they met in Philadelphia to formulate the charter documents. After months of debate, sometimes heated, sometimes personal, they penned the preamble to the foundational document of the burgeoning nation, with these words, “We the People…”. 

    Taking an even more granular view, it is evident that the first of these most cherished words is the simple word, pregnant with profound meaning, “We.”

    If enough of us would stop and consider this simple fact, if WE would think of the implications of the use of that word, WE would instantly begin the process that, if followed, would achieve the re-uniting and healing of the Country.

  • First Day of the First Week…holding breath

    Today, Sunday, January 3, 2021 is the first day of the first full week of the new year. And a momentous day it is too. Here are a few highlights of the day and the upcoming week.

    The new congress will be sworn in making the Democrat majority in the House of Representatives considerably narrower.

    Today marks the anniversary of the US killing of Iranian General Qassim Suliemani. There are concerns that Iran may attempt a retaliatory strike against American targets.

    Today also marks the beginning of what will certainly turn out to be week of tremendous consequence in the history of the United States:


    1) Tuesday is election day in Georgia for both of that state’s senate seats. The Republicans hold the senate majority going into the election by a 50-48 margin. If the two Democrats, Jon Ossof and Raphael Warnock win their special elections, the senate would be split 50-50, with newly elected Vice President, Kamala Harris, a Democrat, holding the tie-breaking vote.

    2) Wednesday is the day Congress will tabulate the electoral college votes submitted by the states. All of the states have submitted legally verified electors giving President-Elect Joe Biden a substantial EC victory of 306 votes to 232. This event would ordinarily be pro forma and largely symbolic. But there are rumblings that GOP representatives and senators are planning to challenge the slate of electors submitted by several of the states where Donald Trump lost in an effort to use the procedure to overturn the election and hand it to Trump.

    3) Lame Duck President Donald Trump has called for Wednesday to be a day of protests over what he claims is a ”stolen election” in Washington, DC. The MAGA contingent will be joined by members of several right-wing para-military groups including the infamous, ”Proud Boys” who have told their members not to wear their typical black and yellow colors, but instead to blend in amongst the other MAGA protesters. The day could turn violent. Perhaps even violent enough to provide a pretext for Trump to declare martial law in the District of Columbia or even in a broader more general sphere.