Philosophy of my Mind

I've been thinking about posting some non-floofy posts recently.  Or should I call them, "Get to know the inner workings of a WeebleNugget?"  Maybe I'll just tag them, "Getting to know a Weeble."  Anywho, after having this conversation with a few people recently, I thought "Hey, maybe I'm not the only one who's constantly going 1000mph."  Also, I said I would let everyone out there get to know more about me.  So, *deep breath in* here goes...

Everyone's seen this floating around the internet.

Finding people that get me is hard.  I've got a core group of people that seem to have stuck around long enough to fully understand that hey, I'm a little different.  These people deserve awards like nobody's business. Seriously, buy these people a few rounds.  Because I am a handful. 

It's totally not on purpose and once you get to know me, you realize it's actually one of the super cool things about me.  It's just difficult explaining to people that I don't think the way you do, my brain is running 17 steps ahead of where I am right now, and I've probably already thought of 15 different ways this conversation can go.  Yes, I know you only said "Hey, what's up ?"  

With that in mind, I thought I would try break down how my brain works and why I am sometimes the biggest pain in the ass (and why you should love me anyway). [If Philosophy is not your thing, skip the next part and just pick up again at the *. I totally understand.]

I am a philosopher.  It's not just something I have a degree in, it's how my brain is wired.  I can't take things at face value.  Not that I don't want to, I just genuinely don't know how. I question EVERYTHING.  Again, I don't know how NOT to do this. I always need to know why.  Which is why on the first day of Ancient Philosophy in the Fall of 2009, I realized OMG THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE LIKE ME IN THE WORLD HOLY CRAP.

Here's why: One of the first things you learn is how every argument (philosophical or not) is constructed.  You have a premise + another premise and draw a conclusion from those premises. Well, duh.  This is how 99.999999 % of the world thinks. And it kind of looks like this:

All humans have hearts (premise) + John is a human (premise) = John has a heart (conclusion)

And that's also where 99.999999% of the world stops their thought process.  My brain (and how I realized I've been a philosopher my whole life) goes a little bit further.  Try and stay with me, I swear I have a point. 

Each premise is, in itself, the conclusion of another premise-premise-conclusion argument. So if you take the first premise, All humans have hearts, this is actually the conclusion of another argument that has it's own premises.  

All humans have internal organs (premise) + A heart is an internal organ (premise) = All humans have hearts (conclusion)

Still with me ? Okay, cool. We can do this FOREVER** (or at least a really, really long time).  And that's what my brain does. For everything. All the time.  So when I hear: John has a heart, I ask "Why" and list all the reasons (premises) why.  And then pick one (or more) of THOSE premises and ask "why", and so on and so forth.  Which then lets me go into god knows how many directions because the possibilities are endless.

Are you tired yet ? Yeah, this is my brain ALL THE TIME.

*In any situation, I constantly think of the best case scenario, worst case scenario, and every possible scenario between those two.  Which is great when it comes to planning ANYTHING.  It's not so great when you're trying to have a constructive conversation about your job/love life/personal goals.  I ask so many questions because I'm genuinely trying to understand where you're coming from (physically, emotionally, mentally) and it really frustrates people. They just want to say what they say and move on with life, without having to explain every thought that escapes their mouth.  I get it. I try so hard to keep my mouth shut, my "why's" and "how come's" to a minimum, and just smile and nod, but it drives me crazy.

I always want to understand HOW you got to the thought you just vocalized.  "I want ice cream."  Okay.  Is it because you're hot or because you want something sweet or because you haven't had it in a while ? You're thinking, "What does it matter why they want it ? Just go get ice cream !"  Yes, we don't need to continue, and I'm fully aware that we can just go get ice cream without answering a million existential questions. And regardless, I can go on and on about why it matters to me (I'll save that for another day) but honestly it comes down to this:

I like making other people happy.  

If I can fully and genuinely figure out how you work based on your thought process and what fuels your decisions, I can plan more awesome trips by cutting out stuff that isn't important to you. I can buy you super awesome presents that you need AND want (because those are the best). Mostly, we can have more awesome and constructive conversations because that's what happens when you get to know someone past face value.   

In conclusion, if I'm asking you a million questions that seems so counter productive and the "why's" just keep coming and you just want to scream, please understand that I'm just trying to understand you and the situation and make sure I don't take anything the wrong way.  It all comes from a good place, I swear.

**There is SO MUCH more to this: if the argument is sound/unsound and valid/invalid but you didn't come here to learn philosophy.  If you want to know more or have me explain in greater detail PLEASE EMAIL ME I WOULD TALK ABOUT IT FOREVER WITH YOU I LOVE THIS STUFF.