I remembered a thought I have had before. I think if I could understand this I might be a better person. Unfortunately for me the idea isn’t even fully developed. This seems quite sad since I have had time for my mind to process it.
Basically – people cease to exist when I do not think about them. And because you cannot keep everyone one you know in your thoughts all the time the same is true for people you do not think about. I do not know the level to which they cease in other people but it is quite severe in my mind, at least as far as I perceive severity.
This might be the island that we sometimes get trapped on. The deserted kind of island. The good thing about being stuck on a deserted island – I determined I do like fresh coconut.
Saying “you cease to exist when I stop thinking about you” out loud in front of other people will win you a lot of friends. I of course know this is not true and I know this because I have done it. I do not recommend it. No this was not years ago when I was slightly more foolish but within the past two years and I am almost positive on more than one occasion.
In the past five years, I have been in classes and after they were over people would ask me if I saw this or that happen. I had no clue that any of those things had occurred because I was focused completely on the teacher. Everyone else had ceased to exist even while in the same room as me.
I was trying to remember how far back I could pull a focus memory. I remember an occurrence in 8th or 9th grade but I cannot determine if I was focused or just day dreaming. I personally would not classify it as day dreaming but maybe it was. Algebra class. One of the Duran twins sat one row over and one seat back. The windows were behind us. I think Keith Hancock was one or two seats behind her. I wanted to say it was Liz but it might have been Lacy. The memory bubble doesn’t go too far past the second row – if at all. I think I must have been a horrible person. Yes, I still am.
This level of intense focus is not constant of course but it is sometimes necessary. I know that introverts need to be able to reduce the number of stimuli they receive and I believe that this was something I learned at an early age.
Can you have an intense focus and still take in surrounding data? My mind has been extremely active as of late. It is stranger than I am used to. Interesting.
You can of course link this to our perception of time discussion. The ideas can be combined quite easily.