Yesterday, as I watched my two-year-old daughter run along in the playground, I observed her pony-tail as it bobbed up and down. Before I knew it, I was analyzing the motion of her hair as a function of time. My mind raced through vibration textbooks and dynamics courses. I decided that her pony-tail was similar to a one-degree-of-freedom system with base excitation, kind of like the chassis of a car as it drives along a bumpy road.
Considering the science behind a given situation is a regular occurrence for me, as I suppose it is for many scientists and engineers. Once one has spent enough hours mastering a certain domain, that domain seems to find a special place in one’s brain, where it giddily awaits to be called upon. Scientific thoughts appear in my mind at unexpected moments, and even turn up in my dreams – I can’t help it.
At a glance, this lack of control over my own thoughts can appear somewhat psychotic, but it is actually a common thing. For example, try to hold the image of one simple thing in your mind, like for example, a grilled cheese sandwich. Hold it there, and do not let anything else enter the picture you hold in your head. OK, how long did you last, 5 seconds? Less?
Total control of one’s thoughts is a tricky business, and is actually a skill that those who meditate try to develop. I suppose it would be a necessary skill for a Jedi to master; how can one expect to control the thoughts of others if they cannot fully control those within their own minds?
