From: "Mark Baron" Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Thinker's Anonymous Date: 4 May 1999 12:53:36 GMT Organization: Mayo Foundation Lines: 71 Message-ID: <01be962d$20af32c0$8ddab081@baron.mayo.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: baron.mayo.edu X-Newsreader: Microsoft Internet News 4.70.1155 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!feed2.news.luth.se!luth.se!nntp.primenet.com!newsin.iconnet.net!netnews.com!news-feed.fnsi.net!nntp01.net-okbr01.exodus.net!nntp01.net-okbr01.exodus.net!160.94.5.26!newshub.tc.umn.edu!mayonews.mayo.edu!not-for-mail Thinker's Anonymous It started out innocently enough. I began to think at parties now and then to loosen up. Inevitably though, one thought led to another, and soon I was more than just a social thinker. I began to think alone - "to relax," I told myself - but I knew it wasn't true. Thinking became more and more important to me, and finally I was thinking all the time. I began to think on the job. I knew that thinking and employment don't mix, but I couldn't stop myself. I began to avoid friends at lunchtime so I could read Thoreau and Kafka. I would return to the office dizzied and confused, asking, "What is it exactly we are doing here?" Things weren't going so great at home either. One evening I had turned off the TV and asked my wife about the meaning of life. She spent that night at her mother's. I soon had a reputation as a heavy thinker. One day the boss called me in. He said, "Skippy, I like you, and it hurts me to say this, but your thinking has become a real problem. If you don't stop thinking on the job, you'll have to find another job." This gave me a lot to think about. I came home early after my conversation with the boss. "Honey," I confessed, "I've been thinking..." "I know you've been thinking," she said, "and I want a divorce!" "But Honey, surely it's not that serious." "It is serious," she said, lower lip aquiver. "You think as much as college professors, and college professors don't make any money, so if you keep on thinking we won't have any money!" "That's a faulty syllogism," I said impatiently, and she began to cry. I'd had enough. "I'm going to the library," I snarled as I stomped out the door. I headed for the library, in the mood for some Nietzsche, with a PBS station on the radio. I roared into the parking lot and ran up to the big glass doors... they didn't open. The library was closed. To this day, I believe that a Higher Power was looking out for me that night. As I sank to the ground clawing at the unfeeling glass, whimpering for Zarathustra, a poster caught my eye. "Friend, is heavy thinking ruining your life?" it asked. You probably recognize that line. It comes from the standard Thinker's Anonymous poster. Which is why I am what I am today: a recovering thinker. I never miss a TA meeting. At each meeting we watch a non-educational video; last week it was "Porky's." Then we share experiences about how we avoided thinking since the last meeting. I still have my job, and things are a lot better at home. Life just seemed... easier, somehow, as soon as I stopped thinking. -- Mark Baron "Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground." --David Icke http://www.davidicke.com/ "Do you hear that Mr. Anderson? That is the sound of inevitability." --Agent Smith, "The Matrix" ###### From: nwgirr1@alaska.net Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: Thinker's Anonymous Date: Tue, 04 May 1999 13:00:43 -0800 Organization: Posted via RemarQ Communities, Inc. Lines: 1 Message-ID: <372F5FFB.88CFD6DE@alaska.net> References: <01be962d$20af32c0$8ddab081@baron.mayo.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.112.135.125 NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 04 May 1999 20:53:21 GMT X-Trace: 925851201.835.83 BZLTYJL.I877DD170C usenet80.supernews.com X-Complaints-To: newsabuse@remarQ.com X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.04 [en] (Win95; I) MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.belnet.be!news-feed.inet.tele.dk!bofh.vszbr.cz!newsfeed.stanford.edu!remarQ73!supernews.com!remarQ.com!remarQ69!news.remarQ.com!not-for-mail Thanks for submitting that Mark, it was great! ###### From: "Star Gazer" Newsgroups: alt.out-of-body Subject: Re: Thinker's Anonymous Date: Wed, 5 May 1999 10:03:03 +1000 Organization: Customer of Connect.com.au Pty. Ltd. Lines: 18 Message-ID: <7go1rc$dm$1@perki.connect.com.au> References: <01be962d$20af32c0$8ddab081@baron.mayo.edu> NNTP-Posting-Host: acc4-ppp18.mel.roaming.connect.com.au X-Trace: perki.connect.com.au 925862572 438 203.8.176.18 (5 May 1999 00:02:52 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@connect.com.au NNTP-Posting-Date: 5 May 1999 00:02:52 GMT X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 4.72.3110.5 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.3110.3 Path: chonsp.franklin.ch!pfaff.ethz.ch!news-zh.switch.ch!news-ge.switch.ch!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news.mel.connect.com.au!not-for-mail enjoyable reading, goo to here there are others. think about this how can you think and yet still exist in a non-thinking environment? 1. think enough not to affect those around you. 2. find a job or create a job where all you do is think 3. go fishing . . . . . . a star gazer