The Advantage of Abundant Thinking • Hacker News Board

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#111

Post by sridca » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 1:41 PM UTC

llamataboot wrote: post #70

rcconf wrote: post #30

These concepts also work really well for dating and relationships. If you approach girls with a scarcity mindset, you tend to be a lot more needy, insecure and generally feel like a victim. If you approach girls with an abundance mentality, you're much less needy, more confident and you don't really care about the outcome. You're just there to learn about her, and if she's not interested, well, there's plenty of othe…

Or maybe if she isn't interested, she just isn't interested? If she was the last woman on earth and she wasn't interested in you would that make it somehow alright to keep approaching her? I mean really, I get what you are saying here, but it comes dangerous close to a guy viewing women as a "resource" and saying that he behaves better when he views that resource as unlimited.

What's with all this "objectification" philosophical nonsense? Shouldn't the only thing that matter be how people treat each other? Why are the likes of you not directing their ire at HR departments (where humans of both genders are treated as "resources")?

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#112

Post by theoh » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 4:47 PM UTC

dang wrote: post #29

Animats wrote: post #27

This looks like an attempt to monetize an evangelical Christian concept.[1] From the article: The ideal attitude is what she calls Abundant Thinking — a mindset that gives you the creative agency and grit to reach your vision — and, on a daily basis, to design your own life. When Verresen first meets most of her clients, they’re in reactive mode. It’s like they’re in a movie, acting in their job and life without know…

Lest anyone dive into religious polarization around this, it's worth pointing out that such psychological doctrines have a long history, back through Norman Vincent Peale and Napoleon Hill to the New Thought movement of the late 19th-early 20th century [1] and a whole kaleidoscope of religious splinter groups. Many of these were Christian, but mostly marginally so; a famous example is [2]. Then there's the New Age wi…

I'm happy to see the intellectual history of this subject discussed in a cautious way.

The New Age contrast between scarcity and abundance is compelling when applied to the question of adapting to changed circumstances. (Take for example the link posted in the last day or two about people raised in poverty finding it difficult to regulate their food intake.) The New Age arguments boil down to a simple diagnosis that we have been conditioned, by scarcity, into habits that are no longer appropriate.

There was a Wired article about 7 years ago which discussed this contrast from another angle. In that article, like the original link under discussion here, the Scarcity mindset is caricatured as mean and rigid. The Abundance mindset is healthy and open to alternatives. It's not at all about "manifesting" abundance out of nowhere, as per The Secret. I think Stephen Covey might be a major source for the Wired version of the polarity.

From the Wired article "When scarce resources become abundant, smart people treat them differently, exploiting them rather than conserving them. It feels wrong, but done right it can change the world.

The problem is that abundant resources, like computing power, are too often treated as scarce."

Hard to disagree with that.

http://www.wired.com/2009/06/mf-freer/

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#113

Post by allisthemoist » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 8:49 PM UTC

visarga wrote: post #93

allisthemoist wrote: post #13

Called Paths to Power, it emphasizes the importance of neutrality: The world is not fair or unfair. It simply is. The more you can suspend judgment, the more you can learn and grow your power. Not to be cynical about this approach, but having studied some of these concepts from a Mahayana Buddhist perspective, the idea of utilizing the perspective of Beginner's Mind to "grow your power" is a gross misappropriation an…

Same tool and intent, different problem level. Both Buddhism and Abundance Philosophy have the purpose of lowering contraction and pain, but while Buddhism does that on a general level, related to life/society, AP solely focuses on being creative and not missing opportunities. On the other hand, there are parallels between the two: "noticing" and "neutrality" are mindfulness - open non judgemental attention. "Priming…

This is precisely why many Buddhist scholars have worried about the integration of Buddhist thought into Western culture: the divorce of these concepts from their underlying meaning can render them ineffective, or worse, harmful.

Without an understanding of the foundational concepts of impermanence, nonself, and nirvana (the three jewels), activities like meditation lose much of their transformative power and much of their effects on creativity and mindfulness. This is important as these effects appear to mirror the very aptitudes that "Abundance Philosophy" is attempting to target.

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#114

Post by allisthemoist » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 8:52 PM UTC

alanwatts wrote: post #57

allisthemoist wrote: post #13

Called Paths to Power, it emphasizes the importance of neutrality: The world is not fair or unfair. It simply is. The more you can suspend judgment, the more you can learn and grow your power. Not to be cynical about this approach, but having studied some of these concepts from a Mahayana Buddhist perspective, the idea of utilizing the perspective of Beginner's Mind to "grow your power" is a gross misappropriation an…

All that depends on how you define "power". Judging by the chart under the Self Mastery section, it seems the author defines it as growing your physical, emotional, and mental energy. Such a result could be argued to be in correlation with the Buddhist proposition of letting go of attachment and desire. By letting go of preconceived notions, concepts, opinions, or the desire to have power (dominance) over others, we…

Want something incredible to read that will fundamentally alter your conception of power? Look up Foucault's work [0].

[0] https://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/newhistoricism/mod...

Re: The Advantage of Abundant Thinking

#115

Post by chris_wot » Wed, Apr 20, 2016, 11:59 PM UTC

oldmanjay wrote: post #91

chris_wot wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really object to calling all evangelical Christians supporters of the so-called prosperity gospel. Whilst there are a lot of adherents, many, many evangelical Christians consider it to be an aberration and an utter misreading of scripture.

I can't imagine anything more intellectually fulfilling than arguing from imagination about the one true way to love an imaginary being

There's nothing intellectually fulfilling about a circular argument.