What Would I Do?

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     My doctoral class is requiring me to post my assignments to this blog. I delete most of them after the grade is posted so that my blog will not be filled with these distractions from its purpose. However, I expect that I will leave this one up because I feel it is interesting. 

    The assignment for this week was "If you had unlimited time, money and talent, list 10 things you would do in each of these categories: Education, Job or Research, Philosophical/Religious, Travel and Home. Then, write a short post about what these articles reflect about you. Be sure to include at least 1 scholarly/peer-reviewed resource.".  

    Here is what I turned in. I'd be curious to get thoughts on it. 

Education:

1)     Chess Lessons from a World Champion

2)     Attend Astronaut School

3)     Learn to Fly a Plane

4)     Learn Sky Diving, Deep Sea Diving, Mountain Climbing and Spelunking.

5)     Take Writing Courses from Best Selling Authors

6)     Learn to Build Video Games

7)     Learn to Play Guitar, Accordion and Bagpipes.

8)     Establish a Scholarship for IT Security Students

9)     Obtain Doctorate in Paleontology

10)   Train for a Marathon

Job or Research

1)     Become a Professional Chess Player

2)     Become an Astronaut

3)     Found a Bakery/Restaurant

4)     Start a Charity and Educational Program for the Homeless

5)     Found a Hospital for the Treatment and Research of Cancer

6)     Found a Charity for Veterans

7)     Create a Publishing Company

8)     Get all of my Books translated into all Foreign Languages

9)     Become a Game Show Host

10)   Fund the Establishment of a Colony on the Moon

Philosophical or Religious

1)     Start a Religious Society

2)     Study the Art of doing the Whirling Dervish from Sufis

3)     Attend the Monroe Institute to Learn Astral Projection

4)     Attend a Course in Lucid Dreaming at the Lucidity Institute

5)     Participate in Ghost Hunts at the World’s Most Haunted Locations

6)     Pay All of the Bills and Expenses for my Church

7)     Meet the World’s Religious Leaders (Pope, Dali Lama, Grand Imam, etc.)

8)     Write a Philosophical/Religious Treatise/Novel

9)     Experience the John Hopkins Institute Psilocybin Treatment

10)   Have a Simulated Near Death Experience

Travel

1)     Appear in a Game Show

2)     Visit Antarctica

3)     Travel to Outer Space/Moon/Mars

4)     Take a Cruise Around the World

5)     Take Wife to Hawaii & New York

6)     Perform a Genealogical Trip to Trace History of my Family.

7)     Visit Every Baseball and Football Stadium

8)     Explore the Pyramids and Participate in an Excavation

9)     Scuba Dive every famous reef, wreck, and tropical location.

10)   Visit Every Country in the World and spend a week living with an average family to experience what daily life in like in their society.

Home

1)     Build a Mansion with Secret Passages and Secret Rooms

2)     Adopt Foster Children and Orphans to share my mansion with me.

3)     Hire Cook, Butler, Maids and a Chauffer so I no longer had to distract myself by doing housework

4)     Build an Astronomical Observatory

5)     Construct a Botanical Garden & Hedge Maze

6)     Construct a Virtual Reality Game Room and 3D Theater.

7)     Have Large Sunroom with Massaging Jacuzzi.

8)     Hire Private Family Massage Therapist.

9)     Adopt rescued dogs and cats and hire trainers, vets and professional pet lovers to help take care of them.

10)   Get a luxury RV to travel the country. 

    I got together with my friends last weekend for a game night and out of curiosity asked them how they would answer this question. To my surprise, many of them gave answers like “I’d build a mansion, fill it with video games, and take all of my friends there to spend the rest of our lives playing games and watching movies”. This answer, reminiscent of the character of Wade from Ready Player One or Prince Prospero from Masque of the Red Death, helped me reflect upon how my answers make me different.

    As opposed to my friends, I have no desire to escape the world but rather an endless curiosity to explore it. Curiosity is a little understood concept which is often described as a fundamental part of human growth, even though scientists and psychologists have yet to develop any kind of understanding of curiosity, its mechanisms or its evolutionary/practical purpose (Kidd & Hayden, 2015, p. 449). Nevertheless, whether understood or not, my curiosity about life and the world is the reason why my activities include everything from learning to fly planes, to traveling in space, to scuba diving to the bottom of the ocean, to participating in Archeological/Paleontological digs.

    This curiosity also expands into the spiritual/philosophical world where I want to sit down with the leaders of all religions (whether they are my religion or not) for the chance to talk to them and understand their views. I’m also curious to experiment with concepts which blur the lines of science and spirituality (such as lucid dreaming, astral project, NDE’s, and Psilocybin treatment) and am not afraid of what I would find or experience.

    Finally, another way that I don’t want to escape the world can be noted in the way that I want to help the world. My friends expressed a “existential nihilistic” view that there was no extrinsic value in helping other because you are unlikely to change anything in the world (Pratt, n.d.). However, I disagree with this philosophy, believing that if you can better the life of at least one person, who betters the life of another person, and so on, the chain reaction means you have made a lasting difference in the world. This is why I say: “If I am going to have a bigger house, I will adopt foster kids to enjoy it with me.” “If I’m going to have a massive yard, why not fill it with rescue dogs and trainers to ensure they have a great life.” “If I’m going to have money, use it to create some charities and make my profession be to run them.”

    I believe this list gives an accurate and interesting reflection of who I am and how I am different from others.

References:

Kidd, C. & Hayden, B. (2015). The psychology and neuroscience of curiosity. Neuron, 88(3). 449-460.

Pratt, A. (n.d.) Nihilism. Retrieved from https://iep.utm.edu/nihilism/.

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