the mind is a weapon i ought not want

leaving off, it seemed to me that i should start by describing my father, his mechanisms, and the complementary mechanisms that were built in me by my experience of him. while i feel that this is important, i am in no hurry to do so, and will instead speak to what compels me at the moment. let's see what that entails.

i have come to realize that every tool is a weapon, and every weapon, a tool. realizing the dynamical nature of how context induces the two roles is a fundamental key to enlightenment* (whatever i may mean by that). we may find occasion to use tool to help relieve suffering, but so subtly may the context shift, and what was once an act of peace may suddenly become an act of war. my mind is the especially pertinent example of this. i use it to do "good". i use it to solve problems, seek and extinguish bias and misconception, and generally derive perspective and awareness of the phenomena i come across. it is my tool for extracting information out of a system, making distinctions, tracing causes from effects, and postulating potential effects from potential causes. this is invaluable to me, and generally, anyone else. i use this mind as a tool to better my actions, my conceptions, and my endeavors. i use this tool on myself, and on nature, to understand us and our relationship. i have come to think of this use of mind as a scalpel, as the most sharpened form of my awareness. it is used to make very find distinctions with its cutting edge, and furthermore, to sever that which is found to be detrimental, or false. (now, of course this can be overdone to our own detriment, but that is another discussion.. for not so far off. possibly *)

at times, another person may come to us, and ask for us to listen to their situation. the hope is that, since our mind does not have the same biases as theirs, we might be able to see something that they are missing. in these situations, our mind can be used to help pull others out of suffering. we might unburden them from misconcept, or identify solutions that had not occurred to them. regardless, this is a very special situation. we are being invited into another mind to see if we can find a problem. there is very much trust involved in this, and the situation is delicate.

[edit: clearly, the situation is still not so simple, as most thought is a complex balance of processes, some of which need our careful discern, others of which need our careful abstinence. the writing above and below really pertains to a single cognitive process.]

we are then primed to arrive at the following question:
when is our scalpel a tool, and when is it a weapon?
when framed in this way, the natural answer likely has much to do with consent.
clearly, if someone who trusts us asks for our discerning criticism, then we may do our best to provide it, as cleanly as possible, to the extend of their desire for it. the moment that they no longer desire our discern, our scalpel becomes a tool of invasion. that is not to say that somehow it immediately ceases to be a tool of healing. the situation is (un)fortunately more subtle than that. there are definitely murky situations when it is not clear whether or not to linger beyond consent for the "sake" of someone, especially if you care deeply for their well being. this is something that must be determined in the moment, but one thing is clear to me: the mind of another is sovereign territory.
in this context, we can quite easily find ourselves having slipped from the role of a benevolent ally, to the role of an accidental imperialist, seeking our own interests in the sovereign lands of another. this transition can be incredibly subtle, and imperceivable, especially when the other person cares for us as much as we care for them. we often tend to allow those we care about to be affectionately imperialist towards us. we allow trespasses on our shores, and in our airspace. there can be many reasons that we do this. we might do so (consciously or not) as to construct a mutually imperialist relationship with another. allowing another to occasionally overstep your sovereignty when they feel it necessary can have the consequence that they may allow you to overstep their sovereignty when you feel it necessary. this can be healthy, as long as neither is taking advantage of this mutual exploitation.

how has this all come to be the case? can this be seen in a more natural context?, perhaps one that is less surprising, or more intuitive? maybe. there are some pieces of perspective which i believe truly have this as a natural consequence. what i am referring to has to do with the nature of language, and how the use of language has necessarily evolved in humans. this will be the next subject of examination.

*clearly, a many of the maladies and hardships that one creates for themselves are likely able to be understood in terms of immoderate use of the above mentioned scalpel on one's self, that is to say, too much or not enough use. there are so many instances when one benefits from having a robustly undiscerning mind, and would otherwise detriment by insisting on being (too) discerning or precise. overthinking can be the bane of many a (too) clever human. likewise, there are times when the mind must be incredibly discerning, and a lack of discern would allow observations to go unmade that would otherwise prevent or reduce suffering. the same challenge that comes up in taking your scalpel to others comes up in taking your scalpel to yourself, namely that of recognizing the shifts in context which change the benefit/detriment of either mode of operation (tee hee.. operation!.. scalpel!? )