(Any examples from my comment? These are the simplest terms I know to accurately convey the relevant ideas, any help would be appreciated.)
Cf "target does not exist" with
MentalNode-34223359 | Pointer error, no data at requested location
without actually finding a referent for the (ThankfulTo()) function
and to a reference to an esoteric language Lojban.
As you pointed out, your other geeky analogies, like "brain passing non-typesafe parameters and pointers", while understandable to a programmer like myself, also appear needlessly complicated.
my current impression is that your current mind configuration is not as "bad" as you seem to question/wonder/fear
I simply noticed the disconnect between a belief and an alief in this particular case. Whether it is possible/worthwhile to get them aligned, is another question.
and to a reference to an esoteric language Lojban.
I agree with the other needlessly complicated analogies, but I forgot / should have explained that Lojban has a very logical structure where a word can have certain specific required or optional complements, e.g. IIRC the "expressing thanks" word would have a complement slot for (Target), a second slot for (what the thanks is for) and then one for (who is thanking the target) (defaults to speaker or provided by context), and in Lojban it's perfectly normal to leave some slots empty for delibera...
Well, I used to think that I do not believe in anything supernatural that affects what happens to me, but I'm wondering if maybe I actually do alieve in it. For example, a few days ago I had a close call in traffic, and when a collision I fully expected to happen just a second prior did not transpire, I mentally thanked... whom? I definitely had a clear feeling of gratitude for escaping, and I don't normally mean it literally when I say "Thank God!". So, who or what did I feel thankful to? I've never been religious, and I got rid of most of my superstitions over the years, but apparently there is still something there, and I do not know how to react to this knowledge.
What would be the proper reaction after a close call? Shrug and say "got lucky this time, should be more cautious next time"? What about when waiting for a diagnosis, what does sort-of-praying "please, please, let everything be OK" say about one's true beliefs? I know that I am much better at not blaming the world when something bad happens to me by chance than at not thanking the world when something good happens. Should it not be symmetric? Which part of a normally non-religious person wakes up and asserts itself in a crisis situation out of their control? Should it be embraced, suppressed, worked on?