Speculation bad?

[Danioover9000]

   I heard in one of the videos Leo saying speculation is mental masturbation. In one of those videos, he brought up examples of speculating about god "what is god? Maybe god is this or maybe god is that." and so on. I don't understand it though.

   For example, here's one way I'm speculating. I'm thinking about a pen, and I'm wondering about it for a while, and I go about my day. Another way is that I'm looking at this pen and thinking about alternative ways and forms that are new, better product/service, multiple ways of it being useful, and I go create the pen I've speculated about, however long that takes.

   So, what's really bad about speculating?

[Vipassana]

In my case, speculating had a negative influence on me when I was speculating upon something I had to surrender to. If your speculation is a defense mechanism then yes it is bad. You have to acknowledge the relativity of such questions. This is where practices like contemplating using a journal & asking powerful questions come in handy. 

[Danioover9000]

20 hours ago, Vipassana said:

In my case, speculating had a negative influence on me when I was speculating upon something I had to surrender to. If your speculation is a defense mechanism then yes it is bad. You have to acknowledge the relativity of such questions. This is where practices like contemplating using a journal & asking powerful questions come in handy. 

   Thanks for posting. I meant not just for spirituality or existence, but for things in general, or for when you want your product/service to evolve to the next level. I've speculated enough to know when it gets unproductive.

[Commodent]

I guess it depends on the intent. Speculation could simply be making oneself aware of the possibilities, a form of exploration, which aids good decision-making.

[Vipassana]

@Danioover9000 I mean it in very practical terms. For example, your girlfriend is out and she is not answering her phone.

You can speculate that shes busy or that she might be away from the phone or you can speculate that shes fucking some other guy and shes never coming back.

Notice that this instance is something you surrender to. You surrender to the fact that you don't know. No amount of speculation can give relief to the fact that you do don't know. All speculation is existential and spiritual because speculating is you asserting your desire to know when you don't know. 

It is solely up to you to contemplate upon what is worth speculating and what is not. <- maybe this is worth speculating

When it comes to business then yes, speculating is relatively good but relatively. Like you said, If you find that your speculation is becoming unproductive then you let it go.  

[Danioover9000]

17 hours ago, Commodent said:

I guess it depends on the intent. Speculation could simply be making oneself aware of the possibilities, a form of exploration, which aids good decision-making.

   This reminds me of the multiple uses test you could take to see how creative you are. Thanks for posting!

[Danioover9000]

10 hours ago, Vipassana said:

@Danioover9000 I mean it in very practical terms. For example, your girlfriend is out and she is not answering her phone.

You can speculate that shes busy or that she might be away from the phone or you can speculate that shes fucking some other guy and shes never coming back.

Notice that this instance is something you surrender to. You surrender to the fact that you don't know. No amount of speculation can give relief to the fact that you do don't know. All speculation is existential and spiritual because speculating is you asserting your desire to know when you don't know. 

It is solely up to you to contemplate upon what is worth speculating and what is not. <- maybe this is worth speculating

When it comes to business then yes, speculating is relatively good but relatively. Like you said, If you find that your speculation is becoming unproductive then you let it go.  

   Ok I thought you meant an  armchair philosophy on spirituality in your original post.

   What I meant is the kind of speculation that is different. For example, a lighter, cable, stones, branches and leaves could be taken for granted. However, in a survival situation, a lighter, cable, stones, branches and leaves take on more meaning than conventional ones, and you would create a combination of things and use these objects beyond what is considered normal. I've been through that kind of situation and that kind of speculation was what I encountered. Doesn't even involve spirituality. If you haven't experienced that, that's fine. I'm just not ready to throw the baby out with the water.

   Thanks for posting!