22 August 2016

Notes - tradition / work-a-day / shadow substitute



       Morning. The house is ready to be cleaned. Jill should arrive shortly. You have a list of errands for the day. The first is dropping Carol off at Hoxworth to donate blood, buy and send a b-card to Kim for tomorrow, grocery, etc. Craig and Alta arrive tomorrow between one and two. Most everything is packed and ready to go for Wednesday. The first leg of the trip is near St. Louis and it is only about six hours, about the time it takes to drive to Chicago so the plan is to wait awhile stop for brunch in Westchester, probably at First Watch, then take a leisurely drive to Indianapolis and points west. You are going to let Craig take the lead because you are generally a more aggressive (faster) driver. You’ll follow his pace. – Amorella

       1019 hours. Blue sky this morning so it will probably be hot. I will wait for Carol at McDonalds and she can give me a call when completed. We need to have a good lunch to celebrate her blood work; this is a tradition.

       Post. - Amorella


       You have been waiting for Carol for almost an hour. She called a few minutes ago and said it will be another hour. You have been checking email and reading Quora online, and you are at Panera on Mason-Montgomery Road because it is closer to Hoxworth than McDonalds is. – Carol just called and is ready to be picked up. Later, dude. – Amorella

       You picked out two cards for Kim while Carol is still at Kroger’s. Fortunately you found a shady spot to wait. – Amorella

       1218 hours. Both cards are ‘Shoebox’ variety – fun and funnier. One mentioned all Kim’s good points were inherited from her parents. I particularly like this one. The other says she is “Fabulous” which is one she should like. Here’s Carol.

       Home. Carol is writing bills then off to lunch. – You are thinking of doing something productive (writing wise) but the conditions have not been ripe for it. By conditions I mean mostly your own internal conditions not the landscape environment. – Amorella

       1240 hours. I understand. Library quiet helps but the actual moment of ‘focus’ is something I have not thought about. It must be some sort of automaticity because I do not sit most of the time and will myself to write. I do though with a “time to get on with it” or “time to start”. Shoot, half my life might be on automatic as far as I know. Hemingway used to write in the morning and fish in the afternoon.

       Post. - Amorella


       You had lunch at Cracker Barrel at Carol’s request and you both had your regular country dinners – Carol had fish and you grilled chicken. You ran more errands and now that you are home you are pretty much done. – Amorella

       1544 hours. It is always pleasant to come home to a clean house. I’m glad Carol doesn’t have to think about it so much. Now if she would just automatically have those monthly and insurance bills paid she would be a lot more comfortable. Kim is trying to talk her into it.

       I was on AOL News and the article “Doctor pens book that claims to reveal ‘rare details of Heaven’”. I did not find the book review interesting. Here is a quote:

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Neurologist Oliver Sacks, author of the book Hallucinations, once said that these "life-altering religious experiences are ‘hallucinations,” and that "whether revelatory or banal, are not of supernatural origin; they are part of the normal range of human consciousness and experience."

Selected and edited from “Doctor pens book that claims to reveal ‘rare details of Heaven’” AOL editors, AOL, August 22

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       The article mentions Neurologist Oliver Sack’s book Hallucinations so I took a look at a ‘Good Reads’ review.

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Hallucinations
by Oliver Sacks

Have you ever seen something that wasn’t really there? Heard someone call your name in an empty house? Sensed someone following you and turned around to find nothing?

Hallucinations don’t belong wholly to the insane. Much more commonly, they are linked to sensory deprivation, intoxication, illness, or injury. People with migraines may see shimmering arcs of light or tiny, Lilliputian figures of animals and people. People with failing eyesight, paradoxically, may become immersed in a hallucinatory visual world. Hallucinations can be brought on by a simple fever or even the act of waking or falling asleep, when people have visions ranging from luminous blobs of color to beautifully detailed faces or terrifying ogres. Those who are bereaved may receive comforting “visits” from the departed. In some conditions, hallucinations can lead to religious epiphanies or even the feeling of leaving one’s own body.

Humans have always sought such life-changing visions, and for thousands of years have used hallucinogenic compounds to achieve them. As a young doctor in California in the 1960s, Oliver Sacks had both a personal and a professional interest in psychedelics. These, along with his early migraine experiences, launched a lifelong investigation into the varieties of hallucinatory experience.

Here, with his usual elegance, curiosity, and compassion, Dr. Sacks weaves together stories of his patients and of his own mind-altering experiences to illuminate what hallucinations tell us about the organization and structure of our brains, how they have influenced every culture’s folklore and art, and why the potential for hallucination is present in us all, a vital part of the human condition. 

Selected from http://www.goodreadsDOTcom/book/show/13330771-hallucinations

****

       1601 hours. What I ought to do is buy the book and read it on the trip. Sack’s is one of my best sources to tell me that scientifically, Amorella is an hallucination. I don’t argue with the science. I just don’t agree with it one hundred percent. – rho

       Doubt always wins with you don’t it, orndorff. – Amorella

       I love you, Amorella whether you are an hallucination or a extraordinary reality, I don’t doubt that. I love G-D more. I also love friends and family. - rho

       Agreed. That really covers the topic from my perspective. Read the book if you like. You like Sack’s books. - Amorella

       1610 hours. Why did you have to misuse ‘don’t’?

       I didn’t have to. - Amorella

       1612 hours. I would never do that.

       Your daughter Kim says you should never use never. She says you taught her that in Logic. – Amorella 


       You are home. Carol is talking to Amy while Tim is mowing the yard. They both watch the house as well as take care of the cats – the Kings are best of neighbors. You ran more errands and on the way stopped at Barnes and Noble and picked up the paperback version of Sacks’ Hallucinations. Shortly you will be heading out for a light supper of McD’s Egg McMuffins topped off with a couple of kids’ cups of Graeters. – Amorella

       1858 hours. It has been a good day so far. Looking forward to seeing Craig and Alta tomorrow.

       All for today, boy. Post. - Amorella

       2049 hours. I read the Introduction to Hallucinations. The conclusion is very important to me.

** **
Conclusion of the Introduction:

“Here, then, is a sampling which I hope will give a sense of the great range, the varieties, of hallucinatory experience, an essential part of the human condition.” 

p.xiv. Hallucinations, O. Sacks.

** **

       This gives you the continued focus on what being human is. Or, as the ancient Greeks might have asked, “What is it then, to be human?” Your books and blog, if nothing else are your demonstration, your response to this ancient question. Do you agree? – Amorella

       2059 hours. I do; however, your word choice makes these works appear to be more important than they actually are. I like this stuff. I would like to understand more of what it is to be a human being, to exist as a human being. This is what every Homo sapiens is, myself included. I would like to study our species as if we were aliens because in doing so I am allowed another quality of dimensional definition. Using/thinking in the personal pronoun ‘I’ limits what we are; ‘we’ is better, ‘they’ is better also. (Amorella, I am at a loss here. I know what I want to say but I don’t know how to best express this in words.)

       Expressing these points as you do is perhaps not the best use of expression but they are your impressions. Deal with it, boy. You cannot be what you are not. Enjoy the rest of the evening. Post. – Amorella

       2111 hours. This is interesting. I see from your response that my request is one of slight arrogance. I did not realize this consciously.

       Your insight is not lost. Humility is gained. – Amorella

       2113 hours. Thank you, Amorella. Hallucination or not, you help me to see who I am;  I see you as my spiritual teacher. (This seems odd to think.)

       This is because you have disdain for spiritual guides and that sort of New Age thinking and you have no other suitable words to use. – Amorella

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teacher - noun

the new physics teacher used to be a nun: educator, tutor, instructor, master, mistress, governess, educationist, preceptor; coach, trainer; lecturer, professor, don; guide, mentor, guru, counselor; substitute teacher, sub; informal teach; formal pedagogue; historical schoolman, schoolmarm.

Selected and edited from the Oxford/American software

** **

       2125 hours. These words are of little use to me in describing how I relate to and understand you to be to me. It would be different if you were an entity unto yourself beyond me (seeable to others) but you are not. You are not as Merlyn or Socrates or Jesus or any human I can name as a shadow substitute. No more thoughts presently. I’m done. – rho

       Post. - Amorella

   



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