State of Mind



[NGC 6188]


Let’s talk about reality. The above is a photograph of NGC 6188, and I’m sure that they give the catalog number in case you want to order one for the back yard. The point is that this is a photograph, not a creation from an artists’ imagination. This is part of our “knowable” universe. It’s just that, for most of us, we didn’t know about this part of our knowable universe until our eyes glommed on to the picture of it just now. And it doesn’t take long for the mind, whatever that is, to start to interpret parts of the photo into shapes more familiar to our usual scale and knowledge base.

For example, this part of the photo appears to be a winged being of some kind floating through space. Although I have not, those who have studied Greek mythology might interpret this as Progresso, the goddess of soup, perhaps. Those who have been exposed to western religion might start to interpret this shape as an angel or demon perhaps. Non religious people who were raised in a religious home could find themselves commenting on how religious people would see this shape as an angel or demon when the interpretation was being done by me them in the first place.

Those who have had a chance to study impressionist art may see this part as the face of a person sleeping; possibly dreaming up the adventures of the angel/demon/soup goddess.













Of course that interpretation will dominate for a little while, I suppose, at least until another interpretation is rendered. In any case, it doesn’t take long for the mind to do its thing and each one of us is doing this to everything we see all the freaking time. Filling in gaps that would support what we already assume to be the truth is the one thing in the universe that might happen faster than the speed of light were there any way to measure it. However, when our holiest mindsets are threatened with the realization that they are simply interpretations like this and not true, some people panic, engaging emotional responses, and some become quite violent and would kill you.  Why?...'Cause the soup goddess told 'em to.


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Do you remember the ice cube illusion we would draw in high school:



By Nathen Denham





















Oh…uh…no…good job though…



I mean a simple line drawing of a box that was called an “ice cube” because you could see all the edges, like this:

As we gaze at this drawing, it seems that we’re looking from the top down at a translucent box, or from the bottom up. We can see it as if in the upper or lower, right hand or left hand corner of a room and it changes from one to the other, sometimes quickly…but that’s not really true. It’s not the drawing that is changing; it’s our mind that’s changing. The drawing isn’t doing anything.

We are watching a demonstration of the minds’ ability to change how the world physically appears to us.






 [When one says of his/her explanation, “this is the way the world is”, one is in effect saying that he/she has stopped looking. That statement would only be valid as a snapshot of all the variables frozen at that time for that one person.]


What complicates matters even further is that the mind’s interpretation can be misled…we can be wrong:

With the man in the box, the mind races to find the source of the incongruity in the analysis. The visual report is suggesting a “reality” that the logic base cannot accept. This mental situation is usually accompanied with a linguistic expression such as, “what the hell…?’, “that can’t be…’ or “Hellllo, sailor…” depending on the person commenting.





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Further complications arise as we realize that we can create intellectual filters that attempt to remove information that is contrary to the established belief structure of our society/culture, or filters that let through only information that supports what some want us to think from now on. From obfuscation to flat out lying, “anything to have my interpretation be the interpretation”. We have found that we can train people to think the way we want them to by issuing Dicta ex cathedra (from the throne) and vilifying any challenge to the claims or to the authority of those Dicta, and forcing adherence to them by use of anything from threats of being ostracized to being murdered. Some of us are guilty of doing this to others, but all of us are victims of it, some more than others.

We have had our young minds indoctrinated in a few ways that are, well, questionable in terms of morality. It may have been done in hopes that we might have a better life, but in some cases it was done simply to control the behavior of others to the liking of the dictator. In any case, it has to stop.

This is a photo of the altar in the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris. In the western world we are taught that this type of scene embodies the meaning of our worship. It speaks to the love our Creator has for us and the sacrifice that is the covenant between us and the Creator.

But our logic base is claiming that this is what we truly worship as defined by the amount of time and energy, both emotional and physical, spent on its concern.

There is even evidence that suggests nothing is more sacred than money to some people. To find that evidence just turn on the evening news of any reputable network and, before the first aspirin commercial, my point will be made.






…And if all the religions are all about love, beauty, peace and our covenant with God, then my logic base wants to know what the hell this is:

We are in each others’ care. The greatest country in the world is the country that has the kindest, most selfless, people; and you don’t say it, you do it. Furthermore, it is for other countries to decide; for to say, “Mine is the greatest country” does nothing but alienate people from you and ends up meaning nothing to anyone but you: “a legend in your own mind”.


Then there is the question of your intention. What exactly are you attempting to accomplish with this strategy of total exclusion…make friends…what? Gain respect? Please tell me, I’d like to know.

A real American is not someone wielding and uneducated mouth around, shooting it off whenever he/she feels a need for attention. That would be a real idiot that happens to live in America. No, a real American is someone who would shield someone else’s wounded infant with his/her body in an attempt to save the infants life. Interestingly, that is also the definition of a real Englishman, a real Frenchman, a real German, et al.

Arguments?

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There is also the ability for a state of mind to change how we see the world with profound silence. For example, the Immigration Reform debate in the US. I can describe the state of mind of the conservative on this topic as I can the liberal, but the whole argument falls silent when we consider this issue from the state of mind of the Native American.

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There are a lot of states of mind to be had in a day, let alone in a lifetime. Some will complement, some will clash, some will make no difference to the conceptual demands we already make on “reality” with our cultural indoctrination in the first place. Many of us feel that what we have been taught by our ancestors and teachers, culture and religion is the correct view, which is precisely the same feeling other people have about their cultural view, but instead of realizing that one group is looking at the box from the top and another the right, the difference is used as an excuse to blow each other to hell which, according to my logic base, makes invalid the religions practiced by those involved.

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For about 2 million years we have been watching our mind do tricks. We have evolved a language and took some time outs along the way to kill each other. We evolved science and the arts and took some time outs along the way to kill each other some more.



[Hubble Space Telescope]








The same species that created this bad boy…

…created this bad boy…











…but not the same people.


Some of us can’t get enough turmoil and war. As embodied in the famous quote from Gen George S Patton, “I love it. God help me I do love it so. I love it more than my life.” Personally, I can’t help but feel that war is an attempt to cure the boredom inherent in maintaining an underdeveloped world view. However, when bullets of varying caliber are whizzing all around you and your ass is on fire and the index finger on your left hand has been shot off and there are bits of your buddy hanging off your face and uniform from when he caught a mortar shell next to you, and this has all happened in the last five minutes, the one thing you are not is bored. Of course, our life has the added benefit of definition and purpose when there is conflict. This is especially true for the armchair generals who suggest acts of great bravery that they would perform if only they had the chance, but this is the “bravery of being out-of-range” talking here for sure.


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Reality is the state of mind you are in right now. The reality of the fans supporting the winning team and the reality of the fans supporting the losing team are happening at the same time and about the same event. A few weeks ago I lost my neighbor and friend, swimming accident, and my reality changed in an instant, big time…he’s just gone, no warning, no good-bye, no anything, just gone…and reality is the state of mind you are in right now…and the beat goes on.

After a while I tire of the trials and tribulation, my emotional energy runs way low. So how can I get a break from all of this, just for a little while? Just to get my energy charged up and emotions to calm down. Well, one thing I do is use the same method I used to screw myself up in the first place…I give myself an image like this to entertain my mind:

Early in my study of Eastern thought I discovered the analogy of the mind as a pool: If we are constantly splashing around, the pool reflects the scrambling of light at best. Very exciting, sparkling with quick flashes and sometimes patterns of flashes repeating, moving, etc, but it isn’t until we calm down and the water stills do we begin to see a reflection of the world more accurately and without effort.

My mind calms down quite nicely when I look at something like this. I know I will be returning to the fray soon but, for now, I’m just looking, thanks.



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In Memorium

This is the look Jim would give me right before he’d give me a load of stink…which he did.




Geezuz, Jim…

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