Friday, July 02, 2004
Overlap
Common ground for the fanatical Muslims and the fundamentalist Jews: "Burning Bush"
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Eskimo song
I'm a little eskimo
I have 20 words for snow
Arctic don't have a disco
But clubbin' we go
We go clubbing baby seals
How their cutie voices squeal
Watery eyes are my dogs' meal
So hot I feel!
I have 20 words for snow
Arctic don't have a disco
But clubbin' we go
We go clubbing baby seals
How their cutie voices squeal
Watery eyes are my dogs' meal
So hot I feel!
Anarchist conversation
SAY NO TO AUTHORITY!
says who?
says who?
Sunday, June 27, 2004
Influence yourself
When you think about it, how much of the time are you really living consciously? Most will say "You are joking again, I am conscious all day". I claim that we do an amazingly many things on some sort of human auto-pilot.
And I don't mean the weird feeling that sometimes occurs when a whole stretch of highway has gone passed unnoticed when you are driving. That is just some sort of semi-unconscious state that occurs to certain individuals (and to me most of the time). Daniel Dennet has some interesting observations about that sort of phenomena, but nevermind all that.
When earlier on you bent your back a little forward, looking closer at the screen to read these ridiculously small letters, were you actually aware that you were doing that stretch? You wanted to be closer to the screen, but there was something of automatic behavior, wasn't there?
We are obviously aware that we are doing something, but somehow we have a limited active participation in choosing our actions. Even when we speak, we are most of the time on that auto-pilot, This can be revealed by simply listening to what you say when you are talking. Just hear your own words. Perhaps we are more driven by our previous experiences then we'd like to believe, perhaps we are acting out some prefab karma, perhaps we are simply in sync with ourselves.
This is not necessarily bad. I have the best time dancing when I feel "lost" in the music (it looks ugly, but it feels great). I have heard other dancers (including professionals) say that it is a mesmerizing experience to just let your body go and do its thing. There is something impulsive about it all. With dancing it appears to be even better if there are two. It's the same when you improvise music with others. Then there is sex... oh well...
On the other hand, true consciousness is an astonishing experience, perhaps a little like a revelation. I like to think that some of my more enlightened religious friends experience it when they pray. New-age gurus make you accomplish the feeling by asking you to simply carefully consider "I am". When you say it out load for five minutes and think about it for a while, the knowledge that "I am", "I really am here now", "Hey, I truly exist" can be a totally dizzying and satisfying experience.
Obviously none of that ever worked for me. I have no god and every attempt to realize that I really live, ends up in endless internal discussion: "I am here", "You are wrong... I am here", "No no no, you are only a figment of my imagination", "Ha ha, you'd wish"...
And I don't mean the weird feeling that sometimes occurs when a whole stretch of highway has gone passed unnoticed when you are driving. That is just some sort of semi-unconscious state that occurs to certain individuals (and to me most of the time). Daniel Dennet has some interesting observations about that sort of phenomena, but nevermind all that.
When earlier on you bent your back a little forward, looking closer at the screen to read these ridiculously small letters, were you actually aware that you were doing that stretch? You wanted to be closer to the screen, but there was something of automatic behavior, wasn't there?
We are obviously aware that we are doing something, but somehow we have a limited active participation in choosing our actions. Even when we speak, we are most of the time on that auto-pilot, This can be revealed by simply listening to what you say when you are talking. Just hear your own words. Perhaps we are more driven by our previous experiences then we'd like to believe, perhaps we are acting out some prefab karma, perhaps we are simply in sync with ourselves.
This is not necessarily bad. I have the best time dancing when I feel "lost" in the music (it looks ugly, but it feels great). I have heard other dancers (including professionals) say that it is a mesmerizing experience to just let your body go and do its thing. There is something impulsive about it all. With dancing it appears to be even better if there are two. It's the same when you improvise music with others. Then there is sex... oh well...
On the other hand, true consciousness is an astonishing experience, perhaps a little like a revelation. I like to think that some of my more enlightened religious friends experience it when they pray. New-age gurus make you accomplish the feeling by asking you to simply carefully consider "I am". When you say it out load for five minutes and think about it for a while, the knowledge that "I am", "I really am here now", "Hey, I truly exist" can be a totally dizzying and satisfying experience.
Obviously none of that ever worked for me. I have no god and every attempt to realize that I really live, ends up in endless internal discussion: "I am here", "You are wrong... I am here", "No no no, you are only a figment of my imagination", "Ha ha, you'd wish"...
